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The Distinctive Features of Life Year 2, Lecture 4 of the Youth Occult Class (Special Class) given by the Master Beinsa Douno on October 25, 1922 Wednesday, Sofia Fir-fur-fen Tau-bi-aumen Secret prayer The disciples' essays on the topic “The Distinctive Features of Life” were read. Contemporary people say that Life is motion. Do you agree with this? How do you understand Life? The following verse was read: “A kind word on the tongue is the key to people's hearts.” What is the most important phrase in the above verse? – “A kind word”. Where does the kind word originate from, and where does Love originate from? Can we say that Love originates from Life? Can the cause originate from the effect? You might say that Love creates Life. No, Love cannot create Life. Why? Because Life itself cannot be created. The process of creation is a mechanical process. You can create, you can build a house, but you cannot create Life in that sense. Then you might say that Life doesn’t exist. Life is without beginning and without end. Can you say that something that doesn’t have a beginning and an end exists? In its original sense the word exists was in an ascending state, but gradually it started to descend and today in the Bulgarian language we see it in a descending state. The word exists stems from the root “са” (Bulgarian for "are"), which means manifestation, expression. That is, Life manifests itself. I’ll ask you several more questions. Can something that manifests run off? If your answer to me is that each thing that manifests runs off then I’ll ask you, where does Life remain? What do you make out of the word life? When you read your essays, I notice that you strive to write something beautiful, using beautiful phrases for this purpose, however, you aren't concerned as to whether these essays contain the Truth. In this respect you resemble those fashionable ladies who wear beautiful and expensive clothes to present themselves before the world, without paying attention to whether their clothes are warm or comfortable. However what is allowed to a worldly man isn't allowed to an occult disciple. When a worldly man is hungry, when he has travelled for several days without bread and has no relatives whom he can address, he will beg from this or that person. He will appeal to their nobility, to their benevolence that they might give him something to eat. But if an occult disciple finds himself in such a situation, he isn't allowed to speak as words are unnecessary. He should only say, “I am hungry!” – Nothing more. A third word would be irrelevant. Whoever hears him, will say, “The man is hungry; let’s give him something to eat.” Everyone knows what hunger is. If the hungry man starts to explain why he is hungry, how long he has been starving for, everyone who passes him by will say, “Never mind, don’t listen to him, this man isn't hungry.” Hunger is something powerful by itself. Each explanation would make it powerless. Let’s come back to the question of Life. What is your opinion – is it possible to define what Life is? Some people say that Life is consciousness, i.e., that outside consciousness Life doesn’t exist. The word consciousness is composed of a prefix meaning "with" and a word meaning "knowledge" – it means something accompanied by knowledge. Our Life doesn't include the whole of Life in existence, consequently Life cannot originate from consciousness. Consciousness cannot embrace our life even, let alone the entire life in existence. If we assume that Life is motion, the very motion itself is embraced by consciousness. This means that it is even less appropriate to view Life as motion. Now let’s trace out this thought further. What do you think – is consciousness something permanent? No, it isn't permanent. Is it possible then to measure Life by such an impermanent measure? If consciousness is something permanent, let’s subject it to a ten-day fast and see if it preserves its form or changes it. In this situation we will notice that consciousness, which initially was bright, gradually starts to darken. While your consciousness is bright, you are quiet, calm, and content. As soon as it starts to darken, you become nervous, discontented, and not able to control yourself. Consequently, if consciousness is a permanent, constant measure, it can be said that Life is consciousness. But it is impossible to compare Life with such an impermanent, changing value as consciousness. An artist draws a beautiful picture and he is glad at the sight of it; what is his joy due to? Is it due to the picture itself, or to something else? Can someone be delighted with an object in which there isn’t any Life at all? Can he feel delighted at the sight of a precious stone? Man cannot feel delighted with a picture, or some precious stone. The Delight is a result of something else. A young man loves a young lady; if this young man finds a precious stone and gives it to his beloved as a present, he will be glad. Yet his joy wouldn't be due to the precious stone but to the fact that he has given it to his beloved. If she didn’t exist the precious stone wouldn’t have any value to him. So, let everyone answer to himself what his Life consists of. Reflect on this topic. Consider especially the word life and watch closely how you will feel it deep inside you and how this word is connected with you. Don’t look into what philosophers or scientists have said about life. The important thing is what this word means to you. Pronounce the word life in syllables, pronounce it in a drawling voice, as a song, while observing the impression it will make on you. At first sight this word seems simple, but it contains one of the greatest truths of Nature. You haven’t asked yourself the question whether you are alive in order to feel how interesting Life is. Now you pass for disciples from a special class. But suppose that you take all your essays about Life and read them to a seriously ill person. Do you think that your essays would be able to awaken the Life in him? What are your essays like? Let’s say that you go to bed in the evening and in the morning you start telling others that you went somewhere and you met a lot of people. Would this be true? Your body was in bed, your legs and your arms didn't move from their places – how did you walk then? Were you awake, or were you asleep? You were asleep. If you had been awake you would have remembered where you went. Such is your state in your everyday life too – you think that you are awake. No, you aren't awake. You are still sleeping, but it is time to wake up. I am not the only one who says you are sleeping – you say it yourselves too. When some new idea enters your mind, you say, “I woke up! I wonder why I have been sleeping until now?” As soon as you find yourselves in greater light, you say, “Now I can see, I feel like I am awakening from a deep sleep.” That you are in a sleeping state can be seen from the fact that all the objects around you and all your notions are scattered and disconnected in your mind. When I am saying that you are in a dreaming state I don’t mean to criticise you, but I do want to give a new direction to your thoughts. What does the word "sleeping" mean? Imagine that you go to a music teacher and you want him to give you lessons. The teacher shows you the violin, the bow, he opens the sheet music and he watches closely what you do. You see a violin, a bow, some dots, some lines – some of them going up, others going down – and you leave. This is not music yet. You are intelligent and capable, you have the desire to learn music. The next day you still want to study music so you visit your music teacher again. He shows you the same things, but he also gives you a sheet of paper and a pencil and watches closely what you do. You take the pencil and you start describing the function of the violin, the bow and the notes etc. Again this isn't music yet. On the third day you go to your music teacher, you take the violin in your hands and you start practicing. He shows you how to hold the violin and the bow; he shows you how to play. Day after day you continue in this way until one day you are finally able to play on your own. All the notes need to enter your mind, your consciousness and then you can say you know what music is. Life is something similar. While you didn't know how to play you were asleep as far as music is concerned; as soon as you learn how to play, you become awake for music. Have you tasted Life? You say that Life is joy. Have you tasted joy? There is a lot of grief in life. Have you tasted this grief? Human beings haven't tasted real grief yet. Is the grief of the sheep that loses its life and that of the man who loses his hat one and the same? What kind of grief is that of the man who has lost his hat? This isn't grief at all – it is pure illusion. There is one single kind of grief that I know and it is the grief upon the loss of Love. There is no greater suffering for a human being than to taste Love and then lose it. This grief is true; it is real. Consequently, it is possible to grieve only for the Real and not for the illusions in Life. When does a man rejoice? When he finds what he has lost. There are two important things which Life requires: food and water. This means that hunger and thirst are two strong factors which can deprive all beings of Life. When a human being is hungry, the Life in him manifests and demands food. Unless he eats some food, he feels anguish, unrest and suffering; the minute he eats the food, peace and contentment fill him. This is the way simple, uneducated people understand Life. You might ask, “Are only food and water necessary for Life?” Life requires a lot of elements. I’ll give you the following example: imagine that they lock one person in a room and from time to time they bring him bread and water. He stays in this room for a year or two and everybody knows as he himself knows that he is alive and he is living in this room. After a time they take this person out of the room and place him in a beautiful garden. In this garden he is able to walk freely, breathe fresh air and enjoy the light. He says, “Now I am alive.” Shortly after they take this person to a rich library and let him read whatever he likes there according to his preference. He starts feeling satisfied and happy and says, “Now I live much better, I am beginning to understand the meaning of Life.” As you can see, in the first example this person is alive, but he lives as a prisoner. In the second example he is also alive, but he lives like a free man. In the third example he lives with all his inner and outer needs met. Life should be understood in all its most subtle manifestations, in all its most subtle requirements. A person who experiences Life in its most subtle and meaningful manifestations is always satisfied, because the sphere of his activity is widening. He experiences the pleasant feeling of growth, the feeling of life in his mind, heart, and soul. I am using the word "soul", but this is something obscure to you. The soul is outside of time and space. What are time and space in reality? They are two temporary measures which are used to define things in the material world. Life causes a warm and pleasant feeling in man. Once someone has experienced this feeling, he can never forget it. Imagine that you are climbing a slippery cliff; you go slowly, carefully, but accidentally you slip. At that moment a friend of yours grabs your hand and prevents you from falling. This change in your feelings, the horror that you experienced and the support that you received awakens a tender, warm feeling in you – a feeling which is a manifestation of Life. No matter what trials you undergo in life, you will never forget this feeling. The stronger your friend's love was, the stronger this feeling is in you. He supported you at the risk of losing his own life. Analyse this feeling inside you in order to understand at least the external side of Life. What characteristics do people attribute to Life today? Some people say that Life brings joy, grief, and motion. Others say that Life is a state of the soul in which the soul becomes aware of itself, i.e. a state in which the soul is aware that it lives, that it is in harmony with itself and with the great law of Nature. Being in harmony with yourself means that everything inside you should be in complete order. Imagine that you have a nice and well-arranged garden; imagine that all its pathways are covered with sand and you are walking along the pathways, satisfied and happy. Inadvertently, though, you forget all the things you carried with you on the pathway – a jar here, a small chair there, scattered stones somewhere else. In the evening you go home satisfied that everything is organised and in complete order. It happens that the very same evening while you are deep in your philosophical contemplations, you decide to go out to have a walk in the garden and get some fresh air. While walking on the pathways, you stumble over the jar and you wonder who has left this jar in your way. Then you stumble over the small chair or a stone and you wonder who has left these things in your way. You have forgotten that you yourself have left these objects on the pathways of your garden. After stumbling over one object after another you finally say, “It is really strange how the world has turned upside down!” Who has turned the world upside down? You yourself have turned your world upside down, you yourself have put these stumbling blocks in the way of your life and now you wonder who has put them there. You stumble over some object and you start grieving. Do you really have to grieve because some small chair has been overturned? Should you feel sorrow because you stumbled and fell on the ground? You should feel sorrow if you learn that some enemy of yours has put this stumbling block in your way. But if you know that you are the only reason for this, then there is no need for sorrow. And then nothing else remains other than to reach down, pick up the obstacle and put it aside. Therefore, when studying Life, start with its most essential and simplest manifestations. As regards the essence of Life, this is an issue that you will never solve. Understanding the essence of Life means understanding what God is – in His fullness. It is impossible to understand God in His complete fullness. You cannot even understand the brightness of His consciousness. He is constantly alert, His consciousness embraces everything, and He is sovereign - unlimited and powerful in his ability do whatever He wants to. To you this is incomprehensible. Within yourself you become aware that you cannot do whatever you like, and so you feel unhappy. There is no need to suffer because your growth lies namely in your helplessness. Today you are filled with joy, you are jumping, singing, you think you can achieve everything; tomorrow you see that you cannot achieve anything. Today you are ascending, tomorrow you will descend, but you don’t know why you ascend or descend. It is exactly in these contrasting states that you grow. If someone asks you why you have come to this world you will not be able to answer. If someone asks you where you have come from – again you know nothing. Some philosophers, some scientists say that you have come from the outer world, but you don’t remember this. Do you have some memories from the outer world? Not only you don't have such memories, but you don’t even remember anything from the first year of your life. Do you remember anything from the first year of your childhood? You don’t. You don’t remember anything from your second or your third year even. Perhaps only in the fourth year of your childhood did your consciousness gradually start to awaken and as a result of this you have preserved some memories from that time. When you reason and analyse things in this way, you will see that there are some issues which are difficult to solve and which you'd better set aside. For instance, what would you write on the topic: “What is God?” Some would write that God is the Primary great force, which has created the world, which pervades the atoms and the molecules and which sets them into motion – this force has created the whole Cosmos, all the worlds, all the oceans, all the seas, etc. This isn't God. Others would write that God is Love. What does this Love consist of? When God, that is God’s Love, penetrates in man, he feels inside a warm, expanding feeling towards everything that is alive in the world. Such a person isn't narrow-minded, he sees things properly. Nothing is able to disturb his balance. They might rob him of his millions, they might deprive him of his houses – he wouldn’t wince. He knows that the warm and great feeling he has inside is worth more than any wealth in the world. When they rob him, he penetrates those who have robbed him and becomes a master again. When a certain form disintegrates, Life takes on another form, but this feeling remains. There is no form in the world that could limit this feeling. The problem is not that the form might disintegrate, but that the person may lose this feeling, that Love may abandon him. Anyone who has this feeling in him will remain quiet and calm even if he meets a bear on his way. Why? Because he would penetrate the bear with his consciousness, and the bear will surely step back. A person who has Love knows that the One lives within all beings. As long as you look at all people and all living beings as something separate from you, as something separate from your consciousness, you will always suffer. Then bears will attack you and people will cause you harm. You should look at all living beings as consciousness through which one and the same Life flows. There is one Life; one consciousness penetrates all living beings. Now I will give you one task, one experiment to do: to transform one of your sorrowful states into a joyful one. Imagine that you get up early in the morning and deep within yourself you feel a great sorrow. You feel like working – you don’t feel like working, you feel like talking with someone – you don’t feel like talking, you cannot stand anyone, you don’t love anyone. Your grief continues to increase and you reach a state of great despair. What should you do in this situation, how can you help yourself? Here is what you can do: for a moment remain quiet and calm within yourself and go over your sorrowful state in your consciousness. After that, try to transform this state of yours using the laws of harmony. If you succeed in achieving this, you will notice that a small amount of Joy penetrates your consciousness and your grief gradually weakens until it disappears completely. It means that Joy penetrates grief, so it disappears completely. Then you find out that there is no need for sorrow. If the opposite happens, then grief penetrates Joy and drives it away. Everyone has experienced this: today he wins one hundred leva and he is delighted, tomorrow he loses one hundred leva and feels sad. These weals and woes are temporary and transient but with their help people grow and evolve. These are experiences that each of you has passed through and continues to pass through every day. For example, you are a disciple in an occult School and you have thought of something nice and you are glad, you are satisfied with yourself. Then your Master comes to you and tells you that you don’t know a B from a bull’s foot, that you know nothing; immediately you believe him and you become disheartened, your mood changes. I am asking you – should the disciple get discouraged at once? If he has knowledge, can this knowledge disintegrate because of one word coming from his Master? Imagine that on your back you carry a rucksack with forty kilograms of gold; suppose that you meet an acquaintance of yours and he asks you: “What do you carry in your rucksack?” – “I carry forty kilograms of gold.” “You are mistaken, you haven’t got any gold in your rucksack.” – “Don’t I? I’ll prove it to you right now.” So you take your rucksack off your back and you start counting the gold. I say: this is what true Knowledge is. The one that has Knowledge cannot have doubts in it. So when they tell you that you know nothing, you should get your rucksack off your back and start examining your knowledge. The task of the occult School is to free disciples from the outdated views which have deposited in their consciousness from the past. The value of contemporary people’s views is similar to the value of paper money, of the banknotes that they use. For instance, at present gold is hidden and people use primarily paper money whose value decreases every day. So there is some uncertainty in the lives of people – some uncertainty which they should free themselves from. The same holds true about knowledge too. Some thoughts and ideas are stored in human subconsciousness which aren't real and which don't have positive value. For this purpose your consciousness should be stirred into action, so you can free yourself from your unreal knowledge and keep with you only the knowledge that comes from life experience. If you cannot help yourselves, then ask some friend of yours to help you. If he understands the laws, your friend will change your state and you will see that this knowledge which you used to attach great importance to before, is worth nothing today. We call these changes in your states occult massages. Contemporary medicine recommends massages. Occultism also recommends them, but under the condition that the disciple’s mind is focused and concentrated. Whatever experiments you do you should know that not all of them will be successful. If ten experiments out of one hundred are successful, they are enough to add something to your belief in the laws of Intelligent Nature. Let’s come back to our main idea - Life. Many people say that Life is motion. There is motion only where this pleasant inner feeling is at work – the feeling of Love towards all living beings. Wherever this feeling is at work, there is Life. When you get up in the morning you should experience this feeling inside you, so you can be positive, active, and have an impulse for work. This is what it means to feel the impulse of each living being, irrespective of whether it is higher or lower than you. The first law of Life is the law of polarities. This signifies that the circle, which represents the entirety of Life, is geometrically divided into two equal halves. The letter "ж", with which the word “живот” (Bulgarian for "life") begins, is composed of the two halves of this circle, which have been turned with their back sides towards each other and joined by the diameter of the circle. This movement continues to infinity. These curved lines are called parabolas. If a body moves along such a curved line, it will go to infinity. When a body starts from the right thumb and moves upwards along the forefinger, one year, ten years, one hundred, one thousand or more years later, it will come back through the left hand, descend along the forefinger and reach the thumb of the same hand. If you join the tips of both thumbs and both forefingers, they will form the shape of the human being. These two semicircles which form upon the opening of the thumbs and the forefingers of both hands represent the polarization of human life. Consequently, man has originated from the movement of these two circles. The circle itself represents the Divine consciousness in which the human being moves. This consciousness is a common centre for all movements. The second law through which Life unfolds is the law of descending and ascending. During descent a reduction takes place, whereas during ascent widening and increasing take place. At these two points the warm and tender feeling in a person diminishes at one moment and at another moment manifests itself again, i.e. at times it decreases, at other times it increases. This pleasant feeling lasts for one moment only, but when it is lost, a certain gap remains in human consciousness. Even the smallest reason is capable of bringing a person to a position where he loses this pleasant and beautiful feeling. However you can gain this feeling in the same way that you have lost it. Consequently you should conceive Life as a moment – it manifests itself within the realms of time and space, but it is beyond time and space. Therefore Life cannot be embraced - it can only be felt. That is why a person can only note that a certain feeling has appeared, or another one has disappeared, but he cannot define when exactly it happened. The moment in which Life manifests itself is beyond time and space. If you draw a straight line over the middle of a human face, the letter "ж" will be formed. This shows that the human face gets polarized, that it can be divided into two halves. In one of them feelings occupy the first place and thoughts are second. In the other part of the face it is exactly the opposite – thoughts are in the first place and feelings are second. When we talk about the human who is made of flesh, i.e. the human who descends, we mean that his feelings have gained mastery over reason. When we talk about the spiritual human, we mean that intelligent Life has supremacy over his feelings. This can be seen from the very face of a human. When someone's lower feelings take over his thoughts, the lower part of his face gets harder and broadens; if noble thoughts and feelings prevail in him, then the upper part of his face narrows and gets more delicate. This can be used as a diagnostic tool to determine the direction in which somebody's inner life moves. For one week you should make the following observation on yourself: when you wake up in the morning, observe carefully if this pleasant feeling is present inside you. It is a constant feeling and it is present in everyone, but you have to watch yourself, perceive it properly and distinguish it from other feelings. As long as you focus on yourselves, try to feel this pleasant feeling of Life, observe it without criticizing. Some of you will notice that this feeling manifests in your mind, others – that it manifests in your heart, while others still will notice it manifesting in their consciousness. If it is in their consciousness, they will perceive it as a small, tender, pleasant light. It comes out from the centre of their consciousness as an intelligent force. Even the lightest touch of this light, of this intelligence is enough to transform a person and make him perceive things with greater wisdom. This is what awakening of consciousness and wise living mean. When you fall into a gloomy state, this light centre gradually starts to darken and small black dots which are in constant movement begin to form around it. While they are moving, they cast a shadow over the bright beams of this centre. Now I wish for you as disciples of the occult school to live and to make use of your own experiences – not the experiences of other people. As long as you use your own life experience, you will sit on the Eternal cliff where no dangers or surprises are possible. If you don’t have your own experience, then everyone will be able to deceive and fool you. You might say for some things that they are real, and for others that they aren't real. I am asking: are you alive? If you are alive, if you are on the eternal cliff, everything is real there. This can be proven easily. How? Take the candle of your life and see if you can read with its light. – “I can't read.” Since you can't read, then you aren't inside Reality. Come to me now and see if you can read with the candle of my life. – “I can read.” Since you can read then both of us are in Reality. This Reality never changes. Martyrs, who have a well-developed sense of Life, never change. Tortures, persecutions and suffering aren't able to shatter them or make them hesitate – they always preserve their feeling of Joy. Therefore, when it comes to Life, you shouldn't look for it anywhere on the outside – neither in Space, nor in the Sun. Where is Life? It is inside you. If you want to find Life you need to concentrate on yourself. This feeling of Life that occultists call Divine consciousness moves with a very high speed. It moves with such a high speed that in a single moment you can go wherever you want to – the Sun, Sirius, Venus etc. Because this movement is absolute, it seems that it absorbs all remaining movements while its own movement remains unnoticed. Those of you who haven't had such an experience would say, “It might be so, but it might also not be so.” Some day, however, when you find this feeling inside you, then you will see how high the speed of its movement is. Then you will feel that the whole Universe, all living beings – from the smallest to the largest, from the tiny flies to the Angels are within you. This movement manifests everywhere – it is Life itself. I wish that this feeling manifests within you and that all of you recognize the Life inside you. Do the following experiment: watch yourself for a whole week and see if you can discern this feeling within yourself. You will surely find something. All the ancient schools have taught us that man cannot know the lives of other people unless he gets to know his own. You shouldn't think that your present life is bad. No, it is the best life that you can have now. For the time being you cannot be given a better life than your present one. Next time I will subject one of you to a test to see what he has learnt from the lecture. The disciples will use words to offend him, and we will see if he is able to transform these words. It is not easy to pass such a test. Of course, those who will be subjected to this test should have a strong back and be able to endure. Don’t think that you will do without such tests. All of you will pass through a sieve. This test is scary! It is a whole operation which requires great composure. When they want to put somebody to the test they place him in a retort and there the tests begin. Once they see themselves in a retort, or lying on the operating table, many of you will say, "We never thought that these people who are so noble could treat us with such cruelty.” You should know that in the occult School the following morale is applied: they start badly and they finish things well. As long as the end result is positive, then the actions are considered moral. For us it is the end results which are important. You shouldn't think that we want you to give up your life. Not at all - we just want to show you the shortest route; we want to set in motion everything that has been deposited into your souls and remained there as potential for ages; we want all the seeds and forces within you to be developed and cultivated. If this is not achieved, then given the way you are living now, at some point you will stumble and come to a halt in your development. This is the reason why the occult schools have been kept hidden from people. Why? Because without understanding the laws, due to their curiosity people have caused them great mischief. They have done what some people still do to blossoming trees today: some person passes by a tree in bloom and without thinking much reaches out and breaks off a branch. After ten people break off a branch each, the tree becomes crippled. When a person does experiments there is a danger that after several people pass him by, each of them might break off a branch and cause him some harm. That is why Christ was telling His disciples that they should beware of swine. When the trees are blossoming, enjoy their scent from a distance, but don't touch their blossoms. Such is the great law of Nature. Now here is an analogy: when a school or university student is interested in the subject his teacher or professor is teaching, then the latter behaves especially well; if the student is careless about his lessons, then the professor is careless towards him, too. In the same way, as soon as we show an interest in this important psychological moment in Life, the Beings who are superior to us and who have completed their evolution, begin to show interest in us and to help us. An inner connection is established between their consciousness and ours. These Beings are close to you, but in order to feel them your consciousness needs to awaken and the tender feeling of Life to manifest inside you. Then you will feel that there is Life where you haven’t even imagined; you will feel that this Life is intelligent – something you haven’t thought of so far. Intelligent forces will then begin to flow in from places you haven't expected. This will be the result of your first experiment. In that case if you have decided to go, let’s say, to Musala, one of these intelligent Beings will start talking to you and determine the programme of your trip. It will tell you what time you should start, what paths to take, it will even tell you where you will meet a bear, so that you don’t get scared, etc. You start for Musala and everything happens as you were told. After that you will be told that you will meet an old man who will stop you and start a conversation with you; further on you will meet a beautiful young woman who will only smile at you. So you keep walking and indeed everything happens as predicted. When you get back home you remember all this and say, “Does anyone really talk to me?” Yes, of course someone talks to you. This Being makes a second attempt, then a third attempt with you; it says, “You will go to such and such a place, you will dig there and you will find a treasure. After that you will go further into the forest and after walking for ten kilometres you will dig in the soil at this particular place and you will find a valuable manuscript. You will find out the key to this manuscript and read it." I am asking now, is this an illusion or reality? – Whatever it says to you always comes true. When the spirits talk to you, however, nothing happens as they say – nothing comes true. When the intelligent higher Beings talk to you then everything turns out to be absolutely true without any exceptions. Finally, after you have done these experiments, your friend will tell you; “Be careful in your life because we see everything. Be careful in your thoughts, wishes and actions, because we know everything.” Then you will believe in this feeling inside you and will have gained valuable experience. And again you will hear the voice of your friend: “Always be cautious!” Secret prayer Source

The Occult Music 4 th lecture of the General Class, 2 year. Oct. 22, 1922. I will give you a brief explanation about the occult music. The occult music differs from the common music with the following two characteristics. In the occult music are first given the basic features. It is something like sketching: an artist will draw first the nose, the brows, the eyes, the mouth, the ears — the basic lines and then will gradually develop the picture. We are proceeding in the same way so that you may learn how gradually the music develops, beca use there is nothing that grows up at once in nature. Tonight we will develop another part of the song "living power, springing, flowing"; a new addition, because the song is not yet finished. In the occult music it is not acceptable to have words or tunes with two meanings. In it every word must have only one meaning. If you sing a word with some vibrations you may have a good idea, but when you express it in your subconsciousness the idea will enter which these sounds contain. Now you will learn without criticizing because I do now only the sketching of the basic lines. The words may sound to you somewhat funny but there is nothing comical in them. I am choosing old words. For example for tonight I am choosing the following musical sonorous words: Venir, Benir, Bikhar Benoum II beyout, il bezoot Om beyout II bezoot Om beyoot Zoon mezoon, zoon mezoon benom too meto The mystic meaning of these words is approximately the following: Thou, the Great one, who blesses everyone and everything, be blessed! Lord, bless the great, bless youth, the beginning of life. Bless the young, sprouting divine life. Bless the divine that is conceived in the soul — the Breath of God that we have received in the beginning. These words being in an occult language cannot be translated word by word. For example I will take the following words in the Bulgarian language: The sun is rising, it sends forth light that brings joy to life. These are words with an occult meaning. Now if you want common poetry here we have an example. I gave these words to a friend of ours to interpret them in the spoken language, (The song was read as it was interpreted by our friend Grandpa Blago.) This is ordinary poetry. I explained right away to our friend what mistakes he has made. These are not grammatical mistakes but rather from the occult point of view: the Bulgarian word "obronvam" has two meanings: one meaning is ""shed" (leaves, tears), and the second is "injure" (the prestige of someone). He has used it in the following metaphore: "We shall shed a kind word." The second word with two meanings cannot be well explained and interpreted. Each word must have one and only one meaning. This way I would want you to uproot all old habits. When the words start to vibrate in you all the dust that you have accumulated over the centuries, all your habits will jump away as does the dust when you beat the drum. Now we don't know how to free ourselves. The occult music is one method for freeing. Everywhere, even in the most distant past music was being used, but the religious people have misused it. From the point of view of the occult we want to apply music scientifically in all its fullness. Basically it is very simple outside but for the world — very complicated. Besides, when you perform this music you must have the disposition of a child. You step forward to sing a song and say "I am an old person". What does "old" man mean? If saying that you are an old man you mean that you are feable, weak, let us be frank and accept this truth. Yet if by this word you mean that you have become wise — let it be so, but there should not exist two meanings about it. If by the word "young" you understand foolish, a child that takes advantage to have certain shortcomings, then in this sense neither old nor young are in their proper place. We must always avoid all negative words. When you come to the school of the occult do not permit your mind to keep words with two meanings, if possible keep all words with negative meaning on the outside; you must not cast them away, we may have some use for them, but we will not permit them to enter our parlor or our living room. We will tell them "you do not possess the required value". Further, in the music of the occult one must apply feeling. This music does not permit any wavering in the voice, as some do. Does this come from the depth of the soul, if this trembling indicates noble feelings then you may tremble, but if it means nothing, why should you tremble then? This is a lie, falsehood. This way you create a certain diversion that may cause a catastrophy as a result. Nature does not tolerate deviations. Do not believe that if nature sometimes closes its eyes that it does not observe everything and that you may cheat nature. When it catches you and takes you into its laboratory, you come out from its other end completely purified, but you will have to pass through at least 10 retorts. This is a general law, it is unchangeable, there are no exceptions for anyone. When I speak about nature I have in mind the manifestations of nature. To me nature is the manifestation of God in life. Because God had begun to manifest He will never agree with our childish concepts and change the order of things. Those things that now exist have been tested over and over again. He has examined everything not only once but thousand times. The world that He has created is the best possible world that God has chosen from the experience of the past centuries. He has created this world as one of the best worlds. This does not say that better worlds will not exist, but for the present conditions this is one of the most beautiful ones. At the present conditions of the whole of creation, of the boundless creation, this world is one of the best, i.e. when I say that it is one of the best I understand that in it are existing all conditions and possibilities for a proper development. There exists no power that could cause us to run off the rails. No one exists who could force us to do wrong. We err because of our own will. I speak to you as disciples, I want you to be strong, to stay away from temptations° He who can be tempted has a weak character, his will has the quality of iron, of granite. Why do people get tempted? For example there is a beautiful woman. God has created this woman so that people can enjoy seeing her. One man wants to possess her; another, too, wants to appropriate her. I ask, why should not people enjoy looking at her? God has created this monument so that everyone who passes by can be glad. The Turks say "It is good for one to observe beauty." This statue is exhibited so that people may look at it and improve their own taste. Someone wants to possess this statue and steals it. If the statue is big, he would not be able to take it, but if it is small and made of gold, he simply takes it. I ask, is the statue or he who has stolen it to be blamed? If one catches him, he will say, "some devil has stolen it". Where is the devil? The devil is in us, The desire to possess the statue, to sell it, to gain a pleasure, all this comes from the devil. We speak only about facts, but behind these facts exist instigating reasons. They may be conscious, or subconscious, they may be simple like a weapon. Several people may come together with the intention to steal but one person is the stimulator, the real factor, and the others express it. By studying the occult music you will sing: This is a method for rejuvenation. We need to bring music into our thoughts and emotions, this harmony that will make us feel deep in ourselves something singing, as if we can hear this harmony. This is a condition that will soothe our hearths and our minds, and will give a new direction to our thoughts. You may say: "God will send His Spirit and He will accomplish this or that". Well, are you sure that when the Spirit starts doing it, you will not start to complain, asking God if He could not do this in a different way? He have strange conceptions of things and sometimes we even would want to advise God how He should have created the world. The people who have created music were very intelligent. Music itself is a deep sphere of Creation. These people have understood the divine laws and have expressed this creativity through music. These laws cannot be changed. When the vibrations of the tunes are decreased we have one kind of music, when they are intensified, we have a different kind of music. Music is expressed according to the feelings. Religious people have adopted music for the expression of their religious feelings. Those who want to express their worldly feelings have applied music for worldly purposes. Everyone has used music for his own purpose. Yet the purpose of music is to educate and ennoble man. I would not want someone to come to the class here and to say: "What are these people doing here! They do not pray but some are playing instruments, others are singing. Are these people disciples of the school of the occult?" You will keep away such people that come with the intention to criticize. Now write down the words of the new occult exercise: Izgriava sluntseto The sun rises Prashta svetlina It brings light Nosi radost za zhivota tia. And the light brings joy for life. We will make an experiment: one person will sing alone the exercise and after that the other will sing: Sila zhiva, izvorna, techoushta (living power, welling, flowing). The exercise is still not finished. Do not be hasty! I am teaching you how to build occult songs„ (The Master sang alone Izgriava sluntseto … and we all sang after that Sila zhiva, izvorna techoushta.) After we master these exercises we will give a concert and will make an experiment by introducing here and there these exercises, so that we may be able to see what the results of the occult music will be. Now, write down these words: Venir Benir, Bikhar Benum, il biout, il bisout. Write also the word "sy-mou-tou-sy" which will be an exercise. Now we will sing first sy-mou-tou-sy with the following tones: sol, si, re, sol, since the exercise "Venir-Benir" is more complicated, when we sing sy-mou-tou-sy first normally and then gradually with lowering and raising our voices the first exercise will become easier for us. After that we will sing "The sun is rising". You are singing like students in school, aren't you? After we will sing it one more time I want to see if you have memorized it. (We sang the whole song.) Let those of you who cannot sing listen until this song penetrates into their consciousness. As the words are arranged there is a certain meaning which is absolute. What brings light? Light brings living power like a welling spring. Each word is in its place; whatever you may think, it is a power, the power of light. Sing now silently "The sun is rising." (We all sang.) In the words "Zoun-mezoun" is to be found the secret meaning. In these words is the inner meaning of all things. "The sun rises, it brings light", these things are far away from us. In the words: "living power, welling, flowing" we can experience the power from within, but the light we can try to experience only through our eyes. Therefore the first part of the song is the preparation; a man must be prepared and this takes a long period of time. For this reason this exercise is not yet completed. I am interpreting the music of the occult into modern language, We are moving in a reverse way. Before the words "Living power, welling, flowing" we must place other words, as does an artist, so that the whole exercise may be completed. The first part is the preparation, the second part is the part of action, it expresses that which does the building. "Zoun-mezoun" is then the meaning — the result of that which has been built. When I was explaining to you these words tonight the weather was beautiful but now it has become slightly humid. The humid weather is not good for the music of the occult, it makes the vibrations slightly unfavourable. Now you can sing these four syllables: sy-mou-tou-sy and exercise with them. Have you remembered them? The tones are: sol, si, re, sol. If you sing these tones with their common sounds: sol, si, re, sol they lack occult significance. With the sounds "sy-mou-tou-sy" the meaning is different. Let's sing three times "sy-mou-tou-sy" and the fourth time we will keep singing the last vowel longer. Music is expressed through the same organs as speech, the same membrane in the throat which serves for speech serves also for singing. Therefore singing and speech are brother and sister because they come from the same center. For this reason this membrane must be used constantly for singing. The first thing that happens to a man who comes in touch with the Black Lodge is the harshening of the voice. When the voice becomes harsh the membrane becomes altered, the character of a man changes also because these vibrations are very sensitive. Place in your mind the thought that you are mobilized and say to yourself: "I am mobilized by divine music and I cannot sing but according to all the regulations of divine music." Implant this thought in your mind because this is most valuable. Do not permit anyone to get hold of your throat. When you sing you must be very free. Do not pay attention to what people may say. You may stop and sing even in the center of town. People may think that something is wrong with you but you say to yourself: "I do not care what people say because I sing according to the divine way. If people are courageous to sit in taverns and drink beer, I will be courageous to sing in a divine way. Why should I be the fool and you the right one." This is an important decision. Some among you may think that a certain decency must be observed. I agree that in the world there are certain rules but we have left the frame of common decency. We do things which are very decent. Go to a place where there are many people, where you have friends and start singing. Maybe now you have in your mind certain second thoughts but after ten years you will go out into reality and sing. When you decide to do something the sacrifice which you make must be worth it, it must bring respective fruit. This is an exercise for you to become courageous. You are afraid but this fear must disappear. I would recommend to you to go into the woods to loosen up and sing as loud as you can. Give expression to your emotions. Now when we sing somewhere you think what will this man say, what will the other man say. We can sing also very silently. I am for the inner spiritual freedom. Every one of you must have spiritual freedom. When you sing do not raise your voice, rather listen to yourselves to be sure that you take the correct tones. I have a second violin which I have been lending to different violinists but they said that they cannot play it. I will bring it with me next time to class. I must put into it a certain element of softness. When I put this vital power into the second violin this violin will not play well, because I will take this vital power from this violin and put it in the other violin. In the violin as well as in everything we can put this vital power and it will become alive. We can put into a violin our double and it will penetrate all the pores, at will penetrate into the whole violin. This way the violin has a special voice with fine vibrations. Great violinists and pianists do this. Singers that sing well bring into their larynx, into their soul this special softness. If you could put into your voice this element of vitality you will have a perfect voice and everyone will like to listen to you. But our soul must enter into our larynx. The soul must go everywhere. If the soul enters into the larynx we will sing well, if it enters in our head we will think well. You must know how to tell your soul where to go and it will listen to you. Say: "I want you in my throat." — Good, as you wish, what is your next desire? — Go into my mind I wish to think well. Yet you say "Please, if you wish go into my mind." No, this is not right. You must say definite words, for example say: "Go into my throat to sing for me a beautiful song as you know how to do this." It will sing such a song and you will have a recollection from the past. The soul sings. And now, when the poor soul wants to sing you interfere, saying: "I know that you have the desire to sing but my son is sick and you may disturb him." No, if the soul starts to sing your son will be cured. But you say to your soul: "Please do not sing because my husband is not well disposed." Do not interfere with your rational soul in its manifestations! Every desire, every impulse must be sacred as are sacred the thoughts and desires of God. There is no exception. Because the strivings of the divine soul in us are sacred, and every impulse, whatever it may be, is sacred, too. In the soul everything is noble. You cannot have any doubts. All the soul's impulses are noble, sacred, pure, holy. To every sacred impulse in the world there is one exactly opposite, a reverse impulse. A man has two souls. A noble desire appears in a man and immediately comes the so called evil soul. It will make you walk in the opposite way. This has been proven by experience. I believe that of those who are here every one has made this experience. Therefore, in the school of the occult observation of the laws is required. You must keep the divine laws. When you come to them you will say: "This is a law!" After you have made an experiment and have attained the result you may contemplate, you may ponder over this result. When you have made something you may explore to find what it is made of. But as long as it is not accomplished do not touch it. You can take your watch apart and see how it is made, but as long as your watch is not ready yet you are not supposed to touch it. And so, music is one of the great resources in the world. With it you can attune yourselves. We will use music as a weapon, artillery, machine-gun fire. We will not use music for enjoyment only but as a protection. What does the psalmist say? "Praise the Lord with guitars and with cymbals." I would add to it: with violins, with trumpets, with zithers and all the instruments that are now available „When the Bulgarians see a violin they think that only the devil can play it. For them the bagpipe is more honored and the bagpipe-player has a higher esteem than the violinist. I do not know why, but this is true. There is also this saying that the violinist cannot take care of a home. To me this is right, because the violinist who does not look after a house is a violinist! He is devoted to his violin. If he would put his mind into the home he would not look for the violin. Being absorbed in the violin he says: "Let someone else look after the house, I will make people happy. Those that are sad I will make joyous, those that are sick I will cure." For this reason, we, too, need music. These are short remarks about music. Let's now read some of what you have written on the crying of little children. (Some of the papers were read.) Not all of you have written your paper. Nor did you write a resume on the works of the class. Write only on the core of the theme — on the crying — only the basic aspects, but all of you must write, even maybe only two words, but they should be written. Someone may say: "I cannot write." Write two words even if they are nonsense, but write. If you say that you cannot write you remain in a negative position. Some of you come to the class without having written their themes. This is not right. Here in this school such disobedience is not accepted. The crying is the first exercise in music. This is enough. But it must be true crying, because I have observed some children that do not know how to cry. A child that cries truly makes the first exercising in music. A child that only whimpers and does not know how to cry wants to say: "How should I begin this song?" when it brings out a tone it is not musical. True crying is the first musical exercise! In this respect the tears help. Some children scream, get red but do not shed tears, their eyes bulge out, they try and cannot come to true crying. If the mother is not there this attempt for crying can come to a true crying and after a while they fall asleep. In fact there exist songs and exercises like for example this with the syllables "sy-mou-tou-sy" if they are sung in a monotonous way one can fall asleep. Variety is necessary. One must sing with small interruptions (the master sings stacatto) and then legato. As soon as the vibrations become monotonous one can fall asleep. All states must interchange. The tone "si" is a soft tone. When God sent Moses to Pharaoh what did he say to Pharaoh? —"Sy", "symou". When you say "mou" this tone is very strong at the end. In it there are two movements. The "U" in the occult science has a double movement, one movement is downward and the other — upward. What is the difference between "mo" and "mu"? Have you noticed when you sing the sound "mou" which organ of the throat participates, and which one for the sound "mo"? (The Master sings the exercise "sy-mou-tou-sy" separately but very silently.) You must sing with zeal (ardor). Make observations upon your own condition. For example if you are mentally ill-disposed, make an analysis. Take your watch and start to repeat this exercise and see after how many minutes this condition will change. Sometimes your mood must change and sometimes not. Yet when this energy comes to a point close to bursting and collects in one part of your body we must then stop this explosion, we must give a way of this energy to be used for the accomplishment of some work. Modern men suffer from accumulation of energy. Sometimes this energy gathers in your mouth, sometimes on the tip of your nose, sometimes in your ears. If you only touch such a man's nose immediately this energy will manifest. You could touch such a man everywhere else but not his nose. Others accumulate energy on the upper or lower side of their hand. When this energy collects it may cause explosion, a morbid state. Often certain diseases are caused due to such accumulation of this energy. It is rough and it causes these depositions. The depositions are due to the electrical currents. When the vibrations are coarser this semi-organic matter collects around the joints and when the weather changes the muscles contract, as a result we have at that point occurring some pressure, some friction. These semi-organic matters being solid when they pass through the tissues create friction, gradually inflammation, a chemical reaction occurs and as a result we have swelling. I would proceed to explain to you these processes but I feel that your minds are too critical. For example if I give you a password: "Could you give us another formula?" No, you need will power in order to fulfill an experiment. A friend of mine, a healthy, young man told me the following: "I was given the assignment to write on a certain problem but suddenly I had acute pains in my appendicitis. I had such pains! I started looking for a doctor but from within I listened to something telling me: 'Say to your appendicitis that you are mobilized, that you serve God and that the pain must leave you, that the time was not proper for it to manifest, since it is my time now for that.' Half an hour later the pain disappeared." Who was the cause of that? If he did not speak to the pain in such a resolute way he would have been sick at least for three weeks, with all the complications, the visits of doctors, etc You must say to the disease when it comes: "Listen, friend, I am mobilized! This is it! I live in a divine world where all "beings live in harmony what do you want from me? Go out!" The sickness is a being. Modern doctors are funny. When a swelling occurs they immediately cut it. Now, these things which I am explaining to you should not be taken into the outside world because to those people things must be explained in their own language and according to their concepts. We cannot speak to modern men of science about rational worlds, or rational powers because superficially they act mechanically, automatically. If you should tell these people that you understand these powers you will not be considered an intelligent person. They say: "This is not true." These people cannot believe us. When you go deep into understanding man you will see that two currents flow mostly through the feet in and out. Sometimes the toes are open, or rather in the ethereal double which is connected with the physical body there are certain openings. Some beings can enter through the feet and move in one way. There are currents that enter through the nose. For example a being enters in you to investigate your body and after that cannot go out. When it examines your body it finds a nice place, it likes it there and builds for itself a little home and says: "I will not leave this place, it is nice and I will make for myself a little home." It starts to break up your substances and as a good mason it knows what to use for building its home. You must say to it: "Listen, friend, you cannot build here. Have you asked for permission? Have you mobilized yourself? You must stop with the building! In the name of the great divine law which governs the world you have come as a guest and must leave „ If you do not obey I will find ways to dispose with you according to all the rules which I know." And it goes. Yet we are afraid when something like that happens. How? We call the doctor and when he examines the sick he shakes his head indicating that the condition of the patient is very serious. Modern men are hypnotized. How? The sick man sits and looks at the doctor. The last one checks the pulse. Again he shakes his head and says: "The pulse is irregular."—The poor man wonders what could this indicate. "There is a heart failure," — Failure? He is all scared and his heart begins to beat even faster. The doctor gives a prescription and immediately someone rushes to the pharmacy. This is funny, heart failure! There is no such thing. I can make everyone of you to have such a heart failure. There certainly exists the danger for heart failure. In occult medicine the true symptoms exist which indicate if the heart has a certain organic damage or not. He who studies the occult medicine will find this out. The symptoms appear by themselves on the nails. For example when one becomes sick from tuberculosis there are certain signs which appear on the nails, also. Correct diagnosis of the character of a disease can be made also within one hundred and ninety days. Now comes the doctor and checks the tongue, it is white which indicates that the stomach does not function well. He checks the eyes, they are yellow. This indicates that the liver has a malfunction. The tongue, the eyes — not normal. The third method for checking is counting the pulse — irregular. It indicates also some irregularity in the function of the heart. Well, what is wrong with the heart? The nerve which regulates the heartbeat is defective. There is a break there and sometimes this break slows down and another time it loosens a little and the heart starts to beat fast and one can become afraid. You must say to your heart in this case: "Listen, friend, it is a law that the heart of a man must make seventy-two beats in the minute and you must be obedient." You will repair the break and will not permit any more beats because in the present conditions of life in which we live seventy-two beats are enough. When you meet a man who loves you, you will say to him "Friend you can loosen your brake and make your heart beat seventy-four times a minute." When a person comes to your house whom you love you will say to yourself "Let my heart beat seventy-five times in a minute, even more." You will inform it that when the heart beats more often accumulation of energy will occur at certain places. At present the human heart does not pulsate regularly. You have not made experiments to observe how the heart pulsates and how many changes there are in the way it pulsates. This is a whole science! If you made some research in this you could notice yourselves the changes but when you do not understand this science there is a chance that you may get afraid. When you make your observations you will find how many kinds of currents there exist, how the pulsation of the whole cosmos occurs, how the flows of energy occur in nature. The heart indicates the pulsating of the whole universe. And, according to our heart we may define what kind of flows occur at a certain point on earth. This is a whole science. For this kind of study one must be very sensitive. At the end of the fingers exist certain swellings in the form of tentacles. These must be developed considerably to become very sensitive so that they may notice these flows. When the sensitiveness of the nervous system becomes excessively developed little swellings, very fine organic swellings are formed. With such refined sensitivity one can feel with the slightest touch these currents. Let's now return to music. You must begin to sing in order to be able to tune yourselves. After that we will proceed to the second exercise which is "Venir-Benir." At this point I must warn you to keep separate the songs of the occult. You must not mix the occult exercises with ordinary music. These exercises are to be sung at special occasions. There is certain time when these exercises will be sung so that you may have respective results. You cannot sing them all the time. You must be very serious about the singing of the occult music. With the ordinary singing it does not matter when you sing but when you sing occult music your consciousness must be awakened, there must not exist any splits in the consciousness. If we sing this way we can achieve in one year very good results. You must protect these exercises. Now I am presenting to you the following theory and we will apply it experimentally in the most elementary things. Sing the song "The sun rises, it brings light," Singing with the necessary concentration as I indicated above our sun will come to rise. When I say that our sun will come to rise I do not imply the external sun but there exists another sun that brings inner light. We do not sing to the physical sun. When our inner sun rises it brings us its light that brings joy to our life. Then comes the living power, that wells up and flows. These are symbols. They indicate that you enter the world of reality. If it was a question to criticize, there is not a stricter critic than I am. I have noticed that when I speak some criticize my way of expression. If we would "begin to criticize precisely I would come with such a criticism about the Bulgarian language that maybe only 250 will remain. Only two hundred and fifty words will remain and these will be the roots of the language with which something rational may be expressed. Now we can use a number of words and will achieve no results at all. Many preachers and clergymen speak but where are the results? They cannot have any results. For this reason when a translation is made of the Scripture a man must understand very well the language of the occult to understand the words in their deep meaning. My intention is to interpret exactly according to the original. In the Scripture some ideas have been translated to such an extent literally that if the prophet or Christ would appear they would wonder about the inventiveness of the mind of these interpreters, how it was possible for them to distort the thoughts and say that which none of these men have ever dreamed nor have these things come to their minds. And modern men say: "This is the most accurate translation according to the original." The interpreter has translated it wrong and then comes someone else after him, reads the Scriptures and says: "Thus has been written in the Scriptures." — Have you been able to verify the translation with the original? — "No, but the Spirit has told me." The Spirit has spoken to him yet he continues to cite the same wrong translation. This is not right! Even I have been thinking sometimes what other word to use instead of love. The only powerful word in the Bulgarian language is "blagost" which is sweetness, the natural sweetness of honey or fruit. When something is sweet it cannot be bitter. Yet what is love? This word has no roots, it has no symbol. What means love we do not know, where it derives from, we do not know. The Bulgarian word equal to love "obich" has also no root. We do not know wherefrom it originates. The word "blagost", something sweet, is a very strong word. When we find such words about which we have experience, in us are generated such thoughts and ideas which function rationally. For example in music there are certain tones (the Master sings "the sun rises", "izgriava sluntseto") which are very harmonious, after that follow such tones in the song which are not that harmonious but this is because of the nature of the language. The other tones come because of the words. Each word must express an image. "The sun rises" —this is a festive, ideal moment. In the occult exercises there is always an image. All European languages, whichever you may take, lack important elements for the interpretation of the occult exercises. At present there are some musicians in France who make experiments to interpret the ordinary music into occult. They begin to compose occult songs, but the last ones are arranged in a very special way. After some time we will have occult music which will bring something completely new. Now you must be ready! Such musicians exist and in them the occult music will be born. You must study theory of music. Silent prayer. Source

Psychic Observation Year 2, Lecture 3 of the Youth Occult Class (Special Class) given by the Master Beinsa Douno on October 18, 1922, Wednesday 19.00h, Sofia Secret prayer The disciples' essays on the topic “The Distinguishing Characteristics of Life” were read. I will now give you a psychic exercise. You will all take out your notebooks or notepads and write down the title of the exercise: ”Psychic Observation”. The exercise is not difficult, but it isn't easy either. You need to do the exercise on an empty stomach. Exercise: hold your left hand up, with your fingers spread and bring your palm against your face. Place the index finger of your right hand on the index finger of your left hand (their tips should be touching). Observe the thought which passes through your mind at that moment, and note it down concisely, using two or three words only. It is possible that no thought passes through your mind – this shouldn't bother you. Observe whether your thought is pleasant or not, whether it is negative or positive. If it is negative, mark it with a black dot; if it is positive – with a light-coloured dot. You should be sincere in your observations, noting things as they are in reality without feeling embarrassed about it. For instance, you travel from Sofia to the village of Dragalevtzi. You see all kinds of things on both sides of the road, left and right. If you want to give an accurate description of the road, you will note everything as you saw it, without embarrassment. Do not think that if you state a given fact as it is in reality, you will look bad. This fact doesn't represent yourself; it is something separate from you. As you put your index fingers together so that their tips are touching, you should concentrate your thought for a minute. After that you will place your index finger on the middle finger of your left hand and you will again concentrate for a minute; you will observe what thought passes through your mind. Then you will place your index finger on the fourth finger of your left hand, then on the little finger, and finally - on the thumb. You will hold your index finger on each finger for a minute, observing your thoughts as before, and noting them in your notebook. As you do this exercise, you will notice that there is specific cosmic energy coming out of each finger. Each finger is a channel for a particular type of energy, a specific current. When the index finger goes through all the fingers of the left hand, you will put your hands together so that only the tips of your fingers are touching. When your hands are in this position, you will think positive thoughts. Do this exercise twice a day – in the morning and in the evening at no predetermined hour, but mostly after you have finished the work you had planned. This is the first part of the exercise. The second part of the exercise differs slightly from the first one in the following way: you hold the right hand up, fingers spread, palm against the face. The index finger of the left hand supports the index finger of the right hand, but this time at the middle point of the finger, not at the tip. When your fingers are in this position, you will concentrate your mind for about ten to twenty seconds. After that, the middle finger of the left hand will support the middle finger of the right hand and you will once again concentrate your mind. Then the fourth finger of the left hand will support the fourth finger of the right hand and so on. You will concentrate your mind for ten to twenty seconds when supporting each finger. While holding all your fingers in this position, you will raise your hands above your head, concentrate your mind for some time, and then bring your hands down. You will do that three times, then bring your hands down, but the last time they will separated from each other. You will do this exercise for a week – this means a total of fourteen times. When you do this exercise, you will observe the manifestations of your consciousness and the extent to which it is awake and expanded. Take this exercise seriously. Do it when you are by yourself, not in front of people, so that they don't spoil it. If somebody sees that you are holding one of your fingers up, he or she will say, “This person is calculating something.” When they see that you are holding two fingers up, they will wonder what it is that you are doing. The two arms of man were formed under different conditions: the right arm – during the involution* of man, whereas the left one – during his evolution. So when humans were coming down from the Invisible world, most of the energy was passing through their right arm. However, this energy had first passed through the left half of the brain, then – through the heart, and lastly – through the mind. You will be very careful when you do this exercise, and you will observe what changes take place in your consciousness. It is possible that no changes happen – this shouldn't discourage you. The exercise is interesting in itself even if you don't expect much from it. Such movement of the fingers is nothing other than music. In the future it will be possible to create such an esoteric instrument that could be played. This exercise has a practical application. When you are feeling down and risk losing your balance, do this exercise a few times until you restore your normal state. You should reflect on your thoughts while touching each finger. When you touch your index finger, you will say to yourself, “I must be noble in all my deeds!” When you touch your middle finger, you will say to yourself, “I must be just, to reason correctly about all things in Life!” When touching the fourth finger, you will say to yourself, “I must love science and art!” When touching the little finger, you will say to yourself, “I must be equitable in all my business deals, to comply with all the laws of the material world!” Therefore you will make yourself the master of your objective mind and you will say to it, “Listen, I want you to be a noble, just, reasonable servant, do not lie to me or steal from me, and finalize your deals properly. If you don't follow these instructions, I will fire you.” This is how you will converse with yourself, with your objective mind. When it realizes that it has a good, reasonable master, the objective mind is always ready to listen. There are two minds manifest in a person, but the Higher mind should rule over the objective mind. It is the objective mind that dominates in animals, which is why they are cruel. It is the subjective mind that dominates in herbivorous animals. The Bible calls these two minds “the two men” – the man of Flesh and the man of Spirit, who always live together. When you do the exercise you should also think about the planets that correspond to each of the fingers. The thumb, for example, is influenced by Venus, the index finger – by Jupiter, the middle finger – by Saturn, the fourth finger – by the Sun, and the little finger – by Mercury. Once you complete both parts of the exercise, you will do the following movement of the fingers: you will place the right index finger on the tip of the left little finger and you will slide the index finger down the hand, all the way to the wrist; from there you will slide it up to the tip of the fourth finger; from there again down to the wrist and up to the tip of the middle finger; from the tip of that finger, the index finger slides down to the wrist and then up to the tip of the left index finger; from there down and up to the tip of the thumb. In this way the right index finger will go to all the planets, passing through Mars – the planet of war, and the Moon – the planet of the imagination. The fingers of the hand should be spread apart. When you do the exercise, it is good to note the exact hour, minute and second you started it. This exercise requires great precision because it is connected with time and space. It is preferable that you do that according to the sun clock. Those who are sensitive may do the exercise the moment the first sun rays appear on the horizon. It is then that you will have excellent results. Whoever is sensitive can turn their backs to the east and feel when the first sun rays appear. Exactly at that moment, they will feel slight pleasant warmth in the Solar plexus. The spine is capable of perceiving the warmth of the first sun rays since it is connected to the sympathetic nerve system. Someday we could do the following experiment: in the morning before sunrise, the whole class will go out in the open, turn their backs to the east and concentrate. Everyone needs to be blindfolded at the time in order not to be able to see. I will be on the watch to see when the first sun rays appear. I will be asking you from time to time if the Sun has risen. Those, who are sensitive and have sensed that slight warmth in the Solar plexus, will immediately say, “The Sun has risen!” Everyone can do these experiments on their own and test their sensitivity. Sometimes you sense that warmth, but you doubt whether the Sun has risen or not. Every doubt causes a split of consciousness. As soon as your consciousness splits, you lose your inner impressions. * Involution is a term used by the Master Beinsa Douno which means the opposite of evolution. Source

Distinctive Qualities of the Will Year 2, Lecture 2 of the Youth Occult Class (Special Class) given by the Master Beinsa Douno on October 11, 1922, Sofia Without fear! Without darkness! Secret prayer For next time, please write on the following topic: "Distinctive features of Life". What are the distinctive qualities of the will? The first quality of the will is firmness. Firmness is the supporting pillar of the will. So the will has to be as firm and unwavering as a crag. The second quality of the will is bravery and fearlessness. The third quality of the will is the ability to apply things in practice, to bring them to realization, but without procrastination. Often a negative thought would come to a person's mind. Can't the manifestation of will stop the person in his act? When we talk about will, we have its positive manifestations in mind. The negative displays of will are accidents. If a train stops in the middle of the track, this is an accident. Its stops are pre-determined - from one station to another. Every stop which is different from the specified ones isn't part of the timetable of the train. Therefore firmness, bravery, fearlessness, and ability to apply things in practice are necessary qualities for the will to manifest itself in the physical world. In addition to the physical world, the will manifests in the mental world as well. The distinctive qualities of the will in the mental world are understanding, realizing, grasping, and sensing. What you have understood, you will realize; what you have realized, you will grasp, what you have grasped, you will sense. Can you go from the stage of grasping to that of understanding? No, you will walk in a consecutive fashion. One of the distinctive qualities of the will in the Divine world is its nobility - the will must be noble and be motivated a noble impulse, a noble stimulus. When you know the distinctive qualities of the will in three different worlds, you will be able to influence your body, your heart, and your brain. For example, understanding, realizing, grasping and sensing are methods through which you can influence the front part of your brain. The closer a certain brain centre is to the physical world, the bigger the influence it is subjected to from the physical qualities of the will - firmness, bravery, fearlessness without procrastination. The development of the upper part of the brain, i.e. the development of moral feelings can be achieved through noble stimulus, which is brought about by compassion, truthfulness, love of God and love of the fellow men. The human body serves as a tool for exercising the will. In order to come into contact, into direct communication or proper exchange with the powers of Nature, by all means you need to know how to control your body. The organs in the body have to be under the control of the will. People make volitional and non-volitional movements, their bodies have volitional and non-volitional functions which shows that many things don't depend on their will. For example palpitation, thoughts, feelings are outside of the control of human will. The science of the occult offers a number of methods for controlling human thoughts and feelings. As much as people may deny the fact that thoughts and feelings are out of the control of the will, this can be proved easily: it is enough for somebody to pierce you with a needle and you would jump immediately and change your mental state, even reach a point of explosion. Exploding, getting angry are processes which are out of the will's control. They are processes of fermentation. Each fermentation process is due to a special kind of bacteria which causes souring. Many similar bacteria exist in the physical, as well as in other words. In order to free yourselves from the influence of these bacteria, you need to exercise your will and thus affect the brain, especially the power of imagination. The brain must be under the will's control. Imagination represents the opening in the dark room, the camera obscura, which needs to have light-sensitive photography glass in it. It is up to the photographer whether he will open or close this camera obscura. When he is about to take a photograph, he opens the camera. When imagination is not under the will's control, the lense of this camera is continuously open. As a result timely and untimely, conscious and unconscious imprints are made in the brain. If you understand the laws of Nature, you will know when to open and close this camera. There are situations when you don't need any external impressions at all. For example, two people are arguing, you stop, open your camera, and take impressions. These impressions are passed on to the brain and two or three hours later they are still being played out in your mind. Some time needs to pass before these impressions wear off and the brain returns to its normal state. Take another scenario: you are passing by a restaurant at 12pm - it is time for lunch. You want to go in and have a meal. You feel your pockets and it turns out that you don't have any money. You start walking down the streets dissatisfied and indisposed as you keep bringing to mind the image of all these people eating. You pass by a second restaurant, then a third one and you see everybody eating. Your mood keeps deteriorating and you wonder why you have to fast today. Through this fast mindful beings have put you through a test to examine your will. On that specific day you shouldn't walk by restaurants. Of course that is exactly when you have the desire to walk around all the restaurants hoping that you will meet some friend who will invite you for lunch. On that day you should stay home and philosophize about it, "So many years I have been eating and drinking. What have I gained from this? Can't I not eat and fast for at least one day?" That is how an occult disciple should think. Fasting for a day doesn't mean torturing oneself with hunger. Staying hungry for a day is incidental, it is something temporary in life which should be perceived in a positive way. As you can see, Nature's methods are completely different from man's. Things in Nature aren't as systematic as people would have them be. At first sight, everything in Nature seems disorderly. When you climb onto mountain tops, you see valleys, forests and fields where everything is in a big state of disorder - here you see big trees and right next to them - some small ones; there you see big and small flowers all mixed up; somewhere else you see big and small stones next to each other or they are scattered around. You watch and you wonder at this disorder. When a human arranges a garden, in the first rows he puts the smaller flowers, then the bigger ones and arranges everything in this consecutive order. If he arranges stones, he will first place the smaller ones, then the bigger ones, etc. However, someone who understands the laws will be able to see through the external disorder and understand the sensibility, the intelligence of Nature. When moving in Nature it is important to think and to study Nature's methods and laws. Learn about the development of one tree and you will see what harmony exists in its different parts. You see that one tree has bent a little. This is not accidental. The bending of the tree shows that it has met some kind of obstacle on its way. In order to overcome this obstacle the tree has bent a little. It means that some intelligence has supervised the development of this tree. Therefore, when we see warping or some kind of disorder in Nature this hints at the unfavourable conditions which exist on Earth. If these conditions have been overcome, this shows that great intelligence exists in Nature. Similarly, human thoughts and feelings are scattered and disharmonious. Why? Because the conditions you live in aren't optimal. What do you need to do? You need to rebuild your brain and your heart. How will you rebuild them? By putting new content in them - new thoughts and feelings. Rebuilding your brain doesn't mean ruling over it. People often say that they need to take rule over Nature. No, nobody can ever rule over Nature. Nature represents the body of God. God will never let anybody rule over His body and do with it as he pleases. By wanting to impose their rule on Nature, contemporary people get into big misfortunes and evil. Thus Nature gives them a good lesson and shows them that they can't rule over it. They need to obey her and listen to her. Do you think that the father will let his son put a strap on his mouth and play with him as if he were a toy-horse? Ruling over Nature means ruling over our thoughts, feelings, and desires. Another distortion that can be observed in contemporary people is their belief that they need to influence and control each other. This is easy but it isn't allowed. The Dark Brotherhood has a number of methods for that. If you tie the legs and arms of a sleeping person, you have already taken over him. After he wakes up you will tell him: "Now you have to obey my orders." What do you gain by doing that? You can take control over the person's body but never over his mind and his heart. After he frees himself from the rope, he will do the same with you. While someone is sleeping you can tie him up, and once he is tied up, you can exert an influence on him, but after he wakes up the influence will remain only over his body, not his mind, heart, soul or Spirit – these can never be tied up or obey someone else's orders. Thus exercising the will of The White Brotherhood requires every thought to be pure, frank, proper and noble. A strong will expresses itself in conciliatory deeds, not in rough physical action as contemporary people see it. Imagine that one day you are given one hundred opportunities to do evil and one opportunity to do good. Your willpower will show in these hundred cases if you use it in a conciliatory way. However, if you commit a hundred evil deeds, the one good deed won't be able to compensate for all the crimes you have committed. Therefore, everybody needs to exercise self-control and use his will to understand his relation to Nature and to his fellow men. In order to study the manifestations of the will you need to watch the plants. If you go into a pine wood, for example, you will see that pines grow near to each other and take on the shape of a cone. By growing close to each other they save space. Pines transfer this quality to elms, as well as to other trees that grow around them. For example, elms that grow near pines take on a conical shape, but if they are far from them, they grow both upwards sideways. Pines, however, always keep their conical shape. This shows that pines have spiritual discipline, they aren't materialist. Therefore, when it expands sideways, the will has materialistic aspirations; when it keeps its conical shape and its constant desire to grow upwards, its aspirations are spiritual. I will now give you a method for the development of the will. This is the so called conciliatory method. It is only for people who have a strong will. The method is as follows. Imagine that you are a student, you have 25 000 leva in savings for your allowance but somebody accidentally gets into the room and steals your money. This sets off a number of trials: your landlady throws you out of her house, the restaurant owner doesn’t allow you to eat in his place, your friends leave you and you remain on the street alone, without accommodation, wandering through the streets without any help. When you imagine this, watch yourself to see what feelings awaken in you. If you get scared and say to yourself that you hope such a trial never comes to you, you will have failed. Irrespective of how much you pray to be spared such a trial, there is a possibility of it happening to you, and there is a possibility of it not happening to you. Both are possible. Do you think that when you enter a musical school you won't be given difficult exercises? If the student says to his teacher that he only wants easy exercises, the teacher will say, "Go and find another teacher!" Those who want to learn must be ready to do all exercises - both the easy and the difficult ones. If you go to a painter, you will experience the same. If you say that you want easy exercises only, the teacher will say, "Go and find another teacher!" Therefore, once you enter the occult School, you should expect difficult tasks. If you are under the illusion that you will be given easy tasks only, the teacher will say, "Go and find another teacher! This school isn't for you!" Therefore, just as exercises are necessary in science, music and art, methods are necessary in occult science too. If you don't apply in practice the methods that are given to you, you will not reach the intended aim and will not gain the necessary knowledge. There are people in the world with a strong, firm will. When the time comes for an operation, such a person gives his arm for an incision to be made without any anaesthetic. He remains calm, not a single muscle quivers on his face and when the operation ends, he says, "Have you finished already?" How did he develop that will? He did it with the help of exercises, by applying different methods in practice. I would like you to have that kind of will as well. When the knife reaches the bone, to be able to put your hand upon the wound and in twenty minutes for it to be healed. A person with a strong will can do that. Why? Because he can concentrate the prana in the air and aim it at his wound. In order to achieve that kind of willpower, you need to be merciless about your mistakes - not to criticize yourself but to state things the way a seismograph registers earthquakes or the way the light-sensitive slab in photography imprints images. Don't be blind to your mistakes, but correct them! How will you correct your mistakes? Visit any musical school and you will see how the teacher corrects his student. They play together and if the student makes a mistake somewhere, the teacher says, "You don't play correctly, start again". And they both start again. After the disciple corrects his mistake, the teacher says, "Now let's move on, take the next position!" When making a mistake, should the student put the bow down, start crying and say, "Teacher, forgive me, I made a mistake"? There is no reason to cry or to interrupt the process of playing. He needs to move on. And so when you make a mistake, don't put the violin and the bow to the side but go on making one attempt after the other until in the end the tones of your violin blend with the tones of your teacher's violin. After that continue forward.What is the violin for a human? The violin represents the human body. What do music students do? When things don't go well, they sell their violin. Keep the following rule sacred: even in the hardest conditions in life do not sell your violin! A violinist who sells his violin because of difficult circumstances in Life is doomed to great suffering. - "He had debts, which he had to pay for." - If he has debts he should play. In this way he will pay for his debts more easily than if he sells his violin. From an occult point of view, it is not allowed for a disciple to sell his violin. If he sells his violin, he will find himself out of the school. Every disciple must have his own violin; the school doesn't loan violins. Therefore, no matter what your body is like, or what kind of deformities it has, you are able fix it. How? You can fix it through exercises. Just as the sound of a violin gets better and better with playing, in the same way a human body can be improved and developed through exercises and effort. For example, this year I may give you the task of working on your nose - of elongating it or to widening it by 1-2 millimetres. It is easier to widen the nose than to elongate it. In order to make your will steady and positive, you need to change the thumb and the lower part of your chin. The lower part of the chin needs to jut out a little and have a small hollow. This shapes the chin, gives it a nicer form. The thumb has to widen and elongate. If you are unable to achieve that, what kind of will do you have? You say that people influence each other. I am asking, when you were students what influence did you render at university? You have convictions but you are afraid of people getting to know you, and try to pass unnoticed. You want to be like the rich tradesman who tries to pass unnoticed by the robbers, so that they don't rob him. That is the way a cowardly man acts. Whoever has a positive creed, a positive conviction, should be ready to defend his creed not with words but with actions. A man with conviction is like a current that passes through wires - wherever it passes it produces light and warmth. The minds of most secular people function mainly around the ears, near the temples, and as a result of this their thought can't move to the upper part of the brain. The experienced gardener sends the water there in order to moisturize these parts and induce higher thoughts in them. That is the way Nature works. How does it educate the materialist villager? As long as the harvest is rich, he goes around the taverns, drinks, says cheers to friends, doesn't think about anything. In order to make him think, Nature starts educating him. How? It sends drought. The villager sows but the harvest is small and the drought is big. The villager sits and thinks, "What is this about? How have I sinned before God?'' He thinks and raises his eyes upward. If no rain comes in the next two to three years, all that was planted will dry up. The villager becomes more reflective and more humble. Therefore when Nature wants to educate someone, she takes away from him the objects that divert his attention and prevent him from thinking. Another method which Nature uses with materialists is placing wedges. This method doesn’t need too much talking. You pass by any materialist and say to him quietly, "Do you think that matter is something real?" or "Do you think that our present life is permanent?'' You say these words and walk away, they are like wedges in a person's thought process. Then the person starts thinking. Nature aims to compel man to think, not to convince him. After his thought starts operating, he will search for you, he will want to speak with you upon the matter. But in this case too don't talk to him for too long, let him talk. When he expresses his thoughts, ask him: "Do you think that your views are right?" This will offend him and he will go on speaking and trying to prove that his views are right. When he talks you should listen to him carefully. It's enough to awaken his interest once and he will start looking for other opportunities to speak with you. He doesn't succumb, he even fights back consciously, but his thought starts working. Once his thought starts working, the energy of the new thought penetrates him and starts watering the upper centres of the brain. This method is called the method of plugging up. Through this method you will plug up the person in one place, so that he will search for an exit from somewhere else. You should make small experiments of this kind and see what results you will have. Reflection Without fear in boundless Love!

