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Note 3 Because Of The Joy “When a woman gives birth, it is through grief, because her hour has come; and when she bears the child she doesn’t remember her sadness because of the joy that a man has been borne into the world.” From Joan 16:21 This is one of the ordinary verses – verses from which all women are afraid; and because they are afraid, they often want to become men. It is like the son, when wants his father to pay him, he puts himself in the position of the servant and says: “Why does my father pay the servant but not to me, I work for him too.” There is the evil of the world, this means an understanding of their own position. It is like that not only between the women and sons but and between the people from all the professions: the sweeper wants to become a policeman, the policeman wants to become a police-officer, the police-officer wants to become a chief, the chief – a minister, the minister – prime minister etc. – eternal striving. It is not bad. Christ uses this verse to express one great idea; He says: “One woman, when she gives birth, it is on grief.” Why does this grief generate itself? Because of the man who was conceived in the woman – through the man who is conceived in her, she will become a man. As Adam bore woman, so and the woman bears a man; from the bone of Adam God made woman, and from one little embryo the woman bears a man; the law for the likeness exists – you were borne, you will bear. In you there has to appear one great idea. The contemporary century is a century of twaddle, speaking, etc. Every thing has to be put in its place; when the kid talks twaddle, it is in its place because it learns. When somebody learns to play the violin for example, he will creak on the strings for a long time and this is necessary, but if he appears to give a concert somewhere, they will throw him out – he has to creak somewhere outside till learns, and after that he may enter in the hall to play. The birth in this sense may compare to one piece of music because the conception itself starts from one little embryo. In the contemporary life it is hard to speak on these questions because the minds of the people are very distorted, we have lost the primary sense of things. Contemporary people say that when a woman gives birth, it’s all the same a she-ass gives birth; when Christ entered into Jerusalem he rode on the she-ass. The Donkey and pig are symbols of a distorted thing; why are the pig and the donkey such prosaic formulae? The donkey is one of the most modest animals, they beat it a lot and when it begins howling they say: “It brays like a donkey.” It is necessary to understand the primary, the inside sense of the things; we think that we understand things. For example, when a woman gives birth to, this is a Spirit of Life, this is one principle; when gave birth to, the woman is glad that a man has come into the world. In the Divine world the woman is the bearer of the Divine thoughts and from this point of view everyone may be pregnant. One Bulgarian how his turn has become: “In time of the Turkish war17 one sadness attacked me one day; I can’t gather in my skin, I shall burst. I started to walk. About one time I heard that in one tent they sang the song “The way in world is broad”. Suddenly one light came in my mind and then I understood the sense of life.” The soul of this young man had been pregnant, he was born in the tent and then in it the Joy had come. Christ says to his disciples: “You have grief because something is conceived in you.” And Christ had to die. In the world there is birth and death; when a man comes down from the Heaven to the Earth, he is born. The process of conception is interesting: when a man conceives, he is in the high circles of the Divine world, after that the soul starts to come down passing through nine circles for nine months, i.e. for every circle - one month. Thirty six weeks are needed for the child, which make nine months, or 362 880 minutes or 21772 800 seconds. Nine shows that when a man comes down, he has to fight for the Earth, has to go out on the war-path, has to be in movement – 9 is the number of Mars. Thirty six weeks is the number of the progress, of the evolution. These numbers shows how much time it was necessary in the past for man, to conceive. It was time when for a man, to born, deprived twenty one million years, after that the period decreased; the second period continued 962880 years, the third period – 6048 years, the fourth period – 252 years, the fifth 36 years, and the sixth, the present, continues until nine months. When she conceives, a woman contains in herself all these periods and if they observe, they may understand from which souls her child is, through which period it passed, what person it was in the past life, etc. Some people ask: “What is my child? “ If man observes he can define what his child will be. This may be familiar to the mother through the period of the pregnancy. For example some pregnant women suffer, want to steal something, they grow dispirited so, they want to kill themselves and etc. – these their conditions show that that sort was their child. Often the mother says to her child: “My angel” – it is not an Angel. The child and the mother are closely connected between themselves and because in the past she spoiled it, now it comes to her to correct it: the child says: “I shall be born from you and you will correct me.” Often people lie that they marry with love, and after they conceive, miscarry their child and then the grief is eternal. When one live woman miscarries, the grief doesn’t get away from her, and when she bears, her grief is eliminated – this is law. Till one thought, one desire, one action isn’t realized, you can’t free yourself from their consequences, therefore whatever thought comes, i.e. whatever conception, has to be realized. No matter how the man philosophizes, this law reigns, it is a law of Freedom. God gave to the man the Freedom to do everything what he thinks, but for every thing he will experience the consequences. If God is weak, He even wouldn’t allow these things, but as power and all-powerful He in the end will repair everything Alone. Some ask how he will repair it. He will let the people bear; for example some man thinks something but starts to hide – this shows that he is a man from hell, from the place of the sufferings. Some will say: “I belong to so and so church, I believe in Christ.” What is faith? It is a symbol of the world, spring of the Life. If this water runs constantly and is not in harness in some water-mill, it will not bring any use. If this water falls from high woods and hills, it cascades down, carries away many things, digs up, with one word – it brings ground for one future life, but if it is used in a good sense, it will be useful. The soul firstly passes through the mineral kingdom, after that – through the steam and the waters, afterwards – through the area of the embryos and lastly God gives it to see by itself. First of all He gives it minerals, liquids, steams, waters and seeds; after that it passes through the area of the fire to purge; afterwards it passes through the reflection, afterwards – in the atomic area, after that it passes through the thick matter. In this way the soul passes through generally ten spheres and there why the child brings to its mother great wealth. In this sense the mother is one big laboratory in which enters one great wealth from that world. I want to think philosophically, to grasp the things sensibly, to understand the inside sense of Life. Some man says about another: “I outtalked him.” For example one Bulgarian did boast that he knew Turkish well; one day he met with one bey, began to speak with him and in the conversation he beat him. When they asked him why he did it, he answered “I outtalked him.” When the child comes we have to understand the high sense of this coming, and now for what the mother is glad? He is glad that her son will become eminent. The question is if the mother acted the Divine Will to bear one child, and what will become from it is question of secondary importance. Christ says: “When this child conceives the mother will grieve, but when it is born, she will be glad because God will bring it up.” The mother says that she brought her child up but I haven’t seen either one mother die for it. For example the brood-hen breeds its chicks, feeds them till they are yet completely unable to care for the living by themselves, but after they grow up she abandons them and starts to peck them; It means that in this hen there was one creature which let it breed these chicks. Thus, what forces the mother to bring up her child, it is God who is in her. One father said to his son: “If he was not my son, till now I would throw him out.” The truth is that God loves the kids and He forces their parents to bring them up. In the verse Christ takes the image of one normal woman, who is conceived, goes on the Divine law in which she has grief. But Christ says: “I shall go and you will be pleased.” I shall give you one example which will explain the diversions which happen in the world. From one eminent German preacher one young girl was interested; she visited all his sermons regularly, became a very zealous adherent of his teaching when in the end the preacher married her and said: “I found one woman-worker who will help me.” But after they married she said: “Till now I played a role, from now on you will play a role”; in this way she started to want pleasures of all kinds and refused to take part in the previous activities. The preacher started to feel discouraged; in fact, when he married, he conceived and started to suffer. He turned to God with a request to rescue him and one day, when he read the Writing, he met the verse: “You, women, subordinate to your men.” The preacher had been pleased, started to quarrel with his wife, beat her, and she also started to beat him; and when they beat mutually, they were both borne. Many people go to Christ till they marry, and after that they say to Him: “Now we want money, wealth, houses.” Then Christ opens the other door and says: “You, women, subordinate to the God, because God is head and to the man, and to the woman.” Now, as I observe you, I see that sometimes the man gives birth, and sometimes – the women; one grieves, and the other is glad. Let all bear, but to bear on time, but not prematurely born children; let every started thing, when it is born, when it happens, to carry Joy. That is why in the religious life man has to make a choice. Some people think that after they turn to religion they will become saints. A young man called Joan fell in love in one religious girl, but one English reformist advised him not to take her for wife and said: “She may be good with Christ, but not with you.” The young man listened to him and after sometime he got married to another woman who through his whole life tormented him; but then Joan said: “I shall execute the will of God, even if this woman pull me for my hairs in home hundred times.” In this way many of you are pulled Christ for the hair in home and when you go to the Heaven, Christ will say: “This is my good, excellent woman who pulls me for the hair.” I would like Christ not to be only one by name and to expect to see Him in Heaven. Where is Heaven? In the beginning God made the Heaven and the Earth. “When a woman gives birth, it is through grief.” This is the law of purging of the human soul. The scrub is the Earth, and the Joy is the Heaven; the grief always brings Joy after itself, and Joy always brings grief after itself – this law is unchangeable, the grief is a shadow of Joy. Christ in the Heaven is great with the fact that he bears the sins of all people; He bore the sins of the whole humanity not only of His time but and today He bore human sufferings. A man who cannot bear sufferings is one fly, amoeba, microbe, but a man who suffers consciously is a great man, maker and to be stupid. Every one who suffers and bears like a man his sufferings is Christ on the Earth; woman or man who suffers most and bears his suffer lightest, is Christ. The Heaven and the Earth is in our mind and heart; when our mind is spoiled, there is no Heaven and Earth. They say that God made Heaven, and the Earth was indeterminate and destroyed. And that is why God built the world in six periods to create this big land – the woman; how much she had chattered, how much fire she had thrown till she calmed down! Man has to give birth, and the birth becomes only in one Divine organized world. “Woman gives birth, it is through grief” says Christ. When it comes to birth there is no man and woman. One time the man gave birth and today namely after Christ, the woman gives birth– that is why she has to give birth well. The law of the birth understands the following: when it lands in the ground, this little embryo starts to gather all thoughts and feelings and to form a number of bodies, a number of worlds on which the man becomes master. When she conceives, the mother has to follow how God works, the birth looks like to one great painter who works and after he finishes his work, he displays his picture to present to the people this great idea. Because every day, every hour, every minute and second man has to bring in new thoughts, and when we don’t accept anything new, we start to be bored. Therefore the mother, together with her son, passes through the high worlds. There are mothers who are joyful in conception because they feel the connection between themselves and the child. Now, the oculists present different theories for the birth of a man but many of them may be wrong. Some maintain that as one soul drops, a mother immediately is being found for this child; after that three of its leaders round the world, afterwards they sink the soul of the child in the water of oblivion and in the end they bring it to the mother. This going about in Heaven is not so easy, in every step there are hindrances and this is why man has to find the way. The three leaders who bring the child to stay with the mother and if she keeps it, they tell her many secrets, teach her many things. In the same way, if a man keeps his thought, he will be able to bear some great soul after time. A man can’t conceive simultaneously many desires but has to give effect to only one desire, and the others to join in one and to serve to the main desire; it is the same and with the thoughts: all little thoughts have to join and to form one big one. A man has to have one big thought, a bit to be good; for example a man breeds many pigs, but it is better if there is only one but good. The pig is a symbol of desire; if it is one it is noble and sensibly desired. They say for someone that he is one pig in the Astral world; after some time, he will bear in your hearts and minds, you will see him in yourselves and then you will be pleased because he will carry in you and the Heaven, and the Earth. Together with him and Angels will enter, and Archangels, and Cherubs and other great creatures. In the Christian church the law is such that ones are on the Earth, and others are on Heaven. When the windows of Heaven are open, from the Earth it may be heard what it is talking about there; and may from Heaven be heard what it is talking about on the Earth. Your grief is that you have conceived one child and let this grief translate into Joy. Man may suffer intensively, man may even be discouraged but let him say: “Because of this Divine child, who I bring with myself, man has to suffer!” In the Writing, it is said: “When we, the dead men, resurrect”, and I say: “When we, the live men, bear” – this means a man has to live in his desires, in his thoughts, in his ideas. And every thought which comes, is one Angel sent from the God. Man should not be angry to the thought and the desire which causes grief, because it will bear Joy and then a man will say: “Life has sense.” When Christ gives birth He drops His spirit and in the world it is set in darkness – His Glory was so great, His Light was so big that the world darkened. And our world will darken, and we will enter into that world where we will see what in reality the world is. Man has to know this experience and only with this we will be acquainted with the inside sense of Life. Some will ask how they will recognize them in Heaven. Man has to have features. Once the famous singer Adeline Patty18 went to New York but it happened in a way that her money was used up and one acquaintance of her sent her remittance to the New York bank; the director of the bank asked her with what she will certify her personal identity. She hadn’t any other document except her voice, and started to sing. After he heard her, the director gave an order to grant her the adduced sum. When he goes to Heaven a man has to take his Divine thought. 8th of October, 1916, Sofia Source

Note 5 You Know „And he said to me: you, son of mankind, can these bones come back to life? And I said: God Jehovah, you know.” Ezekiel 37: 3 „Can these bones come back to life?” You may ask yourselves what secret is hidden in this sentence. You will say: „We know those bones, we have boiled them many times, we have seen them many times at the cemetery – it is a bone.” But the bones that I will tell you about you have never seen. What you think you see in the world, is as real as the state when someone is dreaming that he is rich for example and when he wakes up, there is nothing left from his wealth. God asked the prophet: „Can these bones come back to life?” the bones in this sense represent an obscene life, a life in a potential state; in the religious sense the dead bones mean life without motion. You will ask if life without motion is possible; in the metaphysical sense this means non-conscious life. Each bone lives a separate life and if someone moves it or sets it in motion, it will say: „Thanks God, that there is someone to move me.” The bones represent the Israeli people, disunited by the bad life and since there is no unity between the separate individuals, they are dead. The bones represent the man after his death. They are the only thing that is left unchanged; according to the occultists a new Life is hidden inside the bones and when the man returns to Earth, he will take what is hidden inside the bones – that is why we keep the bones of our friends and relatives. Some people say: „For me it doesn’t matter what will happen after my death”, but outside his bones man is nothing. Now the man has to learn to think philosophically, to look at everything as something inevitable, necessary, and not just a mere chance. For example from geometry we know that the shortest distance between two points is the straight line, which is a movement in one direction; it is a sum of many points, i.e. of many movements that form it. Therefore our thought can move only along one straight line. If we imagine that we live in one point and our thought moves only in a straight line, then we would not have any notion of the world – the man would say that beyond the straight line nothing exists; therefore there are creatures on Earth that have the imagination for one thing only. But when the point moves, it forms a straight line, which is alive and if one day it decides to change its direction along its perpendicular, it will form a plane; the plane is formed of millions of straight lines. So, there are other creatures that understand that the world moves not only in one direction – along the length, but it also moves along its width; the snail for example, has the notion that only two dimensions exist. Of course, the plane is alive, too, because everything in Nature is alive; and if it moves it will find another dimension – height and in that way a cube will be formed. You are three-dimensional creatures and the philosophers think that beyond the three dimensions nothing exists. However there are creatures that move in even higher dimensions. If the cube moves into another, fourth direction, then the whole world will move and a tessaract will be formed; this fourth perpendicular moves in a direction that we cannot imagine. So, before the man is able to understand things, he is like a dead bone, i.e. he is a one-dimension creature; God asks: „Can these creatures change and form creatures of two or three dimensions?” And God said: „Prophesy! – only when the man starts talking, does he begins to understand things. The first man was without bones, but the present creature has bones. Every man is one bone, the word bone means something that is essential and unchangeable in man, that can be put in action, to be organized. Moses said that initially God had made the man from soil – then the man was able to move only in one line; when the man was made of bones, he was given the ability to move in three dimensions, but then he was still dead; just after God breathed in his nose, then the man started to think – therefore today we breathe through the nose and only then we can think. For example a thought comes in the head of a woman that her husband does not love her, which means that she moves along a straight line; in this case she has to stop and form a plane in her thoughts – only then she will get along with her husband. Otherwise both the man and the woman will move along a straight line and they will not meet. When Moses wanted to see God, he told him: „My face you cannot see, but you will see only one piece of My clothing, otherwise you will burn out”; philosophically this means: since the man lives in the world, he cannot understand things; therefore he sees only one part of it. So, to change their state, the bones must be destroyed. These bones were dead, but only God knows if they can acquire higher life. When someone starts to talk to them, they begin to fuse together, muscles and nerves are formed, but still they cannot think; in order to start thinking a Spirit of the four winds, of the four sides, must come, i.e. there must be a fourth dimension. Until man lives in three dimensions, he cannot understand the meaning of a spiritual life; the contemporary people think that the world ends with death – this is what the frog, the snail and the man think, too. If I go to the vineyard to dig, if I work a day or two and I do the work, this does not mean that the world will end. The world comes to an end means that Life comes to an end; these are the thoughts of a snail, of a dead bone – this is the contemporary philosophy. When these bones start moving, they say: „Our job is done”, i.e. our role in the field like bones is finished; but after that they deliberately start moving. The contemporary people can compare themselves to the character in the following joke: a Bulgarian, named Stoyan, started out to a town to sell a donkey; the town was far and he stopped to have a rest; he tied the halter of the donkey to his wrist and fell asleep. Some naughty kids saw that he was asleep and untied the halter from the donkey’s head and took the animal. When he woke up with the halter in his hand and saw that the donkey was missing, the Bulgarian said to himself: „If I am Stoyan, I have lost the donkey; if I am not Stoyan, I have won the halter.” Life is the donkey, but if I am not, it is just a halter. The halter means that a man lives with a thought, inside which there is no existence. God says: „These bones will come back to life.” When the Prophet speaks, this is the Spirit of Christ. Sometimes you might fall in such a state of stiffness, as when a man thinks, feels, but cannot give a sign that he is alive; the mind can exist outside the world, but to move means to live. When a man wakes up in the morning, he moves and starts living, but when a man talks discursively and absent-mindedly, he is a dead bone. This is a small analogy: our thoughts can be discursive like these bones, we can cry and say: „What is the sense of life?” – The man is in a position of the prophet, whose thoughts are like dead bones. And God says: „You son of mankind, can your thoughts live in the field?” – Then the man starts thinking about the sense of Life and answers: „You know, God!” When the man thinks that God knows, then He says: „Speak!” When God sent Moses to the Pharaoh, he did not want to talk, because he stammered; then God got angry and ordered his brother Aaron to come; and to make Moses talk, Aaron gave up his place to Moses. Everyone is Moses and Aaron, i.e. a soul and a Spirit – in that way man will save himself. Sometimes the soul gets discouraged; for example a young maid gets disappointed with a man, she falls into despair, throws away everything, becomes gloomy and says: „That is the end of my life”. Every one of us is a deceived maid or lad – this is the original sin. When the devil came, the people became infatuated with him and then the man stayed neither with the devil, nor with God. God asked the prophet: „Can these dead thoughts, desires and actions come back to life?” – The prophet answered: „You know, God.” And after the Spirit came, the bones turned into a great army. Now, to make it possible to determine the things, they must possess certain features. The contemporary physicians say that electricity has two flows – though air and through earth: when there is a movement above, there must be a movement below. Hence, God’s thought cannot work in a man who has no bones. And since this is power is a Life in a hidden state, this movement must come from outside the bones. The human thought does not belong to the three-dimensional things; the feelings belong to the fourth dimension, the thoughts belong to the fifth dimension, and the mind – to the sixth dimension. One day when we will be among the Angels, they will teach us about these dimensions. We live in three worlds, and according to the cabalists there are ten worlds in total – the man lives in the third world, and God – in the tenth world; this is a great philosophical thought. After we have lived millions of years, we have come only to the third world, and still many years are necessary for us to come to the tenth world. The charm of the world is that it is unlimited and there will never come a day when the man can say that he knows everything. From this point of view there is consciousness in everything; for example in a stone there is consciousness of a stone; a flower, a snail, an Angel – everything lives with its consciousness. The man understands this, but let’s try to communicate with a tree, for example; for us it is just a tree, but it has its own life – it stays still, does not talk, but it knows everything because it has learnt it when it was up in Heaven. That is why the trees point upwards – when a man goes up there, he will learn everything. The contemporary scientists investigate an apple, what chemical elements it is composed of, but there is something in it, which they cannot find out. Life does not consist only of these elements, but there is something else that has to be learnt. For example in the past people thought that electricity could be transferred only through wires, and today we know that this is possible without them. There are two worlds – a physical and a Spiritual one; the man is in the Spiritual world, as he is in the physical life. People move from above downward. Today it is considered that culture goes from below upward, but I contest this and I say that the apple is nourished from the Sun, rather than from the saps; for example in the course of several years a tree grows in weight by twenty kilograms and all it has taken is from above, not from the Earth. We take everything from above, i.e. from inside – from a world much wider than the external one. We can compare it to a cone with the point down – the point is the external, and the base is the internal world; if the man is placed on the top, he would say that the internal world is smaller, but in fact it is not like that. Those who have decided to study the religious matters philosophically must be very calm. At the time of one of the Turkish sultans there were a lot of sluggards; one day the sultan decided to see who is the laziest sluggard of all and ordered the building they were in to be set on fire. Frightened by the fire, all sluggards started running, but only two of them remained inside. When one of them saw the fire becoming bigger, he turned to his friend and asked him what to do; the other one answered: „How aren’t you lazy to talk?” When it is destined for a man to die, he will die wherever he is. For example a rich Frenchman wanted to free his son from the front and by means of much money he managed to place him at the rear, but there too, although protected from the bullets, his son was killed by a shell that fell nearby. Very often people are afraid of epidemic outbreaks. The man must not be afraid of anything, because he may die of fear. For example, the plague started one day for Baghdad; a man met it and asked where it was going. – „I am going to Baghdad to take a thousand people.” The Plague arrived in Baghdad and twenty thousand people died. When it was on its way back, the same person met it again and asked it how many people it had taken. – „Twenty thousand” – replied the plague. – „And why did you tell me that you would take only a thousand?” – „The other nineteen thousand died of fear.” The man must be careful in his life. A traveller was buying a train ticket to the town of Gorna Oriahovitsa, but he was short of thirty silver coins; he asked a lawyer to help him, but the lawyer refused and saw that the man had no choice but to walk. One day the same lawyer was in London and when he was on his way back he noticed that he was short of thirty silver coins and he could not buy a ticket - he was repaid in the same way. This is to show that whatever you do, it will come back to you. In this case the man is a dry bone and you have to open your purse widely and help everyone who needs help. And today, as many people are killed, some lay up wealth; God holds us responsible for that and says the money must enliven. Money means everything we can use to help – it is knowledge, it is a feeling, it is a desire. Our thoughts and feelings must enliven us, therefore God says: „Talk to yourself, talk to your dead thoughts, desires and actions!” – In that way gradually you can notice some kind of a movement, some kind of life. Is there a mother, carrying her child and not suffering? She suffers, but a new life is formed in her. When the Spirit comes, then the man will understand why he is here, on Earth, and he will see how good it is to live, to suffer and to die, to come out of this world and to live in another, where the people will live on good terms. We, the present-day people, are of first, second and third dimension, because in us we do not have eternal Love, it is only temporary. The Love in us must enliven our soul, must strengthen our heart and Soul. So says Christ: „If I am with God, I will feel well in hell, but if I am without Him in Heaven, then why do I need to be in Heaven?” Let God be with us; and He is in us and with us. When God says: „Talk!”, we have to talk. We want to set the world straight, as we set ourselves straight, but only the Reasonable Life can straighten man. Every thought, even if it is a good one, is a bad thought if it cannot be used in a reasonable way, and vice versa. In the contemporary science there are many examples like that: for instance the carbon dioxide, which suffocates people, is pleasant and necessary for the plants – it gives them carbon for food, and oxygen is released. So, if one thing is harmful for us, for other things it is useful. Give your sins to the plants, and take the purity from them. Therefore the man should not complain. So says the Scripture: „Give your sins to God”; when God takes our sins, He asks: „Can these bones come back to life?” So, everyone must say to himself: „God Jehovah says that all our thoughts and desires, all our purses must be open for our fellow-men.”(retranslated fragment!) 1st October 1916, Sofia Source

