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  1. Signs of Manifested Human Consciousness Eleventh Lecture held by the Master in front of the Youth Esoteric Course, 27 December 1922, Sofia Fir-fur-fen Tao Bi Aumen Secret Prayer A summary of the topic “Elements of human speech" has been read. The works on the topic “Signs of manifested human consciousness in its highest form” have been read. For next time, write on the topic: “Distinguishing marks of the physical body ". Imagine a certain point signifies the consciousness of man or the manifested Universe. Out of this point is the Universe which has not yet been manifested. Furthermore, suppose the matter of the outer, manifested Universe, has different densities and thence different states. After that, assume that different kinds of beams go out of that particular point, i.e. we say this centre, this point starts to radiate. Every beam represents a separate being. When these beings get in touch with the external environment which has different densities and different states, they will change their character. This change in the character of these beings is the reason for the difference existing between them. There is distinction not only amongst people but amongst the spirits, amongst the Angels, as well as amongst all Advanced Beings. What is this difference due to? It is due to a number of outer reasons. Therefore, every beam is influenced by the environment to a certain point. The infinite determines the relations as well as the forms of the finite. So, when a certain peculiarity shows in you, you should know it is owing to the primary environment you have fallen into. One day, when you return to the given point, your nature will change. Then, you will finish your evolution the way it has been initially fixed. Therefore, you should know that whatever deviations you make in your life they will not alter your way at all. Many people think that by zigzagging to one side or another they could change their way. No, the esoteric disciple must know that there is no way to change the initial course of his Life. Not only the disciple, but no being is capable of changing the initial course of its way until it gains its purpose. When the snake zigzags, coils its body, does it change its course or its nature? No, it does not. Why does it coil? In order to move. Why does the lightning twist? Because it meets a medium of different density compared to the one it moves in. Therefore, each deviation in the human character is due to the fact that he meets on his way a denser medium than the one he moves in. The denser medium shows him big resistance; therefore he cannot withstand and turns off to one side or another. He lives with this deviation until he meets another obstacle to make him return to the right track. Finally, when you draw a straight line between these deviations, this line determines the direction towards which consciousness moves. As long as he is young, one moves by zigzagging here and there, and thinks he is changing the course of his way; when he grows old, one thinks he is smarter, and has already solved his tasks. The old man has solved his tasks as much as the young one has. Both the old and the young man are far from the Truth. Such difference exists not only among people of different ages but also inside one and the same person. For example, the eyes of man represent two circles: the left eye expresses the physical world, and the right one, the spiritual world. That is why the beam that goes out of the left eye of man is always directed towards the Earth; the beam that goes out of the right eye of man is always directed upwards. In its evolution, one moves from the physical to the Spiritual and from the Spiritual to the Divine world. If someone moves with the speed of lightning from the Spiritual to the Divine world and moves several billion kilometers away from the Spiritual world, you might think this man is close to God. However, if he is observed by telescope from the Angels` world, they will say this man moves very slowly, like a star in the sky observed from the physical world. For the Angels, this man is far away from God and for the people, he is close to God. You should know one thing: whatever speed he moves with, a man should have the striving to go upwards, to the Divine world. For that purpose, he must develop everything that is put in his consciousness. Go up and forward, do not be afraid of the deviations you make. Deviations are not falls. Think philosophically on that issue. When the beam of light passes from a thin to a dense medium it will inevitably refract and deviate from its course. The consciousness of man experiences such deviation when it passes from a thin to a dense medium. Therefore, at the present development of man /in his individual and social development/, a number of deviations take place in his consciousness. When he knows that, one must be careful and be aware of these deviations. Present-day people, societies and nations are organized the same way as material worlds are. They all move in circles concentrically situated around a center. For example, ten – fifteen people make one link and influence each other the way planets influence each other. Usually, the ones closer to the centre move faster than those that are further. Knowing this, you will notice that no one can escape the influence of those individuals who enter the same system as his own. In this sense, no one can be self-autonomous. People represent big groups of individuals, concentrated in a centre, who influence each other. When the Divine consciousness in man awakes, he can already define his attitude towards those who enter his system. In his conscious attitude towards them he will not counteract but assist them in a Divine way. Usually, to every system of higher Beings corresponds such a system of lower Beings; consequently one should be careful, to know how to influence the beings from his system. Beings from one and the same system not only influence each other but systems also influence each other. In this interaction of the systems, the Cosmos grows and develops. In the centre of all systems lies the Divine consciousness, the Divine spirit that regulates all things in Nature and Life. Everyone should determine his own status and realize to which system he belongs, how many people enter this system; with what speed they move in physical, cordial and mental respect; of what material their system is made and how many million years ago it was formed. Therefore, the mental level of man will depend on the state of the whole system – this is a fixed law. So, in order to change the mental state of man, the mental state of all the beings with which he enters in one and the same system should be changed. There is a certain connection between all the beings in one and the same system: if one of you is in America among unknown people and he is being attacked by somebody, a person from your system will immediately appear to protect him and defend his right. Why will he protect you? For the sake of the whole system. The larger the system is that you enter; the larger will be the number of sympathizers you may have. If you enter among a small group of people, you will have a few sympathizers. It does not restrict human will