Points of Contact in Nature Year 2, Lecture 1 of the Youth Occult Class (Special Class) given by the Master Beinsa Douno on October 4, 1922, Sofia Greeting: Without fear! Without darkness! Secret prayer All people ask themselves what good and evil in life are. Evil is useful in life as well as in nature, but it is not a necessity. When connected with the negative forces in nature, evil becomes a necessity. It represents the lowest vibrational frequency of Good. In life Bad, i.e. evil people, act as drains that impurities pass through. It has been written in the Scriptures that there exist impure and pure vessels. The impure vessels are bad people, while the pure ones are good people. Once they realize what kind of service they perform, evil people begin to suffer, gradually improve, and change their way of life. While they are not yet able to improve, they are dissatisfied with good people and say that they suffer because of them. This is the reason why evil people don't have a good disposition towards good people. Now that you know this, you should show understanding towards evil people. This is the occult view of evil. This explanation, however, isn't meant to encourage evil, but rather to help you understand its deep meaning as a law in nature, as a temporary necessity. As long as there are impurities in the world, there must also exist drains, vessels that these impurities can flow through. In the world, good and evil represent two schools with completely different programs and methods. The student of the first school should not pass into the second one, because he will lose the place which nature has determined for him. As long as he is in the first school, i.e. the School of the White Brothers, he will work with his head and his chest. Once he enters the second school, that of the dark brothers, he will work with the stomach and the liver where inevitably he will ferment. Therefore a man can live either in his head and lungs or in his stomach and liver. Then he will work according to the laws of either the White Brotherhood or the Dark Brotherhood. These two laws manifest everywhere in life. When someone raises only one finger, the index finger, for example, he wants to indicate with this gesture that he serves the White Brotherhood. The index finger is the flag of the White Brotherhood. When someone lifts two fingers - the index and the middle fingers, this indicates: "I serve both brotherhoods", or: "I give blessings on behalf of both brotherhoods, i.e. I will speak the truth when needed, when not - I will hide it." The two fingers are a sign of contradiction. This is dual morality: when the question is about God, I will work according to the first morals; when the question is about evil, I will work with both morals. In the first case I will work with the head and the chest, in the second one - with the stomach or the liver. It is up to you which rights a man should use - the rights of the white brothers or those of the dark brothers. When you raise both fingers and look at them this indicates that your subconsciousness is warning you to be careful in your actions and in your choice of method. By choosing the first method you will gradually learn to think correctly, you will learn that evil is not a punishment, nor is it something superfluous that you can change. One thing is expected of you: to be careful not to disturb the balance that exists between good and evil. The ratio between good and evil is determined by nature: for every one hundred good people there are ten bad people; and the other way round: for every one hundred evil people there are ten good ones. This is the first ratio, which is also the best one. There exist other ratios too: for every hundred good people - fifty evil ones, and the other way round, for every one hundred evil people - fifty good ones. The third ratio is as follows: for every one hundred good people - seventy-five evil ones, or for every one hundred evil people - seventy-five good ones. If for a given time period of 100 years the first ratio is in place - ten evil people for every one hundred good ones, a positive energy influx covering all aspects of life will be felt in the world; if it should happen that among one hundred evil people ten would be good, there would be a receding tide. For example, when a spiritual or religious wave comes into the world, then according to the first ratio, for every one hundred people ten people are non-religious; in the reverse case, for every one hundred non-religious people ten are religious, spiritual, good people. In no case can the number of good people fall below ten percent. There will never be a time when good people disappear from the world. The numbers one and ten are equally strong numbers. The number one represents the power of good people. Thus you should know that the positive and negative powers, i.e. good and evil are necessary for you but you should deal with them most wisely. This means that you shouldn't criticize each other and look for your negative traits, because you will get infected by them. When a student makes a mistake and strays from his path, the others should carefully look for the reason for his mistake, because they too can undergo the same trial. You cannot be judgmental about people's mistakes before you come to know Truth. How many ways are there to say the truth? There is only one way. If you use another way it will not contain the truth. For example, you visit a poor family. You stay there for an hour or two, it becomes dark and the host lights up a candle so that you can see each other better and continue your conversation in a lit up room. After an hour passes the host extinguishes the candle. "Why did you blow out the candle?" - "Sir, I am a poor man, my earnings are limited. If I let the candle burn out I won't have the money to get another one. Therefore if I light it up for a short time only it will last longer." This man speaks the truth. You visit another poor family, here too the host extinguishes the candle. "Why did you blow out the candle?" "Because, as you can see, we have a window looking out at the street and everybody can look into the room through the window." This man doesn't speak the truth. He points to the window as an excuse for blowing out the candle. In reality the reason is poverty. When you are asked something, you also answer either in the first or in the second way. Some of you say: I extinguished the candle because I can't afford to purchase a second one. The rest of you say: I extinguished the candle because people from outside look through the window to see what is going on inside. In other words, when one of the students makes a mistake he is ready to say the truth as it is in reality. He says: "I committed the crime, I am guilty because I don' t have enough moral strength to endure the trial." The disciple whom I compare to the second host says: "It is true that I have made a mistake but the fault lies with my friend who led me astray." I am asking, what kind of a disciple is he who follows his friend's lead? The disciple can follow only the lead of his Master. In order for you to come to know your Master I will describe to you the distinctive qualities of the Master of the White Brotherhood, as well as those of the one from the Dark Brotherhood. How does the good teacher differ from the evil teacher? The master of the Dark Brotherhood doesn't know truth and for this reason he pays great attention to the exterior: he dresses well in the best and most fashionable clothes, wears expensive jewellery, has rings with different precious stones. He says to his students: "Remember that you can find truth only with me." The Master of the White Brotherhood dresses in a modest yet always clean and neat way, and without any rings or other decorations. He says to his students: "Don't expect too much of me!" Therefore in order not to fall in error the disciple should know his Master not externally but internally. When a disciple of the School of the White Brotherhood visits his Master and starts to recount about some teacher who is very advanced and knowledgeable, the Master will not start attacking this teacher and calling him names, but will say: "You are right, this teacher knows much more than I do. He can accomplish certain things that I wouldn't dare to attempt. In this respect he is above me." "In such case I could go to him." "Go to him, you can learn something." He doesn't restrict his disciples but gives them full freedom instead. By going to the new teacher the disciple changes his place immediately: from the head he goes down to the stomach and the intestines where the impurities are, after which he ends up in the liver. When he sinks in these dark factories he starts to understand his first teacher and says: "I no longer wish to remain here. I would like to leave this prison as soon as possible. By not wearing any external decorations such as rings and other adornments, the Master of the White Brotherhood wants his disciple to find the inner wealth and purity of his teacher, his inner and not his external radiance. Realizing his inner poverty and dryness, the teacher of the Dark Brotherhood says: I will dress in rich clothes with fine adornments to be able to show my students what great wealth is in my possession." These are things of external value. Whoever has the desire to exhibit external wealth is poor on the inside. Whoever seems to be externally poor is internally rich. Beware of external delusions and remember that whenever a lot of promises are made, little is given; whenever little is promised, giving is generous. In the first situation you will run into beings of different levels of mental and emotional development and if you attempt to criticize them you will come under their influence. This is what fighting evil means. Whoever has tried to fight evil has always been defeated. All initiates and masters who have tried to fight evil have failed. Evil never succumbs, it is never defeated nor can it be brought under control. As an initiate, Apostle Paul said: "Defeat evil through Good." Thus Good can only partially restrain evil, so that these two powers can be balanced. Besides these two kinds of teachers there exists also a third one. These teachers make use of the methods of both brotherhoods but belong to none of them. Many of the teachers of the Dark Brotherhood have completed the school of the White Brotherhood, know all the methods and use them for the Dark Brotherhood. After finishing the school of the White Brotherhood some of the Masters of that school have also attended the school of the Dark Brotherhood so that they too know the methods of both brotherhoods. They use the methods of one or the other school according to the occasion. They take the liberty to do so because they are of a higher hierarchy than the others. The Masters of the White Brotherhood use the methods of their own school. The teachers of the Dark Brotherhood, who know the methods of both schools, often use the methods of the White Brotherhood for the benefit of their school. You need to know this because when you study the occult you may run into great difficulties and conflict. As disciples of a school of the occult you need to know your powers, because at the present stage of your development, with your present knowledge and moral strength, it is impossible for you to handle certain powers of nature. Why? - Because you can't withstand their inner pressure. I am talking to you now about these things in order for you to learn to differentiate between someone who speaks the truth and someone who doesn't. The Master of the White Brotherhood, the Master of truth brings three things with himself: freedom for the soul, light for the mind, and purity for the heart. The teacher of the Dark Brotherhood brings with himself enslavement for the soul, darkness for the mind, and impurity, defilement of the heart. These are the distinctive qualities of the schools of Light and of darkness, which every one has experienced. If you come across the school of darkness, immediately you will be prescribed a number of laws and rules which you simply must obey. As soon as you start obeying them you will notice that you fall into slavery and confinement. A long time may pass before you can be freed. It is difficult to escape from the iron hoops of slavery. Who can free you? - Truth. What will bring enlightenment to your mind? - Wisdom. What will purify your heart? - Love. What is Love? - Love is the most dangerous power in the world. Wherever it goes, it takes everything away: it opens and empties the purses of the rich, it carries away the full granaries of the farmers, it takes away the masters' servants. How does Love do it? By removing the servants' head-stalls. For a while it seems as if the connection between the master and the servant is severed, but later without the head-stall the servant goes to help his master free willingly. When this occurs you need to either accept love, or if you think that love has come prematurely, refuse it. - No, everyone needs to open their arms widely to accept love: the rich will empty their purses, the farmers - their granaries; the masters will free their servants. What should the state, the government give to love? One of the first forms of governing was monarchism, conservatism, i.e. repression. I am using this form of governing as a symbol, for clarification. I call these explanations first degree explanations. This means looking at the symbol as it is reflected in the nation. After that I will use another symbol figuratively, i. e. as a second-degree explanation. Such a symbol is the extinguishing of the flame of a candle. In this case the candle symbolizes life. Therefore every symbol should be examined first in its closest, most recognizable form, the way people use it, and later in its figurative sense. I wish that this year real, mindful harmony be created among you, but free willingly, not by force. This doesn't mean that you should tolerate everybody, but, knowing the law, at least not criticize each other. It is not a question of remaining blind to evil but rather of knowing that it is needed in this world. As soon as you see it you can distance yourselves from it. Once it becomes needed, evil has the right to exist. If it wasn't needed, it wouldn't exist. You are sitting somewhere entranced and suddenly an evil thought enters your mind. Why did this evil thought come? It came in order to take you out of this stupor. You need to be alert and not to get carried away. Therefore good and evil, positive and negative powers in nature, are as necessary as the floods and tides of the ocean. For example, you are sitting on a rock contemplating about God's Love, not realizing that the conditions where you are sitting do not comply with this Love. A child with a stone in its hand comes by, throws it at you and injures your head. This is a rising tide of evil which was aimed at you. Immediately you jump from the rock and start chasing the child. This way you were saved. Since you got carried away while sitting on the rock, if you hadn't run after the child you would have fallen into the precipice and lost your life. Without realizing it the child helped you escape this situation. There are hidden intelligent beings behind it who directed it to throw the stone at you. In this case you say: " Come evil, as it is worse without you". Therefore when someone injures your head and causes you sorrow, remember that rational beings did this through the child, thus wishing to tell you that you haven't come to this world to live blissfully. It is not a world of bliss. Therefore as long as you are in this world you shouldn't get carried away. Once you go to heaven you can get entranced, sing and jump as much as you like. In addition to high tides of evil there are also influxes of Good. Again you are sitting on the rock, but this time you are desperate, discouraged, ready to commit suicide. The same child passes by, throws the stone and fractures your skull. You drop the gun, put your hands on your head and forget about committing suicide. Good people come to your aid in this moment. They bandage your head and say some encouraging words. You relax, start thinking reasonably and say to yourself: "I am thankful to the child who injured my head, because if this hadn't happened I would have lost my life." Many such cases happen in life to good as well as to bad people in order to free them from evil. When an evil thought comes to your mind its purpose is to remind you that the world you live in is not yet the Kingdom of God, that you need to be alert. When a good thought comes to your mind its purpose is to advise you about which good deed to perform. These are thoughts you need to keep in mind as disciples of the occult. You may have many other philosophical thoughts, this is good too. This way you will be able to determine the degree to which the rules given to you are plausible. By evil and good, by negative and positive powers I mean powers that work in two opposite directions: evil operates in the roots, good - in the branches, in the blossoms. However both evil and good are necessary for life's development. Their services are strictly allocated. One day when you complete your evolution the Great Brothers who guide both schools as well as all of humanity will arrange a new way of living which is completely different to the present one. In the present conditions of life the plant lives like a plant with its head stuck in the ground; the animal lives like an animal; man - like a man, Irrespective of how much effort man makes, he cannot yet live like an angel. In the future man will pass through the favorable conditions of the angels, this however is not possible today. All of you are aiming towards the pre-determined peak but you need to remember that there is only one way that leads to this peak. The Master who is leading you is standing on that peak and saying: "There is only one way but there are turns that go down or sideways. Whatever diversion you may take, at the end of all ends you will see that the path is only one, the peak is only one." When you complete your evolution, i.e. when you reach the peak, you will meet your Master, who will show you a wide open field and say: "Now you can go wherever you wish, you are free." Until you reach the peak you will follow one path towards your Master. As soon as you reach him, many other ways open up and you can freely make a choice. As long as you are on the earthly plane there exists no freedom. Freedom exists high above, on the peak. Gaining freedom implies completion of one for of evolution and entering another one, a completely new one. In your present state you need to guard yourselves against delusions and thinking that another way besides the one pointed out to you, other easier methods for work may exist. The way is one and the methods are many, but remember that there are no easy methods in the world. Don't delude yourselves into thinking that because you are young you have the power to change the world. While they are students, young people think that they will write a book with which they will improve the world or that they will give a talk which will cause a radical change in people's way of thinking. Many of the prophets and teachers also have the same idea, but the Great Teachers who rule the cosmos know that everything will happen according to a completely new plan. When? After the end of this era. Now that you know this you should avoid criticism and not occupy yourselves with your negative qualities. This is a requirement of the science of the occult. When you stumble into one of your negative qualities immediately replace it with a good one. Do the same with your friends and brothers as well. Pay attention to what is good in yourselves an in your next of kin. Try as much as possible to avoid thinking about your shortcomings. You do just the opposite as if you have made it your conscious aim to occupy yourselves with your shortcomings. What happens in this case? Unknowingly you find yourselves in the Dark Brotherhood. The opposite happens too: if a student of the Dark Brotherhood is occupied with the positive qualities of his character he becomes a student of the White Brotherhood. Therefore I recommend that you work with your positive qualities. Regard your negative qualities as remnants of the past. I am not interested in the negative qualities of a disciple. I care to hear the truth from him. A doctor for example questions the sick person about his condition not because he is interested in his stomach or heart, but because he wants to know where the sickness is located. By pointing out your faults my intention is to help you free yourselves from them. In order to achieve this you need to know which virtue corresponds to the given fault. In this way you will influence yourselves. Good will chase out evil. I am not looking for the evil in you in order to reprimand you but rather to show you methods which cultivate the good instead of the bad. As disciples of an occult school you ought to act judiciously. I will not be telling you to be good and judicious. I am giving you methods instead which will help you act in the right way, judiciously. The mind needs to be fed food that conforms with reason. You may say that one needs to read books to feed his mind. - Do you know, however, what books you need to read? Do you know how you need to read? I would recommend to you the works of Shakespeare, Goethe, Kant or to read about the lives and deeds of the prophets and apostles. Many of the disciples read indiscriminately any book that finds its way into their hands and as a result their mind becomes cluttered. They spoil their taste for the truly beautiful and consider this or that not worthy. They become great critics with a high opinion of themselves. Once they notice that you are very knowledgeable, the White or the Dark Brotherhood will invite you to do some service. These schools need knowledgeable, educated people. If you are invited by the White Brotherhood, you will be sent as a preacher to a large church in America. After ten years you will be evaluated as to what category of preachers you fall into and how good your sermons are. If the Dark Brotherhood invites you, you will be made the prime minister of Bulgaria and will be instructed that these people cannot be governed with goodness and morality, but with an iron fist, with prisons. Thus you start sentencing one after the other until you make many enemies and accumulate a heavy karmic debt. All those you have jailed will create a number of misfortunes for you. This is what happens when someone is very knowledgeable. If someone knows a lot both schools will put him to work for their own benefit. For this reason disciples are advised to have positive knowledge and science. It is advisable for a disciple to be humble. The disciple must know every moment with certainty the source of every feeling, every action, every impulse - whether it comes from the right or from the left side. Every thought can have only two results, either good or bad. A thought may have good consequences in the beginning and bad ones in the end. And the other way round - it may have bad consequences in the beginning and good ones in the end. The same can be said about feelings and actions. And so all thoughts which cause constriction to the mind and deprive it of purity come from the left side and should be eliminated without fail. You have nothing to do with them. On the other hand, all thoughts which bring purity, light, and freedom come from the right side. Welcome these thoughts in yourselves and allow them to grow. When I speak of purity I mean living purity. Purity is mobile as are the colours of the spectrum. If you place a glass prism over a white cloth it will be colored according to the colours of the spectrum but only as long as the prism is exposed to sunlight. As soon as the rays of the sun stop passing through the prism, the cloth turns white again as it was before. Truth acts in the same way: it colours, beautifies things without staining them. As long as the prism of truth acts upon a certain object it colours it red, blue, green or any other colour; as soon as the prism is removed, the object turns back to its original state. You complain that someone has tainted you. This is an easy problem to solve. It is enough to remove the prism of truth from you in order for you to become pure again. In the White Brotherhood you can be tainted and you can become pure again. However in the Dark Brotherhood once you are tainted you cannot return to your original state of purity. Their colouring cannot be removed. The people of darkness are tainted with the colour from the Dark Brotherhood. Thousands of years must pass before they can remove this stain. Therefore in the White Brotherhood as well as in the Dark Brotherhood a cloth gets tainted but with the difference that a cloth tainted with the prism of the White Brotherhood can instantly become pure again, whereas in the Dark Brotherhood this is impossible. Living purity is connected with the law of Love and with the law of Wisdom. As long as you abide by these two laws you are pure. As soon as you make the slightest deviation you loose your purity. Living purity is not a constant quality of man. It is mainly a quality of love. This means that as long as love is present in a person's heart he or she is pure. Purity is a quality simultaneously of the mind and of the heart. Light is a quality only of the mind. As soon as light disappears from the mind, darkness and gloom set in. This is the diagnosis which defines the state of your mind and of your heart. These conditions further determine what path you will take. I wish for you to have this living purity. When it is present in your mind and heart you are joyous and cheerful. Man is not born pure, he becomes so later in life. Light appears instantly. It takes a long time for it to get ready, it manifests itself in an instant and disappears instantly as well. Thus living purity is a quality of mindful love. He who wishes to have this purity needs to be connected with love. Love excludes impurity, suffering, envy, hatred. It excludes all negative manifestation of life. Wherever love is absent all negative qualities exist. Wherever love enters there is peace, joy, gladness, growth, and freedom. When someone says that he suffers because of love he doesn't understand the law of love. We completely disagree with such a statement. One cannot suffer because of love. One suffers only when he loses love. This is a completely different matter. For as long as love abides in a person and illumines him, he is joyous and glad. When love abandons him he starts suffering. Why? There is no one to lighten him up. Therefore suffering and sorrow indicate that you have lost your love, that your candle has been extinguished, and that the object of your love has moved away from you. This may come contrary to your ideas about love but you can accept it as a new attitude. In the future when you write new literary works you will need to use a new language. At present you write: "This person is weeping for his lost love". Then you will write: "This man is weeping because his candle has gone out". Or "He or she is suffering because of the extinguished love, the extinguished truth." Sometimes you say that when someone is in love he or she becomes absent minded. In reality one becomes absent minded because of fear of losing his love or because he has lost it. He resembles a man who has lost his money. Love awakens in man the most sublime feelings and thoughts. If someone is weak, cowardly, hesitant and lacks intelligence, he lives without love. He who wishes to be intelligent, talented needs to acquire love and live with it. I am not speaking about that which people call love. These are feelings, passions which make a person unhappy. The disciple works with the common, human love and the Master - with the sublime love. When the Master speaks he uses every word appropriately. He knows why he uses a certain word, he knows what an effect it will produce. When a student speaks he doesn't know why he uses one word or the other. The Master's Love has been tried, it cannot be tested. The love of the disciple has not been tried, it needs to be tested. The knowledge of the Master has been tried, it need not be further tested. The knowledge of the disciple has not yet been tried and needs to be tested. The purity of the Master has been tried. He has passed through this test. The purity of the disciple has not been tried, it needs to be tested. Therefore the love, knowledge, purity, compassion of the disciple need to be tested. This is necessary and appropriate. Do not think that you can go a different way. This is the path that all your teachers have passed through, this is the path which you will also pass through. If you are tempted to criticize, you will delay your evolution. Boundless Love! Ceaseless Wisdom! Constant Truth! Write these thoughts down and work on them throughout the whole year. Contemplation. Without fear in boundless Love! Source

I am the true vine I shall read to you the fifteenth chapter of St. John’s Book Jhn 15:1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.” This chapter is addressed to the disciples, not to ordinary people. The verse relating to the branches forms the first part of the chapter. The branches represent God’s Kingdom which is now developing on Earth. The second phase is contained in the verse: Jhn 15:3 “Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.” This is a comparison between the vine branch and the relationships the disciple forms. For just as a branch draws juices from the vine, so should the disciple draw juices from his Master during his development. In this process of growth our Father is a husbandman. You need to know that it is namely the principle of reincarnation which is represented by the inoculation of the fruit’s seed. Do not imagine that when you choose a wrong Path you can be planted just anywhere. No, there is a similarity in the act of inoculation due to which you are under a duty to follow this principle. Jhn 15:7 “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you”. This and the following two verses relate to the thought world: Jhn 15:5 “He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit.” Jhn 15:8 “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.” These words of the Christ indicate the conditions necessary for you to become disciples. Someone says: “May I become a disciple!” Do read chapter fifteen and take note of the conditions. This is the only way for you to be disciples. Now the second phase of the disciple is taking place. What shall become of one after she becomes a disciple? The second phase you are now seeking is Love - it is the second consecration. To those who have to enter I shall say: Jhn 15:9 “As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love”. The state which distinguishes a disciple is contained in the words:”…continue ye in my love.” Jesus says: Jhn 15: 10 “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in His love.” Now you want to be loved but you do not abide in Love yourselves. Which one of you abides in Love, could you tell me? Where is your Love? Christ has proven that he abides in Love; when He was crucified He cried, prayed and finally He bore all suffering voluntarily. This is what it means to abide in Love! Whether one is a disciple or a Master he still needs to prove his Love. This year, I want you to prove your Love. How can Love be demonstrated? To me, empty words mean nothing and promises do not matter, either. What is significant is this present Life and your task is to bear fruit. You wish for the Heavens to open up to you, for you to have all the strength you need, for God to do much for you, but you yourselves give nothing. As far as I can see the disciples in Bulgaria want a lot. It should not be this way! The rules have not changed for the disciples of any nation, tribe, of any period in time and any century, and they never will. Now you are seeking the Christ and speaking of Him, you wish His Love, you want to know Him and think you know Him. Is it possible for you to know Him and yet fail to abide in His Love? Christ clarifies: Jhn 15:11 “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and [that] your joy might be full.” Jhn 15:12 “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.” The third point Christ addresses is that the Love which exists among all disciples should be the same as the Love which arises between the disciples and the Master: Jhn 15:13 “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.“ Jhn 15:14 “Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.” Jhn 15:15 “Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.” Jhn 15:16 “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and [that] your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.” Jhn 15:17 “These things I command you, that ye love one another.” Jhn 15:18 “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before [it hated] you.” Jhn 15:19 “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.” Here, what Christ means by “world” is the Black Brotherhood, the Black lodge. It cannot love you. The modern world is governed by the Black lodge, its rules, orders and the formalities of the church are characterized by their ostentation and spirit of emulation. Further on Christ explains: Jhn 15:20 “Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.” Jhn 15:21 “But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me.” Jhn 15:22 “If I had not come and spoken unto them, they would not have had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin.” Jhn 15:24 “If I had not done among them the works which no other man did, they would not have had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.” Jhn 15: 27 “And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.” This chapter you can read many times and ponder. It holds precious directions and exercises for any disciple. Now, you are all inspired by the idea of leaving the Path for the Spiritual world you have entered. This is a misconception. When Spirit and flesh live and work together, they inevitably quarrel but at the same time they are so connected that each needs the other; similarly, once you enter the world you need to do your work and defeat it. If you do not defeat the world you cannot be good disciples. You will win and all it holds shall be at your disposal. If you do not defeat it, you cannot be good disciples. Christ says “I defeated the world.” If Christ - our Master did so, then so can a disciple. Now, your desire is to go in the world in order to defeat it but it is also to obey its thoughts, wishes and actions. You think all that happens in this world is perfection. Which of you does not desire to see how perfect actors play their parts? Well, is there a greater show than real life itself?! Between an actor suffering on stage and an ill man suffering in bed, who is a better performer? Between an actor killed on stage and a man killed in real life, who is a better performer? Certainly, it is the latter. Observe life and you can witness top performances of a great variety - comedies, tragedies, drama. You say: “Let us go to the theatre, this drama is to be played”. I am telling you - I have seen better plays than that. Indeed, the playwright has created a good replica through his work, but I have to ask if you have seen the original version of this drama. It is ten times better. There are painters and musicians, who copy Living Nature and if we reach a state where we are capable of understanding her language, then we will be able to perceive a things’ true essence and will then have a better and more correct understanding. The sense of hearing of modern people is not that well developed, thus, we think that Nature does not speak. But it speaks very well, beautifully and eloquently. At some times of the year, on some days, the Master of the White Brotherhood can, through a cosmic path, descend into Nature. They say of such moments that the Heavens open and different apparitions come forward. There are moments in every age when the Master descends to us and if you are aware of these moments, you will see the Splendour of Nature. Sometimes God remains silent, sometimes He speaks to us. He is silent when He is occupied with an ever so grand a thought of creation of a new world. And it is namely when these Divine acts of creation take place that the greatest crimes happen as well, as then God is too occupied to be concerned with mankind’s folly and foolishness. So now you say: “Let us commit this and this act while God is silent, now is the best time!” But once God finishes his work, He turns to us and sees it all. He keeps a record of everything, never forgets anything and anyone, misses nothing and never falls asleep. He may seemingly fail to notice you and even when He looks at you, God manifestly does not see you. He keeps his silence; continues to do so even when He observes you, but you tend to mistakenly think He does not notice you and you take comfort in this false idea. No, he did and does see you. In order to achieve Love, you have to be disciples. In order to be loved by its mother, a child has to become a child. If it does not, it cannot be loved. Similarly, a disciple has to assume the position of a disciple in order to have Love. If you want to experience Love, you have to descend upon Earth, to accept some limitations and to realise your relationship with God. Once you become humble, you shall all feel eternal as God; you shall begin to abide in Him and shall seek no other. Once you accept the limitations and come here to work, this is when the Lord will show Himself to you in his Love. And for this manifestation of Love, you will need a body; what is more - it needs to be a harmoniously developed body. In it we need an excellent heart made of the finest matter, which exists in God’s world. Next, we need an excellent mind, created by the finest powers which exist within Nature. Furthermore, we need a soul which originated in the Divine substance, in His very essence - a soul which holds and reflects the functioning of the whole Cosmos. We also need a Spirit - this Divine ray of light which disperses Life as it is released. This is the being within. And when all of these elements are combined, then one becomes conscious that she exists simultaneously on Earth, in the Astral dimension, in the Causal and, finally, Divine world. Now, when I say you should be disciples this is not to say you are not ones but it is desirable that you should be diligent and capable and when faced with hardship, able to find the most suitable solution. If you had a daughter who you kept locked in a castle, then she would be completely pure. If you had another daughter who remained pure after being lead into society and surrounded by any temptation and ordeal possible, which of these two would stand higher? It is certainly the latter. If you find yourselves in favourable conditions and you remain pure, then this is excellent, however, what you need to know is whether through the tests and hardships of life you can still remain uncorrupted. One who has gone through the turmoil of life, through all the temptations and, yet, has managed to keep her purity, can be said to be a disciple. You wish to be disciples, to isolate yourselves from any temptation and thus remain pure. This is the easiest thing to do but then being disciples would lose its purpose. No, a disciple walks in the world, he is put to any possible temptation; however, if he resists, you know he is a disciple. But when you set out on your Path, you say: “May the hardship and the temptations be fewer.” What an odd set of conceptions! You will have just as many difficulties along your way as are necessary for your growth and development. Take for instance a secular school and its curriculum. In first grade it corresponds to the level of understanding of the pupils; in second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth grades - it is the same. If people arrange things in life in this manner, then imagine how much better at this must be our Lord! May God foresee everything! We have set out on our Path and now say: “Dear Lord, please give us not difficulties which will break us!” We give our Lord advice! What this means is that we do not truly believe in Him. This is a trial, a temptation. Instead we should say: “Dear Lord, we shall fulfil Your plan as You have drawn it up for us. May Your Will prevail!” Now, I speak to those who are already preparing, who are on the doorstep of acquiring their status as disciples. You would say you are already disciples. Yes, of course, but there are disciples of first, second, third, fourth grade and so forth; from one disciple to the next there is ample difference. Moreover, there are high-school students, university students and finally - esoteric students or disciples. The word disciple is different from student. Sometimes, when I say you are not disciples as yet, you disagree “How come we are not!”. You are like primary school students rather than high-school students. Then you become like high-school students but still not university students. Is this not true? It is. Oh well, let me ask you now what should be the qualities of the disciples in the esoteric school? All the qualities required of a disciple need to be clearly determined for you and you have to possess these characteristics. The aim of a trader is to be rich and this is a right aim. The aim of the fighter is to be strong and tough. The aim of the warrior on the battle field is to prevail over the enemy. The aim of the one who is hungry is to satisfy his hunger, of the one who is thirsty - to quench his thirst. The aim of the disciple is to learn. And thus, our goal throughout the year will be to learn. What exactly? How to love. The first thing to learn is how to love! The second is to learn the ways and methods in which this Love is manifested. The third task is to know the conditions which will allow us to demonstrate our Love. In order for people to love you, there has to be something about you. For instance, you love music; if you know how to play, I will love you. You like art, painting; if you excel at it, if you are a first -class artist and do a painting, I will love you. You love compassion; I see you perform an act of compassion which is of assistance to someone and you uplift them – I will love you for that. In consequence, in order to be loved by people, you must always manifest your Love to others; you have to demonstrate your Love for the weaker through your acts. In order to be loved by her child, a mother must be able to educate it. Then all say: “She is an excellent mother and a wonderful example to others.” But if she then abandoned her child and left its education to others, if she instead chose to frequent different meetings which concern her private interest and no public matter, and if she were to leave her children on their own, then anyone would say: “This mother should know better than to leave her children alone and fail to educate them”. Now, you may know all there is to know in the world but you do not know how to serve Christ, your Master, you are unable to apply His Teachings. When you need to apply the principles, you do not know how to go about it. If I were to ask someone whether the teachings of the Christ are applicable and capable of being practised in the modern world, she would reply they are inapplicable and incompatible. Also when Purity is concerned, you say “We cannot be pure, I am married and thus could not possibly be pure.” Even if not married this one would still be impure. A woman is to you like a carafe which serves to keep you from becoming dirty. But do you know when a man and a woman become dirty? When they have such a union where they have their eyes fixed on the outward expression of their relationship: the man looks at what is on the outside, the woman looks at the same. But looking at the exterior is what brings dishonour. When one stops giving importance to God within and admiring His Love, but starts to admire the outer side, then he is on the road to crime - he has committed all the crimes already. And then anyone can disarm you: you can be disarmed by the eyes of a woman, when they are dark, when she has a plump figure, or that she has a beautiful nose, that she has full lips, and so on and so forth. Further on you can be disarmed by the fact that someone has houses, a field, and money. Anything can disarm you and thus weaken you. This is no longer Love; this is what is referred to as “scene of the crime” in the Holy Scriptures. If you are for instance disarmed by the knowledge of your teacher and love him for nothing but them, then you are committing a crime. Knowledge is not a goal in itself because it is Love that brings Knowledge within. You cannot behold Knowledge until you have Love. You lead yourselves into believing that you can achieve Knowledge before you attain Love. Only the one who has Love in its completeness can have knowledge. Do not think that you can have any Power whatever without Love. All statements to the contrary are false and fictitious. You say you can accomplish something without Love. But look for examples of this throughout history - there is no single reformer, not a single Great Master who took on his mission without Love and had success. He may have had temporary success but then everything necessarily collapsed and went to waste afterwards. Therefore, I am saying now that all your power, if it is demonstrated without Love, will go to ruin, will be a waste. And then you will say: “Why did we have to take this venture!”. Yes, you cannot succeed without Love. Only with Love! I am telling the truth in a way no one has before: without Love one cannot do anything. Someone may say: “Once I acquire Knowledge, the road before me will be clear and easy”. No, first you need to have Love and then you will attain true Knowledge. In this respect, there are no exceptions. You may say your hearts are cold. Why? Because you do not have Love. - “But how do I acquire it?” Well, where are you searching for it?... I shall leave this question unresolved but remember that all in the world is unveiled only through this Love that is hidden within Divine Wisdom and Divine Truth. When you realise this thought you shall have a revelation and will have an impulse which will lead you to see all human souls in a different light. Then you will think of everything as dear to your hearts; even the most ghastly creatures like frogs and snakes: after you look at them through the enlightened eyes of this Love, you will say of them: “Poor creatures, how sorry I feel for them! What could the reason be for this plight of theirs?” When you come across a tortoise, you will stop and exclaim: “How sorry I am for you! I understand why you are wearing this carapace.” When you happen to see a snake you will not be afraid but shall say: “Poor thing, now I understand you, I know the reason why you are crawling and squirming”. And you shall feel solely compassion. Now, when you meet someone you tend to say: “What a hypocrite you are! I know all about you - you want to lie to me, to lie to your God and think I do not know. I am not lied to easily!” If you reason like this, then you have surely already been deceived. If you know the Truth, you will think: “I understand where this brother of mine has tripped and this situation is familiar to me.” You will then see through the reasons that he behaves in this particular way – he is solving a difficult task. I want to give such examples with the disciples who formed communes; I need examples and I reckon they will not be offended if I use them to demonstrate my point. So a disciple comes to me and says: “We have found the true Path, we founded a commune and as we are secured with a home, I can now leave work. We will start a commune in this city and will thus serve as examples and enlighten people”. I tell him: “Do not demolish your house before you build the new one, or in other words - do not leave your old position. “ Another brother then comes from Sofia to give a lecture on communes. A sister who hears the talk tells him: “This brother from the commune has found the solution and knows how many acres of his field he needs to work in order to feed forty to fifty people.” However, no later than four or five months afterwards, the brother refuses to feed these people. Why? The work was not well considered - it is not as easy as that to feed so many people. For this you need Love, Love! This way some disagreements occurred, the people in the commune had a row and then separated. And afterwards they come to ask the Master to fix the situation. This is what I can say: I will fix this when you can no longer make amends. Later these same brothers established another commune but it is not successful, either. While the idea is an excellent one, these brothers are lacking in Love - they wish to secure themselves before the others, so they take extra. Now, many of you wish to be my disciples in order to be well provided for. But with me, there is nothing secure. You will work just as I do. I have not provided for myself. Some will ask: “When you grow old, what shall you do and who will be there to look after you?” When I grow old I could stay hungry forty to fifty days – I will suffer a bit, will resist. – “But you could die this way.” We die when we eat and when we do not, so then what is the difference? If this is meant to happen to me, I find it irrelevant if it will be in abundance or in penury. This is an unimportant issue in which I take no interest. Therefore, the first condition for the establishment of communes is the presence of strong conscientiousness. Disciples join together and act in mutual assistance. However, in the communes which you are now entering, you do not allow others to take initiative and ordain in the Lord’s Name. I often notice that people seek to impose their views about things. For instance, in the country those who follow me say that they do so because the Spirit told them. Others, in order to facilitate my work, persuade the rest that it is necessary to fast and that was the order of the Master. These people go on telling stories on behalf of their Master. And those who listen to them wonder how come the Master tells them one thing and then a completely different thing to the others. Do not be fooled and ask me when you are confused. I am here with you so why not come and verify the truthfulness of all you have heard. I speak with the spirits as well. If I were in Paul’s shoes, I would say “If someone were to say I was a Jew I would say I was twice the Jew he is.” Thus, if someone claimed I had sessions and communicated with spirits, then I would reply I had twice as many sessions as he imagined. And in my communication I do not need mediums but talk to them directly. Some accept all the spirits say as the unshakable truth. No, on the other side there are just as many lies and impurity as there are here. There is evil there as well, and fermentation even more than here but it is all so subtle that you cannot see it. In order to grasp the far -fetched deceit and traps which haunt you, you need to have a sharp and perspicacious mind. When you enter the spiritual world the spirits will welcome you and hand you clothes to put on, will treat you to some food and will take you to their woods and meadows. But there are flowers there which intoxicate and induce sleep. So, when you wake up you will no longer know where you are. They start well in that world but end badly. So, when you find yourself surrounded by such flowers, do not fall asleep but keep your minds alert. Some will say: “If there are lies involved, then, it is better not to take an interest in the Spiritual world.” No, you need to know about it, but be smart and remember that spirits behave as we do, the difference is that they have finer bodies. They are bored sometimes and take an interest in earthly matters; sometimes they make up false stories like we do. Someone told me how a spirit in the town of Pleven called a person and told him: “You will conduct this experiment: take a candle, then look in the mirror and exactly at twelve o’clock you will see me as never before.” The man then takes the candle and at twelve he gazes at the mirror but sees nothing. At last he hears a voice: “Do you not see this donkey in the mirror?” Then he understands it is all about himself and it is all a mockery… Now, this should not cause you to lose heart in the least. If you know the rules, you will not go and look for the spirit’s reflection in the mirror but will awake within yourselves these spiritual senses. You cannot see a spirit with your physical eyes or understand it with your physical feelings. You need to awaken within yourselves spiritual senses and use them to acquire knowledge of the Spiritual world! Now, a disciple has to know his Master. The Master is not on Earth. He might have a physical body but he always remains in the Heavens above. In form he is down upon Earth through his body but in substance he is up in the Heavens. Therefore, wherever you are and whatever you do this year you need to acquire the Love of your Teacher! Years ago a young lady, one of the most intelligent women I have ever met, told me: “I have this rule: I interact with all people very well but when I meet someone, I aim to find her one best quality and as I focus my mind on it I cause her to manifest it and then, no matter how rude or bad she is, a reaction occurs.” A laic has come in her spiritual growth to this revelation and these results and I recommend her behaviour to you, it serves as a good example. When you meet someone, you should both try to find a good trait in each of your characters. Do not concentrate on the bad qualities of the other; they are temporary things which lead you away from the Truth. Only this practical experience can lead to success. Do not do it out of obligation or because it is imposed upon you, but endeavour to try it. Just as the young lady discovered this art, so can you. Christ says: “I am the true vine”. Imagine that you are on this vine, that you yourselves are a twig engrafted in Christ. Do not seek Him anywhere but do believe that you are a branch and aim to understand the language of the vine. You will learn Christ’s language! It is not Jesus who should learn a disciple’s language but the disciple who has to learn His language. And when you learn it and start speaking it, then nothing you shall request will be denied to you. If you wish to learn His lessons you need to learn His language and how to speak it. If you do not speak His language you will see that you can address your words to Him for days and yet fail to receive His attention. On the other hand, if you only say one word in His language, He will notice you and listen. During this one year I want you to learn the language of Christ. The beginning of this language is Love. So, start with this first word - to love. It is not the first one but you need to begin with it. In the Bulgarian language, the word to love has a higher moral content than the meaning to fall in love. To love expresses a stronger feeling. Thus, you need to ask yourselves if you love Christ. But do not reply “I love Christ”; reply that you have “come to love the Christ”. When you use this expression, you change the meaning you put in this word. And it is a more powerful expression. This is why you need to remember it and make it a part of yourselves. Sing it! If you had Love you could now write a song about this expression and it would be the best song you have ever heard. You will say: “Master, sing us the melody of this song!” I will answer sincerely: one who has come to love only sings to his beloved. But if this one does not love Him back, He is silent. Thus, the Christ is silent and cannot sing for you. Now, as far as a song is concerned: yesterday I sang to you “Bless and forget not”, I also sang “Fir-fur-fen”1. You can sing of things unknown but not of things familiar to you. In the future, your hearts have to become so delicate as to allow you to sense the different shades of things. There is spiritual sorrow hidden within your soul. If you only knew how big and deep it is! There is sorrow which cannot be expressed through a sigh - so deep are these feelings that only the soul which contains and lives them knows what grief is. Whoever experiences deep and overwhelming grief that exists in Nature, has his clothes whitened and he is purified and cleansed from within as well. But do not think whiteness is the key to everything; it needs to evolve into Light, go through Life again and bear fruit in the Divine world, fruit which will improve Life and find their realization in this manner. Therefore, this white colour has to be transformed into Light, the latter has to turn into action and thus be used in the conscious Life and then produce the fruit on the Tree of Life. And when we eat them, when the soul feels the presence of our Lord in His completeness and magnificence, when we taste the great splendour in the Word of the Great Master of the world, then we shall comprehend the deep meaning of His Word. This year, all of you shall have the necessary conditions and an opportunity to become familiar with the language of your Master and learn it. Many of you tell me you saw Christ in your sleep. I ask them if He spoke to them. - “No, he only passed quickly.” How do you expect Christ to talk to you when you do not understand His language? Once you have learned it, Christ will talk to you and say: “If you only have Love for one another.” Now many of you will go into the world. There you will experience hardship, misunderstandings, obstacles, doubt, but anything can be overcome with this inner Completeness achieved through the knowledge and use of Christ’s language. This is why instructions will be given to you and we will thus understand each other. What would happen if I could not put myself in your shoes? Why does the doctor understand the plight of his ill patient? If the latter took the medic’s hand and said: “Doctor, you are the only one who can cure me; to me you are God, my mother and father - I have no one else; only you can relieve me of my pains!” Then the soul of the doctor would awaken and he would say” I will help this patient.” But if the patient were to say: “You are a doctor and it is your duty to cure me, this is what I am paying you for!”, then he would remain silent and ignore him. If you want and ask, the Divine will awaken within this doctor and he will say: “I will help this man” Now many say: “If He shall so desire, God will cure me.” What do you mean - if God so desires – you are the one who has to desire recovery! Then start and pray according to all rules, cry if you must and say: “Beat me, crush me, but only You will help me!” Then God would say “This ill man deserves (to be healed) but I want to make him turn to me”. Some of you say: “We had better not go to the Master, it is better not to disturb him.” Others speak to me: “Master, I wanted to ask you something important but I am noble and do not want to disturb you like the others do.” I am telling you - you have now disturbed me more than the others. You, who had to solve this issue at that given time, failed to do so and you now wish to lie to me. The lie has entered your soul. I would prefer it for anyone to disturb me but to solve their problem expediently and in compliance with all rules and principles of Divine art, to solve it according to the principle of Love. There is one issue for the solution of which I have never refused advice. I have never refused to receive anyone whose heart was under extreme pressure. I have never let anyone down. If someone’s will power was very strong, I would tell him: “You have will power as strong as steel or granite, you do not need my help” Now I speak to you in the name of Christ, in the name of God: since Creation I have never failed to help a sufferer. I shall state this more simply - as they are written in God’s book: never since the beginning of the world’s existence or since the creation of Cosmos has a soul in plight knocked on the Lord’s door and failed to receive help; in spite of his constant engagement with His affairs, He is always ready to assist. Never has a troubled mind knocked on God’s door and failed to have a ray of Light sent to it. And there is no exception to this. So, when we approach God with all our mind and heart and when our souls are in hardship, He shall speak to our minds and hearts. Now, you wish to be disciples and this is a commendable aspiration. There is no more beautiful desire than to be a disciple! Whoever was once a disciple remembers these days with admiration. It is the same in an esoteric school. There is no more beautiful wish than to be its disciple. Now, as disciples I wish you all success on the way to Truth. I wish you to become familiar with the language of Love, its grammar - to know where to put the noun - in the beginning or in the end, the same with a verb or an adjective, a connector or an interjection. I wish you to learn the language of Wisdom and that of Truth. And next year when I say: “Tell me Truth”, then you will start talking about it in the appropriate language. How beautiful and how excellent this language is! Yesterday evening a disciple, whom I commend, came to me and said: “Master, I shall tell you a bitter truth about myself: I failed to resist love as I should have, I failed to preserve my purity.” So I told her: ”I congratulate you on your courage!” She had started to speak the language of Truth. This sister then went on: “I should have done this earlier but my will power was too weak; from now on I wish to speak the Truth like never before. I want to be pure - pure like I have never been before.” The story I have just told you is a perfect example, I commend this disciple and wish for everyone to follow suit. There are many disciples who are not better than her but are considered better. We have to be brave and decisive in the Lord’s eyes, to confess every sin and all uncleanliness. We need to open our hearts and let go of all impurity. Confession is what we all need! What confession? Perfect confession: you shall face your Master and tell Christ within your souls: “Master, I have not kept to Your Love until now, did not abide in Your Purity, but from now on I will apply Your Love in all its completeness!” Then the devil will come and say: “Wait, do not give a promise, are you certain that you will manage to keep it?” You will then say “I will keep it! I will keep Purity!” Then another temptation will come along and you will ask yourself if you can walk with this Purity. Where there is Love, there is Purity as well. Finally, one last temptation remains - you shall think: “This Master of ours wants to make us saints, to deprive us of all the goods in the world.” If I love the world, what does it matter that I renounce it? You think that if you give up the world or something else nothing will remain of you or what used to characterise your personality. Do you know what this sort of reasoning makes you look like? You resemble the frog that says: “If I were to leave the marsh, what would my life turn into?” Better life exists. Is not the life of a musician better than the quacking of the frog? Does not an artist who paints beautifully stand higher than the frog? Does not the one who reads David’s psalms and the Holy books stand higher than the frog that only quacks and makes noise? I am telling you - when you leave this life the perspectives before you will be a thousand times grander and more glorious than the present life. As you are formed today, when a mother and daughter meet and kiss, the former shakes off and says: “Your lips are cold.” Why is she discontent? Because in this kiss there have to be vibrations - your soul should vibrate as if it were to become this kiss itself. A mother considers this requirement as entirely natural. The daughter kisses her but the mother is not contented, she feels that the daughter loves someone else more strongly and gave them a warmer kiss. The mother sighs and wonders: “Is this why I gave birth to her? She gave someone a warmer kiss and neglected me.” Similarly, do not think you could lie to me with some last kisses. I do not kiss for last or accept leftover kisses. I speak in the Name of the Lord. He does not give or receive last kisses. When the Lord kisses you, you will rise, will liven up, will be resurrected, will become virgin and as pure as an Angel. Virgin signifies the kiss of God, the kiss of Christ. I wish for all of you one day to receive this kiss, to rise, fill with life, be resurrected and say: “Now I know this infinite Divine Love, the Love of Christ, our Master of whom many have talked for so long.” You have sought and seek Him still. This is the one and only Path! Live in the world, work but always keep these three things in your minds: first, all in the world receives its meaning and makes sense through Love, second, all in the world is only created through Wisdom and, third, all in the world is only protected through Truth. Whatever work you take up, put into it Love, Wisdom and Truth. May all be conscientious and then work will go smoothly. Whatever these Teachings are applied to, they have no exception. There are no exceptions to the principle of Love. Christ says: Jhn 15:5 “I am the vine, ye [are] the branches” So, if you start a commune, call upon Christ and say to him: “Lord, we want you to have a share in this commune and be with us; we begin in Your Wisdom, we begin in Your Love, we begin in Your Truth.” Do not venture upon setting up a commune for ten people only but open it to the whole Divine world - let it serve as an example to the world, this expression of Truth! Now we are setting up a School2. Some consider that its members will only be chosen ones. No - it is open to all with no distinction! Anyone who can love, anyone who can think for themselves, anyone who can speak the Truth is welcome to become a disciple. It is irrelevant whether she is big or small. Next year, we shall meet again and talk. Then you will bring those ten topics. Let the most capable student write something on the topic of Love - in prose or poetry – as she chooses. But may she express her ideas so that each word has its meaning and weight and at the same time remain natural - express Love as she understands it. On the second subject may the most capable student write something on Wisdom - what exactly it represents. On the third subject, may the most capable student write something about Truth. Each of your works should be no longer than twenty small pages. Do not write too finely to trick me. Only write on the lines and not between them; only on the front side of the page and leave the back side blank. Only ten pages - no more! Write less if you will but not more. You can say something about Love with ten words, ten sentences or ten pages at most. Now, let us have a release/relax a little bit. Do you realise your own situations? You are like the rings of a barrel which is tightened by the cooper. He tightens all the rings so that no gaps remain. Then he pours water and again makes sure there are no leaks. Finally he turns the barrel around, takes out the rings and uses a big trying plane… The barrel wonders how long the process will be. Until there are no more leaks. Now that the barrel is ready, the rush can be put but if a ring breaks, there will be work again next year. Now you will set yourselves free and say: “We are now free and under no obligation to abide by the rules!” But after we set you free do not think of walking away. No, you can stay tomorrow and the day after tomorrow - according to your work and circumstances. Do not think I am signing your passports; a day, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine or ten - you can stay. I decide for up to ten days, the residents of Veliko Turnovo decide for any longer periods. For they can say: “How long do these people intend to stay here and keep our Master occupied?” But I do not believe they will say such a thing since they have already experienced this last year. Out of Love you can stay for as long as you like, you are welcome. Eat and drink as much as you wish, but once you leave, go and pay your debts. Receive and treat others like we treated you! 27th August 1922, Veliko Turnovo3 1 “Bless and forget not” and “Fir-fur-fen” – music exercises given by Master Beinsa Douno at the annual reunion of the White Brotherhood in Veliko Turnovo, 1922. 2 Setting up a school – Master Beinsa Douno inaugurates the School of the White Brotherhood on February 24th 1922 in Sofia. 3 The lecture “I am the vine of truth” was first published in the literary miscellany “I am the vine of truth”, Varna 1992. Source