Note 4 Compassion He saw in a vision evidently, about the ninth hour of the day, an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius. And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, "What is it, Lord?" And he said unto him, "Thy prayers and thine alms are coming up for a memorial before God." The Acts of the Apostles 10: 3-4 You can ask yourselves the question: what connection exists between Cornelius with his vision and us, who live in the 20th century - people with modern ideas; men sophisticated, with critical minds; men who claim to have mastered the forces of nature. We have to constantly bear in mind the following thought: our outlook and theories, our explanation of Life do not represent the actual world as it is in reality – these are only our concepts of the world. What the world is in reality is an enigma which even if we were given a million years of life we wouldn’t be able to solve it. The quoted verse relates to the individual life of man. On the Earth, in the present state of his development, man has a threefold relation and does three jobs: to himself, to his neighbour, and to God. When we speak about man, we have to ask ourselves the question whether we are referring to his individual life, or to the life he manifests in his relations with his neighbours, or to the Life which manifests itself when we are connected to God, because in any of these three viewpoints, the world takes a different perspective. If we decide to find out how modern science views Life we will see that it has the following concept: personal or individual life cannot continue after death; life is contained inside the body and is solely a product of the body; thinking is a product of the brain and consequently, when these organs are destroyed, both life and thinking perish forever. So modern science says; such are its concepts. According to it, thinking is a product of the brain, but from a purely philosophical point of view in the world there are organs that exist with a function other than the energy-producing one. If Life originated from the cells of the body and if thinking were in truth a product of the brain, as science states, then its conclusions are correct. But we have three types of organs and three types of functions: organs producing energy, organs releasing energy, and organs transmitting energy. If we take for an example a shell of a modern military gun and the tiny fuse igniting the explosive, I want to ask you, ''Does the gun generate energy in any form?'' No, it only passes and directs the energy. The gun has not produced the explosive, its function is only to release that energy which through a certain transformation of the molecules inside the substance expands their volume and thus produces an explosion. There are also other organs which release energy. Let’s say we have a prism exposed to sunlight, which refracts the sunrays and due to that, certain colours become visible; and I ask you, is it the prism that creates the colours? No, it only refracts the rays, and even if the prism breaks, the colours will continue to exist. In the same way, the energy of human thought exists even after the brain is destroyed. In that sense we can say, that the brain is a device through which the Divine Thought; the initial Divine Energy is refracted and manifested in the form of mind and thought. Therefore, the brain is not a source of thinking; it is only an organ transmitting thought; while the Divine Thought continues to exist even after this organ perishes. In this way, we live in a Divine world, where certain organs exist, which are imperishable. We know that in the physical field there exists certain compounds which undergo transformations, but in the higher worlds, and in the initial higher conditions of matter there exists unchangeable compounds. I call them stable compounds – initial types, out of which the world of today is built. This world in its physical manifestation we call a physical world, i.e. it does not possess the higher consciousness, which exists in the Spiritual World. For instance, your fingers do not have the sensitivity your brain has, and your ears do not have the sensitivity to perceive light, as your eyes do. What is this sensitivity of the eyes due to? Quite naturally, we can give various answers to this question, but we have to first adopt one statement as a starting point of our reasoning. In Mathematics, there is an axiom stating: any two lines equaling a third line equal each other; in other words, we always have to have one condition, one measure, as a starting point. This sensitivity is a function of the human soul. Now, I have no time to tell you what the soul is like. The human soul is something large; it manifests itself both individually, in man and collectively. In truth, the soul is one; Life is one; but those who do not comprehend this philosophical concept may come up with very wrong views when I say one and many souls. Just the same, as they talk, for instance, about the acorn: the acorn is one, but when we plant this acorn, first it builds up one branched sprig with three branches; then three more are formed above; till it ramifies more and more and forms thousands of individual leaves and acorns. Someone, who has no idea of the acorn’s nature, while looking at the tree, will consider the leaves as separate individuals; however, they all come from and are contained within the acorn – within this seed. This seed is God. Create the conditions and plant that seed within yourselves and it will unfold all talents, all secrets, and wonders. This seed, this acorn can shrink; it can grow; it can transform itself into a beech, a bear, a whale, a man, an Angel. This seed is within – it is one, and at the same time, many. Therefore, things can unite or disperse depending on the viewpoint: if we look from above, things will seem numerous; if we reach downwards, we will see that all things are sustained by the one trunk. We should apply the same point of view to all people: for me, some of them are like leaves; others – like branches, like roots, like seeds, like unripe fruit. Quite naturally those of you, who belong to the leaves, will not understand my philosophy, because your lifespan is short – it is a six-month’s life. When spring comes, you become beautiful, wonderful; yet when autumn comes and frost falls, you wither and say, “Our time has gone.” Some day a storm may break the branches of your tree in two and eventually your whole tree may fall. But even then and there, in the soil, one acorn will remain, which contains Life and says, ''I have the power to bring you back to Life,'' – and it falls down to the soil, drinks up its sap of life and restores all things back to life. Where, then, is the end of all things? This is a constant process, as infinity has no end. When the leaves fall on the Earth, do not think that the entire world has come to an end. Do not think like Nastradin Hodza,1 who said, ''When my wife dies, that will be the end of half the world. When I die, the whole world will end.'' This world may die, but the other, the Divine World will not – not at all. Why do we experience death, why is our world imperfect? When we reach a certain point, we have to transform ourselves into new flesh in order to receive a new impulse for work of the soul. Cornelius was not an uneducated man, in my belief he should have possessed deep knowledge; he was initiated, because God shall not appear before foolish people. It will be foolish for a great musician to play before a man who cannot hear and then ask him what he makes of the music; such a man will answer, ''I can only see how you are moving your fingers to and fro.'' And the musician will say, ''You are stupid,'' meanwhile both are stupid. Or, imagine a painter who has painted a beautiful picture, and shows it to a man who cannot see, and asks, "How do you see it?" and that man answers, "There is a canvass before me, but this canvass is a little bit silly here and there, you must have bought it some place," and the artist will say, ''What a simpleton you are, you don’t understand anything.'' They are both simpletons – the one for not seeing and the other, the painter, for not understanding that the other man is in no condition to understand. In the same way, when a Higher Being comes to us, we have to be able to understand the inner nature of all things. I have read many works of philosophy, I go through them every day and at times I burst my sides with laughter; some philosophers resemble men who cannot see – they work gropingly and write, "This world is a canvass with imperfections; with too little suffering; and all men are fools." You are right, I say, but these conclusions are valid for you only. This world is more than a canvass, more than these up and downturns; there should be Light in the eyes, ears, in the mind, in all the brain centres of the man, in all his strengths and abilities; so that he may understand things. And the one who understands the world must have lived a long life – one life only is not enough for a man to understand the world. What can you comprehend within a life-span of twenty, thirty, fifty, or one hundred years – under the present conditions in the world, what philosophy can you learn? You will constantly read in the papers which army2 is the prevailing one; how many people the Romanians killed; how many prisoners-of-war the Bulgarians have captured; what inventions the Germans have made. For example, the Germans have devised 42-cm guns; the French are developing a 52-cm gun; the Americans – a 54 cm gun; the Germans had so-and-so zeppelins, the French – so-and-so airplanes; I ask you – what philosophy will you learn from all that? Laws exist that regulate things. Wars break out for a reason. What are the reasons when a storm arises and dust swirls in the air? The scientists say that someplace the air has been heated more; someplace – less; and currents have originated. Why should air be heated and why should it be cooled; can't we do without that? No, we cannot. You may say it’s something bad, because there are storms which destroy houses. Yes, but at the same time the storms will bring you moisture, will clear the air, etc., i.e. to the vegetable kingdom they will do more good than harm. What are the reasons for a war to break out? It is a storm in the Spiritual World, which comes to refresh people. After that storm, the people will become very intelligent; writers will appear who will reason very intelligently. Now we can only see the harm but in fifty years we shall return to see the outcome. In the Divine World everything comes into use and nothing happens by chance. The one killed on the battle field was meant to be killed; the one who had his house burned, he had to have his house burnt; if one had a leg cut, it was because this leg had to be cut. Statistics exist, proving the natural course of events; there are laws, regulating the events in Life which only seem to occur by chance – for example, how many ships shall sink and how many should be built for ten years; when will the period of the greatest number of sinking set in and then – the period of the least number of sinking; or let us take for example fires: how many houses should burn every year; then let us take for example births and deaths – how many people have to be born and how many have to die each year. And more: I have, for example, the study of a mathematician, who is also an astrologer; and he did calculations in the following way: for ten towns in England he studied the number of the boys and girls born in the course of ten years; and afterwards he succeeded to mathematically establish with an error of one percent only how many boys and girls will be born in each of these towns in the course of the following ten years. Some reach even farther with their calculations and foretell, let us say which tickets will be the winning ones in the next draw of a lottery, which is drawn four times in a year. Therefore, a law exists, that regulates things. This is a new science, which has deep roots and a rational foundation. Now, you are starting to scratch the backs of your heads; this scratching might seem, at first glance, to have no meaning at all, but I know why it is happening. Or, someone has confused his work and puts his index finger on his forehead above his eyebrows; to such a man we say, "You have not judged right, and that is why you have confused your work," – you should judge carefully. In this laboratory above the eyebrows everything is stored that you need; there is your library where you can find the book; this and that page or this and that article of the law, which will enlighten you. Some have the habit of pressing their head but with pressing you cannot open a door; this is the way to crush nuts only. To be able to open the door of learning, men should have the key. Hence, we have to live mindfully. Many books are written on the issue of what Mindful Life is. It is your task – you have to live according to the way you comprehend things because a student with no comprehension of his own will never understand the subject matter his teacher is teaching. Now we are placed in the following contradiction. There is a legend, that God originally created two men on the Earth, but they could not get on well together; they started hating each other; and that is why God placed them in the two most distant places in space, so that they could not see each other. But they began to miss each other; started to love each other and in order to join, these two souls built a bridge and this bridge is the Milky Way. Therefore there is a way through which people can get on well together – and it is the Milky Way of Harmony, of Love. Christ descended via this way, too. Some want to know what an Angel is; while what I want to know is what man is. The old Indians have defined man as a thinking being; then, what is an Angel? Angel in Sanskrit means servant, but it also means glowing fire, and also love. If you love, you are an Angel; if you do not love, you are a man. But I say to someone, "You are not an Angel, you are one of those souls, who have not agreed with their neighbour, and for that reason God has nailed you somewhere in space and you have no bridge to join you." Peter in Sanskrit means spirit (Pitar); in fact, they told Cornelius, "Go to the Spirit, It will tell you all." Peter in Old Greek means stone. There exist living stones – only the Spirit can be a living stone. By stone Christ means things unchangeable within, Divine, mindful. Cornelius had to pray – here is a task. Many still do not know how to pray; some say, "What am I expected to tell God, doesn’t He know?" And others ask how they should pray. If you ask a theosophist, he will tell you, "I am God, I have nothing to pray for, I will only reason." While the philosopher will say, ‘I will think.’ But prayer is necessary – it is the breathing of the human soul; it is communication between God and the human soul. When God speaks, you shall keep silent and listen carefully as a student and when He stops, He will tell you, "I want you to repeat what I have told you." The word prayer means to ascend and descend. There are people who talk incessantly; they are chatterboxes – even when they sleep at night, they talk, while they should keep silent. What is sleep? I will tell you; when you sleep, God teaches you lessons – because you are isolated from the external world, from family, house, etc., this is the time when God can speak to you. When man wakes up, God would tell him, "Repeat what I have told you." And what will this man repeat, if he has not heard and comprehended well God’s commandments? He will beat his wife, will spank his children and will live the whole day indisposed, because he has not comprehended the lesson, and has not understood the meaning of Life for this day. When a Divine Messenger descends from Heaven to us, he wants to tell us that without Purity we will never see God; that without Holiness we will never comprehend Him; that without Kindness and Love, without Compassion and without Justice we will not feel Him. We have to understand what Love is. Some say, "We understand what Love is," some of you, I believe, do understand what Love is; but you have to understand it deeper. Love is always the stepping-stone to hatred; if you love Good - you will hate evil; if you love evil - you will hate Good. Consequently, Love alone cannot solve the question and bring deliverance to man, if it is not accompanied with a constant evasion of its antipode. Who, then, will save the world? - The Angel of Love, accompanied by the Angel of Compassion. Only in Compassion there is no shadow, only in the Mercy of God there is no division – we have to study the law of Compassion. For this reason this Angel came to Cornelius – to teach him the law of Compassion. And when the people of the world learn to be compassionate and apply Compassion everywhere, then all will live in peace. Truth makes men free, teaches him what is Good and what is wrong; who is foolish and who is wise; but it does not contain within itself the element to reconcile people; Love, too, alone can not bring about peace. Divine Compassion is the key that reconciles Justice with injustice, Wisdom with foolishness, Good with evil, so that they shall not fight within us. They say about someone, "He is good, I cannot stand him; he is foolish, I cannot stand him; he is bad, I cannot stand him." The World is not bad, what is bad is our understanding of things; we are bad within ourselves, and the world is very good. The soul which you hate agonizes, it suffers, it is chained somewhere in Heaven. Some people now say, "You will never save your soul; you will eternally live in hell." And I ask, who among those philosophers is the advisor to God to know what He thinks? They are like the man who could not hear but listened to the great musician; and like the man who could not see and touched the canvass of the great artist. Are they the men who will show us the way to Deliverance, the way of the new civilization? No, they are not. He is the Angel who descended to teach us Compassion – Christ; in the soul of Christ there is Compassion and self-sacrifice. Sometimes you say, "We are very educated, that is why we shall hide, so that they will not demagnetize us, or rob us," no, open your safes, open your hearts, open everything! Do not shrink into yourselves like the snail, which protrudes its antennas and then draws them in again – you have to leave your shells. I do not talk to snails or shells – I talk to people who ask themselves the questions, "What is the meaning of my life, what is my purpose, what shall I do?" I answer: you have to learn Divine Compassion. Whenever I have spoken about Compassion, they have, every time, been angry with me, saying, "You wish us ill, you do not understand us." I understand you, I understand that you love Truth, Justice, but I have not met a compassionate person among men yet. Yet, deliverance is in Compassion – this is the teaching of Christ, this is the culture of the future. After this war Compassion will come. The disabled, who will be in the millions, with their thought will create a new movement – they will ask, "What was all that about, for what reason we fought if not to correct our previous mistakes?" The people of today who are fighting are civilized, they are not barbarians, and they will contemplate on this issue. They are now only quarrelsome men and women. The woman cannot stand her husband, because he cast a glance at another woman – how could he possibly look at another woman? Well, he should be blind not to look. The man, on his part, quarrels with his wife, too, when she casts a glance at another man. Some say that Christ on his coming will put the world right. Christ is coming now to introduce the New Teaching of reconciliation between people, the teaching of Compassion towards everyone without making any differentiation – as with Cornelius. And when we start to pray and do good deeds, then God will send us to this Peter – to the Spirit. And the Spirit will bring us Joy and Rejoicing and will reveal to us the great tasks. The Spirit will create the Milky Way in our soul and we shall travel from one sun to another; from one planet to another and we shall see how great God is. Firstly, we shall head to the nearest star; then, after having lived there, we shall proceed to other stars. For each and every one of you there are great goods in store, a great future there, if only you embrace Compassion. What are you expecting now? - That Christ shall come to save you. I know that Christ has at least a hundred times lifted you from the earth; you have many times thrown yourselves into the water and Christ has saved you. It is very clear what is happening in the world today – it is the arm of God at work; God is forming a new world. What will happen with Bulgaria? The situation of Bulgaria and of all people in Europe will be much better than it is now. When a corpulent man with a fat belly weighing one hundred and fifty kilos catches typhus and slims down to fifty kilos, they say, "Poor man!" While actually, he has now become a man, before this he was not a man. This war is healing us from a similar disease – all people are ill and God will heal them. Those who are dying now will revive again, like the leaves which fall – the new acorn will raise them from the dead and will bring them back to life. Nothing perishes in the world, the outer form is not the reason for the inner Life – as God lives so will we live with Him. Even in this world we have to make an effort to be good servants and good sons; to work honestly, so that when we return to Him, He could say that we have fulfilled His will. Now some say, "I will not see God" – everyone shall see Him. When we join Him, he will say, "Why did you disgrace your name, why did you kill your brother, why did you dishonour your sister? You will return again." God will not talk sharply; I can imagine what He will say. He will give you a serious look and will say gently, "I am very sorry, son, that you have not yet understood My Compassion. Now, go back to the Earth to learn Compassion, return there to show men what I Am like. I Am the God of Compassion. They think I Am cruel, unmerciful, everybody is complaining about Me and discredits Me, and this is not good." And when people see the compassionate man, they will say, "Here is one, who is walking the ways of God." And now people say, "Even those, the religious people, are quarrelling." And that is why I am not asking you if you are religious; I am asking you whether you are compassionate. We can say about someone that he is a learned man, but has no Compassion – he is supposed to be an intelligent person, but says to his neighbour, "You are stupid, I cannot stand you." About another person we can say that he is a good person, has love, but does not have Compassion. I want you to keep within you this morning one word only – the word Compassion. In 1875, in Chicago, a gentleman was milking his cow by the light of a candle; the animal kicked the candle, the straw was set on fire and most of the city burned down. The cost of the damage was billions of dollars. When the fire approached his house, a wealthy man told someone who was there, "I will give you two hundred thousand dollars if you take my safe out." "Dash!" - said the other man running to save his life, as the fire was following on his heels. Thus, the wealthy American had to run away without his wealth. Now someone may say, "If only I had been there to take the two hundred thousand dollars – what a stroke of luck it would have been!" Yes, but the fire is following on your heels. It is not money that decorates Life. And Chicago, having lost so much after the big fire, has now an even more magnificent outlook. Now, likewise, the war introduces the same into the world – on its ruins a greater culture will be built. Now, if you understand the Spirit of Compassion, which God is sending to you, you will comprehend His teaching. September 17, 1916, Sofia __________________________________________________ 1 Nastradin Hodza, or Hoca which means teacher in Turkish was a wise, witty man with a good sense of humour, whose stories have been told almost everywhere in the World. The year 1996 was proclaimed Nasreddin Hoca year by UNESCO. 2 The Master refers to the First World War, 1914-1918 Source

Note 4 The Truth ‘The truth shall make you free.’ John 8:32 Pilate asked Christ the question: ‘What is truth?’ Here is one profound philosophical question which is easy to ask, but difficult to answer. Truth in itself is something specific, real, and unchangeable – it is eternal Light, eternal Wisdom, eternal Love, eternal Justice, and eternal Life. But, on the other hand, this very definition requires defining more precisely what Truth is. I am going to dwell on the thought: ‘It is Truth that gives us Freedom’. Freedom is an aspiration of the human mind, heart, Spirit; Freedom is Life; and Life’s purpose is to seek Truth. And seek it in a way different from the one Tolstoy relates in his book ‘My Conversion’. In this book, Tolstoy recounts one of his dreams, which is a clear illustration of his state of the mind before his conversion. ‘I am, says Tolstoy (I am giving a brief account of the story he tells), asleep on a bed. This bed is neither comfortable nor agreeable; I turn over and over to feel what this bed is like, what material it is made of – whether it is made of wood or iron; and I notice, at one point, that the bars of the bed on the sides of my head and feet are starting to fall down, one by one, till finally only one is left under my waist; and at that very moment I hear a voice shouting: ‘Do not dare to move either your head or feet – keep your balance!’, and I see beneath myself a huge pillar and a profound abyss. Very often, you may come upon philosophers who are lying on their backs and from that position are studying the Divine World; however, in the end, only one bar is left under their backs and God says to them: ‘Keep your balance!’ The moment you articulate the word balance, the catastrophe is evaded. When you are studying the Truth, you have to stand upright on your feet instead of lying on your back – only the dead lie in that posture. I use the word dead in its figurative meaning, to describe someone who is narrow-minded, one who doesn’t think. It is better if you turn to the East, so that when Christ approaches, you are able to meet Him upright. Many are those who do as Tolstoy does, but Christ says to them: ‘Balance!’ ‘The Truth shall make you Free’. Truth is real; it is Life itself, do not think it’s something imaginary. It is a world with a beauty of its own; with colours, tones, music of its own; it is a world which has always existed and will always exist. Christ says: ‘Whoever understands this world, these laws and forces, he shall be free’ and also ‘To this end was I born … that I should bear witness unto the truth.’1, and then, Pilate asked him ‘What is truth?’ People of today have strange notions of God. God is Truth; and every time during the day when you feel joy and happiness and start singing, then at this very moment Truth – the living God – is within you; whenever you think Good and do a good deed – God is within you. Truth means progress, an impulse; and when Christ says ‘I am the Way’ He means that a man should make progress and never stand in one place like a tethered animal. In this world, everything is strictly mathematically defined and there is nothing unforeseen or happening by chance; your life, your hardships, pain, tortures – they are all foreseen; and they bear a sign - plus or minus. Truth contains all four mathematical rules: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. One who has plenty can add; one who is in short supply can add, too, but using a different kind of addition. You have, for example, two thousand leva2, but with a sign minus or plus, i.e. borrowed or lent - that’s what will determine the correlation; if you say ‘I have got a two thousand year’, and put in a minus, I understand that in the past you have lived a vicious life for two thousand years; while if you say ‘two thousand years plus’ I understand that you have lived a life virtuous and therefore you are in truth a rich man. Christ says: ‘The truth shall make you free.’ Freedom is a necessity for both man and woman; it is the foundation of the entire social order. Everyone strives for Freedom and has the right to live in Freedom; however a person shall be given this Freedom to the extent they are able to make use of the goods Truth provides. The sufferings a people undergo are as essential to the entity, as they are to each and every individual. Tortures and torments are man’s invention; for example, your husband is paid his salary, it is fifty leva, and the money is hardly enough to see you through the month: ‘Besides’, you say, ‘Easter is coming, how are we to afford Easter cake? Sugar and eggs are expensive, we have no money to buy new shoes, and a new hat will cost fifty to seventy leva. How I wish I had one hundred and fifty or two hundred leva instead.” To make peace, leave the Easter cake for next year; there is not only one Easter in this world, is there? – ‘No, I want the money now!’ - Well, but God had provided only fifty leva, so be content with what you have been given, do not ruin the Easter holiday. In that respect, the wife should grant freedom to her husband and the husband should grant freedom to his wife, and down with Easter bread! That is what Freedom is about; and Truth, too. That is the reason why the Scripture says: “Give thanks for all you have been given!” and do not think that God has not granted you riches, because He has; and you all are rich men; but you have the task to uncover your riches. In our perception of the Divine principles, we have to have inner Freedom, and not to be preconceived. Truth does not depend on either your or my conceptions; no matter whether you think in one way or another; regardless of whether you are approaching or drifting away from it; you will never change its relations; it will always exist, as it is, in this world, which is very rationally created. The Light we have originates from the Light of Truth. Love comes from above; from the Truth; and the moment the Truth triumphs over the world, it shall make you free – as Love unyieldingly aims at Truth. Beauty is another manifestation of Truth; what Beauty is in relation to man, is what Truth is in relation to the Divine World – it is the one and only face of this world, which is a world of harmony and beauty. That is why when you ask: ‘Why are we unhappy?’ Truth answers: ‘Because you are ignorant, because you transgress the law.’ I remember how, once upon a time in Varna3, Gagauz4 girls used to fall in love with Bulgarian young men and wanted to marry Bulgarian men, because, as they said, Greek men were drunkards, while Bulgarian men resembled handsome and good-natured little donkeys. Yet, it is by no means an understanding of the Truth; because Truth is a science teaching what, in truth, should be the reciprocal mindful relations between men. A person cannot be free unless they bring their mind, their heart into balance and in harmony with Truth. Only in this way, will they be able to join the Divine world. Many are those who ask whether we can do without suffering. - Yes, we can. ‘And without pain and tortures?’- Yes, we can, without a doubt, but suffering is indispensable for the evolution of men. Man wants to study the world, and that is why he is bound to suffer, and the Earth is the abode of suffering. ‘But’, man says, ‘how should I have known that?’ -Why haven’t you asked the Mindful Souls above before descending? Once upon a time, a little Angel, after having listened to the stories being told about the people, said to a grown-up Angel: ‘How I wish I could see these people. Please take me to the Earth so I can see them.’ And the grown-up Angel took the little one to the Earth. Then, the little Angel said: ‘I asked you to take me to the people, and you took me to hell.’ ‘But, hell are the people’ – replied the grown-up Angel. And, in truth, we, the people, are the inferno. By saying inferno we mean boiling; bubbling from beneath; seizing by the throat; brothers fighting for their father’s legacy – because the one has taken more than the other; while what is needed is fairness – let the elder brother take more, by the right of seniority. What we have on the Earth are precisely the relations that God has laid down and for which His laws testify; and when we apply these laws according to the Truth, in consequence we obtain Freedom. Therefore, the one who wants to study the Truth will have to study the quality of the Freedom. If you ask me what music is, I will not be able to give a definition; yet what I can define is what music in itself can stir, and it is harmony and relation between the tones. Just sit at the piano or at any other instrument, start playing and you will see what music is like. But, for the manifestation of music we need three things: first, the idea of a song in our mind’s eye; second – an instrument and third – an artist; therefore we need some talent for music in our mind; an insightful ear and subsequently – an artist to play the music. And if you ask me what a teacher is like, I can tell you what a teacher makes: they deliver knowledge and if you learn what Knowledge is, then at that very moment you will find yourself close to the Teacher. You ask what Virtue is; but you should better ask what the fruits of Virtue are; or, in other words, before you venture to study the substance of all things, you should better study their fruits first. How do we know Freedom? We know Freedom by the broad expanse of action it gives. The road of necessity is a one-way road, which you walk in harness. Even if you wear the finest bridle of gold, you still have only one direction to go – ahead; and if you dare to stop, the whip will crack on your shoulders. With Freedom, quite the opposite, you have choice. You have the choice to climb a mountain peak walking the track you choose; and, on the contrary, when you roll downwards, you go in one direction only. ‘But, why should a person think like that?’- Because he is free to think as he chooses. ‘But, he is an atheist!’ - Well, it is only a temporary misconception. ‘He is a wicked person.’ - His sense of Good has not developed yet. ‘He errs.’ - His will has not been fine-tuned. ‘So-and-so has given birth to an illegitimate child.’- Straighten out the relations between the sexes. I consider all men free; only cowards are not free and it’s them who commit crime, as they haven’t got the courage to undertake responsibility. Who are the strong men of the world? Those, who are free and who can endure hardship and suffering, discredit, disgrace – all these are tests, and whoever endures them, is a man of courage, a hero. Suffering is given to put men to the test, to see who is a hero and who is a coward; one who does not want to suffer, one who prefers, without making an effort, letting others do his chores is enlisted into the catalogue of the cowards; if you suffer you are a hero. Tell me; who are the men the Bulgarian people glorify: are they the cowards who in Turkish times5 betrayed the people; or are they those who suffered for their people? And those who suffer for the Truth will be even more glorified – the principle is the same. That is why the science of Truth is a science of social life; Truth always makes people free – those who die for the sake of the others make men free. If Stephan had not died, Pavel would not have been born; when Stephan died, his spirit inspired Pavel and they both started working for God. Stephan taught Pavel to suffer, to endure three times thirty nine sticks; it is for this endurance that Pavel is renowned for. And do you know what the purpose of the thirty nine sticks was? Three plus nine is twelve; the number 12 represents the law of rounding up the evolution of all the days in a man’s life. And the one who has been beaten on the Earth like that; in the other life shall no longer be beaten. If you ask why they beat Christ, He will answer to you: ‘I suffered so that you shall be free.’ Whenever here, on this Earth, someone beats you, a string is broken which ties you to your evil fate; that is why Christ says: ‘And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other.’ (Luke 6:29) Only the strong one can beat; and when the strong one is beating, it is a blessing. What do village people do? When they want a field to yield more crops, they send sheep on this field to graze on it; when it comes to fields, they know the law, but when it comes to their own selves – they do not know it – so, eventually, let the sheep of the world graze on you. Christ says: ‘To this end was I born into the world.’ By saying birth, he means not outer, but inner birth into each and every mind and heart, to testify this Truth. When Truth initiates its birth into you, you will start feeling Freedom. A woman, after getting married, wants to have children, because she is filled with the Truth that this is the only way to observe the law - to inherit property. It is the same in the Spiritual World – if you have not the Truth in you, you cannot inherit the Divine riches. Hence, Truth has to be born into you and then you will have riches and you will live an easier life. There is a legend about Moses – when walking to the Sinai Mountain he met a joyous shepherd and asked him: ‘Why are you so happy?’ The shepherd answered: ‘Because today God was my guest and I slaughtered a lamb to offer Him a treat.’ ‘God does not eat lamb, it was your mind that fell prey to delusion,’ disagreed Moses and left. But sorrow overcame the shepherd, and he became downhearted. When Moses reached the Mountain of Sinai, he noticed that God was angry at him for making a great mistake and returned to the shepherd with the words that God will be his guest and will eat from his lamb. Moses said to the shepherd what God had told him and found a hiding place to see what would happen. At one time, he saw that the shepherd was sleeping peacefully and from Heaven fire fell and burnt the lamb. The shepherd got up and said: ‘I am full of joy, because God came down and ate the lamb.’ And when Truth falls into you, the fire of Truth - Love, will make a sacrifice that is pleasing to God. This is the real world of Truth; for some it is unreal, but there are many (they are neither one or two, nor ten, they are thousands in this world) who know this Truth, and its seeds have to be planted for a long time ahead. You see how beautiful these flowers in front of you are – yellow, red, blue – and you pick these flowers, but are you aware of their meaning? You say: ‘This flower smells very good’, but do you know what this smell means? It shows the deep sorrow of this flower; and this sorrow generates the nectar, intended for your life. There are people, who, when surrounded by their wealth, say: ‘There is no God’, but the moment they lose their wealth or their health, or their social standing; the moment God limits them, they start to smell: ‘There is God.’ Wealth was about to kill their minds, and the moment God takes their wealth away, they start to adopt the correct outlook. What you can see on the Earth is something transitory, it is not real: you see young beautiful girls, but some time passes and their faces become wrinkled; and at some point they become old ladies; and I ask, where did those young girls go, the ones we used to admire so much? The same is with young men – where did their strong build go? You still do not know your own selves; when you study the law of Truth, it will give you power over the matter to understand its inner patterns and to perfect your Life. This is the law of motion, according to which man constantly transforms to pass from the transitory to the eternal; to comprehend the unchangeable nature of the Truth. People say: ‘Christ was born and preaches the Truth” – let us see what this Truth is. Christ wants to introduce a lively spirit into your mind, to give you an impetus to one thought, to let you connect to the Divine World – you are all eternally connected with God. In the world you have friends and if these friends sometimes seem heartless, it is for a reason and the reason is that of your deeds, which are prompted by ignorance. Paul says: ‘God looked down upon men’s ignorance and let men go their own ways, but now He is calling them to abide by the law.’ What has the mother to do, who is called, too, to abide by the law? First of all, she has to give birth to good and intelligent children – this is her task. Some women complain, saying: ‘Why am I a woman?’ – And who should have taken their place, I ask. The man is intended to prepare this material of thought, will, character; to pass it; and the woman is intended to give birth. People look for amenities in this world, but they have to understand that essential law, which is valid for the music, too – the law of the minor and major scales. God has placed some in a minor key; has put them in flat – in the grief, in the sorrow, in the deepness of emotions; while others He has placed in the major key; has put them in sharp, in the shallow waters of Life, as they have no depth of emotions. What can one see in a dance or a march? Dancing, marching, and… exhaustion. With the sad song you will not move about, you will stay peaceful and contemplate; with the minor tone God had created you to think of the other world; with the major – of this world. Sometimes, you want to assume another role: ‘But can religious people play? ‘Yes, they can, but what kind of game? David, when carrying the coffin, was jumping and his wife said: ‘Look, why are you fidgeting before the entire people of Israel!’ ‘Why should I not jump before God? He objected. God has not limited us, He gave us the glorious Freedom to do Good and evil, but the Good can, in certain aspects, be evil, too. You may say: ‘How can that be possible? Look at a man and woman, they live together very well; and when Christ, on His behalf, says: ‘Give away your wealth’; the man in his desire to follow the teaching of the Savior wants to give away his possessions, but the wife says: ‘You must have gone mad; you want your wife and children to be made miserable, don’t you?’ – ‘But I want to follow the law of God.’ – ‘And I do not want this law.’ You have no right to give away the property that belongs to your wife and children, because it is theirs; if you have one hundred thousand leva, divide them equally and fairly between yourself, your wife and children; and only the share that falls to you is the one you can give away; you have no right to do something in the name of God at your family’s expense – this is Christ’s law. – ‘But I am right’ - No, you are not, who gave you this right? Your wife, where did you take her from? Not from your legs, it’s from your ribs that God created her to be your friend and you have no right to torment her. That, of course, suits the women and they say: ‘That’s right! That’s right!’ Never approach the issues solely from your point of view, but from the reciprocal point of view. In the universal Life there are plenty of possibilities: in this life you are a man, but in another life you can be created a woman and vice versa. If, in this life, you write: ‘I give no freedom to the woman’, in your second life, when you will be created a woman, you will feel the sweetness of this provision of the law. ‘It is not’, you will then say, ‘a good law,’ although it was you who wrote it beforehand. Men, set good laws, because the second time, as women, you will come under their rule. Of course, it is not only the man who writes laws, the woman also writes laws and set restrictions to other women. Many women have written bad laws into their daughters and sons – to hate their father: ‘Your father is a scoundrel, vagabond.’ Do not write such laws, because your Father is only one; and this man or this woman, they are a tool of the Divine Spirit wishing to become clothed in a form or idea; and when you are complaining, you are grumbling against God. You should not change the fundamental traits of the idea incarnate in form. Within the shadows you can introduce some changes, make them brighter or darker; but the foremost, the one which embodies the Divine Idea, has to remain unchanged. April 24, 1916 (May 7, 1916, Sofia - Old Style) ___________________________________________________ 1 John 18:37 2 lev – Bulgarian National Currency, pl. leva 3 Varna – a city in Bulgaria, on the Black Sea coast 4 Gagauz –in Bulgaria: an ethnic group, Orthodox Christians, speaking a language related to the Turkish language 5 The Master refers to the period of the Ottoman dominance over the Bulgarian people (1396-1878) and the struggle of the Bulgarian people for Freedom. Source