at all, but shows that the direction of the human Spirit is strictly fixed and he must walk in this direction because here are given the opportunities and conditions for the development of his activities. If someone opposes this order of things, he must turn back and be swallowed by the common centre. When it is said that the Earth will fall to the Sun, it should not be understood literally. It means that the Earth should enter new conditions of development and fall under the influence of some other Sun. Now let us do a mental exercise: imagine you are moving at a great speed and entering the Sun. Watch yourselves how far each of you could reach. This exercise requires a huge amount of concentration. How many of you managed to reach the Sun? With their thought, some of you reached the middle of the road. It is hot on the Sun; not everyone is able to go there. Some other people remained in the so-called icy, cold area. Others rose up to a magnetic zone made of thick and porous matter. One of the zones between the Earth and the Sun is called Death River by which all souls pass going to the other world. Everyone could try to pass by this zone. It is enough for a man to concentrate deeply in his thought and detach himself from the environment; he will immediately enter a completely dark area, with not a single sunbeam. He can check by his watch how much time it took him to pass by this area. Whoever makes this experiment, must be very careful, and should not be afraid of the big darkness. When he goes out of this zone, he will enter the next one, the so-called astral zone where the light is mild and pleasant like the break of dawn. On his way back to the Earth, man passes by the same zones. As you see, there are different areas, different fields between the Earth and the Sun, and each of them contains specific forces, energies. Between the Astral and the Mental world exists the so-called icy or electric area. It contains a huge reserve of electricity that could completely replace coal that we use nowadays for heating. The race to come will dispose of methods by which it could get this electricity to work for lighting and heating of the entire Earth. While doing this mental exercise you must be concentrated so that not only your thought will travel but also the whole consciousness. Then, you will feel two currents: one coming from the Earth to the Sun, and the other going back. Thus, a correct exchange between the solar energy and your energy takes place. It is good to do this exercise when you are spiritually indisposed. Second exercise: direct your mind, heart, Spirit and soul to the Divine Spirit that encompasses everything in the world and ask for its assistance in the realization of all that is elevated and noble in you. This Spirit encompasses all consciousnesses, and acts inside and outside of them. Because of that it is said in the Scripture: “The Spirit of God floats all over the Earth." Fir-fur-fen Tao Bi Aumen Source
  2. Ани

    1922_12_20 Self – Defining

    Self – Defining Secret prayer A resume on the theme “The Purpose of Breathing System“ was read. Essays on the theme of “Elements of human speech“ were read. What is the topic for the next time? – “Self-defining in life”. What do you understand under the word self-defining? -For a someone to self-define, they should define their relations towards their surroundings. - Do you agree with this definition? What thing is the defining of the unit? I think that the self-defining of the unit lies in it giving the initial acceleration of things i. e. it brings things on the stage. What does the self-defining of the two? -Polarisation. What is polarization? -Manifestation. 2, the number two, means the matter i.e. the law of material world. In others words, the unit represents forces which set things in the material world, in matter where they find form, i. e. where they are shaped. If one is father of things, two is their mother. One gives the first conscious sparkle to Life. One is the first noticeable cause of things, two – the second noticeable cause. What is the self-definition of number three? –Three is the meaning, the aim to which everything in Life seeks to find. Therefore everyone can say: I am one. Why? Because I display myself. I am two. Why? Because I am nurturing my idea as a mother rears her child. I am three. Why? Because I have an aim which I aspire to, to navigate my idea by. So a person is one, two, three in the same time. All numbers that you use represent relations, powers, reasonable creatures, which are at a different stage in development. In this sense one, and two, and three represent Reasonable beings. When one is said, we understand the collective, the God’s mind, which includes everything in itself. In the pair two great centres incorporate themselves – God’s and Angel’s consciousness. In the triad three centres display themselves - God’s, Angel’s and human’s consciousness. Therefore there is no division in unity; there is only one consciousness in it –God’s. Though in two and three division of the collective consciousness comes. Exactly that’s why when there is word about two, three and more ones, things begin to divide and tear into splinters. What is the self-definition of number four? Number four represents the absolute measure with which all things in the visible world are measured, in the whole Cosmos. When they come to four, cabalists stop. They add 1, 2, 3, 4 and they receive 10: 1+2+3+4 =10. When they add these numbers, they bring about the reverse process – subtraction: they subtract one, two, three and four from ten and get: 10-1=9 10-2=8 10-3=7 10-4=6 Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 are members of 10 and numbers 9, 8, 7, 6 are derived from the first four numbers. Therefore numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 are self-derivatives of one. What does for a person to define himself or herself as one, two, three and four mean? Which elements are contained in a human being in one number so that he or she can define themselves? There are Spirit, soul, mind, and heart. And then we make out the respective proportion: the Spirit of man is related to his soul in the same way his mind is related to his heart. This proportion we can express in letters: S: S = M: H This shows us that a person should define himself or herself as Spirit, soul, mind or heart. In the same time he self-define as an integral – as a wholesome of four constitutes his or her elements. When the word is about self-definition one must have a clear idea how to define himself or herself. Occult science is a positive, exact science – each word in it corresponds to the main idea. You can’t say that one will define himself or herself. If you say this, the question what will he or she defines himself or herself follows. What will man define himself as – as one, two, three, four or all of them in multitude? If he defines himself or herself as one, i. e. as a main force, one shouldn’t add the properties of two. Can one become two? One can become two only after we break it, only after we break it into two parts. Then we get two times low then one itself. Is two equal to one? You say 1 and 1 makes 2, 1+1=2. So according to you two is two times bigger than one. But we say that there is no number higher