Transformation Of Energies Twenty-third lecture by the Master, held before the General esoteric class on 4 August 1922, Thursday, Sofia Secret1 prayer I will now talk for a while about transformation of energies. You should partly get acquainted with this great law of transformation. Let us say that you have a certain pleasant or unpleasant state of the Spirit, the soul or the body. State of the Spirit implies that you are thinking of something, that some thought occupies you; state of the soul implies some feeling in the heart. So you have some state either in your mind, in your heart or in your will. Well, precisely this state ensues from the tension of some force. For example, you are walking, and a tiny thorn pricks into your heel – for each step, you will feel unpleasantness. So a certain force has attacked this thorn, it influences your foot and you get restless. Whoever does not know the reason for your state – that this tiny thorn has got into your heel – would say: “This person just wants this and acts this way – twisting”, but this twisting comes from this thorn. As a rule, Bulgarians have with them such big needles and when they prick themselves with some thorn, they start picking with this needle until the thorn comes out; once it gets out, they put their mouths on this place to suck up some blood, and then they put a little salt on top of it. Well, now this thorn may get somewhere into your feelings, because thorns grow everywhere just like uninvited guests. And if it so happens that you walk along an unbeaten road where these thorns grow, then possibly not only one, but ten, twenty or thirty of them might puncture the sole of your foot. Now, these thorns are still more dangerous when a feeling rouses in you, let us say, a feeling of disgust or hatred. You may be a philosopher, you may be a religious person, but when this feeling comes, you will change; you will forget your religiousness and will show yourself just like you were originally. Twenty years ago I watched how two missionaries in North Bulgaria flew at each other’s throats and almost killed each other, but half an hour later they prayed, and after the prayer – this-and-that, they kissed and forgave each other. Now I ask what happened between them. The cause is one word – this word in a certain moment might be misunderstood, it may incite a series of other feelings and cause another kind of a state. You have to know the laws, to turn these forces into a positive direction, to replace them with something else. Now, let us say that we talk about hatred. You might ask: “Couldn’t we go without hatred?” – You cannot – the stronger hatred is, the stronger Love is, too. But when will Love be stronger? – As soon as this hatred is removed. Love will be so much stronger, as much as hatred has been stronger. Hence, hatred is a shadow of Love, and by this shadow we will be able to judge in what direction this Reality is located, because if you do not love, you will hate. However, there is a third state that is worse than hatred, because the one who hates you, is active; the one who hates you, takes from you – this person will either hit you, or lame you, or set your house on fire; if this person is a journalist, he will write in the newspapers to compromise you and will clamp you so that you can feel his hatred. This is a restrictive condition. The one, who cares for you or loves you, will do you Good, will recommend you at the proper place; if you are poor, this person will lend you money, make you a house – this is a process opposite to the first one. Now I will not dwell on psychology, where these two states have derived from, because the state of hatred has its origin, too. Initially this state was natural, but now this state of hatred is unnatural. Therefore, in present life, we should place hatred as a rear of Love, every time it is possible. And the esoteric law reads as follows: “Do not oppose hatred, because if you oppose it, you give it more power – if you oppose it, you acknowledge it a reality, and if you oppose this reality, you acknowledge it as a power. If you do not acknowledge it, then you should think only of Love, speak only of Love and leave hatred as it is – to act alone by itself. And Christ says it rightly: “Do not oppose evil”. Why? – In order not to give it strength – once you oppose it, you allow it to draw strength from you. If your mind is occupied with someone who hates you, and you want to oppose this person, you allow him to draw some strength from you. And we can say that hatred is theft done in a lawful way, blackmail, drawing of human energy. And the one, who hates you, will always exhaust you, hit you, break your head or leg. If it is in physical aspect, this person will hit and lame you so that you cannot oppose him; thus, he would like to take your energy both in an intellectual and spiritual aspect. Therefore, Christ says: “Do not oppose evil and think of Good within yourself”. So there is the difficult part, because evil – these are intelligent beings from the Brotherhood of Darkness2, and they say: “Oppose evil, because only in this way you will show your character” – for them, doing evil is life, while doing Good is death. As in the Lodge of Light evil is excluded and everyone is being punished for it, in the same way in the Lodge of Darkness, Good is excluded and everyone is being punished when doing Good. Also these moods you sometimes experience come through suggestion. For example, someone would come to persuade you, saying “You give him a lesson, prove to him that you are a good person, that you are not a simpleton; otherwise your prestige will be lowered – clench your fist and show yourself so that everyone trembles around you.” At the same time, another thought from the Brotherhood of Light comes to you, saying: “No, act after your Love, don’t pay attention to this, consider it not addressed to you.” And these two thoughts begin talking to you – the one school and the other one start talking to you. You sit and sit, and then say: “We shall take the road”. You are in the Brotherhood of Light and yet you work with the Dark ones, so you are to the left. Because every moment you are either to the left or to the right: you get angry – you are to the left, you love – you are to the right. This path is like this – each moment we will alter, now to the left, now to the right, until we come to the position to distinguish these states and immediately grasp the moment in which they want to tempt us. When you come to the position to grasp this moment, you have to let your intuition manifest and not oppose it – and once you do not oppose it, you will be victorious. Every time when one is able to withstand a certain temptation, a certain seduction, this person always gets stronger; but if one is unable to withstand a certain temptation or seduction, one falls and weakens – this is a law. When temptations come, you cannot avoid them. Temptations will come, tests will come, the question lies not in this; the bitter and sweet feelings will come – this is a law, there is no other path in the present conditions, and everyone should know how to receive them. This law is the same also in the Mental world: some thoughts are formed by the Brotherhood of Light, while others are formed by the Brotherhood of Darkness, and every single thought has its own utmost limits. Then I will define the following law for you: those who walk in the left path, they prolong the time in the beginning and shorten it in the end; while those disciples who walk in the Brotherhood of Light, shorten time in the beginning but prolong it in the end. I will now explain this law to you: for example, a worldly person has some time to think and discuss, it takes him one, two or three days, he thinks a lot about how, for instance, to cover a road of several kilometres – he would send a whole expedition to check the road, to investigate it, and would say: “This road cannot be travelled along.” While the person who lives in accordance with God, who walks in the Divine path, who has intuition, beholds this road all at once, and says: “God speaks so – it is possible to travel”. But once we come to the methods of the Brotherhood of Light, when we see the results in the end, we protract time. Now, the one who would lend you money, first protracts time for one, two or three months – the time will pass and when the term for collecting the money comes, he shortens the time, he will restrict you and you will pay, it cannot be helped. In the Brotherhood of Light, this process is reverse – we think in the beginning and then act, but when the fixed date comes for paying back, and someone wants to pay us back, we say: “We do not want this money, you can keep it for yourself” – this person extends time. And so, you will watch the process which takes place inside you. If, still in the beginning of your life, you want the fruit to come quickly, if you want the time to come soon for you to achieve something, if you want the results to come fast, then you walk into the left path – if you want to master something rapidly, then you walk in the left path. If, after having worked for a long time, you let the fruit come at last, and you are not in a hurry, then you walk on the right track, in the right way3. The one who has worked for one’s nation in the worldly manner, and who has walked in the left path, wants a monument to be built for him, and wants to be written about in the papers, and if they do not do so, he considers these people to be ungrateful. While a person who has walked in the right4 path, when the time comes for an anniversary, says: “There is no need to do this for me, let this be done after my death” – this person protracts time. If you wish for rapid results still in this life, you are to the left. If you hurry in the beginning, you are in accordance with God; if you protract in the beginning, you go according to the world. If you shorten the time in the end, you go according to the world; if you extend it in the end, you go according to God – this is a law inside you. And when you worry about the results of your life, about what you have done, you are to the left. You have done something and you worry – you are to the left. For instance, you worry: “What will happen to us, what if they don’t baptize our children, what if they don’t wed us?” – you already are to the left. So you have not come to this world to be wed and buried, these are side-matters. In which code of the New Testament is it written that one has to be wed and baptized? When God created the first man, was it written somewhere, that he would be wed, did God wed him? God created man in His image and according to His likeness; He said: “Be fruitful, subdue the Earth, live in accordance with God” - this is what the Lord has said. And later, when people came and began to live worldly, they used to say: “We must be wed, we must be baptized, the Lord has said so.” I am asking, who wedded the first man, who wedded the first humans? He who wedded the first humans, He will wed us, too. If this is a question of baptism, there are two kinds of baptism: with water and with Spirit. If it comes to baptism, we will prefer to be baptized by the one who baptizes with Spirit. The priest might dip me in his cauldron twenty times and I will still remain the same person. No, the Lord will baptize you, and if He baptizes me once, it is enough for me. Now, who will wed you? – God. And who will bury you? – If it is a question of burying, the Lord will bury you, because He will also bring you to life at least. If we worry, this shows that we bother about public opinion – then you are to the left. We could have in mind this public opinion, if it consisted of saints, of noble people, of people with the most sublime character, mind, heart and will – then we would accept their opinion. As for those who bother you – these are people who take bribes every day, at each step. What would these people say? Here is what a distinguished person of theirs used to tell me: “Though being bad people, we know that when a noble5 society appears, then bad people will crowd together and fly out at this society to justify their own sins.” And when they speak of you, we know that these are their sins, but we are not such stupid people. So when transforming energies, everyone should occupy oneself to see how much time it takes one to transform some energy. Now, you can make experiments – let two friends say to each other: “Tell me some offensive word, so that I can see how long it will take me to get over this offence”; pull out your watch and see at what time he offended you and how long it will take you to transform this offence. For instance, at 6 o’clock in the morning he offended you, and you will see how long it takes you to transform this feeling – whether you will be able to transform it in two minutes, in half an hour, in one, two or three hours. If you cannot calm down this feeling in a month, it means that your character is weak; if you can transform this feeling in one or two hours, if you can transform this offensive word, so that it becomes an ordinary word for you; and not only stand it but that this becomes a musical word for you – it means that you have a strong character. Now I am explaining to you the transforming of energies in the following way: let us say that you enter a restaurant; no matter if you are an esoteric disciple or a Christian, but you have no money, and the restaurant-keeper asks you: “Do you have any money?” – “I don’t” – “But you have a nice hat, I will give you a meal for that hat” – so you put down your hat. I am asking whom you should thank – your hat or the restaurant-keeper? – You should thank the hat. You enter the restaurant for the second time, you already have no hat, but your shoes are nice, you have no money, and the restaurant-keeper says: “I can give you a lunch for your shoes” – you take off your shoes and remain barefoot. Whom you have to thank? – Your shoes, not the restaurant-keeper. And if this restaurant-keeper tells you: “You should thank me that I fed you” – yes, but due to the hat; “Thank me that I fed you for the second time” – yes, but due to the shoes; i.e. the words of the restaurant-keeper are true to some extent. Maybe this restaurant-keeper just wants to test you, and the opposite might happen – he might just want to test you, to see what you will think about him, he might take your hat and give it back to you again, he might take your shoes and send them back to you again, i.e. he wants to conceal his virtue. So you will thank your hat, and he will give it back to you. When you thank your hat and he gives it back to you, he plays backgammon – he has won; but in the game, if he does not give your hat and shoes back, that settles the question – no gratitude. Now, our educators in church want us to thank them. All right, but if they have taken our hats, our shoes and coats, and do not give them back, but have given in exchange three meals to each one of us, then what shall we thank them for? I say: thank your nice hat, shoes and coat, that you could have three meals for them, but there is nothing to thank these educators for. All right, now I interpret: if a priest baptizes you, what will you gain? If you become a noble5 person after this priest baptizes you, it is good, but if, after being baptized by him, you become a scoundrel, the lowest good-for-nothing, then how much is his baptism worth? It is better if he did not baptize you. Hence, in each moment we should know how to transform these energies that accumulate every day in the form of feelings, thoughts and acts inside our body. We cannot require someone to be patient, we should not force patience upon this person from outside – he has to realize this from inside, this patience should be born within his consciousness. Patience cannot be present at every moment – sometimes patience is compatible while sometimes it is not compatible. In what cases must we have patience? If I am weak and someone is being hanged before me, I will have patience – this is God’s Will; but if I am a strong person and some people of a weak character are hanging someone before me, I will not put up with it, I will not keep my patience, I will stand up, bind them and try to dissuade them and I will not say that such is God’s Will. Hence, when are we recommended patience? – When I am weak, I will have patience, for the weak one has to be patient; when I am strong, I will not put up with it – once you are strong, you must help right away. Now this might suggest to you the thought that God is called long-patient, but do you know what God’s consideration for His long-patience ensues from? – The Lord knows that if He gets angry, the world will end, hence He is long-patient because of the consequences that might result from His anger. If He gets angry at one person, the world will be gone, because, if He gets angry, he will be angry in a way people have never seen. This is the reason why God is so long-patient. He knows that the people of weak character, the sinful people would not compel Him to betray the laws He has set up, to put Himself out of His own peace and follow their minds, and walk in their paths – He will walk in His own path. Therefore, in this respect, patience has its own place. And we should be like God – if someone criticizes us, we will walk in our path and will not stop to reason about criticism; if we stop to reason, we give strength to criticism. We will walk on the path that we are convinced of and that we have tested. Now, in Chamkoria6, in one of my talks I told my listeners that we, men, women and children at the age of 15 to 70, climbed up Musala7. – “It is a lie” – they say, - “It is not possible, you want to mislead us, a 70-year-old person cannot climb up Musala!” One of the attending persons sitting there says: “I am a witness of this, it is true.” – “But please tell us is that really true?” – People consider these things fiction. If people consider fiction the things you are doing now before their eyes, then how are you going to convince them of things they have never seen? In your reflections8 as disciples of an Esoteric school, you should always stop and consider matters. For instance, is it worth transforming the energy, do you have enough energy to spend and so on. Because in a certain case, we might have much more important work to do than deal with idle matters. And everyone has noticed that when a temptation comes, a thought always imposes itself in the following manner: you must decide something and you think that if you act in a certain way, then the affair will be settled, will be made easier; but if you act like this, not only will the things not be settled, but they get mixed up even more. In some cases it is necessary to drop this thought and absolutely ignore it, transform your energy and go on your right path, walk in the path of your own development. Sometime a person feels nervous and cannot bear9 something and says: “I can’t bear it”. Why do you suggest to yourself that you cannot bear it? This is a suggestion from outside. Imagine that four people catch you, bind you and ask you: “Can’t you bear it?” and hit you fifty strokes; then would you not bear it? – You will bear it and go beyond it. If four persons with these sticks compel you to bear it, then why could you not say, according to the same law: “I can restrain myself!” – You can, why not, only we, when suggesting these negative thoughts to ourselves, say: “I can’t.” You will suggest to yourselves: “I can, I can endure”; you would not say: “I can endure sufferings”, but you will bring Love into your soul and say: “With Love, I can bear everything!” Some stupid thought comes to you; do not deny this stupid thought, but tell yourself: “With Wisdom, I can do everything!” A lie comes; do not deny the lie, but say to yourself: “With Truth, I can do everything!” And then you draw out forces. So, when it comes to the moment to apply the esoteric law, you will always use positive words and phrases. If you use even one negative word of any nature, it will always bring bad consequences with itself. If you say: “I will get sick, I will die, our things are not getting better”, then bad effects are coming. No, all these thoughts are not for the esoteric disciple. Even the disciples of the Brotherhood of Darkness are much bolder in their statements – they come and use the positive methods of the Brotherhood of Light. A disciple of the Brotherhood of Darkness never says “no”, such a disciple says: “I will do good”, but when he gets the power, he uses it for evil. Therefore many of the Brotherhood of Light disguise themselves and go into the Brotherhood of Darkness to study their methods, while many of the Brotherhood of Darkness enter the Brotherhood of Light to study their methods – both schools have to be explored. For example, an evil person says: “I will win, I will become strong”, and a good person says: “I will become rich”, but both of them, after getting the strength, generally spend this strength – the one will do violence, and the other one will do beneficence, but both of them make statements. Now, each one of you, as a disciple of this Great school, should be positive in Good. You will not say: “I will take revenge on him”, but you will say: “I shall requite him by Love, I shall requite him by Wisdom, I shall requite him by Truth, Righteousness, Virtue, Mercy10 – that is how I shall be quits with him!” And only in this way these energies, these forces can be transformed from one state to another, because all energies are connected with Intelligent11 beings. We have to study the language of all Intelligent beings – and when you know their language, they will listen to you; but when you do not know their language, they do not help. Now we all study the language of things. Do you know what this Divine language is like? There are two things by which you can recognize it: when you have learned some of the Divine words and you have prayed, you will feel certain warmth down, in the pit of the stomach, your soul will expand and you will feel that you will soon get an answer, you receive encouragement. Then an hour, two or three hours have not even passed, and you get your answer just as you felt it. While sometimes you pray but feel some rigidity, some bitterness12, as if your prayer stands a span above your head, and no reply arrives – you speak to God in an unknown language and He does not answer you. When we speak according to His will, He answers us. Now, in the Esoteric school, the law of transformation of energies is related to the necessity of things. Every time when you start trying the law, you will begin with necessity in Life. You are hungry, you need only bread; you will take in your mind this first thought – to remove your hunger, to calm down your organism; you will not put in your mind any other thought, but you will only focus your thought to obtain bread, i.e. food, lunch, to feed yourself, this should be your thought. Once you obtain the first thing, you ought to calm down, for instance you may plan to sleep somewhere; then you will concentrate your mind upon sleeping. And then, according to the degree of necessity, all your needs will line up. If you observe this law in this way, then your prayer can be answered to, but if you put all these desires all together and if you want everything at once, all these things will be delayed and all your plans will not be achieved, because you have not observed this law of sequence. You will pray for the first thing necessary, for the thing that you cannot do without, then – for the second one, the third one, the fourth one and so on. This is how Divine law works – with mathematical precision, but if you change things and put the minor things in first place, the law changes by itself. Now, only by this law of transformation of energies, a judicious13 harmony can be created. For example, it would not be wise on my part to put on my worst clothes with a repulsive smell, enter your home and say: “Now, stand me, love me” – it is not allowed to treat any mistress like this, unless if it is to test her. I am not allowed, on my part, to tempt anyone, I have no right to do this, unless it is to test this person. Hence, on my part, I have to be so correct, so as not to give occasion to any of my classmates to lose his or her balance, neither to serve as a means of temptation, because neither will I gain something from this, nor does my classmate. Let us say that one of you, a brother, is off his balance, angry, and you gather and begin to say things about him which are not necessary – about his negative side; this passes through the whole class and then you all talk around that we have no other disciple like him – you have all failed your test, you are all to the left. Once this brother, this disciple, has made a mistake, you should all gather, make a prayer, send a grateful thought towards him, draw something from his mistake and say: “Thank God, that the Lord gave us a very good lecture and we thank this brother very much that he became a model and gave us a test.” Send him nice thoughts, he will be encouraged – then you are to the right, this is transformation of energies and that is how you should act. And so, for the future, as disciples of the School, you have to apply this law, it is a Force for you – only in this way can you develop properly. If you begin to put it into practice, you will notice a certain growing, enlightening of your mind, softening of your heart, strengthening of your will. Here is an example: I say that I have patience; you come into my room, I have some work to do, I want to write or correct something, I draw out my watch, but say nothing to you, because according to the esoteric law, it is not allowed to say: “I have some work to do, come some other time.” This is not allowed – according to the esoteric law when a disciple comes, he should guess by himself that it is time for him to leave. So I draw out my watch, look at it and the more this wish grows in me, that he should leave, the more the willingness to stay grows in him. Make an experiment: sometime you wish that someone leaves, while a wish, two times stronger, grows in this person to stay longer – he feels as if someone draws him, the process is reverse. Some other time you want a friend of yours to stay longer, because you love your friend, but less than five or ten minutes will have passed when your friend will say: “Good-bye, I will come again to your place some other time ”, he or she will leave – this is suggested to your friend by the brothers of Darkness. But if I set to myself the thought: “Wouldn’t he or she leave?”, all of a sudden my friend would find something else to tell me. No, you will draw out your watch and will see how long you will stay quiet and calm as Diogenes, without disturbing your balance – you will stay quiet and calm as if nothing happened, even though a whole day might have passed. If your friend stays a whole day and you do not lose your equilibrium, you have won. And your friend will say to himself or herself after leaving: “I should not have stayed so long, I overdid it a little” – your friend feels that he or she has given more. If your friend has stayed more, provoked you and thrown you off your balance, then after leaving, he or she would say: “I would like to go to him the same way one more time.” These are purely psychological processes which take place in you. Most of you have this kind of experience – this is a great law which you should understand and observe; this law regulates things. So, to create a character through transformation of these energies is not an easy job. Have in mind that the great Divine Spirit who has been working over you for thousands of years14, has changed your character only a little, you have done only a little job. Even when someone among you enters God, his character changes with such difficulty. There are moments when this person must absolutely change and enter the New Life, but before he or she comes to this New Life, this change happens very slowly. Once this person enters the New Life, things are radically changed already. So now you will think over transformation of energies – you will think, you will have the willingness to see to what extent you are strong. And you will all take care to transform your energies, to turn them into positive ones. Once you transform them, you win. Now, the rest of your time you may use for questions that interest you. (Brother Stoychev announced a few messages towards all of us regarding our forthcoming departure to the Gathering of the Universal Brotherhood of Light in the town of Veliko Turnovo.) This year we will apply the law, and those who come to Turnovo, will act and after that think. All will act – you will have experiments and you will think over the results of these experiments. As for those who want to reason, to think, let them not come – the ones who would like to reason, let them go into the world, this is a place for reasoning. We set to experiments – we have philosophized for twenty years, now it is time for small experiments. Some of you who want to be the first, to rank first, here is the experiment I will give them: let them go to Musala at evening time, and go through the Rila desert, through the Maritza river, the Toundjanska valley and return. After we return from the gathering, I will give this experiment to those who want to make it. The heroes will come alone and then leave by two at a time. If you cannot traverse on top of Musala, then what can you do? In ancient times, one could do as much in the world as the kind of a peak one could traverse – all adepts, all Masters of the past have gone through high places. Some of you want tests – such will be the test: getting to Musala at evening time by moonlight. There also may be another test: traversing Musala in a dark, stormy night with snow up to the knees. If you endure it, we will say that you are a first-class hero on the physical level. But if you cannot go through Musala even at daytime, there are no privileges with us, and we will say: “Brother, it is not a big thing, but you couldn’t do it”. So we will judge people by their merits and whoever endures it, we will give this person the first place. Why? – Because he or she deserves it. We will give you the first place and we will give you the last place. Now, this will be the first experiment for everyone (all of you are young), for all disciples. This is a very hard test – to go through this desert of Rila: your hair will bristle up, and some of you may be sick for several full weeks. When we went to Musala recently, a friend of mine walked back on his own, passed through the desert of Rila, and here is the experience he had: he remained alone with his wife, while two other persons walked way ahead; this brother confessed to me like this: “When you were gone, I used to see living people springing out of each bush, my hair bristled up”. And indeed, when you enter this valley of the Rila desert, it is desolate there; no birds singing, but you only hear the rustling of the leaves and branches of the trees. And only if you pass it in the dark at evening time! And if you climb up the southern slope! First of all you have to pass this way at daytime so that you have no illusion that it is easy; then you will pass it by moonlight, and finally – in a dark, stormy night. Only three tries, otherwise you will be lost, your life will be in danger there. Once you make this attempt, there are certain energies in these places, which you will make use of. This is one of the best paths, this is an occult valley – only spirits of silence15 are implanted there and they have expelled all birds. When you enter there, you feel that all these energies go only inwards, and you become more and more serious – something grand! When you pass Musala and enter the valley of the Toundja River, immediately your heart opens up and becomes merry, joyful. When passing on one side, you are serious, while when passing on the other side, you are merry; these two conditions are excellent. Nature in this desert of Rila is grand, majestic! One should spend there a day, two or three days, in order to see what a fine place it is for reflection. Disciples should begin with these experiments, because in Bulgaria you have comfort with these high places, with these mountains – in Egypt and elsewhere, they used to create these things artificially, while here Nature has given them to us without our efforts. Therefore, this year we will start with these methods, we will all be active. When you come now to the gathering, you will all work – no privileges. You, too, citizens of Sofia; there must be twenty or thirty extra people for every job – all of you should work willingly, no one saying: “I cannot do this job”. We will begin with the example of the eldest, the strongest ones, and then the youngest will work in the same way. One is the law that you will obey, one is the opinion. We will try the law and see what the consequences are. This position will give us Freedom, a certain faith so that we try God’s will and apply it without any correction. In cannot be otherwise – we will try this without any change. If a certain route is set for you, then you will accomplish it without variation. When we walked to Musala, I told them: “When we come to the places with snow, no one will walk this way, we will take the path slightly to the side”. However, four people deviated from this rule, rolled down, and two of them were saved by a miracle, they contused. A disciple walks along with me and says: “Let me go this way” – he wants to walk along the snowy path. You shall travel along the same path that I travel on. When the Lord tells you to cross the snow, you will cross the snow, but now you will go around and walk through the crags – every time you will walk along the path traced by God. We are thankful that these two persons were rescued so safely: they were a man and a woman who rolled about a hundred meters downwards – it was because of their disobedience, because they wanted to cross the snow. Now, obedience is required of you all, inner obedience. Some would say: “This spirit talks to me like this”. This Spirit is supposed to talk equally to each one of us. A spirit who says one thing to me, and to you – another thing, is not this genuine Spirit. This Spirit should speak to us one and the same thing – this injunction is one and the same for me and for you, and for all of us. His will has to be the Divine Will, which we ought to implement without any doubt. And then the results will be excellent. My experience is: where God’s Will is done, there are always good results, without any exception; where we stray from God’s Will even in the very least, there the bad consequences will come immediately. I will give you an example which a sister told me: she made her experiment to Vitosha16, but on her way back to Dragalevtsi17, she feels like drinking some water, approaches the fountain and wants to drink only two or three sips, to wet her throat, but something from inside tells her quite definitely: “Do not drink, walk on your way.” She comprehends this voice but thinks: “Just two or three sips.” She stops by the fountain – she has nothing to drink with, beholds a young girl filling her pitchers, asks her to drink from her pitchers and the village girl lets her do it, she raises the pitcher to her mouth, but does not manage to drink even one sip when she drops the pitcher from her hand and breaks it. Now she stands before the broken pitcher, still with a dried throat, but she thinks of this no more, but instead thinks of how to pay for the pitcher – she has no penny on her, and the village girl insists on being paid. This sister offers her hat to the girl. – “I don’t need your hat; I want money, fifteen leva18!” – “I don’t have it.” – “Find some; go back from where you came!” – “Listen,” – the sister says – “I am a teacher, I will not lie to you, I will go back to Sofia and will return here on purpose, to bring you fifteen leva” – she takes her address and name, and so the problem is resolved. Now, I have faith in you. I got a nice impression that there is good will in all of you. When I was looking at these a hundred and four people, climbing up towards Musala, standing before the snow, they asked me: “Master, shall we go this way?” I look – a dangerous road, snow; I say: “You may do it”. When these a hundred and four people rushed, they reached Musala in a little over than an hour. I say: with these disciples, high peaks can be conquered – this is a good feature in them, it can be used for good. And all of them came back safely, except for those two, the contused ones – it was an incident. There is good will in all who listen to me – experience shows this, but I want for all of you to make good use of your energies. Those of you who will remain in Sofia, whose things will not be possible to be settled, I want them to observe the days of the gathering – to get together in groups of ten up to fifteen persons, to be in touch, to make contact on the astral plane, so that there is a connection between us and them. I believe that this year many things will be straightened up. The Invisible world works a lot and we have to be ready. It is someone else who works now for our sake, and we will correct things that are worked out and will take care not to ruin God’s path, God’s plan, not to distort God’s Word. Let us implement everything word for word19, let us fulfil all orders – let us be model disciples of the Brotherhood of Light. Because not many years will pass, and there will come brotherhoods from other places, which will wish to unite with you, to see how you live – you have to be ready. Now, a very good future lies ahead of you, there is no reason for you to lose heart. They really put packsaddles on in Turnovo, but everyone puts his own packsaddle on. When you come, we ask: “Brother, this packsaddle is for you, this bridle is for you, can you put it on and take it off yourself on your own? If you can, take it, because we don’t have resources, we don’t have enough.” This is in the figurative sense. Once I say it, I will do it – I will be faithful to myself. The one, who is faithful to oneself, will be faithful to God as well. And there is no better thing than this – to be in the good graces of God, of the Angels, of the saints, to have the favour of God, what can be better than to be in harmony and concord with this Great law! They will not give us something that we cannot perform, they will not demand impossible things from us – they will give us things that are possible in conformity with our mind, heart and will – things which will ease and enlighten us. So we need not lose heart. Secret1 prayer 1 Here “secret” should rather be comprehended as “silent and confidential”, i.e. prayer which is only between God and the praying person. 2 The phrases “Brotherhood of Light” and “Brotherhood of Darkness” in this lecture are translated following the meaning. If we had to translate the original phrases literally, they would sound as “White Brotherhood” and “Black Brotherhood”, where “white” and “black” in the Word of the Master are always used only in their principal meaning, concerning the ideas of White (Light) and Black (Darkness) as basic opposite and complementary principles in the whole Creation (as, for example, it is in “Yin and Yang” in Chinese philosophy). To avoid any misunderstandings, the translator has preferred the words “Light” and “Darkness”. 3 “the right track” – “right” here is used in the meaning of “correct” “the right way” – “right” here is used as the opposite of “left” In the Bulgarian original they are two different words. 4 “right” here is the opposite of “left” 5 “noble” here is used in the meaning of “high-minded”, “magnanimous” 6 “Chamkoria” (from Turkish) – the old name of the resort in the Rila mountain in Bulgaria which is now named “Borovets”, in both languages it means “pine woods”, “pine-wooden” 7 Musala - the highest peak on the Balkan Peninsula. This peak is in the Rila mountain in Bulgaria and is 2,925 meters high, which is equal to 9,596 ft 8 “reflections” here is in the meaning of “reasoning” 9 “bear it” in this context is used in the sense of “have patience” 10 “mercy” here is used in the sense of “clemency” 11 “intelligent” here refers not so much to the intellect, but implies that these beings have very high level of consciousness and understanding. It should be rather comprehended as “wise”. But since “wise” is connected with “Wisdom”, which has a certain definition in the Word of Master Beinsa Douno, the translator would not like to mix the meaning of both words. 12 “bitterness” here has the meaning of “lack of mercy”, “fierceness” 13 In the original, the word for “judicious” here is the same used above for “Intelligent beings” – only here it refers to an object, not a being. 14 “has been working over” here implies that the Spirit is still working over 15 “silence” here implies the idea of “being silent”, “saying nothing” 16 Vitosha is a mountain to the South of Sofia. It is situated between Sofia and the Rila mountain 17 Dragalevtsi is now a district in South Sofia, but at the time when this lecture was held, it was a village in the surroundings of Sofia, at the foot of the Vitosha mountain 18 “Leva”, plural of “lev” – Bulgarian currency 19 “word for word” – in the original here is used a Russian phrase meaning “exactly”, “literally” Source

Functioning Of The Heart Year 1, Lecture 21 of the Youth Occult Class (Special Class) given by the Master Beinsa Douno on August 2, 1922, Wednesday 19.30h, Sofia Secret prayer There was a presentation of the disciples’ essays on the topic: “The purpose of the human heart.” For next time please write on the following topic: “The significance of the human eye.” When you were writing about the purpose of the human heart, did you stop and reflect on the centre of your heart? When the heart ceases to beat, physical life also ceases. When the heart ceases to feel, astral life ceases. Now I will give you the following weekly task: every day - in the morning, before lunch and before dinner - say the following words: “God, please create a pure and sacred heart in me!” After you have said these words you should reflect on the heart for five minutes. Some people say that the heart is a temple, others say that it is an altar of God. What is the heart for poets, a temple or an altar? Such sentiments indicate that people place a high value on the heart. What is the role of the heart in the human organism? It is very simple – it stimulates blood circulation. In that sense the heart plays the role of a conductor. It has a precise, mathematically determined size, according to which its function is also determined. There is a certain relationship between the physical and the spiritual functioning of the heart. Although as a physical organ it is small in size, from a spiritual perspective the heart is considered very important. As a result the heart becomes a master, which it doesn't have the right to be. This is an incorrect assumption. Only the human Spirit can be the master of everything. I am going to ask you the following question: “Does the heart or the Spirit feel?” How do contemporary psychologists explain the function of the heart in the Spiritual world? – As mere nervous impulses, as functions of the nervous system. As far as the psychic or inner-life aspects of the heart are concerned, people pay no attention. They walk by the heart like tourists without entering deeper into its inner life. Many modern tourists climb mountains, pick and eat blackberries, but never think about collecting some berries for the winter. You would say, "When winter comes, we'll buy blackberries from the store." Yes, but you will not find blackberries then. The heart needs to have reserves the same way a good housekeeper stores various fruits for the winter. It has been said that the heart is a temple of God. However, every temple needs an altar. The altar is the fireplace of the temple. The human body is likewise said to be a temple of God. The heart is the fireplace of this temple, and the fire burns always within it. What is the fire needed for? People warm themselves, cook, boil water on the fire and so on. If you bear in mind the role of fire in a fireplace, you will understand the functioning of the heart as a fireplace in the Divine temple. When it is warm outside, the fire is extinguished, but the fireplace remains. So in summertime people keep warm without a fire. We said earlier that when the physical heart ceases to beat, physical life also ceases. When sensations and feelings cease in the human being, the astral life comes to an end. When the astral life ceases, one falls into a sleepy state that resembles the application of anaesthesia. In the same way one can be intoxicated by smoke, ether or other gases. When the chimney of someone’s house doesn't work well, the house will be filled with smoke, so it should be ventilated through the windows. It will be impossible to stay inside and breathe the smoke. Similarly, each negative state indicates that the human heart is full of smoke. Why? Because the chimney of your heart, the chimney of your fireplace is stuffed. People say that everything is due to the heart, yet when they pass through difficult inner experiences, they look for the reasons elsewhere. I enter their house and see that it is full of smoke. I say, "Clean your chimneys, or fix them if they are broken!" The same is true for the heart. When you have emotional problems, I say, "Clean the chimney of your heart!" What is the chimney of the heart and where is it located? Reflect on this question for a while in solitude and find your own answer. You will be able to answer this question when you begin to study the Physical, Astral, Mental and Causal bodies of the human being. In the same way that the Physical body has its physiology and anatomy, the Astral, Mental and Causal bodies have theirs. The physiology and anatomy of the higher bodies are similar to those of the physical body. When certain analogies are made, however, they should be true. If analogies are true in their comparisons, one will intuitively feel inner harmony and satisfaction with them. For example, someone has written a poem. He has read it several times, but he doesn't like it. He corrects it, reads it again and then leaves it for a while. He then reads it again and realizes that it's now better than before, so this time he likes it. This proves the existence of an intuitive sense within a person, a sense that indicates to him which choices are right and which ones are wrong. In this respect, as disciples, you should develop your intuition so that you become able to distinguish between right and wrong choices. If your intuition is well developed, after you have written something on a certain topic - as you have written about the heart today - and after you have read it two or three times, you will be able to determine immediately whether your work is true or not. If your text is good, both you and your listeners will be satisfied. If you are not satisfied with your text, in no way can you expect others to appreciate it. While you were preparing your essays about the heart, you should have asked yourselves if your heart was healthy, if it sensed in a correct way. Then you should have considered the number of its valves from an anatomic point of view. Lastly, you should have perceived the astral or the spiritual heart, and reflected on it for some time before finally writing the essay. This is the right way of thinking. Contemporary people don't think in depth. Imagine that someone tells you that you are a bad person. Is that true? If you don't think deeply on the matter, you will take these words to be absolute truth and you will feel insulted. However, if you are a servant and your master has ordered you to go out to the field and dig, and you have refused to obey the order, I would say: you are a bad person in relation to your job, but not in relation to your life. If the servant hasn't gone out to plough and sow the field, one of his basic obligations is unfulfilled. I am asking, is there any difference between a servant sowing the entire field or just a single grain of wheat? Whoever is ready to sow a single grain of wheat will be ready to sow the whole field as well. Whoever cannot sow a single grain of wheat cannot sow the whole field either. Therefore, when we say that someone is a bad person, we mean that he is bad only at a certain moment, but not in other past or future moments. He is bad for as long as his bad behavior lasts. In a future moment, when he thinks or does something good and noble, he will be a good person. Similarly, when we speak about the occult meaning of good and evil, we understand only a specific moment. This may last a few minutes, a few hours or an entire year, but then it will change. One cannot be only bad or only good for an entire lifetime. Even the wolf, who is considered cruel, may display nobility on some occasions, such as when it enters a flock of sheep, touches this or that sheep with its muzzle, then goes away, causing no harm. In such cases shepherds say that something unusual has happened, that the muzzle of the wolf was blocked so that it couldn't kill any sheep. No, this wolf has shown some nobility. After pushing a sheep, he thinks for a while and says, "All right, have it your way!" When a wolf enters a flock, he may act in three different ways: either choke the sheep; scratch them with his nails, thus frightening them and then run away; or push them a little without choking them and then go away without causing any harm. The same is also true of humans. When one behaves badly, he either chokes others, scratches and frightens them, or pushes and knocks them over and runs away. Therefore, when you say that someone is bad, you should know exactly which of the three situations has occurred. This is the reason why good and evil are relative. Relativity is determined by the period of time in which the energy is active and whether or not the activity has changed anything. When it is said that someone is unable to do evil, this means that evil action is determined astrologically, through the influence of certain planets over human beings. In simple terms, the right conditions must exist in order for someone to do evil. When someone acts outside of these conditions, the door for committing evil is closed to him or her. Outside of this closed door, the individual energetically knocks and hits upon it, but since it doesn't open, the direction is changed and the individual begins to manifest good deeds. The same law is valid for Good, too. Therefore, one doesn't always have suitable conditions for doing good, neither does he always have suitable conditions for doing evil. When writing your essays about the human eyes, think seriously about the good that can be attained through them. Reflect also on the good that comes through your heart. Make scientific observations on yourself in order to differentiate the experiences you have, as well as their effect upon you. For example, measure your pulse when you are in high spirits, then count the number of heartbeats that you have when you experience great joy or grief. It is interesting to observe the variations of your pulse as your inner states change. Also, you will receive certain mathematical data that you can use in your work on yourself. Notice whether the rhythm of your heart is steady or not, if it is long or short. You can determine your condition by the rhythm of the heart. Only in these ways can you receive concrete data to apply to your life. Otherwise you will accumulate capital, put it in the bank and count it without knowing how it was acquired. If you don't become bankers, you will dig, plough and sow the field in order to learn how wealth gets accumulated. Whoever hasn't acquired his wealth through effort and labour can only boast of having thousands, but such wealth is dangerous. As disciples of the occult who are given a great deal of knowledge, you run the risk of becoming too full or absent-minded. When you study many subjects, you may become disoriented, and as a result there will be many things that you won't hear, comprehend or perceive. You will hear physically, but you won't perceive inwardly. In that case no matter how much you speak to a person, he won't be able to understand anything. Such a person is like a young man awaiting the date with his beloved who can think of nothing else. No matter what you speak to him about, he will only think about his date. A hungry person is in a similar situation. You tell him this or that but he only thinks about food. Therefore, when an individual's consciousness is occupied with a certain thought, there are many things he won't grasp and will simply miss them. Sometimes your consciousness is also busy with external thoughts, not allowing you to perceive things properly. You read a poet, you admire him, yet you wonder what he intended to say in the poem. What did he want to say? He experienced despair and he masked it, so you think that his ideas are very deep. Some other time he was uplifted and fascinated, yet you're puzzled about his ideas. He has expressed his fascination, nothing else. These are external thoughts which are unrelated to the main subject. When describing his disappointments, the poet has gone through painful experiences. When describing his fascinations, he has been healed, especially after receiving financial support in the thousands, enabling him to travel overseas. However, a real poet views things from a Divine perspective and applies this in his life. A real poet describes things in their reality and is not guided by personal feelings. The same is also true for music and art. Now, when you reflect on things, I would like you too to expect nothing from anyone else, and nothing should be expected of you. When I refrain from speaking to you in a more concrete way, it's because I haven't yet met a person whose consciousness is as clear as the Sun – without a stain. Only those with clear consciousness can perceive things as they exist in the Divine world or in Mindful Nature. Therefore, as disciples of an occult school, you should purify your consciousness in such a way that everything you perceive can be understood and imprinted on you. You should break your telephone connection with the external world by saying, "We receive only from within, not from the outside world." When you come to class now, you are busy the whole time answering calls: “rrring” from here, “rrring” from there. You stand up, go away, come back, and fail to comprehend the subject you are being taught. How can you comprehend when you only busy yourself with these calls? The first task of an occult disciple is to learn to close his telephone lines. If someone wants to call you, you will say, "Excuse me, but my wires with the external world are disconnected." – "Why, how?"– "They're disconnected because of my occult studies at School. When I finish my lesson, I can receive and send messages again. Please don't bother me while I'm in class. Wait until the end of my lesson - then you may tell me what you need. Until then, wait for me outside." Source

Development Of The Consciousness Lecture twenty-two read by the Master to the General Occult Class on the 27th of July, Thursday, Chamkoria A secret prayer First the essays of the disciples on “The Most Proper Way for the Will-power Cultivation” were read. After that brother Rouschev read an essay devoted to the material world. I will talk for a while on the development of consciousness. In this case I take the word consciousness in its broad sense. In the Bulgarian language the word consciousness consists of a conjunction meaning “with” and a noun meaning “knowledge” – this means “to walk with Knowledge, is to be aware of something.” This meaning is primarily spiritual. It means to be simultaneously aware of two different states within yourself, within your mind, i.e. to be aware of the right and the wrong deeds, to know the difference between these two deeds, to know the difference between the right and the wrong feelings. Well, when I talk to you about the consciousness some of you resemble those who like music. Those who listen to the music and who say: “The music is a wonderful thing”, but you cannot tell which is the better part of this music, you can’t tell the difference between the tones. If some of the tones are omitted, you are not able to grasp this, you are able to comprehend the general stream only, while an expert musician can discern exactly where the mistake is – he discerns it by the help of his experience. You, the occult disciples - if you cannot grasp certain tones, if you are not able to make out such differences within your consciousness as these expert musicians do, then you cannot be disciples. All right, now I shall consider this question from an occult point of view: if I write a clef on the staff and under the first line I write a zero without a tail, I’ll have a whole note. Let us assume that right besides this note I put a quarter note, then a quaver note, then again a whole note, then a half note, etc. will this quarter of a note boast that it is beside the whole note? Sometimes I notice that you the occult disciples begin to think this way – how much the small note is nearer the big note. But you shouldn’t do this – you’d better mind that the tone you emit blends with the first note and that you make these notes harmonise and mind what expression you can achieve within the common harmony of all the notes. You still continue to ask yourself in what direction you are as regards the whole note, and how far you are from this note. Sometimes you notice that you are at a distance of one division, of two divisions, of three divisions from it and you say to yourself: “We drifted a great distance away.” This is not the musical way of examining this matter. That note, which is able to give an expression, might be very far from the main note, from the first note – it can be at several sheets’ distance from the first note and yet give the best expression. And mind that military music, the music played when you are about to fight, always gives the highest possible expression from its very beginning and startles the audience. While the minor music begins quietly, quietly, then gradually gets louder and louder and finally becomes high-pitched – after that it again lowers and flattens. With major music this is not so. Now if you want to grow properly as disciples, you should understand Life in its interrelations – as God has settled it. It might be said that during the day you are like notes, but when you go to bed and when you wake up, your musical scale is not the same. For instance, tomorrow the relations between me - as your Master - and you - as my disciples - will not be the same as they are today; you think that they will be the same, but no, they will be quite different. There is another inner force that settles the things of Life and its place does not depend on the very note itself, but it depends on the respective musician. And you do not have the right to say “Why was I put at a lower position or why was I put at a higher position?” – Wherever you are you should play your role. If you are above or below, if you are a whole note or a half note, or a quaver, or a semiquaver note, or the thirty-second, or the sixty-fourth note, played by a drum, or play another instrument, you should merge your beats into one. No one should be able to discern your beats as they are of no importance at all. Because within this consciousness, which I am talking to you about, exists another consciousness – the Divine consciousness, to which your own consciousness should become a repercussion. You are not the reason for the world’s existence the world has not been created just because of you. God has created this world as a pastime, and human beings are toys for his entertainment. Consequently you are the toys for God’s entertainment. When you say: “In our self-perfection…” What is this self-perfection about? – It is about the attainment of God. In what way can you know God? – In His Love. All right, did you succeed in attaining Him in His Love? – “Well, in His Wisdom, rather.” – Did you succeed in attaining Him in His Wisdom? – “Well, rather in His justice.” – Did you succeed in attaining Him in His justice? – You didn’t, that is, you only did it partially. When His justice is being applied to you, you say, “It is of no use”. When His love is being applied to you, you say, “It is of no use”. When the Wisdom is being manifested in its high forms, you say, “This is too tangled, it is not for us”. When the Truth comes in its Light, you say, “It is not for our eyes”. So I am asking you: if the consciousness of each one of the disciples is at this level then what knowledge can you possibly have? Consequently, all of you should strive to harmonise your consciousness, i.e. to reflect correctly within your consciousness all the Divine thoughts, all the Divine feelings, and all the Divine acts. For the human being this is a kind of salvation, or I call it human consciousness brightening. The human consciousness can reflect anything – the human consciousness is like clear water that can reflect anything. And in this reflection we can see how the world has been created. So, I keep a close watch on you, I keep a sharp eye on you: you are engaged with things that you have experienced many times. For instance, now you are worried about what will you eat, what will you cook. But the wolf also worries about this – whether he will be able to find something to eat today or not. The bird also thinks of its food. If we begin to worry about such things like the birds that do not posses our mind(UNCLEAR), what will happen then? In fact, your food has been provided for because God has provided your food and if you realise this, you will be able to find your food. If you start to understand His language you will be able to find your food at the right time. Let’s say that someone from Sofia has sent you a parcel, and has written to you about this parcel in a letter, but you haven’t received the letter yet – that is why you know that the parcel has come, but you are not able to take it. (?) Well, in the occult science everyone should strive to learn the Divine language of things. Do you know what it is like to speak the Divine language? Let’s say that I teach some disciple the Divine language and that this language seems very strange to him. I teach him the first letter of this Divine language. This language has its own alphabet and you are being taught this alphabet every single day. So our prayers, beliefs, and love – all these are the means, by which this divine language can be interpreted to us and they are the means, by which we can attain its power. If you ask me why Love is necessary I will tell you that it is needed so that we can learn the Divine language. If you ask me why Wisdom is necessary, I will tell you that it is needed so that we can learn the Divine language. Why is the Truth necessary – so that we can learn the Divine language. As soon as you learn this speech, your present life will be given meaning. For instance, often the following question comes up within you, the following desire – to be loved, to be in love with. Do you know what it is like to love and to be loved? When you love somebody, you evaluate Love as follows: you make this person a garment, you make this person a present, you build this person a house, or you buy this person a horse, you give this person money and if this person is a son of yours you give him something more. In this way you express your Love externally, but this is not Love at all. Well, imagine that you are my servant, you are honest and I let you use my house and my horse for some ten or twenty years. Meanwhile I go somewhere and when I return I take all my things back – do you think that I would have done this out of Love towards you? I would have done this out of Love towards myself only. At present you, the mothers, underline that you have an ideal love and that you love your children unselfishly. Well, I don’t doubt that your Love is unselfish, but why do you love your children in the first place? You love them because you will get older and this son of yours will become a famous man, so there will be someone to take care of you. You have a daughter and you love her, why? So that she grows older, and she marries a rich scientist, who helps you. Can you say that this is not true? In no way can you convince me of the contrary. Within all your thoughts there lies an agenda of self-interest, an absolute selfishness. You come to me. Why? – In this I also see some selfishness – you come to me so that you can obtain something. When I tell you that I, in my turn, also want something from you, you say, “Help me win the lottery, and I’ll give half of the profit to the Brotherhood; help me win one hundred thousand levs, and I’ll give half of it to the Brotherhood.” After you win! This is what my disciples say, “After I win…” But this is not occultism, this is not discipleship – clear these ideas out of your heads. From you I want some absolutely unselfish toll for God – do you understand what absolutely unselfish means? In future all of you should serve absolutely unselfishly, without any expectations to get something in return. You are constantly trying to alight on the first place and say, “Now I am on the right, or - now I am on the left.” This is what the Disciples of Christ wanted. Some of them wanted to sit on the right hand side, and others wanted to sit on the left-hand side; two thousand years later the people still want the same. You cannot enter the Kingdom of God in this manner. You want to enter the Kingdom of God easily – this is not an occultism. In your consciousness there should emerge a higher idea. If I, as a Master, had the objective to use you, this wouldn’t be any Mastership – this would be just business. If I didn’t tell you the exact Truth, it’s because I have had a reason not to. I did tell the Truth to one disciple, and as a result he cried for two days; if I tell the truth to some other disciples, they might cry for three days – this truth will contain bitter things. The one who enters the Kingdom of God will be given greatest bitterness – they will put you in the strongest acids, and if you liquidate into them, it would mean, that you are not fit for the Kingdom of God. Now you have to prepare your consciousness. To prepare for what? To prepare for the truths that the Divine world will submit you to – and this divine world will indeed submit you to these truths. You are funny; you want to enter the Kingdom of God as guests. No guests are required in the Kingdom of God though. What does the girl, who is going to get married, think? Does she expect to have three of four housemaids to serve her after she enters her new home, while she is constantly sitting on a chair and getting dressed, is this what she thinks? When she is at the village, her husband’s father will want her to buckle down to the task of kneading bread, so that they can check if she is good at kneading bread, if she is a good cook, if she is good at washing, and after that, she will have to go to work in the field. Meanwhile we, the spiritual people, are often thinking that when we go to the Heavens, we will get guitars and that everybody there will play and sing to us. There will be playing there indeed, but in between the playing there will be many great things which will be done in this great world. And if you, with your present comprehension, are planning to enter this world, you will find yourself in great controversy. Imagine that you are in Heaven and that you have been provided with the best food, with the best music, with the best amusement, and that suddenly someone there comes with an order and tells you, “You have to get up now and go to Earth to visit a great sinner.” As soon as you get sulky, you will fail. But you will not get sulky then, no, you will get up and you will go to this great sinner. If someone makes you do such a thing, you certainly will get sulky though. For instance, if you have sat on my right side and someone makes you stand up for some reason, you would have said: “Once I had the opportunity to sit here and now they make me stand up” – all of you think in this way. I don’t mean to say that this is bad, - in fact this is good, but in the Divine world they say, that God is omnipresent. God is testing you – you don’t know where exactly He will manifest, and in what way He will manifest - you don’t know this, because it is not that important in what way God manifests Himself - the important thing is how all this will end? Imagine that I invite you to visit me at my place and I roast for you a nice hen, but then suddenly I say: “Now let’s go for a walk for three or four hours and after we return we’ll see whether we will eat the hen”, what would you say in response to this? Suppose that you are hungry, that you haven’t eaten for three days and that after I invite you for a roast chicken, I suggest that you go for a two or three hours’ walk; you would certainly say: “Is this the right time for a walk now?” You will severely criticize my deed, and you will say: “But Master!” But what would you say if it proves to be that this hen had been ill, and I tell you: “We will put the lunch off till later – we’d better go for a walk, than eat”? This means that I have asked you to go for a walk, and I have taken you far away, because I have considered, that if we had stayed at my place, that roasted hen could have smelt tasty and would have tempted you. Consequently we can conclude that all the temptations are nothing else but a diversion of our attention from the dangers which have been created in the world. In itself, each temptation is bad, but since it happens this means, that something greater, something worse would have happened – so this evil has happened in order that something even bigger doesn't happen. That is why a Bulgarian proverb says: “Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t”. Consequently all the temptations aim at freeing us from the great evil, which is hanging like the sword of Damocles over our heads. As disciples of this School you should have in your consciousness a clear idea about the changes which are going on in the Divine world. What the people do is not important; the important thing is how the work is settled. The Divine Spirit, who makes these changes, gives to all the people whatever he chooses – you better try to understand the Divine Spirit, instead of trying to understand these minor spirits. Explore the Spirit who enlightens, who gives away the things, who is a source of the Divine Love, who is the bearer of the Divine Wisdom, who is the bearer of the Divine Truth, Justice, and Virtue. This great Spirit – it is He that you should have listened to, and if you had listened to Him, there wouldn’t have been any arguments at all – all these arguments, which are happening now, would have been settled quite easily. The other day I spoke to the first class about the transformation of the energies. Imagine that some friend of yours comes and insults you in a deadly manner – you make such an experiment, for one month you watch closely for how many minutes, days, or weeks you will be able to transform an insult. The goal is that not only should there remain no trace from this insult, but also when you hear it again, you should feel good. Watch carefully how long it takes for you to transform this insult into a pleasant feeling – this again depends on the power of your consciousness. If you cannot convert it within a month, it means that you are far from it. Then a month, two, three months, a year, two and more years pass and according to the law of karma after a great while, everything passes, God erases this recollection and you say: “It is over.” Yes, but such a person is not a disciple at all, and he hasn’t learned any lesson. You might consider that you have learned your lesson well only in the case where after someone insults you, you manage to erase this insult within an hour – and not only to erase it, but also to conceive a liking for the insulting word. If you master this science, it would mean that you are a disciple who has an understanding for the laws. Can you do this? Yes. When Christ says: “Love your enemies” this means that you should be able to convert the insult that someone has given you because when he, as your enemy, insulted you, he freed you from a greater evil. All of you should strive to clear your consciousness. Now I’ll tell you the same in a religious language: you should pray to God, you should call the Holy Spirit, so that you can apply the Divine Spirit. If with the help of your Love you can’t transform an insult, then you are not a disciple and your Love is weak and it is not Divine Love. All elements should melt within your Divine Love. Some of you might sigh. But the real disciple should not sigh “Oh, oh!” No, you should work. He might moan today, he might moan tomorrow, but finally he will say: “I understand everything now, I’ll not moan anymore, the task is solved”. I do not get angry that you moan sometimes, but when I hear you moan, I am watching to see if you still continue to work. When I hear you moan, and I see that you don’t work, then I say this matter won’t be settled by moaning. If you don’t adopt this method, which I am giving you tonight, you will waste your time, that is, you might graduate the school later. I am saying this, because some of my disciples repeat this class for fifteen years now - they say: “Master, tell us something more!”, but when I give them a more complex task, they say: “This is beyond our powers.” Then how do you want to go up a form? I don’t mean to say that I personally want this, but I am saying that everything in this School is fixed and necessary. It is not a privilege to love – it is a necessity; to be wise is not a privilege – it is a necessity; to love the truth is not a privilege – it is a necessity; to be merciful is not a privilege – it is a necessity. You should not say: “I can’t.” – No, you should just obey - this is a necessity. If you don’t obey this necessity, then death is in store for you. Why do you have to love? – Because if you don’t love, then there is no Life – if you love, there is Life, and if you do not love – there is no Life. If you don’t adopt this piece of wisdom, then the conditions of this Life will not manifest themselves. So when we talk about Love, when we talk about Wisdom, when we talk about Justice, when we talk about Truth, we comprehend the necessity of the Divine life. You should not ask why, but you should say: “I have to love, I have to be wise, I have to be just, I have to love the truth – this is a necessity, this is Divine, this is imposed on us, there are no exemptions” – that’s the way you should think. Some of you ask: “Why should we love?” – It is necessary that you should love. – “But why should we love a bad person?" – It is necessary. – “But he is so and so.” – It is necessary, don’t you see – such is the will of God. Do you understand what the will of God means? If you do not submit to His will then it will sweep away everything; if you submit to it – it stops. God will not submit to childish self-will and He will not give you answers to your questions what for and why – not at all. You must know: it is necessary. – “Why should I love?” – It is necessary; “Why should I be wise?” – It is necessary. That’s the way you should think and these things should be implemented within your consciousness once and for all. And they should be present not only within you - you should preach them to the others as well. So when they ask you what you study? You should answer: “I study that it is necessary to love!” – What else do you study? – “I study that it is necessary to have Wisdom!” – What else? - “I study that you should not make foolish things!” – What else do you study? – “I study that it is necessary to learn the Truth!” This is our doctrine: so it is necessary – you should not say: “I might, but only when I’m in the mood.” No, you should just love and that’s all. You should not do it depending on your mood – you should do it on order. You should submit – if you refuse, then everything will be over. So the reason for all the suffering in the world is just that the Invisible world wants to make the people reasonable, and wants to convince them that these sufferings are necessary. From the occult point of view, this is the reasonable side of the matter. From the Divine point of view, as long as these things are necessary, then they are to be realized most easily. For instance, it is necessary that you should eat. Is it difficult for you to eat? – No, it is easy. It is necessary that you should drink water. Is it difficult for you to drink water? – No, it is the easiest thing, one sip after another and you will drink it, just lift the glass and start. These are the easiest things. Now these disputes, which you carry on, stem from the fact that other beings exist in the world, and they obscure the human consciousness. Often the human consciousness gets obscure and the person cannot tell the difference between one thought and another, or between one feeling and another – he says: “That’s the way I think”, while the other person says: “Well, my opinion is so and so – let’s come to an agreement!” There is no place for discussions – there won’t be any contradictions as regards Love - it is necessary that you should just love. You might say: “But how, how can I love?” I’ll give you an example: when the little ducklings hatch, does their mother give them lessons on how to swim? As soon as they hatch, they know how to swim; does their mother teach them how to peck? They know how to peck as soon as they hatch. So I am telling you also: as soon as you come out of your egg you will know how to peck, and you will know how to swim. If you tell me that you don’t know I will tell you that you are kidding me, that’s how things stand. I am talking to you about the Truth, which is implanted into your soul, so that you may know it. As the chicken is able to peck and as the duckling is able to swim as soon as they hatch, the same holds true for you – you also know. The mother-duck says: “Cluck, cluck” – if we interpret her language this would mean: “Do as it was written within you.” As the duckling comes near the water, its mother croaks: “Croak-croak”, which means: Swim as it was written within this Divine book.” You might ask me: “How shall we love?” I’ll say: “Croak-croak” – you should love like it was written in the Divine book. There is no place for arguments – you can open the book and read. If you stop me, and you reason philosophically, you won’t be able to even enter the water at all. So have in mind that the fundamental Divine thoughts and ideas are invested and written into this Divine book and that everyone can read from it as long as they want to read and as long as they want to listen. Watch closely the chickens and the ducklings – when they hear the voice of their mother “cluck-cluck”, all the chickens gather and submit to her, i.e. when their mother calls them they all go to her. Well then, mind, that when God calls you and you do not listen, you will lose. If your mother, who is supposed to call you, says, “cluck-cluck” and yet you are not there, don’t you lose? If she says to you “cluck-cluck” and you go one or two minutes later – then you will find that everything has already been eaten. You say, “There is time enough in the future.” There isn’t time enough though – everything is fixed. This chicken cannot retreat to a great distance from its mother – it can move away to a distance of about one, two, ten, fifteen paces, but it cannot move away to a distance of let’s say one hundred paces or more. If it moves away to a larger distance, it will lose its mother. Likewise we, in our consciousness, cannot move away from God. You might say, “I shall move away from God” – all right, but if you retreat to a great distance you will not hear when your mother says, “cluck-cluck”. In our consciousness, we have to remain at such a distance from the world, that as soon as we fall under these Divine circumstances, we can detect what is the Spirit saying, and what our mother is saying - to be able to immediately grasp what was said and follow it - to realise her will. You don’t have to think about the consequences though, because within the realms of the necessity everything is for the Good. We finished at 8:50 a.m. A secret prayer Source

Possibilities Year 1, Lecture 20 of the Youth Occult Class (Special Class) given by the Master Beinsa Douno on July 26, 1922, Wednesday 11.40h, Cham-Koria Secret prayer There was a presentation of the disciples' essays on the topic: “Tall and short people and their distinctive features." What is the difference between possibility and necessity? Possibility is related to human processes, to human beings. Necessity is related to Divine processes that are imposed through the power of something higher than the human order. When we speak of possibilities, we consider what one should do in a given situation in order to utilize the favourable conditions provided by necessity. Now I will give you an example which illustrates the relationship between the high and the low principle in human nature. If a master has a good horse which he loves, a friendly relationship is established between them. The master rides the horse, the horse carries him on its back, and together they go threshing. The master dismounts the horse and harnesses it, and they begin to thresh. In the evening the master releases the horse from its work, mounts it and returns home. He goes into his house and the horse enters its stable. I am asking, where do the possibilities lie – in the master or in the horse? - In the master. Only the master has the power to change the circumstances of the horse – to improve or worsen its living conditions. The horse in its turn is able to make the circumstances of its master easier. Therefore, the lower principle in humans makes things easier, whереас the higher principle improves their circumstances. The relationship between a Master and a disciple is the same as the relationship between the master and the horse. The Master improves the situation of the disciple and the disciple makes the position of the Master easier. After the Master has improved the conditions of the disciple, the disciple should use them wisely. Therefore, possibilities represent for a human being nothing other than the rational principles contained within them. Every possibility should be utilized in order to improve the condition of the horse, which in its turn will bring ease to its master. How can the position of the horse be improved? Its stables, food and water can be improved. When the horse's situation is improved, it becomes stronger and healthier, it is better able to serve its master. Therefore if the master of your body doesn't improve the rational powers and abilities of his brain, the feelings of his heart, and finally the acts of his will, he cannot expect his life to be made any easier. As disciples of this School, you are about to learn how to transform your discontent which will be an obstacle for you for years to come. What is a disciple discontented with? A disciple may be discontented with himself – with his mind, heart and will. A disciple may also be dissatisfied with the surrounding environment. Whatever form discontent takes, whatever cause it might have, it is an energy, a force which should be used as an incentive for work. Discontent is due to a lack of something essential for human happiness. I am asking, where are you going to find that which you are lacking? If you lack Heat, where can you find it? In the Sun. If you lack Light, where can you find it? In the Sun. You will say that any burning or heating body gives off light. We also have, for example, heat coming from a lit oil-lamp, from a candle or a burning piece of wood. Yes, but this heat is secondary. Candles, wood and other combustible bodies have solar energy stored inside them which can be turned into light or heat according to necessity. However, the most pleasant warmth and the purest light come from the Sun. Primary Warmth and Light come directly from the Sun. Therefore, you should look for heat and light in the Sun. Where should you look for Love, Wisdom and Truth? In God. Therefore, the external side of God, i.e. His disk, is Wisdom, the content of the disk is Love, and its meaning is Truth. In other words, Wisdom represents the real, external, visible form of things, Love is the content of these forms and Truth represents their meaning. If you want to search for Love, Wisdom and Truth in a person, these qualities are there as a secondary manifestation. When you search for Love in God, you are in a safe place. Why? Because the Love of God is inexhaustible. It is a source that springs continuously, a fire that burns incessantly. You should pour your water into this source and add your oil to this fire. If you don't pour your water into the Eternal source, it will cease to spring. If you don't add your oil to the Divine fire, it will cease to burn, just as oil-lamps cannot give офф light without oil, or electric lamps without electricity. Oil, fuel and electricity are the conditions for burning. People find that many of these conditions bring contradictions to life. When the conditions are finite and limited, they bring contradictions, but when they are infinite and unlimited, they exclude all contradiction. As disciples of the Great School, try to understand the Boundless and the Infinite which is revealed in limited, finite, but intelligent forms. Then you will recognize the origin of discontent. The Infinite makes humans discontented. What can you do to relieve this? You can expand yourself. If you become like a big, wide tube, through which the water of the Divine Source can freely flow without tension or pressure, you will expand yourself and your discontent will vanish. Your discontent is due to the fact that you haven't used the favourable conditions for your development in a timely and mindful way. When do people get discontented? When they get old. All old people are dissatisfied with themselves. They realize they should have studied and acquired knowledge and experience in their youth, whereas they have wasted their time instead and are now unable to go back in time. All old people, with a few exceptions only, are extremely dissatisfied with themselves. Young people on the other hand are dissatisfied with the limitations that impede them and hamper the implementation of their wishes. Each obstacle or difficulty on their path causes them discontent. One should be satisfied with the conditions one is placed in and should try to use them in the best possible way. If an individual is dissatisfied with his position in life, he will be like the frog in the fable “The Stork and the Frog.” This is an occult fable with a deep inner meaning. One day a young stork, which represents a beautiful young man, passed by a swamp where many frogs lived. The stork looked at the swamp and saw the head of a frog popping from the water. In this case the frog represents a young woman. The stork stopped in front of the frog and began telling her about the world he lived in. "Do you know what heights we can reach, what kinds of spaces and skies we can see? I wonder how you can live in this dirty swamp!" – "What can I do, I have no wings to fly away." – “It's very easy, climb onto my back and I'll carry you up to the wide spaces - you'll see a new world and new heights." The frog got on his back and thus flew into the skies. But since she couldn't endure the new conditions, she exploded and fell on the ground. What lesson can be learned from this fable? – Each person should live in the conditions he or she has been placed in. If they leave the position where Providence has placed them, they will inevitably fall and get killed. The stork told the frog about the high, beautiful places too soon, and the frog came out of its swamp too early. Now, you should know that in occultism too there are dangerous and tempting places which can cause you suffering. Don't get on the wings of the stork too soon! What is dangerous for the frog is safe for the stork and the other way round – what is dangerous for the stork is safe for the frog. If the frog had succeeded in making the stork enter the swamp, the stork also would have suffered. The world the stork lives in doesn't offer opportunities for the development of the frog; neither does the world of the frog offer the stork opportunities for its development. Possibilities provide conditions for the development of one’s mind, heart and will. Human thoughts and feelings should be endowed with the qualities of width and depth, and intensity should be introduced into the human will. Now, do the following experiment in order to find out how wide and deep your thoughts and feelings are, and how intense your will is. When a friend of yours uses a bad word, observe whether and how quickly this word can be transformed in a positive way. The sooner you manage to transform the bad word, the greater the width and depth of your mind and heart are. Turning what is offensive into music is a form of art. If your aim is to say a bad word to your friend, be careful not to use too heavy and insulting a word, for it will produce a large, deep incision in him. Whoever has such an incision should observe the time required for its recovery. The Hindu heal their wounds in an easy way. They use a method of taking prana from Nature and directing it mentally to the sick area, so the recovery occurs in no more than twenty minutes. Therefore, an offense is nothing more than a small incision made in one’s mind, heart or will. Those who have a sufficient supply of natural prana should just concentrate on the wound and put their hand on it, and it will recover by itself in a few minutes. This is what strong and intense will means. Without this experiment you will be like some trader who thinks he is rich, but who has no money in his cash-box. So do this experiment consciously. When you see that a friend of yours is in a bad mood, go to her and say something that will challenge her. Then she will say an insulting word in response. Thank her, explaining that you have carried out a small experiment with her and that is why you have teased her. You are to choose a person for this experiment whose use of bad words you will actually expect. Then, turn to yourself and observe the time you need for polarization. Such experiments could arise in a natural way, with no need to create them artificially. It would be better for you if the experiments were natural. So, you will arrange your own experiments only if they haven't been arranged for you through natural means. All experiments and tests you are given in the School represent possibilities for attaining energy. Those who succeed in their efforts and pass their tests will gain energy. Those who don't solve their tasks will lose energy. You should know that contradictions on the path of disciples are needed for their physical, mental and spiritual development. Contradictions are a necessary law for the development of the disciple. When we speak about the laws and forces in Nature, we must take into consideration the Primary Law, according to which things are precisely determined. There is only one exception to this law that exists as a possibility, as a door to something new. According to this exception, nothing is impossible for God. He can do anything, either instantly or gradually. When it is cold outside, you are dissatisfied; when it gets warm, you are happier. When it is dark outside, you stumble and fall and get discontented; when it is dawn and Light comes, you are happier. As you can see, cold and warmth, dark and light are forces that either spoil or improve conditions. The mental states of humans change in the same way. As long as their consciousness is in darkness people believe they cannot attain their wishes. When the Sun rises in their consciousness, their wishes become attainable. Therefore you should study the possibilities in your present life so that you know what you need to improve and what you need to make easier - i.e. you need to know what possibilities you have for improvement and for making things easier. The lower should make things easier and the higher should improve conditions. Sheep, for example, serve people by providing them with milk and wool; people improve the living conditions of sheep. Improve the state of your mind so that it can make things easier for you; improve the state of your heart so that it can make things easier for you; improve the state of your will so that, by becoming intensive, strong and powerful, it can make things easier for you. Today I spoke of the possibilities that exist in Life. Good and evil are possibilities that exist in the Universe. Discontent and contentment, grief and joy are also possibilities. Each disharmonious thought, feeling or action produces grief in a person; each harmonious state produces joy. Grief represents the ploughing of a field, joy represents its harvesting. When people plough, the Earth is joyful; when they reap, the wheat is joyful that it has gone through a lot of suffering and has now freed itself. Secret prayer Source