From The Truth The Truth "And the truth shall make you free." (John 8:32) Pilate asked Christ a question: "What is truth?" Here is a deep philosophical question. It is easy to ask, but difficult to answer. The truth in itself is something concrete, real, unalterable - everlasting light, everlasting wisdom, everlasting love, everlasting righteousness, everlasting life. But this very definition requires us to more concretely establish what sort of a thing the truth is. I will dwell on the thought: it is the truth which gives freedom. Freedom is an aspiration of the human mind, heart, soul and spirit; freedom - this is life; and the purpose of life is for us to search for the truth, and to search for it but not in the way Tolstoy describes in his book: "My conversion". He speaks there about a dream of his which clearly characterizes the state of his soul before his conversion. "I find myself", Tolstoy says - I am relating his story concisely - “lying in a bed in my dream, it is neither very comfortable, nor do I take pleasure in it; I move about to see what [the nature of] this bed is, what it is made of - of iron or of wood; I notice at some point that the bed-slats near my head and my feet begin to fall one by one; finally only one slat is left below my waist. At this time a voice calls out: "Do not move any more, neither with the head, nor with the feet - keep balance!" And I see down beneath me a large column and a bottomless pit". Often, there are philosophers who lie upon their backs and investigate the Divine world [in this way], but only one slat is left under their waist and so the Lord says to them: "Keep balance!" And you, as soon as you utter "Balance [Equilibrium]!", the catastrophe is avoided. When you investigate the truth, you should stand on your feet and not lie upon your back; only the dead lie like this. I take the word dead metaphorically - a narrow-minded [limited] man, who does not think. You should be turned towards the East, so that when Christ comes into view, you may receive Him. Many act as Tolstoy did, but Christ tells them: "Balance [Equilibrium]!" "The truth shall make you free". The truth is real, it is actual, immediate life itself. Do not think that it is something imaginary. The truth is a world which has its beauty, its hues, tones, music - a world which has existed and which will always exist. Christ says: "Whoever understands this world, these laws and forces, shall be free". And also: "For this was I born - to bear witness unto the Truth" (Jn 17:37). And then Pilate asked him: "What is truth?" Contemporary people have rather strange conceptions of the Lord. The Lord - this is the Truth. When some day you feel joyful and glad and start to sing, behold, the truth - the living Lord - is within you. You think something in goodness, you accomplish a good deed - the Lord is within you. The truth - it is motion, instigation. And when Christ says: "I am the Way", He implies that man must have motion, and should not stay in a single place like some tied-up animal. In this world [all] things are strictly mathematically defined, there is nothing unforeseen, nothing accidental; your life, your sufferings, your sorrows and torments - all this has been foreseen. They are plus (+) and minus (-). The four arithmetic operations are included in the truth: addition and subtraction, multiplication and division. Whoever has much, adds; whoever has little, also adds; only the addition here is different. You have two thousand levs, but with a minus or a plus – to be able to give or to take away. This will determine the relation. If you say: "I have two thousand years" and put a minus, I infer that in the past you have lived two thousand years of a dissolute [immoral] life. If you say: "Two thousand years plus", I infer that you have lived an excellent life, and, therefore, you are indeed rich. Christ says: "The truth shall make you free". The truth is a necessity for the man and for the woman: the whole social system rests upon it. Everyone strives for freedom and is entitled to live freely; but this freedom will be given to one insofar as he one is able to make use of the gifts of the Truth. The sufferings of a nation are [just as] needed for the latter as they are for the separate individual. The torments and torturings are our inventions. Your husband receives a salary, say, 5 levs, which are barely enough to carry you through the month: "But Easter, you say, is coming; there is not enough for an Easter cake [1] - the sugar and the eggs are expensive, there is not enough for shoes, for a hat 50-70 levs are necessary, why shouldn't we have 150-200 levs?" For there to be peace, leave the Easter cakes for next year -there is not only one Easter in this world. "No, now!" But the Lord has granted only 50 levs, be content with what is there already, do not spoil the Easter. The wife [2] in this respect should give freedom to her husband [2], and the husband - to the wife. Down with the Easter cakes! This is what freedom is, and also the truth. And this is why the Scriptures say: "Be grateful for everything". Do not think that the Lord has not given you wealth; He has given it, you are all rich, but you have to search for it. In comprehending the Divine precepts [3] we should have internal freedom, we should not be mannered [4]. The truth is independent of both your conceptions and mine; whether you will think in one way or another, whether you will draw near or drift away from it, you will not change its relations, it will always exist, as it is, in this world which has been created very wisely. The light {videlinata}, which we have, originates from the light {svetlinata} of the Truth. Love comes from above, from the Truth, and, when it conquers the world, it will make you free. Love always has an aspiration for the Truth. Beauty is also an expression of Truth: what beauty is in relation to man, Truth is in relation to the Divine world; it is one face of this world which is a world of harmony, of beauty. And when you say: "Why are we miserable", the Truth replies to you: "Because you are ignorant, because you transgress the Law". I know, once upon a time in Varna the Gagauz [5] women would fall in love with the Bulgarian men and wanted to marry them; the Greeks were allegedly drunkards, while the Bulgarians supposedly resembled good and gentle little donkeys. But this is not an understanding of the Truth. Truth is a science to learn what the mutual intelligent relationships between people should be. Until man brings his mind, his heart, to equilibrium, to an accord with the Truth, he cannot be free. Only in this way will he be able to unite with the Divine world. Many ask: "Is it not possible without sufferings?" It is possible. "And without sorrows and torments?" It is possible, of course! But the sufferings are necessary for the evolution of man. Man wants to study the world, which is why he inevitably suffers. And the Earth is a place of sufferings. "But", he says, "how could I know?" Why, before descending, did you not ask the intelligent beings above? Once a little Angel, who listened to much being spoken of men, said to a big Angel: "I would very much like to see these people; do take me to the Earth to see them". He took the little Angel to the Earth. The little Angel then said: "I asked you to take me to the humans, but you took me to Hell". - "But Hell - this is the people", answered the big Angel. And in truth, hell - this is us. Under the word hell is understood here boiling, bubbling from below, flying at each other's throat, brothers fighting one another - why one took more from their father's inheritance, while the other took less. "Equality is required". He is bigger [6] - let him take more. We on the Earth have exactly those relations which God has established and to which His laws bear witness, and, when we apply them according to the Truth, their result will be freedom. And whoever wishes to study the Truth, has to study the quality of freedom. If you ask me what music is in its essence, I cannot give you a definition; but what music gives birth to by itself - this I can define. It is harmony, a relationship between tones. Sit in front of a piano or any other musical instrument, play and you will see what music is. But for the manifestation of music three things are necessary: firstly, an idea in your mind of some song; secondly, an instrument, and thirdly, an artist. Consequently, what is needed is a certain musical ability inside your mind, a sensitive ear, and then an artist to perform. And if you ask me what a teacher is, I can tell you what a teacher produces. He gives knowledge. If you learn what knowledge is, you will be close to the teacher. You ask what virtue is; it is better to ask what virtue gives birth to. Before you embark on studying the essence of things, study their results. By what is freedom distinguished? By this, that it gives broad scope for action. In necessity there is only one way - you are harnessed. Your bridle may be made of gold, it may be quite nice, but you must only walk in one direction - forward; if you stop, the whip will land on your back. In freedom, conversely, you have a choice. You have the choice to climb a mountain peak, to climb from any side, but when you roll downwards, you are already going in only one direction. "But why does man think like this?" He is free to think. "But he is ungodly". This is a temporary delusion. "He is mean". The consciousness for goodness had not developed in him. "He errs". His will is not regularized. "Such-and-such gave birth illegitimately". Set the relations between the sexes in order. I consider people free. Those who are not free are the fainthearted, and it is precisely they who commit crimes; they do not have the heroism to take responsibility. Which people are strong in the world? Those who are free and are able to endure predicaments and sufferings, bespatterings, dishonorings - these things are trials and, whoever endures them, performs [an act of] heroism. The sufferings are given as a test to find out who is a hero and who a coward. Whoever does not wish to suffer, whoever wishes others to do the work [7] for him, is considered to be in the catalogue of the cowards. If you suffer - you are a hero. Tell me now, who do the Bulgarian people revere - those cowards, who during the time of the Ottoman Empire would betray the people, or those [men], who suffered for this people? And how much more exalted will those be who suffer for the Truth! The principle is the same. This is why the science of Truth is a science of the public, of the social life. The truth always makes people free. Those who die for others make people free. If [st.] Stephen had not died, [st.] Paul would not have been born. When Stephen died, his spirit entered into Paul and then both began to work together for the Lord. Stephen taught Paul how to suffer, how to endure three times 39 rods. Paul is renowned for this endurance. And do you know why there were 39 rods? 3 + 9 = 12: the number 12 is the law of rounding the evolution of all the days of a man's life. And whoever is beaten thus on Earth, will not be beaten any more in the other life. If you ask why they scourged Christ, He will answer you: "I suffered, so that you may be free". When here on Earth someone strikes you, one thread, which keeps you attached to your ill fate, breaks. This is why Christ says: "If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also". Only one who is strong is able to beat, and when he beats, it is a blessing. What do the peasants do? When they wish the field to bear more fruit, they send sheep to trample on it; they know this law with respect to the fields, but with respect to themselves, they do not know it. So, finally, let the sheep of the world trample on you a bit. Christ says: "For this was I born". [Jn 18:37] Birth is understood here not externally, but internally - in every mind and in every heart, so that this Truth may bear witness. When the Truth starts to be born in you, you will begin to feel freedom. A woman, when she marries, wishes to have children because she is permeated by the Truth that only in this way can she observe the law - to inherit a property. And in the spiritual world it is the same - if you do not have the Truth, you cannot inherit the Divine riches. Therefore, the Truth must be born in you. Then you will have wealth and you will pass through your life more easily. There is a legend about Moses: when he was going to Mount Sinai, he saw a joyful shepherd and asked him: "Why are you so cheerful?" The shepherd replied to him: "Because the Lord will be my guest today, I have slaughtered a lamb to give a treat to the Lord". - "The Lord does not eat lambs; this is a confusion of your mind" objected Moses and left. However, the shepherd began to feel sad; he was deadened in spirit. When Moses reached Mount Sinai, he noticed that the Lord was displeased with him because he had made a big mistake, and so, he went back to the shepherd to tell him that the Lord will visit him and will eat from his lamb. When he had told the shepherd what the Lord had instructed him, he secretly began to keep a close watch on what would happen. At one moment he saw that the shepherd quietly went to sleep, while fire descended from the sky and burnt the lamb. The shepherd got up and said: "How glad I am that the Lord descended and ate the lamb!" And when the Truth descends in you, its fire, Love, will make a sacrifice pleasing to God. This is the real world of the Truth. For some it is unreal. But there are many, not one or two, nor ten, but thousands all over the whole world, who know this Truth. It must be planted for a long time yet. You see how beautiful these flowers are in front of you - yellow, red, blue - and you pick them, but have you understood their meaning? You say: "This flower has a very pleasant scent." What does this scent mean? It shows the profound sorrow of the flower. From its affliction is formed the nectar intended for your life. There are people who in the midst of their wealth say: "There is no Lord", but once they lose their wealth or their health or their social status, the Lord fastens them - they begin to give off a scent: "There is a Lord". The wealth would destroy their mind and, when the Lord takes it away from them, they begin to look at things correctly. What you observe on the Earth is something transient, it is not real. Young, beautiful girls, when some time passes, their faces become lined with wrinkles, and in a short time they become old grandmothers; I ask, where did those young girls go, which we had admired so much earlier? Likewise the lads: where is their handsomeness? You do not know yourselves yet; when you learn the law of Truth, it will give you power over matter, to understand its internal combinations and to perfect your life. This is the law of movement - man must constantly alter and must pass from the transient to the eternal, in order to understand the unalterable nature of the Truth. People say: "Christ was born and he preaches the Truth". Let us see what this Truth is. Christ wishes to introduce vigor into your mind, [He wishes] to give you instigation for a particular thought, for you to enter into communion with the Divine world. You are all eternally connected with God. You have friends in the world, and, if these friends occasionally show themselves to be insensitive, it is because of your relations, due to ignorance. [st.] Paul says: "God despised man's ignorance and left people to follow their ways, but now he calls them for the Law to be fulfilled". What should the mother do, who is also called to fulfill the Law? First of all she should give birth to good and clever children - this is her task. Some women complain and say: "Why am I a woman?" Who, then, should have been in their place, I ask. The man [male] must prepare this material of thought, will, character, to impart [it], while the woman should give birth. People seek comforts in the world, but they have to understand that essential law, which exists in music as well - about the major and minor scales. The Lord has set some [people] in a minor key, He has put them in flats - in grief, in sorrow, in the depths of feeling; others he has set in a major key, he has put them in sharps, in the shallowness of life, because they do not have depth of feeling. What can one see in a dance or a march? Dancing, marching and ... exhaustion. In the sad song you will not move, you will keep quiet and will reason. In the minor tone the Lord has created you to think about the other world, while in the major tone - about this world. Occasionally you wish to take someone else's role; but can religious people dance? They can dance, but what kind of dance? David, while he was carrying the ark, leaped and danced, while his wife said: "Look, why are you wiggling before the whole people of Israel!" (1 Chron 15; 2 Sam 6:15) - "Why should I not leap before the Lord?" he objected to her. The Lord has not restricted us, He has given us great freedom to do good and evil; but good in certain respects may be evil. But, you will say, how can this be? Here [is how]. A husband and wife live very well. Christ for His part says: "Give away your possessions" (Mat 19:21), the husband, in his desire to fulfill the teaching of the Savior, wants to give away his possessions, but his wife tells him: "You have gone mad, do you want your wife and children to be miserable?" - "But I want to fulfill the law of God", - "And I, however, do not want this law. You have no right to give away the possessions of your wife and your children, they belong to them. You have 100 thousand levs, divide them duly, equally between you, your wife and your children, and only the share which is apportioned to you, only that you have the right to give away. You do not have the right to commemorate the Lord with their money [8]. This is the law of Christ". - "But I have the right". "You do not have the right. Who gave you this right? Where did you take your wife from? Not from your legs, but from your ribs the Lord made her your companion, and you have no right to torment her". This, of course, is now convenient for the women, and they say to themselves: "Just so, just so!" Never observe the issues from your viewpoint, but from a mutual point of view. In the universal life there are many possibilities; in the present life you are a man, but in another they may make you a woman or vice versa. If in this life you write "I do not allow any freedom to the woman", in the second life, when they make you a woman, you will experience the sweetness of this provision of the law. "This law, you will say then, is not good". - But it is you who wrote it earlier. Men [males], set good laws, because the second time, as women, you will be under their supremacy. Of course, the man [male] is not the only one who writes laws, but the woman writes them as well, and they themselves create restrictions for each other. Many women have written bad laws for their daughters and sons, to hate their fathers - "your father is a good-for-nothing, a vagabond". Do not write such laws, because your Father is only one; this man or this woman have become an instrument for the Divine Spirit to clothe a certain idea in a certain form, and, when you complain, you repine against the Lord. You should not alter the main outlines of the form-embodied idea. In the shadows you may change something, making them lighter or darker, but the main-substance, which gives countenance to the Divine idea, must remain. 24 April 1916 --==[][][]==-- _____________________________ Notes: [1] kozunak is a traditional Bulgarian bun, which is also made for Easter. The equivalent in the US and other English speaking countries is the hot cross bun. [2] In Bulgarian, there is a single word for "husband", "male" and "man", and similarly for "wife", "female" and "woman" [3] or: orders, regulations [4] or artificial, even snobbish [5] The Gagauz are Christians (Orthodox or Catholic) who speak a language belonging to the group of Turkish languages. There are different opinions about their origin. The Gagauz lived until the 19th century in the European territories of the Ottoman Empire. [6] or "older"; In Bulgarian the adjective describing a brother/sister as 'older' also means 'bigger' [7] This is a colloquialism, which literally means: others to do the housework or chores for someone, without that someone putting any effort themselves [8] This sentence is built around a Bulgarian proverb, which can be literally translated as: 'To commemorate the departed using someone else's damper/loaf', which means: to do something at someone else's expense.

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

The Book - The Salt. Beinsa Douno Birth "For there has been born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."1 "Has been born" is the most promising word in the life on earth. What does this word contain? Birth contains the sublime, the dynamic and powerful impulse, urging all humanity to perfection. People often ask, "How can one enter the kingdom of God? How can we be freed from the limitations of the laws of nature, and can we master them?" I answer, "When you are born." I am speaking of the word birth, not of reincarnation. People have been reincarnated thousands and millions of times. They first started their life as microbes, enlarging and reforming until finally they were born as people in the full sense of the word. Reincarnation is a process, while birth is a completed cycle of this process. When it says in the Scriptures, "Today has been born," we should understand that he, who was conceived millions of years ago, was finally born. Who was born? Christ the Lord was born. The word birth contains a great idea, which God has deposited in the Spirit. And when each one of you realizes that you have been born, you will be saved and then comprehend the meaning of life. For many years you have not yet been born. You are in the process of reincarnation and in this process you must be born someday. Then, the angels will say about you, "In the city of David has been born." Christ must be born in every heart and in every soul. People say, "He was born in Jerusalem,"2 and make pilgrimages there to worship Him, yet they do not understand the sense of this birth and they do not aspire to live like Christ. He was born among the Jews who were the chosen nation, but they also did not understand the deep meaning of His birth and what He was bringing to all humanity - the Love of God. Every birth is accompanied by suffering; therefore, in order for Christ to be born in the human soul; by all means, this suffering should be experienced. It is the same with a mother giving birth to her child - she must experience certain sufferings and take all the necessary care of the child. According to the same law every nation or the whole humanity in which Christ must be born, must make provisions and prepare the conditions in which this child is to be born and grow up. This idea may, perhaps, be somewhat dim, but this should not worry you: it depends on how near or far and in what light you consider things. Every person understands things according to the degree of Light they have. When the Angels proclaim "this day a Savior has been born" they mean the Joy He brings to humanity - Peace, the highest manifestation of God. The Lord manifests Himself as Peace which is the Law of Harmony, of the Unity of the Mind, of the Sublime Character, of Love, of Wisdom, of Truth, of Goodness and Righteousness - that is what Peace means. Only those who brings Peace can be born. You can not be born until you understand these deep Truths, until you achieve Peace in yourselves. Now let me consider psychologically the word birth. This word has a relation to mysticism. A Christian who wants to become a mystic and studies the Divine Nature in order to deserve the name "human" must understand well the word birth. You have read in Genesis that "God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul." At that time, the process of breathing took place, while at the present time the process of birth is to take place. I would have explained the word breathed to you, but my explanation would have been incomprehensible, for in this word there is something unexplainable for people today. However, a day will come when you will understand it. Now I will consider the opposite which the Law of Birth requires, as it is a Law of Internal Development. By this Law, God is manifest fully in your Soul and the Spirit works positively through it. All your aspirations are under the Law of Birth and through it the Supreme Divine Consciousness in a person is manifested and perfected. The ordinary human consciousness is an obscure idea. There are different conceptions of birth. If you are asked what this word means, you would say, "Birth means the conception and birth of a child." We should not perceive birth in regard to the body, but to the human Soul - the conception of that Divine Germ and its birth. So that when we say, "a man has been born", we mean that process of knowledge and wisdom in addition to that of conception and growth. A person cannot say that they were born until they obtain knowledge. Animals, fish and microbes are reincarnated time after time in their effort to complete this cycle of reincarnation. In the Bulgarian language the word rebirth means ‘processing of things’. Chewing the cud or ruminating like the ox is not different from processing. That means that, here on earth, we are merely processing certain experiences acquired during millions of years. Some ask, "Where do we come from?" “From the Big Sea.” You may ask, "How many years have we been there and how has our exit taken place?" After the Sun of Life had been shining on you for thousands of years it raised you up, and by the Law of the Cooling of Bodies, you have come down. Therefore, the Spirit has raised you as the Sun raises the vapors of the sea and has sent you to the earth. Do not think it is a great misfortune for you to be here. On the contrary, this is of great benefit to you. I tell you there is no greater knowledge in the world than to know how to suffer. Suffering is the highest manifestation of Love. They who have not understood the sense of suffering are still animals, microbes that have to be reincarnated many more times. And the contrary is true: those who have understood the sense of suffering have been born and are human. Suffering is the lot of human beings only. Animals do not suffer the way people do - blows are only a massage for them. A dog yelps when being beaten, but as soon as the beating stops, its suffering passes away. The deep sense of life - the so called ‘Cosmic Grief’ - is hidden in suffering; the secret in life is concealed in suffering. If you want to acquire the Divine Wisdom and the Secrets of Nature, I tell you - there is no other way than that of suffering. When a person asks God to be sent to the earth, God asks them, "Do you want to pass through the Law of Suffering? If you do, I shall send you down." If they should answer, "I do not want to," He will say to them: "Stay by Me in the Great Sea because as soon as you leave here, you will be a worker who must labor and suffer on earth.” But what is the earth? It is the Great Woman - your Mother - who bears and raises up human beings. Once having accepted you, She will hold you for millions of years and cultivate you until finally you are ready and She will say, "Here is my child who can now speak to you of things with the Divine Language." I shall make a small digression. In birth lies a great power of motion, it is the most powerful impulse that a person can be given. If you could visit the Sun with the Eye of a clairvoyant, you wouldl understand the magnitude of the energy with which it sends out its rays. You say that a cannon is very powerful because it shoots out a shell at a distance of 120 km. But imagine the power and speed of the light waves emitted by the Sun every second and the distance they pass before stopping at a place! According to the physicians, light travels at 300,000 km/sec. Can you imagine this power? These rays gradually weaken and their brightness decreases since light depends on the rate of velocity. The greater the velocity, the more powerful the light until this wave reaches the final limit; stops and turns into darkness. Do you know what darkness is? It is the opposite process: the discharge of light is from below upwards; while that of darkness which reaches the final limit is movement from above downwards, i.e. from the periphery toward the center. It is the weakest movement. Thus light is down while darkness is above. But you will say, "We know that the dark place is hell." What is hell? Some think that hell is a special place of torture. What is a place of torture? A woman wishing to bear a child passes through torture. The same way the earth has conceived and millions and billions of creatures on it want to bear children. This is hell. Some do not want to be there, wishing to be in heaven and say, "I do not want such a hell." If you do not pass through hell, you cannot become a human being. That is why birth means such a hell. It is not so terrible, however. A person who is born and sins digresses from the law, so a terrible fall awaits them. They will be placed in the cannon of the Sun again, powerfully shot out and will travel through space for millions of years. Where they will stop will depend on the power they were thrown out with by God. If they are discharged with great force and travel for 100 million years, they will need that many years to return. The greater their velocity through space, the slower their movement back to God. But when they draw nearer Him, God will attract them to Himself with greater speed. Therefore, being born means that a person has reached the final limit of which their Soul was thrown in space. There they will stop and start their evolution anew. When they thus end their reincarnations, they will be born. Humanity lost hope by the sin of Adam and Eve. Two children were born to them, but death captured them. There was no one to comfort them and they complained like the rich who have no children: "We have no heirs so all our possessions will go into the hands of strangers." They are discouraged by this. Humanity also found itself in such a state, but God gave it an immortal child to save it - that is Christ. New thoughts are often born to your minds. Once I heard a renowned preacher say, "I have so many ideas that 10 or 20 years will not suffice for their expression." But after no more than 10 sermons he confessed that he had exhausted all his material. When you think you have many ideas, you are under the Law of Reincarnation. Were not the lower creatures created first - bugs, flies, etc.? Your numerous thoughts are of such a small value that if you cannot harness them in some useful work for you, they cannot help you in perfecting your life. However, when that basic Divine Thought comes, it will be alive and one with you, developing as a newborn child. What in Christianity is called the visitation of the Spirit is this Divine Thought which some call subconsciousness; others – consciousness; still others – superconsciousness; the theorists - the awakening of the higher self; the occultists - the emergence of the sublime and so on. When you achieve this state, you will feel peace and constant joy which does not change. Someone may say, "I have this joy," but half an hour has not passed before this "joy" has evaporated. That joy is transitory and inconsistent with the Law. How can a precious stone disappear? You deceive yourself. That is not a joy, but a short-lived fly which dies and you begin to cry. Someone says, "I have peace and I am calm," but on the morrow a trouble comes to them and they start wrinkling the muscles of their eyes. Where has their peace gone? It has not been real peace. Someone says, "I am a Christian and for ten years I have been reading such and such writers: Spencer, the Epistles of St Paul, etc." All these writers speak very well, but what do you say? For when you go to the Lord, He will not ask you what St Paul has said, or what Spencer has done, but what you have done. You will not take the Apostle Paul, nor Spencer to Him; they will go themselves. But whom will you go with? Therefore, this is the basic idea about which we should think today. I know that some of you have wrong conceptions about the Holy Spirit; thinking that the Holy Spirit and the evil spirit are one and the same thing. The good and the evil spirit are diametrically opposed. There is no such law where out of the same source should flow both sweet and bitter water. Bitter water is always bitter and sweet water is always sweet; so the good is always good and evil is always evil. What good and evil are is a profound question and if you think you can learn about them in five, ten or a hundred years, you are deceiving yourself. It is necessary for Christ to teach you at least 1,000 years until you acquire a somewhat right conception of the one and the other. I do not wish to discourage you, but I want to tell you what the Laws which direct our lives are and help you get rid of some of your illusions. Every day and every hour of life has its program. Our progress depends on our completing this basic work of the day. You should not worry, therefore, whether you will develop or not, for I tell you positively that you will develop. Some ask, "Shall we develop?" When you are cast onto the earth, by all means you will develop. "How long would it take?" “A thousand years.” "That is too long." But 1,000 is not a big number, it is a human number. 100 years is much more than 1,000, while 10 years is still more. In this process things are reversed: 1,000 years is the smallest number, 100 years is a greater number. You are perplexed. The number 1,000 has three zeroes showing the three conditions, the three stages though which you will pass. You must form three bodies in 1,000 years - in the last zero you will form your physical body; in the second - you will form your heart; and when you enter the third zero, you will form your mind. When you come to the number 1, you will be born, you will ascend and say to the Lord, "Here we stand before you, Father, now we can work for You." This is birth. A great epoch was marked by the birth of Christ - the appearance of the Son of God. That is why we all should triumph. The temporary sufferings you pass through are the greatest blessing for you. There is nothing better than suffering, for only through suffering will the Lord give you His Blessing. When someone complains to me about their sufferings, I say to them, "Give me of your sufferings, I will give you my Joy," and I add, "now I feel how pleasant life is." They say to themselves, "This man is very good," but I also say to myself, "I thank you because you gave me more than you received since sorrow is more precious to me." The Lord also preferred to leave His Greatness, His glory and descend on earth and suffer. There are reasons for this - the greatest Love which God manifested. When we begin to perceive and comprehend suffering inwardly, we shall come to the true process which Christians call salvation. We cannot be saved if we do not admit that sufferings are a Blessing. Stop and say, "Suffering, I need you that I may be born." If you suffer more, it shows you are nearer to God. When suffering reaches its extreme point, joy is born immediately. A mother feels the greatest suffering when giving birth. At that moment all run away from her, but when the child is born, all rejoice. In order that the child may be born, all must cry - both the woman and the man. Once I was told a story of an incident which had taken place in the village of Nicolaevka about 50 or 60 years ago. The wife of an eminent Turk had a toothache. There was a Bulgarian man in the village who pulled teeth out. The Turk took her to that person to have her tooth pulled out. The house had two stories and the Turkish woman went upstairs while her husband remained downstairs, on guard. At one moment the woman started yelling, and the man downstairs started yelling too. The dentist began to wonder saying, "I am pulling out the woman’s tooth here, why is the man downstairs yelling?" We are bound to one another the same way and when a person’s tooth is being pulled out, we should cry out as well. I am telling you all this, because you are living in an epoch of great sufferings. You should regard suffering as do Mystics and not as do ordinary observers, with indifference. Know that sufferings are the greatest Blessings the Lord is giving us. Some day you will test this. People are killed; there is famine and pestilence; fathers and mothers lose their children; sisters are dishonoured; families get disgraced. You should draw some benefit from all these sufferings and send joy to the sufferers by saying, "Give us of your sorrows." You sit and say. "How good that we are not on the battlefield or starving." But what experience do you have and what will you gain? On the contrary, try to put yourselves in the position of the suffering souls and go and help them; then you will get a blessing. "But how can we help them?" It is the easiest thing to do: if you cannot help people directly, you can help them spiritually. Every person is obliged to take at least half of their friend’s sorrows and to give them their Joy. You say, "Let God bless you." God blesses people through you. But you say, "Let Him find someone else, not me." The electric current passing through an iron rod magnetizes it. If the divine current does not pass through you, how do you expect to be raised? Now you all think your ideas have been destroyed. Many different flies, bugs, fish, birds and mammals have come to birth in you and when you clean yourselves of all of them, you will become wise. When you gradually build up your temple, the Lord will be born in it. You do not benefit in the least by the fact that 2,000 years ago Jesus Christ was born in Jerusalem. You may sing this song for 4,000 years more of no avail. You will be raised only when the Angels enter your Soul and say, "Today a Savior has been born in the house of David." And when Christ comes to birth, there will be Herod, Pilate and the high priest Caiaphas. Now you may say, "This child is dangerous, let us get rid of Him," and give Him to Pilate to have Him crucified - then the child will go to others. Just as Christ left the Jews and went to the gentiles, the same way your child will go to others - to those who will give Him shelter. And you will be a chosen, but forsaken people! And when you are asked why you suffer, you will answer, "Because we delivered our child to Herod and Pilate to be crucified." That is why I say you should stand by your Lord saying: "I shall live with the Lord. If He lives, I too shall live; and if He dies, I too shall die." And just as Christ rose after the sufferings, you will rise the same way and learn the Law of Immortality. There are people who are close to the Resurrection. The Apostles have risen and are working on the earth. You will say, "Why do we not see them?" The Risen can see the Risen, just as a musician can understand a musician; as a doctor can understand another doctor and so on. You must have the ability to understand that this is why you are staying on earth. Christ, therefore, has appeared. He lives and is among you, working within all of you. What people call "resurrection" is birth in reality. What Christians mean by resurrection is the coming out of the tomb. You are all tombs to me: some bigger, others - smaller. I see different inscriptions on your monuments: John lived so many years; Helen - so many years; and someone after dying was buried in the grave of another and so on. How many times this Helen has died bearing her monument with the inscriptions of all her relatives! You are asking, "When shall we rise?" You can rise today, but your tombstones are very heavy. An Angel must come down to remove them. If an Angel had to come down to remove the stone of Christ’s tomb, how much more necessary this is for you! In 33 years Christ underwent a great Transformation which, in the end is called "Resurrection". By the word "resurrection" I mean the struggle and the victory of a child over death. This is the significance of being born - to fight and overcome death. When you conquer death, the day of the resurrection will come. Some say, "When Christ was born and the Angels from above proclaimed peace on earth, why did not people correct their lives?" Because they have not learned the teaching of Christ as they should. Christ will preach in this world again. “You will see Him”, I state this positively. Some of you will not see Him. Why? Naturally, because you are blind. You will cry a long time like that blind man, "Son of David, have mercy on me, touch my eyes with your hand!" When He touches your eyes, He will ask you, "Do you see?" "Lord, I see people as trees." He will touch you again asking, "What do you see now?" "People are moving." What does this mean? It means that your thoughts and desires are static at first like the trees, but when you begin to see, things become alive like people. Then you will understand what Virtue is. Christ has come to show us that we must fight death, conquer it and rise. This is the meaning of birth. Sermon held on Christmas, 1915 _____________________________________________________________________ 1 Luke 2:11 2 As it is Bethlehem that is usually considered the birthplace of Christ, here ‘birth’ refers to His resurrection, (proofreader’s note)