than one. How can one be equal to two then? Here it is, you can see wherefrom sophistic has originated in philosophy. You can say that everything can be taken for granted after it is given proof. If it has to be proven, it can be proved very easily by the work of mathematics, that two is bigger than one. When you say that 2+1=3, this is not right too. In mathematics you use today, statements are not true in the absolute sense of the word. Three really is the result of addition of 2 and 1, 2+1, but only if we regard the integers two and one as a constituent elements of one, 1, however not as independent whole numbers. Number three is a composite of the results of number two, 2, plus 1, not of the numbers two and one alone. A teacher comes in a class and says to one of his students: ”Stoyancho, draw a horse over there!” Stoyancho comes to the blackboard and draws a horse. All children from the class say then that Stoyancho drew a horse on the blackboard. What for a horse is this? The drawing doesn’t resemble a horse at all. Can a child from a first grade draw this? If a painter looks at the picture, he would say that this isn’t a horse at all. The same the horse is, the same are the concepts of many contemporary people about God. As children in their pictures make only a draft for the things known, so is the way the contemporary people have various ides for God: they have nothing absolute, nothing clear, definite what God is. So, when the word is about self-defining, what should a person define himself or herself into? A person should define himself or herself in the quest of his or her Spirit, in the vocation of his or her soul, in the reason of his or her mind and the feelings in his or her heart. This explanation for the self-defining is given to you not to be rewritten in a book but to comprehend it for yourselves. This you write down in a book will be only a theoretical self-definition and this you will welcome in you, will be a practical self-definition. The last definition one has given to himself or herself sets one on one or another way. When I say that a person has to define himself or herself that doesn’t mean that they should join a party or identify themselves as members of one nation. For a person to define himself or herself means to be aware of the powers he or she masters, to define the direction to which he or she will direct them towards, to use his or her life reasonably. As you see, the theme I gave you in the beginning of the lecture, for the self-defining, has already been examined. If you have intentions to write about it, you will repeat the thing we talked just now. That is why next time you will write on another topic and that is: “Characteristics of human consciousness, manifested in its highest realization”. When you wrote this composition, I’ll give you some explanation on it. Now imagine that the straight line AB is a one, which has changed its position, instead of being vertical, it has a horizontal direction. As a straight line this unity means different things. If it were examined from geometrical point of view, you would say that the shortest distance between two points. If you look to find it in human’s face, you will find it in several places i.e. if you bring the upper and lower lip together, you will get a straight line. However, if you lip is a little opened and the lips a little apart, they will from an ellipse. The natural position of mouth is to form an ellipse. When the will of man is at work lips come together and form a straight line. That is why the straight line is manifestation of will. And indeed, when a person moves his or hand in front of himself or herself, or aside, stretched or clenched in a fist this movement means manifestation of strength. The position of the hand is a straight line. If hand slides down and takes a passive position, will stops working. Where there is no will, there lines intercept. Angles are formed always at the sides of these lines: angles mean unfulfilled dreams. Therefore the angles of intercepted lines mean bending of will due to which desires have not been fulfilled. Geometry studies angles and categorizes them into right, sharp and obtuse. What does the term angle mean in geometry? -The space between two intercepting lines in a place is called an angle. Is there any idea in this definition? -There is no idea in this definition. We can give another definition for angle then: each unfulfilled dream of a person results into an angle. If there are many angles on the face of a person this means that he or she has many unfulfilled dreams. These angles have different sizes and directions. In the same way they give away the contradictions upon which someone has come. Bending, angles one can encounter in Nature also. For instance, the valleys are formed by interception of the layers. Moreover, each valley is enclosed from both sides in planes, which are foot of the mountain. If we take valley as a place where life makes display of itself, we will make the conclusion that between contradictions there are always conditions for Life to show. If you look at the angle ABC, with its vertex turned upwards, it sets us up before a contradiction, which is contrary to the laws of spiritual life. After sometime this contradiction turns into good for people. If the same angle is turned with its angle downwards, this shows that the contradiction is for Earth i. e. it comes to contradict the Earth’s laws. But if you take for instance two mountain peaks, with their peaks turned downwards, they will cause rain. Therefore for rain to start two contradictions are needed in the Invisible world. An angle, with its vertex turned downwards, signifies creating conditions for a rain. And then, when you come upon a certain contradiction, to a certain returning action, you will know that it is defined through the following law: to each action responds a reaction, and to each action, contraction. Therefore between two evils, between two misfortunes and two contractions, one good is given birth to always. Between two goods one evil is born. That’s why it is said: ”Two goods can't exist at one place”. This law is in force only on Earth. What do evil and Good mean in life? Evil is the least shown Good; Good is the most shown Good. In other words, evil is the beginning to Good and Good is the end of Good. I will prove this statement with the following example: you take one lamb, you slaughter it, roast it and eat it. To you it means a good thing and for the sheep it means evil. After some time, when you become familiar with the great laws of Life. You meet the same sheep in the woods, take it in your hands and carry it to a meadow where it feeds on green grass and say: ”You can stay with me, I will take care of your life, I will keep you, I won't hurl a hand at you. I thank you for the good you did for me in the past. I was not an educated man then but I have a greater light in me, I understand the laws and I want to repay to you. ” This is the end of Good which is the real Good. Evil appears when a person at cases when a person comes in touch with some of his ideas thousand years old. In the past they were good but now they bring evil with themselves. For example, when a fish eats another, this is the way of Nature – it doesn’t do any evil to