THE LIVE POWERS IN NATURE Twenty - first lection from the Teacher, delivered at the common occult class on 20th of July, 1922, Thursday, Chamcoria (The forest school) Do you have a theme for next week? (- No) The best method for educating the will is for will to be your theme. What method will you present? The live powers in Nature. We will separate them into four categories: unconscious, subconscious, conscious, and self-conscious. Unconscious is in the minerals, subconscious – in the plants, conscious – in the animals, and self-conscious – in man. The unconscious powers in Nature act through the precious stones – in all of you one desire arises, one love to bring these stones, to use their powers, to know the important reasons why and for what. When we talk about the unconscious powers, we understand that their relations are distant, i.e. they do have some direct connections with human life, – one mineral stays far away from Life. Sometimes you use it to wear on your hand as a precious stone, i.e. we may say that it, like an accident, is inside Life. Now, of course, the Live Nature wants to act upon man’s consciousness – for these stones to act upon man with its powers. And we may say that these powers, these unconscious powers bring bigger reserves of energy, they spend (consume, use up) less??(unclear). [M1] In the mountain places, in these crags is enormous energy for the future development of the Earth. These crags have to break into little pieces through rubbing, to become radiating and then to come to the second phase – to enter into the plant life. These unconscious powers have a connection with our skeletal system. And often[M2] , it may be in the future that the precious stones will be used in some relation as an educational instrument to the human mind. We see, in the Revelation it was said that one town was made from precious stones, from many precious stones. This is to act upon the human imagination, because these crystals serve, more correctly, the refraction of Light and its bringing it into the human mind. That is why it is good for some of you to study precious stones. Precious stones, of course, have influence in the Spiritual world they are connected with it. The crystallizing of these precious stones in different forms shows that upon them works one sensible principle. For example, if one famous writer has some diamond, when he looks at it, it will put his thoughts in one way; if he has one precious stone with greenish colour – emerald or with bluish – sapphire – and it, at some stage, will exercise influence upon his thought. Now, of course the occult view of the precious stones is not like contemporary science. Occult science maintains that the precious stones are fruits – they grow and develop in a way as the fruits on Earth. And we may say that they are the highest presentation of the Mental field on the Earth, or they are creatures which live in the Mental field and show its activity on Earth through the precious stones. And those who can read will find in them a lot of knowledge. There is a lot of knowledge put in there, in these precious stones there are many things written, but whoever wants to and is interested, has to control the Akashic Records, they have to develop centres of clairvoyance, to understand the combination of these stones. Therefore, the practical putting into practice of these powers is their influence upon the skeletal system. If you have some ailment in the skeletal system, learn about the precious stones, transport them through your mind, transport the different kinds of Light through your mind – they will exercise the most curative influence on your organism, especially to your bones. This is practising and in the population: they put these pebbles on children’s heads so as not to catch the evil eye or not to lose themselves they will put some pebbles in his hat. The precious stones always attract these unconscious powers, they control it. Under the world unconscious powers, I understand these powers, which have no moral, because in the world there are some occult powers in which there is no moral. They are life powers too and when you get under their influence, they may do everything with you. For example if some of you pour out a little sulphuric acid on your body, it will not ask you if is it correct to break down, to attack – it will show its reaction. The subconscious powers are connected with the plant life, with the plants. And there begins the present life of man – with the subconscious life begins its sense – the body, the contemporary physical body has formed by it. Therefore, now in the world the plants exercise the biggest influence upon us. What is the practical application of the plants? – You always have to love the woods, this is the first thing. After you love the woods they are in connection with these subconscious powers, and they are necessary for your physical body. All the plants are one store in Nature where a man can draw from. It is not necessary for a man to be only among the trees but he has to learn to love them – this is one of the instruments in education. Love to the trees – this is one connection with them, to let them help us. When we enter in the conscious powers now, we go to the animals. We have to be more careful there. From the animals we have been taught many good things, but also many bad things – from the ox we have been taught industry, from the wolf we have been taught ferocity, from sheep we have been taught meekness and humbleness, from the bear we have been taught the irreconcilability in Life. The bear is very irreconcilable in Life – all tamers of animals declare that if the bear is insulted once, it doesn’t forget, it will always seek revenge, it is irreconcilable, it remembers for a long time, in the bear astral feelings are strongly developed. Now, the love of plants, for example, an occult disciple has to show [M3] when he starts to cultivate some fruits – the pear tree, the apple, the cherry, the plum, or some others. In general, they exercise a strong influence that is why in your yard you have to have fruits. Afterwards, it is nice when you are in Chamkoria among the pine-trees; they exercise an excellent influence upon the spiritual strivings of man. Go out often, speak with the pine-trees to give you this striving. When it grows uphill (upwards)??(unclear), the pine-tree is sharp, disinterested. Take some other tree – beech-tree or sycamore: when they are among pine-trees, they grow up the same, they adapt themselves, but when they exit, they immediately want to possess it. The pine-tree always takes the least space – there is no egoism in it. And afterwards, other characteristic in pine-trees: when its top is broken once, it does not grow any more – in that way the pine-tree shows us all the spiritual strivings in man. These are the spiritual feelings – if they [M4] spoil everything else plants[M5] in a man stops. That is why the occult disciples have to give priority to his spiritual feelings, to grow up – then everything in them can grow. It’s nice to go in these places, to look at the pine-trees, to examine them, to accept a little energy and good-will from them, which serve you through the year, to give you impulse, because in our present life we demagnetize ourselves. Every day anxieties, anxieties until the man demagnetizes himself, can’t think and has no good-will. Now, many of you have lived here for so long but haven’t made any attempts to speak with the pine-trees. But the sick may go to some pine-tree, to rest on it with his back, to think about it. The pine-trees exercise an excellent influence, the animals – too. Whatever animal a man likes, he is in position to perceive its qualities – it influences him because the conscious powers, when they pass through the animals, introduce good and bad qualities too. For example, from the cat, you can learn cleanliness, but simultaneously you can learn this greed – it has no patience to clean its victim, it is very unclean, from gluttony, it eats its victim with the coat. So from the cat you can learn clearness and to be quick but you can have the opposite qualities too – to eat unclean. There are spiritual people who don’t need much clearness[M6] , they say, “Let’s fill our stomachs, no matter what the food is.” The cat says the same. No, take for an example the donkey, from it you can learn one very good feature – how to choose water. You can’t let the donkey drink unclean water – it knows what water to choose, but when it comes to food, it eats unclean too. Now, all the animals like the dog, the cat, the fox, the bear, the wolf, etc. always exercise influence on people. And from the Astral world these forms are used often – when you sleep, throughout the time you sleep they present them to you. For example, you want to know what some man is like, want to trade with him – you dream of a wolf; it means that the man, who wants trade with you, has the character of the wolf. Or if you dream of an ox, or a horse, this shows the character of the man and you will judge from this – from the Invisible world people are always likened with famous symbols. One symbol of an animal is not bad, it means some Divine idea in a positive, or a negative form. Now when you think about the wolf, you may take it in a negative sense – to be as irreconcilable to the evil as the wolf is irreconcilable to the sheep, i.e. as it has cruel disgust to the sheep, as you are disgusted with evil??(unclear – Now?). In that way you can understand the power of the wolf in this relation and in a negative sense you can use its power. If you don’t know this law, immediately the power of the wolf will introduce in you cruelty and rudeness. All the animals and birds exercise some influence, strong enough influence, but you don’t have to reach the extreme. They influence collectively. For example a whole tribe of cats exercise influence. So, if you want to know what powers act you will see which animal or bird you think about and you will diagnose what powers function in you. And in the occult science there are some systems: let’s say that you have some of the conscious powers, i.e. these from the animal species; then you will transport other forms as the forms of any sheep, ox, or horse, to oppose the bad influence of the first forms – you will put the forms of animals with positive features, to oppose those with negative features. The powers of the animals can be separated into two camps: positive and negative, or destroying and building. That is why in the future when they teach about animals, it will be very interesting when a teacher, who teaches his pupils zoology, will explain to them what powers and influence it exercises upon people. He will have to know all this, so when he talks about the wolf he has to talk about the sheep, and when he talks about the bear, to see what the opposite of its nature is – in that way in the minds of the children, it will remain as two opposite forms. And now the teacher teaches only about the wolf and as a result can’t have this occult education. In future, that will change, then it will have contrasts; in teaching about plants, there will also be contrasts like these. When we come to the self-conscious powers, we understand a man in all his manifestations. With the self-conscious and the hyperconscious the human kingdom begins. When you meet a man, you have to distinguish what predominates in him – the physical, the astral, or the mental, does the mind in him exceed the heart or the will. If you have ten friends in whom the physique predominates, they are in position to maim you; you may almost pervert yourselves. Therefore, if you have one friend in whom the physical predominates, it will certainly put him in counterbalance with the mental – he will have one mental principle with which to oppose the physical. And that is why in the grouping of friends you have to put them in order like this: one, in who the body predominates, in the others – the heart, and in third – the mind, afterwards again – the body, the heart, the mind. If you have friends like these then the work goes harmoniously – because monotony is not good, for all to be only mental is not good. I do not want all of you to transform only to mental types because if you become a mental type you could become thin and get old, only the nerve system will remain and you will remain quite dry. If the physical predominates in you, you will to transform to bones and extensors. If the feelings predominate in you, you will begin to be compared to casks, because when the feelings predominate in somebody??(unclear – Now?), they develop in themselves an appetite which may be conveyed in eating and drinking – this is clearly an astral desire. But the physical life expresses itself with activity – this is the life of man and all the people who have a physical nature, they are in constant movement. The man, in whom the heart predominates in its low manifestations, subordinates to desires for eating and drinking, his entire life will be occupied with what to eat and what to drink – from the one end of life to the other only for eating will there be a question. That is why our manifestations have to change. If you do two hours of physical work, it immediately has to make work for the heart, afterwards for the mind – this is a rule, in that way it has to be educational. For now, almost unconscious, this energy balances itself but doesn't give good results – famous people become only mental types, we have different types for the heart or for the will but there are also balanced types. A man has to balance the energy in himself consciously: the physical – in astral, the astral – in mental and afterwards back. Laziness is one sign for work of the physical powers. Gluttony is one sign for superiority of the cordial powers – he may not eat but his mind is occupied only with thoughts about eating, in his mind are only the thoughts of eating and drinking, sweetmeats, syrups, and others, and that man whatever he does, nothing comes of it. Now when we come to the occult science it will join the eating. The eating has a form – in it there is a science too. Through eating, they educate people: if you feed a man for one week only with kasha, the second week – with apples, the third with plums, and the fourth – with cherries and if you know how to rob[M7] them from the trees, you will act upon in one rational way [M8] on his[M9] nature. Now vegetarian food is in use but there are no occult results. I will show you, first here in Chamkoria, a way to be acquainted with the crags – to look at them, to examine them; with how many crags there are to be acquainted with! After that, I shall show you to teach the pine-trees[M10] , to occupy[M11] and to examine the blueberry. Do you know what the blueberry represents for those who have weak stomachs? When they use them, in this way their stomach will be corrected. Mostly, afterwards, do your best to find which is the most beautiful place in Chamkoria – it will produce handsome combinations, it will concerns[M12] your mind in a way that you will deduce from the resort one blessing. Only in this way will you have it, if you will go only to a resort, and whatever you acquire, you will spend and after three-four months will be poured again[M13] . Can our walks be used in a way to enter Nature gradually? Many works have to be forgotten, many formalities have to be forgotten – when you come to a health resort(?? - health) like this, you have to forget about people for a while. Now you will create one diversion in your mind: you will learn about the pine-trees alone, its nature, its extent – you have to visit forty – fifty pine-trees in a day, to look at them, to examine, to make one acquaintance with them, to consider them as friends with whom you have met as living people. And when they enter in your mind, they will give you one new temper and when you come back into the city, you will be renewed. Do not be afraid that you may be estranged from Life. Afterwards, in Chamkoria, you may be interested in what animals live here – squirrels, roes, wild goats. It’s good to have the desire to see one wild goat and to give it mobility in your mind. If you meet a bear, this is good too – the bear is not so bad, it is good, the bear walks friendly but it’s frightful when you meet it. It is necessary for the pupils of the Occult school, because life is such that we lose the most important powers, which may come along with it, thus losing our balance. For example, if we talk about the spiritual constantly, there is danger of our life becoming monotonous. There is one law in Life that if the nicest things are repeated many times, they become spoiled. Many evangelic songs have been spoiled only because of this – somebody dies, they sing this song and it is spoiled. Do not sing songs to dead people – bury them without songs and when two – three weeks pass, sing that song far away from the grave. But how many times do you sing that song at the grave, afterwards, when you sing, it will be remembered in connection with the grave again, this must not happen. When somebody among us leaves, let some of the friends accompany him to the grave and nothing more. I don’t allow any one of my songs to be sung at the grave of some friends and whoever sings one song at the grave of some dead man, he is out of the School. No, with us, there will not be a song – we will bring him to the grave without a word, will wish him a good way, but will sing only after one month. We will not think about the grave, there is no reason to sing at the graveyard. In this way, you will not use even one of our songs for dead men – other songs you may use but to sing, “Dawn beautiful is dawns”…No dawn is dawns.[M14] (When somebody is ill, do not sing to the sick?) When somebody is ill – prayer, prayer, (by the original text) but the sick has to sing by him[M15] . If he sings a song and you are with him; if the sick does not sing, you don’t sing either. We will be distinguished from the others: here we don’t make a memorial service for dead people; we will do it for living people, but for dead men we will not – we will mention living people every day. And most of all, firstly, when some dying man calls us and starts to give instructions with what clothes to dress him in when he dies, we will call people from the world: “Come on bury him, he goes to God.” He gives instructions about which grave to put him in but he will not go anywhere, he will stay here, on Earth. And I say, You will bury the body but will know that the soul is not the body, the soul is free. And that man who leaves, has to know that he is alive, he will not stay in the grave – maybe he will stay there for forty days, his body will hang around for a while and afterwards will be set free, but may leave after a few days. But when somebody leaves, make one secret prayer, all can wish him a good way but not to sing any songs. The dead is something official – that life is dead, there is no reason to sing, he wants peace and calm. Whoever leaves, the first thing is that he wants peace and calm. Let God give him Light of the mind and Peace to the soul because when he looks at his life he may use the mistakes of the past. This you will keep from occult viewing[M16] ??(unclear – OK?), there is no reason to sing to the dead people. If some of our friends want to sing to him, then we will call some preacher – evangelist and will tell him, “You know how to sing to dead men, be so good to bury him and to sing to him and we will pay you.” If somebody wants to sing to him then the Orthodox or the evangelicals will bury him because they sing to dead people. But if he wants to be with us, we will make only one secret prayer – for God to give him Light to understand the deep sense of Heaven. When we send him on his way we will not sing, but those who meet him there, they will sing better to him. Let the angels sing to him, but there is no reason for us to send him on his way with songs, we don’t know what his work is. It doesn’t come, it doesn’t go to send with songs from this world, it’s better there to meet you with songs[M17] . And so, if some of you are ready to leave for that world, know that after they want to sing songs for you, we will tell them to choose an evangelic preacher or Orthodox priest who will want to sing to them. But as occult disciples you will leave without songs from this world, but upwards you will be met with songs, there they will sing to you. Last night I did you a little notice[M18] , didn’t I? The Occult disciple must have something mystical in his character – if this mysticism is lost, life becomes too empty and senseless. If we all become occult disciples we have to be blind to the mistakes. I perceive that after I make you notice[M19] , all the notices[M20] that I make are very expensive for me. Why do I make you notices[M21] ? I can let others make you notices[M22] because you don’t always have mystical tempers in your soul. And as disciples of one Occult school you will keep one rule if you want to finish your relations correctly: everyone will find one good feature in the other and will keep you in his mind – and then he will love you; and if he finds in you one good feature, you will love him too. Now you, when you meet, you look for the worst features and keep them in your mind. And then you start to pray, and go into the Occult school. But because you have selected the worst feature, after you have finished the prayer, you as if [M23] you think good about Ivan, Dragan, Petko, but it’s notable his bad feature that immediately spoils your temper acquired from the thought of the good feature. You, the occult disciples, to keep your character you have to know one rule for a law: to find in yourself one good feature. Every one of you has one good feature – find these good features among yourselves and keep it in your mind. Only in that way you will be able to help yourselves – and God will help you, and the Angels will help you, and the saints will help you. I shall adduce one example. I said to one sister, to one of the disciples, “Tell that sister this and this.” This sister said it to her and she answered, “Why doesn’t the teacher say it to me directly, but says it to the other?” What I said, she doesn’t want to do, but is occupied with small-minded works – no matter through who it was said, it has to be done. I say to her, “Don’t stay in this place!” Don’t ask why, don’t stay and don’t think because where I live is a very good place to live - for you my place is very dangerous, the person who lives with me has to be a hero. – “But shall not the Teacher keep us safe?” I am on the battlefield and the person who comes there must have the bravery to sustain these shells. I want to put you on the home front – at the back, far away. With all that, keep away from one delusion: it is not physical intimacy, which brings people together – the bringing together is in their souls. When their souls vibrate equally and when God’s Love penetrates us equally, these souls can understand it themselves. For example, I see how some of the disciples spoil the good temper in the others when they quarrel. Does the Sun mourn to us? It shines but sometimes a cloud will come and will distort its light. For example I came among you, I spoke from some objective; exactly[M24] you have a good temper along come two men, who start to quarrel, making clouds. And at the end, these two who quarrel stay – all the disciples leave and talk, “Petko, Dragan, and Stoyan said it correctly.” What education could there be?(or,could there be?)[M25] So the first thing: the disciples of the Occult school have to be obedient, absolutely obedient – if something is said, to do it. But he will say, “The spirit said to him.” Which spirit? The Divine Spirit is a Spirit of humbleness, Wisdom, Pravda, Truth; it is a Spirit that always takes the last place, it doesn’t order – wherever it goes, it will be last, it is ready to do a good turn to the poor. And this man in whom the Spirit works, will sit last at the table; if he sits first, God’s Spirit is not there, this is the way I know it. So when we come to the occult powers you will keep[M26] if you want to renew yourself. You will see that self-consciousness to execute the Will of God correctly. Afterwards, you have to verify how your influence acts upon those around. When I do notices to somebody [M27] every one of my notices[M28] not only has to dress the wound but I want to see if my dressing brought an advantage. If I make dressings for ten men and make the situation worse, it’s better for the wounds to stay undressed – if you can’t do Good, let somebody else do it. So I want these rules that I give you now to be executed constantly. I shall give you other rules. You will not suddenly become saints, because for a saint not one life, but many lives are necessary – it is perfection, it is not a law for salvation. Man has to start to vibrate in a way that in any given moment he will guess alone how to do the Will of God. Under the title holy man I understand a man with experience, consciousness, who knows how to help, but not only to take the name of holy man. A man like this is full with Knowledge, with all the virtues, and he always does the Will of God. Now we prepare to be strong, to help the great act. I say, the sixth race is coming. When the sixth race comes, you must have Knowledge and this Knowledge you will have now. So now the first thing: you will find one good feature in yourself – only for yourself, you will find one good feature, which God puts in you. To say that we are very bad, this is extreme, and to say that we are very good, this is extreme too. If we say that we are bad it means that we are not executed[M29] . God in us is good and that we will understand well and will thank God for what we are. You make one mistake but after that the consciousness in you cries, it pray, it repents; you say, “I thank God that I have that good feature – the consciousness; if I did not have that feature what would be my situation?” So when I make one mistake, I have one good feature that I understand and soon I correct my mistake. Afterwards, some man meets some poor person and his heart immediately feels pity – and with this one can guess that there is something good in him. When I say, to find our good feature this is a way we may have space of [M30] the Spirit. We have to subordinate to the Divine Spirit. And when you use these powers in Nature and when you come to the man, if you want to create friendly relations in the future, you will search inside friends and enemies for one good feature in which to put in your mind. It is quite a hard art, but an excellent art. Now you will be occult pupils – you will learn everything, you will be brave and decisive. When there are notices[M31] for you, you will not anger; when exposed, you will stand with patience; when you meet with whatever disaster, you will see only the good side in everything. Blessed is the man for whom you make notices[M32] – does God leave him? And the Scripture says: “Those who God does not expose and does not punish, they walk on a wrong way.” Don’t think that is something pleasant that can make a notice [M33] to one man. If you expose one man, do you win something? – Nothing – when you come back to your home will have anxiety within you, nothing more. Somebody says to expose. To expose whoever I always think that is the same as to make an operation – when you come back you always will have stench and for a long time you have to wash your hands to lose the smell. In the future when you enter into the School you will not see your mistakes. In the high classes it is absolute forbidden to think about the mistakes of people – people do not exist for you and the mistakes do not exist either, you will work upon yourself. One Hindu teacher says how one disciple goes to him and he shows him three methods. Three men moved in the forest; The Teacher said him, “You will go and will deliver to the three of them one slap in the face.” The disciple when he gave the first one a slap in the face, that man gave him two slaps in the face; he goes to the second, and gives him one slap in the face, that man raised his arm but put it down again, didn’t hit him; when he slapped the third one in the face he doesn’t even pay any attention, and continues thinking. The Teacher asked him: “What did you do?” – “I gave the first one a slap in the face, he gave me two.” That is the man, who lives by the law an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth – the Mosaic Law. The second one, who raised his arm and quickly put it down, lives in the Salvation, he saves – it comes to his mind to execute the law but says, “It haven’t to”, [M34] it comes to his mind not to execute the law. But that man, who didn’t pay attention to the slap in the face, he lives in the Love. So now, some live by Mosaic Law, others – in the salvation and the third – in the Love. Who lives by the law will hit you twice; who lives in the salvation will raise his arm and will say, “Let it go away from me,” but the third one, who lives in Love, will feel nothing. Now the occult disciple has to live by the law of Love – somebody will come to hit you but you will feel nothing, you will not even know what hit you. What a consciousness you must have! Secret prayer [M1]They consume less of what? Example – {…they consume less energy.} [M2]Is this needed for the sentence as it doesn't connect to the sentence. [M3]Usage – unclear. What does he have to show? [M4]It is not clear who "they" are. [M5]Shouldn't this read {growth}. If it is not growth, then revise the sentence as "plants" does not make sense. [M6]Shouldn't this be {cleanliness}. [M7]Usage - rob means to steal. Perhaps the word should be {pick}. [M8] [M8]{…act in a rational way…} [M9]It is not clear who {his} refers to. [M10]Unclear. I understand this to mean - {…show you how to teach the pine-trees…} Maybe it should be – {…show you how to learn from the pine-trees…} [M11]Unclear – usage. {…to occupy yourselves in examining the blueberry.} [M12]Usage. {occupy] [M13]Unclear. {will be renewed.} or {will be filled up again.} [M14]{"Beautiful dawn is dawning"…No, dawn is dawn.} [M15]{…but the sick person has to sing by himself or herself.} [M16]Unclear. [M17] [M17]Unclear. What doesn't come and go? Example – {It isn't fitting to send dead people on their way with songs from this world, it's better that they will be met there with songs.} [M18]Unclear. Usage. The word "notice" is not used correctly in this sentence or in the ones below. {…made a little observation for you…} [M19]Unclear. Usage.Notice what? Example – {…make you notice something…} or {…make you notice your mistakes…} or {brought your attention to a certain issue} [M20]Usage – {observations} [M21]Unclear. Usage. Example - {…notice certain things.} or {…observe certain things.} or {bring your attention to certain issues.} [M22]Same – {notice things} or {observe things} [M23]A word missing here – {you act as if…} [M24]Usage. Example – {exactly when} [M25]{What education could there be in this?} [M26]Keep what? Example – {keep the rules} [M27]Unclear. Usage. {When I bring a persons attention to a certain issue…} [M28]Usage. {observations} [M29]Unclear. [M30]Unclear. {space in} [M31]Unclear. Usage. {When certain things are brought to your attention…} or {When there are certain observations made about you…} or {When there are certain issues for you to deal with} [M32]Usage. {observations} [M33]Unclear. Usage. {make an observation} [M34]Unclear. Example – {"It doesn't have to come to this."} or {"I don't have to do this."}

Simple and Complex Movements The twentieth lecture of the Master, delivered at the General Esoteric Class on 13 July 1922, Thursday, Chamkoria1 Papers were read on ‘Why God Created Man’. I shall speak about the simple and complex movements in Nature. Primary movements you will substitute for simple movements, and the last movements, the faintest movements you will substitute for complex movements. One explanation: complex movements imply a great deal of opposition, while simple movements imply little opposition. Now in all of you, in your mind there are two movements: there are simple movements, there are also complex movements. For example, in order for you to come here, to Chamkoria, what movement was there in you - simple or complex one, in which category would you place it? – “Complex.” Simple primary movements are only movements to God – movements, which are pure, where the consciousness is not split. Primary movements are crystal clear, while with complex movements, human consciousness is always split. You go to a resort, but you have several motivating reasons – it is not one reason, you have many reasons. I will then ask you, when one gets married, is marriage a simple or a complex movement? Complex, because it seems that the woman can say that she loves the man or the man can say that he loves the woman. This is one of the reasons; secondly, they want to have children, thirdly, the man wants somebody to cook for him. There are a number of motives; hence marriage is a complex movement. And you have to be aware that in all complex movements in the world there are obstacles, which you should be prepared to expect. And consequently as students of the Esoteric School I give you this distinctive difference in terms of methodology, so that you can psychically recognize the forces that are active in you at any moment – whether these are of the primary or of the secondary, the latter type, so that you can know in which category each movement falls. Once you know the difference, it is easy to find your way around. You are now confused between these two – there is a complex movement in progress - you expect the results of the simple movement, there is a simple movement in progress - you expect the results of the complex movement. While each movement has its own definite results. Now it is ridiculous that some people, when they want to become religious, they expect to become rich. One who wants to become religious in the full sense of the word, particularly such a person will lose all one’s wealth, because wealth itself is a complex movement. If you have Knowledge, this is a complex movement. Therefore you have to be aware of the categories in which the movements, taking place in your mind, fall – they fall either to the one or to the other category. This is a practical means to orient oneself – just to know which one is prevalent at the moment. These movements do not belong to you. If you are in a crowd, can you walk in a straight line through the crowd of people? – You will be faced with a very complex movement and when you get out you will say, “Thank God, we are safely out of it, we overcame the obstacles.” Often in life you unwillingly pass by a celebration and therefore you have to fight; what method will you apply – a complex movement, you will make thousands of by-passes in every possible direction and you will then think. These are what I call, human movements, while simple movements are short. What kind of movement is friendship, true friendship? – “Simple.” – All these motives, which take the least expense, are Divine, while those which consume huge energy, pertain to complex movements. Let’s define movement – what does it spring from? – It springs from Life – Life is the primary cause of movement. Each movement in the world shows that the consciousness of any being wants to gain access to certain food – certain forces necessary for this being, are laid for it. Thus Life generates the first movement, and the energies, stored in Life, have ensued from the World of Thought. So we are faced with one movement, representing the purely physical world; there is Life, representing the World of Spirit, the Mental World (The World of Thought). This world is expressed in the thought dominating Life, hence thought is expressed in Life – it is Life in progress, while any movement is an implementation of these three together. This is why we can determine: if your thought is simple it will generate a simple life with primary, pure, simple movements; if your thought is complex, your Life will inevitably be complex and the movements will correspond to it. Let’s say that a being, living in the Mental World, conceives the idea to become great, to create a Solar system – a complex movement is conceived within it. If this Being wants to acquire a primary, conscious movement, to try Divine Love in its pure forms, we shall then have simple movement in the consciousness. Often, you extend yourselves, wanting to reconcile simple and complex movements – these are irreconcilable. A simple movement cannot be combined with a complex one – these are incompatible. A saint and a sinner cannot live in the same place – they can live, but not in the same place; sick people and doctors may be at the same place, but it would be the doctor attending to the sick, while the sick are cured; so shall the saint stay with the sinner, until the one cures the other; the child under the same law will live with the mother until the child takes what it needs and having taken it, the child no longer looks for the mother. Now you say that God created Man in order to manifest Himself. Manifest in what; manifest to whom? I would like to correct you a little bit now: to manifest to Himself. If God wants to manifest Himself in the world then there must be another Deity. This is how it turns out to be, and this is dualism. I want to manifest myself to whom? – Not to myself, what is there to manifest to myself – I want to manifest myself to another entity and the other beings if they want to manifest themselves, they also need someone else to manifest himself or herself to. While God can manifest Himself to… whom? This is a question, one of the difficult questions. And I shall give you the following answer: God created Man in order for Man to be created. Now I will put the following question to you: when can something be created? – As man cannot be created, and I do not mean the creation of Man by God. To create implies constructiveness; there are esoteric students who cannot comprehend this. To build, to construct – there is always the implication of material life. When a place is being constructed why is it constructed; for whom is it being constructed; could it be for its own sake? Something could be constructed for Man to manifest oneself. If we say that it could be created in order for Man to manifest oneself, is this idea right? People construct a bridge for example, in order to communicate – there is an obstacle, so a bridge is constructed, the bridge is a means of communication. Similarly Man is a bridge serving as a communication link between worlds – nothing more than that. You will have an even more righteous idea because you as a whole, you still do not know the meaning of the physical world, i.e. the physical world is not only little known, but some say that it is an illusion. These are only words whose profound meaning is yet to be grasped. As to the Divine world with these Beings inhabiting it, as well as the beings who live in the physical world – what are their direct relations in this aspect? Now, under this situation we shall dwell on the following two issues: we say about the Spirit, who is pure, “Spirit is in constant struggle with matter”. And again there is the philosophical question: what needs, can the Spirit have, being pure, being in such a serene state, why should the Spirit need to incarnate itself in matter and why does it have to incarnate? Some will argue that it had to descend in matter to acquire certain experiences – if so, then this Spirit is not complete. And then there comes the question: if matter is something unreasonable by itself, how is it possible for something unreasonable to confine Reason? If matter is to confine Spirit, then there must be certain Reason in this matter and, at that, such a Reason, which is equal to the Reason of Spirit. If matter can capture Spirit, then such matter has its own intelligence – at least this is what comes out, if Spirit is confined by matter. We shall not resolve the issue now, and shall leave it like this – unresolved, as everyone has left it. And you know why? We shall climb up on top of mount Moussala2, shall enjoy the panorama, shall climb down and shall be thinking of Moussala only – about its natural history, we shall study it, while it shall be immovable. I am asking you to investigate a huge mountain peak – what is its natural history. This is a long story, but so that you could be thinking along more appropriate lines, I shall once again give you a hint and shall ask you why a person should be woken up from a sleep. If you are a servant why should your master wake you up? – To work. Why should you sleep? – To have a rest. When this servant is woken up, is the master creating the servant? Similarly, Man in the current circumstances has just awoken from a sleep, nothing more than this – you have been sleeping until now. People call such waking up creation. After having worked, who manifests oneself – you or your master? Both you and your master manifest yourselves – you manifest yourself in the work done, while your master can manifest himself in the plans he granted to you. We shall substitute this question and rather than asking why God created man, I shall ask you why Man came to Earth, or why Man was sent here to Earth – this is a more appropriate question. Man has come from somewhere, but why has man come? This is an easier question to answer than trying to answer why God created man. Look, the issue why God created man has no practical aspect under the current circumstances here, where you are. In order to know why man came to the Earth, why God created man – you should read the archives of Nature – there must be someone who loves you, to open this book for you, to go over the annals – there it is put on record why and to what purpose. I raised the question why God created man, so that you could find your own attitude to God and be assured that without God, if you are not related with Him, you can have no growth, no Life, no mental activity, because Reason springs from Reason, Life springs from Life, and activity springs from activity. Because God is right in everything and because man belongs to complex movements, this complex movement has to find its impetus in the primary aspect. We need to be connected to God not by form, nor by content, as these are yet external aspects. Not by meaning, but on principle, internally, in the very essence of things – to be linked with God by necessity of the very Existence itself, because only in this way can His thought give an impulse to our Life and His movements can give an impulse to the movements of our life. And then everything is possible. Such must be your innermost goal, your innermost desire, so that there is no chance for you to stumble. On entering this School, you may intend to conquer certain natural elements – but you may have no conquering whatsoever. I do not call it a conquest if I tend a pear tree for ten years and when it bears fruit, someone else comes and picks the pears – I do not consider this a conquest. I have worked and someone else eats the fruit – there is no sense. We can work only to obtain knowledge, but when we want to take advantage of it, we have not explored this. Now you often say, “It’s in the Scripture, it is said that we should love each other”. To love each other – the implication, according to me is to make a bridge. Do you think that if we make a bridge, everything in the world will become better? If the two parties are enemies, then it is better not to have a bridge, because they will then start quarrelling; if they are friends, then let there be a bridge. If people are ready to serve God, let there be a bridge, if they have not learned how to serve God, let them be without any bridge – this is better. So you should not mix things in esoteric science. I often keep observing you – this is how you are arguing, “You may want anything in the name of God – wolves, bears, tigers.” You may say, “I now live according to God’s law, to Christ’s law.” And the wolf also says, “God is Love”, but the wolf is alone, the wolf attacks the sheep and says, “Because I love God, and I love His children, because of this you have to fall victim for me” Well, can you reconcile this? The wolf is allowed to eat the sheep; if a man eats a sheep, it’s tolerable - neither here nor there - but if a sheep eats a wolf, the sheep will undergo the greatest suffering; and when a man is eaten by a bear, the man will experience the same. We are not sent to Earth to organize a menagerie – sheep will be kept separate, wolves will be kept separate, so will bears, all will be kept separated. There will be a fence separating them, a wire – to speak brotherly to each other but with strictly determined borders. And not like this: I see someone has the brains of a bear, someone else has the brains of a sheep, and both of them say, “Let’s break this fence, let’s unite our brains.” But what can a sheep and a wolf do together? Imagine someone with a bear’s heart, someone else with a sheep’s heart, how can you unite them? Some act like bears, others like sheep – how can you reconcile them? They cannot be reconciled. You will say, “Esoteric science can do everything.” Esoteric science can do everything, but you cannot do what esoteric science can. God can, I know that God can do everything, but we cannot. We should not be trying to do what God does – we cannot. Hence we should do only what we can, what is within the scope of our knowledge. Now I want you to do things, which you can, not things, which you cannot. We are getting mixed up together, therefore I shall tell the person: “Listen, do not demolish your wall; by saying what I said, I did not mean to make you demolish it - you keep the fence, and you shall find a new place for the new stuff where you will not place old stuff.” For example, you often want to reconcile the idea of Divine Love with your present love – these are irreconcilable. My Love, the Love I have is incompatible with your love, do you understand what I mean? If I transfer these ideas, do you know what will happen? I will tell you: there are many cases described in the book of Caprices of Electricity, where electricity appears in big round shining balls – such a ball suddenly falls upon a person, all the clothes are burnt, but the person is intact. The Love that I speak of is such a ball – if it falls upon you, you will find yourself naked; and after you find yourself naked, you will be doubtful and you will say, “This is no Love.” This is exactly where Love is. You want a new understanding of Love – bearing a new signature, while containing the old concepts. There is no sacrifice in the purely Divine Love. Sacrifice is just a result of the complex movements of Love in the physical World – this is a temporary period of transition. When people say that a person must make a sacrifice, this does not concern Divine Love – there is no sacrifice whatsoever in true Divine Love. Hence in order to understand Divine Love, you have to inevitably descend to the physical world, to learn the law of sacrifice. This is precisely why people descended to the Earth - to learn the law of sacrifice too. People will learn what Divine Love is when they experience the law of sacrifice – this is a law of the Divine energies proper transformation. Someone says, “I want to know what you think about me”; I say, “You may know, but I have to eat you up.” And therefore Christ says, “If you do not eat of My flesh and if you do not drink of My blood, you will have no eternal Life.” So, if you want to understand me, I shall have to eat you, so when you enter me, I will understand you and having understood you, I shall know how to help you. This is to say that you will sacrifice yourself in order for God to enter you, you will make this sacrifice. If you want to understand someone, then either you are eaten or you eat someone else – this is a symbol. If you want to understand someone, that someone has to eat you; if you want someone to understand you, you have to eat that someone. To this you will say, “This is scary!” But look, doesn’t the present life consist of eating and drinking only? If you take eating away, what else is left in life? Perhaps, having eaten a good pear, a bright idea will come to mind and you may write a poem – this pear is also a flower and therefore Christ said, “I am the water of Life and I am the bread of Life.” You have to make a difference between the simple and complex movements and to understand for what purpose Man has descended on Earth. You have to learn the law of sacrifice – this is one of the significant issues, which you have to investigate. But what sacrifice – sacrifice the way one understands it? You have to ask yourselves the question what you are supposed to sacrifice. The little concessions you make do not count for sacrifice – the law of sacrifice is a law, which reconciles all contradictions in the world. Let’s say you are in a very sad and difficult situation; apply the law of sacrifice and you can immediately remove this sadness of yours. Let’s say you have to receive twenty thousand leva, you do not have this money in your pocket – what will you do? Open your books and make a decision to sacrifice this money for your tranquillity’s sake – you will immediately feel your soul relieved and Peace will come to you. Now don’t you move to the other extreme! Sometimes you regret that you are not a highly educated person, and you say, “If had a good education, I would have become a Minister, a doctor” – you torment yourself. Tell yourself, “Even if I am not a Minister, I can still live like Man” – and you will feel relieved. Sometimes you go to the other extreme and some say, “We need no knowledge.” This is not the question – in this particular case we are suffering due to the lack of such goods, which stem from knowledge. Say, “We can do without the good of knowledge.” Such knowledge does not imply that you have to become a minister, doctor or priest – the absolute, pure knowledge is a simple movement. You for example often say, “We have to increase in number in the new movement” – our strength does not lie in our numerousness. – “We have to build a home” – strength lies not in building a home; “We must possess knowledge” – strength does not reside in such knowledge. What we bring to the world is a kind of a need, which Life cannot do without; what we bring is a necessity, just like water and bread are needed for Life. These people, anyway, shall come, but when they come we shall not say, “Hang on, this is unbearable, it’s expensive, you have to pay for your bread, and then you have to pay for your water, you have to pay because I am the first one who has brought it.” No, once this thought enters your mind, the issue is over. You have to act absolutely selflessly – bread you will give in order to be used, water you will give too, and whomever you give to, you will tell this person so, “You also have to give under the same law, in the same way.” Give everything – this bread and this water you have to give, but only to those to whom they are meant to be given. Now some of you think that once they enter the New Teaching they will become better. How do you know you will become better? A person’s goodness always depends on the sacrifice – the better one understands and applies the law of sacrifice, the better one will become. Time is nothing but a manifestation of sacrifice. I am now hinting at this idea so that you will not be at odds with yourself. For example sometimes when I am talking some people say, “The Master should not have said so.” I can place a stone on the eastern wall, on the western, to the north or south, but I can also place it on top – but where should I place this stone? Let’s say its place is determined, where shall I place it? – Where it is determined to be – according to the measure of the place, this is where I should place it. Well, in this life you have entered, you are determined, measured. Sometimes I place you somewhere and you say, “I do not belong here, I am not fit for a prince”, and I see – this is the place determined for you; which is to say you are spoiling it. There you will stay, where you belong, nothing more than this. Afterwards you summon someone (this is how false masters appear); and you say, “I do not belong here, can you not relocate me?” Everybody gets drawn to this place and says, “What work can this stone do?” - They start building something new and distort the whole edifice. And then the committee comes over and says, “It’s not built well” – then they take the stones down and say, “This and that society has disintegrated, this and that religion has fallen to pieces.” I am warning you: there is a weakness within you – you want to fall back into old building practices. You will deny the old ways; you cannot go ahead without sacrifice. You must be clear with this issue in yourselves, so that each of your deeds, each of your thoughts, has to be absolutely clear, selfless. You must be certain about it for your own sake; do not declare this publicly. You have to preserve and develop this feeling, and never say to people that you are good. Now you say, “Let’s live like brothers!” Sheep live with sheep; wolves live with wolves, bears with bears, hares with hares, flies with flies, while the way you are carrying on is no good. But one of the Hebrew prophets says that lambs and lions shall live together. Remember this line, but when will they live? – When God comes, so that there will be ample space, won’t there? We shall leave this line; it belongs to another category. Do not reconcile your good thoughts with your bad thoughts; do not place them in the same place. Someone says, “I have one bad thought.” If your thought is bad, place it where it belongs; if you have one Divine thought, place it right where it belongs; if you have a desire – either good or bad - put it onto its proper place – everything has to be placed where it belongs. Many of you (I see you) when you find a wolf with nice teeth, you bring him here and you say, “Master, we found a good man – he is very clever and educated person, and what a disposition he has, what language, what words, let’s take him with us.” I can see him - he is an old wolf, but I say nothing to the man. You say, “Let’s give him a good reception; let’s open the door to the sheep, so that he can visit them.” And I tell you, visit them he will! There are not only male wolves, there are female wolves as well; there are not only bears, but there are also she-bears – these are all symbols. All of Nature around is symbol-ridden – all of these bears and wolves are a whole branch of science, which we have to study and understand. It is easiest of all to learn about ourselves while studying the animal, mineral and plant kingdoms. Bear in mind that trying to understand this story one may find it difficult to understand the changes that are under way. Sometimes you get up from sleep, you pray, but say, “God does not listen to me”; how can you explain this situation? When you know the reasons, the attitude within you should be as pure as possible. Many of you are caught in a complex movement, you have to resolve one of the most difficult tasks and to this end you need resourcefulness, tact, skills, knowledge, will and stamina in the world. And those of you who have a better understanding, shall perhaps understand tonight what I did not say, and shall say tomorrow, “Did not the Master say so?” You will find yourself in the position of that priest, who preached like this, “Let those who have two shirts, give one to the poor”; his beloved comes back home, the preacher had two shirts and she had given one of them away following Christ’s law. In the evening the priest asked her, “Where is one of my shirts?” – “I gave it away.” – “How come you gave it away without asking me?”- “You said so in church, didn’t you?” – “I said this to the others; I did not mean it for us”. Well, the priest’s wife had given the shirt away; where did she go wrong, do you think she acted right, why didn't she give one of her shirts away, but one of her husband’s? She is not right, because she did not give away one of hers, but one of the priest’s – the priest should give the shirt away himself. She says, “I followed Christ’s law”, the priest is discontent that she had given his shirt away without asking for his permission. Well it is often the case that you give away my shirts – I do not mind, but you should give away your shirts also, nothing more than this. Some interpret it like this, “You were given for free, for free you should give!” When you take a Divine idea or whatsoever, the rule is that you keep this idea to yourself. You have the right to give the fruit to the others, but the idea you should keep to yourself – to all you should give of the fruit it bears, but it should stay with you. You, however, take this idea and say; “We were given for free, for free we shall give”. This is not right, Christ also says, “Each sprig coming from Me shall bear fruit.” These Divine ideas should pass through us and should bear fruit – and of the fruit you will give away. You all have to be rich of the fruit of the Divine thoughts. Secret prayer So, the main points are: simple and complex movements, the law of self-sacrifice, the law of sacrifice; the Divine idea has to stay within you in order to be sown in you and bear fruit, and of this fruit we have to give away – these are the main ideas in the lecture. You get together sometimes - for this purpose I shall assign a certain task to the students so that you can seriously start working to resolve it. Discuss the three aspects – to the physical world, to the Spiritual World and to the Divine World. Each idea should be discussed in three aspects. Direct your thought to be clarified, in order not to be held back. If you were ready I would give you a task now, but you are not. I would give you a complex task to perform. Do you know what it means when a person is not ready? This is what I imply: imagine it is winter-time and I send you to an excursion, but you have no shoes; can I send you barefoot? Imagine I send you to a place in the mountains with glaciers, while you do not have the required equipment – you need to prepare. You will say, “Everything can be done with God”; God can do everything, but we cannot. So now you will think it over. I want you to gather energy at least from Chamkoria, more Light for your mind, to strengthen your heart. Perhaps I would assign this task to you under more favourable conditions, but everyone should be ready, because I will give to you a more complex task – as is required. Now that I say so, you may wonder what this task might be. You will get to know, certain things are kept back. Now when you start, first you will act, and then you will think – do not be scared. For example I tell you: “In an hour’s walk from here, at about 10 kilometres there is a place, you will walk on one of the sides, you will stop there and shall not move.” You won’t ask me why – go there and you will get to know why. You will walk ten kilometres from here; you will find a sack with weight of 10 kilograms, you will not untie it, you will take it and will bring it back to me. I will then tell you, “You will take this sack and you will open it, there is a measure of wheat, you will put oxen to the yoke and you will sow it.” You won’t ask why – next year you will get to know whether the task was right. Let me explain the idea: you will go a ten kilometre distance from here, there are ten kilograms of wheat in a sack there; you won’t untie the sack, because you will waste time, you will not be curious and I will not tell you anything, so as not to waste time; you will harness oxen – next year, when the wheat grows, you will reap it and you will then reason. This is what the esoteric student should be like. Well you may now ask, “I must know what there is in the sack.” – You may know – I can tell you this, “You will go to a place ten kilometres away, there is one sack of wheat there, you will bring it here, will harness oxen and will go to the fields etc.” – I can tell you all this but do you know what the results will be? You will not get there on time; you will be late. We are already late; we have missed the most favourable circumstances, because I was explaining all this to you, an hour had passed. This one hour wasted the best circumstances under which this seed can live. Therefore in the Divine world there is no waste at all – no sooner said than done! You will then acquire punctuality; all of you have to learn this punctuality. And you will try my thought whether it is right or wrong. The day before yesterday, at Moussala peak I tested your hesitation: we reached a place where we stopped – not possible to go ahead, as it was dangerous; if you had decided to go across the ice, then everybody would have fallen into the lake. You now say, “There are a lot of obstacles along this road (as the road was covered in frozen snow), what shall we do?” We could have cut a road through, we should have taken hoes with us, but it would have taken us a whole day until we cut a road through – this, however, we did not foresee. You thought there were no obstacles on the way to Moussala. There is no way back – then you say, “Upwards!” – You manifested courage. – “No one shall pass through the snow!” Then you started crawling up the hill, not even thinking of stones falling on you. You have to be very careful, as there are many obstacles in our development. While I was climbing a big stone passed me by – four fingers thick – such a stone can break bones. So while climbing up the hill, you have to be careful not to touch a single stone, you should not aim only at climbing up. What is the law concerning this? – Do not be in a hurry, I do not demand of you to hurry. If you reach a certain place, sit down – try it, place your foot on this place and find out whether it is strong. By touching the stone with your foot you will receive certain energies, will concentrate within yourself. This is a task: to climb up to the top and to try the whole road, to get to know what dangers there are – such should be the tasks, this is the only way to carry you up there. In a certain respect all of you were very brave, not cowards. Courage is a good feature – indication that you can do the job. But it takes someone else behind your backs – I should have been the last one in the line and had I remained last everybody would have climbed up. Then, you did not follow my instructions – I said, “Absolutely no one should pass through the snow”, while some of you did and this might have cost them their lives. Had I told you, “Go through the snow”, it’s my responsibility. Some other time I shall take you to Moussala and shall tell you, “Up you go through the snow” – then it is my responsibility; then everybody has to carry a hoe – will dig a step and will pass. But if I say, “You may not pass though the snow”, then you may not. Someone says, “We may.” No, now is not the right time – we shall walk along the path that is predetermined; this is a rule. In Esoteric science a task that is not accomplished properly has risks – this is absolutely so. While the results are always correct, i.e. everything will be going well; will be supportive. I want you to see what laws operate during these excursions, to see that this Divine mind; these elevated Beings take part in all of our deeds and acts. And these two, the brother and the sister, who slipped down, were saved along a direct line, not along a curved line. Had they not stopped slipping, they would have fallen into the lake. We shall now walk in a living faith – I am not preaching to you an ordinary faith. This faith is extraordinary and our deeds shall also be extraordinary. And so shall Love – everything within us will be extraordinary, this we have to be sure of. Translation: Maia Mitcheva ______________________________________ 1 Chamkoria literally translates Pine-Woods; At present, the name of this famous resort in the Rila mountains is Borovets. 2 Moussala: 2925 m altitude, summit on the Balkans in the Rila Mountains Source

THE THREE MAIN LAWS: LOVE, WISDOM, AND TRUTH Nineteenth Lecture delivered by Master Beinsa Douno to the General Esoteric Class on July 7, 1922, Friday, 8:15 - 9 p.m., Sofia Silent Prayer We just heard the disciples’ essays on the topic of the wheat grain. The second time I will appoint an essay topic only to some of you. You will need to write clearly; there is no need to write too much, but to write clearly on the topic of Why God Created Man. If I were to give you another topic, for example: What is the Distinctive Characteristic of the Disciple, what would you answer? My answer would be: the desire to learn. Now, the Esoteric School is not a place for playing or for musings; rather, it is a place for learning. You have come to the Esoteric School with certain preconceptions - you think that you know things. Outside of the Esoteric School you know a lot, but inside the Esoteric School you know nothing. I want to state the following now: you may have graduated from University, you may know a lot on the subject of philosophy but if you go to a technician in some workshop, you will find yourself in trouble; he will make you feel like a child, so you will have to pay attention. If you go to a laboratory, you will find out that you know nothing about chemistry. You may be a philosopher, thinking that you know a lot about chemistry, but no, you should admit to yourselves the fact that you don’t know much about that. When you enter the workshop, too, you should admit that you know nothing. You need to do the same when you are in the Esoteric School. Now you enter the Esoteric School thinking that God will enlighten you and will teach you everything. God does not teach those who do not want to learn. When you are here, in the Esoteric School, you need to pull yourself together and work, do you understand? Some of you have entered the Esoteric School with the intention to acquire everything with only little work; I will clean out the Esoteric School of disciples who do not learn. I do not need those who do not learn. There is a lot to do outside of the Esoteric School, but if you are here, in the School, do not waste your time, for it’s a shame; you will fall into the temptation of imagining that you are learning and what will come next is hypocrisy, because you will be fooling yourselves. Please, be fair to yourselves and correct yourselves. Then only ten people may be left but they will learn; if they stay but have not corrected themselves, then I do not want them either. Those who think that they know everything may leave; I do not need them. Those who only know how to criticize may also leave, please; it is pointless for me to deal with them. Only those shall remain in the Esoteric School for whom it is said in the Scriptures: “If you don’t become as the little children, you will not enter the Kingdom of God.” The Kingdom of God is a science, a great science. The Church may be willing to tolerate anything, but the Kingdom of God will not tolerate ignorance, crime, gossip, or evil. The Kingdom of God tolerates only eternal harmony - this is the Kingdom of God on Earth, on the real Earth. I’m speaking to you openly here, and you need to know that. Many of you are on the wrong path and if you keep following it the sole of your foot will become deformed. There are some who enter the path of Wisdom and then do not follow its laws - I do not mean to be rude to those, but, rather, to be honest with them. There are three Laws. The first Law is: The Truth in the Kingdom of God tolerates absolutely no deception in any form or shape, not a shred of deception, absolutely none, do you understand this? You might say, “It is in our nature.” No, there is no nature in this; lying is not in one’s nature; lying is something that was subsequently grafted into man. And if a philosopher or a theosophist or a teacher tries to convince you that it is in human nature to sin, then that teacher himself knows nothing, for it is not in human nature to sin. When I use the word “man”, I refer to that living Divine soul that originated from God; it is not in its nature to sin. If it does sin, then there are other reasons for that; you should be aware of this. And if one of you sins, he should not blame his nature for it; no, he should look for the reason outside of his nature. If I trip somewhere and fall onto my face, I won’t say, “It is in my nature to fall”; what I will do instead is look for the reason for my fall outside of myself, not in me. The second Law is: God wants from all of us to learn and learn constantly, at that. As long as we learn, we can live - Life is in the sublime Divine consciousness and nothing else; Life is in the process of Knowledge, because the Divine Wisdom gives Knowledge; Truth gives Freedom; Love gives Life; Life gives Joy; Knowledge gives Power and Freedom gives expanse - this is how these things work. Then you have Truth and Freedom; you have vast expanse, the expanse of the whole Universe. If you have Wisdom, you have Knowledge; if you have Knowledge, you will have Power; Power stems from Knowledge, but Knowledge does not stem from Power. If you have Love, you have Life; if you have Life, then you also have Joy. Now, I have said many times that we need to learn to bear the sorrows in Life. But one of Life’s characteristics is Joy - he who lives, should rejoice and only he who learns can rejoice. And only he who is free can learn; he who is not free cannot learn. I tell you all of this because there are old preconceptions, morals of the past. There are spirits from the Astral world who have entered some of you and are whispering in your ear, “You don’t need knowledge.” No, we do not want to have anything to do with these beings from the Astral level, with these ignorant spirits; we know more than they do, we don’t need their advice; they may keep what they know to themselves. They say, “We don’t need knowledge.” Well then, what do we need? To eat, to drink, to get dressed, to fight, to get married, to leave each other, to butcher animals, to write articles for the papers, to criticize each other, to create religions… - is this what we need? We need neither their rules, nor their advice, for all these influences are coming from the Astral level; they are not manifestations of the Divine Wisdom. The Divine Wisdom reveals that one true path where people can live mindfully and grow up to be something other than foot-tall pygmies: to be like a God in their mind and grandeur. And then there will be one Sun, not a small one that cannot sprout a single grain of wheat, but a Sun that is big enough to improve the wheat in the whole world. Therefore, all of you are required to be servants of the Absolute Truth; there must not be even a trace of a lie in you, do you understand! I’m saying that what you should do is not preach Truth outside but when you face your consciousness, God, your soul, you should realize the fact that there must be absolutely no change, absolutely no lie in your soul. My soul’s sky should be clear, with no clouds in it. Now I’m referring not to the outside world, but to the inner one; I’m talking about reaching a certain state of mind and only at this state can we think right. The second thing is that all of you should maintain a thirst for learning. What I see now is that some of you sit there and say, “I’m 45 years old.” Forty-five years is nothing; why do you think you are old? Do you know what the age limit is that defines one as old? One turns 60 years and says, “I’m an old man.” What codex states that at this age one can claim, “I’m old”. You say, “I’m old.” - The criterion that defines one as old, is wrong. God is referred to as the Ancient One, no one knows His years, but when we turn 60 we assume a label that says that we are old, now this is a shame. There is no standard for old people it is a shame to think that there is. What you should say instead is, “I have been around for 60 years, but I’m not old at all, nor have I become wiser at all - the Earth rotated 60 times, but I was sleeping the whole time.” Now you say, “I’m old”. Very well, if you say that you are old, tell me what you know then? Because the meaning of “old” in Sanskrit is “one who has Knowledge”. If you are that old, tell me what the Earth was like when God created it? Tell me about when God created the Earth. You might say, “Well, I don’t know about this.” Well then, you are not one of the old ones, why do you claim so? Now, here’s someone with his hair and beard all white, but so what if your beard is white, does that make you old; where did that assumption come from? When trees are all covered with snow in winter, does that make them old? Those with white heads say, “My hair is white, I’m old.” No, don’t link these things to your age. The first thing you need to do is tell yourselves that you are disciples; if you are 60 it means that it is your perfect time to be a disciple, to learn. Why? I will tell you why: the young woman walking outside will not tempt you, no woman will give you any trouble, and no children will make a ruckus. Exactly because your mind is where it should be and your heart and willpower are where they should be - that’s the perfect time when you can learn, i.e. you will be a disciple who is able to understand every single subject. And now you sit here and I often hear both the young and the old of you say, “We’ve grown old.” I would like to know how many of you are old so that I can ask them about how God created the world: that is how I will test you to see if you are old or not. First, as soon as you enter the Esoteric School, you will put one main thought in your mind - you need to forget about the world. What I see happening now is that you enter and say, “Let’s see what the Master will tell us tonight.” Here is what I’m telling you tonight: you must throw your old idea out the window, because it is worth nothing. All of you are young; even if you are 60 years of age, you are still young. The fact that the Earth has turned 60 times has nothing to do with you; when it turns, it does not affect your growth at all. Let’s say someone puts you into a magnetic dream at the time when you are born and while you are in that state the Earth turns 60 times; when you wake up, you will not be old. What ages on Earth, is not the years, the turning of the Earth is something accidental. We say, “At 12 o’clock there was a murder”, that murder is an accidental measure. These are all accidental measures in the world, because the Absolute measure is the expansion of the soul, not the turning of the Earth: that is something impermanent. I want you all to have the desire to learn, do you understand; I want you to learn, not only to feel. You want to be in pleasant spirits, right? However, there are better things than spirits and those better things are brought about by what one can create through the Law of Wisdom. Without the Law of Wisdom, you cannot serve God. You cannot make use of Love, either. You need to know that true Love in the world can be manifested only when the great Law of Wisdom is at work, only when Knowledge comes. In order for you to love someone, you need to know his distinctive characteristic. You say, “This person has dark eyes.” All right, I see this differently and I’ll make the following analogy to explain how I see it: when the farmer says dark soil, he implies something else; what he means to say is that this dark soil is rich and provides more of the elements that are favourable for the growth of the wheat grain. That is why he says, “This dark soil is excellent; it produces excellent wheat!” And when we see someone with dark eyes, why do we like that person; why do we like people with dark eyes? Because such people are more consistent in their feelings - if a person like that falls in love with you, he is ready to give everything for you, you can rely on him. A person with dark eyes will not deceive you - he is true to his character no matter if he loves you or if he hates you. That is why we say that dark eyes have energy. A person with dark eyes may hate or may be rude, but such a person has one characteristic feature - he is always honest; he will tell you directly if he hates you or if he loves you, he plays no games. Such people are not agitated, but are true to their character. Therefore, only Wisdom will show us the qualities that are inside us, the properties and qualities that are hidden in our consciousness. This is the goal of the Esoteric School. If, in the Esoteric School, we do not learn what causes all the misfortunes in our lives, and if, in the Esoteric School, we cannot improve our future life, then why do we even need this School? I can talk to you about Heaven, about how the Angels and the saints live there, about their houses and so on. I can describe to you many things and you will say, “This is very interesting!” It is very interesting, indeed, but it is not the smart thing to do. Why is it not smart? Imagine that you are ill in bed, you are feeling sick and I come to visit you and start describing to you my travels in America; I start telling you how the Americans live, but your stomach hurts. You will not get better by my stories about America! In that case you will tell me, “Before you tell me the first thing about America, tell me about a cure for my stick stomach!” Similarly, is it not smarter for me to describe to you the ways in which you can improve your life first and then tell you about the Superior Life? Here is the first thing about the Esoteric School: its goal is to help you get rid of all your flaws that have remained in you from all kinds of cultures from times immemorial and you still carry them in you. Some of you say, “I don’t need to know much, I can get by even with little knowledge.” No, you need a lot of Knowledge in order to save yourselves. You need Knowledge to understand Love, to understand Wisdom, to understand Truth. You need to apply things in the present real Life. Do not think that you understand Love. If you really understood Love, you would have been immortal; if you really understood the Divine Wisdom, you would have had eternal harmony, i.e. you would have had Knowledge, you would have been strong, you would have been able to understand Truth in its entirety, and you would have had eternal Freedom - the great expanse of Life. You would not have been in the dark then, we would not have been limited in this room talking about these things; instead, we would have been travelling incredibly fast. Do you know how fast we would have been travelling - at least fifty thousand kilometres per second. What would we have done then? We would have gone up to Vitosha, blow once and be past the Moon in a second and be on the Sun in five minutes. We would stop at the first station where they would greet us; we would visit for three-four days and, because they are polite, they would show us around; we would see their schools, their meetings, we would take notes and afterwards we would head for the next station, Alfa Centauri*. Now you say, “What a wonderful voyage!” It is wonderful, of course but it also contains some ideas. The advanced students of the Esoteric School go on voyages like this. You may not be able to make such a voyage in your present condition, but you need to get ready for it in some future existence. You should think on Earth, you should descend to the physical level and make voyages like this from that level. Once you are on the Astral level, you will make other voyages there; when you enter the Mental level you will find that it is organized differently, because the structures in these worlds are based on different foundations. So here is the first thing: a true thirst for Knowledge should be born in you; I want from all of you to think. I am happy with your thought but it should be an original thought, it should be such that when it enters your mind, it will beget humility. You all have met young women like that one who behaves like an aristocrat before she gets married; she does not like placing her hands just anywhere, but has a specific way of holding her hands, because she doesn’t know where to put them. However, once she gets married and has her first child, she can find where to put her hands - she lifts their child, then puts it down or holds it. The first idea that comes to one’s mind is the greatest; then one’s hand, the willpower, has something to do. Someone says, “What should we do?” Give birth to a great Divine idea in yourself and then your hands and everything will find what to do - this is why we have the Esoteric School. Now when you come here you say, “Aren’t we going to learn some prayer?” Do you know what is the true prayer, how you should pray - Lord, enlighten our mind, give us Light because the ignorance is so great that we do not understand You at all and we have sunk in sins up to our ears. We pray to you, give us Knowledge and Wisdom to do your Will. Here is a prayer: Give us Knowledge! Give us Knowledge so that we can serve You with all our heart and be happy and so that You can be filled with Joy that we are learning. What you say now, instead, is, “Lord, forgive our trespasses.” Well, your trespasses and your sins are a result of your ignorance, of your lack of Wisdom. Therefore, the disciples and all of us should pray in the Esoteric School; we need Wisdom and Knowledge. Some of you who are more advanced and well-read know that there are books about these levels. I don’t have the time now to talk about the levels. Make sure you look into these things; those of you who know more on the subject, should tell you in a private conversation. We have no time to go over things that are written in books; our time is valuable; you can read it and mull over it and I will talk about things that you cannot find in books. Now if someone tries to say something, you interrupt, “Wait, let’s ask the Master, he will tell us.” It is written in the book and you don’t need to ask if it is right; just read it, and if you like it, then accept it; if you do not like it, use your head to make up your mind. And when it comes to me to talk about these things, I will touch on them briefly and will talk about them only inasmuch as they are connected to our subject. Because my goal is to make you learn how to think by showing you how I think and then we will be able to study things. But until you learn how to think, I will use this hoe, I will dig and you will dig; I will dig and you will dig and so on until we learn how to think. And what will happen then? We will play and sing and when the wheat is ripe, we will put it in the barn and will have brotherly discussions about the eternal Laws and the future Fraternity. We have decided that we will not allow for anyone to lie to us anymore. Woe to those disciples who enter the Esoteric School intending to mock God’s Name! They will see what a Divine School means. The one who enters the Divine School needs to know that the great Divine Righteousness is behind this School. This is a Divine School - you are absolutely free but you are absolutely responsible for your deeds, as well. I need to show you and I will repeat again: the only unforgivable crime in the Esoteric School is lying! You should know this - lying is unpardonable. Do not think that you have common morals, pretend morals, such understanding… In the future we will have such high morals! I am not talking about how I treat you on the outside; I am not talking about those morals but about the inner morals in every given moment. If all I think about is how to use you, this is not morals. My relation to God - this is morals. There must not exist, even a shadow in my mind, soul, heart, or will of the thought of using you in any way. Absolute purity, absolute selflessness! Do you know what selflessness is? This is what is understood, these are the morals of the Esoteric School. And if all of you enter the Esoteric School, you need to have these morals in your soul so when you face yourselves in a given moment, you will know that you are pure. You can trespass thousands of times on the outside, but what is important is the motive, the inner motivation that causes you to do something. You may say, “But this is a school!” Yes, but this is one of the best rules. When you apply this rule as disciples, your things will improve in every aspect: mentally, spiritually and materially. Your things will improve in every aspect with no exception; if not now, in the future; if not for you, for your children. This is so and so does Jesus say, “There is no one who has left mother and father who shall not receive many times more in the present time and in the age to come – eternal life.” Therefore, you should have no fear. Then there is this irritability in you that I will start testing. Someone says, “I’m in a bad mood.” We know the reason and the source of all bad moods. If you fall asleep at night and a vampire puts his mouth on you and sucks your blood, what do you think you will feel when you wake up in the morning? You will feel a great weakness. Why? - Because this vampire has sucked out your blood. You have good intentions but some vampire comes along and sucks out your blood. Therefore, when you go to bed, you should close your door so the vampire does not come, do you understand? Someone may say, “It was my Karma that he should suck out my blood.” This is no philosophy; if you hadn’t opened the windows, it would not have been your Karma. If someone trips, they say, “It is Karma”; but if you hadn’t fallen, would it have been Karma? Someone is nervous, restless and says, “My father and mother were of a nervous disposition, and I have inherited it from them.” But if there were no father and mother what would you have said? We explain Karma a little bit differently. Do not blame your mistakes and foolishness on Karma. No, what you should say is, “I wasn’t careful in my step and I fell.” That’s all. Then there is another thing: in our Esoteric School we need to create a favourable atmosphere for learning. The first thing is to create this pure, holy, pious atmosphere so that you feel an impulse for knowledge as soon as you enter the building where these subjects are taught; this is necessary for all of you. You will create this atmosphere yourself. I have nothing against you, you are all good and I do not question your goodness. Now when I talk, you may say, “Master probably can see something bad in us.” No, I look at the matter objectively: if you are a musician and play badly, I will say, “There is no harmony.” I’m saying that not to judge your moral character but to say that the performance is not good and you don’t understand music; this has nothing to do with your moral character. You may say, “I have not developed this centre in me, but I will develop it in a day or a couple of days, or a month, a year, or longer.” When you say this, the sense for music in you will become activated. When I say that these senses are not developed in you, I mean that the Divine Curiosity is not awake in many of you. Now, I want to appoint a task to the three most capable disciples of you who know a lot on different subjects; I want one of them to write a summary on the Physical world, another one to write a summary on the Astral world and define it, and the third one to write on the subject of the Mental world. And I want this description to be ready in three weeks starting from today. Are there three volunteers here? They will write an essay and then read aloud what they wrote in front of all other disciples so that first, we can obtain a clear idea about the physical world; then a clear idea about the Astral world and then a clear idea about the world of Wisdom, the Mental level. (Now, you choose these three people.) This is how it is, then: Ruschev will write about the physical world, Ilia Stojchev will write about the Astral world and Veliko Grablashev will write about the Mental world. We will keep the rest of the capable disciples for more difficult subjects; if they are sorry that they haven’t been chosen this time, we will choose them next time. When does the third week from now fall? - On July 27th. Those of our friends who are writing this time, should write the main things. You may use books on the subject and take notes. So, I want all disciples to be always young, never old. When you enter the Esoteric School, we make no difference between how and when you have entered; here you are disciples and nothing else. In the Esoteric School you are all only disciples; outside of the School there are many professions, but when you enter the School you will be only disciples. When you are outside the Esoteric School, then you can have various professions. You need to observe one main rule: when you enter here, you will discard any other profession. If you are a professor, you will say, “I’m a student now, a disciple.” Here is how you should discipline your will and your mind: if, for one hour, you can release a burden, or forget about a difficulty and think about yourself as a disciple, now, that’s willpower. When you leave after that and go outside, you will feel refreshed and rejuvenated. Someone may ask: “How can I train my willpower?” You should spend one hour during the week thinking about yourself as a disciple: this is another experiment for you to see how well you are able to focus your mind. You might think that you cannot do that - all is allowed. We will follow the same rule as in a battlefield: those who are fighting do not stop; they keep going even when people are falling down around them; there is a medical unit which will come afterwards to take care of the wounded. Now, if one of the disciples falls down, the rest need to keep going and let the medical unit take care of the one who fell. You are not to stop and inquire, ”What happened to him?” No, onward you go, there are no sick people here. We will not stop for the sick ones; everyone must be healthy. We welcome the healthy ones and we offer our cooperation to the sick ones. Therefore, we will not discuss sick people in the Esoteric School. One’s flaws and inabilities are but sicknesses of the Astral world. When someone does not learn, it is a sickness; if someone else gets offended easily, it is also a sickness; there is an astral medicine that studies the symptoms of the sickness. The disciples in an Esoteric School first need to study Love and the subject of Life - how it originated and what its purpose is for the earth forces and the way they connect to produce these elements. The first thing that a disciple should study when he enters the Esoteric School is Life’s joys and bounties. After that he will go on to study Wisdom, then he will continue with Truth and in this way he will finally get prepared for his higher purpose in the world. Silent Prayer * Alfa Centauri is the star closest to our Sun. It is 4.3 light years away from the Sun.