Note 5 Freedom Of Spirit “And where the Spirit Divine is, there is freedom.” Second epistle to the Corinthians 3:17 And so, a condition for Freedom is the Spirit. By the word Freedom, we understand a free Life; we understand the inner sense of things, their relations – the relations of thoughts, desires, and volitional incitements which are displayed in the world. Where there is a living soul, there is movement, which is a result of the will; but this movement can go in a certain direction, and it can go in various directions. In the New Testament it is said: “Where the Spirit Divine is, there is freedom.”, and in another place: “A Divine Son will liberate you.” The Son and the Spirit are one and the same thing; the Son is a display of the Father and Mother; the intelligence of the Son is an expression of the intelligence of the Father and Mother, like the sunlight is an expression of the inner state of the Sun – we recognize the Sun by it. How can we recognize man? By the light of his thoughts, desires, and actions. I am talking about Freedom of Spirit, because in religious people there is a danger: when someone becomes religious, he becomes twice as bad as the worldly people. Sometimes it does not make me happy that people are religious; by the world religious I understand a man connected with something, like the cow or the horse are tied with a rope; connected to the house – it is a religion too, connected with some political party or with some philosophical teaching – it is also a religion – yes, a religious teaching, but what kind? That which connects the Freedom of man or society. If you are connected with a teaching which degrades you, which deprives you from your Freedom, it is an antiquated religion, an old wine-skin, and all who seek that Freedom (the meaning of Life, as this supreme consciousness is called by contemporary philosophers, or citizenship, as political people call it; you can also call it whatever you like), have this rationality within themselves. How would they know if you have the Spirit? If you are judicious people and if, by your thoughts, desires, and actions, you are distinguished with the power of your Freedom, and anywhere you go, you carry that blessing. The word Freedom in contemporary life infers Light. When you are travelling at dusk, you are not as free as you are when you are travelling during the day, because of the simple reason that your path is not clear; and thus all religious people, when they are mistaken, they have something vague in their conceptions. You do not know what the Lord and God is, but the local kings and governors you know – and like they punish you, so does God punish; those results, which we see in the world, are born out of this comprehension. And from that inner slavery we have to liberate ourselves – how would we liberate ourselves? A fundamental change in the structure of our brain has to happen; you have not learned that structure yet. Each morning, you pray and seek the Lord, you shout and say that sometimes He is not listening to you; God listens only to those people, whose ears are open; he does not listen to the deaf and to them he does not speak. You need to have a very delicate ear, clever, to easily understand what God is saying to you; He likes to watch and listen to people who work hard, who do not occupy themselves with nonsense, because He does not occupy himself with stupid things. Track the contemporary religions and you will notice the stage of development they are in; in every religion there are certain fallacies – I will tell you what they are. When we want to understand a certain religion, we often leave a community and enter another. A lad wished to stamp about a bit in the ring dance, and borrowed the boots of someone else; the guy who lent him the boots, however, told him after the dance: “Listen, stamp more lightly, I did not give them to you to stamp hard.” Another one came by and told him: “Because that guy embarrassed you, I will give you my boots”; and when he started dancing, he started shouting at him: “Stamp, my friend, even if you wear them out, I will give you others!” Whether he would say “stamp” or “do not stamp”, it is all the same – that man is no longer free; whether you have stamped a little or a lot, it is irrelevant – once they embarrass you, your freedom is taken away. Furthermore, our mind has to be enlightened on the real Freedom. Christ has given a definition for Freedom: “Do not do unto others that which you do not want them to do unto you” – that rule has to be an inner law of ours. We have to speak and do that which gives Freedom unto others. A couple of days ago a woman came to me and said: “I am amazed at contemporary people: they stand and pray, their prayers are excellent, but once the prayers stop, they start to gossip about each other – one saw something, the other did not see it well, the thing which one of them saw was not from God, but from the devil, “you are lying” - “no, you are lying”; we see that none of them has and gives the others any freedom. I want to have freedom, to serve God; not their God of course.” I told this woman when she finds herself among them again, to tell them what she told me. Since you have no tolerance towards people, you do not give them Freedom, you do not understand the teaching of Christ, and you have a take-off notion of him. Throw those caricatures away from you; do not imagine God in this way. Now, what kind of thing is religion? Both a science of forms and a science of the Divine Love. If you study an outer form, and not its inner content, you will be misled and you will change it in the same way as the lady who changes her costume every day. When she lives for fifty-sixty years, she could make ten - twenty costumes of various colours, add some nice ribbons and buttons, but these clothes are not the lady – form is still not a religion; these forms are really necessary for religion, like costumes are for the body, but they do not compose the body of the lady. If some relative dies, people start saying: “I have to blacken (blacken означава че потъмнява човек, а не дреха!); I should not wear white clothes”; wear the clothes you like – black, white, red, green, blue, motley, of every sort and kind, it is not a sin. However, when you go to someone who is dead, you will not wear white clothes, like when the street is muddy, you will not put on white shoes, but such as the season requires. Worldly people are very smart; in my eyes they stand ten times higher than the overly religious people – through the worldly people God has decided to fix the world. Would-be politicians and socialists – they will fix the world, because they want freedom. But someone would say: “How come, they destroy” – when you are building a new house, do you not destroy the old one? If you do not throw away an ageing point of view of yours, no new thought will spring up in your mind. Some want to give people a science of how to think: only “seven plies up, seven plies down”, a science of “молчать, не рассуждать” (Literally “keep quiet, do not reason” – a Russian idiom, meaning submissive implementation), of that which is written – things outside of that are of the devil. Others say that theirs is from God, and that is from the devil; this means to be a strong „задным умом” (from Russian again – “Background mind”). We have to judge any given teaching by its results: if it can be applied in social life and give good results, then it is good; if it cannot, it is not good. We have to apply the Freedom of Spirit; ask yourselves that question: are you free, do you have that Spirit within yourselves? When the Spirit comes, He will produce Light both in your mind, and your heart – that is the sign. Once you start to restrict the Spirit of man – how he is supposed to think, feel, and act, he will immediately leave you. Just like when the teacher comes in class and wants to present his lesson: if the students are noisy, he just goes out; then of course their parents and guardians will come and beat them up because they would not listen to the teacher. So was Moses a guardian of the Jews – he came to beat them up and ask them: “Do you listen to your teacher?” And now, when you say: “Why has that punishment befallen us”, I answer you: because you have not listened to the Spirit, you should have listened to him. Let us explain the word “Freedom”: if you find a man with his hands and feet tied, and start comforting him: “God is good, he will untie you”, when you can untie him yourself, are you preaching a teaching of Freedom, I ask? No, take out your knife, cut the ropes loose and rescue him. And what do you do? You tie him even tighter so that he cannot escape. People have to be untied; and when Christ says: “Go and preach”, he infers namely that untying. And this Freedom clearly has to be inward. All irritations and misconceptions between people are due to the lack of freedom; if it is a matter of irritation, how much more would God, who has created this world and sees what the world does, be irritated? If God is angering, that is good, but if I am angering, what is the use – it is of no use. But does God anger? God does not anger; in the Old Testament it is indeed mentioned The Wrath of God, but that has to be comprehended in an inward sense. The fact that God does not anger is seen in the phrase of the Christ: “Why are you calling Me kind Master, kind is only the one God” – he who is kind cannot anger. Prophets, have written that God angers, I impugn that – can someone tell me where God Alone has said that he angers? At one place Jeremiah says: “My God, You have fooled me, I was fooled” – how would you agree with that contradiction? That is a fallacy, we should not accept such fallacies about God into our minds; we can acknowledge that it is our comprehension. And the right thing to say is: “Where the Spirit Divine is, there is freedom” – that is what God has actually said. Love can not be awakened without Freedom. As long as man is blind, he cannot be loved; nobody loves he who torments. That which brings destruction cannot bring Freedom. We pray to God and in the prayer, if one of us would make a mistake, the other would push him; this is not Freedom, this is acting – down with those masks; to poke one another when standing before God, that is not a prayer. Man, when praying, needs to forget the surroundings, needs to seclude himself, to enter his secret room – in his soul, nothing outward must bother him. None of you, who are listening to me here, are free: I can see how you are tied to a stake, others – to two, three, ten stakes; and I can prove it to you ten times, even now – not only theoretically, but practically too. Because you are preparing for a world of Freedom (The Kingdom of Christ and The Kingdom Divine is a Kingdom of Freedom), with these old forms, with old wine-skins you cannot enter it, you would barely be able to go near its gates. I am not suing you for being misguided, but I am showing you the way, because you are seeking Freedom. The reason for your slavery is not woman, neither is it man – we know the reason: slavery came when both of them ate from that corrupted apple. If we want to understand Christ, our Spirit needs to be free. In the Jewish language there are two words: the one is “ruha”, which shows the supreme manifestation of God, and the other is “nefesh”, which shows the lower state of the soul. Take a child that is still not developed: it starts crying and making wry faces, and with its crying works its will on the mother; eventually its mother gives him a breast and it says to her: “That is how you should obey me” – and the mother carries out the will of the child. Why was that child sent to you – for you to obey or it? If you are a free Spirit, you have to learn the relations of things. How can we gain that inner Freedom? Often there is a good and bad side both to prayers, and gatherings. When two people gather, they have to be on the same level, so that an exchange of magnetic powers can happen; otherwise arguments arise, because in every man the Spirit of Freedom prevails, and so they do not share a common view of life. That is also why in Christianity there is the process of cleansing before going to God. The first thing is to settle down within yourselves. How does that happen? Before praying along with other people, pray alone, because when you go among the people, you need to be somewhat ready; first of all you have to pray on your own, then with two, three people, etc. And all of you have to contemplate – the Spirit will come to only give you certain lessons. And when the Divine Spirit comes and enters two souls, he will immediately notice peace and understanding in them – when one speaks, the other will carefully listen and find pleasure in the speech of his interlocutor. And when he does not find that pleasure, he would say to himself: “I will listen to your blether, you will teach me!” – The Spirit is not there anymore, the devil is there. The gathering and praying – it does not happen on command, but on the frame of mind: if the Spirit wants – he will pray; if he does not, he will keep quiet. The first thing is to grant this Freedom and to have patience to listen, when someone speaks it should be as if God spoke. If you enter a religious community and become more nervous, you have not won anything, on the contrary – you have lost. Many doctors and people know how man is built, they know physiology perfectly, they know which food is healthy and which food is unwholesome for people, but they are living life in the old way: they say that smoking is bad, although they smoke themselves; that drinking wine is bad for the health, but they drink themselves; that eating meat is bad for the health, but they eat meat themselves. They have the knowledge, but when it comes to applying it, and building it, they do not practise what they preach – where is the Freedom of their spirit then? And Christ wants that Freedom. Some want the freedom only for themselves, and for others to obey them; some may obey out of fear, but there is no Love there. I will adduce an anecdote for that reason: a Bulgarian tailor was once summoned by a family to cut out and sew breeches and a doublet for the groom; he raised his scissors and thimble, took the servant with him, and went on his way. It was around noon, they baked him a chicken, but the master, in order to get the whole chicken for himself, said that his servant did not eat chicken, but beans instead. The servant, in front of whom the master said that, said that he would take revenge, and after lunch in private he told the hosts: “My master is sometimes crazy – if he starts looking around, know that he has gone mad.” Before his master started work, the servant hid his thimble; at one time his master started turning and looking around for his thimble; the housekeepers, when they saw that, jumped on him and tied him up. On the way out, the servant turned to his master: “Your servant does not eat chicken, he eats beans, huh?” Do not say that your servant does not eat chicken, because one day, when you start looking for your thimble, he will make sure they tie you up. The first thing in your attitude towards others is mutual respect. I have noticed in my observations that some people want to learn, and initially come in awe, but afterwards start saying: “We know more than him”, and then dismiss themselves. Like those young brides, who first stand meek and bashful; hardly a month passes by, and they open a mouth this big, and ruin the house; in the church, as long as they are brides, they stand quietly, but should they get married, it is as if they obtain civil rights and show their real images; they will marry again a second time, but the one who has married them once, will not marry twice. We should not distress God by breaching His Spirit for Freedom when someone provokes us. I can see what thoughts reflect in me and you – a whole notebook of curves have formed, like graphs on a telegram. So many telegrams of yours have been written, a whole sheaf – it is shown there how free you are; one day those telegrams will be presented to God, when you go to the hereafter. Everything in the world is overt, nothing can be hidden before the Eye of God; and I am not saying this in order to frighten you, no – God in His genesis is a Spirit that wants to always teach and correct, not to punish and avenge. That which we perceive in the world as suffering and punishment is only regarding the form. And if God punishes us in this relation, He does it in order to free us from slavery – if you decide to free a sheep from the mouth of the wolf, would it not suffer until you get it out? Freedom, inner Peace will bring forth calm and Joy, and will raise our Spirit high. Now about religion again – that religion, with which we want to serve the Lord, what is it based on? Christ says in one place: “I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not receive me as a guest, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me”1 – there, that is why God would pass judgement on the world. You can pray ten times a day like the old Pharisees in the streets; you can begin to resemble that mother who started praying because her food was burning – do you know what kind of thing the psychic drunkenness is? It is not a religion; a lass who often likes to meet some lad, not that she earns anything, but feels some kind of pleasantness, although that pleasantness, that tickle, does not show that she is in a Divine mood – she wastes energy. When God comes close to us, we would feel that His action is not a single moment, but a long period of time; and that mood we would feel in our soul, in secret. When people argue, I go to them, but I do not tell them to cease speaking, because I have to cease speaking first (when two people argue, even if I go to them, I will not be able to help them), I do not preach morality to them, but instead I stop and pray to God for them. In Varna2, some thirty-forty years ago, there was a priest named Gantcho, orman-papaz (Turkish expression meaning “a priest of the woods”) they called him; he often reproached those who made him a priest. He once saw a gagaouz (Turkish-speaking Christians of the Varna district) beating his wife, he took a whip and started to beat the man in order to free the woman. But both of them, the man and the woman, immediately jumped on him, and the woman said: “What kind of right do you have to beat my husband, we will work it out on our own.” Then the priest said: “Why did I have to rescue the woman from the man.” You too, like the priest Gantcho, might get involved in settling other people’s business; do not get into that, you can only interfere if both of them, the man and the woman, call you to dispute – show them the law of Freedom, and how to settle their relations. And so, religion has to bring Freedom, Peace, and Joy to people. If old-time persecutions get raised, the world will not be put in order; how many doubts will be raised for the outer forms of religion: people would say: “Your teaching is of the devil.” – “Was not yours from Satan”. He who is not on the side of Satan must serve humanity selflessly, out of Love, and even sacrifice for it. Since you want a prize or first place, or to fix the world and do not carry out the law of Freedom, the Spirit is not in you. You have to be last in the world, in order to be first before God; should you become first in the world, you are already last before God – that is what I know. I do not want human glory, I prefer God to think well about me. As I am preaching this, some of you would not accept it for themselves, and say: “I am not that, it is just him” – that is from the devil; each man deep inside himself has to forget about what the others are, and to think that he is more wrong than the others – that is right. That you are in this condition, I do not sue you, but since I want you to overcome it, I am showing you a way out. Follow the Spirit which is in you: you want Freedom – give it to the others, you want Love and Justice – give them to the others, the similar attracts the similar – that is a law. If you love people sincerely and candidly, they will love you too; just like when you look into your mirror – if you are beautiful, it will show you a beautiful face. And when you meet someone, do not tell him: “I love you”, do not talk about love, because it would disappear – then you actually do not love him. A man, who talks most about Love, has the least of it; he who speaks the most about Freedom of Spirit has the least of it and gives the least of it to others. If my attitude towards you is not what it should be, it is not the sweet sermon, which sounds like sweet music, which will make it such. Music which creates noble impulses, brings benefit; that which leaves only tickles to man, does not bring any benefit. Now those frictions between you about “narrow” and “wide”, “the Spirit is there” and “the Spirit is not there” should cease. To those of us who have the Spirit of Freedom, I would give a white pebble on which I would write my name, and when God comes, He would see what is written. When I look into your eyes, I know your Spirit: when the Spirit enters, your eyes are not very dark, but they are not very bright either. Sometimes your eyes may shine like the eyes of a snake, but it is “nefesh” – the desire to devour, to eat someone. You have seen how the eyes of a cat shine in the evening – she is looking for mice. Light differs from light: there is a light which robs, which kills, and there is a Light which enlivens. The Spirit is sensitive to the weaknesses of people and has the ability to enter into those who are on the Path. When you gather again, the telegrams will show whether there will be any pokes – God does not want such prayer gatherings. In order for all prayers to be accepted by God, I will give you a method: if you come across an uncomforted, weary soul, pray to God for it and with it; if you see a poor man, help him. God does not want the rich to gather with the rich, but the rich with the poor, erudite with ignorant. It is not necessary to only gather and sing in a concert – go to a worldly concert, you would do well. That lady whom I told you about a while ago also told me that when she had been to that prayer gathering, a half an hour later the women started to look round and to whisper: “She saw us”; and she, after noticing she had embarrassed them, went out. I am not saying that it was in Sofia; what we are talking about is that in the church, other people may not pray correctly, but we pray thus ourselves. Oust the old devil, give Freedom and deference to others, and pray in secret within your soul, none of you shall talk and gossip about the others. When a couple of women gather together, they start talking about someone; men, when gossiping about others, cannot psychically develop. He who has this weakness should leave it behind; should talking about someone enter your mind, restrain yourselves, do not let the devil in, do not be his herald – hang up your telephone and do not put his opinions through. The devil never says any good words, he talks about people: “You are a scoundrel, a thief, a fornicator” – he entices you to help him do his work; and when the sufferings come, through them God tells you: “Next time do not listen to the devil.” Anger, envy, hatred, suspicion, lie, all the negative things in the world are characteristic of the devil; throw that old father out and you will be free, you will be with God, who is wise, kind-hearted, equitable, resourceful and affectionate, who forgives and helps the sorrowful and the poor. If you transgress a hundred times and turn to Him, He will forgive you. He only punishes the devils; He has cursed them and has created a great fire for them. So, one who does not want to be related to the devils has to be merciful and resourceful. Let us from now on begin to apply the teaching of Christ; not to show the world that we are religious people (let our piety be hidden within us), and to the world let us be like the beautiful ladies who go out with their faces covered, so that the sun will not burn them or the dust blacken them. Hide your beauty within; do not parade it outside – do not talk about how good you are, or magnanimous, ready for noble deeds, that you pray for three times a day, so that you would not become a laughing-stock to the world. And Christ says: “In the world you should be smart like the snakes, and harmless as the doves.” The worldly people are not foolish, but clever; regarding the superior Life they are worse, but regarding the mind they are smarter – we are foolish. Give them an example of a good deed, so that they would give some of their mind. They now say that we have to be straightforward, and not be generous; well how are we going to put the world in order then? When someone looks askance at us, we anger; well how many times have we looked askance at people, and not taken it into account? God has not created us with our eyes askew, but with our eyes straight; a religious life is namely this – to have and to give Freedom to people, to forgive their mistakes, and to look for every opportunity to unite spiritually. Now, let us say we will apply the teaching, and preach it to the others. No gossiping from now on, let us vow for one whole year not to gossip about anyone; make a notebook and say: “Today, thank God, I have not talked about anyone.” – put a mark seven; if you talk, put a one, take account of this through the whole year, and see how many sevens and ones you are going to write down, how much you have managed to restrain yourselves. I often see – someone’s mouth trembles: “I want to say something too”, “I also have the right to speak”, “I know something too” – starts talking, others also start, and before you know it, someone has become a target of gossip; tomorrow they would begin the same thing. When a lad gets near to a marriageable age, many damsels start falling in love with him, and all of them praise him and compete with each other for attributing the most qualities to him: his father, mother – noble, their family – very noble; should he choose one for a wife, all those who have been praising him so far start: “He is a savage, a fool, a boor”, when they too should say: “It is a good thing he has chosen a damsel among us – we are happy.” Do you know what this looks like? I have adduced this story before, about the welcoming of a prince in a big European city: from the chosen twelve most beautiful women, who were invited to elect the one that would present a bouquet to the prince, each of them voted for herself. Now you too look in that direction (still not entirely prepared) about who should give a bouquet to Christ – everyone says: “Me”. Do not vote for yourselves, even without your votes Christ knows those who deserve. That is the teaching of Christ – to be alert, not to talk about the things we might know about others. Occultists say: “If you want to be strong, do not speak about people, because at the moment you begin to talk you enter a connection with their spirit, and become infected with bad thoughts.” It is better to think good things about people instead of bad, because otherwise you harm yourselves; the one about whom you gossip benefits psychologically. You know that God says: “Since you are rich, give some of yours.” How much earnings do you have? “Ten thousand.” – Give half of it. When we speak good things about a man, God takes him and says: “How much did you earn?” – “Twenty.” – “Give half of that to the one who thinks well about you.” When we speak well about other people, we gain, and when we speak ill about the others, they gain – that is the law. If you consciously did it so that they gain, I would be glad for such self-denial, but then do not complain, you are great spirits, right? If one of your sisters has some sort of an infirmity, pray ten times for her to be free from it, and then go to her and tell her gently: “In you, sister, there is a vice, but do not be cross with me because of what I told you” – then you will be blessed. So now chase that devil – the gossip, away from yourselves. God has decided this year to tie the devils, and let no one get angry when he gets tied – he will be roped into work. Just as the farmer needs an ox to plough, so are the devils needed for work – it is either us who will be roped in, or them. In order to rope them in, the Spirit has to be in you, you have to be strong and powerful. I will talk on the matter of the Freedom of Spirit again. I will now make a little experiment in order to see how much you have utilized from my lecture for today. Religious freedom has to be absolute – God is a God of Love, of Freedom. Then each of us would find his place – when he ploughs, and when he digs, and when he does any kind of work, he will do it with gratitude. Such has to be the life on Earth according to the Freedom of Spirit, according to the Freedom by which even Socrates was distinguished. He was an inferior man, but many kings were forgotten, and his name remained. Whatever office man might hold, he might still not be noble; the Spirit requires from us to be both like kings, and like inferior people, equally free. It is the teaching of Christ that I preach: to have and to give Freedom, to have and to give Freedom, and again to have and to give Freedom – mental, and cordial, and religious, and civil, and domestic – Freedom everywhere. August 23, 1915 (Sofia, September 5, 1915 - Old Style) 1 Matthew 25:42-43 2 town in eastern Bulgaria Source

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

Note 4 Old And New Wine-Skins 1 “And no one pours new wine into old skins … But the new wine has to be poured into new skins, and both to be protected.” Luke 5: 37-38 This small parable is a classic in terms of expression and content. Christ makes a great generalization of the ideas: he says that nobody should pour new wine into old skins, because the latter would crack. Should we take that in the literal sense? No, it is true in its figurative meaning – an analogy is made between the new teachings and the new wine, and between the old people and the old skins: the old wine, as it has ceased fermenting, can remain in the old skin, however, the new one, since it is fermenting, if it were poured into an old skin, it would burst into pieces. This parable contains a hidden thought, a great law, and that is for the Divine ideas, which are implemented into this world, new skins are needed – more elastic, so that they withstand the pressure of fermentation, i.e. people who have a mind and a heart, receptive to the new truth. When the mind is busy with old ideas, thoughts, and feelings, the new cannot penetrate; in other words, in the old forms a display of strength for feats cannot be found. In this respect young people are generous; you have to ask the ninety-year-olds ninety times to give you a nickel, because they have a natural fear, they feel too weak and feeble to dispose with their own strengths and tools like the young ones do. And that is why Christ says that the new wine has to be poured into new skins. When the New teaching pours into the world, it raises a reaction in the old ones – they think that it is not good and that it will spoil the world. Nevertheless there is no father who would want to have a son born with old ideas – everyone dreams that his son will be contemporary, and apprehend the thoughts and ideas of the century. The wine, on its own, represents Strength; in order for the human evolution to be given an impulse, there has to be strength; strength is nothing but the human Spirit, taken in a broad sense –judicious strength that works according to the Divine laws. In the aims of God, everything grows and develops; God does not like the old skins, He puts them into the lower cellars, like the old wine makers do – a time will come when there will be people who will drink from the old wine as well. When you understand the New teaching, you will be mistaken if you think that it won't ferment in you, that you will remain the same humans – that is impossible, it is the same as when the sculptor works with a hammer on marble, without breaking off some piece. Many pieces will scatter to the left and right, and old people should keep a slight distance, if they fear that some piece could hit them in the head; it is not the sculptor’s fault, but the old people, if they choose not to move away. – “I am sculpturing a statue for the future generation – he says – and everyone should keep their distance.” The artist might be working with a brush, he might be working with a bow, he might be working with a hammer – it depends on the way he works; it is not important, what is important is whether he works according to the Divine order of things. When the work gets rough, we should not say “Our heads exploded” – eternal tranquillity reigns over the graveyards; whoever wants to go forward, whoever aspires to God, whoever wants to grow in the Divine life, needs work and struggle. In this aspiration the good part of the individual resides, the good of the community, the good of all mankind. Those who want to rest, and remain with the old understandings of Life, do not comprehend the active life of the new ideas, expressed by the parable of the new wine. Do you know how much time it took the vine-stock to gather that amount of wine, and furthermore, do you know its strength? Initially it is sweet, after that it becomes sharp, and finally it becomes so strong, if you drink too much of it you lose your normal condition. So he who wants to adopt the New teaching has to free himself from the old skins. If you do not have new skins, stay away; other, new people will come, and into them the new teaching will pour. It could be poured into you, too, but first you have to sell the old skins – to free yourselves from any desire and vice that will hamper you on your way to adopting the New teaching. In India there are famous snake-hunters which tame and send many specimens of snakes to Europe; to do this they use barrels where they put the snakes (from the smallest to the biggest ones, from the least to the most dangerous) and there they tame them. One evening, however, because of incautiousness while closing the barrel, the lid was not closed properly; during the night all of the snakes managed to escape from the barrel and coiled around their hunter; in the morning he woke up and when he saw what had happened, he did not make a move, because a single move could cost him his life – he had the presence of spirit to remain calm. After some time his servant arrived and started wondering why his master had not gone out yet; he opened the door and saw that all kinds of snakes coiled around his master. The servant, however, was very clever – he immediately went and fetched a big cauldron of boiled milk, and placed it in the room; the snakes, getting scent of the milk, uncoiled from his master and went to the milk. The Indian got up and carefully placed the snakes back into the barrel, while saying to himself: “That barrel must be closed well.” You will also find yourselves in the position of that snake-hunter some time, and then you will need presence of spirit, and milk – and that milk is the spirit of the Rational life. Christ says: “You should not pour new wine into an old skin, because it will unsettle you.” If some religious man becomes unsettled, he is an old skin that could not hold the new wine – the New teaching. Two ideas which collide cannot reconcile; the law of Moses states: “An eye for an eye.”, however, according to the teaching of Christ, the law is just the opposite – to love our enemies, and if they hit our cheek, to turn the other. How would you reconcile this new teaching with the old one, while keeping it too? The law of Moses is for an old skin, the teaching of Christ requires a new skin; according to the law of Moses, the old people are not capable of coping with the new, they want to grab their foe and take out his eyes so that he cannot see and find them, and the teaching of Christ says: “You can turn your opponents into friends, you can disarm them, and you can even make them serve you.” Now, let us come to the inner psychological meaning of the words of Christ. We must never think in life that we have completely understood the Truth, and that there is nothing left for us to study – then we would be such old skins that have stopped their development on Earth. – “We are learned.” – Yes, but what is your learning based on? – “We have read a lot of books.” – So what? We have to probe deeply into that philosophy that could straighten our lives and give us the happiness we are looking for. I have explained the word “happiness”2 to you before – which letters does this word contain? The letter ‘ш’3 three pillars, turned upwards – represents the human hand that is working; ‘т’ shows a directive or strength with which the work is thrust; after these two letters comes the ‘а’ – it is the human nose – it does not need only effort, but also wits, to know how to work; when you take the letter ‘с’, it represents the human heart, and when you turn it up, it will become a boat – that which is earned will be stored; in the letter ‘и’ there is a descent and an ascent – from up to down, and contrariwise; these two angles, when put next to each other, form the diameters of the circle – the wheel, which drives the car forward; ‘e’ shows the centre that you have to hold. And therefore you need a hand, strength, wits, heart, and an aim above. I will adduce an anecdote from our Bulgarian life. Here people believe that when fever comes, it is alive. A shepherd stopped by a bridge and started listening to what two fevers were talking about; one of them said that it would go and get that shepherd up on the mountain; the second one asked how the first one was planning to do that, and the first one answered: “I will get into the first spoon of milk he is going to have at the spring.” The shepherd, when he heard that they were talking about him, planned to take some safety precautions; the same day one of his sheep died, he skinned it, and from its pelt he made a skin. When the time for the fever approached, he put the first spoon of milk inside the skin and fastened it. Then the fever inflated the skin and shook it every day. In the autumn the shepherd unfastened the skin and let the fever go. Again the two fevers gathered by the bridge, and the first one said to the other: “I had the misfortune to get into the empty sheep skin!” You too, if you wanted to use the old skins, would look like that fever, and when they let you go, you would say: “We have learned how to shake skins.” I see such people constantly, and when they are let loose in Life, they say: “We have learned how to shake skins.” Such are the contemporary dogmatists, who only shake skins – “It is narrow for us”, they say. No, it is wide, but there is no food next to them. In the folk belief, which I just told you about, there is a whole philosophy: the judge must be brought to reason, because he incorrectly decides fate – for a new fate to come to the world. New wine must be ingested in our children, because it is Strength. Mothers who want to have good children have to be ingested with new ideas; if you have old ideas, I would not suggest child-bearing. Who are you going to give birth to? Scoundrels of life, which run into thousands. The Holy Writ says: “Breed and multiply”4; that does not mean giving birth to abortions, but to people in the image of God. This is the New teaching that Christ preaches and if understood will repair the world. Both the vine and the sap are within us; when one day our vine gives fruit, the sap of the grapes will start fermenting – it is an inexorable law in the world, and he who plans to live without fermenting does not understand Life. Christ also says: “Whoever wants to follow me, let him take his cross.”5; the new wine – that is the cross. The cross represents strength to those who understand. In the world there are various crosses, and people complain about them, but here is what Paul says about the cross: “I would vaunt with the cross of Christ.” You are complaining about your sufferings, and say that they are extraordinary, unbearable, but you look like the one who was complaining about the burden of his cross. Here is what happened to him: God said: - Take it from him. And he led him into a great hall, and told him: - In this hall there are big and small, silver, gold, iron and stone crosses – choose one. The man, when choosing, found a small cross, and said: - I want this little cross. - But that is the cross you have been wearing all along; that is the cross I had given to you – said God. We often overstate our sufferings, and want to alter our fate; we cannot alter it, and throw away the burden that we must bear. You would say: “When I fix those matters up, me and my wife, and even the children, will take the new path, and then the new wine will ferment.” If you are planning on settling your worldly matters, and then follow God, you are in for a big mistake. Upbringing is a process which must go simultaneously for everyone – the father, the mother, and the children; when the father and mother become brought up, their children will be brought up as well. I will adduce another example: they say that the American preacher Moody, once while he was preaching, a child that was listening to him asked his father: - Dad, why are you not singing? - I am solid in my faith, it is you who should be singing; these things are for you, we old folk have listened for all we are worth – he answered. The child then said to himself: “It is a very good thing I have a solid father.” One day the father put a horse to a small cab and went travelling, but somewhere at the top the horse stopped, and then the child said: - Dad, the horse got solid. Once we have stopped, we have become solid – we are an old skin, in which the new wine cannot ferment. And to think we are preparing for the Heavens, we are planning on going to Eden, to start living an angelic life, to understand Divine truth! How can we understand that when we are living in those cellars? That is why Christ turns and says: “New skins are required.” – Old people are old skins, young people are new skins; old people are not bothered by anything, but the young ones tell the old: “Let us pour some of the new wine into you too.” The old ones should not be given new wine – the old ones have finished their evolution, the new wine has to go through the arteries and veins of the new people. There is struggle within us; there is complaint, because the old wine and the new wine are battling. Christ wants to say: “Do not ingest the new wine in yourselves, unless you are ready”, so he says: “Cleanse yourselves first” – of every teaching and every philosophy; we can take advantage when we are clean. Plasticity in progress, upsurge spiritual – that is what the New teaching infers. If we could look inside the consciousness of the old man from an occult point of view, we would see a candle that is glimmering; if we looked at the new man, we would see his candle burning bright. We could compare the old man to the Earth which is lit by the Moon, and the young one – the Earth lit by the Sun. For the spiritual development new wine is necessary – let us ask ourselves if we have it. He who has drunk old wine and not tasted sweet wine says: “The old wine is better”, but the wine, once it ferments and settles, becomes old, and it cannot ferment any further. It can only make people drunk, cheer them up a bit, but make them work and progress – never. If we are woebegone, it is because our life is fermenting, the wine becomes sour or sharp, and it is no longer sweet. I have watched the Bulgarians who come out of the church and go to the tavern to drink, first they gather in pairs: “Give me a mug of the old wine – cheers!” – they drink a round or two; then the group increases to three-four people, they continue drinking and the conversation becomes more lively, the whole tavern starts talking; at some time a racket starts building up and before you know it – they have started beating somebody up. Why are they beating him up? He has not erected a hedge around his field – they have to beat him up in the tavern, so that he erects a hedge. That is not only in the taverns; visit the exchange markets, where there are commercial operations going on – you would say that all of the people there are mad; even a woman who had visited the market told her man: “Why did you bring me to that madhouse, I want you to bring me to noble people, not the market!” Once they have started quarrelling and separating at home, the wine has started to ferment – when they cannot create something new, they want to engross what belongs to another; just like a mother who cannot give birth takes somebody else’s child. Furthermore, for the new wine that will give us New life, which will teach us how to live and work and how to create strong relations between ourselves, new skins are required – that is the Teaching of Christ. They say it was not applicable – it is applicable. Just stop to think about it for five minutes every day; take that parable, read it, and stop to think about the new wine once a day – you will see what results there will be. Stop for five minutes and think about God, about the good people on Earth, who work without end, about the good mothers, who raise their children with patience, about the good fathers, who take care of their families – you will see what process this new wine will produce. The woman says: “I got married, but my husband is worthless.” – Well, who forced you to take an old skin? Do you know that this way you look like the man who, during the time of the Turks6, stole a donkey and told the judge: “I was on the pear-tree and I fell on the donkey, and it carried me away.” Tell yourselves: “What I need is new wine – in the heart, in ideas, and in the world alike.” Become sixty-eighty-year-old, about to get married and have children; I understand, there are exceptions, like Abraham, who gave birth to children in his old age, but he had new ideas, he was not old – today they get old at forty. – “Bless our children, we are done for!” – You are then an old skin, they have to put you in the cellar; you are a sluggard, who does not want to understand the Will of God. You have to say: “My God, I understood You, I now want to work for You, as a stripling does.” Down with your old age, put your old skins aside, take them away – people with old skins and old wine are not for the Divine Kingdom! I do not want them to pour their old wine out, but I want them to pour the new wine into new skins; once they catch that Divine thought, it will lift them up with its strength. They wonder how to train people; the method is very easy: when a boat at sea starts leaking, they put a stopper in the hole – if they do not put a stopper, the boat will sink. Check if your boat is not leaky, plug it up, and then you will be safe. Some days you are unhappy – you have a leak in your boat, your skin is cracked; there is no good in store for you if you do not plug the hole up. There are times when man has to be strictly obedient, like that child of a motorman whose house was near the railroad; the child was playing, and when the train approached, they shouted from afar: “Get down!” – The child obeyed, he ducked, and thus was saved. Sometimes they tell you: “Get down!” – “But why?” Get down, do not ask why – when the train comes, you will see why. There are dangerous moments when we have to kneel, and when the danger passes away, to thank God. But someone says: “I do not want to get used to the conditions, I do not want to be elastic” – You will get used to it; the rain will not take into consideration whether you are dressed or not; the Sun will also not take into consideration whether you can stand its light, it is you who has to get used to all the changes, and be ready to take them. The rain and the Sun do their job very well; let the Sun shine, let the sea undulate, let the old skins crack – this should not bother you, as God has decided to burst the old skins, and pour new wine into the new skins. If the people with old ideas and thoughts want to live under the new conditions, they are bitterly mistaken – such is the fate, such is the Divine law, God wants you to rejuvenate, to be reborn. – “How are we going to be born anew?” - Some will ask; you will be reborn, a new shape will form, in which you will put your Life – a real form, not a dream. If you could understand the law under which you now live, you would have been able to rejuvenate – how can this be? When you learn the law, you will renovate your soul inwardly. When speaking of Resurrection, I understand those forms with which God works inside us. We have to prepare the new skins; then God will say: “Bring them, so that we can pour the new wine into them.” Some would ask: “What is God now doing with the world?” He is preparing the new skins, he is creating new wine– and thus speaks Christ: “Father of Mine works, and I work with you.” And we have to be ready not to impair those skins, because it is a very easy thing to impair the mind and heart of man, and very difficult to repair. Let God see that you have begun to work. You are asking yourselves why this life is such; in the eyes of many I see they are intoxicated with old wine, they are dopey, they are drunk – they have to sober down, joy has to fill their hearts, because this world is created for you, with all conditions for your development. – “But the war, the sorrow.” – Ничего”7, as the Russians say. – “But a world is lost.” – Ничего7, nothing is lost – maybe thousands of houses will be destroyed; old skins, but new ones will be created. Now God is pouring the new wine into new skins. Only the intoxicated fight; men and women, if they are fighting – they are intoxicated. Where there is new wine, there is music, singing, conciliation – that is the Teaching of Christ. Read the Gospel put that teaching in yourselves, think for five minutes a day about the Eternal life, about God, about the good people, about the good mothers and fathers, about the good friends, think about something noble and it will elate you. Then you will understand the deeper things – oh, what things there are for you to study! But first of all you have to prepare for that understanding. – “What is the future life going to be like?” Excellent – that which you have not seen, heard, dreamed of. How will man see the beauty of the world when he is asleep? Your sleeping souls have to awaken – you have to put the cauldron of milk, in order to stow the evil away. Be carriers of the new wine, of the New teaching; preach Joy, Merriment to the world. And when you are suffering, say that you are suffering because you have not carried out the Divine law. We often say that circumstances create Life, but man also creates circumstances. I have already told you about an English lord who went with his daughter and his servant on a journey, and they were shipwrecked. So in the world you can be both master, and servant: if you have knowledge of how to apply the Divine laws – you are a master; if you do not know how to apply them – you are a servant. One who wants to reign has to be ingested with the New teaching – it carries the clue to Life. That shipwrecked lord, if he had not landed on the deserted island, he would not have known how to cultivate Life – he learned that art there. In Life we can lapse into misfortune – when someone becomes our master; let us learn to serve, and God will lead us out of the deserted island. Thank the Providence that you have landed on the island to learn how to cultivate grain, i.e. Life. So far you have not learned how to cultivate your mind and heart, and as a result there is hunger and dissatisfaction in you; you eat four-five times, you fatten, you groan – there is such obesity also in your mind. And that fatness has to be converted into energy; you have noticed that people who work intensely mentally, who are active spiritually, never grow fat. Should you accumulate fat, put it in the car of the spiritual life, and move towards realizing some noble dreams of yours – there lays your welfare. July 12, 1915 (Sofia, July 25, 1915 - Old Style) 1 The word “skin” is used in the meaning of “bag” through the text. 2 “Щастие” in bulgarian. It is pronounced [shtastie]. 3 The bulgarian letter щ [sht] is comprised of two consonants: ш [sh], and т [t]. 4 Again should be a quote from the Bible. 5 Again should be a quote from the Bible 6 The turkish slavery, which lasted 500 years. Although this sounds more like an anecdote than actual event. 7 Russian word which means “Nothing”. Source