the fishes. But if today by atavism one man eats another, this is a great evil to both of them. If one fish eats another, the eaten continues to live through the eater but if one person eats another they both die. Therefore the desire of men to swallow another person is evil – this is a desire that has lived its time up - it is a remainder of the remote past upon which a person from time to time encounters. Therefore in nowadays life evil is not more than ideas that have expired in time. And so, what is evil? Evil means old ideas, unrealized attempts in the past. Today all this is avoided. People have tried these ideas in the past; there is no need for them to be repeated. Good means new God's ideas, which give new directions for realization of human wishes. Through good a person addresses his or her strength towards the world of God. When they ask you why a person must not be evil you will say: ”One shouldn’t be evil as not to repeat his or her past. ” Why you must be good? To fulfil the aim in your life, to enter the great world of Being. So evil is the wide road a person should not walk back; Good is the road along which a person already walks to realize his or her wishes in a new, God's way and to realize the meaning of Life. I will explain my idea with the following example: imagine that you have lived some time on the North Pole. Then after some time, with the movement of Earth you move too and you come to the equator. The Time that takes you to come to the equator amounts to twenty -five thousand years. What will happen to you if you return to the North Pole? You will certainly die. Then returning to the past is simply nothing but returning to the North Pole again. What will happen to you if you come back to the North Pole again? You will certainly die. Therefore returning to the past is nothing but a return to the North Pole. In this sense Evil is nothing but an Ice Age, Ice period which brings Death to the human beings. Once there were conditions for Life but today these conditions do not exist. If someone come upon these conditions today, he or she will certainly die. This is a return to the beginning. To return back means death: to go ahead this is Life. That's why nobody can not and should not return to the road upon which he or she has walked on. Why? Because the conditions of Life have already been altered. Now you know what evil and Good is. These thoughts are necessary to cast more Light in the human's consciousness. If Light of the consciousness is bigger we can talk already for alertness of human consciousness. What is consciousness? Much is written on this matter in many philosophical and occult books that you can read. In a few words, consciousness means a store of positive Knowledge, invested in Spirit, soul, mind and the heart of human beings. Having this knowledge he or she have clear idea for things and knows in each case how to act. A man that is conscious never does wrong. He or she benefits from his previous experience due to which today nobody in whatever way do permit themselves to do wrong. Man unconscious of his or herself can do wrong but only to the point of gathering enough experience, until his consciousness wakens. The word consciousness is formed by the Latin root conscience (знание, съзнание), the suffixes -ous, -ness in Bulgarian this is expressed by the prefix su-, which is correlated with the second Latin meaning of the world – suchastie (Bulg.), which assumes many items and people gathered at one place. In Bulgarian this idea finds its expression by using suffix instead of prefix. Therefore the meaning of consciousness is to make a link between the consciousness of the God's and human’s Spirit, to make a bridge to connect the God's and human's world. So, self-defining is expected by all of us. Unless you do not self-define, you can't talk a comprehendible language. Whatever is spoken to you, in whatever fashion you cannot comprehend it. When you self-define, you will be addressed in a mathematic language and this language you will understand. Mathematic language is short, clear and strictly defined. There are no repetitions, superfluous words and ambiguity of sense. When you define the relation in that your Spirit, soul, mind and heart are to the First Cause, you will be completely defined. Self-defining is a matter of consciousness. To accomplish this aim you have to read what the ancient authors have written on the topic of consciousness and self-consciousness and after that I will talk on this matter. If you know different languages then on your consciousness was written in German and French and in English. You can read and broaden your knowledge. You have to study the manifestations of consciousness not only as a philosophical, an abstract thought but also as an application – third and super consciousness – fourth. In whatever period of the spiritual life one finds himself or herself such an expression his or her life will have on the earth. But you have to know that consciousness can't be defined outside man. Some philosophers say that consciousness is the person himself or herself. No, a person is more than consciousness. Consciousness is an element that goes in the person but not in the individual itself. What is the difference is there between cognition and consciousness? Cognition is a superficial thing and consciousness is inward, acquired through long experience – it is a positive knowledge. To have knowledge about sugar means to have read somewhere about it, that it is white, that it is sweet and that it easily dissolves in water. To be conscious of the substance sugar means that you have seen it, you have tasted it, you have dissolved it in water. Cognition means to know things in embryo – consciousness their gradual development until they grow up. Until it grows, fruit goes through four gradual phases: consciousness, self-consciousness, subconscious and superconscious. When fruit is ripe we reach a state of superconscious. The four phases of consciousness represent the different Angle's Hierarchy. In some respect Angels stay higher than Gods do. They don't wrestle among themselves as Gods do. Because of their purity, they are a means God's Spirit. Read; think over consciousness, to be able to realize the sense of this concept. Under the concept of consciousness some philosophers understand the meaning of things. They are not far from Truth in this respect. Some philosophers under the word consciousness understand the form of things. When they consider consciousness in this sense, they depart from the Truth because the idea for consciousness in their minds alters. Secret prayer Source
  3. Ани

    1922_12_13 A Law Of Interrelations