Positive And Negative Forces Year 1, Lecture 19 of the Youth Occult Class (Special Class) given by the Master Beinsa Douno on July 5, 1922, Wednesday Cham-Koria * Secret Prayer The disciples' essays on the topic: “The most distinct feature of Light" were read. Next please write on the topic: “The Purpose of the Human Heart.” When you write about Light, unconsciously you think about darkness, too - it comes to your minds as the contrast of Light. Actually, if there was no darkness, could we talk about the growth of bodies in the physical world? Light and darkness in the physical world are the two states through which the soul ежпрессеs itself. The soul begins to know itself in the darkness by limiting itself. Darkness is a process of limitation and Light is a process of knowing God, or knowing Love. Love cannot be known without Light. So the most powerful feature of Light is knowledge of God, knowledge of Love. Introduce this idea into the summary that you will make of the essays about Light. Light represents a process related to the Mental world. When the Mental world is revealed before the human eyes, forms are simultaneously revealed, together with their content and meaning. In this way humans come to the Primal Cause – Love. Whoever wants to grow and develop in the right way should psychologically connect Light with the process of knowing Love. Therefore, all states that cause disharmony in the human soul pertain to the sphere of darkness аnd darkness places limits on human beings. All states that produce harmony in one’s soul belong to the sphere of Light. When you enter the sphere of metaphysics, the issue of Light and darkness is treated in a different way there; the statements that metaphysics makes will create great contradictions within you. Metaphysicians, as well as extreme occultists, maintain the idea that Absolute light is Absolute darkness. And when God said "Let there be Light!" He created the first limitation. This means that when Absolute darkness limits itself, it produces Light which cannot be overtaken by the darkness. I am asking, what is the first limitation of human beings? Sacrifice is the first limitation. Therefore, when an individual decides to sacrifice something he produces Light within himself. This is why sacrifices are needed. When you sacrifice something, the first day of Light comes to your soul. God said: “Let there be Light!” and there came Light. When Light comes to someone and he can differentiate between Light and darkness, it is a sign that he has made a sacrifice in the right way. If neither light nor darkness emerge in someone, he has not made the sacrifice at all or he has not made it properly. When Christ said about Himself, "I am the Light of the world" - this Light, this Daylight was produced as a result of His self-sacrifice. So, if one wants to produce Light, one needs to sacrifice himself. Thus, Light is related to the act of sacrifice. In the present evolution, Light has four different directions in the physical world, which are determined by four types of waves that have different frequencies. Those waves that have greater density form the back part of the human brain. The weight of the brain in animals - in other words, the greatest density of their brain - is behind the ears, and as a consequence they are compelled to walk on four legs. The weight in plants is down in their roots, so they are forced to keep their heads under the ground in order to maintain balance. The weight of the human brain is in front of the ears, therefore humans have to stand on two legs. That is the only way for them to maintain their balance. Thus, presently the three directions or courses of Light have created three different currents in the brains of living beings. These in their turn have produced three different positions necessary for maintaining balance: plants are upside down, animals stand on four legs, and human beings stand erect on their two legs. Now the fourth direction of Light is coming in order to form the current of forces required for the formation of the Spiritual body of human beings. This body is related to the Higher or supersensible world. Therefore, when Light acts upon human beings in four different directions – from behind, from ahead, inward and upward - a cross is formed. Now, you can draw this cross in order to find out in which of the four directions Light is strongest. The power of Light is evaluated on the basis of the length of the four lines forming the cross. If the west side of the horizontal line is longer or more developed, this is an indication that the animal essence in human beings predominates over the other forces; if the lower vertical line of the cross is longer, this is an indication that the vegetative forces in human beings are more dominant; if the east side of the horizontal line is longer, this shows that the ability to feel are more developed. Finally, if the upper part of the cross is the longest, this shows that the Divine prevails in that person. If you project a vertical plane down through the center of a person, parallel to his face, he will be divided into two parts. The back part represents the left path of his development, while the front part of the plane parallel to his face represents the right path of his development. If you project another plane through the person – from west to east – you will get another division in which the right part of the brain represents the narrow path and the left part of the brain the broad path. In principle, the left path indicates the aspirations of the human soul and the right path - the deeds of the individual. And indeed, only an active individual will follow the right path, while the one who has aspirations but has not yet begun to act will follow the left or the broad path. These are the two paths that contemporary people follow. When we speak of the influence and predominance of the vegetative or animal forces, or of the aspirations of a human being, we mean the first manifestations of human consciousness and subconsciousness. Under “animal influence” we understand the first manifestations of human consciousness. Under “vegetative influence” we understand the first manifestations of human subconsciousness. When more energy accumulates in the human brain or in the entire organism than what is necessary, a number of disharmonious conditions are created. For example, when the temples are well developed, their development corresponds to that of the lips. Therefore, there is a certain relationship between the temples and the lips. The stronger the temples, the thicker the lips. Thicker lips have been noticed primarily in people whose noses are close to their mouths. The nose is an organ of olfaction, so each smelling of a good dish makes blood flow into the lips through the nose, as a result of which the mouth becomes thicker. In general, all parts and centres of the brain exert an influence on specific organs of the human being, thus leaving certain imprints on them. For example, when the brain centre of Hope is well developed, this influences two specific facial muscles. In this case the edges of the mouth are curved upwards and not downwards. Therefore, the brain centres exert their influence in two ways – they create either straight or curved lines. Sometimes they also create concave angles. In general, lines go in two directions: up and down. When someone is sad, the angles of his mouth go down, and this means that the currents within him are either vegetative or animal. If these angles are pointed up, one is happy – then the human and the Divine states prevail in him. This is why as disciples of the occult you should do several experiments; you should research and study the various states that you go through, both positive and negative. When you are in low spirits, try to make this mood leave your consciousness. Observe it objectively, as something that has nothing to do with you. Subject this mood to criticism in order to understand its causes and consequences. If you haven't made a few attempts in this direction, you will think that each mood is your own, that it is related to your consciousness, that there is no way you can take it out of you. So you think you should bear its torment. No, you can separate it from your consciousness in the same way that you can take the devil’s nail out of you. Never mind that it will cause you some pain – take it out of your foot! When someone is fearful, or is ambitious but has weak hope, this person is a pessimist. Fear creates images of obstacles and difficulties in his consciousness that he cannot overcome. Together with his fear comes the feeling that he cannot succeed and that he will remain behind the others. At the same time his weak hope discourages him, so he falls into despair and pessimism. Pessimism in its turn generates a number of negative traits in him, such as slyness, wile, envy and hatred. You may ask why fear has appeared in the world. In the animal world it is in the right place, and is one of the great laws that has reached perfection there. When an animal is fearful, it shows that right is not on its side and that it needs to rely on its legs. Weak animals in the animal world are told, "You're not under the protection of the law and the law cannot save you, so you should develop your legs – may they be long, so that you can rely on them." Fear in animals is equal to conscience in humans. So fear in humans is substituted with conscience. When fear is experienced, all negative traits from the past are awakened, which causes unhappiness. For this reason, when fear comes to you, you should replace it immediately with conscience. When you transform fear into conscience, sense and reasoning will immediately return to you. Then it will be possible to talk about what is right. Therefore everyone should work consciously upon themselves and distinguish between their mental states in order to study them. If grief comes to you and you don't want to live, isolate it from your consciousness and observe it objectively: why has it come to you, how long will it last, etc. When you isolate it from yourself, you will see that it is not yours. This indisposition is of external origin. People are easily obsessed by external thoughts, they easily receive these external feelings, and because they don't know the laws, they suffer and torment themselves. Through suggestion and hypnosis some people can accept the thoughts of a hypnotist, and they can fulfill them later as their own. Having fulfilled the ideas suggested by the hypnotist, only then can they understand that they have acted under external influence. Many murders and acts of suicide in the world can be explained by hypnotism. It may also happen that a person who was in an occult school in the past received a certain thought from his master through suggestion - a good or a bad one - and he puts it into realization in the present. In such case, he himself wonders how he could have changed so much. You meet a good and honest man, you know him well and rely on him, but all of a sudden he changes. He begins to rob and blackmail people. You wonder what has happened to this person that has caused him to change so much. Then you meet him two or three years later, and he lives honestly and righteously – he has changed his behaviour again, he has returned to his original self. What are these abrupt changes that have happened to him? As disciples of the Great School, you should all work to correct these inner states that you have, in other words, free yourselves from them. So you have enormous corrective work to do. The School aims to give you the knowledge that will enable you to correct the errors of your past in a reasonable way. When you come into a hypnotic state from your past, you will go back and correct it with a reverse method. You will do the opposite motions of those you were hypnotized to do. The hypnotists of the Dark lodge usually make their passes starting from above and going downwards. Today many people wash their faces and bodies in the same way – starting from above and going downwards, and closing their eyes as if to say, "It's not good to have your eyes open." Yes, when you enter the material world it is good to close your eyes, but when you come to the School to study, it is better to have your eyes open. As disciples you should do motions that are the opposite to the passes of the Dark lodge. When you wash your hair, do upward motions, not the opposite. All the movements that you do have deep meanings and they exert an influence on you. Observe your movements and their influence on you, as well as the effects they produce within you. Some of them make you happy, others are unpleasant. Observe your movements and study them, but don't go to the other extreme – being doubtful about whether to do a movement or not. When you want to tune your mind, do an upward mental motion – following the evolutionary way. First think of plants, then of animals, then think of humans, and finally – of God and of the Beings from the Divine world. Thus you will feel spiritually uplifted and in an ascending mood. If you perform the motion in the opposite direction, starting from the Divine world and gradually going down to the human, animal and plant worlds, you will fall under the law of involution and you will experience a spiritual descent or a lowering. In applying the first exercise, you will be able to release many negative feelings. If you study botany, zoology and anthropology, if you read Divine books, you can do this exercise more successfully. People go down into the lower worlds and then come up again on a daily basis. Each experience of grief is a sign that one has linked with the plants. Thus people help the plants and the plants help them. When people are not feeling well, when they are angry or have other negative feelings, they link with the animals and help them in this way. When someone arrives at a state that is mindful and pleasant, they have entered the human world. And finally humans come to the High and the noble, i.e. they enter the Divine world where absolute harmony abides. These are the four worlds or the four states that human beings need to study. When someone is not feeling well, when he is confused or impatient, he can imagine that he is in a forest of pine and oak trees. In a short time his mood will change and he will acquire the mental state of the plants. If someone falls into laziness, he should think about the animals that are usually quick and mobile. Their need for food causes them to move all day long so that they can satisfy their hunger. When you think about animals, you make a connection with them and they stimulate you with their energy. Having satisfied their hunger, animals also become lazy, but once they are hungry again, they go out looking for food. After you have acquired the patience of plants and the mobility of animals, you will move on to the human state in order to develop reasoning and thinking. After that you will go to the Divine world, where all your thoughts will be openly displayed. The Elevated Beings of this world will make note of all the thoughts that you present. Wise people make such a presentation every day, ordinary people once a week, and foolish people once a year. When we say that someone will be subjected to critique, this refers to his presentation of thoughts in the Divine world, where Intelligent Beings will evaluate them and where he himself will monitor and observe everything, thus seeing the errors in all that he has ever created. Until people arrive at this position, they should consistently discipline their minds. You haven't yet gone through such discipline, so you are not prepared for the Divine world. If you go into this world too early for you, you will fall asleep, you will be disordered, unable to endure its high vibrations. However, those who have organized their minds will come back fresh and elevated from having visited the Divine world, bringing new Light and Knowledge with them. Absolute silence and complete harmony, undisturbed by any noise or worry, is required for your passage into the other world. Such an attempt to enter into the Divine world demands a clear surrounding aura, absolute harmony and silence. This atmosphere should be maintained for one or two hours at least, which is impossible to do in cities. This attempt is impossible even here, in Cham-Koria, where we are now. It will be possible only at some high and isolated mountain location. If such an experiment was made in Sofia, for example, a special room, surrounded by a solid, pure and harmonious aura, would be necessary. No one else should enter this room, no one should even suspect its existence. However this is impossible under the present conditions, as there are no people who are ready for that. Whoever is not ready for this experiment will not want to go into this room. Disciples, however, will strive to enter this room the way bees strive towards aromatic flowers. Disciples needs to work at creating a harmonious aura in their rooms, so that their efforts will be successful. Work hard upon yourself so that you can overcome all hardships. In this way you will develop your will as a tool for overcoming everything. What kind of will should you develop? Neither iron nor granite, but a diamond will. A will that is of iron or granite could easily capitulate, but a diamond will can overcome all obstacles. You will need broad views and great selflessness to clear away the delusions on your path. You can do this only with the Light of your consciousness. It is a special type of Light. If it doesn't enter your consciousness, you will stay at your present level of understanding, which cannot help you get the results you expect. When I am saying that a special type of Light needs to enter your consciousness, you shouldn't worry. This Light will come of itself, you only need to climb a high mountain peak and wait there. You know that the Sun first illuminates the mountain peaks, then the valleys, don't you? In the same way this Light will illuminate first the peaks of your consciousness, then its valleys. You are required to make efforts to climb the high Divine peak, where Light comes at the earliest time. Later it goes to the valleys and to the plains. Therefore, when you ask yourself what the advantages of the Esoteric school are, you should know that it shows its disciples the Right path for climbing the high Divine peaks which are the first to be illuminated by the Divine rays of the rising Sun. * (The old name of the Rila mountain resort Borovets) Source

The Bear Trap The eighteenth lecture of the Teacher, held to the Common occult class on 29th June 1922, Thursday, Sofia Secret Prayer The works on the topic were read “The profit of mountain tops”. The rest will be read in the other Thursdays' meetings. Next Thursday do you have a topic? – No. For the next time, write something about the history of the wheat grain. When did it appear on Earth? Write only about the wheat grain – when did it appear and under which conditions, does it exist in a wild state or not. You have to think little if it exists in a wild state. (– It does not.) Why does not? You will write conceptually, will not spread to talk about minor matters, only with notions – all, that you say will be told conceptually, figuratively, but later on the details. Learn to speak loftily. The occult pupil must speak: “I am hungry”, but not: “I am too hungry, very hungry.” – “I am hungry, thirsty, feel like walking”, but that: “I feel very much like walking, I will feel very well...” – this is for the people, who have time, who spend plenty of time. Later, when a theme is given to you, from an occult point of view, you will describe the most distinct feature. For example which is the distinct feature of bread, which is the distinct feature of water, which is the distinct feature of light, which is the distinct feature of Love, which is the distinct feature of Wisdom? You can say many things, but the distinct feature is only that, which shows first of all, which projects – it is distinct. The distinct feature is the first, which appears first. If I ask which was the distinct feature of the world? – When God says: “To be the Earth and Sky.” What does God say? – It created Light, that means the visible world – the distinct feature of the visible world, this is Light. Therefore which is the distinct feature of Light? – it reveals the world; which is the distinct feature of darkness? – it hides the world. This is distinct, and light does this, does that, these are minor matters – the distinct must stand out. Later, what does Love, which is the distinct feature of Love? You say something, anything, many things. Which is the distinct feature? You can say many things, but do not hurry to evince, because I will say one thing and you will consider yourselves insulted, think. Which is the distinct feature of the Spirit? Now, may we say that God, who contains everything inside, can be a victim? Can the eternal and the endless become a victim, for whom he shall sacrifice? Because, as you say sacrifice, you have to understand which the distinct feature of the victim is? This is a philosophical question. We say, that God has sacrificed, but which is the distinct feature of sacrifice? The distinct feature of the Eternal is, that He does not want to scrunch the most miserable – God wants to give this Life even to the most miserable, the one He has. And God stops even in front of the smallest bug to make a way to pass by – this is a sacrifice for Him. He stops the whole movement, in order for a bug to pass by, is that not а sacrifice? This is an effort. Therefore, some time God stops his Car for us and if he did not stop his car, what would we leave? – We would fail, but He often stops the whole movement. And often the conflicts, the misfortunes in the world result from what God has stopped His wagon, so that a bug can pass and you feel concussion. I say: God stopped His wagon – this is the sublimity of God. And tomorrow because if you it stops, the law is the same – tomorrow is ahead of you and He will stop His wagon for you to pass, this is a great thing. These are cogitations of your brain, so you have to think. Now, what is the distinct feature of Love? You will say: “The distinct feature of Love is sacrifice.” But how you will understand the sacrifice, when you alone did not sacrifice? Only one can understand who has sacrificed; if you did not sacrifice, you do not understand sacrifice. Now, as we say sacrifice, we can understand the preparation for such a good lunch: fried chicken, so freshly butchered and fried on grill, reddened; after a good soup made of her legs; after that pasty, made of milk and eggs, with cheese; then, put in a bottle half a kilo of six-year-old wine. And if you, after you starved and waited for that chicken, then a friend of yours comes, who has starved for three days, you give up your meal, this is a sacrifice. And this will bring you delight, that you sacrifice the chicken and the pasty, and all – to be satisfied, as you see, that he is eating. This is what I call to a certain extent, according to your understanding – this, which is appointed to you to give it to somebody else. A necessity is the sound thought, i.e. the perfect thought. Now, these must be the cogitations of the occult pupil of the Live Nature, the simplest cogitations are the following. And if you, the contemporary, let’s say, teachers and pupils, go into a contemporary exemplary school, are not all things presumed as possible: the program, subjects, how many hours you will be studying, how many teachers there will be, which teachers which subjects will be teaching and every teacher will explain his subject – all is presumed. The pupil, as he enters, must learn, it does not look proper on behalf of him to criticize all those textbooks and to say: “This textbook is worthless, that is worthless.” And in one evangelic school the teacher teaches Bulgarian, a pupil stands up and says: “Mr., The Bulgarian language has so many grammars – of Iconomov is written so, of Ivan Stoyanov is written so, of Todor, of Petko the grammar...” The teacher says: “Listen, what Iconomov writes about the grammar I do not know, I want you to write about the grammar, which I teach in class, and as you go out of class, you can take whatever you want.” As we are in the school of Nature, you have to use its language, nothing more. One day, as we outgrow it, so that we can leave the school, then we can think, what we want. In this Live Nature all is forecast. Let’s say, I give you a certain object for mountaintops; which is the distinct feature of a mountaintop? When you sharpen a plume, why do you sharpen it? – in order to write better; why do you sharpen your pencil? – in order to write; why do you sharpen your knife? – in order to cut better. Which is the distinct feature of a knife? The mountaintop or valley, these are two conditions inside Nature – and in the valleys, and in the tops gather two contrary energies. The mountains form the spine of the Earth, they the backbone, therefore our Earth has come to the position of the backbone, that’s why mountains exist. Once upon a time it was a soft body, without mountains, i.e. it was a time, when it was without mountains, and it becomes spinal. And then the rivers compose its blood – arterial and venous blood, which runs and comes in through the spine and so on. Now you may say insignificantly, that the mountains have gathered a huge energy that the spirits have come together – all these things are true. Through the backbone are there a lot of nerves, which pass, many knots, which is true; many cells become bent in the hollow of the head, millions of cells are gathered, but this hollow is made for whom? – for music is made. Now, of course, those, who have created the mountains, had one aim in the history of the Earth, if we say geological to describe it, the mountains are not created because the temporary geologists try – on all tops there is something distinct, but they are not created so. Now, the first thought will be established. It is not our question to discuss all secrets of Nature, but each task, which is appointed in the great school of Nature, we must riddle half of the tasks, which are given to us, we must riddle. When you get up in the morning, the first question is not what you shall eat or what you shall drink. Therefore says Jesus: “Who thinks so?” – Only the pupils. And the pupils, who know the Nature and who know God, will not think about eating. The good son and the good daughter, when they get up every morning, they will go to their mother, they will kiss her and the mother will kiss them – this is the purpose – they go to school, because they are pupils, and they will kiss them. After that the father and mother will order them to go to school, but they will eat before the lesson. And now you, when you get up in the morning, right away you decide one important question – what you will do during the day. You do not go to your father; you do not go to your mother, you do not know Nature and, what’s more, you want to be pupils. You must know Nature. If you have a certain opinion, when you get up, to whom you must go? And when you get up in the morning, when you turn to God, you must know whether He is up – you do not know where He is. You have to find Him in You! If you do not find Him in the people, if you do not find Him in Nature, you doubt; don’t you know what comes from this doubt? Imagine you and I are in two near posts, we are connected by telephones, telegraphs and other means for communication, but imagine, that the messages of the telegraphs and telephones are broken off and we shall be isolated – and then we exist without announcing. If you send to your brain one criminal thought (let’s say, some evening we go to bed, a criminal thought has come, but you did not perceive it), as you get up in the morning, you will be disposed, all messages with Nature, with God will be broken off. Maybe you are indisposed, and somebody with his bad influences has corrupted you – it will be strange, if one great spring is muddled by some other small spring. If you are a very shallow spring and somebody can influence you by his thoughts, to change the pace of your life, to make you restless, you are shallow. But it is true, that inside your life you have allowed one thought, which in a certain moment has stopped all the messages. When they come from the Invisible world to help (because even the Nature has its own servants), an hour or two will go by, maybe one-two days, until they put the message for order – and you will have one pleasant disposition of the soul. So in everybody that exam must be determined– every time to know which is the cause of your state. You are in a certain state – you have to know that state, which you are in, in what category it falls: in the physical, or the spiritual or to the Godly state. I will give you now one categorization between the physical, spiritual and the Godly state. Now, if you are questioned which states are simply physical? – The physical states are the exact states, they are restricted states – meaning the restricted states which we have, are the physical. They are also transient – every time every physical state changes quickly, the physical states change very fast. Let’s say, you have one disposal, thinking that, you are very patient person; take one small needle and stick it in the gentlest place – it will produce one little pain and right away you will change, and will change your state. At that moment, if you have control over yourself, this needle must not produce anything, not to change your state. So these states are connected to the subjects on Earth, which constantly change. Let’s say, you have one brooch or one you have one precious stone; you get attached to it, but one day an other gets attached to your stone, steals it – your states changes. You’ve got a book, which you love, a great poet has written it, this is a precious book; somebody comes, steals it – stored in your brain – it cannot be taken away, you are stronger, but comes somebody, hits a strike there and bothers your calmness, but you cannot open the sheets. Therefore we have to reach that state, in which, as we see, that somebody will cast a strike on our head, to be able by our thought to stop that hit, instantly to paralyze his action. Somebody will say: “If it is the Will of God will we be able to stop somebody?” You may ask: “Is it fateful that somebody hits you on the head.” If you are stupid, yes, one can hit you, the stupid one is hit every day. The clever, when he is hit, becomes clever, and the stupid, when he is hit, becomes stupid. You will say: “A law of fate that somebody hits you in the head.” No, it is not a law of fate – this strike can come consciously or unconsciously. In Khazunlak region somewhere somebody made a trap for bears, but in the morning he goes and sees – there his donkey is trapped. Imagine now, that you are a traveller, passing and touching this trap and you become trapped; if you were not so curious and you were not interested in that bear trap, would you be trapped in? – No. Therefore in the Occult school every time they warn their pupils, that the Astral world is only full of traps, bear traps, looking like nice flowers, like nice juices, like nice things. And the Teacher says: “Down this somewhat road you should not go, somewhat trap, somewhat book, somewhat flower, you should not touch, anything more!” But we, the contemporary people, say, that everything we must travel over, we must try everything. If that pupil decides to examine all bear traps, he will say, that uselessly will test them, no value will obtain. Now these bear traps will also be form between you. I will say one day, now there is not, but I am preparing one talk for the bear traps, which are formed between us and you are fooling with every day. As you are fooling with them, come and ask me why that trap is laid – you, as pupils, did not walk your way, you will not ask me why, these are for bears. And twenty years I have to talk only about bear traps – why did somebody do this act, why did he do this fault. So good, I retail – I will tell you the cause why this fault happened, what use will you make of that? You tell me, that Dragan Stoyanov, a husband of somebody, bought her a silk dress, but a cow passed near her, she ran away and tore her dress in the wire. And you ask me: “To tear her dress, what portent does it have for her, is it good or bad, whether astrologically on time has this dress been made, whether the day has been chosen well or badly, or the quilt is in that trader, from whom is the cloth bought, which is the purpose?” It’s nice, imagine, that I explain, what will you use? The only thing is that this Turk was not careful, she has travelled with a gentleman, in rapture, the cow shoved her in the wire and tore her dress – this is an explanation. Now, the second explanation is that this female Turk was afraid of buffalos and therefore buffalos happened to get out, cows on the opposite and she starts to run, and as she jumps over the wire, tears her dress. The third situation: this female Turk carried her bag with money, but somebody needed money, chases her, she runs and tears her dress. These are a number of reasons; which of these reasons is the essential – which tore her dress? Now, you shall think. I do not want you now to think, that I give this for a comparison with your dress, no, the principle for explaining is not important. There are many things, which I do not have to explain to you. For you, the occult pupils, it is important to study the art to build excellently; to pull down, it is not an art. For example, if in twenty years’ time you have come to ask me in this way: “Teacher, I have decided to do a good deed, give me one best method - and I will do it”, and if you had been thinking so: “Teacher, I have decided to reconcile with all those who am in conflict with, give me the best method, I will do it without my eye to wink”, “Teacher, I have decided to sacrifice all my property for the poor, give me rules, I have decided that”, if in twenty years’ time you have asked me these things!... And now they will come to me, saying so: “Mr. Teacher, just imagine that sister there the previous day do you know what she did? – “She did not let me say a word during the meeting, not only that, but the other day, when she met me, she did not greet me, does this beseem a good Christian?” Now, do you think, that is an explanation – I have to sit as a lawyer and explain why she did not greet you. No, she did it on purpose, because she was in such rapture. – “How is that, she must not be in rapture!” We can say: she can be in rapture– “No, no, when she meets me, she must not be in rapture, in any other case she can be in rapture, but not me...” And well, I ask now: who has never been in rapture, once a man will be in rapture – these are bear traps, do you understand, these are bear traps! And I will once in the School make an attempt – I will make a bear trap, so that you can see how funny it is, how people are deluded. Decide now to make one of the best deeds – by all means at least ten bears will show up in your brain. You decide to do one good deed; you will first scrub, and say: “Let’s feed myself with pasty, and after that”, the second time will say: “I have some work, this or that”, and then say: “For today it is not possible, but tomorrow I will do it.” When you, as pupils, enter the Occult school, right away in your mind will spring a number of contradictory actions and you must understand these laws, in order to get rid of them, they will not change. And maybe the occult pupil is exposed some time a big temptation, to big contradictions is exposed – why and for what he will not explain, he is exposed – I only present the facts. But this exposing, if he does not use, is good. And therefore that day I told you, that when we are somewhere in the occult way, we will act and then think – the occult pupils must act, then think; out, in the world, they will think, then act – one of the two. Whatever good is it and to be a good thought and to come in your brain and then show up as very distinct feature, do it, without hesitating. If one morning, after you get up, in your brain comes a strong, good thought and shows up as a good feature, make it, do not stop in front of any philosophies, do not eat, do not drink, do it – if it is shown up, do it. And after you did it, do not go around shouting out in the neighbourhood. Make an attempt – they will think later, and when results come, then you will find out, after time you will know how to give it in. You have noticed in the morning, when you get up, what thought you have first? Do now a kind of investigation: as you wake up your first sleep, notice what thought is in your mind – whatever thought it is, write it down in your book. This – for a week, for seven days what thoughts you have. As you wake up from your first sleep, write it down – you will be strict; the first thought may be pleasant, maybe also unpleasant – you will note the fact, as it is. Because, as you wake up, you may be thinking of a fried chicken, even though you are vegetarian, or you can think, that you have twenty thousand leva, and in your mind can be such a thought: “So long time I walk on this Godly road, I gained nothing, as I walk on the wide road” – I will note the thought correctly. For seven days, if only good thoughts come up, it is pleasant, a pleasant occurrence is also the field, through which you go is excellent. Now, you expect, saying: “God will enlighten us”, (will he/ won’t he!!!)? But if God looks from the left side, you will use a method; if you look on the right, he will use another method. As he sees you on the left, he will put you on the right, he will put you in front and then he will talk. If you do not come from the left to the right and then in front, never will God talk to you. And I will give to the mothers one rule (I will not explain the occult law): but in the first place take the child, put it on the left, then on the right, embrace it; then take it in front and then kiss him – the kiss is already Godly – as you kiss him, you will begin to talk. Now, you will ask your philosophy again: “Isn’t it possible that I place myself on the left and on the right?” Make an effort, because these are microscopic efforts. Why as a result of this effort – from the left or the right – we will produce another effort. Now begin with the children: you have a daughter, 5-10 years of age; place her on the left, on the right and as decide to put it on the left, the child might say: “Why mother?” and to listen; if it does not listen, do not disturb it. The fathers to do the same with his boy – of course those, who have children. And those who do not (to them might be left behind wish), will find some poor orphan, a little orphan, who you will love – you might find it somewhere, will go in some poor house and you will place it on the left, on the right. For a week make this effort – go into a poor family, which you like, and there make your attempt, this will certainly come. Now you will see an other objection: “What will the people say about me?” If you think what will the people say about you, do not go. The experience, which I give to you, go, do it and nothing else – do it, even though the world can turn upside down! These children, with which you will make the attempt, will thank you – they did not have a sweet kiss, nobody loved them and they will wonder how, where from did such a good man kiss that orphan. If you are being philosophical, you are free, I give you full Freedom – let only those do it, who can by the law of Love and Wisdom do it; who can’t, should not be seduced, because they are going in unnecessary trouble. How do you think, when God sends a great Angel to a sinful soul to comfort it, what must he do? And the angels have an occult school, to help such sinners. Do you know what is the situation? Some saint is sent to deal with some wrongful sinner; if that was you, you hairs would stand upright, and say: “How can be that in that place that I am defiled!” and without any hesitation – said-done. Don’t you know what is the law – as it this Spirit touches you, right away the sins will be taken, burned in that Godly fire. And if you believe, this fire will surrender. Now you, the occult pupils, are not expected to become saints. We will pray, will make efforts, to see how much you can carry out the law. For example generosity is preached; it must be helped, but you do not know how generous you are. Let’s say, that you are one official or trader, and you have an income of one hundred thousand leva per year; you get up, want to show how generous you are, say: “I give ten thousand leva”, but when you go to the safe, stop a while: “Is that not too much?” you will say: “Five thousand leva”, then you will say: “No, these people do not need even five thousand leva, let it be two thousand and five hundred, but they do not need even it – so, a hundred leva” – and so you go down from ten to one hundred leva. Then do you think, that you will be an occult pupil? – No, in the Brotherhood, they know that you are but nothing – you are a tree for work. It is not right, once you said to you “ten thousand leva”, to go down to ten pieces, do not go back on your word – said, done. Do not hurry, but once said, you should hold on to your word till the end – this is a distinct feature. And can every pupil act like this? It is not in the quantity, but this, which we promise, must always do – this is submission. Why this thought has come from somewhere, it has come from God – you have promised and after that you are hesitating if it is from God. Try it – as you try, as you know it whether it is from God, or not. Secret Prayer Source

MANIFESTATIONS OF CONSCIOUSNESS Year 1, Lecture 18 of the Youth Occult Class (Special Class) Given by the Master Beinsa Douno On June 28, 1922, Wednesday Sofia Secret prayer There was a presentation of the disciples' essays on the topic: “The most powerful virtue of the disciple”. Next time please write on the topic: “The most powerful feature of Light”. When you write on this topic, take into consideration the feature of Light which one notices first. Any other features which come to mind after the first one are weaker. When you go to a vineyard, notice that the first grapes, which are the ripest and the sweetest ones, show the strength of the vine itself. A vine that gives only sour and unripe fruit is weak. It has no inner ability to develop its fruit. Therefore, each thing that is revealed first, and in a complete and well developed form, is the strongest of its kind. If it comes last, in an incomplete form, it is the weakest one. You should observe the same law in respect to virtues. Each thing that appears first in someone’s soul has the greatest power. Each thing that appears last is the weakest one. Therefore, when you write on a topic, first pay attention to its real aspect, which sticks out first, and then to its abstract aspect which is the weakest one. Now, being still young people, you should be cautious not to fall into certain traps in your Life, which may hamper you. There are certain decoys in the world, similar to the ones that inventors create for people. When they want to attract the attention of the audience to their inventions, they say the following, ‘Do you know how useful our inventions are? If applied in life they will generate great reforms. They will contribute to culture and so on.’ The invention might not yet be available, but they already advertise it. I am asking, how can you recommend an invention that has not been created yet? Each invention can be evaluated only after its implementation. This is the reason why you should consider things well. For example, reflect on the most outstanding feature of water, of fire and so on. Which is the strongest feature of fire in your view? – Fire gives warmth. Which is the strongest feature of Love? Often people fall into contradictions which they cannot solve. You have such contradictions as well. If you are asked, for example, about the strongest feature of the tongue, you will come to a contradiction, and you will not know how to respond. Why? – Because the tongue has several functions. The first one is to facilitate the passage of food and water into the stomach, the second one is to taste – with the tongue you taste food, the third function of the tongue is to speak. Which function is given first to the tongue? - The first one. Actually, in order to maintain life, a human being uses the tongue first to send food into the stomach. Therefore, one should be satiated first in order to be able to speak. First you take food, then you taste it and finally you speak, i.e. you voice your opinion about it. These three physical functions of the tongue correspond to other functions in the higher worlds: the first function of the tongue in eating is in the physical world, the second function – tasting - is related to the Spiritual world and the third function – speech – is related to the Divine world. Love also has different manifestations. It is said that Love requires sacrifices. Which world does sacrifice and self-sacrifice relate to? Who is able to sacrifice himself? It is the wise person who can sacrifice himself, not the foolish one. Consequently, sacrifice relates to the Angelic world. When a fool sacrifices himself, he is like a butterfly that flies around a lamp in the evening and gets burnt up. Its sacrifice is unconscious. A reasonable sacrifice may belong only to a wise person. Consequently, only an intelligent and wise person is able to sacrifice himself. If such a person sees someone drowning in the sea, he will jump into the water, thus risking his life, but he will try to save the one in need. Only a clever person, who has been gifted with intuition, will go into the water to save someone. Do you know what the most powerful feature of Love in the physical world is? It is motion. Therefore, if there is great motion somewhere, there is also great Love there. Which is the most powerful feature of Love in the Astral world? – Feeling. Which is the most powerful feature of Love in the Mental world? – Thought, the process of thinking. Which is the most powerful feature of Love in the Causal world? – Causes. The love of someone who lives in the Causal world is solid and never changing. The proverb: “A word spoken is past recalling” is true for such a person. Sacrifice refers to the Causal world. Only such a person lives or at least sometimes penetrates the Causal world - the one who can sacrifice himself. And only such a person who has something to sacrifice is able to sacrifice. Only those who live in the Causal world have something to sacrifice. As long as someone lives in the physical world only, he has nothing at his disposal and can sacrifice nothing. The wealth of a human being lies in the Causal world. That is why there are things there that can be sacrificed. You should all have notebooks to write your essays in. Each topic has a distinctive feature. After you have written the essay, it will introduce a new idea into your mind. Each topic represents a note of a given scale. If you connect all essays into one piece, you will form a whole musical piece. You should note the following: if your limited consciousness prevails over everything in you, it will hamper your progress and your entire development. You could easily verify this. How? If you observe the development of a child, you will see that it grows and develops properly due to the fact that its mind is not busy with the thought of its growth, whether and how it grows, etc. But if you manage to occupy its mind with the thought that it should grow and develop fast, its growth will cease. Therefore, if you begin to live with the thought of your growth, you will be hampered like the little child. One thing is required of you: to have an aspiration towards growing, but then you shouldn't think about it any more. Why? Growth is a Divine process which doesn't depend on you. You cannot make yourself grow. If you want to grow, put aside your temporary limited consciousness and allow your soul to freely develop. Introduce into your sub-consciousness and into your higher consciousness your wish to grow and don't think about it any more. You will see that you will achieve a positive result after some time. Contemporary people are hampered in their development due to certain manifestations that take place too early in their life, before they have come to the relevant stage of development. For example, many have seen visions, dreams or lights before entering the School, so they say to themselves, ‘Let us join the School to attain more knowledge.’ However, until they continue to be guided by such limited consciousness, they will lose even the knowledge they had before. The right thing for them is to preserve the knowledge they acquired from the outside world, because it is not in contradiction with the knowledge they will acquire in the School. Inside or outside, it is the same School. First of all, you should aspire to Freedom – to be free in spirit, soul, mind and heart. If you fail in something, you shouldn't be discouraged. Failure is a good sign. You know how difficult it is to achieve things under the law of evolution. Do you know what trials an ox needs to go through in order to become a human being? If the ox decides to describe its story and calls its path “golden and royal”, it will not tell the truth. How many times it was skinned, how many fields it had to plough, how many times it was goaded! It has gone and will go through great trials and great suffering before it reaches the human status. If you want to move from your present position to a higher one, you will also endure great misfortunes and suffering. It is law. Do not deceive yourself with the idea that you could evolve easily. If someone tells you that you could reach the royal path without trials and suffering, they don't tell the truth. This doesn't mean that you should create suffering yourself, but once you have been put on a trial, you cannot escape it. Be bold and resolute and accept suffering in the way it is given to you. Many of you want to have visions and spiritual experiences. This is an appropriate wish but specific conditions are necessary for it to be fulfilled. If you plant a small flower in a pot, you have to put good soil and water it regularly so that it may grow well. Otherwise it will dry up in a while. The centres needed for contact with the Spiritual world have a similar role. Spiritual experiences require relevant conditions for their manifestation. For example, in order to be a clairvoyant, one needs to have a broad forehead, e.g. well developed imagination skills. If you want to develop clairvoyance, you should communicate with people who have already developed this ability. Thus the energy that emanates from someone's well developed brain centres influence the corresponding underdeveloped centres in someone else. A disciple with an aspiration for music should seek people who have advanced musical abilities. Whoever likes drawing should make friends with artists. Writers should communicate with writers, priests - with priests, disciples - with disciples. As occult disciples, you should seek the company of learned people who know more than you. Before you wish for visions, you should develop inner courage, but not insolence. Some people behave impertinently, they intrude and think that they are courageous. Courage is a quality of a wise person. I will give you now a small exercise for a week: read in the morning and in the evening the third chapter of the Gospel according to St. John, from the first to the thirteenth verse, and reflect on the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus. During the reflection, try to remember this talk not only as it was written, but with all those details which are missing but could be read between the lines. Reflecting on these verses will bring new images, new thoughts and ideas into your mind. Nicodemus was with Christ for many hours and they had a long conversation. If you could rebuild even a hundredth part of this discussion, you would attain a lot. If your consciousness is awakened, you will easily link with the past and recollect the conversation between Christ and Nicodemus. If you don't succeed in recollecting this conversation, you will still gain something. If you fail, don't be discouraged. Those who have lived during the time of Christ can easily return to the past and recollect the whole conversation. If you haven't lived in that age, you consciousness will be closed and you won't be able to remember anything. If you reflect on these verses for ten minutes every morning and every evening, you will feel peace and inner calm in your soul. Disciples complain of difficulties and hardships. You will always have difficulties until you create a magnetic atmosphere between you. Such an atmosphere, such an aura has not yet been established among you. You will feel it once it has been created. How? You will feel enthusiasm, enlightenment and an influx of new thoughts and ideas. You will go to bed well-disposed and content in the evening and get up fresh and full of new aspirations, thoughts and wishes for the Great and the High in the morning. And now you go to bed exhausted, you get up worn out with the words: ‘I have lost what I have.’ Why does this happen? - Because you invest all your capital in goods just like traders do, without putting any amount aside. You have goods, but you cannot sell them, you cannot meet your daily needs. This situation darkens your consciousness, so you suffer, doubt and say: ‘Why did I have to enter this enterprise? It would have been better if I had stood aside.’ If things go well, you will be content that you have entered the enterprise. Others prefer not to enter, although they don't gain anything in this way. They are content that at least they don't lose anything either. In my opinion, this is not good philosophy. While you are alive you have to either win or lose. Gains and losses go together in Life. Each gain is followed by a loss and each loss – by a gain. Losses and gains can come accidentally, but they can be conscious too. Next time please write on the topic: “The function of the human thumb”. Find books on this topic and read what has been written about the thumb. You should study your thumb – if it sticks up or down; if it is short or long; if it is well-shaped or not. When you research this question, write no more than twenty lines. Learn to write briefly, clearly, and conceptually. What you write should represent a small sketch. Each idea represents a seed. Collect such seeds in your bags and when the time comes, sow them. Many of you study and work but still think that they haven't achieved anything. As long as they think this way, they have conditions for achievements - this shows that they want to study. When someone comes to school with the idea that he knows nothing, he has possibilities to study and advance. He says: “I am aware now that I know nothing yet. I am glad that I joined the School.” This is the awakening of consciousness. Then the disciple will want to fill his gaps of missing knowledge. Therefore, when someone is aware that he has lost something, he begins to strive for gain. The next homework that I will give you will be on the topic: “Tall and short people and their distinctive features”. You may know nothing about it, but when you think on the topic during the week as well as on the topic of the thumb, some ideas will emerge in your mind and you will write something. Tall people introduce one idea into the human mind, short people – another idea. Turks say that short people are a mischief for God. Short people are troublesome. There is also a saying that tall people are like wasps. But these sayings concern only the extreme types – the very tall and the very short people. If a tall man has narrow shoulders, then his height should correspond to all other parts of his body. The same is true for a short man who has broad shoulders. I will make an analogy to explain why some people are tall and others are short. I often observe the flowers in the garden and I have noticed that some of them, the hollyhock for example, grow higher when planted to the north than those planted to the south. That hollyhock, which is planted to the north, grows higher because it strives to see the Sun. In the same way we could explain why some people are tall and others – short. Tall people live in the north, where there is not so much sunlight. They strive to grow higher, so that they may see the Sun. This is the reason why pine trees grow in height. Thus, tall people develop in unfavourable conditions with a lack of sunlight but an abundance of moisture. Short people have grown in width - with a lot of sunlight but without moisture. This is a material, external, but not a conceptual difference between tall and short people. However there are also other physiological reasons that influence the growth of a human being. As disciples of the Great School do not think that this School comes into contradiction with common universal life. On the contrary, it solves all contradictions in life. Contradictions will vanish, but you should also work, not just wait for their solution without making any effort. Your progress depends on your karma. Whoever has more serious karma will encounter greater difficulties and obstacles and will evolve at a slower rate. Some day you are happy and self-content that you have gained something, but then a creditor of yours comes and robs you of it. Then once again you have to acquire materials and tools in order to work and achieve the same result. Those who have better karma will advance faster. In order to develop well, everyone should know his weakest point, so that he or she can work on it and transform it, because it is like a door through which one’s enemies enter. For example, someone likes boasting. He is given something or told something with the request to keep it secret, but he can't stand being silent and says to a friend: “I am going to tell you something, but don't tell anyone”. His friend tells it to another friend, the latter – to someone else and thus it spreads everywhere. If you are asked to remain silent, you should do so until you are allowed to speak. Someone has many desires, as a result he becomes absent-minded. He wants to be a philosopher, a scientist, a poet, a musician, an artist, a statesman, but he doesn't succeed in any of these fields. If you have many desires, put them aside and start implementing one of them only. When you implement it, then start with the second one, the third one and so on. If you intend to implement all your wishes at once, your thoughts will get scattered, you will exhaust your feelings, waste your time and won't achieve anything. You need to know the following: no matter how much you think about these issues, you will not have the same results as some of you lack well developed imagination skills, others – well developed reasoning, some lack faith, others – hope, observation abilities, reverence, self respect, friendliness and so on. As disciples of this School, it would be good to measure your foreheads in width and height as well as your noses and chins. After you have worked for a year upon your mental abilities or upon your chin as an expression of your will, measure them again and see if there is at least a microscopic change. Even the slightest increase indicates that you have succeeded in your work. Otherwise you will conclude that you have not worked well all year long. It is good for everyone to draw his forehead, nose and chin in exact sizes and to measure them again in a year, so that he can see how much he has achieved. If you worry about it, however, you won't achieve anything. You need to be able to concentrate your thought if you want to attain something and achieve certain results. For this purpose, you need to study the law of concentration in order to transform the occult forces and develop your mental and spiritual centres. That is the only way to achieve any results. If you have failures, don't get discouraged. You are capable of achieving everything – making your foreheads higher, prolonging your noses, re-modelling your chins. There is nothing you can't achieve or improve about yourself. A disciple should work and develop patience. How will he or she develop patience? Here is a method: when you are in low spirits and see a disharmonious feature on your face, take a mirror and look at it for ten minutes until you define the location of this feature on your face. Do not look into your eyes for more than ten minutes because you could fall asleep. While looking at your image in the mirror, you may say to yourself: “You need to be corrected!” Hold your negative feature in your mind and in a while you will see that it has been transformed under your suggestion. This method is not easy, but many of you can use it and achieve good results. If your eyes become watery when you look into the mirror, it is a sign that your nervous system is weak. If your eyes stop getting teary or never did, this indicates that your nervous system begins to strengthen or doesn't need strengthening. To begin with, look into your eyes for a minute or two without winking and forget that you want to influence yourself. Thus you will see that everything comes in its own time, unexpectedly for you, but gradually, not at once. Secret prayer

The Influence of the Music Lection seventeen from the Teacher delivered at the common Occult class on the 22nd of June 1922, Thursday A secret prayer The works for music have been written. Now, if they ask you which world touches music or which world descends from music, what are you going to answer? – From the Mental world, i.e. only an intelligent man may sing. Therefore, music and human intelligence go together. Because the right thought, is music. Now I shall give you one little musical attempt. Of course those of you who don’t know how to sing have to make an effort. Firstly learn the scale, the seven tones and from them – learn the natural tone which the scale starts from. You may take the natural tone of the organ or the piano. Some pianos starts from higher or lower with a half tone. Learn the tones of the scale without rising or lowering, naturally, everybody here learns C, D, E…C, B – forward and backward. When you have a good frame of mind, sing the tones. Afterwards, after your frame of mind changes, sing them again and notice what the difference is. For example, if you are angry, sing C, D…C, B and backwards and see what resistances you will meet. Observe psychically, make a difference in the singing: sometimes you have an inharmonious temper – see in which tones what disharmony comes; sometimes you may have some inner fear – sing the scale again forwards and backwards, note the tones you don’t sing properly. You will make psychical observations. Make these attempts and psychically you will differentiate how far you are far from perfect. For example, some musicians, I have heard, take higher D, cannot sing it correctly. Why? – Because they are extraordinarily active. At some point they don’t sing B correctly, somewhere they don’t sing C correctly. To sing means that you must always make the tones correctly. After you change it in whatever relation, you are not a musician any more, you do not keep the rules. Therefore, a musician is only this, the one who in all conditions keeps the natural relations – I see the sensible natural relations that exist between the tones. For example now, when you quarrel, and the quarrel is music, somewhere the emphasis in some tone is higher. In speech there is rising and lowering, isn’t there? If we translate anger into a musical language then when somebody gets cross, he sings forte; when somebody wants to gloss himself, he sings very softly, sings pianissimo. But you will see that in all of you the tones are weakly included. In the past, you didn’t learn music and now you have to make a very big effort. And your failure in life is due to a lack of music. The criminality in people is due to the fact that there is no music. For example, people – killers do not have any music. Therefore, the music is one stimulus – after you start to sing, the blood starts to flow into the front part of the head, the brain attracts the blood to the front part, and so it develops correctly. And the first thing in the Black lodge is that it always says, “You are old, you do not need singing, God may do and without your singing, you are indisposed today, do not sing!” And you start to become coarse, to become coarse till you lose this feeling, and the blood goes down in the lower centre of the brain and everything in you begins to pine. Afterwards in some people there is a shame – they love music but don’t sing since the others will laugh at them. There is no shame in this because there are no singers. I have heard only one singer sing nicely, to control her voice so much – one Turkish woman, I listened to her twenty years before. I have heard two or three singers who sing nicely – where the soul takes part, not only to quaver the voice, but also to make an effort. Music is one natural art. When you sit, you start to think how you will sing. No, you have to sing without thinking; if you start to think how you will sing, you will not sing. When a man starts to think how to pay his debts, he does not have money in his box, and when the case is full, he doesn’t think, but pays; and whoever comes along says, “How much do I have to pay you, here you are.” Why? – His box is full. All of us are people that think a lot – we think about religion a lot, about the virtues we think a lot. Why do we think? – Because the boxes are empty. Now the disciples of the Occult School do not know music. After the box is empty, you will think but you will know that without music you can’t be disciples of the School that you have to know. One condition: without music, you can’t be disciples of the School, so good disciples. And the first exam we will give is on music and there you may degenerate. The first exam in the School is music – they will give you one part to sing, one very easy song will be given to you to sing. So, you understand already, music and thought go hand in hand. And after that we can use the music as an educational resource. Watch different people and see what kind of songs they like. When somebody is indisposed, sing him the song which he likes and he will have a good frame of mind. Every man has a favourite song. The religious people in the Orthodox Church and in the Evangelical Church also have a favourite song. Now first, the observation, which you have to make, is in controlling the scale. Do this exercise for two weeks one by one – every day, morning and the evening before you lie down. In the morning sing the scale three times – make observations, not just singing. You want to study occult sciences, have great ideas to grasp the powers of Nature but if you can’t grasp the difference, the soft vibrations between two music tones, how will you grasp those great powers with higher tones? And now I don’t want to encourage you but when you study the occult music and you start singing, all the grit will start to group in one place and create stones – there are occult songs with which only when you sing to a stone, for ten minutes from above it will start to split; there is an occult music which if you sing you can stop the stream of a river; there is occult music that if you sing near by some dried up spring, the water will flow. And if sometime you dry up and begin to look like dried up springs, it is because you don’t sing. You say, “God does not love me” – your spring dries up. Start to sing and your spring will start running immediately. You will say, “Now I am sad, when I get into a good frame of mind then I will sing.” There is no reason to sing then, you will sing now! Afterwards, if a boil breaks out in some of you, I shall give you one musical attempt to cure it: if somebody has a boil sing the scale three times in the morning, in the evening – again three times and if you sing correctly, this boil will pass. And why can't some illnesses be under treatment? You lose the music. A man who is afraid and who can’t sing dies. You have an inflammation, forty degrees temperature, sing some (some, any, 1) song and the temperature will fall immediately by (few, 3-4 degrees lower) several degrees. But the doctors will say, “He is ill, to keep silent, no singing, only to feel his breath.” You have a bad frame of mind, an unpleasant state – sing! Sing to this state one song, sing a second one, third, till you sing the proper song. The practical educational influence of music – it does interest us. We don’t have an interest in things that stand in our way, but what can produce the music in us, it interests us. Now, in connection with the music, I shall define two ways of Life. The ascending, the correct way of Life is a way that contains in itself all the ascending powers: there is form, content, and sense in it - it is called the correct way. The descending way is a way that contains all the descending forms, content, and sense of the descending life; it is called the Left way. So, with Way you will understand all the possibilities which Life demands in a given moment – it is called Way. Now, music is one of the resources of the Correct way, of the ascending way, one of the great resources of the ascending correct way in Life. Therefore, every single life has to start with music. Now when you sing you will not do it as pupils C, D, E, F, G…- it is not singing. You will stop yourself and when you say C, will forget that you are in the World – when you say C you will think that you start Life, and start to live. And when you say D you will think that this Life in which you live will start to form it, will start to collect materials for it. When you come to E you will understand that you distribute this material. F helps to understand for what the received inside combination could be used in Life. G, it is a construction – starting of the construction, A is plaster, and B is finishing of windows and doors. Then you will finish – you will do not only mechanical windows but will know that one window is one opening, a place that the Light may come from. The door is a place from which a man may come – a way for movement of the soul. When we talk about windows and doors we see that the window is a place where the Light may penetrate, and the door is a place through which the soul may come in. These are only a few occult signs in music; I shall speak about this another time. Now sing C. You take Ci-i, is there music in this Ci-i-i? The soul still doesn’t take part in this singing. In these vibrations, not only do you have to take part, but you also have to control your respiratory system, because here you have one more of the important centres – the larynx. Through the brain you will develop the larynx. The correct speech in the world depends on music – if music is correctly developed, then speech will develop correctly. Therefore, you will concentrate all your energy in the lungs – between the sympathetic nervous system and the larynx; between these two centres, the wheel of the brain begins to turn. Of course, there is that shame in you – if I invite somebody to get up and sing now, all of you will start to laugh. For example, you will not watch how he sings but will giggle, and laugh because he doesn’t sing the tones correctly. And with that you kill his desire to sing. Well, let’s all now take the first tone C. (Everybody sing: C, C, C). Let’s now come to D. C, D, D – louder! (Everybody sing). You don’t do it correctly, this D is not clear, something let you be far from perfect, this shows that the energies are not distributed correctly. But C is clear, it is good. (Everybody sang the whole scale.) Sometimes I shall occupy you – we will take some occult exercise on music. Then we will make one difference: we will sing one usual song normally, and afterwards we will sing the same song with the rules of the occult music to see what effect it can produce. Now the rest of the things you will read the next time. Do you have another theme? (- No) “The use of the mountain tops” – what use does climbing up bring? Afterwards what other use do they have? – They retain the snow attract the dampness and the wind. Now, you notice all these objects, do not think that they are given arbitrarily. All the themes you will write in one special notebook and will think them over. For the music in fact you will think from now further. As many themes as you have written, you will stop over them and will look at them again because in the future we will start to combine – for example, I shall want to combine the relations which exist between music and the mountain tops. Of course, these are complex exercises, we will pass onto them later. After one year, we will come to the complex exercises. You will be careful to put one strong base now, because if you don’t put this strong base you can’t build upon it. Because in the Occult school we have aimed first to develop the centres of Faith, Hope, Love, to develop the musical feelings, to develop the imagination, to develop the mathematical abilities, the judicious abilities, the creative mind, to develop amicability, to regulate human ambition, human pride, afterwards to put to work the executive possibilities of the man in work, to develop speech, to put it in a correct way, afterwards to create the correct forms for Life. These are tasks which have to be worked upon. And after these centres are developed, then we will connect them. Every single centre is connected with some trend and then it can manipulate. So it is imminent to do exercises, exercises. Let’s say that you have one hard task: you are a pupil or a student and you failed the exam, and you haven’t the resources to learn in the next year – your benefactor doesn’t support you any more. Three thoughts may pass through your mind: to kill yourself, to interrupt your life. What should this student do? – He will sing, he will start to sing the scale from below upward and from above downward, he will say, “Life is one ascending scale.” Start from lower C and go to the other, to upper C. – “They have failed me.” – you will go down in the scale, i.e. the failing will think as a coming back on the way back. When they fail somebody, they will say, “Sing the scale backward C, B, A...” Who doesn’t understand music will say, “I have failed.” But whoever understands the music will say, “I sing the scale on the way back.” – And then he will rise again to upper C. And when he acquires the tones, he safely passes the exam. But when they fail him too, he will sing the scale correctly backward – it is the same thing. For example, now you cannot convince yourself that if they fail you on the exam it is better than to pass. Many times miserable pupils don’t learn throughout the year, but it happens that he is examined on the easiest object, he has five and passes, but it is so much better to fail him, and let him repeat learning the material thoroughly – then for the next class he will be ready. Now in the Occult school you can’t pass just like that. The material is connected in a way that you can’t pass by skipping material. The disciple has to learn everything and to do it nicely. No matter what kind of tricks you will use, there is no way you can pass, it is one necessity. So, all the things you have to learn well. And the sufferings in life are nothing but failing - constantly failing us. Sometimes you think that you are virtuous but suffering fails you on the Virtue. You say, “I was good until yesterday.” But you still haven’t learn the art of being good – it is an art to know how to be good. In occultism, we understand “good man” as one who knows how to use some Divine powers correctly in the forms that are predetermined to them. This means a good man: to every Divine power to give the respective form, which is definite for it. Because if in different states, in different tempers, and in different ages, you know what the form is that corresponds to this power and you may give in to it with no mistake, then you will be a good man. It’s like that. Therefore, you will learn with which power, in which case which form corresponds. Because in the Occult meaning, only in this way will you obtain Light. Now you discourage yourselves, every day you become good and bad and hard work is imminent to you – mainly to those of you who want to learn. Afterwards, you will keep another rule: the great occult science always put itself in a way that a man has to start to work with the weaker powers in the world, they are the most productive. You will start with the most weak power that you have. And even in the practical relation you see the same: when a man starts with big steps immediately after he leaves his home, he can’t finish any kind of job – as he goes further he reduces, reduces, and in the middle of the way he tires and stops; but if some man goes out and if he suspects and if he starts very slowly, very slowly and gradually increases, this man will finish the work. And now in religious relation the science consists of the same: the one who goes out in the street and says, “I shall do this and that,” he will do nothing. No stop yourself and say, “This that the teacher gave me, I shall learn it; for the other way I don’t know, but today this little step, I’ll do it.” He doesn’t think about the future. Somebody, when he comes into the school, does think about how he will end the second, the third class etc., what diploma he will take, how they will meet him with flowers, adornments – all this fills his mind, but this pupil is going to do nothing. Now some of you, as occult disciples think in this way, “Now when we finish here, we will do this and we will do that.” No, whatever you are going to do, don’t think about it as only coming to an end, don’t waste your powers. When you have free time, you may dream on different objects but in the School – no other objects for sure. Out of the Schools there is dreaming. The Occult brothers, when they want to dream, from the Invisible world, they go down to hell to see all the dreams – because hell is full of great dreams. If somebody wants to see the greatest dreams, the greatest plans, he has to go down to hell – what dreams, plans, and projects there are there! The most learned philosophers write to the priests, to prophets, to teachers, to mothers, to fathers – all the plans are collected there. And when some man wants to become very great, God sends him down to see the great plans. And because of that in the Occult school firstly they learn the little works and after that step up to learn the great works. There you will start with the little powers that you have in you, with the smallest impulses – do not start with the strongest impulse of the soul. Some preach to begin with the strongest energy but in the occultism we start with the smallest, with the weakest inner convictions. If you can give life to the smallest inner conviction, you will have power to do great works. With money if you may do something, it’s good – but if your father leaves you a hundred thousand leva; but if your father leaves one penny and if with this penny you do something, you are a man, but if you do something with one stotinka… Mind is required, it’s required heart, and required will! Because of that with the weaker powers you have, you will start with them. And the world starts with the weaker things. A secret prayer Source