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

Note 4 The Good Samaritan He then turned specifically to his students and said: "Blessed the eyes, which see what you see. Because I am telling you that many prophets and kings wished to see what you see and did not see, and to hear what you hear and did not hear." And he said: "The one who showed compassion." Then Jesus told him: "Go and also do so." Lucas 10: 23-37 My lecture this morning will be on the Good Samaritan. I will take the verses from 23 to 37. This Good Samaritan has become very commonplace, i.e. we think that we understand him. We could say that we understand his meaning in a certain practical sense, but I will look at this matter from a different angle. So, there begins a conversation with a lawmaker – a very educated person, a philosopher for his time, devotedly following the teaching of Moses. This person, interested in one very important question, approached Jesus, and asked Him, “Master, what do I have to do to attain an eternal life?” Jesus answered him, “What does it say in the law? How do you read it?” The man answered, “To love your God with all your heart and all your soul, and all your power, and all your mind, and to love your fellow man like yourself.” But, it seems, Jesus wanted to explain further to that man who our fellow man is. This story is a drama, where the main part is played by the gentleman, who left Jerusalem and headed over to Jerihon – you have read the story. Those, who write dramas, want to build characters. Another character in this drama is the Samaritan. There was a priest in the story before the Samaritan, but the priest passed by without stopping because he was busy, saying, “This is none of my business.” The priest was walking on the right side of the street and when he noticed the gentleman, who had fallen on the ground, the priest went by on the left side of the street. After that, a Levite went by on the left side of the street, but he did not stop either. Lastly, a Samaritan went by and he stopped. Now, we have the following characters: the priest, the Levite, and the Samaritan with his mule (you can call it a donkey because there are many such animals in Palestine). The Samaritan stopped, covered the wounds of the robbed gentleman with wine and butter, put him on the mule, brought him to the town of Jerihon, settled him in an inn, and the next day gave him two dinars*. You will say that this is a simple thing, and so what if a priest, a Levite, and a Samaritan went by and the last one covered the wounds of the robbed man. Yes, but when you read the novel of any writer, you study the characters (because every writer wants to highlight the characters). Jesus presents four types to us: the first one is a traveller, who is going to Jerihon to make some profit, but luck is not on his side; the second one is a priest, the third one is a Levite, and the last one is the Samaritan. Jesus says, “From these three who do you think is the fellow man of the robbed man?” The Samaritan, of course. Keep these characters in your mind because you could play the role of either of them; the priest, or the Levite, or the Samaritan – there are four roles you could play in the world. Everyone plays them because the world is a stage where people play these roles. When you are reading a novel, you always pay attention to the main character in the story; in this story the main character is the Samaritan. He was not thinking that his deed would be narrated word by word and become emblematic for the whole world. Some interpreters say that this is just a saying, but we know that Jesus used only real life examples. The drama, which Jesus presents, takes place in Heaven and on Earth. The traveller left (Jerihon)† Jerusalem – this is Heaven, the supreme world, where people come from; (Jerusalem) Jerihon on the other hand is Earth – hence, people come from above – from Heaven to Earth. But there are robbers in Heaven; even Apostle Paul says that there are bad spirits above us. But let us leave this deeper meaning and get back to the social life. Who is this Samaritan? The priest and the Levite are the woman and the man: the man is the Levite, the woman is the priest, and the Samaritan is an unrelated child, who has done a good deed. But you will object to this and ask whether it is possible for a father or a mother to be so cruel to their children? I know of mothers and fathers who abandon their children. I know a young lady from Varna‡ who was abandoned by her father, became a dissolute woman and married a “Samaritan” now living in Sofia§. When your daughters feel a burden, they say, “I want to get out of the house,” – because the parents are preachers and cannot put themselves in their daughters’ shoes. Every soul that has come down from the Invisible world has a certain pain, a certain wound. For example, there needs to be a certain deep reason for someone to be nervous. They say about someone that he is nervous; nervousness is not a disease, but the nerves are the life of the mind, and when they do not work in harmony, they lead to diseases. Those four types of characters from the story represent the four bodies of a person. People are wrapped in four bodies, through which they develop: physical, Living, Astral, and Spiritual body.** There are three other bodies, but they are forms that do not change; we will talk only about the forms that change. The word “body” stands for an organized world; consequently, in that sense the mind is organized, the human heart is organized, life is organized. Now, Jesus is talking with the educated lawmaker and tells him, “Go and also do so.” i.e. take the role of the Samaritan. The Samaritan always shows the progress in the world – this is the science, while the priest and the Levite are just actors, who make some money but do nothing for the world. And when people have excess money, they say, “Let us have a show, laugh a little – we have excess time and we can now make a theatre.” Life is a theatre, a show; children can play it, but I say that this is just a break, and it is no time for a break when we have to develop ourselves. In this story there is a drama and a show. I am asking why the two did not stop to help that man. Because there was no similarity between them and the robbed man. The law is such that you cannot help someone you do not love and this is the only reason they passed by without stopping. The Samaritan had this Love in his heart, so he stopped and took out his wine and his butter; the butter is the soul and the wine is the Power, which needs to be passed on – the Samaritan needs to be interpreted in a broad sense. Do you not think that many of you are in a state similar to that of the robbed man? Your wounds demand butter and wine, not words, philosophies, and wisdoms. In order for the wounds to be covered, fresh vigor has to be poured into the human mind and the human heart. And when the butter and the wine are poured, this is the Samaritan. I would like for all Bulgarians to be Samaritans. We want all priests and all teachers to become Samaritans; we want all lawyers and judges to become Samaritans; because these are honourable positions. In the U.S., they give the honourable D.D. degree.†† For us, “D.D.” does not mean much, but doctors in the U.S. need to be awarded such a “D.D.” degree. After that they give a L.L.D.D. degree – a doctor’s degree in law, a doctor’s degree in theology. The priest and the Levite from the story were doctors of theology, i.e. they had “L.L.D.D”, but they did nothing. Then a Samaritan passed by, who did not have a “D.D” degree, he just had a mule, butter and wine. He said, “I know nothing of ‘D.D.’” got off his mule and asked, “How did you get here?” Now, Jesus provided this example to be used in our time, i.e. for you and for me. There are Samaritans in Bulgaria too. I am glad that there are women - Samaritans in Bulgaria. In that sense, the Samaritan is Jesus, who came from above, and the robbed man is the human race that has fallen in the hands of robbers – men, women, and children. Jesus too came from above. The story can be interpreted in a narrow and in a broad sense. Jesus says, “You also do so.” Have the state of your Spirit, the frame of your mind, and the predisposition of your will like those of the Samaritan. If we have the frame of mind, but not the state of Spirit, this is not enough. The priest had the frame of mind and said, “I have very important things to do and do not have the time to deal with this.” The Levite said so as well. We are here to serve God – Jesus says, “To love your God.” Your fellow – this word has a lot of content in our world. You can cry for a fellow, but you can also look at them like the priest or the Levite and say, “It is not time.” I know many unmarried women, who, when their fellow comes along, say, “He is not for me if he makes only three hundred leva‡‡” – this is everyone’s philosophy. In the times we live in, and in the future, we have to apply the law of the Samaritan. Now, some want to be acquainted with ministers. It is not bad to be acquainted with ministers, but the reason to want this is self-interest – to have patrons. Friendship never changes; it is a great law connecting people. If you have a friend, they are ready to always serve God and to sacrifice themselves for you if they see you have fallen on the street. With that story, Jesus illustrates how the world will improve. Some say, “We have to choose political representatives, to appoint priests.” There are both official and unofficial priests. Some only say that they do not want to wear the priest’s official clothes, while Jesus represents exactly those, who have been designated by God – I am not talking about official priests. Like father, like priest; like mother, like teacher – priest and teacher are synonymous to me. When the fathers fulfil their duties, then the priests will fulfil theirs, for they were all born to fathers. We say, “The priests are bad; the Levites are bad,” – why are they bad? Because their mothers and fathers are bad. Consequently, all contemporary people will perish and turn into a fertilizer for the Earth. And when God comes with a new plough, he will put a new culture in place and sow new saplings, which will give wonderful fruits. Thus, we should not judge the consequences, but the causes. So, the Samaritan is the father, and the robbed man is the mother – the man found his wife and covered her wound. He found his lost Dulcinea, put her on his mule, took her to Jerihon and gave her two dinars. These two dinars symbolize two Divine laws. Some say, “I give you two leva,” – if with these two leva you mean Divine Love and love for your fellow men, you can give them to me. But if you want to bribe me with these two leva, no, thank you! How many men are there now who carry their women like this? A certain statistic from London says that out of twenty six million families there, only three hundred are happy. In Bulgaria, there are only two hundred such families – these are the men and women of Bulgaria; they are only two hundred people§§. Let God help the other three thousand.*** They are the masters of “emptying the sack” it is not their fault, such is their nature. Mice infested a barn. The owner of the barn did not know what else to do, but to let a cat in the barn. The mice got scared and said, “What else can we do now, we will have to pay with our lives?” Then a mouse came forward and said that it had a bright idea: to put a bell on the cat in order to be able to hear it coming and hide. All the mice started applauding, but one old mouse asked, “So who is going to put the bell on the cat?” This is what contemporary life is – one “bright idea.” Jesus also put a bell on the cat but the world did not reform itself. Butter and wine are needed, and the mules also have their duty. When a mother gives birth and the child is weak in the beginning, does she not play the role of the Samaritan? She is ashamed from the opinion of the world and says, “They will laugh at me,” the philosophy of contemporary women is to give birth to a ninety-year old. All women who give birth are young, and while people are young, they can do stupid things. Jesus says that in this aspect the Samaritan is older than the priest and the Levite. These are the working people, who exist, and they are at the core of things. Consequently, Jesus wants to show us that we all have to have this Love in our mind and in our will. Some ask me how to do Good; I say: buy a mule and go look for a good spring. Everyday I meet people who are sick in their minds and their hearts. Jesus said, “Go and do so if you want to attain a heavenly life. If you do not do so, you will not attain a heavenly life.” Jesus would have made that Samaritan a priest; I would make him a priest too because he did well. Thus, the future world will be inherited only by such priests, for God does not want people like us. You will say that Mr. Dunov preaches against priests; I am not talking about them, I am talking about the mothers and fathers – these mothers and fathers have to know the Samaritan. And when a mother gives birth, she has to do it with Joy; the mother is always blessed when she gives birth and this should not be seen as a disgrace. The mother has given birth in the past, and will do so in the future. In the old times it was always the men who gave birth, while in the new times, it is the women. But these men have to start giving birth again; the women have been giving birth enough. Contemporary men miscarry; I see men who carry their offspring for twenty years, but they have to learn to give birth. God says, “Because they do not follow My law, I will give their souls to the civilized people to suffer,” for this reason we have been sent in the world to eat and drink. When we fulfil our desire to eat and drink, there will come a blessing. Now, you will ask which ones you are – the priests, the Levites, or the Samaritans. Ask yourselves whether you have butter, wine, and a mule. Because this mule is an extra body – on which you will put the robbed man, and when you go to this world, you need to have two coins. Consequently, you need a mule and wine. And when he went to Jerusalem, do you know what happened? Jerusalem was surrounded by a big wall, but Moses demolished it; the same way Jesus destroyed that wall with His arrival, because… Now, I clearly present the question: which role do you want to play in this drama? The actors in a theatre often argue who will take the main role. Jesus immortalized the name of that Samaritan; many kings did great deeds, but there is not a single trace left from their deeds, while this Samaritan did a simple (when looked from the outside) deed, but his name remained written in Heaven. You can play the role of the priest and the Levite, but you will remain mediocre. The robbed man prayed for a long time, stretched his arms towards the priest and the Levite, but they said, “I cannot,” – only the Samaritan helped him. Now, suppose you have a daughter and you are taking care of her upbringing. One day, she wishes to go into the world for a while to earn money. You introduce her at some social occasion, until one day you find her on the street hurt, dishonoured, and crying, “Help me!” – she has fallen in the hands of the robbers. There are (also) women who are terrifying robbers. The best people are men and women, but the worst people are also men and women. The first we call people of Love, the second – people of egoism. I would like all of you to be people of Divine Love and to serve God. The whole world is for you; as long as you have a heart and a mind, everyone will applaud you and say, “We saw what you have done.” Everyone can do a good deed and God sees these good brothers. Consequently, I would like everyone’s name to be written up in Heaven, for you to be the bringers of this new humanity, for you to be cheerful and joyous. Let someone else think about your food – there is wealth for everyone; God has prepared a lot of food. Some say they have enemies, but you have friends too. The devil also has enemies. Apostle Paul says, “The higher the charity, the higher the virtue,” where hate strengthens, Love strengthens. Our actors should go to the devil, for he can play all roles. Do not be fooled by the philosophical deception when you study all these philosophies; do not put such a mask on your face. Do not present yourselves as bigger saints than what you are – present yourselves as more sinful rather than as more righteous because otherwise there is a risk that you put a mask on your face. I know people, dressed in silk, who eat nettle at home, and when someone comes in, they hide the plate. I am asking you, is your soul dressed like this? So, cover the wound of whoever it is, and you will attain eternal Life. Sofia, July 11, 1915 * The local currency † To the editor: Here the original text says “The traveler left Jerihon”. However, this contradicts the story as told earlier in the next where the traveller left Jerusalem and was going to Jerihon to make some profit. Please check where this discrepancy in the original text of the lecture comes from. ‡ One of the big cities in Bulgaria § Bulgaria’s capital ** Assure coherence of translation of these terms with other translators †† Degree given at the time of the lecture – year 1915 ‡‡ Leva – multiple from “Lev”, the Bulgarian currency §§ The previous sentence says two hundred families, while this sentence says two hundred people. Both statements address the same group of people. Is this an accurate transcript of the original lecture? Or is it meant to imply that two people forming a family form one soul, and in that sense “dushi” means not people (kato dvama dushi), but souls (kato dve dushi)? This sentence should be edited as appropriate. *** The text states that there are only three thousand other families in Bulgaria. Is this an accurate notation in the text of the original lecture? Could it be three hundred thousand (“3 hilyadi” vs. “3sta hilyadi”) other families? The foreign reader may be confused by the small number of families in Bulgaria. Source

Note 5 Prayer Mathew: Ch. 6 My lecture this morning will be on prayer. There is a lot of controversy over prayer from purely philosophical and scientific perspectives; in the church there is also controversy on how to pray. Religious people argue over the form and the way – should we pray standing or on our knees. Scientists examine whether there is a need for prayer, i.e. whether prayer is something normal in people’s life, or something abnormal. I have to explain this matter to you from a religious standpoint: prayer is an act of the soul; this is a state (I express myself this way for a lack of a better word) of the soul, an aspiration, which determines human speech. Because in order to articulate a prayer, one needs a certain form*; hence speech has been created so that people pray. Now, I will take the word prayer in the broad sense in order for us to understand what it is. There are four types of prayer: firstly, prayer can be purely physical; secondly, prayer can come from the heart; thirdly, prayer can be simply a form of the mind; fourthly, prayer can be an aspiration of the soul, an act of Spirit. Consequently, it depends with what you pray. For example, when the need is yours, the prayer comes from the aspiration of your body, i.e. your body is praying regarding your body; such relationship exists when the body is sick – there is a certain awakening and an aspiration for communication. From the standpoint of embryology, when a baby is conceived in the womb of the mother, the baby’s organs begin forming. The baby does not move in the beginning. The limbs develop first – the arms followed by the legs; then the intestines develop; then the brain, and lastly, the lungs. After that the child begins moving and shows that it needs a higher act. The human soul also goes through such an experience – it also awakens, it is also born. A person can be very educated, very strong, but when the time comes for them “to be born”, they feel weakness and need – they feel a need for God. Consequently, prayer is an indication that the soul needs to enter the Spiritual World, it needs to be embraced by Divinity – this is prayer. So, prayer springs from self-consciousness, and together with the Spirit holds a person’s consciousness. The human soul has to pray for a long time in order to reach this Divine spring; therefore, a person has to pray in order to purify the soul. You would ask why. Just like people need the respiratory system to breathe and produce the needed energy, so does our Soul body need prayer to feed itself. Hence, prayer has power in so far as people pray consciously. Many miscomprehensions exist on the subject of prayer. They stem from our own misunderstandings, which is why we often bother God with petty things. We do to God as little children do to their mother when they kick and scream if they want something. God does not consider our sins when the soul is born and while it lives on Earth, but once it joins Spirit, a person has to pray – the soul can not want just anything. When the blessings come, a person just has to have a pure heart and a strong mind. Therefore, it should not be a question of whether God shall grant us food and knowledge – if we know how to pray, God is ready to grant us anything we want, He shall not deny us any good. Now, those, who begin to pray, often torture themselves with the question whether God will hear their prayer. In order to be heard, you have to be a nine-month-old child; if you are a big child, God will not pay attention to you. Hence, prayer is not for everyone; there are people who wake up prematurely and become damaged. Some say, “Let us wake up this person;” that is good, but the person will be damaged. Why? Because the person becomes exposed to certain elements, for which the person does not have a tolerance. Scientists know this from experience and never give children tasks that are beyond the children’s limits. A desire to become a being with wings should not grow within you; you should rather have a relationship with God. You have to have a relationship with your mother for her to give you food; then you will gradually leave your mother’s embrace, and when you grow up some more, she will lead you into the world. All, who become Christian, ask whether they are not late; you are late, if your mother has given birth to you, but if you are not born yet, wait, should it be you who catches up with the others – everybody when their time comes. There are many examples of prayer in the Bible. There are various prayers in the Psalms: a prayer for sins, a prayer for help, a prayer for grace. There is one such example in Psalm 51, another in the sixth chapter of Daniel, when he prays and confesses his sins; there is an example by Abraham, and by all prophets, who have prayed. But now, let us get to the understanding of prayer, for the prophets and David have understood very well how to pray. Most of all, prayer demands a complete confidence and trust in God. The mind should not be wandering; God, who foresees our hardships in life, has created suffering for us, so that we concentrate our thoughts on ourselves. When the soul comes into this world, there is a danger that it gets absorbed in certain impressions; hence, suffering comes to us in various ways, so that we return to God. Prayer is a force in Life, and a person cannot grow without prayer. Jesus recommends the secret prayer, “When you pray, you have to be alone.”† Some say, “Let us get together a few of us;” the benefit for two or three people is a different thing, but the prayer that serves the development of the soul has to always be individual – to unite with God – with the image of each Love, Virtue, Purity, and Intelligence. He is the only Being, who knows the needs of your soul, and shall act so delicately, so gently, like no other. And this is why everyone, who wakes up prematurely, becomes damaged. Turn to God, turn to Jesus; Jesus – this is God, His relationship to us is fatherly. When you comprehend Jesus like this within yourself, you will feel Peace, Joy, which will ease your hardship. Because if you enter the Spiritual World, you will encounter such hardships as the hardship a newborn encounters when they are born into this world. When all of your enemies come together to hinder your growth, this is the experience of saints, of good people, of all those who begin to pray. Thus, all who come into the Spiritual World have to start with God. And when they do not take this path, there is tension with God. Hold on to God, believe in yourself, love Him, hold Him dear in your heart – whatever difficulties you encounter, hold on to Him! Just like when the child says, “Mom!”, so does God always respond to us when we turn to Him by the name we know Him – this is a law of every development. Some people could come along telling you that things are so and so, showing you different teachings; those of you, who have a lot of time, could sample all the teachings, but let those, who do not have a lot of time, turn to God. Hold on tightly to God with your soul, believe that He is in front of you; believe that He embraces you with His powers, with His arms. Now, philosophers have certain views on God, and of course they are right in an intellectual sense. When we talk about God, it depends on how we view the following question: when we look at God with respect to prayer, we mean these words from the Scripture, “Call Him in a day of sorrow”‡; other places ask you to repent for your sins. If you go to God with hidden sins, you are not born; before all else you have to confess in front of God, and if He tells you to confess in front of your brothers as well, only then you will do this in front of those you have insulted. This is a confession to people – this is the path for everyone, who wants to become Christian. Now you are coming with the question on how to find an appropriate confessor: first, you will find the souls who live in Heaven, i.e. when you find God, you will go to the spirits and confess your sins there; and then their Angels will let you confess, if necessary, in front of the physical world as well. Only through this process the development unfolds smoothly and correctly. When we unite with God in this manner and are in agreement with all righteous souls, then there will not be obstacles in our actions; if you have loved a soul, this thought is passed on to the spirits. No one can acquire wealth, true Knowledge and true Virtue if they have not confessed their sins with a prayer. You would say, “Once we become stronger, we will coerce God” – you cannot coerce Him; God will not listen to you. I am speaking to you with the wisdom of all past and all current generations. Prayer is aligned with our lives, and the more developed a person is, the bigger the degree to which they communicate with God. Prayer is a conversation with God, and through that conversation we begin to affect the world. There should be no agitation during prayer, no offence – you have to put all this aside. And when you enter that small secret room, you have to feel that you are in the presence of the Angels. For this reason Jesus says, “God shall smoothen your relationships with people.”§ And once He blesses you, then the material blessing shall come. When the breathing goes right, the body is healthy; if the respiratory system is not developed correctly, breathing is not right and children are unhealthy. The same law applies to your soul: many souls are sick because their development has not progressed in the right way. Just like we need to improve our breathing through artificial methods in this world, so we need to pray in the Spiritual World – this law is correct. So, according to the same law, feelings have to flow easily in regards to our heart, and if we begin to make an effort in order to love and to think, then this shows that there is a certain abnormality in our soul. I will now talk to you about the power of prayer. At some point Jesus hints to that and says that bad spirits do not leave unless there is fast and prayer. You should also notice that when the Jewish people prayed, they always won. This is also true for the Egyptian people: for as long as the Egyptians prayed, their culture thrived and lasted for thousands of years, but once the crude materialism came, all misfortunes hit Egypt at once. This is also true for contemporary peoples; follow their history and you will see that the downfall of a country begins when its people stop praying. Commotions are starting to appear in the family and in society nowadays as well, but I say: the only reason for this is either that we have stopped communicating with God, or that we have stopped living according to God’s will. They say that the English had won the battle for Waterloo because of the rain that got in the way of Napoleon’s artillery; those of you, who want to, can check the history for whether this was what happened or not… There are many examples for the power of prayer. In 1899, during the big hunger in Russia, described also by Tolstoy, a family that lived far away from the city remained without food for three or four days. One of the children began to pray and said to its parents, “We will have food soon, but once we get it, I will leave.” So it happened that a citizen of Saint Petersburg got lost in the area, looked for shelter, and found the house, where the family had been hungry for four days. He gave them food and money for the future, but a little while after that the child left this world as it predicted… I will also give you the example of Dr. Tailer, a preacher in China. Thirty or forty years ago, when he decided to go preach in China, he calculated that he needed about twenty or thirty thousand leva**; when his friends heard about this, they decided that he had gone out of his mind, but Dr. Tailer began praying and received twenty thousand leva. He is the only missionary, who financially supported himself through prayer, and by 1870 supported around six hundred thousand preachers. However, his faith was suddenly disturbed, the power of his prayer lessened, and so it happened that his dependents also had to pray to God. What came out of this? Some rich American merchant, who moved to Australia, made a promise to himself that if he won such and such amount of money, he would allocate a portion of it to God’s work. His business went well, he met Dr. Tailer and gave him the money to use as he finds best… But you have to always be in need for what you pray: if you pray to God for something in excess, He will never give it to you; you can pray and He can listen, but if you want something that comes in excess for you, He will not give it to you. Pray for the Bulgarian people – when all Bulgarians are doing well, your affairs will go well too. In a right sense, we have to pray for everyone, and when God blesses everyone, then He comes. Today we pray, “God give me a buck††!” – no, ask for two hundred thousand bucks and then take one; otherwise pray like the following, “God, give me some!” – then God says, “Go to a person to receive it.” Do you indeed intend to pray for a piece of bread? We have to always ask God for what people cannot give us; thus, do not settle for bucks, rather ask God for great deeds. Today, many ask themselves why our priests do not pray. You can not force someone to pray; you pray instead, and turn to God for them. We say that they are such and such; do not do that, but pray secretly for them. The salvation is in collective prayer. Why exactly in collective prayer? Imagine that you are the head of an army with one hundred thousand people in it. Let us suppose that the army is exposed to severe cold and your soldiers are threatened by death. I am asking you, what does it matter how many soldiers you have if each of them has frozen to death. By the same law we are all dead individually, but when people pray together, they become a powerful force. Consequently, in order to be accepted by all hearts, the road to salvation is through prayer. So, prayer is necessary in our current living conditions – with the power of prayer you could set your homes and your children right, and you could do great things. Jesus says, “Whatever you ask for in My name, you shall receive, and if two or three of you ask, you shall receive.”‡‡ What do we have to do in this important moment of our lives, of our development? How will we be able to fulfil our duties in the face of all of the confusion that has taken over the world? We all have to start communicating with God and to call Him – this is the only salvation. As the prophets say, “When you look for Me, you shall find Me”§§; our salvation will come when, through prayer, we look for God to manifest in us and for ourselves to manifest in Him. Some say that they have debts – our debts are a group of bad spirits, which corrupt our hearts, our soul. And so, the communication with God has to be personal. If you do not follow this path, you will face many misfortunes; those who follow this path, and develop correctly, but do not really understand this Life, they will have many changes of heart. This is because the development of the individual impacts society and the church, i.e. whatever the aspiration and the direction of this individual, such will be the aspiration of all people. I will give you an example for a prayer from life in Bulgaria, an example taken from the current war between Greeks and Bulgarians.*** One Bulgarian soldier, a teacher by profession, remained behind in enemy territory after his army withdrew from Thessalonike (Dr. Dukov gave me this example). He was hiding in a cave for a long time. When he got hungry, he began praying, and noticed that a turtle carrying a piece of bread came to him, left the piece of bread and walked away. He took the piece of bread and his hunger was satisfied. When he got home, he told his children, “Children, there is God.” During that war many Bulgarians believed that there is God because of what they experienced. If you, who are here this morning, know how to ask, God will help you too. Some say, “Pray for me!” I say: turn to God, pray to Him, and do not turn to anyone else. In case God is not listening to you, then you can turn to other people. There lies the big obstacle. When that Bulgarian prayed, God helped him, while you are that turtle. If you only turn to God, He understands the need of your soul from its depth and he will respond to you. And once we reach such life, we have to forget our relationships on Earth and to see ourselves as sons of God. When we accept God’s blessing, we shall then serve Earth – be it among Bulgarians, among Greeks, or among any tribe, i.e. we will join certain people when we serve God. All people have their calling; all people need to accomplish some mission. Before it was Egyptians, Romans, Greeks, English, Germans, Americans, and now it is turn for the Slavs. All people have to serve God and in front of Him they all stand as one individual. And when we acquire that prayer, then the new philosophy will arrive and the new science will clarify the meaning of things – then Nature will understand our language. Initially, before the fall of man, when one passed by a tree with fruits, the tree itself bent towards the person; now not only don't the trees bend towards people, but they raise their branches higher. When we reach that state, we will realize that those animals, which we now think do not understand anything, are intelligent. Make an experiment with your dog: for example, sometimes you come home in a good mood and your dog comes to you, but sometimes you come home furious and your dog walks away with a tucked tail because your dog understand your state. For this reason Jesus says, “Always look for your God and His truth”††† – then we will have that Knowledge. I know that many of you have hardships; the faces of many of you show that you are disturbed, that you are in need of something, that you all have a burden – individuals, families, society, all have a burden and we wonder what to do with these burdens. We have to turn to God – He will relieve us of our burden; we have to return to our Father, who can love us, care for us. And then our faces will glow, our minds will awaken, our hearts will become joyous. So, turn to God. When you pray, make an attempt to feel that God is present within your soul. And when God is present, He will give you outside proof as well, because when He comes to us, He shall bring us a blessing. Ivan Kronshtadski‡‡‡ was not as smart initially, but he prayed so sincerely at one time that his life changed and he became John Kronshtadski. When did Tolstoy become Tolstoy? When he planed to kill himself and made his confession. He prayed then, “God, please deliver me from this evil.” This is happening with you too. Turn to God, unite with Him, devote yourself to Him and He will teach you. You shall know that all people, who bring good, secretly pray. Gladston§§§ too was a man of prayer. All the great people of antiquity secretly prayed, but we, contemporary people, stand in a dry place and complain that we are poor. Get back to your God, for He is calling you. He wants to bless you. He is now telling everyone, “Let all my children come back.” This is why there is all this noise in the world now – the children began to reunite, our souls began to reunite, and we will understand one another. Then the language of the Father will be spoken; and when He begins to speak, we shall see that the Nature outside will also start speaking. When we meet someone on the street now, we think what it is that they are thinking about us and we have fear. Let us turn to God. Now, I will tell you one thing: the Truth is not told through a lot of talking. If I could tell you everything in ten words, this would have been really good for me, while now I had to use thousands of unnecessary words. The unnecessary words are like a warming massage – like the warming massages people get when they are sick. Jesus says, “When you pray, come into the secret room, and God shall give you out in the open”**** – how perfect these words are! Thus, those in communion with God are a blessing for their people; in this sense, I would like the Bulgarian people to pray in this manner – this is the only way these people could arise. The time will come when people will understand. Now, you have to turn to God, as that Bulgarian in the cave did, and ask for live bread from above. Back in the day when Elijah prayed, God sent him a crow; to that Bulgarian He sent a turtle – this shows that God is taking care of us. Have faith in this, and pray for all conflict and all misunderstandings to stop. Pray that God enlightens us, that we become servants of our people†††† for their good, so that all individuals can benefit from this. This is my lecture this morning, and I think that you will not misunderstand me because I am talking about a law: always pray. Pray by yourself and God shall bless you. July 4, 1915, Sofia * Speech as a form of articulating prayer † A translated quote from the Bible, not a direct quote from an English-language version of the Bible ‡ A translated quote § A translated quote ** Leva – multiple for lev – the Bulgarian currency †† From Bulgarian “grosh” ‡‡ A translated quote §§ A translated quote *** This sentence comes with a footnote (“belejka” number 14) in the original text. The footnote reads: “The war of year 1913 between Bulgaria and its former allies from the Balkan War – Serbia, Greece, Montenegro, and Romania.” ††† A translated quote ‡‡‡ This sentence comes with a footnote (“belejka” number 15) in the original text. The footnote reads: “Ivan Kronshtadski – or John Kronshtadski (1829-1908) – Russian Orthodox priest with the civil name Ivan Ilich Sergiev.” §§§ This sentence comes with a footnote (“belejka” number 16) in the original text. The footnote reads: “William Gladston (1809-1898) – English statesman from the Labour Party, who energetically protested against the massacre of Bulgarians from the Turks during the year 1876.” **** A translated quote †††† Meaning “our nation” Source