    A Law Of Interrelations Ninth Lection of the Teacher, held to the Youth Occult class on the13th December 1922, Sofia Fir-für-fen Tau-bi-aumen Secret prayer The writings on the topic "The Function of the respiratory system" were read. For the next time write about the topic: "Elements of the human speech". Figure 1 Now, let's take the first straight line АВ. It is not formed randomly, but has come from some rational source, from some rational being. In that case its formation is due to a known cause. How is defined in geometry the straight line? (- The shortest distance between two points is called a straight line.) Or the straight line represents a process, done with the smallest expenses. From the line AВ down we draw a perpendicular ОС. After that we draw the curving МИ, as we suppose, that it comes out from the same centre, from which the straight line ОС goes. What is the length of the line МИ compared to the perpendicular ОС1. The line МИ is longer than ОС, because it is curving. Let's assume that the line ОС represents a propeller of an airplane. What happens to the airplane, if the propeller amplifies, accelerates its motion? The airplane begins to go up. What happens to the airplane, if the propeller slows down its motion? The airplane begins to go down. What is the relation between the energies in the two cases? When going up the airplane passes through gravity; when going down, this gravity already does not resist. Figure 2 Assume now, that the curves А and В (Figure 2) are conditions, in which Life can evince. We assume that the curve А presents a mountain place, exposed to strong winds. One friend of yours planted plums at that place and says that as the plums begin to grow and ripen, will give you some. The curved line В represents a valley, in which some other friend of yours planted plums and promises that when they ripen, he will give you some. Which of the two friends of yours has a bigger possibility of fulfilling his promise? - The one living in the valley. What are the chances from one to a hundred of fulfilling his promise? If you thus have one sick, where must he live, to be cured sooner – on the hill or in the valley? On the hill, he will recover sooner, than in the valley. Therefore the unfavourable conditions in that relationship are favourable in other relationships; and the favourable conditions in one situation are unfavourable in other relationships. Hence, there can be issued the law that: after bad luck good luck comes. In explanation of that law, I will give you an example: you are sick, and expect plums from your friend, which he promised you. Your friend lives in a mountain place А. You wait a day, two days, a week, two, a month, he sends you nothing. One day, you decide to go to him by yourself to check why he does not send what he promised. You go to him and fall in explanations (not clear meaning!). He guides you around his estates, shows you his gardens, and retells you under what conditions the trees are cultivated and in these explanations and walks you stay with him the whole month. Meanwhile, under the influence of the pure mountain air your illness disappears, you totally recover. I ask which costs more in that case – plums or health. Here, one misfortune of yours is followed by one fortune. The law of interrelations works everywhere in Nature and can mathematically be defined as an interrelation of one quantity to the other. Assume that somebody promises to do you a favour with something. The phrase do a favour is positive. In that sense, can you define what are the chances from one to a hundred of someone doing you a favour? Sometimes, out of a hundred promises only one or two can be carried out; this proves that the individual, who promises, finds himself under conditions of the physical world. Sometimes, out of a hundred promises, ninety-nine can be carried out; this proves that the individual finds himself under conditions of the world of Angles, where the possibilities for realization of the given promises is greater. At last, out of a hundred promises a hundred and one can be carried out; this means that the individual finds himself under conditions of the Godly world. Hence, you see what the possibilities for the realization of ideas in the physical, Spiritual and the Godly world are. There is a certain interrelation between these possibilities. This can be easily defined if a person knows beforehand from where this certain energy flows out, where it will be harnessed into work. The source of the energy defines the chances. This means that between the energy and the possibilities, which this energy contains, there's a certain interrelation. Therefore, the possibilities of the physical world for the analysis of one promise can be one or two to one hundred. For example, you want to meet one rabbit in the wood; the possibility of meeting is only one to one hundred. Thus, meaning although there is a small possibility of meeting it, many conditions can prevent this meeting. You want to meet somebody, who promised you this meeting; the possibility is only two to one hundred of meeting him, all of the rest of the cases to one hundred are exceptions. And this is why we say, a man who promises a lot, carries out less. If you come to the world of Angles, there of a hundred promises, ninety-nine are carried out. In this world even the most sublime Creatures are under conditions, the chances of carrying it out successfully are ninety-nine to one hundred, and with an exception of one to one hundred. But in the Godly world, there is not even one exception of unsuccessfulness, there out of a hundred promises, one is carried out. The angles deal with the life of the plants. If somebody starts out to dig a field and to plough it and sows ninety-nine years ahead, the field will yield crops just as many times as he has sowed it; at the hundredth time, this man refuses to plough and he does not sow the field. Do you think that this field will yield crops? It will yield nothing. That namely is one exception in the world of Angles. In the Godly world, if somebody refuses at the hundredth time to sow the field, a hundred men will make him sow it. Want or not – this man will sow the field and not only a hundred times but even a hundred and one times. In the Godly world no exception are permitted. Whether a man or spirit, if you deal with the laws of the Godly world, no exception is allowed. And, so, after every happy occasion in Life comes one unhappy. To every mountain, corresponds a certain valley – this is the law of Nature. So it is when somebody descends, that means, that he is standing on a high place; when he climbs, he is in a low place. The climbing up of a mountain demands an upsurge in the human Spirit; the going down in the valley demands a man’s attention. In the two cases there are obstacles, but these, which make man climb up are bulging out and protruding; and these, which make the man go down, are concave. The obstacles will make man find a spring. - "What if I lean to the left or to the right?" –Nothing can happen. One is possible: either to climb up or to go down. In that relation, there is a law in Nature, and namely: after every happy occasion comes unhappy, after happiness follows sorrow. Sorrow and Happiness are two different states, through which the human soul must inevitably pass. Can Sorrow and the Happiness be provoked by one and the same cause or to be experienced by one person? Happiness is a mountain peak, and sorrow – a valley. Therefore it is said, that the one who suffers, goes down into the valley. As he reaches the valley, a man begins to plough, to hoe down, to sow, as a result of which his hands are covered in blisters. The difference between the mountain peak and the valley is the same as is between Happiness and Sorrow. The mountain air is diluted, pure and cold; the air in the valley is dense, impure and