Precious Stones Year 1, Lecture 17 of the Youth Occult Class (Special Class) Given by the Master Beinsa Douno On June 21, 1922, Wednesday Sofia The disciples' essays on the subject 'Precious Stones' were read. When writing on this subject, you have focused on the external characteristics of precious stones. Discussing only the external characteristics of a subject is equivalent to taking some food without feeling drawn to it or without feeling any hunger. Therefore the main impulse, the main stimulus connected to eating is the pleasant feeling one experiences while chewing and when the food is taken in by the stomach. If no pleasant feelings or attraction to certain food are evoked, one has no desire of eating it. If one eats without affinity to the food, there can be no positive results from eating. When we talk about precious stones we mean the human mind, because only an intelligent person can speak about them. Only highly intelligent, noble and virtuous people can speak about precious stones and distinguish one from the other. I would like you to focus on the 12 main precious stones and do a tiny experiment with them. The experiment is as follows. When you have an issue of physical, emotional or mental nature, start to imagine the 12 precious stones in your mind. Start with the most common one and gradually move to the best and most expensive one while at the same time observing which stone will make your unpleasant feeling disappear. As you move these stones through your mind, make a connection between the stone and the virtue that it is associated with. In this way every stone can exert a positive influence on humans and improve their mental state. Virtue is not expressed by a colour. If a maid is rosy and has red cheeks, it is not yet an indication that she feels love. If the maid puts lipstick on or a pink dress, this still doesn't indicate love. If someone likes blue, this doesn't mean that he or she bears the Truth. If you think that someone's fondness of a certain colour indicates that he or she bears the virtue associated with this colour, you will make a big mistake. A colour is only a passive expression of a virtue, but it must pass through the centres or focuses of the mind prior to becoming an active virtue. A transformation of the virtue is required. Each colour gains certain value and worth only after passing through the mind and being focused on a certain centre. In order to understand the content and meaning of precious stones, you must study them. Nothing is achieved easily. Work, effort, and serious labour are required of everyone. Imagine that some day you fall into apathy and laziness, that you don't want to study, that you are ready to give up your beliefs and decide to hit the road; or some other day, you ask yourself if you are on the right path or not; or another day, you experience a number of negative emotions such as envy, hatred, inner fear etc., and you start looking for the cause of this state but fail to find it. Instead of searching for the cause of these conditions, bring the precious stones to mind and then see the kind of result you will get. Sometimes your experiment will be successful, sometimes it will fail, but this shouldn't discourage you. Carry on with this experiment and eventually you will obtain results. Once you have obtained a result I can talk to you about the laws that act through the precious stones. In the past, precious stones were simple, ordinary stones. At some point they underwent a transformation and acquired their present state. For example, a diamond was once ordinary coal but by a series of processes across ages it got transformed into its higher state; it changed from a lower to a higher form. It was black when it was coal, and became colourless as a diamond with the ability to refract the sun beams. The occult science which you are studying now uses precious stones as a method of transforming the troubles you may get into. Precious stones can help you as a mainstay in the life you live in the material world. The experiments I described to you shouldn't take all of your time but only that part of it which you don't know how to use. A small experiment is like planting a small seed in the earth. My assignments are small but aim at investing your leisure time in a useful purpose. Being small, they will be fun and will incite a series of positive thoughts and feelings with regards to the material world which you live in and which you need to know well. Source

Thoughts and Deeds Sixteenth Talk of the Teacher given before the General occult class on 15th June 1922, Sofia Next time you’ll write about the influence of music in Life. Because the class is general you are not equally prepared to grasp the subject in the same manner, you have a different understanding. Those, who are not so familiar as the other students, consider themselves equal to that who know and thus is born a little disharmony. Those, who have not grown, have to learn. This is not the place for amusement, no, you will think. Here you have to devote yourself to learning, here a serious thought is required. When we say a serious thought, there should be no fear, do not fear. At least fifty minutes a day the student must stop for a while and think. You have to think about different matters: sometimes you are in pain – think about why you are suffering, you have a troubled life – think why you have encountered such trouble, which are the reasons and how can you objectively find a solution to them and not to say: “ I’m unhappy, such is the society. God has made me in such a way!” This is not a philosophy, this is a solution to the problem. This is a bird’s philosophy, they solve their matters in that way – when the bird is chased by a falcon, it stops by a tree and says: “Here is the salvation.” Or when a big mouse sees a man, hides itself in the hole. I’ll give you an example: in the working field of a Turkish man many mice bred and they said to him: “Hello, Hassan, your field is ravaged by rats!” – “Is that so?” – he went there, put cartridges in the gun, aimed at them as to settle the thing but the moment he raised his gun, all the mice rose at their back feet before him – some thousand rats. – “Well, this means you count me as your master.”- The Turkish man said. “I’ll spare you.” (The Turkish word “harizvam”- “to spare someone’s life”), he lowered his gun and they went backwards. Hassan knew the reason for this, that they consider him their master, however these mice want to know what the man’s intentions are. But Hassan thinks: “I admit my mistake so accept my apology.” Now, when you join the Occult school, you expect to act more humanely, to prepare yourself for an occult student. Yes, you do, but reasoning is needed, the occult students need quick wit. You don’t have to misinterpret some facts, each fact should have its own weight to our life, neither bigger nor smaller – Nature has given it its value. If you don’t learn to reason in that way, are you aware that sometimes you give yourself more weight than you deserve, and sometimes you give yourself less weight than you are worthy of – both are excesses. So my point is that a certain disharmony is bred, which harms the ears of wheat, hampers the thought of the Teacher. Because the students can also trip up their Teacher, at least they can turn him away from the mainstream. And when the stream is driven away, their gardens will be left unwatered, nothing more, nothing less. Now I want to introduce you the most basic things in Nature and show you their inner sense, the foundation. On this elementary basis the further knowledge you will receive will be laid. This is because there many occultists that have lifted themselves high up, there are adepts, who have climbed to the Third vaunt of heaven and they have fallen down head over heels. Those who have passed in the occult, they will be let in but they will be returned back from above, they will be given a good lesson – on the sacred road of Holy school one can not pass without knowledge. One should know- he needs knowledge so he can work. When I say should know, this means that you can always check your knowledge, to prove it, as one student understands his or her knowledge – they give him a task and he starts solving it, he knows the rules, he can work. Now, don’t mix the occult truths with religious. Religion is also one method for educating people but it is an inner method. Church is one seedbed, and the Occult school, this is a school for more developed souls. Some of them have elevated minds, their consciousness has woken so that they can understand the basic laws, which work in their organism, which operate in the society and manage the human evolution. Now, you have to bear something else in mind: you can’t set up yourself a home, to be happy unless you grasp the occult laws, you can’t love your friends until you have understood these laws. And that’s why people will marry and divorce, will become friends and stop being friends, will reconcile themselves and again quarrel, and nations will make wars until they understand those occult laws, which Nature has laid in the foundation of contemporary society. But people have to subject themselves to this society – if they don’t follow these laws, Nature allows all the extremes, which now exist: illnesses are born, which wash way health and knowledge, which people have. Often some small illnesses weaken memory, darken mind, sometimes earthquakes, a hurricane, storm. The reason for the earthquake is us, people – people’s thoughts can be the cause of an earthquakes. Yes, they can and Bulgarian people are not far from this conclusion: when in some Bulgarian village there are crimes committed draught and hail will destroy the crop. (The Bulgarian word for wasted crop is “gradobitina”, a word, received by blending of “grad”, which is the Bulgarian word for hail, and “bitina” a noun, which comes from the verb “biya”-, meaning “beat”, “heat”). Gradually, step by step, after these transgressions have stopped, rain comes again, and the “gradobitina” ceases. Now in Nature we are all connected and we are so sensitive to this connection that we can make a great good or a great evil. That’s why God has limited us, God has not given us great power. Sometimes you wish to have power – in the preset conditions, had god given you power, you would have hanged all human beings in the world and when enraged you would have chopped off the head of someone without really meaning it and then regret it. Now, occult science requires moral stability, not common morality. Absolute good will is required from the student: he or she should never misuse what he has been given. Because when you misuse it, those, who execute control, there are Beings that control, God will not hesitate to send them to execute their control and they will punish you – because there are laws in Cosmos, which are applied everywhere, everything is being monitored. They will punish you and then God will pardon you. Mistakes are forgiven but mistakes are not excused, mistakes in the class must be corrected. Now we won’t elaborate on what and why. Our wish is that the mistakes, which we witness in the class are to be corrected and the reasons why and what for, do not apply to us. We are interested that mistakes be corrected and if they are, then we can guess why. Some expect to obtain more knowledge. At the stage you are now, it is useless to give you lectures, had the best lectures been given to you, you can’t learn because here inner quickness of mind is sought of those subtle psychic forces that are at work. For instance, contemporary occults speak of will, that one should have will. A person can have will, for instance he and she can clench his or her fist, knit his or her brows – this is manifestation of one’s will too. However the one, whose will is strengthened, can seem quiet and calm but he can send a thought so powerful in its intensity and yet so quiet that it can produce a small illness but when this thought reaches its uttermost bounds, it will make such an upheaval, which the world has not yet seen. That now evil people sometimes send stronger and more powerful in their intensity thoughts and good people say: ”God will arrange all this.” We have to say: “The world goes according to God’s order and we should not disrupt it, my life has been arranged by God a long time ago and it will stay so lest I violate its order; God arranged my life long time ago.” Brain is subordinated to mind, stomach - to digestion, the lungs – exhaling system, heart is subordinated to circulation. It is well enough if I don't disturb my heart, brain, stomach, foot; all these little cells where Life functions. They know their work quite well. But one day, you drink too much, disturb your cells – and God gives you a lesson. -”Our life has been planned” - this thought must gradually be shaped in our mind. And first thing is: we don't have to misshape Life. When I say: ”World has been designed”, what is the meaning of all this? Let's imagine that you have a son, five years old, you have opened him an account of one hundred thousand leva, this child has been provided for, isn't that so? But this money is not at his or her disposal, his father has written that it has to be given to him or her when they come of age at 21 years, till then this child has to be taught how to manage this capital. When I say you are provided for, I don't mean that you have the right to do whatever you want, to have the capital at your disposal, no, the capital has been invested and you have to learn that when this capital comes in your possession to make results, you should know how much of it to invest, otherwise you will waste the money and you won't realise the meaning of Life and why you have come here. Now, for instance, did you know what was your program as students today? Today you had one important program. When you woke up today how many of you uttered a prayer to his Father to tell him: ”Father, I thank you for the conscience you gave me, I thank you for the opportunity you created for me to go to school, for the friends, for society and the social circle, for all these endeavours!” How many of you said this? Some of you first have washed yourselves, have said quickly the Lord's Prayer then had a bite, and went to work. But the work is profound – if I am a poet this is a profound work, if I am a philosopher, it is a profound work. They say: “ He is an excellent philosopher”, well when we philosophize, what are we to prove? - “I will give evidence for causes of the world's creation.” And do you know how we prove it to the scientists so often? By making ourselves a laughing stock. There is such an example that it is taken from Bulgarian life, I don't know how much of it is true but take it as an anecdote - the son of a family from a poor, desolate village where the houses are in fact huts without tiles and the holes are filled with faeces (Bulgarian word is “izverzhenie” - obscure form of the regularly used word “izptazhnenie”), by the will of circumstances goes to Europe and graduated in nature science. He then comes back to his village, sees a big “izverzhenie”, stuck on the wall and started proving his father by the work of what natural law the “izverzhenie” has gone up there, relates him philosophy. His father tells him: “Son, I've just seen your mother putting it there, for the forces I know nothing of.” So, my question is, if it wasn't for your mother, by the work of what force would the faeces go to the ceiling? Often we want to prove that the things in the world take place without any reasonable force, in some mechanical way. This is not the case. Now you are in the occult and say: “Why is there evil existing and why is there good?” I will put aside this question for further discussion. Why faeces are to be found? - “Izverzhenie”, this is one evil, all illnesses in the world are given birth in the faeces on the account of faeces being rotting substances. What is this “izverzhenie?” -”Izverzhenie” is one indication for existence of Life. Because some of these beings haven't studied the laws of nutrition, their faeces contain more poisonous substances. Take for instance these beings, fist the dog, which is canine and is therefore of the character to bite, take then the ox, compare their faces and by their content you will know the character of the animals. Bear by its faces shows that it is not that bad, take the goat, she is also not that bad, the sheep too. Then in the same way the sins of people are not the same – there are sins which are like the faces of the dog, sins as the faeces of the ox, as these of the sheep and so on but by a grade. And someone is asking why is there sin, how should we abolish sin? - Cease to eat and each sin will be abolished, all evil will disappear from the world. But then you say: “Can we live without eating?” - Then I will answer you – if it can't be without eating, it can either can't be without sin – this is philosophy. You, since you want to eat, will feed your hen, and eat it. This hen is a kind of brother – you will take her eggs and argue why. Because you want to live. Well then, do we, from the occult point of view, think that meat food is the only healthiest food? For science will find proof in the future but occultism has another statement on that matter. These substances which the meat of these breastfeeding contain, of hens and turkey, these essences can be found in Nature in ten or hundred times pure form. And if we were more reasonable creatures, we would have extracted these substances not from the meat of the animals but from its original source and would have been healthy but now we have need to send animals to gather this energy for us. And do you know how they gather it? It is restricted, because we are restricted too. I take this restriction not as one moment but restriction for one long-lasting culture which has began first too slowly (in the text is used the Russian word “medlenno”, familiar to Bulgarians) went unnoticed but gradually it has increased. And our mind our is so twisted that even the intelligent European citizens would find difficult to prove that this food is not healthy. He will prove you with regard to physics and chemistry that this is the right way to eat – he or she will prove you what are the results and what is the death rate according to statistics. What do many births and deaths show in the population? - These are two anomalies. When many people are born, this is an anomaly and when many people die this is an anomaly too. Some support this: “A family must have many children.” I am not against this but how many children must one family have i.e. how many Nature demands? How many does there have to be? - This is a disputable question. Taking into account the present conditions if we reason the question has to be asked in another way – What was in fact the preliminary plan when Nature created man? And another thing: how many boys and how many girls should be there? Now I see that in some families predominate boys only but with feminine character and in another family only girls but with masculine character. Do you consider this to be the natural state of things? When man dresses himself by a feminine model and the woman by a masculine, human 's life has turned upside down. Not only this situation we will find but also all men want to be teachers, masters. To be master means to be a man. And now consider this -all women want to be men. What is more - they say even this: that in each family one man is born blind. There is no man or a woman who wants to be blind, to be born blind. Then some say: “It isn't worth being a student, you should be a teacher.” I would discuss on this matter not factually, I want us to consider it as a thought -should we be manly or not? This is not important. Whenever you think righteously you are a man, when you live rightfully you are woman. When you think right, considering all laws of reasoning, from the occult point of view you are a man, a sensible man, I name you a sensible being. And when you live right, having in mind this thought, live up and sense the delight that you have refined yourself, you are woman – not woman but a virgin, you are a virgin. In the first case you are youth, not a man, in the second your are a virgin. When you become woman it depends on how you act, reasonably or not. There is some intertwining of things. Sometimes you notice that some clever people don’t lead a good life. Therefore I say: there is some discord, a disharmony between their mind and their life. And we say that these people are not clever. Don't say you think that clever is the man that can engross his people in war? - He or she is not clever. Does a writer who has written one book that has fascinated one generation and after hundred years people learn that they are on the wrong way? Do you consider an occultist clever if he or she for the sake of this science leads him or her in the wrong way? - No, one thought has to be in the soul of a student, he has to know the Truth. Now they ask, why do we need Light? I won't give you a definition but I say: Light is there to show us the way of Life, the road we have to follow. Sometimes you ask why you don't find compassion, to give you incentive to walk onward. Each wish, this is an incentive, therefore, make use it. This incentive can take many directions, you can take different detours. Light, it has its application but the aim of Life, the inward side of Light is to show us the Way. And do you know what the Way is? Nowadays, we, the contemporary people, under the term “way” understand only the distance which we can walk from one point to another: this is not way but one straight line. The Way, The Way of God, these are all possible methods and ways according to which a person can live sensibly in this world. This is the Way – all sensible methods and ways, included in the laws of God of Sensible life that we can apply to our life. And to you, the advanced students, I will present you the following: some of you have an undeveloped brain, you have to learn. We say this: a person should think and then act – this is one point of departure, don't you think in that way too? And there is something else: a person should first act and then think. To make out these two statements, to deduce them to their premises and to determine their proportions you must have a reasoning mind. How can you act before you think, how can you begin one task before thinking it over? You should say: “The rightful way is to think and then to act but to act and then to think, is stupid.” No, it is not so - if you do a job conscientiously first you have to think then to act, when you do a job by the rules of God, first you have to act, then to think. When you act, God will think for you – He thinks, you act – this is the way of God. He has given you his plan, you don't have to think that much – you will do the work that He has given to you, you want reason, He will determine. And when we want God to do instead of us, we have to have given thought about our life in advance and then God will do as we have anticipated and the way you think, so will God act. So you can try but God is very careful in this respect. If you are sincere, He will respond to you with the same. For instance you want to steal – He will create all the conditions for stealing and killing – He will give you all conditions to kill but then he will establish prisons, gallows, he will make all this. You want to help - He will create all the conditions because God will say so: “You conceived that thought, that's why I did it in such a way – you want it your way.” And when we act all comes good, God realizes. His thoughts are omniscient, His plans are clearly defined – there are no two plans in Him, there is only one plan and in this plan the only the Absolute Good in the world is inside. Now you can explain the norm one way or another but you will know that strictly defined: what you think that will be, what you do that will be. So if you do according to God that will be. But if you hold up to exact at one phenomenon of God your thought, you will experience the opposite result: Where God has determined you don't have to correct His plan. For instance He creates one form of a woman and you say: “Why should I be a woman?” When you say: “Why should I be a woman?” do you know what will become of you? - You will get the worst of man, the worst of children, you'll get the worst possible place for giving a birth and you will say “ I haven't enjoyed one sunny day in my life!” Why is that? Because you have said: “Why I have been born woman?” It doesn't depend on you whether you will be born man or a woman, this question is determined. It is not within your power to chose your parents, it is not, it is destined by the circumstances of your previous incarnations. You are not in state of chosing your father and mother but once you are born with a father and a mother, you are your own master, you can face your life alone. When you are released, when you become 21, when you become of age, you are in the state to change your life as you want. But will is needed, will to do it – it won't come to you without you giving a thought. Let's say that your father was a drunkard and you got disgusted by his drinking and you say at once without pondering: “I won't drink!” and that’s it! I met a Bulgarian young man fifteen years ago, at 21; his father was a drunkard and he since he had seen all the things his father had been doing at home, said:” I'll never take a sip of wine in my life!” He decides this and so he does not. He said: “ There is that much disgust in my soul - I hate wine that my father loves!” So this son avoids the vice of his father and after some time he will teach his father a good lesson. There is will in him. Now, you, the students from the occult school say: “God will fix the job, God is good.” We know that God is good, I am convinced one hundred and one percent that God is good, that God will set things in the right path and He has done that already but we have to learn, to learn. And in what is the foundation of this teaching? First, you can move your eyes at the normal level, right, can you move your nose in that way, do you know how to direct your chin, from an occult point of view, likewise? In occultism this is strictly defined, there is way how to hold your head, where to put your hands. Some speakers would put their hands first before them, then behind them, in their pockets, everywhere about. Where should we put our hands? You will say: ”This is irrelevant!” They are, my friends! Take electricity as an example – between these two poles, when electricity runs through them, there is contact and you will receive such a shock that you will shiver. But what if instead of poles, for some time you hold your hands together, what then? - It is not safe for you to hold your hands together always: there are times when you have to hold your hands free. And when you pray, you have to pray with hands folded, this is a not a good prayer, God will not accept this prayer. What the reason is for this, I will not elaborate on. People generally hold their hands turned upwards because in all other positions it will form a bad contact. And if you raise you hands up to the Invisible world, then you let some other contact in your left hand a reverse action will take place in the right hand: another contact should happen – two contradicting actions will occur in the Invisible world and you will experience a change. Now take for instance, when we love somebody and when we don't want to listen to somebody: when the father is angry with his son, he says to him: “Ivan!” and when he is pleased with him: ”Ivancho”; or the son says: “Father!”, not “Dad”; can a daughter or the son have another name: ”Petko” (Bulgarian for Peter), “Peter” and so on. Why does the child bow down? - This child bows down, blood flows to the rear part of his head, doubles the pressure in the brain and breeds negative energies - and because the noble energies come from the sympathetic nervous system, [sympathetic nervous system – sympathetic part of the vegetative (autonomous) nervous system in which the stomach (sun) string also called stomach brain is anatomically the biggest nervous string (editor's notes)] this person impedes these energies and says: “You are the father but I don't want to know about you.” And what will you do then? - You have to know the law. This water which flows has to be less, you have to put the flap so that lesser blood circulated in the brain of your boy Ivancho. Now, there are many called Ivancho among us, don't think I mean a concrete figure, no, I do not: Ivancho, Ivane, these I voice only to give you and explanation, don't think I have a real person in mind. Precisely this part of the blood has to be sent in another directions, to circulate it up and then down the forehead, in the upper part of the head, in different centres i.e. in places that are short of it. You have to know how to impose on ourselves. And in this relation you have to be prepared. We will come up to the science – to one science which we have to apply to its limits. So we will make small tests. In the present society, as it is here, in Bulgaria, a reaction originates: the newsreporters want to counteract, commence a reaction from one hand, the priesthood from the other hand makes hindrances with which they want to stop one movement and at least to discredit. We know all that is being done – I know why these people want this to happen- they want this because they want to deprive us of the energy won: they want this society to be devastated so that they can easily consume all and become heirs of this energy. But this will not take place: I have already said – not only will they rob us of five coins, but we will make them pay a huge fine, we will give them nothing. While I am in Bulgaria, there will be fertility, when I am gone, there will be desert here as in Palestine! And you, the students, when you leave so it will become. Such is in one law of God written: when a nation disregard all great laws of God which have been set for them, such a nation can not prosper. And you, as students from the Occult school will say: “ What should we do?” - You will be positive inside yourself. And we, when we come to stand for the God's Name, there is only one opinion for us – the Grand God's Law. And no nation will venture to transgress it. And there, when to the Slavs were sent those great ghosts, I don't speak of me (I don't include myself also), I have in mind this great law because God shows his will the Panslavism as to embody it in one work, in one mission for mankind) – this is a fact -those goods are given to him but there have to be reasonable people to make use of these conditions. They don't, Slavic peoples will be followed by others, third and fourth. Each nation as one individual does has to reasonably fulfil its mission. Now, they want to say in Bulgaria that this thing here is a sect, they want to convince you either. Why? You will become are apostates to the Bulgarian people. If you are not students in the School, you are apostates, not only to the Bulgarian people but apostates to mankind because you impede God's majestic energy which prepares the new way of the mankind. We do not speak in the dark, come and try, we say: ”Believe” but come and try, we don't want such misleadings. Well, you will be brave and resolute – we will spin the wheel and when we turn it round, all the newsreporters in Bulgaria will hit the ceiling and then we'll see what they will write in the future. I will make all these newsrepoters neurotic, sleepless, the worst illnesses will befall them, they could not eat sweets, do they know that one can not play tricks with God. They have to use their pen in favour of the Truth. I have nothing against a newspaper publishing the truth but when a news reporter writes lies, they will not be forgiven. A priest, a teacher, a mother or a father telling lies won't be forgiven. Now when you embark on, you don't have to build your life on the old foundations. We have to reform our lives. Now many people say: “What is our benefit for so many years?” Well, a person that has done work in the world, hasn't he won something? The one that has risen up each morning and worked on his field hasn't he won something? As for the one that has sent others to dig for him, it is not certain for him that he is going to win anything. Now, for so many years I have tried to give you a method to work as I do. I start from scratch too, I have also been present at excursions and other events. Though you are prone when you come to say: ”I can do without going there?” – You can't. “Can't we do it in another way?”- There is no other way. “Isn't there an easier way?”- This is the easier way: when you come out for a walk, this will do you good. Even when a person makes friends with the simplest people, this is one good – if you know how to act, you will learn many great things. Few days ago, at Vitosha came two oxen, they laid down and the one started to lick the other, to clean him, and the other exposed his flank to him so that the other can clean him well. I said to those that were there: “So excellent example is that!” One of oxen smoothed the skin of the other, the other moves afore so that he can be well cleaned. I say to those that were there: ”What an excellent example!” The ox cleaned him well, the front, the back, the sides, the other stands still, peacefully. What an excellent example is this, who from you is willing to clean his or her brother's face? You will say: “Go and wash yourself up there at the wash-basin” though it will not occur to any of you to say: “Let me give you a hand and pour the water for you.” You will say “Oh, come on, now!” This is a great moral. Think of it at one: ”Let me pour the water for you”- this is alertness, one good feature. Well, you will need experience, through these little deeds nobility is being cultivated as a feature in the human character. And sometimes I enjoy going for a walk with you. Why? - Because this walk teaches me, do you follow me, I make use of the small things, not the big, I gather material. Because there are things in Life which I will gather in a special way – as one bee must fly around thousand blossoms as to gather a little honey thus must a teacher and a student learn many things. Best things are won hard. Then I demand a little patience from you -and the result is: you are in a hurry. And then I recently made such a test that all became worried lest i go. No, I am testing your faith, God's can 't be torn apart, can you grasp this? That which comes from God can die but it will be resurrected ten times stronger than before. This is God - in Good. He can make you die but he can then resurrect you. When God comes to ruin a job of ours – he doesn't do that but He gives new energy to us to do this job. Therefore, whatever the conditions the student finds himself, he or she must know that in the God's plan there are exceptions. When Jesus was crucified, all students ran away. “It's over.” - all of them said, and all Peters, and all the rest ran away. For three days they all were in shivers and thought: “We thought that he would become a king and now He has been crucified and it is all over.” Do you know in what situation were his disciples until Jesus was resurrected – everyone thought: “What is going to happen now?” (This is not written in the history). But the Godlike are at work, inside in the soul, this man Jesus was resurrected not only in his tomb but in their hearts also and they saw Him and were filled with strength. In the occult science you will again see this new state in one living Truth which will bring this invisible Life into you. So now I' m telling you: don't fall in despair. Jesus has said to his disciples: “I must leave, it will be better for you that I go now”, then he says: ”Sadness filled your souls but I will see you again, you will rejoice in yourselves. I go only for a time but this means nothing in the course of fulfilling God's law.” When we come to fulfil the law of God, there is only one opinion in us and neither beforehand, nor late we'll do sufficient work but only on time. Now I want from you, as students of this school, not to fear. Now some of the students here are in deep thought: ”What will happen to us when our Teacher goes away?” What will happen? And I will tell you:” if you have given it a thought and acted afterwards, all this will be smashed to pieces and if you have acted and then thought all will paste together again. If you consider this to be my job, then you waste your energy uselessly but if you think this is God's deed, you will exalt yourself. But you have to determine yourself. This is the question: Godlike or not like God. If it is Godlike, go with it as I am with it. This is God's matter and I stand up for it because it is Godlike and not only I, but everyone would say: “This is God's matter and you will sacrifice your life for it – there your salvation is.” With this God's deed will make you famous and without it you will become infamous. You would say: ”But how should we know?” Come on, brother and I'll tell you, no need for big philosophy here: I have a loaf of bread: I'm asking you: what you think of this bread -is it nutritious or not nutritious? “Don't know.” “Here you are.”- I take a piece of the bread and hand it over to you, I give you a quarter of it to last you for four hours. First I ask you how you're feeling- “My feet're shaking, I don't feel well.” Then I give you another quarter from it and again four hours to go – if this bread can't restore your condition for four hours and more, it is not worth it: if it can – it is a bread indeed. Would you believe it is good? Well then, after four hours it will restore your strength. You can say: ”That I doubt”- it's alright, you'll give it a second try. Again you doubt – again well try. Ten attempts are enough, there is no need for more than ten attempts in occultism. Ninety nine attempts I have made -you doubt that, then I'll give you any bread, go: you're be the breadwinner from now on. Therefore the occult truths you will test for yourselves and when you 've tested an occult truth, it is a temple, don't doubt it – we don't prove ten times one and the same thing whether it is Godlike or not. God's things are true. Everything that starts with a deed and ends with a thought is Godlike and everything that starts with a thought and ends with an action, it is of a man. Right? - (It is right.) Well, why is it right? Because when we start with an action, God will think instead of us and when we think, God act for us. Therefore in either case our business will go well. I can see in your minds: you say to yourselves: ”We want more, we want something more.” Not that I can't give you more but to people that suffer consumption doctors give eggs and two or three kilos milk a day and what comes of that? They fatten and illness temporarily halts but their mind is only busy with the thought of staying alive- when they sat down and would say: ”I eat that much eggs and drink so and so quantity of milk per day.” And so they, day after day, speak of eggs and milk, so what is the meaning of their life then – one thought about eggs and milk. If you, as an occultist sit down and give it a thought: ”Let our strength be given as to fix the matters in Bulgaria”, nothing would become of it. If a nation is given the greatest fortune in the world, you will destine them the greatest misfortune, had you made them strong, you would have created another disaster for them.” Not that I say the nation shouldn't be strong but the powers should come from its inward capacities, fortune should come someway (eventually: same way). And this means that everyone should work hard for it, should make his living through hard work – now this is the law. Now the work is not divided and due to this we suffer. I leave this for now, this is not our fault but because we make the foundations for our new life, we won’t build in the old fashion. I have the greatest intention to give a new direction, a new way to things. With all that I'm saying I ignite in you a new energy, I wake something new, the Godlike. If you are listening to me, this energy will do you good and if you don't listen to me, this energy would produce a reverse effect. When I say if you listen let me put it straight: let me give you a rare seed of a famous breed and I tell you which month, which year, which day and the conditions when the Moon is in that phase and I will tell you the way according to which the seed should be planted. Why should you listen? -Because this seed could grow only at these special conditions. You can say: ”Is there no other way?” When I say: dig one hole, two inches deep, you say: “Can't it be an inch deep?” - I tell: that much dung, that much sand, then water. “Can't it be done in another way?”- It can but in the Godlike law for planting seeds all famous laws are laid and all the Virtues which we have to find soul in our mind grow at certain conditions. You can nurture a thought and a year later it would disappear: someone else have planted another seed and this thought live in you through all your life. This way we will come t these great laws we can understand. I want the occult capacities to be woken in you, without this one can not learn. At first your occult abilities should be awakened, the hidden qualities which have not been put into action which are still. We will wake them gradually for if we wake them suddenly, you will suffer too much. And other abilities are gradually built because if you start building another evil will be born in you and it is not occult. Because many occultists which have grown up in a night, have become proud. We want all this to follow its natural way so that you can make use of the good things God has invested in you. Now, don't mix your religious beliefs with the occult truths. You can use one occult truth in whatever form you like – it can't be restricted and the occult truth can't be binded. Occult truth may be applied only if we have Knowledge, if you don't have such, this truth will cause you the greatest suffering. I want you first, as students in the school to get to know each other. Let's say you are not affiliated with somebody: this is not evil but it shows that in both of you similar forces, similar aspirations. Find someone like yourself and you will find one third, resultant force to bring harmony in you. If the third can't make things out, look for a fourth, fifth, sixth...up to tenth but you can still find one who can bring balance among those who have lost it. Now many times the students say: “He is too nervous, impatient” but these words are empty. An impatient man, a nervous man, is only words. In fact there are no hot-tempered people, there are no impatient people i.e. in certain moments they are such – certain energy accumulates in the brain and this energy troubles us, this energy is a bomb. When it comes out, you are calm and in good disposition, you are a good man again. Each one of you when you are enraged, would do anything in their house, and when the energy is used up, are meek as lambs - where have all the bad things gone? We now say: “He is a bad man” but in this person there is sufficient energy in this person that must be reasonably used in its place. Now, let's return back to our subject. In this talk, (it may seem a little sporadic) all of you to rewrite it and after that all students should make summary of the main points and edit it for themselves. You should have your own notebook, I want you to do this and I'll see your notes then. You will write down the main points according to your own preferences: now we will see who are the most capable students. You'll have to do this during the summer, all the summer. I am not going to look at all this now but in the last days of spring and through all the summer – I give you enough time to write it well and then you'll take your extracts and put them in order according to your taste in another book. Buy two books -in the first you'll have the original and in the second – your translation. I want to see what kind of translation you will produce and what conclusions and applications of it you will make. Those of you who can – let them make it. Now you've understood -you will write in a notebook, neatly, it is not permitted in the classes that lectures should be written in handwrite, all must be in your own writing if you want to make a progress – if it is typed, there won't be any results – the important, the valuable, has to pass through your heart. And you will keep this book as sacred. And if you know expect someone else to rewrite it, to give it to you and make the extracts for you – what kind of students are you! Sit down and think every day for half an hour, for a whole hour. Now, did I give another exercise to you? (- No.) First two weeks you will use five minutes a day for improving your flaws – physical, spiritual, and intellectual. Five minutes a day for two weeks you will use for improving your weaknesses. You'll take this talk and the first talk about the married couples- these two talks you'll rewrite. Now I want to know how many of you can apply this to their lives. Start tomorrow: at midnight if you wake up from the first sleep, apply the law, the morning is the best time for applying it – the first time you can devote to it. Thus you will not take into consideration your own self, as a viewer you will let the God's goodness to pour on you, to give impulse to the Goodness ascribed to you. So that you can be as the newborn, without anything to worry about. You will leave yourself to God's goodness to pour out and after that you will come to your previous condition. At least you will win, your mind will broaden. At the least you will gain, will be a little greater self-confidence for your soul in these five minutes. At the present conditions it is necessary for the students to have this inner confidence because there is no thing more terrible than the lack of confidence. Can this be or can it be not? There is only one law in us: it can! And when Paul said: ”I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”, this is the same law. Paul has borrowed it form there: “If my words last in you and you last through Me, I and My Father will come to you and make a home in you” and he also says: ”Everything that you ask for in My name, it will be and I will make manifestation of myself.” First there must be the Word and this Word must have Truth for a heading so: these two principles must be at work in work. This is a little test – five minutes, it is not a big question – five minutes for one noble thinking. Then for these five minutes you will say one formula: “I want, God, the Virtues you have deposited in my soul from the beginning, to grow with the power of Your Love and Wisdom. And I will use all my strength at your vineyard for the manifestation of Your Will.” The class will continue throughout the summer. Those of you who stay (no matter whether I attend or not), will meet each Thursday. Themes will be given to you, about which you have to write and these works will be read. Remember this – we will overcome all difficulties. Sky and Earth will go by but not a scar from this will erase. Everything, that God said will be fulfilled without exception. There is no exception in the Great God's Law. Now, don't make illusions for yourselves, work and work, work because Life is in the future – this Life comes from now on. You will say: ”This is so natural, what would this Life be like? 'What is the analogy? When that caterpillar over there dies has come to its uttermost and says: ”It's over”, life can not cultivate in this form and start making its pupa, does it asks itself what would become of it? Something better would become – second life would be better than the first. Therefore our life has reached the utmost borders and now pupa would become a butterfly. This life would define the New life for itself and this New life would be ten times better than the present -at least ten times better. And it is worth to sacrifice everything for it – such conditions would be there that now couldn’t be spoken of. And now we say: ”We won't leave.” We can go to the woods but which is the Way? -The Way goes through all the troubles which we now have to overcome. I have seen when some Bulgarian blocks the way with his carts and oxen so that no on can pass, another comes then, puts his plough down – the same result: then third, forth, up to ten men and when we join all forces and the cart sets off. And we say: ”What one can't make by himself, ten, united by the same force over come.” And one car can go without oxen. So we have the need to believe absolutely in this occult law – there is no exception to it, it is a living law. All that have come before you, have been working and trying this. And you will try from this confidence, you'll see. So absolutely no discouraging thoughts will be there. There can be big trouble, to be short of many things, this and that – these things are of second importance, I count then as one profit though they are unpleasant in Life. They can give you some exams in occultism. If you are not prepared when they give you an exam, your brain can blow off your head. There are such exams there, they will try you out. I have told you that there are such mock exams there in occultism – they will try you to see who has convictions and who has not. In the old times in the occult brotherhoods there were often exams to see whether the student was brave: they give him a guide, folded up his eyes and left him somewhere alone, then they took off the fold and he saw people around him with masks on their faces and there was a mask, holding a lit knife in front of him. If he were scared, he would start running but if he stayed, this mask would come, would jab him, but the knife was made of paper. But what would you go through in this moment! “That's it, my life has gone”- you will say to yourself. And I often witness how you run from these false knives and say: “What a misfortune!” No, no you will stand up and wait for this paper knife to stick in you with all its strength. And that's why the Scriptures say: “Everything that befalls those who love God is for good.” Even in the occult school eccentric works come into being. Someone would say: “I came here to put my things into order and they are in a mess.” You don't know, if your works have messed up, how much would they have entangled otherwise. Yours philosophy is such: someone saves ten thousand leva, buys a good ox, this ox dies and he would say: “What a loss!” Well then, if you haven't saved that much money and the ox dies, what would have you done been? Thankful for having the opportunity for saving the money: this logic isn't good. Someone comes here and says:” The karma of my life is such”, you seek help, you enter here and your things go well. You have to thank for being in this place – if here is that way, imagine what is outside. You go into one house – no clothes, nothing - you shiver but if you come outside in the wind and rain, what would your situation be, here you are under a roof, high and dry. Don't suggest illusions for yourself that now you are in School, you know better, you don't. And besides don't overgeneralise the laws of the School, don't think that this School is made only for yourself - to sort your material things out. This School has a great purpose – by the way it purpose includes sorting your things out but this is a side thing, the aim of the School is quite different. And include this verse then: “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His Right and everything else would be added to you.” If you understand this from an occult point of view, the question is settled for you. So as students of the School you will be hardworking because Jesus loves hardworking students: ”Those who love me keep my commandments.” You will study, you will apply it and the world will know my teaching. When you apply it reasonably, from the results the world will know what my teaching is, that you are my students indeed and that the Teaching is a Teaching of God. Now you mix things up and bear no fruit: we talk of Love – there is no fruit, we talk of Wisdom - there is no fruit either, we talk of Truth – no fruit. No fruit -all those trees bear no fruit. This doesn't mean that you don't blossom, on the contrary, you blossom and smell good but there is no fruit. I don't say that there are no bees. When pear blossoms, bees gather honey but the important is the fruit. We come from the bees to pick up honey and many occultists have gathered honey from the blossoms of the trees. Now we have to bear fruit to these trees of God. Secret Prayer Source

REQUIREMENTS TO THE DISCIPLE Year 1, Lecture 16 of the Youth Occult Class (Special Class) Given by the Master Beinsa Douno On June 14, 1922, Wednesday Sofia Secret prayer Next time please write on the following topic: “Gemstones”. Now, I am taking the word “disciple” in its narrow meaning. One is a disciple as long as he studies, as long as he attends school. Discipleship is a specific state of mind. In the occult sense of the word, one can be a disciple as long as he keeps contact or connection with the Master. If one breaks or loses this connection, he or she is not a disciple any more. One needs obedience and attention in order to maintain constant contact. A human being can only be obedient towards the Higher Essence, towards the Divine. Absolute obedience is required here. Lower levels of consciousness need to be obedient and attentive towards higher levels of consciousness. Therefore, the disciple should have absolute obedience towards his Master. This obedience should come out of his or her consciousness. Before the disciple goes to the Master, he or she should know him and be obedient towards Him; if the disciple doesn't know the Master, he or she should make an effort to know Him. The disciple should have the necessary feelings and abilities that will make it possible for him to know his Master. The link between the Master and the disciple is not instantaneous – it did not take shape at a given moment nor is it temporary. It is eternal and has existed for thousands of years. The disciple should not become hesitant because of the failures he may experience at the very beginning of his discipleship. The world in which the Master lives and acts is absolute and does not accept any ignorance. The atmosphere in which the Master lives and acts is alive and whoever tries to enter it unprepared will subject himself to death. When I say that the disciple will be subjected to death, I have in mind the situation that a fish finds itself in when it is taken out of the water. When you take a fish out of the water and leave it on the ground, it will certainly die. The fish goes out of its natural environment and enters another one, which it cannot live in. Therefore, disciples should have obedience and attention towards their Master, so that they may gradually develop new feelings and abilities as a favourable foundation for the perception of the new ideas. So, if you go unprepared into the atmosphere of the Master, you will inevitably die. If you want to know why, look to the fish to see why it dies in the air. It has not adapted itself to the new conditions, as a result of which it suffocates. Observe how electricians work with electricity. They touch the wires very carefully to avoid an electric shock that may throw them on the ground in a second. Knowledge is required from those who work with electricity. Irrespective of who you are, if you don't understand the laws of electricity, it will throw you to the ground. And if you ask why, electricity will answer: “I like to have people around me who know more than me – I like learned people. I will kick out all those who know less than me, who are ignorant.” Furthermore, you should know that human bodies conduct either electricity or magnetism. At the same time human organisms can also conduct the so called black electricity or black magnetism. Black electricity and black magnetism come from darkness. This indicates that there is white electricity and white magnetism too, which come from the white light. Take a magnet and hold it towards a needle: the magnet attracts the needle. Is the magnet itself the reason for this attraction? No, a certain force, a certain current is hidden in the magnet, which attracts metals. If this current or force disappears, the iron itself is worth nothing. You should observe yourself too in order to see what currents flow and what forces act in your soul. If you play some instrument, if you play the piano, for example, you will be satisfied when all the keys give out precise and harmonious tones. But even if only a few keys do not generate the right tones, your playing will be disharmonious. Your first work will be to harmonize these keys in order to sound harmoniously. Therefore, if the slightest disharmony appears in your soul, you should harmonize the strings that sound incorrect. These tones, these strings have deviated from the common harmony, from the harmony of the whole. Your soul plays an instrument, consisting of three main octaves: the octave of the mind, the octave of the heart and the octave of the body. Each of these three octaves is also divided into three. So, your task is to see which of the octaves the deviation has occurred in. I will give you the following exercise for controlling the will: take a pin and pierce some thick part of your body up to a depth of two or three milimetres. Try to do it and see how you feel. Monitor your reactions to see the hesitations of your will. You will be brave in the first moment: you will take the pin, ready to stick it somewhere in your arm. But when the pin touches your skin, you will lift it at once – you have decided not to stick it in. You will try again and again you will take it away. It is interesting to count the number of hesitations you will have until you finally decide to stick it in. With this experiment you will test the strength of your will and your ability to concentrate. The number of your hesitations is a mathematical value which indicates your organism's condition and the time required for its tuning. Children do a similar experiment. When they see a river, they want to jump over it. They look at the river, it seems deep to them, so they make a few steps back. They dash towards the river, then go back, dash again and step back again. Finally they get new courage, dash once more and say to themselves: “I will try a jump, come what may – fall in the river or reach the other bank.” Once they make a dash, they overcome the obstacle. I am saying, there are many obstacles in your minds and in your hearts which you need to remove by all means. Thus you will tone the forces of your organism. This requires will, knowledge and strength. With the help of this new, positive knowledge you will transform and improve your character, so that you may easily overcome the difficulties that come your way. So if you use your knowledge in the right way, your character will improve; if you use it in the wrong way, your character will deteriorate. In that case you will say: “I used to be nobler and better earlier in life.” Nobility is always nobility, diamonds are always diamonds; gold is always gold. Why? Once you have succeeded in the transformation of a low element into a high one, according to the existing laws, there is no force in the world that can alter the results. Only the person who has transformed a low element into gold can reverse the process. Now that you know this, try to introduce into your bodies, brains and hearts those high and sustainable forces, which Nature uses for the development of humans. Only these forces are able to tune and regulate the energies of your solar plexus. Your sympathetic nervous system should be in perfect condition too. It there are unpleasant, bitter feelings in your heart, try to eliminate them. They will have a bad influence on your liver and cause a certain disorder in it. How many of you intend to complete the task that I gave you last time? I will also give you a formula to use while doing the task. The words you will pronounce will substitute the money that you used until now. You should say: “I am beginning to work with the Divine virtues that live inside me.” Use this formula every day, until you finish your task. It will act as a password for you. When you get up in the morning and undertake your task, pronounce this formula in your mind quietly, so that no one can hear you. When you refuse to use money for some time, you leave the weapon which you have used until today. Therefore you need to replace it with a new one. This formula will be your new weapon. Thus when you renounce money, you begin to work with the Divine virtues as keys for unlocking the human heart. You will gain your victories in this way. For the physical person money represents the same type of key: you will pay to this person or that person and you pave your way. You should be clever and witty like the worldly people, so that you may not miss any occasion for the application of the Divine virtues. I will give you an example with a worker, who was an occultist and was following God's orders in a certain way. He was looking for a job, so he knocked at a door, but got rejected; he knocked at a second door – again it was a rejection. The story repeated itself the next day. Two or three days, even a week passed by in the very same way and with the same result – no job for him. Finally this person fell into despair: his wife and children were waiting for him at home, but he had earned nothing for them. However, while he was walking in the streets, he saw a little girl who fell on the ground and broke her leg. He ran to her immediately, took her into his arms and carried her to her home. The child told him her address and the name of her father, who was a famous factory owner. When the child was brought home, her father thanked the poor worker and gave him a job in his factory as a sign of gratitude. What does this indicate? The child of the factory owner was the last lucky chance for the worker to find a job. If he hadn't been cautious, he would have missed this chance. A disciple should be awake, because if he is not careful enough and neglects a small task, the disciple may miss a favourable opportunity. This chance was the last one for the worker to find a job, but the first of the favourable occasions for him. It was only through this incident that he could find a job, i.e. that he could realize his idea. Many of you think that when they join the School, all paths for the implementation of their ideas will be open. They deceive themselves. Sometimes such great difficulties are created for the disciples that they get into a quandary, they don't know what to do. If they don't know the laws they will become discouraged and fall into despair over and over again. Their situation is similar to that of passengers traveling through seas and oceans; when they become sea-sick, they fall into despair and regret that they have taken the ship, but when they recover, their despair also disappears. I am saying to you too: do not regret that you have joined the School! Be brave and resolute, and go ahead! This is meant for those who are ready to follow the School. Those who are not ready may leave whenever they want to. As disciples of an occult school, you should comply with the processes of Nature and not limit them. You may come to the processes of cleansing, growing or awakening of consciousness. You should pay attention to these processes and see what they generate in you. You should be self-possessed to endure anything that Nature might bring to you. For example, when Nature subjects you to the process of cleansing, you have very unpleasant feelings and as a reaction you want to fight with Her. You should know one thing: Nature does not stand any impurity. So She submits everyone who comes into contact with her to a thorough cleansing. When you come to such a process, you start philosophizing: “What does Nature intend to do with this?” Nature intends one thing – to purify you. What does a hungry person intend to do? He intends to find food and help himself. The difference between hungry people consists only in the images they hold in their minds: one wants just bread, another one wants bread and meat, a third one wants fried chicken and so on. The hungry differ among themselves only in their thoughts and wishes. If you watch someone who likes meat, you will notice a peculiar colour on his face. A few years ago, I met a lady in the street who was from high society and exceptionally beautiful. Her face was veiled, but her appearance was very pleasant. As she was walking down the street, she stopped in front of a butcher’s shop. Right away her face took on a specific expression, something unpleasant and disgusting appeared on it as her animal nature was awakened. She went into the butcher’s, bought something, and as she was coming out I saw on her face the previous mask, which produced a good and pleasant impression. However at the sight of the meat she couldn't master her lower nature. Having bought some meat, she had satisfied it and then her face regained its initial beautiful and pleasant look. Therefore, the inner thoughts and feelings hidden in you can influence your image at any moment. And each thought, on its turn, is complex; it contains possibilities for compound processes that are also reflected on one’s face. For example, the thought of food causes a number of processes in the human organism. Especially if one is hungry, he may see different pictures in his mind. He imagines a nice soup made of turkey or chicken with rice, or with pasta. He may also imagine roasted pork, cooked with mustard or horse-radish, together with several glasses of six-year-old wine instead of water. All this exhilarates someone who is hungry. He walks, visualizing this and that and if he passes by an inn where his wishes could be fulfilled, he only sighs and continues his way as he has no money to pay. Some years ago in Varna I met a secondary school teacher who had been fired. He was walking with me and philosophizing on various issues. At some point we passed by a small inn where steaks, spits of meat and grilled rissoles were being prepared for lunch. When the unemployed teacher smelled this, he said: “This is what happiness in life is about – having money in your pocket and being able to enter the inn and taste these things whenever you wish to. Now I am passing by, but I can't enter and take a grilled rissole.” I am saying: the whole philosophy of this teacher came to nothing because of these grilled rissoles. All he had said broke to pieces at the smell of the grilled rissoles. After that I told him: “Your unhappiness now is a stroke of luck for me. If I find myself in this inn, I will feel unhappy.” Why did this teacher lose his philosophy at the sight of a grilled rissole? This indicates that the old habits of a person can emerge again; they are alive, not dead. You meet an occult disciple who is known to have reached a high level of personal development. He speaks about abstention and about achievements, but when he passes by an inn or a coffee-house, at once his wish to eat some meat or to drink a cup of coffee, to smoke a cigarette and to play cards, awakens in him. These are the old habits which re-emerge in one’s mind as a temptation. One should be cautious so that he may get over the old images of the past and clear them off. It is enough to put someone in certain conditions and the old images will reappear in his mind. How is it possible that an occult disciple could encounter such contradictions? I will answer this question with the following example: take a caterpillar that has just been transformed into a butterfly but has forgotten to throw away its old thinking of a caterpillar, so it lives simultaneously in both states. When it is in the state of a caterpillar, it looks for leaves and comes to a contradiction – it cannot eat leaves. Then it comes to its senses, returns to its second state of a butterfly and starts flying from flower to flower, sucking from their sweet nectar. It doesn't need leaves since it has a proboscis. Similarly, an occult disciple could be hampered by his old life. He could wish to return to the past and he may fall into temptation. The past means a return to the old forms. If you come to the past, say to yourself: “I don't need it. I have already passed through these states; now I am looking for the new conditions.” Imagine that being a disciple of the School, you are put through the test not to lie. You carry this weakness of lying from your past. First you used white lies, then black lies. In this way, gradually and imperceptibly to yourself, you got used to lying. You have a very strict master now. When you make a mistake, you hesitate: should you tell him the truth, or should you lie. After an inner struggle about what to do, you decide to lie, to hide your mistake, so that you may keep your job. In this respect you may find yourself in the position of a servant who once told his master the truth, but was punished. In certain circumstances he was forced to tell his master the truth, but the latter got cross and punished him without any understanding. Then the servant told him: “Master, you make me feel confused! I have lied to you several times, but you have never punished me. Today I told you the truth for the first time and you punished me. I am wondering why you punished me – for the truth I told you or for the fact that I had always lied to you previously.” I am saying, the same may happen to you too. If you tell the truth once, you will be punished. This punishment comes from the Invisible world. You don't get punished because you have told the truth, but because you haven't spoken the Truth previously. This doesn't mean that you should expect to be punished each time you tell the Truth. The opposite may also happen: if you have always told the Truth and you told a lie only once, you will be rewarded not for the lie, but for the Truth that you have served by that time. The punishments and the rewards which the Invisible world lays on humans are very specific. For example, material enrichment is a sort of punishment given by the Invisible world. Indeed, when someone becomes rich, he begins to gradually lose his inner peace and calmness. It doesn't mean that you shouldn't be rich. One should be rich but at the same time possess a strong and resistant character. A disciple should have a broad outlook on life; he shouldn't think that all things in existence are meant just for him. For example, when you walk by a garden with fruit trees, irrespective of how much you want to take some fruit, you don't have the right to do it if the master is not there. However everything belongs to God, doesn't it? Everything belongs to God, not to us. If you were meant to taste from the fruit, the master would have been there and he himself would have offered you some fruit. Some years ago, we were traveling with a friend from Varna to Burgas. I was walking on foot and he was riding a bicycle slowly. At some point it started to pour down with rain. We reached the Kamchia River somehow, but it overflowed due to the rain over a distance of several kilometres. My friend started carrying the bicycle on his back. But how could we continue further? We had to take our shoes off and walked into the water up to our knees. At that time we saw an inn nearby and stopped there for a while. The inn-keeper told us: “See, a cart driver is coming from over there, his horse is very strong and his cart is solid, but he is a headstrong man, he has not done a favour to anyone up to now, he will not agree to carry you in his cart.” – “We’ll try.” I went to the cart driver and told him: “My friend, will you help us? As you can see, our journey needs to continue across the river, but the water has risen a lot; we can cross the river, but we cannot carry the bicycle. Would you please take the bicycle in your cart and we will walk on foot.” – “I will help you with pleasure. Put the bicycle into the cart. But you may also get in the cart, I will easily carry you across the river.” I am saying, whoever is ready to take the bicycle into his cart will also take people. Whoever is not ready to take the bicycle, will not want to take people either. You should take the following into consideration: when one works with the Divine laws, one will see that there are absolutely no exceptions from them. Act according to these laws and don't worry about anything. We had decided to cross the river at any cost, we couldn't go back. We didn't rely on external help either, we were ready to carry the bicycle by ourselves. The Invisible world saw our readiness to help ourselves and the cart came. Then even the bad man became good and helpful. You should rely on yourselves. If a cart comes, it will be a privilege for you. If a cart doesn't come, you should go ahead. You may walk into deep water, but there is no way back. As disciples of this Great School, you should do many experiments in order to temper your character. However no one should know about them; no one should even suspect what you intend to do. Your experiments and actions should be natural, without any eccentricity. In this respect, Englishmen are free: they walk barefoot in snow early in the morning or in May, and no one pays attention to this. If such things happened in Bulgaria, people would criticize them and label them as eccentric. Therefore, it is better to do each exercise without bothering other people. The important thing is that each exercise has the purpose to temper you, to bring you out of the trivial order of things. For this purpose, the occult school offers to the disciples completely new methods for work which are expressed in beautiful and pleasant forms. Great sincerity is required of the disciple in order for him to succeed in his work. One should be sincere to oneself – never hide one’s mistakes, never exaggerate or diminish them. If one has made a slip, he could forgive himself for it, but should not find an excuse. Self-forgiveness means a conscious attitude to the slip. One forgives oneself but with the awareness that he should not repeat the mistake. Finding excuses for yourself - that the conditions were bad, that your karma was such – is not allowed. An error is an error, it doesn't need any excuses. You should state it as a fact and look for a method for its rectification. In some time, when you grow up and your mind gets visited by brighter and higher thoughts, then you will consider the problems from another point of view. Next time please write on the following topic: “The most powerful virtue of the disciple”. Everyone should reflect on this topic and write about a disciple's virtue that he considers most powerful. Some people compare virtues to gemstones. So, in the same way that you describe the properties of gemstones, you should describe the distinctive characteristics of virtues. We describe the properties and characteristics of all simple and compound chemical substances in the same way. For example, a specific property of water is its mobility or instability. Water is unstable, so that we might be stable. When we say that water is unstable, this means that it adapts to all conditions, good or bad. Another property of water is its dissolving ability – it is a good solvent. It cleans and washes bodies, due to its dissolving ability. At the same time, water has a cooling property. Everyone has experienced its cooling action in warm and hot days. Even uneducated people know these several properties of water. Ask a shepherd what water is – he will tell you immediately. Then come the other characteristics of water, known by scientists only, i.e. water is a compound substance, consisting of two volumes of hydrogen and one volume of oxygen. Water has other properties also, but understanding these properties requires more in-depth knowledge. In the same way we can describe the properties of light, for example. Light has the ability to illuminate adjacent objects. It lightens the Path of humans. Water makes life easier. There is no life without water. When people want to establish a settlement, they look for a place rich in water. Sometimes there are torrents that may carry off houses, animals and people, but nevertheless water is a valuable asset, a carrier of Life. As disciples you should think properly, so you can write good essays about gemstones. You should bring to mind several gemstones that you know better and describe their characteristics. Write in general terms, but underline the reason why they are called gemstones. Then write the reason why some precious stones have a higher price than others. Precious stones educate us, that is why everyone wants to have them. They contain fine energy in a condensed, i.e. compressed state. Sometimes they may lose their brightness and strength, but then they recover them again. People are often the cause for such a loss. Precious stones lose their brightness because of some people and get it back owing to others. Since you know some of the properties of gemstones, think if it is possible for a person to be a precious stone. What precious stone would you like to be? Someone wants to be a diamond, another one – a ruby, someone else – a sapphire and so on. Think well on the topic and write as briefly as possible. You would say: “What connection do precious stones have with us?” You should know one thing: each thought and each feeling – the object of your reflection - exercises a certain influence on you. Thus you connect with it. This is true from an occult point of view. Each topic or issue you reflect on exercises a certain influence on you and is useful to you to the extent that you have succeeded in making a connection with it. It exercises a certain influence on your development. For example, when you reflect on the most powerful virtue of the disciple, even if you could not attain it, you will benefit a lot. What will be the benefit? Making a connection with virtues. Someone will write that the strongest virtue of a disciple is Love, another one will mention Faith, a third one – Mercy, a fourth one – his learning ability and so on. When you think about a specific virtue, you connect with it, even without suspecting it. This is namely the benefit of doing these writing tasks which are given to you in class. All virtues are equally significant and powerful but for a given period of time a certain virtue exercises the greatest influence over the character of a particular disciple. The main virtue of a soldier going to the battlefield is courage; for those who look after patients it is mercy; for disciples it is obedience; for workers – diligence, for servants – wit and resourcefulness. This trait is especially necessary for a servant who has a bad master. He should be sufficiently witty and resourceful to be able to foresee the wishes of his master early enough. The servant should know his master in order to be able to behave in the most appropriate way. Some days ago I happened to observe the conduct of a little dog. It was very intelligent and witty. Its masters threw a bone for the dog to gnaw at. At that time a big dog came from the neighbouring yard and rushed to the bone. Right away the little dog abandoned the bone to the big dog, walking around quietly, satisfied that it had given up the bone. If the little dog had not reckoned that in this case it would be better to give up the bone, there would have been a great fight between the two dogs and the little one would have suffered. A bad man or a bad master is like the big dog. If you come into a relationship that leads to struggle, you’d better give up your bone, let him gnaw at it. This bone could be a job or an article – give it up, so that you may not suffer. A bad man disposes with physical power. Since he is strong physically, he is ready to do everything. In this case taking a step back is common sense. This is not fear, it’s a saving of time and energy. Those who want to be in class should maintain harmonious relationships with each other. Remember that everyone who disrupts the harmony harms himself and the others too. Whatever harm you cause to others, it will come back and will first be reflected in your consciousness. Each wrong thought, feeling or action represents a bad, ugly image which is imprinted first in the consciousness of the person who has sent it or created it. Therefore, evil is cast out in disharmonious and irregular forms or images. Good is expressed in harmonious and regular images. Humans create both kinds of images. You see two pear trees in a garden: you taste a pear from the first tree – it is sweet, and you taste a pear from the second tree – it is bitter. Why is it bitter? Bitterness shows its egoistic character. That tree gave bitter fruit, so that no one could use it. Thus the tree wants to show that it doesn't give its fruit to anyone. There are bitter cucumbers too. However clever people are able to use bitter fruit towards some purpose too. It is important for disciples to know the following: each of their actions gets chronicled. Each disciple is followed by detectives from the two lodges who note everything: the first chronicles the good thoughts, feelings and actions of the disciple, whereas the second one notes the bad ones. Both will use your deeds at the right time and place. While noting your bad deeds, the dark detectives study your character, in order to attract you to their side in the easiest way which is also most imperceptible to you. Both lodges want to attract you to their side, this is why they try to convince you that the path they offer to you is the right and proper one. The best path for the disciple is the path which releases his soul from those links that have hampered him from the past all the way to the present. In your free time I would like each of you to summarize the main ideas in this lecture and to draw out for yourself those important, basic conclusions, which you have best understood and which you will be able to use. When I say that obedience is required of the disciples, I mean obedience in the smallest extent. I want you to use only one hour out of the twenty four hours of the day for obedience – half an hour during the day, when you are awake, and half an hour at night, when you are in the Astral world during your sleep. However in these 30 minutes you should be absolutely obedient. This would be the basic measure for your obedience. So you will be obedient for half an hour or thirty minutes during the day, all the while reflecting on obedience. These thirty minutes could be divided into parts: ten minutes in the morning, ten minutes at lunch time and ten minutes in the evening. After that – ten minutes before you go to bed, ten minutes when you wake up during the night and ten minutes before getting up – one hour in total. If you wake up in a cheerful and happy mood, this shows that you were obedient. If you wake up tired and depressed, this shows that you were not obedient, you were not at school but somewhere outside. Such instants should not discourage you. One goes through all the phases of the flour until it becomes bread. Flour is light. If you leave it outside, even the slightest wind could blow it away. You take some warm water, put the flour in it and make a mess. You put more flour until the mess becomes denser and denser, ready for processing. You collect the flour from here and there and begin to knead this mess. It becomes elastic, easily worked up and you say that the dough is already well done. Then you shape it into bread and put it in the oven. Therefore, the human being is flour in the beginning, later it turns into mess, after that – into dough and finally it becomes bread. So you should know that if you are flour, you have just come from the mill; if you are mess, you are still in the kneading-troughs; if you are dough, you are still being worked up; once you become bread, you are taken to the oven and you are joyful that you can serve humanity. These are situations or states that a human goes through in his life. They will lead you to new images, new ideas and thoughts, which will bring you an impulse and an incentive for work. You will replace the old solutions, the old ideas with new ones which will make you young. It has been written in the Scriptures: “Those who wait for God will recover their strength. Those who seek the Path of Wisdom, will improve their way.” Bringing out something good out of good people doesn't require great skill, but bringing something good out of bad people is an art. Now that you know this, do not be discouraged, but work upon yourself bravely and resolutely. You should complete the tasks given to you without doubt or hesitation. Even the slightest doubt is an obstacle. It is enough to just think that you can do without this task and you will hamper yourselves. If you are given a task, it should be accomplished without any contemplation. When you fulfill the task and observe the result you get from it, then you can contemplate as much as you want. Whoever wants to be a disciple should first of all apply their mindful will. Why? Such is the law of the Divine world. In that world first you act, then you think. In the human world it is just the opposite – first you should think, then act. According to intuition, which is a law of the Divine world, when you feel, when you perceive something from the High world, you should act right away and then think of the consequences. Therefore, if you are in the Divine world, you will first act and then think; if you are in the human world, you will first think and then act. As you can see, these two methods are diametrically opposed to each other. This is why when I say that disciples should not think, I have the Divine world in mind. If you are in the Divine world, you will first act and then think; when you come down into the human world, you will first think and then act. Why? When we act, God thinks; when we think, God acts. What does an engineer do? First he thinks over the design of the house, taking a number of things into consideration – finances, materials, location – then he makes a plan and after that he will already apply it in practice and act in accordance with it. So if you say that you think first, you are in the human world. When you say that you act first, you are in the Divine world. You can guess which world you are in by the method you apply. If you interchange the methods, you will make a mistake. If you enter into the Divine world and think before acting, you will make a mistake. If you enter into the human world and act before thinking, you will make a mistake again. The methods of these two worlds are completely different. They are strictly determined, therefore interchanging them is impossible. So you should think and act, and you should act and think. Secret prayer