Note 1 The Prodigal Son „And he said: a certain man had two sons.” Luke 15: 11 I shall take only verse eleven. Christ gives unique examples. The prodigal son is a magnificent subject on which great preachers in the world have read notable sermons and drawn lessons on how generations should live. As far as I know, all the preachers from the time of Christ till the present time have only confined to the prodigal son after his transgression and return home; however, Christ meant something more profound by this example. The transgression of the prodigal son is a consequence and we should know the reason why the younger son left his father. Everyone says the younger son was prodigal; one could suffer in this world but we may not know the reasons. Let me give you an analogy about these two brothers: a gentleman came to a famous priest in Russia to confess his sins; this gentleman was a criminal who had committed a murder. He confessed his crime and the confessor advised him how to absolve of his sins. As you know there are certain rules that oblige confessors not to disclose the secrets revealed to them; however, the murderer went out of the church and met a policeman whom he told who had committed this crime. Having in mind the present law, people may ask: “If he has committed a crime, does he deserve to be pardoned?” This is how people who have superficial understanding of the world think. However, those who understand will tell really whom to blame. Then what are the reasons? I see the young son was gallant minded because he had the valour to say to his father: “Father, I want to study so I shall let my elder brother succeed to your throne. For you do not need me that much in your home, give me my portion of the patrimony.” I see what this son did was much better than what your sons did: after sending them abroad they spend forty-fifty thousand leva. This young man was noble because he put the question before his father and we see the father raised no objection but gave him the respective part of the property, and later the son squandered it living lecherous life with women, eating and drinking. Is it possible a crime to be committed in this world, evil to be done or intrigue made without the participation of a woman! They say that after wasting everything the son went to a man and asked to work for him: “I am accustomed to hard working; when I was at my father `s house I used to work.” The man sent him to feed swine. The young man preferred feeding swine rather than committing suicide; preferred feeding swine rather than going out stealing; preferred feeding swine rather than cheating people. I ask: in the modern society, how many people follow the example of the prodigal son; in the church, how many people follow the example of the prodigal son? That is why Christ in His parable gives the prodigal as an excellent example. They say that after grazing swine the son came to his senses and went back to his father; the father realized his son` s good quality and killed a calf in his honour. Christ knows from the Jewish history that Isaac had two sons, Jacob and Esau; unlike his brother, Jacob liked to tell fibs and because of a lie he went abroad and served for fourteen years for lentils and two women; they cheated him when he was given his first wife. Therefore, you can also try to tell a lie but you will be a servant for fourteen years, i.e. you will expiate your crime in some way or another. Christ says in the parable that the elder brother became angry that his father had killed a calf for a man who was prodigal. He went to his father and told him: “Yet you never gave me a kid that I might make merry with my friends.” So, all the people who sin in the world are the younger brother; all publicans are the younger brother, and the cabinet ministers, bishops, chiefs, judges and teachers are the elder brother; they teach the people and say: “We always rule wisely.” In fact, the young son left his father` s home because of the elder brother, since the latter was very envious and quick-tempered; the young one said: “I am afraid you could lie to me the way Jacob lied to his brother.” The law says that debauchery always comes from the big people: if the woman is wrong, the man is to blame; if the man is wrong, the woman is to blame. For the one who is wrong is the smaller: children are always wrong, and the smarter and the older, even if they go wrong, law does not catch them; they may steal but they do in such a way not to be caught, and the fool who steals will certainly be caught because he does not understand the “supreme” law on which modern society lies. It is said in the parable that when the son came back, his father was filled with joy. Why? Because this young man brought a noble feeling to his father` s house. He came back with humbleness and said: “Father, I have sinned against Heaven, and in thy sight, and I do not deserve your home.” – he showed real Love. And when Christ says we should become servants he means we must be humble. And now, you have never fornicated but you know how to be angry. Yes, I know a lot of preachers and bishops who are saints; however, hatred will inevitably appear in their hearts; they will want the calf killed for them saying: “Only we, the holy people, can teach the world.” The woman often says to her husband: “You will serve me!” and the husband says to his wife: “You will serve me!” Some other time the man says: “I command you and you will serve me”, but the woman will not serve like a sinner. The characteristic on which Christ emphasizes is the deep humbleness every human soul should have. It has a deeper meaning but I do not want to touch it because it is a controversial point. Now, we know how to blacken people with smoke; do you know what tobacco is for? The devil blackens people with tobacco and all the people who smoke cense the devil and he becomes tame; therefore, if your wife is angry burn tobacco at her. One night a priest had no tobacco left and became very angry; all people began to ask themselves: “What happened to the priest?” but as soon as they burned tobacco at him he became tame. In the same way, the young son who knew how greedy his brother was gave him some “tobacco”. Let us say that someone is angry at you; burn some tobacco at him. For example, a priest is angry at you; burn some tobacco at him, give him something; if you put in his pocket five, ten, twenty, hundred leva, he will smile; burn tobacco at all priests and bishops. Some people say they do not want to give money; give in order to get rid of it! The situation with the bigger brother is the same; his father comforts him by saying: “All I have is yours”, i.e. he censes him. And when someone asks me how the world will get better I tell him this is the way: become a servant and tell your father to give everything to the other brothers; the bigger sinner you are in their minds, the better for you. Contemporary people preach about culture; I am not afraid of the word culture but I notice the clergy is not contented with it because the clergy asserts that culture debauches people. Culture means to cultivate something: a field, fruit, strawberries, cherries. However, the present-time clergymen think that if people become a little cleverer the world will go bad; they say: “Let us keep them ignorant in order to know they do not have rights.” And when Christ came to Earth he went to his elder brother and said: “The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve the world.” However, they did not believe Him, frowned again and said to the father: “Get him out of here! If he enters he will ruin everything we have.” So, where all this could find application? All of us love such Christians as today’s sons or daughters who are cavaliers and tell their fathers to give them their due; after finishing their studies they will feed their fathers in their old ages. But when the son graduates from the university do you know what he does to his father? He feels ashamed to call himself his son and keeps his father at a distance. The false understanding of Christianity lies exactly here: all people who have property are righteous; there is no exception: give the rascal ten-twenty thousand leva and he will start loving order. Therefore, the anarchists in the world who want to destroy present-time order are the elder brothers; however, Christ recommends the younger brother. For no matter how we reorganize modern society, if we do not transform our own thoughts and wishes, the system will always protect those who have money and they will always be powerful. Now the servant wants to become a master. The woman looks for a man who is rich, erudite, and skilful at some art; she is a gentlewoman who wants to live opulently, she does not want to be a servant. The man is the elder brother: he is looking for a rich woman and says it is indecent for a man to work in the world. The husband leaves his wife because another one takes her place; however, Christ gives us an example what to do: to allow the younger brother enter our family. Therefore, we can accept another woman at home only if she says like this son says: “Father, I have sinned”. Christ says that a man does not have the right to leave his wife except for benevolence; however, if the wife comes to the humbleness of becoming his servant, he must accept her; if he accepts her, this will be God` s Will. This is the teaching of Christ. And what are you doing now? A man sins and his wife is looking for another more righteous husband; she finds another and he also sins; then she looks for a third husband, etc. But a married woman is not allowed to have two husbands; neither a man is allowed to have two wives; if contemporary people allow themselves that … Using the two sons from the parable, Christ shows what relations should be like: He shows the deep Love that the little son had for his father; and the little son also knew that his father understood him. People often ask me how a man could be saved. I have heard preachers say that people are saved through the blood of Christ. In contemporary medicine, there is a physiological fact that if an anaemic person` s vein is opened and blood is transfused then his ill body recovers. Well, if the blood of Christ saves is this blood running in your veins, are you ready to receive this blood? If one is ready to receive this blood in his veins, he can be helped. If you have never given from your blood you have saved no one. Christ has been saving for two thousand years: He sends this blood through the mother of each newborn child; that is why Christ says that if a man is not born again he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Therefore, one should accept this blood. I would like us to test all the preachers from all the churches how much they love the world; if we hang them on four nails they will curse. Yes, it is very nice to preach Christianity when you have two thousand, ten thousand, twenty thousand leva! This is how it is in America: there are preachers there who are paid a hundred thousand leva each. Christ says: “You cannot serve both God and Mammon at the same time.” You cannot preach the Word of God for money; priests do not have the right to preach for money. Those of them who are heralds of Truth let them preach for free; let everyone have his own occupation and work for his living. And now, when the prodigal sons begin to come back, the preachers are indignant. If we take from the blood of Christ that runs in the modern preachers and test it, we shall see that there are impure thoughts, impure desires in it. I shall kiss those of them whose blood is pure. And when we boast we shall be taken some blood for test; every preacher or priest before becoming a bishop should be blood tested as a touchstone, and then he shall be told: “You have Christ` s blood.” This blood of Christ should be in the veins of all of us; only this blood will save us, only this blood will generate the Love that Christ preaches. I wish no one ill; whatever I have I shall give it; my rule is to serve. I do not want to rule over people but you cannot get rid of this law. Your blood will yield fruit in you; when you acquire this blood it will yield all the fruits your soul needs to feed on. And this blood runs on Heaven in all the heavenly fruit-bearing plants; therefore, we send sap to these fruits and when we enter the Kingdom of God we shall feed on them; those who preach something else do not understand the Teaching of Christ. We speak of what we have experienced. And now, does the example of the young son coming back to his father live in us? Some people will say: “How is it possible a prodigal son to live in us?” Yes, I wish there were ten sons like this living in us; I wish I could have this great virtue of being humble. Humbleness gives birth to culture, the humble man gives birth to culture; show me a supercilious man who has done something great. The elder brothers have invented war; they have ruled. And all the little brothers will inherit the Kingdom of God; they say:”We shall give everything”. I am telling you: it will make good of a son who says: “Father, give me my share.” You may say such a man could surrender to the vice; let him fall but he will come back to you; and the other son who stays with you will torment you and be angry at you that you have not paid a kid for him. There are Christians who sit on two chairs at one and the same time. And now, there are people in the church who disagree with me. Let anyone of them prove to me the contrary and I will give him a blessing. No, he should have the courage to go to the priests and say: “Give me this.” – give the man the freedom to try this Divine world. The woman does not want to live with her husband: give her share; the man does not want to live with his wife: give him his share, set him free and let him go. You may say this is not a Christian teaching; if your wife wants give her own place /space / the due place; if your son wants give him the portion that belongs to him. The teaching I preach to you is not for feeble-minded people; those of you who are feeble-minded, who cannot think, let them forget what I have said; but those of you who can think, think on this subject. And those of you, who do not have spines, should not put this rucksack on their backs because this is a heavy teaching. The woman renounces you and wants freedom: give her own place /space / the due place. But you will say: “If we act like this, what will happen?” as if the social order is favourable the way you act now! Gentlemen, this is not an order, this is not a teaching! We must be born from one father and one mother. Eve gave birth from two men and sinned; every woman who gives birth from two men commits a sin. So when coming back home the prodigal son said: “I have sinned because of deep lying reasons in Life; I will fornicate no more so make me a servant and I will serve with the greatest of pleasure.” And now, let us go back to our Father. He is in the world; some people say that God is in Heaven; in my opinion, God is on Earth, in your homes. Some people preach that the one who dies will see God - this is a whopping lie; the one who lives will see God. I say that people do not die; I want them to rise from the dead. Now people say: “All of us will die; therefore, let us save some money to prepare shirts /to be buried with/”. Those of you, who prepare shirts this way, will never see God; this is not how the prodigal son came back. And what are you doing? “Let us dress up for a party and go to God this way.” You cannot to go to Him this way. How did Christ go back to God? The Father put him on the cross to be baptized with a pledge; this is the Divine law of Love. And now you, as Christians, say: “Which priest is going to bury me?” When these priests start not burying you but raising you from the dead, then they will lead you into the Kingdom of God; otherwise any priest would perform a funeral service over you for money; what a pity for such a buried sinner! Therefore, when we prepare ourselves we should live; do not put in your minds the idea to be buried and performed a requiem by priests. You should leave the body as property and say: “I am leaving you my body as legacy; put it in a grave; I am going to my Father, He will give me a new one” I would like God` s Angels to sing for me and God to rest my soul only when I go to my Father and say: “Father, I have sinned.” Thus, I will set an example to the whole society, and Christ will say: “Today this man has humbled himself; this son was dead and came back to live.” I would like to kill a calf for such a son and call all my friends to eat for him. Of course, I shall not make a feast like the American whose relative died and left him a legacy of thirty million dollars; he was a cowherd and after receiving the legacy he feasted the citizens of San Francisco who ate and drank for three days; and what happened: they started tumbling down the streets; and when this man spent all the money he became a cowherd again and said to himself: “It is better for me to be a servant.” Now you may say: “If I have thirty million leva, I will buy a car, house, and piano, I shall take a teacher”; you will even give a hundred thousand leva to talk about you. I wish the real Bulgarian would come back like this son and say to his father: “Father, I have sinned; I want to be your servant”. I wish I could see more priests like this and my heart will fill with joy for them; I would rejoice as I have never done it before! And now everybody says: “What, we cannot stand this son!” Christ is not in us, yet. Not to bear any hatred in us: this is a great Divine law, this is the prodigal son. Now, I am asking you: are you ready to let your husband go if he wants to leave you? If I started to explain the law of inheritance, you would understand why Christ preached this way. Christ preached for the present times and gave the parable of the prodigal son because of us. And when we construct this prodigal son in the next culture, we should put up his bust; this is our opinion. I am asking you who is capable of examining the Divine books? When a man dies he does not become a saint; he is saint when he lives; I do not believe people have become saints after their death because one who lives, who does not die, is a saint, and one who dies is not a saint. I love Christ because He came back to life; and all those who are like Christ are saints. When we begin to understand things this way, then we shall become saints; if you are capable of renouncing yourselves you are saints. When the saint enters a certain society he gives Joy all over the place; this is a saint! Speaking of the dead, there are lots of saints is Bulgaria. Stambolov is a saint for the stambolovists, Karavelov is a saint for the democrats, etc. Of course, all these people have their right... So do not think that after death you will become a saint; no, you will die and suffer. We fight against the process of dying with the process of Resurrection: “Father, I have sinned”. And this son resurrects: his father put a ring on his hand, dressed him and he rose from the dead. Therefore, the slaughter of the calf is an allegory: the calf is a child; the prodigal son is the child coming back. It is true both in the physical and the spiritual world, and when a man is born he becomes a victim. Now, I want you to keep two things in your minds. First, put in you the conviction not to sit on two chairs at one and the same time. If you are Christian believers say that you are. What kind of Christian are you? “I am Orthodox.” What do you believe in? “I believe the blood of Christ is in you, and the Spirit of Christ is in you”. And second, we should be humble; each one of you is in torment because he lacks humbleness, e.g. somebody looks askance at you and you take offence. You should know you are a servant and ask to receive the grace of God. We should have the courage of that gentleman who was told by a friend: “You are a scoundrel and a thief”, and he passed him by and thanked for not telling everything: this is the prodigal son. And what are modern people doing now? When the devil bribes us, we bring people to trial instead of bringing the devil to trial. This is the teaching of Christ: we should go back to our fathers and Love should reign in our minds; to become warm-hearted and sincere. What is Good before God is Good for all mankind; I believe only in the blood of Christ that bears good fruit. I believe in a church that has such fruit; I believe in the church that bears the fruit of Christ: Love, humbleness, forbearance. And I do not believe in people who do not have such fruit in them. Let us say that you are rich, you have a thousand leva; we should come back like the prodigal son and know that we have nothing in us. All those who preach you about the Truth are poor men; and who says he does not know Christ is a liar. Christ established a church of Love. It is our duty to love the priests because of God since they are our brothers; I know they have certain weak points; I take all these things into consideration. I wish there were heroes in every church; then we shall be a Christian people living in the Christian tradition. And if the world says something on your behalf … In this world, you will have no other welcome. I wish I was in the place of the prodigal son. I play the part of the little brother because I am among the sinful people in the world; I am not more righteous. Yes, I may seem righteous to you but I am not righteous before God; much water will flow under the bridge before I become the one God wants me to be. I do not want you to think anything more about me; I want you to try, then you will say: “We have tried”. If something is not right, tell me; do not talk behind my back that it is not right, as we should preach a teaching based on experience. Like the little son, I would like to play the part of being humble. It is not easy; it is hard to be tormented by your wife. There is no struggle bigger than the one when a man becomes humble and comes to his inner self - awareness. It is very hard, it is an act of heroism, for only the great souls are capable of playing this part; only the little brothers can play this part. And Christ was one of the little brothers; He was the first to serve people for all their sins but God raised Him because the Divine blood was running in him. He said: “Father lives in Me.” I and all of us should have the blood of Christ; only then this blood will give birth to priests, teachers, men and women; only then you will have the children you want to have. Try to hand down to the young people only when you have the blood that Christ has; if you do not have such pure blood open your arteries to receive it. Then, you will feel such Joy that no one is able to erase from your soul. Then, you will be connected to the Invisible world and will talk to people by seeing not by touching. I am asking you: what part do you want to play? Some will say it is very hard. Try and God will bless you. 27 June 1915, Sofia Source

Note 3 The temptation And the tempter came to him and said: If you are the son of God, tell these stones to become bread… Then the devil left him alone and here are angels stepped up and served to him.” From Mathew 4: 3-11 I shall take the verses from the third to the eleventh where it is talking upon the temptation. Many of you had read this chapter and thought upon the three temptations. At first sight it looks that the temptations which the devil offers are very simple. But in these three temptations there is a threefold understanding, i.e. in the Gospel the fall is not given. The great truth which is hidden in the three temptations is an enigma. Why namely did the devil have to offer to Christ to turn the stones into bread? These are three psychological moments in the life of every man. All that Christ experienced in the temptations and every one of us will pass; some men have not reached this stage but the day will come and they will pass it. That is why you have to elucidate upon the difficulties which you will meet then. Don’t think that immortality may be obtained easily; whoever preaches teaching like this, doesn’t preach the truth. When we talk for the immortality, for the execution of the will of God, we understand something else. Therefore we have to understand these three great falls in every soul. The devil says to Christ: “If you are son of the God tell these stones to become bread.” The word ‘if’ supposes one condition: “If you are son of the God…” But was there something wrong if Christ could transform the stones into flour? There was something tempting for the devil in this that he could see the process how Christ transforms one stone into plant. But Christ who did understand the orders of God very well, did you know that every thing has its purpose, i.e. that and the stones have their purpose. Now I shall not stop myself upon the esoteric side; one day, when you come to the position to be clear in your mind and heart, only then this truth will be revealed to you. Everyone of your exams proves how very clear you are… Do you know what would happen with Christ if He was succumbed to this temptation? The devil appears in a moment in which Christ is infirm and says: “Here is one case – if you are the son of God you can apply this knowledge and these laws.” But Christ answers him: “Not only with bread will man live but with every Speech which originates from the mouth of God.” These stones are sinful spirits, fallen people, in them the devil is hidden; if Christ was try to transform the stones into bread, do you know what it means to transform one evil spirit to bread? Christ says: “If one man accepts the Speech of the God…” – this has practical meaning, every one of you tries to turn stones into bread. Some men say: “Why doesn’t the bread grow, not to have the need to knead it?” In Germany and England try to think of a method with which to transform the inorganic substances into organic ones, but if the contemporary science failed in this diversion, it would develop the biggest lewdness. That which saved contemporary people is the labour and the work, and if stones could be transformed into bread all of you would start to feast. I know that often people want to transform stones into bread; for example you meet one bad man, lewd in mind and heart and say: “Why can’t we transform this stone to bread? But if you transform it…In this way man doesn’t correct himself. Some men say: “Let’s marry this loose man to correct him” – this is not allowed. Christ says: “You are live stones”, but there are dead stones. Therefore one girl who understands the laws never has to marry for one sinner or some lewd woman to marry to find one good man. What will happen from this? They will bring criminals into the world. This is the first teaching that the devil preaches to Christ – to transform these stones to bread, i.e. the pleasure to exist. Christ says that people improve only then when their heart accepts the Speech of God. Now, some men say to me: “You come to put the world to rights, you will have followers.” – Yes, there will be such lewd followers but in this way the world will not reform. The world will reform with every Speech which comes out from the mouth of God. And when the human soul accepts it, it will be alive. Of course this principle touches and one other side – for example eating which for now is one of the lowest principles in the world. Eating is an important process in Life. But do you know how much hidden powers are hiding in the stones; do you know what is closed inside in these little vials? Christ says: “Who may come out from the mouth of God has the right to unseal these little vials.” I often hear people say: “Why didn’t God give me such power to put the world to rights?” This looks like that queen who said to her husband: “Give me three days to rule to put the world to rights.” She reigned for three days and do you know what she did first of all? First she hanged her husband. These men who interpret the Writing say that with the first temptation the devil tested Christ to see if he would be scared from joy. But Christ says: “For Me it makes no difference if the stones will become bread or not – I have food which is always given to Me upwards. Farther the devil takes him on the wind of the temple and says: “If you are the son of God throw yourself down.” At first sight this is a very flagrant temptation but in it other things are hidden – this temple is the man who stays on the highest place in his head and thinks how the Divine things are arranged. And the devil says to him: “Come down to your subjects and start to live like them, come down and drink like they drink; since you have Knowledge and Power don’t be afraid that you will fall, do it and know that your virtue will not be wounded from this.” Christ answers him: “Not to tempt the God of yours because I have got no need to meet with these subjects.” You think so father, who brought into the world ten kids, has to give an education to them? The father may know his son; the mother may know her daughter when they go the all time on the same way. This temptation has relation to the contemporary Christians – for a man to run away in the desert and there to rest means to enter a little in Life but not to stay as one policeman. And so, you are always are on the wing of the temple – the second temptation understands that we tempt God into ourselves. This is the passing from one position to the other, from one church to the other, from one teaching to the other. If you come down, you will use your powers. In the principle of the second temptation slyness touches a man, but in the opposite sense. It is not allowed for you to do as David; before making him king, God gave him power and what did David do? One day he was on the top of the temple, saw one beautiful woman and came down; but after that one prophet appeared and said to him: “You became the reason this teaching was broken and from now there will not be order.” And this is the way it happened – his son fornicates with his wife, with his sisters. Yes, David came down from the top of the temple to show that he is the son of God, but after that he had to run away. Now many of you will come down but they will be like Davis: if you are woman your husband will fornicate; if you are man your wife will fornicate – that will be the result if you come down from the roof of this temple. That is why Christ says: “Not to tempt the God of yours because I have all things and I have got no need to come down.” At last the strongest temptation comes, which has a direct relation to this sly spirit. The devil takes Christ to one very high mountain, shows him all the worldly kingdoms and their glory and says to him: “If you stoop to bow to me I shall give you everything.” Then Christ answers: “Get away, Satan, go back into your kingdoms, I can’t come and have got no need to go into your kingdoms.” What relation does the third temptation have to social life? After one woman or one man had passed through the first or the second temptation, one prince will come, will say that they are clean and innocent, and will tell them: “If you love me, I shall give you all the wealth”, then all the relatives decide: “He is a rich prince, has a fortune, quickly call the pope here!” and they bow. How many American women had married such princes but after that they burned; the devil promises but doesn’t give, he is one procurer. Christ says: “Get away, go into your kingdom, to your wealth, I have got no need of your knowledge, I have got enough in myself, which God gave me.” There are contemporary young men who succumb to the third temptation – for example the youth marries but in fact he sells himself out for profit which the girl has in the bank. I read one book soon named “For the love”, written from one colonel in which it is describing how you may lie to one rich girl. And Christ says: “Go away, you have to bow only to God!” Do you know what the bowing means? To make a bow, that means to adopt something in yourself, to come back, to limit yourself, to become a slave, to lose your Freedom. And when you bow to such a spirit you lose your freedom. Christ says: “Go away!” Now in the newspapers it is written that so and so girl had so and so much money and you ask if these marriages become successful after that – this is lewdness in contemporary society, lewdness everywhere. The whole world has fallen into this third temptation; there is no man in our country who hasn’t bowed. It is good that you bow but do you know what result this will have? When one woman bows to such a man, she is like a procurer to him; as a result of it she will violate herself and after that through the whole of her life she will live to regret it. Today mothers and fathers sell their daughters for money – to these lewd youths they give on top of that and money! I say: it is better your daughter to stay unmarried than to give her away and to bow to such a spirit. You say: “Two thousand years ago the devil tempted a lot ”; I want to know how the devil acts today in your houses, in your hearts, in your souls. Yes, you became his friends, ransom yourself, mask yourself, but you have to say once forever: “Go away, leave my soul alone!” And after that it is said that the Angels of the God did come to serve Christ. After you pass these three temptations the Angels will come to rescue you from the fourth. When some youth offers to some girl wealth, and glory, and honour, and she refuses him, he decides to kill her; so and the devil decided to kill Christ. You say for the girl: “But he will kill her!” – let him kill her, it is better to die than to fornicate. In this case death is one advantage – to die for one idea, for one Divine thought, this is a privilege. Of course, I don’t want to discourage yourselves. And so, when some man doesn’t want to break these connections, then we will say: “Go away, go into your kingdom!” This is Divine law – with God must remain only those men who can live one clean and holy life. Contemporary people say: “If we live like this, what can we transform on?” But now what did you transform on, you think that these people who die now in the war, die for the teaching of Christ? There is the false philosophy of contemporary society. If we accept the teaching of Christ we will have families and society which will stay a thousand times higher, and we will create music, much more beautiful than the present, we will create social order a thousand times better than the present. Some man will say: “Then we will live in the woods”; animals live in the woods because they had never bowed to the devil and if you decide to bow to him, you will become four-footed too. This is the theory of Darwin – if one ox repents for its sins and doesn’t listen to the teaching of the devil, may become a man. One time in Heaven a man was a beautiful creature, but when he hadn’t listened to God, He gave him bear hide. Now, in the contemporaries there is some guilt. When we become Christians we think that we understand Christianity, and start to go to church, to listen to great sermons, but if we become Christians from that it is still a question. There is something more essential. One of the disciples of Socrates, after he listened for a long time that man has to be subdued, start to go with torn pants, and Socrates said him: “Your pride shows and through the torn pants.” I am shamed much more by people with ripped pants than people with cylinders. Dress well but after you dress thank God and live in a way that He wants. Look that bird, with what clothes is – for them God had given two hundred thousand leva; if God dresses in this way the bird in this way, how more will you. The devil said to Christ: “If you are the son of the God, turn the stones into bread! Throw yourself down from the temple!” Years ago, in Sliven, one pious woman, in order to show the people that there is a God, went on to one roof, and said: “In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost” and throw herself down. Really nothing happened with her but did she convince the people that there is a God? They charged her that she is crazy. The devil appears and says: “All these I shall give you” but after years, as the prodigal son, you come back with ripped pants. And now it is time when all of you are with ripped moral pants. Leave this stage to come back to that Life in which you have lived before; and you will say: “We are not worthy neither to call ourselves sons, nor your daughters.” This is the act which everyone of you has to do. In the way of Christianity there is one danger: the second temptation fixes like a wooden plough into people and they start to think that they will put the world to rights, that they will give new ideas; in the third temptation but man goes into business, becomes “clever”. The father says to his son: “Son, you have to be a clever man – look, that man stole and made a house, be you like him” – this is the third temptation and with it you bow. Not only is there a law-court on the Earth but and God will judge you. And this man who preaches another teaching, it is from the sly. Contemporary people have to part from the teaching which devastates their minds and hearts. We have to destroy it. And if somebody dies, let him die for the love of God and to become power for the advancement of the world. And so, these are three great temptations which will come to your head. Some of you are in the first temptation, some are in the second, and some are in the third. Stand them to stand and the fourth, after which the Resurrection is to come – then God will give you Power. And when you sacrifice your life for the Glory of the God, then God will resurrect you as a reward. That is why we have to be in love with God, no one else. Do not connect your hearts with lewd people. I knew one rich American young lady who married one lewd man to transform him but she could not. Don’t try, such a man will beat you and torture you. God bless you with good men and good women, God bless you with good sons and good daughters! God keep you from evil sons and evil daughters! Down with the evil men and the evil women, down with the evil sons, the evil daughters! Gore the good sons and the good daughters! This is the Speech of God which we have to make. Sofia, June 20th, 1915