warm. Planting in the valley is more luxurious, exuberant, and on the top - weaker, rarer. Can a man always be happy? He cannot. If you look at the notes, you will see, that they are whole, half, quarter, octant and etc. Each of them lasts for a strictly defined time. Among each note and the time, there is a certain interrelation. On the basis of that law, happiness and sorrows have a set time duration. Some happiness and sorrow lasts only a moment, equal to the duration of 1/64, 1/32, 1/16, 1/8 note. Sometimes, their duration is longer, equal to quarter, half and a whole note. Some happiness and sorrow have an echo, due to which they last more than the defined time for them and we say they are long lasting. Happiness and sorrow in Life are only fleeting, and we say when they last long this is because of their echo. For example, somebody hits you; the pain you feel is a result of the first strike. If the pain is still there, it is a reflex of the first strike. So, between the intensity of the energy and the continuance of the time there is an interrelation. As we are aware of that, you can estimate mathematically how much time - hours, minutes or seconds – a certain pain will last. This is necessary to know the strength, with which the strike hits. It is noticed in this case, that the pain gradually lessens – in the first moment it was strongest, but this moment does not repeat itself. The law of interrelations is applied everywhere in Nature and Life, but you have to study it, so that you can sensibly make use of it. You know for instance that suffering lasts a moment only and after that comes its echo, which is goes on for hours, weeks and months. Right here you will apply your will! When a tooth aches, you will know that the pain lasts for moments only; that’s why with the strength of the will, will take away the reflexes of this pain. What do people do nowadays? When a tooth aches or when they get diseased, they say: „I know that I will be ill a least a whole week." And this is happens - they consciously wield to the mirror of the disease. No, a man must be aware, how long the reflexes of the illness lasts only few moments, and it depends on the mental state of the man how long will be present the reflexes of the illness. It can be determined mathematically what part of the second will continue a given suffering or a certain pain. Thus, when you are overcome by a kind of a suffering, you remember that that it lasts for a short time, not to let it be forgotten for hours and days. As you say so, the pain will go away. The same happens also with Happiness – it is a short-term one. Even if you want to keep it for a short time, it leaves, because in your mind the thought is already well formed that it will leave soon. And indeed it becomes so. As you watch, there is an interrelation between thoughts and wishes: after each strong thought there comes an instance of personality of man, after every noble feeling some weakness is expressed. As you know, you must be ready to face these things in a calm way everywhere. As you climb up the top, you know, you must get down at any cost. It’s for sure that some of you want to be careful, to be on the alert. And then, if you have taken care you will get down slowly, calmly; otherwise you take the risk of falling. Every bad feeling and after every bad thought you will show some strong, lofty thought and a noble feeling. In this manner, Nature is bringing in balance in all missions of Life. The cause of these abrupt changes is due to the fact, we are interconnected with worlds, higher or lower than ours, who influence us in one or other way. When we are sorrowful or we break the balance in Nature, from the world of Angles comes help, so long that this balance is regained. As lifted up our distribution place is lifted up, from the Lower world come beings to rob us and we lose all the gains. Therefore, with every breaking of the Godly arrangement and order on behalf of you Sensible beings come to recover that balance. If you are dignified or not for that help, they will not ask to pay. The purpose is to put order in Nature, to restore its first condition. Then to what is success owed to and the bad luck of people? Before answering that question, you must ask yourself what success you expect - material, spiritual or mental? Have you questioned yourself exactly what you would like to be or what you want to obtain? Often come to you thoughts, wishes and feelings, which are not yours, and as you do not know that you want to make them come true at all costs. For example, you read some author and when you finish his book, you feel a strong wish to be a poet or writer like him. This is not your thought, but this was a former wish of the author of that book to become a poet or writer. He wished that so strongly and achieved it, but you cannot become a poet. Why? You are not assigned for these sufferings, for this road, through which this author passed. Be sure that this wish will disappear soon – so this was a wish of another person. Until this author became a poet, only he knows what pains and sorrows and hardships he overcame. How many times he discouraged and again encouraged, how many times he despaired and was so near to suicide, how many times he was catcalled and mocked! This nobody knows – we are in front of a result. We read a book, admire and we dream to be poets like him - how, in what way can we achieve if we are not interested. The poet must go through much suffering, there's not a poet in the world, who has not suffered. And here the law of interrelations has been adhered to, and namely between the suffering and the achievements. Therefore between the physical, hearty, mental and will-powered life of a man there exists a certain interrelation. With regard to this interrelation, it can be precisely evaluated, after how long the extreme materialist can turn into an extreme materialist. Years ago, a lawyer came to me from Varna, a socialist by conviction, and we discussed different questions, I told him, that after four years there won't be a trace of his present convictions. - „No, this is not possible, I am a convicted socialist!" - „Write that, which I say, and you will check whether I speak the truth.