Occult Hygiene Lecture fifteen read by the Master to the General Occult Class on the 8 of June, Thursday, Sofia Did you have an exercise to write? (- This time we had not.) All of you are generally acquainted with the word hygiene. It is a science that teaches about the human organisms' state of health. Now with the expression occult hygiene, we are extending the word hygiene; more meaning is applied than is usually perceived in its common meaning. When we talk about a common and an occult disciple you should note that the difference between them depends on the degree of their consciousness. For instance, you can study the influence of the common hygiene on the body’s state of health, but you will reach 120 years and you will finally lose the thread of your body and so you will have to give your body up. So the common hygiene can prolong your life up to 120 years, while the occult hygiene can prolong your life for a longer period. And not only this – the occult hygiene also gives instructions concerning the healthy state of the human mind and of the human feelings. Your mind can get ill as well as your body. The human mind can get ill, the human heart can get ill and the human will can also get ill; the only thing within the human being that cannot get ill is his Spirit. That is why when illnesses get into the Spirit, then special energies emerge to correct the damage caused. The soul suffers, the mind gets mad, the feelings get derailed, the will becomes paralysed, and as a result the person becomes disabled on Earth. Now in our class I perceive that you do not follow the correct way of understanding. Let’s assume that you are an aviator, you take off, but you must hold the control stick and it depends on your balance how you will fly this apparatus and in what way you will carry out your task. Imagine that while on Earth you start looking around and divert from your main task. How do you think you can settle your task if your mind is not functioning properly? Now you have come here to study the occultism but meanwhile you are attending to side issues, to issues that are without reference to anything at all. Sometimes I call your attention to some ideas and principles but you often ask why have I said something in this way instead of another way, and you are discussing minor issues. While you are up in the air, this is not the time to discuss why I said what I said. The main thing is that while you are up in the air you should keep the apparatus by which you are flying functioning. As soon as you land on the ground you can philosophize as much as you want to. And when I’m saying: “don’t philosophize” I mean the aim that you have – to graduate from the school and after that, when you land on the ground, then you will have nothing else to do, and you can philosophize as much as you like. The occultism never explains why and for what reason – even if you go to the greatest Masters they will not answer you. When you come to me you are talking to me as cherished children, but it is not obligatory for the Master to answer all your questions – not at all. You can go to the Master and ask him something, but in response he will look at you once and he won’t tell you anything. He does not care that you might get angry; that you might graduate from the school and not believe in God – believe in God or don’t believe in Him, it doesn’t matter to him. – “But I am not following this way.” – Follow it if you like; The Master says: “I followed this way, I studied the laws and you should study them also.” - These laws cannot be changed for your sake. Therefore I am drawing your attention to this: I perceive that your minds are rather twisted, your hearts are also twisted, really twisted. You will not frighten me with this – I am telling you these things not for my sake, but for yours – your twisted mind will not divert mine – not in the least. I will follow the way and I will be what I am because such is the will of God. Now you might tell me: “But what did we do?” – What did you do? Suppose now that two thousand years later the Invisible World sends a committee to check your work – can you tell me what they would find? If they entered through the door now, what would they find in your minds and in your hearts? This committee would check the situation impartially and what would it find? Now I am talking to you as a human being: I don’t mean to say that this committee will find a lot of nice things, neither do I mean to say that they will find a lot of bad things, but I do mean to say that here and there this committee would have found that you have neglected some of your tasks. These tasks that are assigned to you at present allow no delay and you should settle them. There are tasks, which are the order of the day – your attitude towards God is the order of the day. Do you love God, which you serve, do you serve God, do you serve Christ, do you have His Love and are you ready to sacrifice your life for Him. Then in addition, does each one of you help others with thoughts, with desires, with actions? I am warning you, many of you might act destructively, but I am telling you: you will meet me on your way and we will impose a punishment on you. Here in the School there are people who want to demolish – you might break your own head instead! - “I wonder if this thing is Divine?” Do you understand that this is a deed of your God, of that one who sent you here to Earth. Up until now we were patient and understood what you were doing, but you let yourself get out of hand that when someone looks at me he says: “Well, the Master knows a lot.” But yours is not an act of discipleship. All of you will be driven to that humbleness which God requires – He will put you in my state of humbleness. So far you are not as humble as I am. Someone might say: “Well, the Master is as plain as we are.” – Like you are! I am not like you at all because there are things in my consciousness for which you cannot even suspect – you don’t even suspect what is hidden in my consciousness. I am plain, my clothes are similar to yours, I eat and sleep like you, but if Life consisted of such things… Life does not consist of this. You can't imagine what I am – my horse might be similar to yours, but after I alight from it there is a great difference between you and me. I can make myself invisible – you might look for me in Heaven for thousands of years and not recognize me. How can you pick someone out? – You can know somebody through the Law of Love only. If you have Love you will recognize me; if you don’t have Love, then you might search the whole outer space and yet I will remain nobody to you. And all of you might know each other by the help of the Law of Love. If this applies to me then how much more does it apply to you? I regret that the occult disciples in Bulgaria are rather pedantic, that they have no respect and deference for each other, and that they have love only when they are in need. And also you commit such nuisances that the disciples from the ordinary schools in the world do not perform. Those disciples have the courage to commit them openly, while the occult disciples do them secretly. You are not obedient to me but you are under the vigilant eye of God who does not miss anything. You might say: “Tonight we will be reproached again.” This is not a reproach at all – I am just reminding you of a great Truth from which you have diverted and nevertheless you think that you are following the right course. For instance, when I am talking to someone I know whether he is listening to me or not – I have a rule and it never fails me. When God is talking to us He also has a rule and He also knows if we are listening to Him or not. Now the point is this great inner Truth – do you have such training or not? Instead of blaming yourself I recommend to you, to be fully prepared to adopt the Divine Truth and to get through the Divine thoughts. First of all your mind should become stronger as to be able to get through all the positive and all the negative thoughts. Very often your mind is not able to get through certain thoughts and as a result you suffer. There are many young men who suffer after they have read some negative book – it brings a change in their minds and they suffer for months and for years before they revert to their present state. First of all you should observe such harmony in your own self – you should be satisfied with your own conduct. I give a task and some of you put it into practice and then they say: “These tasks can be executed in this way, but they can be executed in another way as well.” And they go along the road but their tasks remain unexecuted. When a Divine task is being assigned to you, you should solve it fully in its completeness. You might say: “I cannot solve this task”, but since you have started you must solve it. You say: “We’ll postpone it for another time”; but if you yourself cannot solve it you’d better not tempt the others. If you yourself can’t keep the fast don’t say: “One can manage without fasting as well” – don’t impose on others what you yourself have not tried. I don’t want these instructions I give you now to remain a voice crying in the wilderness – I want them to have a result so that these instructions can prepare you for the mission for which you have come here. You have come here by the end of the century – you have a mission, a very important mission that you should fulfil. I am asking you now – do you know for sure what your mission is? – You must know it - no matter how small it might be; the disciple should know what he came here for even if he doesn’t know it in the smallest details – he should at least know the general outlines of his task here. In the course of his work he should keep in his mind his task and while doing this he will be linked to the Heavens. So his will, his mind, his heart will toughen and he will be linked with the Brotherhood. The White Brotherhood will give you instructions and an inner frame. They will give you this good inner frame in the evenings while you sleep – they can give it to you in your sleep. The Brotherhood can assign to you these tasks also through some suffering in your Life – let’s say they have assigned to you a task but you have diverted and have become a tradesman. Then your state will be similar to the state of that American who felt a strong impulse to become a preacher, but said: “I was not born to be a priest”; then he went to Australia and became a tradesman, but twenty years later a crisis happened and his entire wealth disappeared; then he went back to fulfil his vocation. When the Invisible world assigns a certain task, you can divert from it for ten, twenty, thirty years, but the Brotherhood will bring you back to finish your job. So in view of this you better make it your aim to graduate from the school and do not postpone your studies. You begin this job now as you have begun many times – you began but you have not finished. For instance we’ll join the occult school so that we can research the reasons for these social weaknesses. You might say: “Karma.” All right, let the reason be karma, but this statement is rather general while in fact the very reason itself must be known. If you know the basic weakness then you will know how to correct it – certain weaknesses should be corrected. For instance, some disciples have sharper and brighter minds; the minds of the others are not so bright because they are occupied – they are occupied by their feelings. A person comes here as an occult disciple but the next day he needs two or three thousand leva for bread, for his children’s shoes, for clothes; I may preach wonderful things to him, but his mind is constantly preoccupied with the thought for money – his children need clothes, so he cannot be free. Our task now is to first of all eliminate all this, but we must utilize, even the shortest time we have in our occult training, as a means to improve our condition. I watch closely now, I make an experiment and I perceive that recently a certain atmosphere is growing: all of you are becoming positive and consequently a release from struggle is beginning. All of you had accumulated a great reserve of electricity – we want to harness this electricity for lighting. Your mind had become more active in a negative sense. The main point now is in what way we can correct your weaknesses. Let’s say you have some doubt – a doubt in yourself. At a certain moment you doubt in yourself so when a task is being given to you, you say: “This task I cannot solve.” If you ignore the suspicion inwardly you might say: “I doubt myself but I do not doubt God.” But in fact you doubt God as well. I have heard an Orthodox priest who said: “Not only we are sinners, sometimes God sins as well; not only do we sin, but He sins as well.” This means that as a result of his mistakes this man says: “Since I sin then probably God also makes mistakes.” We most certainly should avoid mistakes, and if possible we should avoid them. So how can we manage to cope with this doubt? Let’s suppose that many disciples are preoccupied by the following thought: “Well, I shall graduate from the occult School, but what will happen after that? I shall have knowledge indeed, so what? – And they start philosophizing and finally work out that it makes no difference. But this is not a philosophy of Life. To that disciple who solves some simple task and then says: “What will happen after I solve this task”, I respond: you first solve the more complicated task and then wonder why. You’d better not reason but solve the first task, then solve the second task also and then ask why. And while solving these tasks you will find the reason why. This answer is - all deeds in our Life must be perfect. If someone asks me why we have to talk I would answer that we should talk until our language gets perfect, until we start to pronounce these words in the way they are being pronounced in Heaven, where once they pronounce the word it is so fine that it sounds nice for everyone’s ear. Imagine that all of you disciples who are listening to me tonight had such soft voices and that your speech was as melodious as theirs – can you imagine what kind of atmosphere there would have been tonight? If your thoughts were smooth and sharp it would have been good. At times they are so sharp because at times even the thoughts come out from the mouth as bombs. And the cadence of speech and of muscles corresponds to the cadence of thought. Now we will make use of our will. Suppose that you are in a period of suspense, you are angry because someone has offended you, and so you say: “I’ll teach him a thing or two!” Instead of teaching such person by a blow isn’t it better to teach him by words? Let’s say that you want to punish him; you can do this in two ways: you can give him such a knock on the head as to smash him as you would smash a snake’s head, or you can also take him by the leg and lift him upside-down and then leave him as he was and tell him: “My friend, do you still intend to bother me and to criticise God? I could smash your head but instead I want to tell you not to play games with me – the occult disciple.” Now you the disciples should know that there are other disciples also who one day might take you by the leg, but instead of smashing you they might lift you up and tell you: “Do you intend to study or you intend to play games instead?” That’s the way I myself would precede with you. But you might make some objection to this point: “Well, why should I be obliged at all?” You are obliged indeed, you have obligations that do not date from now – they date from your distant past and you have to pay them off. You have obligations indeed – obligations which you should fulfil. Many times you have begun and left this task; you can leave your task again now. You can solve your task easily within yourself – it might be solved by itself if you have the burning desire to solve it. In the Gospel it is said: “God is who gives.” You strive to do the Will of God, so God also has a desire to help you. Here are the vices: there exists envy, there are white lies and laziness among you as well. Then also you never look approvingly at others: when someone starts to work you crowd to hinder him and you say: “You can’t work without us.” All right then, if I go to the woods and find the birds which make nests and damage one, then two, then three of their nests and then say: “What will you do now, can you hatch now?” – I am asking you – what will be my profit if I damage the nests of these birds? If I do that the number of the caterpillars in my garden will increase and they will damage my garden – these birds will stop nesting in my garden and I will have to cope with the caterpillars by myself. It is not permitted to damage the birds’ nests. When some of you decide to work, all of you should give him countenance – cooperate with him, give him positive thought. For so many years the situation here in Sofia and in the country is identical. I think that the reason for this is a great deal of jealousy. In the other churches when the people want someone to talk to them they usually invite a preacher and he talks because he is paid for this, while in our country no one pays anything. In one town the people were not pleased with their leader so they asked me if it was possible to invite someone else to guide them. Instead of answering to them directly I said: “This is no concern of mine; if you are so stupid that you don’t know how to work with this leader then let ten of you gather and alternate with each other – you might talk one after another and so ten persons might take turns; they might be able to talk better than your present leader. If these ten persons can’t get along, then gather another ten persons; among these twenty persons there must be several persons who can talk.” But I would like the way that these people, who like to talk, to have some deep experience, to have a broad knowledge of Life. And instead of displaying themselves I would like them to manifest this experience very vividly. Apostle Paul says: “Many people do not preach Christ - they are displaying their own knowledge.” That we preach Christ implies that we are preaching the great law of Love that should put in order and regulate everything in the world. And this great law should change all the laws within us. Several hours ago I had a conversation with a gentleman who was saying: “The world cannot be put in order with Love – it can be regulated only by a whip, the whip is the only way to put the world in order!” But his brother said: “You are talking like our father talked long ago; do you have any idea how much he beat us with his stick but this stick did not put order in us at all.” If you don’t follow the New teaching you will return to your father – this is the law of Moses. Now it is good that we have begun with Christ, but our mistake is that we are constantly returning to the Moses law. We either have to start with Moses and end with Christ or vice versa. Instead we begin with Christ and end with Moses – i.e., we follow a return journey. I want you to choose several persons among all the disciples who are to serve as an example – several persons, one, two, three, up to ten persons – to take them as a model, so that they become a model for the whole class with their polite way of talking and not only with their way of talking, but also with their behaviour, with their thoughts, with their feelings, i.e. in order that they give a new impulse – an impulse should be given. Because this philosophy, the way I am talking to you, is still an introduction for the experiment that lies ahead of us. For instance I gave to the other class an experiment. To all of you I can also assign an experiment: to spend one week without any money, I mean that you should not rely on any money at all – you should pretend that you have nothing but yourself and God and your own hands to rely on, so that you can get used to this. During the whole week both the male and female disciples should earn their living during the day. The idea is not to fast but to earn the money for your lunch. The task is as follows: if for example you are an office worker, then you will give your weekly salary to the poor, so that you will be out of cash and when you reach in your pockets there shouldn’t be any money left in them. You must not rely on your friends, you should not say: “I’ll borrow some money” – no, you should pretend that you are left alone in the world. Imagine that you are in a populous town like New York or London and you are out and hungry; I am asking you how will you solve your task? You are bound to think of something. If you do so for a month, then when you get your salary you should give it away and say: “Now I’ll earn my money with my own hands” – but there might be objections that we should not tempt God. No, no, it is now that we are tempting Him because as long as we have money we do not rely on God. At present the office worker relies on his salary, the woman relies on her husband, the man relies on his customers, but no one relies on God. We often talk about faith but faith is still not a living experience. Now you should spend one week without money. For instance when you need money to buy something to eat, go to some friend of yours and ask him: “Is there some work for me here?” And when you find some work you should do it and be aware that what comes out of your hands is a result of your efforts. Now you might make the following objection: “But I write in my office is that not an effort?” No, it is not, because it is something settled – there the things are already settled. When I say labour I mean that you should work for two hours in some building. You should work for two hours and then take as much as you need for a lunch and leave without providing anything for the evening; on the following day you again should look for some job, then again you should work for three hours and leave. Some people might say: “This man goes to work and then goes off his work.” But in fact this man is strengthening his will, he is not a fatalist, he says: “Today I earned what I needed, let me see if I can earn it tomorrow as well.” He allows this self-assurance and after that he will start speculating as to what the inner conditions are in which he is advancing. In occult science, the following principle exists: if you meet someone while you are hungry and say a certain word and this word reaches his ear, he will tell you: “My brother, can you come to my place for lunch?” You will not talk about lunch; you should only know how to say this word. A hungry old woman went to a village and entered the house of a wealthy man who was one of the most cruel men who turned out each person from his house; the old woman did not say that she was hungry, but since the daughter of the wealthy man was ill, the old woman entered the house and massaged her, made this and that and thus it turned out that the old woman was a healer. Immediately this wealthy man became aware that the old woman was a healer and said: “Give her something to eat.” If she had required food in the first place he would have turned her away, but she started to work in the first place – to earn her meal with her own hands. Now all of you, the disciples, must have confidence – the occult disciple needs inner self-confidence that he can cope with all the difficulties that exist in his life. We have this motto: “No Love is like God’s Love.”, don’t we? And I perceive that this greeting has become almost meaningless when it is pronounced quickly: “No Love is like God’s Love, just God’s Love is Love.” Well, it already has gone beyond the frames of the occult science. You should stop inwardly and say: “Since no Love is like God’s Love, can I do everything for this Love? And I’ll do it.” And after you say: “Only God’s Love is Love”, say: “I can do everything and I’ll do it. There is one poor brother there, I’ll visit him and I’ll do everything for him.” – “But shouldn’t we invoke God?” – We are invoking Him. At times I say to myself: I made a serious mistake that I entrusted these people with a sacred rule that they vitiated; they also vitiated the name of God and as a result I incurred a heavy karma upon myself. So as a result of the venture I made, I said to myself that if I could have had this experience before, I would never have given you this rule; frankly speaking I would have never entrusted it to you. The disciples say to each other: “No Love is like God’s Love” but as you look at them they are at one another’s throats. “Only God’s Love is Love”, but neither of them can accept the facts. “Only God’s Love is Love”, but none of them gives up and each one of them holds his own. So, tell me please what kind of Love is this? But you might tell me: “I am a man, I have dignity, and I have personal feelings.” But is there dignity greater than Love? Let’s do the will of the Father! There isn’t greater dignity than this – to serve God driven by Love. This is the greatest dignity of man – to serve Love and Wisdom. Now I lay this accusation not against some persons outside, but against myself, for I entrusted you with one sacred rule. And then I lay against you the accusation that you haven’t used it – not because you did use it. And next time I’ll be very careful regarding the rules. And sometimes when I hear you pronouncing the word Love, I feel like someone is cutting me with a knife. You quarrel. I say: there is no such Love as the Love that stains, scratches, and cuts. But anyway I won – for I learned that there is no Love as God’s Love and that only God’s Love is Love – I made that experiment. If you didn’t learn the rule, at least I learned it. I learned it and I would not forget it neither on Earth nor in Heaven! And each one who vitiates the Love of God will by all means get his payment. And if he doesn’t understand this Love, then everything in his Life will be finished. I will call some of you so that I can personally talk with you in a friendly way about Love – I will call you so that we can chat about Love. We will talk now – don’t think that I am not able to talk, you haven’t yet seen how I can talk – I can talk far better. Now, when I talk to you about Love I shall use a special kind of language. I shall talk to you in very special way, so you might say: “I thought one thing and it proved to be another.” I hope that the consciousness of each one of you expands and I hope that you do not bother about trifles; I hope that this Love reigns and awakens your mind and sends an impulse to your heart, to heal all your weaknesses; I wish that you feel healthy, cheerful, fresh, so that you can apprehend Love and put it into practice, because you are in very difficult circumstances for the time being. It is expected that the occult disciples throughout Europe will have to pass a very difficult exam. These social struggles should be corrected by Force – Force must be applied. You might say: “God will settle everything.” God within us should be a volitional force, He should be Love, Wisdom, Truth, Justice – not only He, but also the great potential psychic forces within us should awaken us, so that we can work. Now between you and me there are points of contact and they are as follows: there exists a deep well; I travel all over the desert (in order to clarify the existing relationships – they are real relationships here on Earth), I find the deep well; I know how to make the rope but I have no thread; you the disciples have this thread, but you don’t know how to make the rope. All right, I’ll say: “You stretch the threads and I’ll make the rope” – the rope is yours and the workmanship is mine. We will put the rope down, we will draw water from the well and all of us will drink; then you will take your rope with you, while I think that I have made it. Then we continue to walk and we see each other properly… These are the contacting points between the disciples and the Master. Now, this concerns only me – only your attitude towards me; this is the attitude towards Christ. He had disciples that He appointed to what He Himself could not do. Christ cannot come down now – He will send some of His disciples here to this village; Christ will not come to preach even in the town of Sofia, He will not preach even in London. In order for Christ to preach there, there would have to be some chosen souls present, who should be highly elevated, who should have such a consciousness, and who should posses such harmony, that as He descends they should be prepared to accept the words which He will use in order to let the Light in. And everybody should know Him; if He has to prove that He is from God and to heal the diseased persons, this would be a rather longwinded process and Christ will not attend to such longwinded processes. Christ is free now, so now you have to create within yourself certain conditions so that He can work within you. You might say: “We know Him, don’t we?” I don’t deny that you know Him but why don’t you make better conditions for Him? How? – Love your friend, he has a garden; plant throughout this garden – this is what Love is. Plant throughout every garden until you manage to plant this garden. We should plant throughout this Christ garden from beginning to end. Have faith in yourself – trust in one another – believe not only in yourself but believe in each other as well. The greatest trammel I come across within you is the impact of the scepticism – scepticism, scepticism. I don’t mean to say that this scepticism is imposed by the outside world, but you take it and since you are more sensitive souls, you attract the negative sides of the world – you are capable of receiving them and this is dangerous. A sensitive occult disciple is like a sponge and if he is not familiar with the laws he can sap from the outside. That is why he should be positive in Love – so that he can attract the positive qualities and throw out the evil – this is a mere science. Let’s say that now you study in the Occult School; one of the disciples in the School is talking with another one and says to a young lady: “We can go to a night-club – we are occult disciples so we will be able to learn a lesson from such a visit.” Well, fine, but if they go to the nightclub and this young lady adopts these images, these contortions that are being demonstrated there, these images can gradually obsess her mind. So I am asking where will the occultism go then? I am asking you: if these images obsess you for one, two, or three days, what will you profit from them? You don’t need nightclubs; there is such a nightclub up the Vitosha Mountain, there is another nightclub in the mountain resort Chamkorya1. Let the one who wants a nightclub, go to a hospital, to a church, to some temple. But the night-clubs where women with tambourines play Turkish dances… The nightclub is for those great spirits, who can withstand the temptations there, but you should not bring the weaker persons there, you better protect such persons. Sometimes, when a certain person is rather sensitive you should influence him gradually. Well, other arguments are being given to us – that, sometimes some drunkard might be a much better Christian than a righteous man can be. A strong will is necessary for a drunkard to become more righteous that a faithful person. There is a character in this man – he can fight with and he is stronger than a righteous man who does not have such an experience. When he sees them drink, the latter, not having such experience, might say: “I can solve the matter in another way as well.” While the other one – the drunkard - might say: “I tried and I overcame this vice so I can overcome another one also!” I don’t advise the young men to go to nightclubs and performances, because distorted and false things might obsess your minds. If I undertake to criticize all these dramas and tragedies from a psychological point of view how many of them might turn out to be true? Are they trustworthy? – No, they are not. There are things that seem true, but if I submit them to my criticism they will turn out to be untrue. Take for example the drama “Danton” and tell me if this is true? Its author has gathered these facts and has combined them in such a way that they give an impulse, but if they are to evolve in time they will not have any effect at all. When they see such dramas people often cry, while outside the theatre there are thousands of dramas: poor people are passing by, but no one is crying. I am asking you why inside the theatre they cry and outside the theatre no one cries? Because the actors are trained to present a lie, while in fact it is not real. But you might say that the drama was written like this – fine, but it depends on the actors – they are the persons who make others cry. So consequently from the occult point of view each drama should be true, i.e., we might have drama, but this drama should be composed in a specific way – it has to have some psychological aim and it has to produce a certain effect. So these authors did achieve something – I don’t mean to say that they don’t have some ambition, but the contemporary novels and dramas are not written by these occult rules. So when you go there to see these performances you should have an occult disposition of your mind and you should know what to accept and what to neglect. Even while you are listening to me you should be aware as to what to accept and what to neglect. Sometimes you are discussing some minor facts for a whole hour – I am talking to you about Love and you say: “We know what Love is.” I myself have been studying Love for so many years and yet I am still at the introduction of Love. I say for myself – I have barely got the introduction of this Love and you claim that you know it. In such case I would rather listen to you instead. Love is an alchemical law – when you feel Love you will know how to convert all the elements. And when you convert the elements containing your nectar there won’t remain any wall unbroken and there won’t remain any door unopened. For instance your friend might be in prison, but then there won’t be a prison that you can’t open, there won’t be any wrong which cannot be righted, and then facing Love any death will disappear. After you pass along the way with your magic wand you will do wonders – this is what Love is. And Christ carries this magic wand now; He says: “I was given the whole power in Heaven and Earth” and this power is the wand. And after He comes He will start waving with this wand and can you imagine what will happen? Whatever house he touches will be put to rights, whoever He touches – everywhere men will start to rise from the dead. Now you will take into consideration all this but you won’t become saints. I don’t want you to become saints just because of my words, I don’t want you to become perfect either, but I do want that seventy five percent of your gossip should stop right this evening and that only twenty five percent of them remain. Seventy five percent of gossip is unnecessary, so you should erase it completely; let only twenty five percent of the gossip remain. For if you don’t put into practice these two rules then how will you succeed? I intended to assign a task to you, but I cannot assign it to you as long as you have these weaknesses – the task might get vitiated, this is a small task. Up till next Thursday I will be constantly checking, to see if you have annulled the seventy five percent of the gossip and if I find out that you have annulled them, I’ll assign the task to you. But be careful – I don’t want any criticism in the Occult School. Let whosoever knows that much, come here, and I will put him here at the desk. Let whosoever that is so learned come here – I shall get down – we are ready to put him at my desk – let him come. If someone thinks that he knows so much; let him show his knowledge. There should not be anything in the secret room – you have Light, so turn to the Invisible world and the matter will be settled for you. And the relationships between you and me should be proper. The rule is: I must have one opinion only. I would say: “He is a good disciple, but he is careless, he doesn’t tell the Truth.” Why do you say that he is lazy? – Because no matter what task I assign him he doesn’t solve it; he is a good disciple but he is constantly dissatisfied – no matter what I do for him he is never satisfied. The surrounding people might encircle him and might do him all sorts of favours but he still goes on feeling dissatisfied. It can be like this –the same holds true for the disciple and for the Master. So now the general principle should be applied – you have to annul seventy five percent of your gossip. Now let me see if you have enough willpower to put it into practice. I mentioned the nightclubs and someone might say: “I know that someone has betrayed me.” There is no need to worry that someone has betrayed you because when you go to the nightclubs I can personally see you. And I can see what you are doing in these nightclubs – both men and women visit nightclubs. After that they say: “Our Master knows everything”, but then again they ask: “Who told you about the night-clubs? It means - you are not clairvoyant but someone has told you.” I see you, I see you in a very special way. The person, who has visited a nightclub, bears the stamp of the nightclub on his face, this is a truth. I do not enter in the Astral world, but I can tell such person why he has been at the night-club – there is a stamp on his face, the whole night-club is stamped on his face. And I can tell what nightclub he has been in and at what table he has sat and from what glass he has drunk and who else has sat at this table, I can tell him everything. His eyes are not soft but have a peculiar colour, his eyes are playful, and his eyes are roving as the eyes of a cat. And after he has been at a nightclub, his face acquires a different colour – each nightclub has a specific colour, each place of amusement has a colour. In each nightclub there live such evil spirits which exercise great influence upon your souls. Your souls and your hearts are not a toy, there exists a psychic force and it can carry you away as well. Now some of you might say: “Who might the person be who went to a night-club?” You don’t have to know who he is because one day you yourself might also go there. I have heard many persons say: “What nightclub might this be, let’s go and see what the matter is with it” – everyone likes to see what is happening there at the nightclub. In such a case it would be nice to send delegates there – three or four persons might go there and see what a night-club is and then read us a lecture entitled “What a night-club is like?”, so that the matter can be settled. Good, you are right, in the last resort it is preferable to send a commission composed of the strongest persons. So, we have a difficult task to solve, it is not easy for a man to cope with his own self, with his thoughts, with his feelings. We have a difficult task from the point of view of the law of heredity, from the point of view of the law of rebirth and of our pilgrimage in the world. It is a difficult task but it is a task that we can solve. And I believe that you are among the noble disciples that are unprejudiced, which have minds hungry for knowledge, which have noble hearts, which do noble deeds, which have an iron will, and who are ready to fight. And because of what I told you, you might draw your knifes out and make “So!” and the matter will be finished. You will not talk too much that this is the way we are thinking, instead you will all of a sudden make “So!” I want to clarify my relationships with all my disciples and friends – either your attitude will be an attitude of both disciples and friends, or we can’t have proper relationships. We must know each other – this is what the Brotherhood demands. An absolute purity, an absolute Light, an absolute Truth should reign among us! When I say Purity I mean that this should be our ultimate goal; when I say Light, I mean that this should be our ultimate goal; when I say Truth, I mean that this should be our ultimate goal – an ideal for which we should strive. Whether we will attain it is a different question, but it should be an ideal equal to all of us. Then we shall have an equal opinion upon this question and both you and I will think about this matter. And I believe that we will solve our task. A secret prayer I have never seen you so quiet as you are this evening – the silence is deathlike. This is a good sign. 1 Up till 1942 Chamkorya was the name of the mountain resort Borovets (ed.note). Source

Thought, Feeling And Action Year 1, Lecture 15 of the Youth Occult Class (Special Class) given by the Master Beinsa Douno June 7, 1922, Wednesday Sofia Secret prayer Each right thought is an image of a Divine idea. Human life begins with thinking. When a person thinks, he realizes that he is alive. In order to be alive, a thought needs to be combined with a feeling - this means that the thought comes down to the real world, to the world of form. In order for the feeling to be positive, it needs to be combined with an act of will. And by the word “act” we understand the final limit that Spirit reaches in each manifestation. Therefore, thoughts, feelings and actions represent the stations or stops of the Spirit. Thoughts are the first station of the Spirit, feelings are the second, and actions are the third station. The Path of Spirit is harmonious but only under the condition that no external influences interfere either in the thoughts, or in the feelings or the actions. How does a clairvoyant see thoughts, feelings and actions? In certain forms and colours. Often people get sick, they lose consciousness, etc. This seems abnormal to you. Indeed, these things are abnormal, but they happen due to disharmonious thoughts, feelings and actions. The lives of contemporary people are full of such abnormalities. Someone is sitting in reflection. His thoughts are clear, his feelings are calm and peaceful, so he says to himself that he is in full harmony. All of a sudden he thinks or feels something that is not compatible with his first thought and feeling, and great disharmony is born inside him. He loses his previous balance and begins to suffer. When higher beings from the Invisible world see him, what will they say about him? Therefore, when two opposite ideas or principles enter someone’s mind, they cause discordance in his consciousness, and each state of discordance deprives a human being of his Freedom. Everyone should know this: a human being's mind should never be penetrated by two opposing thoughts. Do the following experiment in order to test the accuracy of what I am saying. Each morning over the course of a month, send a positive bright thought to the same person, and then observe the result of this experiment. At the same time give a one-lev coin to a poor man every morning, also over the course of a month. At the end of the month compare the results of the two experiments. You will have better results in the first experiment than in the second one. Why? Because in the first experiment you've directed your positive pure thoughts to someone; they've come directly from you. In the second case, however, the coin you gave to the poor man has passed through many people, many hands before reaching his hand, and everyone has left an imprint of his thoughts on it. These thoughts are not all harmonious, so they create contradiction and discord in the consciousness of the man. Many coins from past centuries bear traces of the thoughts and feelings of the people of those ages. So when I say that many old ideas and thoughts should be replaced by new ones, I have in mind the forms of those thoughts coming from the Astral and the Mental world which have been engraved on the coins, i.e. engraved into human consciousness, as if on stereotyped blocks. These forms are impure and distorted. Money itself is not impure, but carries upon it the engravings of the past. Otherwise, as a symbol money represents the life of the conscious human being who thinks. When we say that we can live without money, we mean that those thoughts from the past of humanity that have created money should nowadays be transformed. Money today is the result of the human thoughts that created it. Having passed down through the centuries, such thoughts are now so debased that they have a negative influence on human life. Nevertheless, money is on everyone’s mind today. I am asking, why can't you live without money? Disciples should get rid of the thought that living without money is impossible. Money plays an important role in human life today, people consider it almost a primary factor in their lives. But if someone wants to travel around the world, he should put every thought of money out of his mind. He can go around the world without a coin in his pocket, this is what I call a disciple of the occult. Your pockets can be full of gold, but your mind and your thoughts should be absolutely free of money. And the opposite is true: you may not have a penny in your pocket, but your mind may be preoccupied with the thought of money. This is the idea I have in mind when I say that it is possible to live without money. Occult disciples of various schools have made numerous attempts to live without money for a certain period of time. You are still candidates, you haven't become disciples yet. First you should become believers and then you will become disciples. In order to become believers, you should do an experiment to see how long you will endure. However, it is only for those of you who are ready to do it consciously. The experiment is the following: try to live without money for a month. Those who are employees and receive salaries, as well as those who have other incomes, should consciously renounce their incomes and give them to the poor or to whatever cause they find appropriate, so that they will remain without any means. During this time you will work without thinking of money. Your mind will be concentrated on the Divine world and you will allow no fear about how you will spend the day. With the help of this experiment you will be able to observe the way Spirit works. Those who are ready to undertake this experiment should know that the deadline is twelve months from now. You should complete the experiment within this deadline. Doing it in a year from now will be useless. During this experiment, imagine that you are the poorest person on earth, that you have absolutely nothing and that there is no one to help you. Those who undertake this experiment should not share it with anyone, but keep it a secret. They should tell no one until they achieve some result. Some think the experiment will be easy, because they will eat at home and won't need money for food. No, that is no solution to the problem. In order to find the right solution, you should place yourself in the position of a person without money in an unknown, foreign city, such as New York or London. This person doesn't know the language and doesn't know anyone there. What will he do in this situation? He has no other choice but to go to work at the port as a stevedore, or to find some other job to earn his living. If you are a student and you eat in an inn, you can do the experiment in the following way: give all your money to others. When it is time for lunch, you will go to the same inn or to another one and ask the innkeeper to allow you to serve the guests at the inn, and for this you will receive lunch only. After lunch, do not think of having supper. Lunch is enough for you. Do not think of tomorrow either. Every day will bring you income, but you should rely mainly on your hands. Your work will provide you with lunch. If you cannot be a servant at the inn, then go to an entrepreneur and ask him for some work on a construction site – you can carry bricks or mix water with lime, etc. It is enough for you to earn your daily food. This is the only way to test how Divine law works. At the same time you will realize that besides physical life there is another one, a higher one, where everything is foreseen and thoughtfully distributed. From the very moment of birth everyone receives a predetermined credit that he can rely on. Outside of the physical world there are other laws that regulate our lives. Humans do not know these laws, so they think that everything is arranged according to the laws of the physical world. Due to this misunderstanding of modern man, evil has emerged. Humans strive for insurance because they think that everyone should take care of themselves, that no one knows what will happen tomorrow. Everyone wants to be insured, and that is why they save money, buy and sell land, but as a result thousands of kilograms of food decay and spoil, while at the same time in the cities hundreds and thousands of people die of hunger. I will tell you something else about this experiment: for those who are afraid of going hungry, it's better not to undertake it. However, if they do start the experiment and then find themselves in a difficult situation, they should come to me and I will help them out in one way or another. I will not allow anyone to fail. And if you think that a month is too long a period, then do the experiment for a week only. Those who live with their parents can also undertake the experiment by earning their bread, mainly through physical labour. Everyone can help their parents at home in order to deserve their bread. This experiment aims to free you from your fear of tomorrow. You should rely on that Great Law in the Universe that regulates all things. When disciples are given such experiments to do, they should interpret them not just literally, but according to their meaning and purpose as well. Someone who starts the experiment but cannot earn his daily bread might say: “It is all right, I will fast today.” No, this experiment excludes fasting. You should work at least one or two hours daily, expending that portion of your energy that can later be recovered with your food. Only in this way will you learn to rely on the Great Law that drives Life. This experiment is not so difficult – you can apply it for a week. The further you go into the Teaching the harder the exams become. You will be given tasks that will make you sweat several times daily. This is the Path of the disciple. The privilege of the disciple is that he or she will go through all of the difficulties and all the suffering consciously, in full knowledge of the reasons for the hardships. If you are not in the School, you will go through the same trials and tribulations, but you will not know the reasons for them. The privilege of the disciple is in the Light which he or she has. Consciously or unconsciously, one must go through the trials and difficulties of Life – they cannot be avoided. If you go through them unconsciously, you will encounter a number of contradictions; if you go through them consciously, you will receive the Divine blessing and you will know their purpose. If you endure suffering in this way, afterwards you will attain Joy and Peace in your soul. Now, as disciples of the Great School you should have a conscious and positive attitude to Life. In addition, our purpose is not to deprive you of suffering, but to teach you how to utilize it. Suffering is the greatest good you can be given in Life at present. Each experience of suffering is in its proper place and has its deep meaning. Why do humans suffer? – This is one of the mysteries of existence. When trials come, everyone should endure them without asking why they have come. When they go away, then everyone will understand them. Christ, the Great Teacher of humanity, subjected Himself to the greatest suffering that has ever existed in the world, without receiving an answer as to why He was suffering. Instead of an answer, He was crucified, He was pierced through His chest, so that blood and liquid dropped from it, and He was left to ask about the reason for this suffering. As He did not receive an answer, He said: “Let it be Your will, Lord!” Therefore, Christ too had to go through suffering, without receiving any explanation for it. He had to pass this exam. Now, after having suffered, you want to receive an explanation immediately. No, the understanding of suffering comes after you have overcome it, after you have passed the exam. Until that time you will think about it. When you come to a certain experience of suffering, say deeply within yourself: “This is the thoughtful Will of God! This is the Great Will of God! This is the Will of the Infinite Cosmos!” Any other understanding will plunge you into sin and crime. If, during the moment of suffering, someone comes to you and explains the reasons for it, he will cause you the greatest evil. Therefore, do not regret the suffering you are given. If you regret suffering, you should also regret the Love you are given. It is a Law: Joy and Love will follow each suffering. This law can be experienced. The greater the suffering, the greater the Love; if suffering is reduced, Love is reduced as well. Therefore, suffering is a measure of Love. Love gets increased mindfully; it comes gradually. Thus, suffering and Love move parallel to each other and play an equal part in the building up of the human soul. Secret prayer Go forward in Boundless Love! Source