From Peace be with you Divine Providence "But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore, you are better than many sparrows." (Luke 12:7) Contemporary people have to be convinced with many arguments, facts and logical conclusions that there is a Divine Providence, Which, through certain laws, guides the life of man. All thoughts, desires and actions are determined by certain laws. Occasionally we give a distorted interpretation to what occurs in life, to what is strange for us, and as a consequence we have formed, through the passage of time and amidst many generations, a peculiar philosophy, that everything in the world is arbitrary, i.e. that there is no order, no regulation, that the right belongs to whoever is strong, to whoever is clever, to whoever is sly etc. Is there a need for me to prove that this is a great delusion? When we observe the life of Christ, we can see that Christ always paid attention to the small things. He says directly to His disciples: "Fear not therefore: your life is provided for" and gives them an example that from the five sparrows not a single one falls to the ground without the will of the Father. Why did Christ not take one sparrow, but took the number five? Here there is a law, and everyone who finds themselves in this law of the number five does not fall down without the will of the Father. With the second comparison Christ tells us: "You are provided for, the hairs of your head are all numbered" - and He stops there. We may say to ourselves: "What importance is there, that the hairs of our head have all been numbered?" Just so, there is the thing of importance. For these hairs to be counted by the Lord, for Him to keep account of them, they must have some sort of meaning in themselves. And do you know how many of these hairs there are on the head? Many have counted them. Some people have 250 thousand, others 320 thousand hairs. And all these hairs are accounted for by the Lord, as a gardener keeps account of his fruit trees - he puts a number on each tree. We may uproot a hair from our head and throw it away, but this hair serves a certain purpose, it occupies a high post on our head. If I now set out to tell you about the significance [1] of the hairs, I will deviate from the issue [at hand], but I will come to the comparison with the sparrows, which implies that our spiritual life is under the protection of the Divine Providence; and the comparison with the hairs of the head also implies, in its turn, that our physical life, too, is under the protection of the same Divine Providence. It is necessary for faith in this Providence to be established [2] in us, because, only when we believe in It, are we able to develop correctly. Every doubt which penetrates into our minds and into our hearts, that in the world there is no Providence, distances us from the correct understanding of the order of things, and compels us to labor to create another order and other rules, according to our views. A man and a woman, when they become married, think that the Lord has given them power; the husband [3] says: "You have lived with your mother in this way, but now you are entering my house under a new law. I am a little quick-tempered, touchy, I take offence easily - watch out, because if you offend me, I will apply this harsh [4] law". The wife [3], however, tells her husband: "I am very sensitive, delicate, I am not used to work, do not make me do hard work: if you breach this law, things will change immediately". As you can see, all people prepare their own laws. But what happens in the end? Both of them fall into disagreement. Why? Because the position which they have taken is false in its very foundations. The true [actual] good marriage is not something which is made on Earth. There are three kinds of marriages: ones which are accomplished in Heaven, others - on the Earth and the third kind - in Hell; ones are carried out by God, others - by people and the third - by the devil. When you enter into a marriage established by God, it will bring love, peace and joy in your home; there will always be agreement between the man and the woman; a harsh word will not be heard; they will spend a blissful life. When people unite you, it will only be [so] in order for you to perfect yourselves: there will be friction between you in order to smooth yourselves, because two sharp stones cannot mill flour [5]. This marriage is not a creation of God, but a human one; [so, ] your work will be according to your mind. When the Lord performs a certain work, as omniscient, He puts everything in good order; when people arrange something, they will order it [only] insofar as there will always be friction, which is necessary for self-perfection, for the smoothing-out of the character. But when the devil marries you, then at home there will certainly be discord and lewdness - everything bad. In every home in which there is such a life, the marriage has been brought about by the devil. Therefore, give to everything its precise definition and do not mix God's actions with the human ones, nor with those of the devil. In order to be able to think correctly and logically, we must understand the source [, the origin] of things. If there is something prudent in the modern-day sciences, it is this, that they ascertain that there exist in the world certain laws which regulate the relations of things, of the elements, of the bodies; we have established laws of physics, of chemistry, of the human soul, laws which regulate the relations of things, and no one can transgress these laws without bearing the consequences in one sense or another. And thus, there are three types of people: one type, who comprehend things in a Divine way, another type - in a human way, and the third type - in a diabolical way; the first case is when we comprehend things as they are determined in the beginning by the Lord; the second [case ] is when one thinks that the Lord does not involve Himself in all things and that we should interfere to smooth-out these things; when the Lord accomplishes something, we say: "The Lord did not manage to finish it; let us correct it; the third case is when every one by themselves wishes to become the Lord. Thousands of years ago people comprehended things in a Divine way, but in their decline they lost this comprehension. So, when you are in a good disposition, in your soul you, too, believe in God; if your affairs are going well you say: "Thanks be to God, the Lord takes care of us"; but when a misfortune comes, you say: "The Lord has forgotten us". On what grounds do you claim that the Lord has forgotten you, that He is the cause of your sufferings? The Lord says: "Because you forget Me, I also will forget you". If you distance yourselves from Him, He also will distance Himself from you. Some think that God, Who is unchangeable, constant in His love, should still follow after them when they begin to distance themselves from Him, as a mother follows her child, while calling: "Wait, my son, do not distance yourself from me". No! The Lord stands in His place and when you say: "The Lord has distanced Himself from me", I understand that you have distanced yourselves from Him, not He from you. The path of motion of some people around the Lord is correct, with insignificant changes: they move away from Him a little, but then again draw near, like the path of the Earth around the Sun; the path of others, however, is like the path of some wandering comet: sometimes it draws too near to the Sun and then for centuries does not come close. So you, too, when you distance yourselves from the Lord, you say: "The Lord has forgotten us". I tell you, in 75 years, when you approach Him like Halley's Comet, the Lord will remember you again: it depends on the orbit in which you move around the Lord - when your path draws near to Him, He will remember you again. And now all of you move along a certain path, but you cannot [all] understand me equally - why? - because not all of you follow one and the same orbit. And I do not condemn you: I look at things very objectively, philosophically. But you will object: "Such is our way". It is questionable whether your way is such, or whether you have made it to be like this. I say to you that your path is not like this. Between Sofia and Varna there is a railroad which constantly breaks down and incurs great expenses; is this road made by the Lord? If the Lord had built it, it would have been built most cleverly; but people have built it, and this is why they have built it as cleverly as they have! If during the building of a railroad you act according to the laws of Divine Providence, no misfortunes will occur. Nevertheless the technicians have a better comprehension of the needs of a construction than the believing Christians do - of life; they [the technicians] say: "we have to mathematically calculate what turns and gradients [6] the railroad has to have along its way very well, so that the force of the movement may be regulated, because if this is not done, there will be an accident", whereas the Christians say to themselves: "The Lord is good; He provides for us; whatever gradient we make, it is all the same". But when the car tumbles over, they say: "Our affairs do not go well". Of course they will not go well, because you act foolishly; your train tumbles over because you have not taken into account the laws of Divine Providence when you established the turns of the rail lines. That is why you, the spiritual people, will have to gather experience from the secular people in some cases, [you have] to become their students. It is not shameful for a man to be a student. And when it comes to spiritual things, unknown to the secular people, there the latter have to be your students. You cannot be teachers everywhere - somewhere you will be teachers, somewhere you will be students. The Divine Providence has strictly determined all things and phenomena; nothing is by chance; all events, of whatever character they may be - physical, psychic or social - are governed and directed by a superior Being, who guards and watches over their course. In the same way as they place a locomotive-driver to watch over the engine of the train, because the life of the passengers depends on the locomotive-driver, so our Earth, which moves through space, has its own locomotive-driver, who sometimes applies more fire to the engine, sometime less. The path of the Earth also has certain curves, turns, the Earth sometimes draws nearer to some larger planet, which influences her. These are abstract things, which, in the future, you will study and understand. But now regarding Divine Providence, Which is necessary for you, I will give you an example - a story which you may take as a prehistoric legend, because the events described in it are inconceivable, allegorical. Some date this story to the time of Solomon, but the things mentioned in the story relate to a much earlier epoch. They say that once there was a very learned and clever king, who understood the language of all animals; when he summoned the animals every year for an assembly, he taught them, he instructed them, and in the end he [always] concluded his speech with the words: "What the Lord has created, no one can destroy". At one of the assemblies two large eagles were present, called "rocka" [7]; one of them said: "I can destroy what the Lord has created". The king said: "Very well, prove this factually" and dismissed the assembly. In the same year the daughter of another King set about to marry, again for a King's son. When they were being wedded and were returning from the temple, rejoicing in each other, one of the eagles swept down, lifted the bride, carried her to a remote island and laid her down on its nest in a big tree. The bridegroom, left alone without his beloved-friend, fell into despair and embarked upon a journey. He boarded a ship; after months at sea the ship wrecked and the waves cast ashore the despairing traveler on the same island where his beloved-friend was taken to. He began complaining to the Lord: "Is it not enough for me, O God, the misfortune of losing my wife, that now I am cast on this deserted island? It would have been better if I were not born!" His wife, who was in the nest on the same tree under which the bridegroom was lamenting his fate, heard that someone was crying, came down and when she saw that this was her same husband, she hid him in the nest. When the time approached for the next assembly of the animals, the two eagles came, lifted the nest with the bride and carried it to the assembly. The King began his lecture anew and in the end again concluded with the words: "What God has created, no one can destroy"; then the eagle called out again: "I destroyed a deed of the Lord". - "Prove this", said the King. When the eagle had narrated the story of the wedding, the King wished to see the bride. The eagle called to the bride to come out of the nest. But, when she came out, together with her also came out the bridegroom. The eagle, when he saw that he was not able to ruin what the Lord has created, burst from anger. By the eagle, the human mind is to be understood. We sometimes say that we can ruin what God has created, that we can change the form of things, but in the ultimate end things stay as God has ordered them, and we, like the proud eagle, in our anger break into pieces. The modern-day teachers say at every turn: "Prepare your mind well [8], the world cannot advance with foolishness [9]". I say: thank the foolish, since the Lord holds the world because [10] of them. In the world there are no spirits more clever than the devils. Have you ever entered their kingdom, to see how they live? You speak of human intelligence, but, if you descend to these fallen spirits, you will find conceptions about physics, about chemistry, about spiritual manifestations - a lot of knowledge [in order] to tell a lie, to deceive, to do anything. But their knowledge cannot introduce order and harmony into things, because it does not rest upon those elements which are able to cement life. Knowledge must be cemented through Divine Love. Therefore, whenever someone speaks of knowledge and of facts, I ask: do you have cement to bind these things? If you have this cement, then indeed you have Divine knowledge; but if you have bare facts, without cement, they cannot be of any use to you. I ask you: if you gather 200 thousand or a million sheep fleece hairs and you do not know how to join them, of what use will they be to you? Only when you spin and weave them in a certain way will you be able to fashion clothes and dress yourselves. According to the same law, when we are able to cement within ourselves our thoughts, our desires, through this Divine cement, the Divine Providence, we will be able to fashion a garment with which to dress our inner nakedness. Therefore, we need this Providence in order to be able to live and to develop. And this is why Christ says: "Fear not" and asks why the five sparrows do not fall. You have the number five elsewhere: five senses, five fingers; this is the emblem of man on Earth. The number five represents man - the prudent, wise man - and He [Christ] says that this wise man does not fall unless he errs. While you are prudent and fulfill the Will of God, you shall not fall; the day, however, when you err, the Lord will allow one of these sparrows to fall to the ground, and as soon as it falls, the hairs of you head will start to fall as well, which means: your life will start to crumble. And so, always bear in mind that the Divine Providence watches over you as long as you unswervingly follow Its laws; if you drift away from It, your life begins to fall apart. Turn again to the Sun of this Providence, so that the growth may start again. --==[][][]==-- _____________________________________________ Notes: [1] or meaning [2] literally: created [3] In Bulgarian, there is a single word for "husband", "male" and "man", and similarly for "wife", "female" and "woman" [4] or strict [5] This is a literal translation of a Bulgarian idiom. [6] i.e. slopes [7] A monstrous bird of Arabian mythology; also written as "rock", and "rukh". [8] This is a literal translation of a Bulgarian proverb which means: get ready, be prepared for something, be warned etc [9] literally: "foolish things" [10] Another reading is: "for their sake"

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

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

[1] To Editor: why undoing the emphasis? There was emphasis in the Bulgarian sentence, it was translated emphatically in English; it was translated in grammatically correct English – why the change? [2] To Editor: why undoing the emphasis? There was emphasis in the Bulgarian sentence, it was translated emphatically in English; it was translated in grammatically correct English – why the change? [3] To Editor: grammar books state that which and that are interchangeable – same meaning, same function – I see you keep substituting ‘which’ for ‘that’ Could I possible kindly ask you what difference, apart from personal preferences, is there between these two words. [4] To Editor: either ‘you have learnt no lesson’ or ‘you have not learnt any lesson’ – equally good, equally correct – why are you changing one for the other ? [5] Stating the obvious [6] Stating the obvious [7] To Editor: why changing ‘get out’ for ‘leave’? the only difference is that ‘get out’ is more informal = closer to the Master’s style? [8] ‘only’ can be placed either you placed it, or where I placed it – why changing it? [9] Again – why destroying the emphasis? [10] Unclear. Maybe - {to do it in one go} Yes, ‘to do it in one go’ – this is the meaning [11] Usage. Sorry – I fail to express it in any way, but maybe if you suggest a wording it will be OK – the meaning is that the ideas are robbed/deprived of their wealth.

Note 5 THE PRECIOUS PEARL “When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and he bought it.” Mathew 13: 46 This morning I shall talk to you about the seemingly least important line in the chapter we read from Mathew’s Gospel in relation with one other principle – the seventh and most important principle in Nature, the principle of gender. Everything has gender – male or female. Who does not know what a man is and what a woman is; there is a disagreement which of the two genders is superior. It is said, "In the beginning, when God created the human being, God made the man." And the men, who defend this issue from their own point of view, argue that because of this they are superior; women, however, defending their cause, say that they are superior to men. This is a debatable issue in scientific circles as well – an issue among scientists: for a long time scientists have been weighing the brains of women and men to find out the exact weight and to determine, by the weight, their characteristics and they concluded that men are superior because their brain is heavier. There is, however, an axiom in hermeneutic philosophy, that each truth is only halfway true and halfway false and vice versa – that each lie is only halfway a lie, i.e. that each statement is halfway true and each negation - is also halfway true. Therefore, when one states something, if one wants to be correct, one must reduce it by fifty per cent. You know this Bulgarian saying about a man who got scared and said: - Hey, woman, I saw a hundred bears and ran away! - Well, go down a little bit, said the woman. - OK, there were not a hundred, but for sure there were eighty of them. - Go down a little bit, go down. - There were at least sixty. - This is a lot, how can sixty bears get together running after you? So the man kept reducing the number of bears until he finally got down to one bear and said: - There was some noise in the bushes, sounded like a bear, but whether it was a bear I can’t say. Similarly, in modern philosophy there are many exaggerations; this is partly due to the fact that people do not examine objects impartially, but subjectively; people do not examine objects impartially, i.e. from a male point of view, but subjectively, i.e. from a female point of view. The conscious aspect – this is the male part, the sub-conscious aspect – the female part. There are terms in philosophy: it is said that some have objective minds, while others have subjective minds; each object has to be examined from the points of view of these two minds and only then shall we have a truthful idea. You will now say, "What is the relevance of the quoted line to men and women?" Yes, it is relevant. Consider how pearls are created: it is known that sometimes a small grain of sand gets into the muscle and muscles start generating special fluid, enveloping the small grain of sand, so that the sand won’t bother the muscle – it is a work of a sculptor. Not only does it make it smooth, but also at the same time it makes a precious pearl out of it. This sand, if not in the muscle, shall have no value at all; but as it is sort of coarse, it starts bothering the muscle and makes it think: to throw it out – muscles cannot do this; to kick it out – muscles have no legs; to tell the sand, "Get out," – muscles have no tongues. It comes to mind then to make it precious, "You are an enemy of mine, but I will love you and I will make you precious." This is the teaching of Christ, who says, "Love your enemies." You would throw this sand out, but muscles make pearls out of it, for which you pay dearly; not only this, but Christ praised this muscle, that it did a wonderful job. I ask you, if Christ comes, will He find your job done the way the muscle did it – will He find pearls? You say, "We have no conditions." Women say, "When we have to work, men are in the way, we have no conditions, we have no house, we do not have other things as well, we cannot work." While men, on their part, say, "We cannot work because women are in the way - we do not have other things as well, society is in the way," and they stop making an effort. And this muscle does not say that it has no conditions – muscles have no legs, no hands, and no tongue and having no human brain, muscles create a pearl out of sand and Christ praises muscles. I ask you; can’t you do as much as the muscle does, too? You can, you can do even better. But let’s move to the main principle. Differences in the external forms indicate internal differences existing between men and women. Each nuance, each feature in the human face is a result of an internal, profound reason within one’s soul. While examining the object you can see that there is no difference between men and women. Sometimes women want to be men, but men abhor the idea of becoming women – if I ask you what gender you want to be born to, all of you will want to be men. What progress can there be in the world if all of us were born men? God created Man first; the latter, however, said, "This cannot be, I cannot do all the work alone, how can I alone cultivate this big garden of Eden – there are trees in it, there are animals, neither of them can understand me." Then God said, "Very well, I will make a friend like you so that there will be someone to help you." And this is how this great principle appeared on the stage, this process that keeps the world running; if this principle did not exist there couldn't be any progress, or evolution; and no embellishment. You see only the external appearance of things, but there is a much deeper meaning within. The only thing you know in Nature is of female gender, the male gender is invisible. The Sun that you see, ist is a female Sun, the male Sun cannot be seen; this Sun gets its energy from the male Sun. Moreover, contemporary science confirms that energy manifests itself at the negative pole of electric currents. The word negative or passive is understood by some to mean something bad – passive for them means weak, lacking strength of character or will, but this is a distorted understanding; therefore, the word negative was substituted with the expression cathode rays – the pole where energy manifests itself. On the basis of this principle I will explain many things. One has brains, but sometimes you say to yourself, "There is nothing in my head," – why is there nothing? Because you are a fertile woman who does not give birth – "I cannot love'' – you are fruitless. One, who cannot think or feel, whether a man or a woman, cannot deliver, and everything that cannot deliver, the Scripture reads, is close to hell. I would like to think that each one of you knows how to deliver – the greatest blessing for one is to know how to create and tend. How can it be that one does not deliver, does not create one good thought, one good wish within oneself? This is a creative principle, which is worthy of thinking beings. I do not at all mean that creative principle, which can create something out of nothing – the Creator, I mean this being of male or female gender; the one the Christian philosophy calls Christ-HumanGod. That principle about which Christ says, 'The father lives within me," nobody has seen it – nobody has seen God, nobody has seen the Father of the world. The Mother we know - God manifests Himself within us as a creative, feeding, and caring mother. Him we know and it is said in the Scripture, "Christ came to the Earth to manifest the Father." Similarly, under the same principle, the human being that came down to the Earth resembled originally that small grain of sand, shapeless, insignificant, and the Divine Spirit, having worked for a long time, made a pearl out of it. So, you have to be grateful to the muscle you entered for whatever you have within; if you have any value now, you have to be grateful to this Divine conscience which has been shaping you for a long time. According to this concept, sometimes the value of things lies in the content, other times – on the surface. Take a marble stone, hewn, shaped by a great sculptor, who had implanted a beautiful idea in the stone – where does this idea lie? In those thin lines, which the artists drew upon the stone. If a simpleton comes over and ruins these lines, what will be left; a simple stone, of no value at all. Everything that adds value to you is exactly these noble thoughts, desires, and deeds of yours, which the Divine Spirit has engraved upon you. Only the lines that God can place upon your brain, upon your heart, and upon your soul, only these make you valuable. And the same is expressed in scientific terms: contemporary scientists argue that the more the convolutions in one’s brain, the more thoughts it can produce. What are the convolutions? These are imparted features that can be seen upon it – these convolutions, these are the rills, which streamline your thoughts. Some people want their faces to be smooth, like a ball – they believe that one is beautiful, when one is smooth. No, then the face is a mask; there must be certain features upon it – to show firstly that one is good, secondly that one is fair, thirdly that there is Love in one, that one is wise, that one loves Truth – all of these things have to be manifested externally. Therefore, all people are like a book, a written book, upon which their features can be read. Some people ask me, "Have you listened to God, have you heard Him?" I answer them, "Not only do I listen to Him, but I can also see Him – I see Him, when he talks to me and I listen to and hear His words." Human words can only be listened to, but God’s words can be seen. God, who is glory, has embodied Himself in Christ to become visible. And each one of you is Divine glory, expressed, embodied, visible. And you ask me if I had heard or have talked with God – two thousand years I have been hearing Him. Christianity is an excellent philosophy – not a philosophy to be used while groping in the darkness, but a philosophy with which one can see, touch, smell, and taste. There is an anecdote about one educated European who was in esoteric science and wanted to trace the profound secrets of Nature, who once happened to find himself in a society where everybody was blind, their eyes were hollow. When talking with him, they asked themselves, "What makes this person different from us," and having groped him, they came to the understanding that his eyes were bulging – this was the only difference; so they thought to themselves, "Wait until we change his eyes, so that he becomes like us." Similarly modern philosophers are of the same calibre – when they find someone with bulging eyes, they flatten them and say, "You will now think like us, you will have the same concept of the world, of men and women, as we do." Fine, but this philosophy is relevant to Life – to one great reality, which has to be verified every day, every hour, every minute, every second, because we have to work, we have to create. And we ask ourselves why these misfortunes exist. You have a positive philosophy, don’t you, you are smart people, you measure space, the sky – you know how many stars there are in the sky, you know how to make various compounds – you know what oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen are, but you do not know how to make your home; so, there must be certain things you are not aware of. Some say, "There are things that are unattainable," but reflecting on these issues, each one is relative – and is not absolutely impossible. Each one is attainable, but it takes time to get to understand it; a child understands a little in the beginning, but later on – the child starts understanding more and more and when the child becomes an adult, then the concept of the world changes. I now ask you this question, when you come back to Earth in a thousand years, what concept of the world will you have? Of course you will have your present concept plus something more on top of it – something different. Let me go back: why this difference? People should not be the same; such is the principle that people by their essence are the same, but are different by degree – there must always be a difference between people, this is a Divine principle. If you want someone to love you there has to be a difference between that person and you, but it has to be a harmonic difference, just like the different musical tones; and it is precisely this harmonic combination of these differences, which makes harmony, which we all admire. Let’s give an explanation of this harmony, which has to exist between a man and a woman, let’s apply this Divine principle. The woman is an emblem of Love; Love cannot manifest itself in men – not in moustache wearing men. Well, women can also have moustaches, just like some animals, but there are certain features, which distinguish her, and these features will be there for good. But another Divine element, called Wisdom, rests in men. When Love and Wisdom marry, the Truth is born. If you want to get to know Truth, you have to find Wisdom - your father, and Love - your mother and they, when they give birth to you, they will tell you what Truth is, this Truth will manifest itself. Truth comes on one’s father’s side, it is also of male gender – it is the son of these two. The father and mother, i.e. Wisdom and Love, when they conceive again, will deliver Virtue – this is your sister. And Virtue and Truth, merged together, make Justice – this is how things are. If you want to create this pearl, it is precisely your soul that has to shape it. And what do people do? They often ask, "Well, do you preach in line with the church?" And I answer, that I preach in line with the great Divine principle; I do not lie to God. Whether my teaching is in line with your concepts makes no difference to me; I find it important for my concepts to be in line with the great principle; not to lie to God, to Heaven, to the Angels, to the saints – this is what I consider important. If everybody understands the teaching in this way and thinks in this way, there is nothing to fear. Some say, "Well, you want to set up a sect of some sort." Those people who set up sects are, to my mind, petty people; anybody can set up a sect: take an axe, split the wood – and you will end up with a sect; or take a hammer and beat the stone – you will end up with a sect; go among people, make them quarrel – you will end up with a sect; it is easy to make sects. People in an American church fell out on a certain issue – whether to raise the glass when communion is consecrated; but those who said it had to be raised, forgot to raise it. It is often that we too forget what we preach, and the principle that binds us. Our task is to establish God’s Kingdom on the Earth. I want us to make a sect, but what sect? To become conductors of the Divine principle, which will capture all minds and hearts, so that all – men and women alike – become sons of the God’s Kingdom, to live a Life on Earth, which they are supposed to. And now when people complain to me, "There came big misfortunes," I tell them, "I am glad that your prisons are falling apart, that your old convictions are falling apart, because if you do not pour the old water out of a bottle, you cannot pour new water in." When Christ came, the Jews should have cleaned themselves similarly and should have started a new life, but they said, "We know Moses, You we do not know, You want to make a sect." But He, as you see, did not set up a sect, though from the Jew’s point of view he was a heretic. Some ask me, "Are you orthodox?" I can be orthodox before God, but from the point of view of the church, I may not be orthodox. Christ was also told, "He wants to destroy our people," but after two thousand years, we should not be thinking like the Jews. I ask you what the Jews gained from Christ’s crucifixion? Nothing. They scattered all over the world. To crucify someone – there is nothing easier than this – it takes four nails. So let me come back to our issue. I want you to think, to reflect deeply upon issues. And I will tell you one more thing in relation with this principle about men and women: firstly, you have to love God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind; secondly, to love the people close to you the way you love yourself; thirdly, to love your enemies. I just spoke about your enemies – about that small grain of sand; and when Christ came down to Earth, he did not come to save the noble ones, the orthodox, but these small grains of sand – for their sake did he go did he goHe went [1] down to hell, to take them out. And in order to take these pearls out of the muscle, the muscle has to be caught and opened – under the same principle people are caught in Heaven and after opening them and finding this pearl in their souls, it is taken out. When someone dies people say, "The muscle died," and walk behind the muscle and keep saying, "The poor muscle has gone!" I say it went to Heaven to take the pearl, which it created and polished, because if it was not for this taking of the pearl, the muscle would not go to Heaven, and would not be worth anything. To come back to certain major features of men and of women. Those of you who have long studied the human structure, say that the external features of human beings are determined by the internal substance, i.e. what one is like internally, one is exactly the same externally; there no two minds about this. It is said that the foot of men or women proper has to be one sixth of one’s size; the chest – one fourth; the hand – one tenth, twice the circumference of the wrist should be the circumference of the neck. Of course when it comes to one particular human being, there are certain small deviations: some men and women are more elliptic, pair-like in shape, others have rounded faces; what is this due to? People with rounded faces are not so active – they are reconciled, diplomats, regardless of whether they are men or women; round faces are more pertaining to women; they belong to their mother’s category. By describing all this to you, I want to give you a new direction, to understand Christianity in its deepest sense, as the science of Life – Christianity is a positive science, which can teach us how to live. People differ in the way they apply Christianity: there is one application in physical life; there is another application in spiritual life. Men and women cannot be the same; there has to be a difference between them. If a man is active and agile, you should be glad and do not say, "I do not want to be a man." There has to be activity Activity there has to be [2] Activity there has to be in each manifestation – if not on the physical level, then on the mental level; if not within the mind, then it must be in the heart, but one always has to be active. Activity means work, production in triple-fold dimension – physical, mental, and spiritual. It is not possible for all people to work together at the same location in the same direction and in different fields. The difference existing between you may generate both disharmony and harmony – it all depends on you. If the two of you are short-tempered, when one of you says something, the other one should listen, when one of you plays music, the other one should listen as well – this is the principle, which that [3] operates in the physical world. If one of you is silent, the other one will appreciate this patience and will repay in another aspect. When, however, the woman does not have such behaviour, the man will say, "There is no woman worse than mine, she has a very sharp tongue; let God release us – either me from her, or her from me." Do not fool yourself that you will be free – you will be chasing each other in the after-world as well, if you have chased each other in this world. What can alter your life is the understanding of the Divine principle and its application in Life. You will make many mistakes, you will make a thousand mistakes – God will not judge you for them, He will forgive you, I can assure you that He will forgive you – if only you study the Divine principle and work. But if after a hundred mistakes you have not learnt no no any lesson [4], God will not forgive you for the mistakes. Everything in the world should be put to use; if pears have thorns, if roses have thorns, this is the normal course of life – thorns are not placed there just by chance. But you will say, "There are thorns!" The one that will climb on the pear tree should not be wearing thin clothes, so as [5] not to tear them; I have seen many children who could not climb down the pear tree – they lean ladders on the tree[6] for the children to come down. These who do not know the principle say, "This pear tree is thorny, it must be felled." – Well, it is thorny, but it bears juicy pears. I will give you another example, equally true for men and women, but the example is about the latter. A woman, who was very nervous and stubborn, did not follow her husband’s will at all – whatever he told her, she would do the opposite. Once she wanted to sit upon the well, he told her, "Don’t you, woman, sit upon the well because you will fall down and I will be left without a wife." She did not listen to him, "I will sit upon the well!" So she sat down but she fell into the well and sank into the water. He started crying and saying, "Didn't I tell you not to sit upon the well – had you listened to me, you would not have fallen in." In an hour, he saw a devil coming out of the well, a devil whose hair has turned white. "What’s up?" asked the man. "Ah," said the devil, "my hair turned white within one hour because of a woman who fell from above." The devil said this and ran away. The man started thinking how he could use this situation and finally he made up his mind. He started visiting haunted houses, using all means – incantations, prayers to make evil spirits leave the house, they would not get outleave[7], and then it crossed his mind to say, "‘Run away as my wife is coming!"’ andOnly then, all the evil spirits ran away. Thus, the woman who fell into the well did a huge favour to the world, because when she fell into the well her husband saw that she scared the devil, and understood that devils can be scared only by women only[8], and not by men, and by shouting, ‘"Run away because my wife is coming over!"’ heHe could scare away all devils. In this way, one person suffered but thousands were relieved. This is why women have the keys to God’s Kingdom. And Christ said to Peter, "I give you the keys to God’s Kingdom," He implied this profound internal principle, that between men and women there must always be one substantial difference – this difference is the basis for the Love of men to women. The day when the woman changes the position where God placed her, the man will not love her – whatever diamonds, rings or necklaces or silk dresses she might put on, no external force is in a position to make her husband love her. The man is God to the woman – she has to see that God lives in him; and in order for God to love her, she has to deserve His love, by doing a job for Him. As He Himself cannot descend to Earth to work, He gives us mind and heart and strength – everything so that we can conquer the Earth, to impose order and in return He will send all the Good to us. Some say, "God will come down and correct the world." He is correcting the world even now, but not alone, through others – the Germans on the one hand, the Russians, the French, the English on the other, are correcting the world with their guns. Some ask when they will stop fighting; it stands to reason that when the wall they are destroying falls apart, then they will stop fighting. It can be calculated academically how many blows a stone can endure. Some stones break after a hundred blows, others – after two hundred, still others – after five hundred. Similarly, one can get to know when the war will be over – it stands to reason that when they fire the required number of shells and bullets, and when a new conscience about the meaning of Life on earth enters people. And then people will say, "Well, we did a wonderful job." So Christ, addressing his disciples, told them that this person who was looking for the pearl – the meaning of one’s soul, when this person found the pearl, he sold all he had in order to buy it. If you are not ready to sacrifice all you have in this world, you should sacrifice something, but something sensible, if you want to gain a pearl; because there are people who sacrifice all they have, but gain no pearl at all – they sacrifice it for drinking, billiards, cards. Had I found this pearl, that Christ talks about, with a poor person, I would have sold all I had. It is not enough if someone gives away all that they have to the poor, in order to do Good; because when Christ says that people have to do Good, He means that this Good has to be sensible. It would not be sensible to give a lamb to a wolf every day; this is what they do in the zoo, because they keep wolves there for diversity sake, but in society this principle is not applicable; we cannot sacrifice lambs for wolves – for people we can, it makes sense. Another example: in previous times there were two kingdoms and there was an impenetrable mountain chain. Educated people in the two kingdoms kept saying that the person who could dig a road between the two kingdoms would do the greatest good for these two populations and this could be done only on one condition, namely that the person doing the job, once starting, should not turn back before the pass was completed. Many volunteered, started digging, but reaching a certain point, there always came a passer-by who would accost the worker, "What are you doing, my friend?" The worker would turn back to respond and at this very moment the whole pit would fill back up. Finally, there came a prince, who started working. People passed by him, asked him what he was doing, but he remained silent. So far so good, but there came a philosopher who wanted to show the prince an easier way of making the pass; at that point the prince made a mistake, turned back to listen to the philosopher, but when he turned ahead, he saw that the pit he had dug out, was filled. He promised himself that whoever wanted to talk with him come what may he would not turn back. So when he started digging again many people came to ask him, but he actually turned a deaf ear to them until he completed his job – connecting these two kingdoms. And then he married the princess of the other kingdom and these two populations lived even more happily ever after. This is not only a fable; this is a great truth. The big mountain separating these two kingdoms is human sin separating Earth from Heaven. If you are clairvoyants, you will see this black wall with fortresses, guns, and sentinels between Earth and Heaven. It was this mountain, which Christ dug, made a hole – this is why He came down. And when He says, ‘"There is only one road to the Heavenly Kingdom," He means this hole, this narrow pass. It has been two thousand years since this narrow pass was dug, but few are those who walk along it. Wide roads there are manyThere are many wide roads[9], but they do not lead where the narrow pass would take you. Many do not believe it and say, "Prove this to me." It certainly can be proved; one should only leave one’s house. But people say, "I am not leaving my house," people will go to this wall and will again come back. So, now that you know that you will pass through this hole only if you follow the man-woman gender principle, you have to marry. When we talk about Renovation, about Repentance, we mean that there has to be a harmony between God and us. If God does not love you, who do you think can love you? Someone says, "I have no friends, this person does not love me, that person does not love me, God does not love me." – This is not true, God loves you, and you have to learn to love Him. He is invisible, he can be seen everywhere. The God I talk to you about, talks to you at least ten times a day, He meets you, advises etc. When you intend to do something and you meet a friend in the street who tells you, "Don’t do this," God has spoken to you through the person who met you. And now when I talk to you, it is again God talking to you – the words are mine, the shell is mine, but the contents are God’s; you receive a gift – you will unwrap the packing and you will find the contents. Therefore, men and women, have to reconcile. You have a certain shell around you – you want to become great, to be rich, to have houses, knowledge, strength, to be loved by everybody, to do whatever you set your mind on in one go, to do it at a go [10] . Fine, but no lotto can deliver this to you – you have to learn this Divine principle internally, also you have to start with yourselves. And if you, for example, take this line abut the pearl and spend only ten days in a year or in a month reflecting deeply upon it, do you know what secrets you would learn from this line? Just like a scientist, who takes several prisms and places them in a certain combination, the scientist can then see under them the smallest, the most infinitesimal animals, which cannot be seen with naked eye, you will similarly, if you place the prisms existing in your mind in a certain combination, you will see many things, which cannot be seen with naked eye. The scientist, examining a simple drop of water under a microscope, will see all the movement inside, all of life, the whole world while simple people will see nothing; similarly, someone who avails of the Divine Wisdom, can see everything, which others cannot. Sometimes you get up very tired in the morning – you do not know the reason; you fail in certain jobs – there is a reason; you are sick – there is a reason; you are not beautiful – there is a reason. Beauty should be an ideal for both men and women, because all the Angels, all the saints, Jesus Christ, all of them are beautiful. When the woman says, "My husband does not love me," I understand that she is ugly. Any soul upon which Virtue, Justice, Love, Wisdom, and Truth are inscribed, is a great, beautiful soul, everybody can love it. And if nobody loves you, this means that you do not have these features. Go to God and say, "God, use your hammer better on me and inscribe more of these virtues upon me." If God does not use His hammer upon someone, then that person will be a simple stone, of no value. Let’s now address the issue of application – how should men and women work. They want to have children; children are the bearers of Truth – you, who want to know the Truth, only your children can disclose it to you; you who want to learn humility, only your children can tell you what humility is. A woman who has never delivered children can be neither good, nor humble, she will always be proud. The same is valid for men – each of his thoughts, each of his desires, when born, each one is alive, each one has a Great creature inside, an Angel, who one day will befriend you. The children that you have now, at one point in time were just a dream in your mind, to which you had given clothing. This pearl, that Christ speaks about you have it, only some of you want rather than ennobling the sand like the muscle, to throw it away. You say, "God did not make it fine," and you start shaping it, thus its meaning is wasted. Do not deface the lines that God implanted in the human soul. I am against those philosophers who say that the world was not made the way it had to be, "Let’s shape it a little bit.. The woman for example, in order to be a little thinner, puts on a corset. Fast in order not to become fat, you now eat three times a day, try to eat once or twice a day, just to see what noble features you will develop. You say, "One cannot live without food." – Do you know how much you have to eat a day? There are certain principles in life, which regulate eating; for several days you do not feel like eating – do not eat then, wait until you feel a desire to eat. But men say, "My wife has to eat, because otherwise she will spoil her shape." – Well, she has spoilt it; if she does not eat, she will improve. There are also animals, who when indisposed, do not eat. So I say, the pearl about which Christ talks, you have it, only that some of you want to throw it out, but this is a miscarriage. Miscarriage is the worst evil of modern women. Statistics show that in New York in 1905 there were one hundred thousand miscarriages. Human beings are not allowed to miscarry children either from their minds or from their wombs, or from their hearts, if they want to be Christians. If a good thought comes to mind, you say, "I will miscarry it," – you will miscarry, but then you will be sick. Some say, "I had a bad thought." – It is not a sin, that you had a thought, sin rests in miscarrying. Everybody miscarries and everybody wonders why the world is not in order; there are already idiots in the world. The bad thoughts that torment you – the devils, they are these children, these thoughts, these desires, which you once miscarried; because they say, "You are an unworthy mother." – They are the obstacles in all of your endeavours and you become an unhappy person. Therefore, if you want to be happy, to honour yourself, to enter the Divine Kingdom, it is best for you from now on not to miscarry and to pray to God to forgive you the bad use of all those good thoughts and desires, which you miscarried, which you killed, and which you robbed of their [11] wealth. Therefore, for the future, we have to nurture each noble thought, each noble desire, because they will have an impact upon our noses, eyebrows, eyes – and we shall have Apollonian types. For the time being people resemble monsters, scarecrows; now if they go to Heaven, when they see the beautiful Angels, they will run away. This is why we have to pray to God to help us to improve, and this is not very difficult. If any muscle can make a pearl, for which Christ praised it, you, on entering Heaven, what will Christ praise you for? Some will say, "I was Prime Minister in Bulgaria," but Christ will ask, "Well, what good did you do for the Bulgarian people?" – "None." – "Do you have a pearl?" – "No." – "Then, get out – back to the Earth again, for as long as it takes to make a pearl, because without this pearl I shall not accept you into the Kingdom of God." A bishop comes, "What have you done?" Christ will ask. – "Well, I taught people to be good, I believed in You." – "Did you make a pearl?" – "No, I didn’t." – "Out you go!" But the one who had made a pearl will be told. "I am glad, my son, that you did not disgrace me, come, you are a worthy son." The same with you, men and women, when you go to Heaven, you will meet a certain son – your pearl, who will tell you, "Thank you, mother, that when I was a bad sinner, you let me into your womb and made me a human being; now in this world I shall be your servant from the bottom of my soul." This will be your Joy. This is what Christ wants to tell us with these lines, out of which I selected the least important, and see how much it contains within. The other lines contain much much more profound ideas, which you will learn some day – not here on Earth, but when you go to Heaven, because then you will have a new understanding, new feelings, and new abilities. Then you may see other pictures, which you will be able to understand, for the time being it is as much as can be given to you. If you are given more, you won’t be able to endure it – this is just like a soap bubble, blown more than it has to be, and it will burst. Therefore, when Christ says, "You women are the emblem of Divine Love, God lives in you." Women have to listen and be silent, humble and have to be worthy to bear it. You say, "You, God, must know that the world now is not the way you made it." – There is no point trying to teach God, when He speaks, we have to be silent. And when He is silent, we shall start our lesson – we shall say, "I did this thing in this way, that thing in that way." Then He will say, "This is where you are right, this is where you are wrong." Hence, His teaching is to listen to Him and to apply it in Life. And when Christ says to women, "Love the people close to you the way you love yourselves," He means that women should love their men like they love themselves; similarly when he says to men to love the people close to them, He means to love their women like themselves. And if you give such examples, then your sons and your daughters will follow them. This is like creating the pearl – the alchemist principle, applied in the physical field. April 19, 1915, Sofia (2 May 1915, Sofia - Old Style)