“ After two years, he got married, he had a girl. He lived with his wife well, loved her. One evening, he went to a meeting and got home a little later than usual. His wife was home, working on something; as she felt sleepy, she went to bed and left the light on. By accident, the light fell over in a way, so that the gas spilled on her bed and she was burned. The sorrow and suffering for his wife changed him totally and he became strongly religious, forgot all his socialist ideas. Soon after that, he got expelled from the socialist course. As he met me one day in Varna, he said to me: „Imagine, what you predicted to me, this happened! Nothing was left from my first convictions.” I say, as you know the law of interrelations, all of you must be very careful, not to break the great laws, because you will fall under other laws, which won't spare you. In the Script it is said: „The one, who stands up high, must know that he will fall. The one who falls, must know he will stand up." Now you are required to reflect correctly, maturely, to know that, with regard to the occult science nothing happens by accident, arbitrarily. The occult science is positive, it considers all elements, and Nature works with it. If it complies with the laws of this science, a man can avoid many troubles in his life. To what are these troubles owed in Life and in Nature? They are owed to a certain violating of one of the great laws. Now I will present to you the four graphical regions of the manifested Life (Figure 3). The straight line А is showing the physical life, the straight line В- the hearty, the straight line С- the mental and the straight line О – the will-powered life of man. The Energy, which is developed in the first cycle of man's life when he grows physically, is exactly distributed in quality and time of duration. After that, this energy goes in the second cycle of a man's life, when he develops emotionally. From there on, the energy goes into the third period when man develops mentally. At last it is entering in the fourth period – in the man's life of will power. When it reaches down, the energy takes a turning movement upright and makes a circle, one turning of the powers. As it is known about this thing, it can be calculated mathematically after how many years, how and where this energy will be seen. Also it can be said to what extent this energy will be visible and what results it will produce. This explains why the wishes, upsurges, strivings of man show up periodically. Some young man wishes to learn, to evolve mentally. He begins to learn and work in this direction two-three years before. After that, his upsurge for studying is gone, and he moves to another desire. After a certain period of years, he is again in front of his first desire to study. This thing depends on the law of interrelations. The time is dependent on the will, the strong thought, the strong feeling. For example, the length of time during which the man will study is dependent on the intensity of the wish to study. If some special obstacles appear for the fulfilment of this will, man suffers, feels unhappy. The obstacles are a reason why some laws are broken. When you are young, you must do research, to estimate how long a thought will last in you and after how long it shows again. So, on account of the law of interrelations that after happiness will follow unhappiness; after every sickness will follow health. Under the meaning of the word illness, I do not understand the normal illnesses, when a man aches physically, but I speak about these conditions, which are provoked by breaking the harmony between feelings and thoughts. Everybody of you must ask himself whether he defined himself by the law of interrelations. You must be self-defined. Who has not self-defined, stays forever in the barn. Who stays in the barn, he wins nothing, but he loses nothing. Do you know what the self-defining is? If you do not know, write next time about the topic „Self-definition in Life". You must define yourself, because soon you will be face to face with occult customs, where they will examine you narrowly. When they find that you wear stuff, for which you did not pay duty, they will take them away and they will fine you. They will examine you with a roentgen device, to find out what you carry in you. So because they will examine you outwardly and inwardly, they will take away even the finest excess, to be found in you. Therefore, throw away all waste, so that you are not fined. In this sense, to define yourself means to throw away all your excess, unworthy stuff, which cause to you suffering and pain and trouble, and to keep only those matters, which cause you Happiness and Joy and with which you can work. The occult science with which you are so interfering, is positive, but at the same time a dangerous science. Once you have enrolled into that School, you have the privilege to be taught that science in the lightest, perceptive form for you. If you were in some other time, in no way would they not take you into the School. In ancient times they did not accept pupils younger than 33 years old. That's why you must be cautious not to play with the laws of Nature. Nature’s laws are alive, conscious, they cannot be overridden. If some of the occult forces come, to occult laws, the pupil must know that he must not play a game with them. This should serve to scare you. The fear is necessary, but not that usual fear. The pupil must have a reverent feeling to the Great, to the Godly in the world. If this feeling is not developed in him, it should be replaced with fear. This fear is namely called Godly, sensible fear. In such fear, all noble feelings in man can grow. Who consciously studies the occult science; develops in himself bravery, decisiveness, initiative, diligence and hard-work. As you make some fault, do not excuse with the conditions, with your mother and father, but always be ready to correct your mistake. Leave aside your mother and father. As you work consciously and with Love, you are in a state to use the conditions and to create out of yourself what you wish. As you make any mistake, right now make it right. As you correct your mistake, walk again straight ahead. As pupils you must study the occult chemistry, to know what elements your blood needs. If iron is not necessary, there is not enough iron in your blood, in some way you must provide it. Otherwise, the lack of iron in your blood will impart more feebleness, variability to your character. If there is little gold in your blood, you will be deprived of nobility in your character. So this means that every new element, imported in your brain, in your heart or the will power of man, gives a new direction in his activities. Study the chemistry well, so that you can convert your forces inside yourself. Then you will know how to temper the iron in you – from soft iron to turn it into steel. Some of you need hardness in your character, others - softness, third - nobility, fourth - consistency, fifth – Love in God, sixth - mercy, prudence, imagination and so on. Everybody can say about himself: „One is enough. " He must find out what he lacks, and then to seek a method of obtaining this element which he lacks. Everybody needs one thing, but this thing is not of big importance for his development. This is the important thing which he learns from the law of interrelations. Secret prayer Fir-fur-fen Tao Bi Aumen Source
  4. Ани

    1922_11_29 Unity of the Consciousness