Sunrise and Sunset Fourteenth Lecture by the Master, delivered to the General Esoteric Class on Friday, June 2, 1922, 8-9:30 p.m., Sofia Keep in mind that tonight we have not gathered here to sit at a laden table; that is, I have not called you here for a feast. This is not the time for a feast, nor is it the time for me to give you advice or instructions, but rather, it is a time for learning. Therefore, I want you to listen to me with your minds, to feel with your hearts and to use your willpower to apply what you have learned. The methods of the Esoteric School are different from all those methods that present day schools use. The various views we hold of Life depend on our environment. Say you found yourself 10-15 meters below sea level and looked at the world from that viewpoint, what would your views be? And then, how would you perceive things if you were to descend another hundred meters or another two, three, four hundred meters, and then went further down to a thousand or two thousand meters? As a result, the refraction of light would be different. Now, let us imagine the reverse process: how would you view the world if you were to rise above sea level and ascended into the air to a hundred meters, then two, three, four, five hundred meters, then you went further up to a thousand or ten thousand meters? What if you were to go up not a thousand meters, but ten thousand kilometers into the air? On the other hand, if we were to stand on Earth, it would act as a balancing force. Therefore, your perception of the world from the bottom of the ocean and from the highest atmosphere would be from two opposite poles of understanding: those of sunrise and sunset. Sunrise, this is up in the air and sunset is down below, at the bottom of the ocean. However, the analogy that I’ve made is not correct in all of its points of view, because our sunset is sunrise for others, and vice-versa, our sunrise is sunset for others. Henceforth, when your Sun is rising, your sunrise is sunset for someone else; and when your Sun is setting, others have a sunrise. Therefore, sunrise and sunset are relative notions, not an Absolute reality. At the place where we are now, there is sunrise and sunset. However, if you were a clairvoyant, there would be neither sunrise, nor sunset for you, for you would be able to see the Sun on the opposite end of the Earth even in the middle of the night, and so there would be no sunrise for you. Even the Earth would not move for you if you were a clairvoyant because movement exists only for those who move, and as such cannot register this movement; but for those who are able to register it, there is no movement. Because, if I move faster than a train, will there be any movement? Take the following example as clarification: imagine a point in the Universe that moves so fast that it is in all places in the cosmos at the same time. Well, if it is at all places at the same time, is there any movement then? Yes, there is movement, but it cannot be registered. How can you register it when it takes place simultaneously at all places? We perceive movement only when there is a certain relation between speeds. But if you have an absolute speed we regard this point as a constant. Now, in this world, unstable people are those who move rather slowly. Snails, for example, are quite unstable. You cannot count on a person who moves like a snail because as soon as he touches a leaf, he, like the snail, retracts his antennas and says, “This is not my kind of thing.” You, then encourage him by saying, “Listen, there are such and such laws; there exists order in everything,” and he pulls out his antennas again. However, as soon as he encounters the next leaf, he hides inside the shell and says, “There is no law here.” And this is how it goes: in and out, in and out. Why does this snail move? From an esoteric point of view we explain it like this: this snail has encountered obstacles on its way. And when you throw this obstacle into the train engine, the wheels start turning. Therefore, when the engine driver comes to this obstacle, he uses it. If he stopped every time he came to a certain point, there would be a waste of energy. However, the engine driver collects this energy, gives it a slope and the wheel starts turning. The engine driver has learned from the snail’s obstacles and says, “If you want to use misfortune for your benefit you should put this misfortune in a curvy line.” Why does the train move? Because of the snail’s mistakes; our trains are the mistakes of the snail. Often, when people travel from one town to another, there are accidents on the way, i.e. in this case the snail did not retract his antennas on time. Thus, the engine driver miscalculated the time and so he could not hide away in time, and then when the accident happens, all travelers jump out of their shells. Now I’m speaking of your consciousness, for it can be that of a snail. Since my last lecture was philosophical and critical, you now ask, “If this is not Love and if that is not Love, what is Love, then?” When I discussed Love, I had in mind your love as you express it now. I say that what you consider love is worth nothing; this is not Love. You ask, “If this is not Love, then what is?” I will tell you what Love is. Here is an example: let’s say that you have a bottle full of water. This water has been sitting for ten days and has started to smell; there are a number of tiny microscopic bugs swimming in it. I try your water and I say, “This is not water.” “What do you mean, this is not water? We just filled it from the tap.” “It might have been great water but this water today is not healthy.” I, then, take your bottle, pour out the water and you complain, ”This is outrageous! He emptied out our bottle!” Then I say to you, “Wait, come to my water tap.” I take the bottle, wash it out a couple of times; then I boil some water and scrub it inside with sand. “You will break the bottle,” you protest, but I tell you, “Wait a bit longer.” I then rinse out the bottle, I draw from the premium water and I ask you, “Do you remember how your water tasted?” “Yes.” I pour you some water and I give it to you. “Now drink from this water,” I say. This is the only way you could understand the difference between the kind of Love I’m talking about and the other one. You need to keep these two moments in your mind simultaneously and you need to be able to tell the difference between the reality of consciousness and the other reality that can be manifested. Sunrise is a moment in consciousness and this moment is only the initial one when the Sun comes up from behind the horizon. After the Sun has emerged fully, then this is not sunrise any more. Likewise, sunset is that initial moment when the Sun touches the horizon and then sinks below it. Once again, sunrise is the other moment: the moment when the tip of the Sun first appears, and then it lasts until the sun has appeared fully. Everything in between these two moments is neither sunrise nor sunset. Therefore, in your whole life you will have two moments: every day and every minute you will have either sunrise or sunset and those will consist not of hours but only of a few moments. And if you are able to fully comprehend these moments of your consciousness you will be able to think correctly because your sunrises and sunsets are different every time. Notice that in Nature, sunrises are never the same. For example, sometimes the horizon is not so clear and at other times it is very clear; sometimes you cannot see the sunset and at other times you cannot see the sunrise - these are all mathematically related. These sunrises and sunsets show the relations that exist inside our consciousness, for sunrise and sunset exist as a reality only in our consciousness. If you are not aware of this reality - that the Sun rises and sets - it won’t do anything for you. If the Sun is rising and setting, it is only for your consciousness and once your consciousness is able to perceive the rising of the Sun, then your mind, your heart and your willpower will take part in your consciousness. Therefore, your mind will dwell on the forms and the vibrations of this light that expands; your heart will dwell on the content, and your willpower will focus on the results that may ensue from the combining of the forms with the content. This is all philosophically put. Now you cannot see the relation between these two ends. I am explaining the sunrise and the sunset in relation to consciousness. I am explaining the fact of the expansion, the content, and the effects of the Light that penetrates into our consciousness. We perceive the Light that is manifested into our consciousness in a specific way. Presently, the extent in which you can comprehend Love is determined by your inner consciousness. Now, you often speak of love the way you perceive it now: you have a pleasant feeling here, in the solar plexus, or you have a pleasant feeling in the hypothalamus on top of your head. I am speaking only of these two centers, but nevertheless, this pleasant feeling is not very real, because this condition can change in a short while. I am telling you a sweet, kind, and harmonious word but we do not seem to understand each other, for the fact is that you are hungry, right? Now I will speak your language. You have been hungry for three days and you expect something, so I will tell you this: “Now I am going to apply the notions of sunset and sunrise to eating, because in eating, too, there is sunrise and sunset.” Imagine that you are poor and you have been eating only beans all your life. You are so sick and tired of it that even at the very mention of beans, you object, “Did God create all those beans just for me alone? I am tired of beans!” If you have been hungry for three days and I tell you, “There is roasted turkey,” then the turkey will be like a sunrise for you. “What about beans,” you say. Here, beans are your sunset. “Your day came to an end very quickly,” I say. In this case, the beans, in your mind, represent the sunset. If I said to you, “There is bread and a chicken roasted with lard,” you would say, “Excellent sunrise.” Then your day would be on the rise, and you would be joyful, right? I’m asking you this, why do the chicken and the turkey produce this joyful feeling in your mind and the very thought of the poor beans makes you say, “I wish it was something else.” Why are you unhappy with the beans? So then I say the following to your mind, “If you are tired, there is a turkey for you,” but I don’t tell you that there are beans. All right then, I mash the beans with a little butter and I tell you this, “I have meatballs here that were made with good meat.” However, when you eat this meat, it gets all mushy in your mouth. You sit at the table, start eating the turkey and the meatballs and you say, “Excellent meal!” I ask you, what is real here? In the first case I tell you the truth and I say, “You will eat beans,” and the second time I name the beans differently, and I say, “These beans were cooked with meat and butter,” and then you ask, “Was the meat veal, lamb or chicken? It was excellent!” Likewise, sometimes you cook bean meatballs from your actions in life and you tell yourself, “Do you know what great meatballs we have made, with such great meat?” However, all you really have is beans. But if I told you the truth, that it was beans; then you would say, “I know what kind of beans these are.” Modern philosophical systems, too, are made only of beans; those are bean meatballs they feed you, but they were fried in butter and cooked so well that everyone who eats them says, “These are excellent meatballs, they are very good. This is a great culture, a great science!” But those who know the Truth, would smile and say, “Yes, they are such excellent meatballs…” Therefore, we must be able, in our consciousness, to distinguish between the true Reality in the world and the transient one. For example, transient reality is when someone says, “There is God, there is future life.” This statement is a transient reality, because the person who says that there is future life has a distorted consciousness; he does not know what future life is. An occultist will never say that there is future life; instead, he would say this, “There is no future life, because, from a purely esoteric standpoint, if there was future life, it would be exactly like the present one.” However, if we take the word sunrise to mean expansion of our consciousness, and division, and expansion of the Divine life in us, then we regard sunrise in a wider context: we view it as reality. Because Life is one and cannot be limited; it is we who limit Life by saying that there is future life. Life is neither past, nor present, but is Life in itself. In our consciousness Life has sunrise and sunset for three and a half minutes; it only takes three minutes for sunrise. Do you know how many minutes it takes for a person to die? It is almost as much time as it takes for a person to be born. It takes a person’s consciousness the same time to awake as it takes for the sun to rise: three and a half minutes. The child is born and forgets again. And because there is sunrise, you think that the sunrise is getting born and you are happy for as long as it lasts in your consciousness. When this child is about to die, you see how the Sun is going down. There are some people who can live until midnight even after the Sun has set. After the Sun has gone down, they say, “We are going to die.” It is a fact that the Sun of those people who say, “We are going to die,” has already gone down. Therefore, from a purely esoteric viewpoint, you can be born prematurely and you can die prematurely; you can become rich prematurely and you can become poor prematurely; you can become healthy prematurely and you can become sick prematurely. Remember this fact, for all of this will remain in your consciousness. And when I say that we can do anything, it is true; we can do anything but all we need to do is leave the conditions of the earthly life. The clairvoyant, who can see the Sun in its path, has nothing to fear. And this Sun is the manifestation of the Divine in the world and into our consciousness. We are always able to see God. One of our friends who is here - I won’t mention his name - told me about an experience he once had. He said to me, ”I used to feel a light like that at sunrise. This light used to move before me. But this light has disappeared lately, it is gone.” He felt sad. Before he felt like this light would rise all the time and every time he would leave to go somewhere, the light would stream inside him all the time. This is the beautiful in Life. From an esoteric point of view, every mistake you make will cause your sun to set prematurely, and this is a great evil for your life. Even the smallest mistake will spin the wheel of your Earth and it will start moving faster. The Sun will set prematurely and it is then that all kinds of misfortune will befall you. And when I say that you should not make mistakes, this from an esoteric point of view, means that you should not let your Sun set. Once the Sun has gone down, all work comes to an end. Therefore, your Love will come to an end, too. Now, you have experienced this, at least when you love someone and feel a certain vibration in your solar plexus, combined with this tiny warmth in your heart. However, when you lose this warmth, you start suffering. A knot starts forming in your solar plexus and you feel cold; you feel hatred starting to form and you feel that the person you love is gradually moving away from you, and that you are moving away from him, too. This is the law of sunset: your friendship has set and the two of you are in the night of Life. Then the power of your mind wanes, and no matter how you pray or what prayer you say, you feel as if there is an icy layer above you and your prayer goes up only two feet above your head and descends right back down. What should you do then? I will tell you the law for this and I won’t use the same example I have given other people before. I will take snow as an example. Snow has a white gown; it is clean. Imagine that a person is like snow, but is cold. If you take a snowball and look at it, it is beautiful and white. You hold it in your hand and look at it: it is perfect, white and clean, but it is cold. Someone says, “May I be clean like snow.” All of you want to be clean and you sing, “May we be clean like snow,” but how are you going to be in Heaven? So, the snow that the Psalmist sings about is not your snow, because when we conduct an experiment and melt the snow, it loses its whiteness. Imagine that snow has its own consciousness and says, “What did you do to me? You have depraved me, for I used to be white and now I have lost my whiteness. You have ruined me.” This is a kind of consciousness. Then someone else comes who is like water and says, ”I am fluid like water, I can adapt to all conditions.” Modern people like adaptation and water will reach a balance in whatever position you put it; it will be pals with ninety-nine kings. Take a bottle, turn it on one end or the other and you will see that whichever way you turn it, the water will reach a balance: it will maintain the same position. This is an excellent example. But if we are like water, what will our life be like? As soon as there is a crack in your bottle, the water starts dripping away and disappears. Then when you look at the bottle you will find out that it is empty. Imagine that water comes to me like a vessel, like a bottle and tells me, “Listen, I am a thinking being, easily adaptable to all conditions. I never oppose anything; I am a very good person who holds nothing against anybody.” However, I take this water, I put it in my oven and I start heating it up, saying, “Yes, you are truly very good.” I heat it up, but then I see some steam coming out; its shape is changing because of the heat. It expands, rises up and comes out as steam. Water will then say to me, “You have changed my form and now I have no stability at all.” Now it looks at its relation to air and says, “I will reach God,” but as it goes up five-six kilometers it comes across a cold current and is corrupted again: it turns into hail, becomes condensed and falls back down to Earth, muddy and corrupted. Then it sinks into Earth, and finally, through great toil and turmoil, it comes up as a cold spring. A thirsty, suffering soul finds the spring, drinks from it and says, “What a beautiful spring this is!” But once this spring was white like snow, then it was fluid, adaptable like water; then it turned into steam, rose up into the air, hardened, fell down as hail and now, after having passed through all this suffering, it carries something new in itself and it says, “Brother, do you know what oven I had to go through to reach this condition as a clean and cold spring? I lost my cleanliness, I lost my fluidity, I lost my expansion, and then I turned into droplets, fell down and became muddy.” And you reply, “Oh, brother, this is all very well, very well.” “Yes, very well it is, but have you been in my condition?” And when we speak of the Love of a being, we should keep in mind that in order for it to express what we consider Love, this being must pass through nine hundred and ninety-nine million forms. Make a note of this: only after it has passed through nine hundred and ninety-nine million forms can it express the smallest Love. And when you have this smallest experience of Love, it will be like a spring for you; it will be the most pleasant feeling you will ever feel. At first you will feel it only for two and a half or three minutes, and then it may disappear for the rest of your life. And then, like a novel written on a white piece of paper, you will reminisce and say, “There was so much joy, so much happiness, such bliss in those two and a half minutes!” Anything may happen after that: you may become a king, you may have feasts laid out before you, or people may give you money, but these two and a half or three minutes will be the crown of your whole being, and you will say, “I have never had anything like those two and a half or three minutes!” They will be the head and all your life will be included in these three minutes. And we go through all our life only so that we can have these three little minutes. Where are the three minutes? They contain a whole eternity. And do you know that it takes the effort of all infinite eternity in order for Love to be manifested in its smallest form. Love can be manifested only through the effort of all eternity, for it needs this impulse so that Reality can pass through all these forms. And do you know now if you are disciples or proselytes? This thought is so grand that you should keep thinking about it at all times. It is a grand thought, indeed, so grand that it takes a whole eternity to be able to comprehend this profound and meaningful concept. It takes a whole eternity to understand these three minutes and this eternity means that you need to have a sunrise and a sunset. If the sunrise is faultless, the sunset will be faultless, too. If the sunrise is faulty, the sunset will be faulty, too. Your understanding of things will depend on the basis on which you build when you enter the Esoteric School. For example, some come here to study, but what they really hope is to learn some secrets. No, they will not learn any secrets, for I tell no secrets. You will need a whole eternity to learn the secrets you want to learn. Therefore, no one can take away our secret in only one day or one hour. What do these people study, I ask? You will not learn anything this way. But he, who enters with a pure heart in search of God and Love, will be able to understand a lot. And so, it is my wish now for everybody to rise like the Sun. I am saying this to the young ones; I call young those who are rising and the old, ones who are setting. But now you, the young ones, may say, “You should know that we are the ones rising.” However, once the old ones were in your place and they, too, used to say, “We are the ones rising.” Some day other young ones will come in your place and will say, “We are rising.” I ask you this: if you think like this, what is your definition of Life? You will say, “We rise correctly,” and the old ones will say, “We set correctly.” You should shake hands now, as Life will not come to an end, because when the young ones come to your place, the wheel will turn and then your Sun will rise and their Sun will set. Then, if your sunset was faultless, your sunrise will be faultless and if their sunrise was faultless, their sunset will be faultless, too. These two sunrises have nothing to do with your present suffering, of course. You may say, “This is all good, but what can we do now; we are suffering?” Here, in the Esoteric School, there is no place for sick disciples. He who is sick cannot be a disciple, a believer, or a proselyte. I would like for you to give me a piece of paper so that we can make a list of all those who are sick in the School. Here we have hospitals and doctors, and we will send all of you who are sick for a course of treatment and then you can come back afterwards. We have special hospitals and special doctors for the esoteric disciples and when you go to our doctors they will prescribe for you their own system of treatment. And here, in the School, I can see your thoughts, “This teaching is good but we have difficulties in our life.” The difficulties in your life are a blessing for you. The greatest blessing for a disciple of the Esoteric School is to have difficulties and to have great difficulties, at that! Then he passes for a hero. If there are no difficulties, then he is neither a proselyte, nor a believer. The first thing is this: if you have difficulties, you are disciples; if you have no difficulties, then you are done. The math students in the university have such difficult problems and they go up to the blackboard so many times and try to solve the problems one way or another. If you look at an astronomer you will see that he watches out for the minute, for the second when the comet will pass; he observes so closely and has such difficulties, such worries. You sit here and say, “God is good; when the Spirit comes upon us, everything will happen the way God says.” This is a childish view; God has already done and made everything that he wanted to do or make: I can see this in everything that exists. The question is; do we learn everything that God has made and done? “God can do anything.” Now, as I live, I know that God has made the body that I have. You might say, “Do I understand what God has made, do I know the laws; am I open to the knowledge that He has instilled; does His Word enter my consciousness; do I rejoice in His deeds and in His thoughts that are sent down by His Spirit?” “God is great,” you say, “He has made the Sun!” Have you ever explored the Sun to find out about its Essence? Can you visit on the Sun? An esoteric disciple of a third degree - not of a first or a second, but of a third degree - can go to the Sun. You may say now, “I am the first candidate!” You are like that American who calculated that it is possible to throw a grenade on the Moon. He measured the length of the grenade, then the space and also the slope, as he wanted to find out how long it will take for the grenade to fall on the Moon. He made his exact calculations, collected some money, found two candidates and chose one of them to enter the machine and go to the Moon. Now, you, too, as soon as you hear me talk about the Sun - lo and behold! – you are candidates to go to the Sun. This is not the way to go to the Sun. If you can transform your consciousness and if you can acquire, after nine hundred and ninety-nine trials, the smallest form of Love, you will be visitors on the Sun right away. The residents of the Sun will welcome you and when you come back you will be happy and with a grin on your face and you will say, “The Sun is an excellent place!” And you will know the reason for how and why this Light streams incessantly and what this Light means; you will know the language of Light. But you should know that in order for all of this to happen, a transformation of consciousness is necessary. You need a transformation, a change inside your consciousness in order for your mind, your heart and your willpower to be a part of your soul. Therefore, the Esoteric School is not a School for consoling people, but is a School for studying the great unchangeable laws of Existence and of God’s manifestation. It is within those laws that our Life develops evenly and harmoniously. Therefore, only through the expression of such Love will we be able to be in conscious contact with that Being which permeates the cosmos, i.e. we will be able to be in conscious communion with God. And only after going through nine hundred and ninety-nine million forms, will we be able to hear the smallest voice talk to us. And, like in the book of Job that I quoted earlier, when we hear this smallest voice we will understand why we live on Earth. As soon as you understand why you live on Earth, this same Earth will stand before you right away like a living being and it will not be the old Earth, for the old Earth will have disappeared. And then, everywhere you go on Earth, you will bring a different moral: when you walk on this being, you will do so delicately and you will say, “This being is so mighty and gracious.” You will, then, make sure you do not cause this being any shock or pain and you will walk on it the same way you walk in a friend’s house. Of course, this Earth is related to our consciousness. Only when we start thinking this way, will the young and the old be able to live well. And now, because of our limited consciousness, everyone says, “I will live the way that suits me best.” I ask then, does this rule give you good results? Would Life have any meaning if all of us lived the way that suited us best? No, it would not. “So that I can live!” If you take the word “I” to mean the Divine inside you, then it is good to live according to the law of the Self, the law of consciousness. But if you take the word “I” to mean that you can use the temporary comforts of this limited life, then you have a wrong understanding of Life. Take, for example, a living example from your life: you have a son, you bring him up, educate him, send him to school and church, and this child grows up beautiful and obedient like his father and mother. The parents expect a lot from their son and they say, “Our little boy is very intelligent. He does great at school; he is diligent and earns excellent grades.” However, when he turns 17-18, he starts growing a little moustache and starts pushing his lips. Earlier, he would listen to his mother and ask her, “What can I do for you, Mother?” then he would take the water jug and go to the well for water. However, as time passes, he starts becoming absent-minded and his mother notes, “Our child has a new habit of pushing his lips every now and then.” Why does this boy touch his lips? I will not discuss the meaning of this gesture, for it is a secret that I am not allowed to divulge, but this little boy says, “I saw a young girl, I feel like wooing her.” How does he do that? By pulling one side of his moustache. Should it be the right side or the left side? He pulls it to one side, then he says, “I will pull both sides,” and then twists up his moustache. Then he thinks, “No, no, it’s better when it’s pointing down,” and then he looks at himself again. All of you here, young and old, have done this. There isn’t a single one of you who has not done this, be it consciously or unconsciously. The young ones are doing this right now. Someone wants to steal a certain young woman and he goes to her and says, “Listen, we will live together. I am very noble. Your old folks do not live well but when you live with me you will have all the comforts.” And he starts enumerating, “You will have a house, you will have this and that, we will live in the Kingdom of God like Angels.” “Really?” she asks. “Really, really,” he answers, “Don’t look at how your parents live for they are ignorant and they do not know, but see, I, on the other hand…” and he tugs on his moustache. All right then, they get married and what happens next? Nothing but the same old, fashionable lie, for they end up living just like her parents have lived. A man, who twists his moustache like that, cannot live well. Anybody who twists his moustache up cannot live well, no matter how hard he tries. I am not talking about your personal life but I am trying to explain a psychological point about consciousness. I do not know why and for what purpose, but this young man thinks about his moustache every day. Now, the young woman, too, starts raising her eyebrows and stroking them before the mirror. She tells him, “You should know, sweetheart, I am not like my mother. I am from a different culture. I will do this and that,” but she, too, does not speak the Truth. Those who stroke their eyebrows, too, cannot live well. The moustache and the eyebrows are two symbols, two metaphors. I will explain in some other way why he says, “Right or left?” This rule talks to itself like this, “I will speak the Truth to him if he touches his right eyebrow." Then, if he touches his left eyebrow, it says, “Why don’t I say a little lie to him? Some darkness won’t hurt; I can tell a little bit of Truth and a little bit of lie and that is how life goes.” For example, sometimes the young woman makes her eyebrows look thicker and sometimes she wants them thin; then she says, “Oh, this is no good and that is no good. Oh, oh!” This is no laughing matter; this is a psychological law. Sometimes you say these same things to yourself, but if you understand the law of your consciousness, you may be able to see and use things differently. In that case, a change of consciousness takes place, as well as a change in your heart, your mind, and your will, and if you have a correct grasp, you will be able to use the moment; if not, all these favourable conditions in Life will pass and you will say, “We were not successful in our work.” I am not saying that this is bad, but you should know that every tug leads to certain consequences. And the same law is at work when the young man puts it in his mind to stroke his moustache. Back in time, before the fall of man, when the original man stroked his moustache to the right or left, he also pronounced a certain formula, he pronounced certain words: particular words for when he stroked his moustache to the right and other words for the left. The young woman, too, has to pronounce certain words. And now, you do not pronounce any formulas. For example, if you are to pronounce the word Love, how are you going to pronounce it? The word Love has its key. First, you need to put in the key, then you need to prepare yourself, and only then will you pronounce the word Love; only then will it have a meaning. Another time, when you are to say the Truth, you will need to put in the key first: the key of Truth. All things have their own key and when you use it, these things will be understood in your mind. Now, I cannot cover everything because there are proselytes here. And who do we call proselytes? Once, in England, there used to live a very eloquent preacher. He was so eloquent that his entire audience, the rich and the poor, would be so captured that they would forget about everything. A thief, whose trade was not going very well, heard about this and thought to himself, “I will pretend to be a worshipper and then I will sit among these enraptured ones so I can fill up my pocket. I will have a great profit." So he goes there and sits with the rest. The preacher starts speaking, everybody is enraptured, and so is the thief. When the sermon was over, the thief thought to himself, “I missed the moment.” He left but vowed to himself, “Next time I will not become enraptured. I need to exert some willpower. I am a pickpocket and so I should not be enraptured but I should be feeling their purses, instead.” However, the second time, he became enraptured again, and so he did the third time, too, and so, finally he thought to himself, “I will not go to this devil any more, because I will lose my trade.” Likewise, when God’s Spirit starts talking eloquently like this inside you, you too, will become enraptured in the Divine Truth and so, if an evil spirit comes to you, he too will become enraptured and will say, “I should not go to his gathering because I will lose my trade.” And when he leaves, you will be free. The first thing an esoteric disciple needs is to have an eloquent preacher in himself, and when this preacher speaks, then the disciple’s mind, heart and willpower will lose themselves in this poetic expression, in this loving speech that comes out of the preacher’s mouth. And so I say to all who are in the Esoteric School: every one of you should express their nature freely, the way God has made you. And I do not want you to change; I want you to be the way you are but I want you to have an eloquent preacher in yourselves. And when your preacher speaks, you should be happy with him. I call this preacher the Spirit of great Life in all Existence. You can call him any way you like, but he is the Spirit of Life in all Existence. He can speak at any time, but in order for him to speak, a mind, a heart, and willpower are necessary. Not wilfulness, not a cruel heart, not a misunderstood mind, but a mind filled with Light is necessary, and a heart filled with Purity, and a will filled with power to put everything into practice. Now, you, the young ones, can test my words tonight by touching your moustache. Do not laugh. If you laugh that means that you have not understood this matter; you should be very serious. Think about why you want to stroke your moustache. The old ones, too, sometimes put their fingers on their moustache. Stop and think for a minute why you have grown a moustache, what was the original cause of this, why were you given a moustache. You can give yourself whatever answer you would like. And think also about why you were given eyebrows. You may not solve this problem, but some thought or some light is bound to come out of your thinking about it. Consequently, this eloquent preacher will give you a wise interpretation. Do not share it with anyone, but keep it for yourself. And so, I want all disciples who enter the Esoteric School to be rising like the Sun, because the School of Light is a sunrise for us. The Order of Light represents a sunrise, and the Order of Darkness represents a sunset. Now, I group you like this: if you are setting, you are with the Order of Darkness; if you are rising, you are with the Brotherhood of Light. The Brotherhood of Light is always rising; the morning is their time. The Brotherhood of Darkness is always setting. Therefore, we need to have an understanding of these two moments of Life. If we say, “You have risen,” then you are of the Brotherhood of Light. If we say, “You have set,” then you are with the Brotherhood of Darkness. We know that there is no sunset in the Brotherhood of Light, and if someone says that his Sun has risen, then we know that he is from the Brotherhood of Light. Now you see what enormous difference there is in the esoteric view. The Sun’s setting shows that you are on the wrong path, and you should, therefore, turn your consciousness into the direction of the sunrise. Now, in saying that the old ones are setting, I made a differentiation. When I say young, I mean the Order of Light, and when I say old, I mean the Order of Darkness. This is a symbol: the old, in getting older, represent the Order of Darkness, but they represent it in form and not in content. They resemble the Order of Darkness in their life and so they must pray. When a man gets old, he becomes decrepit and is in a sour mood. When he sees a young one play, the old one wrinkles his brow and says, “What is this fool making all this racket for?” When the old one sees the young one push his way around, he says, “Keep your hand away from me, do not do this in front of me, for only I know this art; you should not learn it,” and in saying so, the old one is moralizing the young one. No, this is not right. Instead of acting this way, the old one should say to himself, “I used to be like him once,” and now he has moved to the left. The old one should not become angry. Therefore, we should always be young; we should never judge others. And when the Scriptures say, “Do not judge,” it means the following: everyone who judges becomes old and nothing more - this is the rule. Show me one person who judges and has not become old. He, who judges, becomes angry. This is not right; this is misunderstanding things. This is sliding down. Both the anvil and the hammer that beats incessantly on the anvil wear out in the process and no one gains anything. And the beautiful in Life is this: to think only about the great goods that God has created and to endeavor to be as wise and loving as God. And let us leave He who is all-wise to put Life in order. Because when we say that we live by God, we should do this not only passively, but we should rectify our life. A brother of yours may say, “I am rich; I have an income of ten thousand leva.” Some other brother somewhere else steals one or two thousand leva and people say, “One of the Brotherhood of Light did it.” Well, he is not a Brother of Light, but a Brother of Darkness if he stole ten or twenty thousand leva. Then I say, “Here, take this money, brother. I will even give you interest on it, how much do you want?” Then we will pay honestly, for there is no lie in us. Now, how many of you are ready to pay for someone else? I do not know. Those, who are outside, pay for their brothers who are in the School. And then, there are others, who, when they hear that someone else is paying, demand, “Let him pay for me, too.” No, no, I am pointing out an internal principle. This is a state of mind. Let us all be so loving in our souls, so as not to criticize anyone, because if we criticize, that means that the Spirit is not in us. All of you have experienced this: he, who has sinned and criticized, has lost their Spirit. When you make the smallest criticism in your soul, you will lose your Spirit; the Spirit will be extinguished by all means. And now, one of you who has experienced this, even in the smallest form, should say if this is true or not. Therefore, should the Spirit start speaking in you, you should pay attention. You should aspire for the higher, you should have a correct understanding of the Divine law and you should have no negative thoughts. Then the Spirit in you will explain everything to you and you will evolve with each day and will pass from one glory to another. I demand this of all who are young. I consider all of you young. Why? Because I count you towards the Order of Light; for all, whose consciousness has awoken, are from the Order of Light. Under the present conditions, all those whose consciousness is awake, should belong to the Order of Light. The old is an emblem of the Order of Darkness. The Order of Darkness is not bad in itself, but in Life these two orders do not follow one and the same principle; they do not follow the same laws. They have their own laws according to which they progress and acquire knowledge. Those in the Order of Light, who want to show the slightest levity, have lost the best conditions of Life for thousands and thousands of years and have no good conditions today. There was a time in the evolution of humankind when it was an honor to be in the Order of Darkness. Back then, the Light ones were setting and the Dark ones were rising. Now it’s the reverse process: now it is an honor to be in the Brotherhood of Light and it is a dishonor to be in the Brotherhood of Darkness. And now you, being disciples of the Esoteric School, should consider it a great privilege and an honor to be members - proselytes, believers or disciples - of the Great Universal Brotherhood of Light, which comes to introduce the New culture in Life. And, as such, you should prepare not in the future, but you should be preparing right now, already. You can start today, or tomorrow, or the day after, for you have the conditions to work; work quietly, silently, and wisely to put the Divine Laws into practice. You will work the way Light works. (The Master collects all the notes.) Now, I have paid you, therefore I can keep these notes for myself. Are you content? If someone isn’t, I can pay him some more, i.e. I will spend more time with him individually. Some of you have not signed your names on your papers. Those of you who have not signed, should do so, otherwise your wish will not come true conscientiously. See how you wanted to outsmart me, but I outsmarted you in the end. I caught all the trickery of the disciple, and in this case, I have backed you into a corner. So, you did not trust me completely and that is why you did not sign your name. Yes, this is not an accusation, but trickery. The facts say that there is no signature, right? Now, I will let you sign and correct your mistakes. I will not give you back your papers but I will make a deal with you: I will give you your old papers when you bring me the new ones, but I need them signed with your names. The intensity of thought everyone exerts in writing the papers will indicate for me if the work has been signed or not. (The Master picked out a paper and read.) He wants good for the entire humankind, and wants nothing for himself, and so we will fulfill his wish. It is all right, this is not a great mistake, but I need a signature of some kind. I do not mean a signature literally, but I mean it in essence. In other words, when one writes something and is afraid that others might know his thoughts, then this is the fear of the physical plane. However, when one writes something in order to express oneself, then those sentences are dedicated to the willpower, i.e. he has signed and these sentences will contribute a great deal; such sentences will live on. Now I will revise your work and I will give you explanations. I will read them over and I will see in what direction your thought was going. These psychological intentions will be interesting for me. I will take my time to turn over every leaf separately; I will read them over individually. It will take me at least three months to look over your papers but your wishes will come true in due time and space. Some wishes will come true in a year, others in two, and some in three years - it all depends. Generally speaking, everything comes true. When will they come true is a question, an esoteric problem to solve. Source

May Christ Descend to Explain to You Life has two sides: one side is the actor’s life and the other side is the worker’s life. The actor works at night while the worker works during the day. The first one uses the night and the second one, the day. Therefore, the result will not be the same because life develops under different conditions. At night, the actor doesn’t have the light, and the worker, who works during the day, has conditions for a righteous life. And so, I divide you into two kinds: actors and workers. Here, in the Esoteric School of the Brotherhood of Light, we need no actors. The Brotherhood of Light excludes the life of the actor but accepts workers. I regard those of you who are married as workers on God’s field, but some of you want to play the part of the actor. You do not yet know what Divine Righteousness means. In this Esoteric School the laws for the workers are just as strict as the laws for the actors. Now, I ask you, have you fulfilled your duties as workers? I want of you, the married ones, to take a look at your work, your fields, your gardens, your springs, your cattle, your sheep; to take a look at your houses to see if they are painted, to check your homes and see if they are cleaned out. What is the condition of these co-workers of yours? You need to know this because you are workers. Many of you, the married ones, want to have more privileges but fewer duties. You want to postpone the payment of your debts but in the Divine book there are no postponements of debt payments. This can only happen by Grace. One needs to be patient and wait for some greater Being to help, but don’t think that you will be granted help just like that. You pass as married and, consequently, you want to preach to the young ones. You think that when you leave these fields, the young ones will come onto them after you. What will they find? I speak both in literal and figurative terms. These are some reflections that you need to think over. The Brotherhood of Light suggested that it is my duty to tell you these things tonight. And they, the Brothers of Light, will hold you liable for your fields, for your sheep, for your houses and so on, and so forth. You, who are doubtful (and there are such among you), will know for sure within a year if we are from the Brotherhood of Light or not. Christ is at the head of the Brotherhood of Light. And when he decided upon this injunction, he asked the head and the head gave its consent. God is this head. Thus, all aspects of this matter have been covered. Therefore, you, the married ones, are required to willingly fulfil God’s Law. I do not need to tell you what to do; you will do your work according to your own understanding and as you wish, as your souls wish. When someone’s soul makes a wish, it creates an imprint in this person’s consciousness for the future fulfilment of this wish. This consciousness comprises three great forces: the mind, the heart and the will. Our going into the other world always means a transformation in our consciousness from one form into another. This is the expanding of one’s consciousness. You will understand things differently on different levels. Therefore, Christ descends into the souls only when the consciousness of people expands. For example, when I speak to the married ones, you say, “When the Master said such and such words; he must have had me in mind.” If you say that, it means that you have not understood my words. I am trying to explain the external side of things; I, being a worker, am trying to clean up as a worker because only then will Christ descend. I want your consciousness to expand so that Christ can descend upon you and clarify the things that no human mind or thought can explain. I ask you, married ones, when it comes to your consciousness, what role models are you for the young ones, for your children? Are you doing your part in expanding the young ones’ consciousness so that Christ can come to live in them and to explain to them what Life is and how they should live? You say, “God can do anything.” This is not a philosophy; this means nothing. A father’s blood only runs strong when it enters the veins of the son and flows according the same laws. If it does not flow, the results will be different. Now, many of you are a part of the Brotherhood and come to these lectures only so that your problems can be fixed. You come here as if you were coming to a theatre; you come here expecting a treat after which you leave and say, ”You are not what you are.” You have not understood yet what we are. Thousands of years shall pass before you understand what we are. We are those who expand every man’s consciousness so that Christ can descend and explain the Truth of Life. And this Truth has to be such as to allow for the coming of the Divine Consciousness so that the Law of God’s Love can be manifested throughout the Universe. What could be better than this! With this Truth we can do our work. However, you say, “Lord, have mercy!” How can God have mercy on you if you have not expanded and elevated your consciousness so that Christ can come down and explain to you what you are doing wrong? The mistakes and the temptations are inevitable and if Christ does not come down into your consciousness, these mistakes will create a life of disharmony and all of you suffer from this disharmony. Is there anyone who is not suffering? I always use the following example to explain the methods of the Brotherhood of Darkness and the methods of the Brotherhood of Light. The Brotherhood of Darkness has dark adepts who come down to earth and say, “I’m a shoemaker. I have a special mould for shoes. If you buy my shoes you will remember me forever.” This reminds me of something that happened to me once when I was in Yambol. I was visiting a shoemaker who told me that he loved listening to my lectures. He wanted to make me a pair of shoes so that I would remember him. Indeed, I remember him to this day. If you put your feet in the shoe moulds of the Brotherhood of Darkness, they will make you special shoes that you will never forget. First, they will maim all of your virtues. If you put your foot in that mould, your virtues will inevitably get crippled and you will suffer a lot unless the Brotherhood of Light comes to help you pull your foot out of the mould. Do not offer your feet to the dark brothers to put them in their shoe mould. I am not explaining everything to you now but I will dedicate a special lecture to explain to you everything about this mould. Furthermore, you, the married men and women, do not live the way you should. This is not acceptable to the Brotherhood of Light. Now, if the married ones want to live the way the world lives they can do this out there, in the world, but once they have committed to the Brotherhood of Light, then they will see that there are excellent rules here. You do not yet know how to live. But you can learn these rules. Men and women, all should live according to the Law of Love! Every work done according to the Law of Love is sacred, and without Love it is a crime. If you ask me what is right, I will tell you, right is what is done by Love. I call Love that feeling, which is above all other feelings. When this feeling enters you, you will never frown. Love should be perceived as Man, but not one that is vested in flesh. This is how Love should be perceived. Men should perceive it that way too. I say this to you, the women whom Christ has wed; and to those who Christ has not wed, I have nothing to say. What I mean when I say, married by Christ, is that your consciousness should expand so that Christ can come in and explain everything to you. If this doesn’t happen, you will have such a rigid understanding of things that you will make me wonder from where you get your ideas. Paul once said, “Compete in paying respect to each other!” How? In order to compete in this, you will need to experience a change in your consciousness. You will need someone to learn from. If our mother doesn’t teach us, then how are we going to know? This law is true: one consciousness gets expanded by another consciousness. If your consciousness does not get in contact with another consciousness, it cannot expand; if a mind does not commune with the Divine Mind, it cannot expand. I have noticed a great disharmony in our Brotherhood. I can put up with these things, but you can be sure that this disharmony is not pleasant to me. Now, you may cry, but I don’t want your tears. What I want is for Christ to come into your consciousness and expand it. What I want is for Christ to manifest himself through you. My wish is for Christ to live in you. The happiest day for me will be the day when I see that Christ lives in your consciousness. You can be certain that this will be the happiest day of my life! You might ask, “How will this happen?” There are two ways: some fish are caught during the day, and other fish, at night. Is there any difference? Christ has defined this law: you shall love while it is day! A night is coming when no one will be able to work. Therefore, in order to expand your consciousness, you will need to work, not act but work, during the day. I have decided that in our Esoteric School you should work through experiments. We will begin with the smallest ones and they will gradually follow one after another. But in order for you to progress through the experiments, you need an expansion of your consciousness; you need to experience a change from within. Only then will these rays of spiritual consciousness come to you and create favourable conditions for the seeds that have been planted in you for thousands of years so that you can achieve good results. Have you achieved good results with your present thoughts? You are unhappy because you are missing the most essential thing: your consciousness has not yet expanded and Christ has not yet entered your mind to explain everything to you. He is making efforts to get to you but because you are not ready, all you can get out of his efforts is temporary moods where you feel elevated but then you are down. When you, in turn, make efforts, they will be futile unless you let Christ into your consciousness and unless you let the Divine Love into your consciousness. It will not be easy to achieve the expected results. Don’t think that the transformation of one life into another is easy. So much artistry and knowledge is needed in order to transform a plant into the form of an animal! If you only knew that, you would have pondered upon it seriously, but right now, you reckon that this transformation happens easily. No, it does not happen easily. The Spirit of God that is working within you will accomplish everything; my talking to you alone won’t do it. Christ needs to come in and then the Resurrection will come - the Resurrection that implies a New Life in new forms. “You will rise from the graves.” But not if you are the same way as you are now; if you eat and drink the way you do now. Don’t think that these things will continue the same way as they are now. No, there won’t be even a trace left of what is now, of this present form! Certain principles may remain, reminding one of, reminiscent of the old, but we will be completely transformed. Someone may say, “The present conditions of life are in my way.” No, they cannot be in your way! I talk about those disciples who are dedicated. But you are not yet completely dedicated disciples. There are several categories of disciples: listenerproselyte-disciples, believer-disciples and disciple-disciples. The first kind of disciple has certain duties and rights; the second one, too, has certain duties and rights, but the third one is above all the rest. What the disciple does, the listener proselyte doesn’t have to do and vice versa. And everyone should look at Life according to his level. If he is a listenerproselyte, he has certain duties and certain rights and you cannot ask him why he does what he does. And if the listener proselyte asks the believer, “Why are you doing this?” the latter will respond, “When you get to where I’m at, you will know why I live and work this way.” God does not have to inform us why He does this or that. He will say, “When you pass through these seven fires, so that I can purify you, you will know.” He will give you absolutely no other explanation. Job, too, asked the Lord but He said nothing. But after Job passed through the fire seven times, then God called and said, “Come, talk to me now.” And Job said, “I have heard of You from others and I have committed many sins, but because I saw You now, I will not speak nonsense.” One of you may be in Job’s situation to ask, “Lord, how much longer will I have to suffer and for how much longer will I be in debt?” God says nothing. Do not think that your deliverance will come from your friends, nor from your enemies. If you think that, you are wrong. Your deliverance is in the following: you need to expand your consciousness and let Christ in so that he can explain to you the fact. If this happens, you will be delivered; if this does not happen, this fact will haunt you all the time, like some demon causing you mischief. Now, some people come to me and ask me why this and that happens. Today someone came to me and asked me, “Do you know what these disciples of yours are doing? Why don’t you correct them?” I told him, “I cannot tell them anything because we all live according to the Law of Freedom.” “Well”, he said, “How about discipline? Is there no such thing?” “No, there isn’t.” “But you can enforce some discipline”, he said. Afterwards, he invited me to visit him at home. Then I told him, “I will not come to your home.” “Why?” he asked. “If you want me to come to your home”, I told him, ”You need to expand your consciousness and let Christ in, i.e. let the Love in. You are just like my disciples; you, people, are the same: you want to lure me into your trap. Neither you nor they are disciples of Christ. Here is what I say, we have one great law - we want to live and understand Life in a different way and we want to make it right. You may say, “Do you know what our Master is doing?” But you are not responsible for me. Other times you say, “Is it fitting for him to wear yellow shoes and a white hat? And then, white coats are for children, he needs a black one.” But what is it all to you? You care about insignificant things when what should really matter to you is what is in my mind, my heart and my will. You can wear whatever clothes and shoes you want to but what matters to me is your mind, your heart, your will and, most of all, your soul and the presence of Christ in your soul. I know that you need to work on these things until your life acquires a true meaning. Only then will we understand each other properly! Sometimes it is a blessing to be a teacher, and other times, it is a blessing to be a student. A day will come when you will understand the relationship between the Master and the disciple. God will explain this relationship to you. And my wish is for you to be one of those blessed disciples. Some of you are seeking deliverance, you want for the Divine Sun to open up so that you can enter. The deliverance will not happen that way. Your deliverance will come when you open your consciousness to let Christ in. Then you will be truly delivered. Then all external circumstances, which are binding you now - poverty and everything else - all of this will become harmonized and you will see Life in a new light. Now, there is another thought in your mind; you think, “If we don’t finish this work today, we can do it some other day.” No, you must work now! Let’s say, for example, that you are an owner and I am a worker. You hire me to cultivate hoe your vineyard but, instead, I spend the day counting the posts dead vines and in the evening I tell you how many of them there are in the vineyard. On the second day, I go out in the vineyard again, but, instead of cultivatinghoeing, I count how many canes there are and I calculate how much fruit they will yield. On the third day I count how many leaves of grass there are and so on. In the end, I tell you, the owner, that I have finished the job. You think that the vineyard has been cultivated hoed and you pay me, but when you go out to the vineyard and take a look at it, what will you think? I’m sorry to tell you this, but this is how you are working on God’s field right now: instead of cultivating hoeing the vineyard, you are counting the posts dead vines and the vine stickscanes. I do not mind your counting the posts dead vines and the sticks canes and the leaves of grass, as long as you cultivate hoe around the vines, as well. Acting is one way to work, the second way requires that you cultivate hoe the vineyard first and, once that is done, you can count the postsdead vines, the sticks canes and the leaves of grass. What you do now is you come to me and say, “Our vines won’t grow.” Yes, they won’t grow because you, my disciples, won’t dighoe. So, here is my solution to the problem, you have the statistics, you have counted the postsdead vines, the sticks canes and the leaves of grass. Then I will get the hoe, and will cultivate hoe the vineyard. If you have cultivatedhoed, then I will do the counting. There are Masters out there who only count the posts dead vines and the vine stickscanes. If you cultivate hoe the vineyard, things will even themselves out. This is a method, an allegory you can use for future work. (Note to the editors, explaining all the corrections I did on this paragraph: I have thought about this paragraph a lot, because I felt like I did not have the exact English words to correctly convey the meaning. Recently I worked in a neighbour’s vineyard and that helped me find a better English rendition of the Bulgarian text.) I tell you this so that you will know how to expand your consciousness into which Christ has not yet come. Christ is working and making all the effort. You have the desire but you need patience. You will be put to the test on the operating table. When they operate on you in the White Brotherhood, they will not anaesthetize you and that is why you need to stay completely still because if you move, the knife will go in deeper. Now all of you are undergoing such operations. Those operations where you are awake are the best and the ones where you are anaesthetized are the worst. I have reverted to the former ones only rarely and only a disciple who is a true believer can go through those. If you realize that this is performed according to the Law of Love, you would be ready to go through it, otherwise you would be kicking and fighting and the knife would only go deeper, the operation would fail and such people would remain sickly in a spiritual sense. I will go no further, because I do not want to disturb your mind and make you think that you have nothing in you. What is truly essential has not arrived yet. This field is not ripe, yet you still have not filled the barn with wheat. When the barn starts to overflow, then the new direction of Life will manifest itself. With this lecture I want to assign work to all of you. And, just like with real workers, I want to create work for all married ones. I will start with the smallest experiment again. The task I will give you will be to work for me, for Christ, for Love for only five minutes. You could work miracles in only five minutes. I don’t want one hour, but only five minutes. Does anyone mind? If someone misuses these five minutes, he is not a disciple. If he cannot work for Christ for only five minutes, he is done with. No discussions and no philosophizing are needed; just get to it right away! You will forget your wife and your children and everything else in these five minutes! You will work for Christ mindfully and only after that can you philosophize and discuss and ask if this matter is done and over with. Note this: it’s only five minutes! How much is a hundred days by five minutes? You will continue this exercise for ten years. It is a microscopic exercise but in one year, this makes thirty hours and twenty-five minutes; in ten years, it is three hundred and four hours or twenty-five days and four hours. In these ten years, you, as workers, will dedicate twenty-five days to Christ according to the Law of Love. Five minutes every day! There is no other philosophy for the way this can be done. I will not explain it to anyone. I will give you two weeks from now to think about the five minutes or about the twenty-five days for Christ for these ten years. Those of you who are ready to work will come in to work. When your five minutes begin, you will forget that you are married, that you are a clerk or something else, and you will feel like a newborn in the Kingdom of God, who will do the Will of God. And then you will understand the meaning of my words from the very first day of your working for Christ. The second experiment is the following: I will appoint a day when, at a specific hour, you will work for Christ for five minutes. I will appoint it specifically and then I will send all the bears your way. You should know this. Then, if you keep walking bravely, they will make way for you and will say, “It is possible to work for Christ for five minutes.” The bears, too, understand this law. I will keep going, as well. You will wait for the most important exercise to come along: five minutes for Christ! And make sure you clean your home well! He who does not clean well… This is what I was told to say to you, do you understand that? And if you are faithful, then you will know the Truth and the Truth will know you. I will leave this question unanswered, because others are waiting outside. You, married ones, now is the time when we want to wed you! And so… If it is unfinished, you will mark it with three dots. You have two weeks to think about the five minutes. You will free your mind, your heart and your will. I want you to think freely at last! The experiment will begin soon. These experiments are minute, but when you start doing them, they will lead to bigger things. We will start off with the little things, which are for the children. And when the children are busy, God is happy. Therefore, we will create happiness for God when He sees that we work for Him mindfully and without being forced to do so. If the young ones ask you about the things that I told you today, you can tell them in two weeks. After two weeks you will tell my words to the young ones. June 2, 1922, Veliko Turnovo27 May Christ Descend to Explain to You Life has two sides: one side is the actor’s life and the other side is the worker’s life. The actor works at night while the worker works during the day. The first one uses the night and the second one, the day. Therefore, the result will not be the same because life develops under different conditions. At night, the actor doesn’t have the light, and the worker, who works during the day, has conditions for a righteous life. And so, I divide you into two kinds: actors and workers. Here, in the Esoteric School of the Brotherhood of Light, we need no actors. The Brotherhood of Light excludes the life of the actor but accepts workers. I regard those of you who are married as workers on God’s field, but some of you want to play the part of the actor. You do not yet know what Divine Righteousness means. In this Esoteric School the laws for the workers are just as strict as the laws for the actors. Now, I ask you, have you fulfilled your duties as workers? I want of you, the married ones, to take a look at your work, your fields, your gardens, your springs, your cattle, your sheep; to take a look at your houses to see if they are painted, to check your homes and see if they are cleaned out. What is the condition of these co-workers of yours? You need to know this because you are workers. Many of you, the married ones, want to have more privileges but fewer duties. You want to postpone the payment of your debts but in the Divine book there are no postponements of debt payments. This can only happen by Grace. One needs to be patient and wait for some greater Being to help, but don’t think that you will be granted help just like that. You pass as married and, consequently, you want to preach to the young ones. You think that when you leave these fields, the young ones will come onto them after you. What will they find? I speak both in literal and figurative terms. These are some reflections that you need to think over. The Brotherhood of Light suggested that it is my duty to tell you these things tonight. And they, the Brothers of Light, will hold you liable for your fields, for your sheep, for your houses and so on, and so forth. You, who are doubtful (and there are such among you), will know for sure within a year if we are from the Brotherhood of Light or not. Christ is at the head of the Brotherhood of Light. And when he decided upon this injunction, he asked the head and the head gave its consent. God is this head. Thus, all aspects of this matter have been covered. Therefore, you, the married ones, are required to willingly fulfil God’s Law. I do not need to tell you what to do; you will do your work according to your own understanding and as you wish, as your souls wish. When someone’s soul makes a wish, it creates an imprint in this person’s consciousness for the future fulfilment of this wish. This consciousness comprises three great forces: the mind, the heart and the will. Our going into the other world always means a transformation in our consciousness from one form into another. This is the expanding of one’s consciousness. You will understand things differently on different levels. Therefore, Christ descends into the souls only when the consciousness of people expands. For example, when I speak to the married ones, you say, “When the Master said such and such words; he must have had me in mind.” If you say that, it means that you have not understood my words. I am trying to explain the external side of things; I, being a worker, am trying to clean up as a worker because only then will Christ descend. I want your consciousness to expand so that Christ can descend upon you and clarify the things that no human mind or thought can explain. I ask you, married ones, when it comes to your consciousness, what role models are you for the young ones, for your children? Are you doing your part in expanding the young ones’ consciousness so that Christ can come to live in them and to explain to them what Life is and how they should live? You say, “God can do anything.” This is not a philosophy; this means nothing. A father’s blood only runs strong when it enters the veins of the son and flows according the same laws. If it does not flow, the results will be different. Now, many of you are a part of the Brotherhood and come to these lectures only so that your problems can be fixed. You come here as if you were coming to a theatre; you come here expecting a treat after which you leave and say, ”You are not what you are.” You have not understood yet what we are. Thousands of years shall pass before you understand what we are. We are those who expand every man’s consciousness so that Christ can descend and explain the Truth of Life. And this Truth has to be such as to allow for the coming of the Divine Consciousness so that the Law of God’s Love can be manifested throughout the Universe. What could be better than this! With this Truth we can do our work. However, you say, “Lord, have mercy!” How can God have mercy on you if you have not expanded and elevated your consciousness so that Christ can come down and explain to you what you are doing wrong? The mistakes and the temptations are inevitable and if Christ does not come down into your consciousness, these mistakes will create a life of disharmony and all of you suffer from this disharmony. Is there anyone who is not suffering? I always use the following example to explain the methods of the Brotherhood of Darkness and the methods of the Brotherhood of Light. The Brotherhood of Darkness has dark adepts who come down to earth and say, “I’m a shoemaker. I have a special mould for shoes. If you buy my shoes you will remember me forever.” This reminds me of something that happened to me once when I was in Yambol. I was visiting a shoemaker who told me that he loved listening to my lectures. He wanted to make me a pair of shoes so that I would remember him. Indeed, I remember him to this day. If you put your feet in the shoe moulds of the Brotherhood of Darkness, they will make you special shoes that you will never forget. First, they will maim all of your virtues. If you put your foot in that mould, your virtues will inevitably get crippled and you will suffer a lot unless the Brotherhood of Light comes to help you pull your foot out of the mould. Do not offer your feet to the dark brothers to put them in their shoe mould. I am not explaining everything to you now but I will dedicate a special lecture to explain to you everything about this mould. Furthermore, you, the married men and women, do not live the way you should. This is not acceptable to the Brotherhood of Light. Now, if the married ones want to live the way the world lives they can do this out there, in the world, but once they have committed to the Brotherhood of Light, then they will see that there are excellent rules here. You do not yet know how to live. But you can learn these rules. Men and women, all should live according to the Law of Love! Every work done according to the Law of Love is sacred, and without Love it is a crime. If you ask me what is right, I will tell you, right is what is done by Love. I call Love that feeling, which is above all other feelings. When this feeling enters you, you will never frown. Love should be perceived as Man, but not one that is vested in flesh. This is how Love should be perceived. Men should perceive it that way too. I say this to you, the women whom Christ has wed; and to those who Christ has not wed, I have nothing to say. What I mean when I say, married by Christ, is that your consciousness should expand so that Christ can come in and explain everything to you. If this doesn’t happen, you will have such a rigid understanding of things that you will make me wonder from where you get your ideas. Paul once said, “Compete in paying respect to each other!” How? In order to compete in this, you will need to experience a change in your consciousness. You will need someone to learn from. If our mother doesn’t teach us, then how are we going to know? This law is true: one consciousness gets expanded by another consciousness. If your consciousness does not get in contact with another consciousness, it cannot expand; if a mind does not commune with the Divine Mind, it cannot expand. I have noticed a great disharmony in our Brotherhood. I can put up with these things, but you can be sure that this disharmony is not pleasant to me. Now, you may cry, but I don’t want your tears. What I want is for Christ to come into your consciousness and expand it. What I want is for Christ to manifest himself through you. My wish is for Christ to live in you. The happiest day for me will be the day when I see that Christ lives in your consciousness. You can be certain that this will be the happiest day of my life! You might ask, “How will this happen?” There are two ways: some fish are caught during the day, and other fish, at night. Is there any difference? Christ has defined this law: you shall love while it is day! A night is coming when no one will be able to work. Therefore, in order to expand your consciousness, you will need to work, not act but work, during the day. I have decided that in our Esoteric School you should work through experiments. We will begin with the smallest ones and they will gradually follow one after another. But in order for you to progress through the experiments, you need an expansion of your consciousness; you need to experience a change from within. Only then will these rays of spiritual consciousness come to you and create favourable conditions for the seeds that have been planted in you for thousands of years so that you can achieve good results. Have you achieved good results with your present thoughts? You are unhappy because you are missing the most essential thing: your consciousness has not yet expanded and Christ has not yet entered your mind to explain everything to you. He is making efforts to get to you but because you are not ready, all you can get out of his efforts is temporary moods where you feel elevated but then you are down. When you, in turn, make efforts, they will be futile unless you let Christ into your consciousness and unless you let the Divine Love into your consciousness. It will not be easy to achieve the expected results. Don’t think that the transformation of one life into another is easy. So much artistry and knowledge is needed in order to transform a plant into the form of an animal! If you only knew that, you would have pondered upon it seriously, but right now, you reckon that this transformation happens easily. No, it does not happen easily. The Spirit of God that is working within you will accomplish everything; my talking to you alone won’t do it. Christ needs to come in and then the Resurrection will come - the Resurrection that implies a New Life in new forms. “You will rise from the graves.” But not if you are the same way as you are now; if you eat and drink the way you do now. Don’t think that these things will continue the same way as they are now. No, there won’t be even a trace left of what is now, of this present form! Certain principles may remain, reminding one of, reminiscent of the old, but we will be completely transformed. Someone may say, “The present conditions of life are in my way.” No, they cannot be in your way! I talk about those disciples who are dedicated. But you are not yet completely dedicated disciples. There are several categories of disciples: listenerproselyte-disciples, believer-disciples and disciple-disciples. The first kind of disciple has certain duties and rights; the second one, too, has certain duties and rights, but the third one is above all the rest. What the disciple does, the listener proselyte doesn’t have to do and vice versa. And everyone should look at Life according to his level. If he is a listenerproselyte, he has certain duties and certain rights and you cannot ask him why he does what he does. And if the listener proselyte asks the believer, “Why are you doing this?” the latter will respond, “When you get to where I’m at, you will know why I live and work this way.” God does not have to inform us why He does this or that. He will say, “When you pass through these seven fires, so that I can purify you, you will know.” He will give you absolutely no other explanation. Job, too, asked the Lord but He said nothing. But after Job passed through the fire seven times, then God called and said, “Come, talk to me now.” And Job said, “I have heard of You from others and I have committed many sins, but because I saw You now, I will not speak nonsense.” One of you may be in Job’s situation to ask, “Lord, how much longer will I have to suffer and for how much longer will I be in debt?” God says nothing. Do not think that your deliverance will come from your friends, nor from your enemies. If you think that, you are wrong. Your deliverance is in the following: you need to expand your consciousness and let Christ in so that he can explain to you the fact. If this happens, you will be delivered; if this does not happen, this fact will haunt you all the time, like some demon causing you mischief. Now, some people come to me and ask me why this and that happens. Today someone came to me and asked me, “Do you know what these disciples of yours are doing? Why don’t you correct them?” I told him, “I cannot tell them anything because we all live according to the Law of Freedom.” “Well”, he said, “How about discipline? Is there no such thing?” “No, there isn’t.” “But you can enforce some discipline”, he said. Afterwards, he invited me to visit him at home. Then I told him, “I will not come to your home.” “Why?” he asked. “If you want me to come to your home”, I told him, ”You need to expand your consciousness and let Christ in, i.e. let the Love in. You are just like my disciples; you, people, are the same: you want to lure me into your trap. Neither you nor they are disciples of Christ. Here is what I say, we have one great law - we want to live and understand Life in a different way and we want to make it right. You may say, “Do you know what our Master is doing?” But you are not responsible for me. Other times you say, “Is it fitting for him to wear yellow shoes and a white hat? And then, white coats are for children, he needs a black one.” But what is it all to you? You care about insignificant things when what should really matter to you is what is in my mind, my heart and my will. You can wear whatever clothes and shoes you want to but what matters to me is your mind, your heart, your will and, most of all, your soul and the presence of Christ in your soul. I know that you need to work on these things until your life acquires a true meaning. Only then will we understand each other properly! Sometimes it is a blessing to be a teacher, and other times, it is a blessing to be a student. A day will come when you will understand the relationship between the Master and the disciple. God will explain this relationship to you. And my wish is for you to be one of those blessed disciples. Some of you are seeking deliverance, you want for the Divine Sun to open up so that you can enter. The deliverance will not happen that way. Your deliverance will come when you open your consciousness to let Christ in. Then you will be truly delivered. Then all external circumstances, which are binding you now - poverty and everything else - all of this will become harmonized and you will see Life in a new light. Now, there is another thought in your mind; you think, “If we don’t finish this work today, we can do it some other day.” No, you must work now! Let’s say, for example, that you are an owner and I am a worker. You hire me to cultivate hoe your vineyard but, instead, I spend the day counting the posts dead vines and in the evening I tell you how many of them there are in the vineyard. On the second day, I go out in the vineyard again, but, instead of cultivatinghoeing, I count how many canes there are and I calculate how much fruit they will yield. On the third day I count how many leaves of grass there are and so on. In the end, I tell you, the owner, that I have finished the job. You think that the vineyard has been cultivated hoed and you pay me, but when you go out to the vineyard and take a look at it, what will you think? I’m sorry to tell you this, but this is how you are working on God’s field right now: instead of cultivating hoeing the vineyard, you are counting the posts dead vines and the vine stickscanes. I do not mind your counting the posts dead vines and the sticks canes and the leaves of grass, as long as you cultivate hoe around the vines, as well. Acting is one way to work, the second way requires that you cultivate hoe the vineyard first and, once that is done, you can count the postsdead vines, the sticks canes and the leaves of grass. What you do now is you come to me and say, “Our vines won’t grow.” Yes, they won’t grow because you, my disciples, won’t dighoe. So, here is my solution to the problem, you have the statistics, you have counted the postsdead vines, the sticks canes and the leaves of grass. Then I will get the hoe, and will cultivate hoe the vineyard. If you have cultivatedhoed, then I will do the counting. There are Masters out there who only count the posts dead vines and the vine stickscanes. If you cultivate hoe the vineyard, things will even themselves out. This is a method, an allegory you can use for future work. (Note to the editors, explaining all the corrections I did on this paragraph: I have thought about this paragraph a lot, because I felt like I did not have the exact English words to correctly convey the meaning. Recently I worked in a neighbour’s vineyard and that helped me find a better English rendition of the Bulgarian text.) I tell you this so that you will know how to expand your consciousness into which Christ has not yet come. Christ is working and making all the effort. You have the desire but you need patience. You will be put to the test on the operating table. When they operate on you in the White Brotherhood, they will not anaesthetize you and that is why you need to stay completely still because if you move, the knife will go in deeper. Now all of you are undergoing such operations. Those operations where you are awake are the best and the ones where you are anaesthetized are the worst. I have reverted to the former ones only rarely and only a disciple who is a true believer can go through those. If you realize that this is performed according to the Law of Love, you would be ready to go through it, otherwise you would be kicking and fighting and the knife would only go deeper, the operation would fail and such people would remain sickly in a spiritual sense. I will go no further, because I do not want to disturb your mind and make you think that you have nothing in you. What is truly essential has not arrived yet. This field is not ripe, yet you still have not filled the barn with wheat. When the barn starts to overflow, then the new direction of Life will manifest itself. With this lecture I want to assign work to all of you. And, just like with real workers, I want to create work for all married ones. I will start with the smallest experiment again. The task I will give you will be to work for me, for Christ, for Love for only five minutes. You could work miracles in only five minutes. I don’t want one hour, but only five minutes. Does anyone mind? If someone misuses these five minutes, he is not a disciple. If he cannot work for Christ for only five minutes, he is done with. No discussions and no philosophizing are needed; just get to it right away! You will forget your wife and your children and everything else in these five minutes! You will work for Christ mindfully and only after that can you philosophize and discuss and ask if this matter is done and over with. Note this: it’s only five minutes! How much is a hundred days by five minutes? You will continue this exercise for ten years. It is a microscopic exercise but in one year, this makes thirty hours and twenty-five minutes; in ten years, it is three hundred and four hours or twenty-five days and four hours. In these ten years, you, as workers, will dedicate twenty-five days to Christ according to the Law of Love. Five minutes every day! There is no other philosophy for the way this can be done. I will not explain it to anyone. I will give you two weeks from now to think about the five minutes or about the twenty-five days for Christ for these ten years. Those of you who are ready to work will come in to work. When your five minutes begin, you will forget that you are married, that you are a clerk or something else, and you will feel like a newborn in the Kingdom of God, who will do the Will of God. And then you will understand the meaning of my words from the very first day of your working for Christ. The second experiment is the following: I will appoint a day when, at a specific hour, you will work for Christ for five minutes. I will appoint it specifically and then I will send all the bears your way. You should know this. Then, if you keep walking bravely, they will make way for you and will say, “It is possible to work for Christ for five minutes.” The bears, too, understand this law. I will keep going, as well. You will wait for the most important exercise to come along: five minutes for Christ! And make sure you clean your home well! He who does not clean well… This is what I was told to say to you, do you understand that? And if you are faithful, then you will know the Truth and the Truth will know you. I will leave this question unanswered, because others are waiting outside. You, married ones, now is the time when we want to wed you! And so… If it is unfinished, you will mark it with three dots. You have two weeks to think about the five minutes. You will free your mind, your heart and your will. I want you to think freely at last! The experiment will begin soon. These experiments are minute, but when you start doing them, they will lead to bigger things. We will start off with the little things, which are for the children. And when the children are busy, God is happy. Therefore, we will create happiness for God when He sees that we work for Him mindfully and without being forced to do so. If the young ones ask you about the things that I told you today, you can tell them in two weeks. After two weeks you will tell my words to the young ones. June 2, 1922, Veliko Turnovo27

LINKS OF KNOWLEDGE Year 1, Lecture 14 of the Youth Occult Class (Special Class) Given by the Master Beinsa Douno May 31, 1922, Wednesday 19.30h, Sofia Reflection The disciple's essays were read on the topic: “Why Should We Love and Why Should We Be Loved?” Your essays are well written, but only in form, not in content and meaning. Have you experienced what you have written? The way of thinking you exhibit in your essays is involutionary. In order to free yourselves from such thinking, you need to turn your attention to Nature and find the proper answers to the questions there. In your understanding those who love always give. I am asking, does one give anything while eating? Not only does he not give anything, but he takes also. Now you need to answer the following question: “Why should humans eat?” The one who loves gives everything, and the one who is loved receives everything. In addition, when someone loves somebody else, he tries to appropriate them. If a master loves his servant, he doesn't allow him to express himself, which is a kind of appropriation. When you love your horse, you don't give it freedom. What does Love give then? Love gives nothing. As you can see, the conceptual basis of your thinking is wrong. You can apply these concepts in real Life and observe the results. If you decide to do this, you will arrive at a number of contradictions. In your view, the one who is loved receives and the one who loves gives only. I will give you an example to clarify to you the questions of giving and receiving love. When a young man goes into an inn, the inn-keeper likes him from the very first instant. He expresses his love by offering him wine. He fills glass after glass with wine and the young man accepts them all, thus receiving his love all the time.The young man gets filled up and so does inn-keeper. However there is a difference: nothing will remain for the drunkard of what he receives from the inn-keeper, but what the inn-keeper receives from the drunkard - all will be his. He will take the drunkard’s money, houses and lands – depriving him of all his material possessions and of his health too. Therefore, the love that people speak of is like the love that occurs between the inn-keeper and the drunkard. Is such love ideal? No, it isn't, yet people say that there is something Divine in Love. What kind of love has Divine manifestations? If you were put to the test now, none of you would be able to prove your love. This means that you say one thing, but do quite another. Is what you have written true? Someone has written that Love requires sacrifices. Do you know what sacrifice means? Above all, sacrifices should be voluntary, not forced. Have you sacrificed yourself voluntarily? As you can see, we have made a short analysis of the topic you wrote about for today. I am asking, why should you love and be loved? Do you need it? You need none of it. Love is beyond any law. Therefore, if you need to love, this indicates that some law forces you to do it. If there is a law, there is limitation too. How will you explain this contradiction? If an external necessity or a law makes you love, it is not Love anymore. Then, after having loved, what have you attained or lost? What kind of experience have you gained? When I am asking these questions I want you to think soundly and correctly, so that you can come to Reality. I am not denying things in any way, but I am saying that you have old ideas. For example, to be in love or to be loved – these are old ideas, ideas of males and females. Males want to love, females – to be loved. These ideas have existed since time immemorial and contemporary people take them and paint them on the outside in different colours, decorate them with coloured beads and bright shining gems until they become like a village beauty. Thus they present them as something new. If you don't agree with this, show me a couple who, having lived in compliance with this kind of love, have completed their life in an ideal way. How has the relationship between two friends ended who have harboured the same kind of love towards each other? If you trace the whole history of human development, you will not find any two people who, having lived in accordance with this kind of love, have completed their lives well. When I am talking in this way, I have no intention of saying that your reasoning is wrong. Your reasoning is right from your point of view and wrong from an occult point of view. When you come to Love, there is no place for discussion. Love excludes all questions. Love excludes all contradictions. Love excludes all violence. Love excludes all limitations. Now that you know all this, how will you define Love? Your love lacks an element that you should find out for yourself. Can you find out which element is missing in your love? Now I am going to ask you a question: “Why do you look at people and why do people look at you?” Both sides – those who look and those who are an object of observation – perform the same process. A person asks: “Why are you looking at me?” The other person answers: “Aren't you looking at me too?” So, both of them look at each other at the same time. Is there any difference between these two processes? The difference is slight and hardly perceptible. I will give you the following example in order to clarify the difference: two camps of hostile troops are at war. One of them is attacking – it is active, the other one is in defense – it is passive. Both troops – the attacking and the defending one – act in the same way. Both of them use gunfire. The only difference is that the attackers move, while the others stay in one place. The first group changes its position, while the second one keeps it. Otherwise, they don'tt differ significantly from each other. The difference between the two situations which we examined before – to love and to be beloved, is the same. When you examine Love from a conceptual point of view, you have to consider the smallest expression of love. The smallest expression of love is finite. If the question is raised why we should receive love and why we should love, this is finite love, i.e. love with limits. You confuse finite love with Infinite Love, but they are completely different. When you need money, you go to the bank to take out a loan. In this case the banker is giving and you are receiving. The banker is the passive side and you, coming from outside, are the active side. You attack your enemy and he either gives something or pushes back. This example illustrates the extent and the nature of your feelings. As disciples of an occult school, you should analyze your feelings in order to know the material you have at your disposal, and hence to foresee the results you will achieve. One may find himself in funny situations until one understands these things. Someone will meet him and ask: “Why do you not look at me?” How can this person look at you if he is blind? And if you are also blind, how will you look at each other? First of all, you should ask yourself if you have Love in you and if your love is unfailing. It is not enough to speak about Love only, but you have to apply it in Life also. If it is just a matter of speaking, the blind can also speak about Light without having any idea of it. They have their own understanding of Light, but it is not absolute. In the same way, you also have something similar to Love, but that is not real Love. This is why people often ask themselves the question why they should love. Someone says that it is better to receive love than to love, but have you met anyone who loves you in the full sense of word? You say that your soul grows and develops when you are loved. Have you tested this? Some famous writers support this idea, but have they tested this truth? I don't deny this fact but I want to draw your attention to The One who really loves you. Do you feel in a definite and concrete way that Someone loves you? You will answer that a boyfriend or a girlfriend is in love with you. How long will this love last? It only lasts an instant. It is not Love yet, only a fleeting manifestation of Love. Even if someone has given you a present or has invited you for lunch – it is a temporary manifestation of Love. Therefore, when you say that your soul will grow in someone’s love, you deceive yourself. This growth is an outer polishing, a temporary taming in my view. If you are put through a test, this polishing will vanish. When Love enters you, it creates a number of alchemic processes, under the influence of which your whole being and your entire existence change. It could happen instantly or gradually – this depends on the person. Under the influence of Love your views are changed and reshaped in the same way that carbon is changed and transformed into a diamond. Think of Love as a Power and as a principle, so that you can arrive at positive knowledge. You are moving now in the right direction, but you are using old methods that cannot help you. For example, a husband and a wife love each other, converse, read the Gospel together and everything goes well. However the man says: “My dear, I want you to cook something good for me!” – “All right, but what will you buy for me?” They speak about Love but do things the old way. Then they will say that God has determined it to be this way. They themselves spoil things and put the blame on God. This is not love but looking in a mirror. One loves another person for being able to look at this person as if they were a mirror. In reality what they love is their own image in the mirror. Thus they harm themselves too, because they deceive themselves. Someone who loves himself loves others too. The Lodge of darkness has created a lot of theories and concepts about Love which confuse everybody - scientists, philosophers, writers – and everyone sinks deeper and deeper into this confusing mess. It has been written in the Scriptures too: “The whole world lies in the sly one.” When writing on a topic, the disciple needs to concentrate deeply, to see what has been written inside by his own experiences and to bring that knowledge to the surface. If he decides to describe what other people have said on this issue, he will drift away from the Truth. I am going to speak about the manifestation of Love in form, not in principle, in another lecture. For the time being what you need is the form of things, they are what you should understand. Love can be manifested in a form that is appropriate for its nature. So we need to find the right forms and this involves the greatest difficulties. Love has visited everybody but for a brief time only. E.g., someone gets inspired, finds himself in a good mood and says: “I will give away all my possessions, I want to serve God.” Two or three hours later this positive mood goes away, the person calms down and says: “It is not the right time for this, I shall not hurry.” In five or six months he will get inspired again and will be ready to give everything. All of a sudden he will get startled again and postpone it. And if you open the book of his life, you will see that it is full of decisions that were taken but not acted upon. This is the kind of love that most people exhibit. It doesn't mean that they have no Love. All people have Love in them, but their Love has not been applied in practice yet. What I am saying now concerns you as disciples. You should not say anything to others until you create new forms for the manifestation of Love. If you talk without having acquired these new forms, you will encounter greater difficulties and contradictions. Everything I said about why you should love and why you should receive love does not exhaust the topic of Love. These are just ideas to awaken your thought, however everyone needs to find an answer to the question about Love on their own. I will now give you an image for reflection. You have a pot with a cover that fits well. At some point you leave the pot somewhere and everyone who passes by stumbles on it and kicks it. You throw the cover of the pot as well and so the pot remains open. Suppose that the pot represents a woman, the cover – a man. What should they do? The pot should find its cover. Who should love whom – should the pot love its cover or the cover - its pot? I am giving you these examples for reflection in class only; I do not want to affect your feelings. These are theoretical questions; I am leaving your feelings aside. If your pot is open, if it is without a cover, you should find its cover and put it in its place. This means: if your feelings are in the open, they could become dusty and injured by someone. In order to avoid this, find the cover of your feelings, i.e. find those thoughts that can fit them well. Then the cover will be solid and the pot will be whole and undamaged. This is a method by which you can regulate your feelings in the right way. Did you understand this idea? It is even better if you didn't. Why is that? Because things which have been understood often get distorted. According to occult science, what has been understood actually hasn't, and the other way round. When you think that you have understood something, in reality you haven't; when you think that you have not grasped it, then you have. Love is metaphysical so it cannot be comprehended easily. You would ask: “Why are you talking about Love, if we cannot comprehend it?” I will give you an example in order to explain to you my purpose in speaking about Love. Each one of you represents a small plant that has just started to grow. Its stem and branches are very tender and cannot endure big trials. When it starts snowing, the snow covers the young branches and leaves and without external help they will brake. The Word that I deliver to you represents a soft wind which comes to help your branches. It blows the snow away and frees your branches. This wind is necessary so that the wind can fall down to the ground. The snow represents your old ideas which are not in your roots, but on your branches. If the snow doesn't fall down, your branches will be broken. Many of your branches get broken under the weight of your old ideas. The old ideas should be in the roots, not on the branches. I have nothing against your ideas, but they represent a danger for the branches of your life that could be broken under their weight. This is why at least some soft wind is necessary for you. Some of you are afraid that the snow, i.e. their ideas will fall. This is not dangerous at all – the snow should anyway fall down towards the roots of the plants. When Love is awakened in a person, this person wishes that no one would notice and know about it. This is an aspiration of the person’s soul. For as long as no one has noticed his/her Love, this person is joyful and content. If his/her Love gets noticed, then the joy disappears. Do the following experiment to put my words to the test. When passing by a poor man, put twenty or thirty leva in front of him without anyone noticing. As you go away, you will feel great joy. The next day, when you go by the same place, give this man twenty or thirty leva personally. He will thank you, but after knowing you he will expect you to give him money every time you pass by him. In this case, you will not be joyful. Why? Something has spoiled Love. Therefore, Love is a tender flower that grows and develops far from human eyes. No one should know about it. In the first instant, you manifested your love for the poor man in secret, no one saw it and knew about it, that is why you were joyful, and the poor man was joyful too. In the second instant, you manifested your Love openly in daytime and the poor man saw you – this time you lost and he won. With this example I introduced you to a new measure for Love. When compared to this measure, your current understanding of Love appears really antique, archaic. However this new formula of Love cannot be applied in practice, because there are no proper conditions for it in your present life – there is form, but no content yet. The content needs to come from you. In the future, when the conditions are more favourable, I will give you a task on Love that you should accomplish without pen and paper, directly. Until then it will be a secret, no one will know about it. Then you will test your own theory about why we should love and receive love. These are important ideas and they should remain for the class. Even if you think about these issues at home, you will imagine that you are in class. Try not to mix these ideas with the ideas of the world. If you mix them, you will make a mistake. Imagine that you put half a litre of water in a one-litre bottle. If this water stays in the bottle for four days, it will lose its freshness. Later I will give you a small bottle full of clean mountain water, just filled from the spring. You will take this bottle and pour its content into the big bottle. Will you do the right thing? No, you will make a big mistake. You should keep the bottle I gave you separately. Next time please write on the topic: “Designation of the Hands”.