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

ПОСЛЕСЛОВИЕ Както не може да се изчерпи с шепи океана, както не може да се преброят песъчинките на морския бряг, така също не можем да изчерпим, да изброим, да обхванем изцяло величието, красотата, безкрайната сложност, безкрайното разнообразие, пълната всеобхватност на Божественото Слово, дадено ни чрез Учителя, съдържащо се в стотиците томове на неговите беседи и лекции. Велико е времето, в което живеем! Щастливи са хората на настоящето, върху които се разлива тази безкрайна Божествена Светлина, това велико Божие благо. Пътят е намерен. Целта е посочена. Силите - средствата, методите, законите на новия живот ни са дадени. Всичко това ни се дава даром, така да се каже - на готово, защото: „Тези идеи които излагам в беседите и лекциите, вие и сами можете да ги намерите. Но за всяка идея трябва да работите 25 хиляди години, за да я намерите... Тогава колко години ви трябват, за да намерите идеите, които са само в една беседа?“ Велико е благото, Божественото благо, което се излива над всеки от нас, над българския народ, над цялото човечество, чрез Словото на Учителя. От нас се иска, на нас ни остава само едно: да приемем! Да приемем с цялата си душа, с цялото си сърце, с целия си ум, с радост и благодарност най-новото откровение на Бога - светлината, силата, живота, радостта, величието, безкрайното богатство, което носи със себе си ТРЕТИЯТ ЗАВЕТ - третото изявление на Бога на земята, което днес става чрез Словото, донесено ни от Учителя и изпълващо вече цялата земя. Няма да остане човешка душа, в която и част на земното кълбо да се намира, на чиито двери Божественото Слово да не почука, да не проговори, да не призове: - Ставайте, защото дойде края на тъмната нощ! - Ставайте, защото Светлината вече озари цялата земя! - Ставайте, защото скоро ще изгрее великото Слънце на живота. - Приемете с готовност, с радост и благодарност, с чисто сърце и отворена душа благото, което ви се дава, което Небето излива над вас. БОЖЕСТВЕНОТО СЛОВО ВЕЧЕ ИЗПЪЛНИ СВЕТА! Тези, очите на които се отвориха, видяха нагледно процеса - външния, физическия процес, чрез който стана това: сините кълба, мисъл-формите на Божественото Слово - се разнасят, обгръщат, изпълват света. Днес никой човек, никой ум, никое съзнание не може да се освободи, да избяга, да се скрие, да се противи на силата на Божественото Слово. То идва не отвън, а отвътре! Ражда се в душата, в сърцето, в ума на човека! ТАКА ДНЕС ХРИСТОС ИДВА ВТОРИ ПЪТ НА ЗЕМЯТА! Ражда се в душите и в сърцата на хората ... Ражда се като Любов, ражда се като Мъдрост, ражда се като велика Божествена Истина ... Навсякъде по света, сред всички народи, на първо място сред младежта, този процес е в пълния си разгар; след дълго лутане, увлечения, тичане след призраци, служене на лъжливи божества - душите, сърцата и умовете на хората се пробуждат, отхвърлят старото, отхвърлят лъжата - безверието, и възприемат Истината, възприемат Любовта. За лъжата няма вече място в света! За насилието няма вече място в света! За омразата няма вече място в света! За братоубийството няма вече място в света! Пробудената човешка душа, озареният от Божествените Светлина човешки ум, пламналото в Божията Любов човешко сърце, ще ги погребат. Новото вече навсякъде си пробива път! Нищо няма да го спре, нищо не ще го ограничи, нищо не ще го отклони и унищожи. Огънят на великата Любов ще претвори всичко в света! Защото няма друга сила, която може да стори това. И този велик, могъщ, всесилен Божествен Огън на Любовта, който вече гори, засега в сърцата и в душите на малцина, расте и се засилва, ще расте и ще се засилва, докато обгърне цялата земя. Целият свят, всички души трябва да загорят и ще загорят в огъня на великата Любов! На нас, българите, както и на всички хора на земята, ни остава само едно: да приемем и - ДА ПРИЛОЖИМ!

БЕЗ СТРАХ! Когато ти служиш на Бога, когато ти служиш на доброто и на Любовта, когато ти служиш на Истината, на Правдата и на Красотата, отхвърли всеки страх, всяко съмнение, всяко колебание, от душата си, от сърцето си, от ума си. Когато ти служиш на Бога, друг е, който ще мисли за теб: за твоята сигурност, за твоето право, за твоите нужди, за твоя живот. Когато ти служиш на Бога, знай, че ти не си сам. Че никога не ще останеш сам - никога не ще бъдеш изоставен. Велики, могъщи, неземни светли Сили стоят зад тебе. Имай вяра, имай упование, имай безгранично доверие в тях: те няма да те изоставят! Когато ти служиш на Бога, нищо, абсолютно нищо не може, не трябва да бъде страшно за теб. Целият ад да излезе срещу тебе, ти не ще се поколебаеш: светлината, която ти носиш в себе си, е по-силна от всякакво зло. Когато това се наложи, ти ще отхвърлиш всичко, ще изоставиш всичко - всичко земно, всичко човешко, лично, и ще свършиш Божията работа! Първо Божията работа ще свършиш, и тогава ще мислиш за своята лична, частна работа. Когато това се наложи, ти няма да се поколебаеш пред нищо: и живота си с радост можеш да дадеш за Божието Дело! И наистина, от какво има да се плашиш? Защо, от кого и за какво има да трепериш? Кои са тези сили, видими и невидими, човешки и адски, които биха могли да угасят светлината на Божията искра в теб? Кое е това, което може да те плаши - пред лицето на Бога, пред Небесата, които денем и нощем сияят над теб? Не си ли ти служител на Великото, на безкрайно могъщото - на Любовта? Кои страдания, изпитания, лишения, не могат да бъдат приети, понесени, изнесени с радост от Любовта? Когато тази безкрайна сила е в сърцето ти, когато тази непоколебима вяра е в душата ти, когато образът на Христа е пред очите ти, какво страшно може да има за теб? Смело, свободно разбивай, разкъсвай всички земни окови: отхвърли страха за утрешния ден - ти няма да умреш от глад! Отхвърли страха от човешката неправда и насилие: с теб няма да се случи нищо повече от това, което ти е определено: „Хиляда ще паднат от страната ти, и десет хиляди от дясно на теб, но при тебе няма да се приближи“. Отхвърли страха от общественото мнение, от неразбирането, от преследването, от клеветата - от човешката глупост. Няма истински Божи служител, неувенчан с трънен венец. А нима Божията десница не е винаги над тебе? И нима ти не си готов да приемеш и да посрещнеш всичко? Всякакви страдания, лишения, бедност, хули, клевета, предателство, измяна - всичко с радост ще посрещнеш ти. Толкова голямо, толкова светло, толкова топло е слънцето, което грее в душата ти, че нищо земно не може да го помрачи. Без страх! Без какъвто и да било страх! От каквото и да било, от когото и да било! Няма сила, по-голяма от Божията Сила! Няма истина, по-светла от Божията Истина! Няма правда, по-висока от Божията Правда! Знай, че си отива вече царството на злото. Знай, че тъмните сили вече бягат и чезнат като сенките на нощта пред светлите лъчи на утрото. Знай, че Той, сам Той, Великият, Вечният, Всемогъщият, иде: да постави всяко нещо на мястото му. Да изпълни със светлина и красота света - нашия земен свят. Да възцари Доброто и Любовта! Без страх! От никого и от нищо! Ти си на всичко готов! Ти всичко можеш да приемеш и понесеш. Ти всичко можеш да дадеш - да се лишиш от всичко: В Бога - в неговата Любов, в неговата Правда, в неговата Истина, в служенето на Бога - ти имаш всичко! Без страх и без тъмнина! Напред в Любовта безгранична!

ИЗЛЪЧВАЙ ЛЮБОВ! Любовта иде от Слънцето! Любовта идва от милиардите Слънца - Любовта иде от Бога! Ти си син на Бога! Ти си дете на Бога! Ти си дете на Слънцето - на милиардите Слънца! Ти си едно с Бога! И ето: твоята съдба, твоето предназначение, твоето бъдеще е: да станеш като Слънцето, да станеш като Бога! Да излъчваш топлина и светлина: да излъчваш Любов! Това именно, това и нищо друго, е твоята бъдеще съдба. Да израстеш, да засияеш, да се превърнеш в светъл Дух, да надмогнеш земните окови. Да заживееш във Вечността! Да придобиеш Безкрайността! Бедний човече, роден тук, в ограничителните земни условия! Бедний човече, скован, хипнотизиран тук от земната Цирцея -заживял със съзнанието за твоята тленност, за твоето ограничение, за твоето нищожество! Бедний човече - отровен, излъган, заблуден от твоята „наука” - че си нещо като еднодневка, нещо като сапунен мехур в този живот: нещо като нищо. Ако ти би знал, ако ти би прозрял безкрайната красота, безкрайното величие, безкрайната всеобхватност на твоята душа, на твоя Дух! Ако ти би прозрял само за миг, ако пред тебе се отвореха само за миг вратите на Вечността и Безкрайността, които те очакват - които са твоята съдба, твоето бъдеще, твоето нетленно и неотемлимо наследство от твоя Баща - Бога! Ако ти би знал, ако ти би прозрял! Знае ли малкото семенце, че му предстои да стане едно разкошно растение, едно прекрасно цвете, едно величествено дърво? Знае ли житното зърно, че утре ще изхрани цял свят? Знае ли малката дъждовна капка, че утре, съединена със своите сестри, ще се превърне в океан? Та това си ти, бедний човече, пред когото утре ще се разтворят всички граници, пред когото ще паднат всички ограничителни условия, на когото ще израснат крила - да лети в Безкрайността! Ти си Дух, а не тяло! Ти си безсмъртен син на твоя безсмъртен Баща! Ти си едно с Вечността и Безкрайността. Ти си едно с Бога! Ти няма нивга да умреш! Човек - това е нещо безкрайно велико! Но колко работа те чака, за да достигнеш, да реализираш, да проявиш своето истинско величие, своята истинска красота - да придобиеш своето истинско богатство! Колко усилия, колко време, колко опитности те очакват по пътя на твоя вечен, непрестанен възход! И - ще прибавим, не ще замълчим - колко разочарования, колко временни неуспехи, колко заблуждения, лутания, колко страдания ще те съпътстват в живота! Ти не трябва да се страхуваш от всичко това. Всичко това не може да те спъне, да те спре в твоя възход. Напротив - това са стъпала: може би трудни, понякога мъчителни, но които със сигурност те водят по светлата нагорна пътека - към съвършенство, към безсмъртие, към вечен живот. И ето - ти трябва да чуеш, ти трябва да узнаеш великата истина: еликсирът на живота, еликсирът на безсмъртието, еликсирът на вечната младост е скрит във въздуха. Еликсирът на живота е скрит във водата. Еликсирът на живота е скрит в хранете - в хляба и плодовете. Еликсирът на живота е скрит в слънчевата светлина! Ти трябва да научиш, ти трябва да овладееш изкуството да го извличаш от тях. Ти трябва да се научиш да вземаш това, което ти е дадено, което е вложено в заобикалящата те среда, което ти е подарено от Бога. И ето: Небето днес ти дава ключа, свещения и скъпоценен ключ към безсмъртието, към вечния живот, към вечната младост, към съвършенството, към небесното царство - към Бога. Приеми го с готовност, с радост и благодарност. Приеми го с чисти ръце - с чиста душа и с чисто сърце. Приеми го като най-скъпото, нетленно Съкровище, като безценен дар от Бога, какъвто той наистина е: ключът към безсмъртието - това е Любовта! Ключът към съвършенството, към вечния живот, е Любовта. Ключът към царството на Бога, към Небесното Царство, към Вечността и Безкрайността, е Любовта! Ти трябва да се научиш да обичаш, ти трябва да станеш проводник на Любовта, ти трябва да излъчваш Любов! Тази Любов, която е магичната Сила, чрез която именно ти ще възприемеш еликсира на безсмъртието от въздуха, от водата, от хляба и плодовете, от слънчевата светлина - като ги обикнеш! Тази Любов, която ще те превърне в ангел! Затуй приеми Любовта на Бога! Приеми я в душата си, в сърцето си, приеми я с ума си и с волята си: приеми я от въздуха, от светлината, от водата, от хляба и от плодовете. Тя е там - вътре в тях! В тях е Божият Живот, Божията Сила, Божието всемогъщество! В тях е Бог! Стани проводник на Божията Любов! Всичко живо, всичко съществуващо очаква твоята Любов - очаква да проявиш Божията Любов! Излъчвай Любов! Влез в света на Любовта! Създай около себе си свят на Любовта! Превърни цялата земя, целия свят в свят на Любовта! Това ще стане като станеш проводник на Божията Любов! Това ще стане, като започнеш да излъчваш Любов!

КЪМ ОБЕДИНЕНА ЕВРОПА! Друг път няма! Всеки друг път води към тъмното, жестокото, братоубийствено и разрушително минало - към кръвопролития, насилия и разрушения. Един единствен път остава, един единствен път има за европейските народи към мир, истинско благоденствие, към истинска култура и свобода - това е пътя към Обединена Европа, към Европейски съединени държави, към Общоевропейска Федерация. Името не е важно, важно е съдържанието. А то трябва да бъде съдържание на свобода, на истинска човещина, на истинска разумност. Някои ще кажат, че при съвременната политическа обстановка това е нещо много трудно. Някои ще кажат, че то е невъзможно. Възможното и невъзможното са в ръцете на хората. От нас, от хората, зависи - да се мразим, да се убиваме и да разрушаваме, или - да си подадем братски ръка, да си помагаме, да заживеем в мир и любов. Нима не е възможно да престанем да мразим, да подозираме, да враждуваме с другите народи, каквито и да бъдат те? Нима не е възможно да престанем да мислим, да говорим и да пишем с омраза, с подозрение към другите? Как е възможно един народ от просветени, културни хора, народ с мощен дух и големи заложби - германският народ - да тръгне след един полулуд водач, който заведе и него и хвърли цялото човечество в страшната, всеунищожителна касапница на втората световна война? Ако народите досега са се подчинявали на зова на безумието, защо сега да се не вслушат в гласа на разума? Защо безумието - братоубийството, омразата, разделението, разрушението, произтичащи от слепия, безразсъден и водещ към катастрофи егоизъм - да са възможни, а разумността - единението, мира, разумността, братската обич и взаимопомощ между хората и народите да не са възможни? И какво чакаме още? Трета световна война ли? Знаят ли хората, знаят ли управляващите, знаят ли водачите на народите при съвременното състояние на всеунищожителната бойка техника, как ще излезем из нея? Нима човечеството трябва да оредее - да се намали на половина или да остане само една трета, та едва тогава да поумнее? Всред съсипиите на днешната култура ли само ще се отворят очите ни, за да видим къде е правият път за човечеството? Какво ни пречи да видим и да тръгнем още сега по този прав, по този спасителен път? - Различните мирогледи, различните обществени строеве? Реалните противоречиви интереси на отделните народи и държави? - Не, не, и не! Единствено слепият, безразсъдният и безумен човешки егоизъм, който все още владее умовете и диктува постъпките на водачите на народите - единствено той пречи на народите да си подадат взаимно, искрено и безрезервно ръка. Глупави са, безумни се тия водачи, които мислят, че водейки народите си по пътя на националния егоизъм, с това те ще спечелят нещо? - Какво ще спечелят? - Ще спечелят смърт и разрушение! Злото иде от злите мисли - от злите хора. Доброто иде от добрите мисли - от добрите хора. Не трябва ли да бъдат вързани - т. е. да бъдат обезвредени, да бъдат поставени в невъзможност да вършат зло тия, които с леко сърце биха хвърлили Европа и света в нова, още по-страшна, още по-жестока и по-разрушителна трета световна война? Защо народите вървят след водачи, които ги водят към бездната? И защо да не се вземат мерки навреме, докато не е станало късно? Нима забравихме миналите, преживените ужаси? Но идва краят на злото! Един мощен глас се надига по всички части на света - гласът на всички, която желаят доброто, гласът на добрите, на разумните хора, и този глас ще прозвучи с непобедима сила: Стига! Стига братоубийство, стига кръвопролития, стига разрушения, стига насилия и робство, стига омраза и разделение! Стига сляп, безразсъден и безумен, водещ към катастрофи егоизъм! Който се противи на този глас на разума, ще бъде отхвърлен, ще бъде обезвреден, ще се отнеме силата му, властта му. Народи на Европа, народи на цялата земя, не позволявайте безумци да ви управляват, безумци да ви водят към бездната на всеунищожението. Дайте път на разума, дайте път на човещината, на доброто, на свободата. Дайте път на Любовта! Трябва да бъдат неутрализирани, трябва да бъдат обезвредени разрушителните сили - адските сили на разединението, жестокостта, насилието, на лъжата и омразата. Как ще стане това? Нима докато царува правото на силния, може да има мир в света? Нима докато царува неправдата, може да се постигне обединение на Европа, като първа стъпка към обединението на света? Нима докато не се изправят извършените грешки - несправедливости, насилия - във взаимоотношенията на народите, може да се живее в мир и братска хармония? Не трябва да се лъжем! Обединена Европа може да почива само върху правдата, свободата и равенството между народите, а не върху неправдата, насилието и лъжата. Великата задача иска велики жертви. Обединението на Европа няма да дойде, докато всеки народ мисли егоистично само за себе си. Ново съзнание трябва да се роди в човешките умове - съзнанието за единството на живота, за единството на интересите, за единството на идеала, към който трябва да се стремим и който трябва да реализираме: Обединена Европа, Съединени европейски държави, Европейска федерация, в една или друга форма, като първа стъпка към обединението на света. За това са необходими жертви, истински жертви пред величието и в името на поставената цел, а не търговски пазарлъци и стремеж към надхитряна. Чрез тия жертви могъщият човешки дух ще направи „невъзможното“ - възможно. В същност, какво трябва да пожертвуваме ние, какво трябва да пожертвуват народите, за да стане възможно обединението на Европа и света? - Те трябва да пожертвуват туй, което винаги е било извора на техните страдания, извора на всички глини в техния досегашен живот - те трябва да пожертвуват националния егоизъм, който винаги досега ги е подтиквал към омраза, войни и разрушения, който отнема голяма част от националния доход и от националните енергии за целите на разрушението и това, разбера се, за сметка на недоимъка и мизерията на широките народни слоеве. Трябва да се откажем от това, което ни разделя, трябва да се приближим. Трябва да се откажем от всяко насилие на един народ върху друг, от всяко ограничение. Трябва да отхвърлим „правото на силния“. Нека, в границите на Свободна обединена Европа всеки отделен народ се управлява напълно свободно - сам да избира политико-обществения строй на своя живот, на своето развитие. Никакво насилие, никакво принуждение, никакво ограничение! Държавен или частен капитализъм, социализъм от всякакъв вид, съобразно националните особености и степента на развитието - всеки народ сам свободно да решава и избира формите на своя обществен, стопански и духовен живот. Възможно е това в една обединена Европа, без митнически и паспортни бариери, в която всеки народ не мисли, не се стреми да налага това или онова на другите. В едно свободно съревнование, в едно свободно състезание между отделните народи, без насилие, без войни, без налагане от която и да било страна, в края на краищата ще вземе надмощие по мирен, безболезнен начин, тая форма на управление и тоя политико-обществен строй, които дават най-големи резултати за всеобщото благоденствие, които дават най-голяма свобода, най-пълни възможности за проява на човешката индивидуалност и на творческите сили на даден народ, и които най-добре съответствуват на неговия национален характер. Защото народите не са глина, от която да се правят еднакви по вид и по форма тухли. Всеки народ представлява една отделна духовна самобитност, с свои собствени възможности, национален характер и особености, и затова трябва да се остави свободно да се развива, без упражняване на каквото и да било насилие върху него. Само върху този принцип може да се постигне мир и обединение на Европа и на света. Само при тези условия може да се сложи край на войните и качало на истинско, всеобщо благоденствие и на истинска свобода. Не се ли приеме този принцип, не се ли ръководим от него в мислите си и в постъпките си, всякакви усилия и всякакви опити за постигане на колективна сигурност и за мир в Европа и в света, ще бъдат палиативни. От друга страна, безспорно е, че светът - целият свят - се движи към социализъм. Не само страните от социалистическия блок, но също така почти всички арабски страни, Индия, Бангладеш, голямо число от новообразуваните африкански държави, някои държави от Латинска Америка, заявяват, че ще изграждат социализъм. В Швеция, Дания, Западна Германия, Англия, управляват социалисти. Във Франция, Италия има мощни комунистически и социалистически партии. Светът се движи към социализъм. Това е безспорно. „Религията на труда“ ще вземе надмощие, ще завладее света. Въпросът е как да дойде този социализъм - по пътя на насилието и кръвопролитието ли, или по пътя на разума - по пътя на мирното и спокойно развитие. Много страни вече се определиха - те изграждат социализъм по мирен начин, без кървави революции, без главоломни политико-стопански сътресения. Защо да не се откажем занапред от употребата на насилието, от употребата на оръжието, от кървавите жертви и огромни разрушения при промяна на обществения строй? Защо да не се откажем, изобщо, от всяко насилие? Социализмът трябва да се равнява в своя ход напред към високия идеал. Социализъм - това трябва да означава преди всичко СВОБОДА! Трябва да се отхвърли всяка омраза, всяха лъжа, всяко физическо и психическо насилие върху отделния човек или върху народите. Това значи социализъм! Свобода навсякъде и във всичко! Свобода на отделните народи. Свобода на отделната личност. Свобода на словото, на печата, на убежденията и вярванията. Свобода на труда. Свободи на обществената, идейната и стопанската дейност. Свободен социализъм, свободен, мирен, ненасилствен комунизъм! Няма друг път към мира и сигурността. Няма друг път към обединението на Европа и света. Няма друг път към разумен живот. Няма друг път за избягваме на надвисналата над Европа и над целия свят опасност от трета, всеразрушителна и всеунищожителна война. Нека разумът преодолее! Иначе - страшна е съдбата на човечеството! С. Калименов