    Unity of the Consciousness Lecture eight read by the Master to the Youth Occult Class on the 29th of November 1922, Sofia A secret prayer Contemplation The essays on the theme “The Function of the Respiratory System” were read. Figure 1 In Figure 1 there are two parallel lines СВ и DА, which are moving in opposite directions, crossed by the third line АВ. At the intersection of the two parallel lines with a third straight line, angles of 30˚ are being formed. Upon the movement of the parallel lines the consciousness also participates. It is denoted by the intersection line АВ. It is the main line. In the living geometry these lines are lines of force. Each of their movements have a strictly fixed sense. When you bring your right hand or your left hand forward, these movements have a special significance and a special meaning. If you move your hand in the direction of the straight line СВ, this movement also denotes something. After you pick up an apple seed, you bend your fingers, you reach to the ground and you plant the seed. As soon as you make this movement, your next step will be to make the opposite movement – you rise upwards again. In a few years the tree will grow and bear fruits. In order to pick these fruits from the tree you reach your hand upwards and then you lower it. Upon these movements – the lowering of your hand when planting the seed and the reaching of your hand upwards to pick a fruit from the tree that you have planted – the letter И is formed. This letter is the first letter of the word Truth1. What does this word mean? The truth tastes of the fruits you formerly planted. Now you have two other lines which denote movement of an opened circle. This circle is formed by the two curved lines АВ and ВС. The movement of the curved lines АВ and ВС points downwards – it points to the dense matter. In this way the Hebrew letter W (vav) is formed – this letter represents a person with lowered hands, a person during a process of thinking, a person in a process of contemplation. These two curved lines can also move upwards within the thin matter, the result of which is a diagram opposite to the first one. The diagram in Figure 2 represents the state of a man who involuates (spirals downward), i.e., who descends into the thick matter. If you join the two diagrams the result will be Figure 4, which represents two beings turned upside down and two other beings turned upwards. If you turn the letter W upside down, the letter М will be formed, which was formed as a result of the movement of the human consciousness in its evolutionary state. In Hebrew this letter denotes the beginning of the human intellect, or the beginning of the human mind. In other words, this letter denotes conversion of the energies from one state into another. And indeed, by the help of the thought, man attains the ability to convert the energies. Figure 2 A great knowledge is hidden within the letters, which is why they have to be studied explicitly. Each letter is a key of a certain order of energy which man has to convert – if it is low, he has to convert it higher. The Cabbala studies the letters. For instance, a man has a name that he does not like and he is not successful in his life at all. What should he do in order for his life to improve? He has to change his name and to think of such a name for himself that will be in harmony with his state. Indeed, if you listen to the names of people, you will notice, that some names contain such combinations of sounds which definitely offend your ear. When a man passes through a certain dedication, they assign him a name that corresponds to his astrological aspects. If you examine the letter а, you will see, that it was formed from the symbol of infinity, (that is the lower-case letter a, not the capital letter A) it is loaded; pregnant with something. This denotes that in this letter the infinity is limited by something and gets pregnant. Figure 3 As the letters denote a certain order of energies, likewise every limb of the human organism is connected with a certain order of forces, with a certain order of energies. For instance, the human nose is an expression of man’s intelligence and of his intellect. Consequently, the stronger this human’s intellect is, the longer his nose is. If from the middle of the face you drop a perpendicular towards the nose, this perpendicular determines the size of the angles formed by the lines of the nose. The lines of the nose are the two rays of the angle, while the width of the nose represents the size of the angle. The more the rays of these angles depart from the perpendicular, the more the intelligence of the man decreases. The smaller the angle gets, the more man’s intelligence increases. In general, the intellectual force of the man is projected by the help of the nose. The smaller this angle is, the stronger the intellect of this man is - the brighter his mind is. The larger this angle gets, the more his intellect decreases, while the natural, the objective mind of this man becomes stronger. The stronger the human feelings are, the wider the lower part of the nose at the nostrils is. Generally speaking, the length of the nose is connected with the intellect, while the width of the nose is connected with the human feelings. Having in mind these general principles, you should observe and study the form of the human nose in order to see what variety of deviations from the normal position determined by Nature were formed. Figure 4 All the lines with which we denote the human nose, the human eyes, and the human mouth are lines of force. These lines of force determine the intensity of the very forces that function within man. Studying the eyes of the human you will arrive at the conclusion that the wider the opening of the eyes is – the greater the sensitiveness, and the capability of the human for perceiving. The narrower the opening of his eyes is – the weaker his sensitiveness. The human sensitiveness is connected with the observational capability of man. The more observational the man is, the better the lower part of his forehead up to the eyebrows is developed. This part of the forehead is well developed within the natural scientists, because they observe all the phenomena in Nature. Within the philosophers, who are occupied with abstract ideas, with the so called metaphysics, the upper part of the forehead is more developed than the lower one. When the lips of the man are thick and well developed, it denotes that in this man the appetite or the sensuality is well developed. If his lips are tight, then his sensitiveness is not well developed. Consequently, the outer symptoms or marks of the human face show especially well with what this person has to cope within himself and in what way he has to proceed as to regulate the forces of his organism. Knowing these symptoms the man will be able to shape his nose, his ears, his mouth, and his eyebrows. For this purpose he should study the movement of the lines of force, as well as their outer and their inner projections. In order that the movement of the lines of force within the human being can be proper and harmonious, man should protect his consciousness, i.e., he should not tolerate any kind of split in his consciousness. The slightest split in the human consciousness brings within man two equal opposite forces which mutually neutralize themselves. For instance you feel a desire to do some good which is linked with some material offering. Immediately the fear appears that your interest might be violated; this fear quickly opposes your desire to do good and these two forces mutually cancel and neutralize each other. As long as you run into these two opposing forces, you say, “I will postpone this good deed till the conditions become more favourable.” On another occasion you begin to feel a strong drive to make a scientific research, but suddenly you imagine that this research will need years of hard work, so you drop your investigation. After that you enter some spiritual society, as you like to work for your spiritual development, but as soon as the thought that this is not the right time for a spiritual life crosses your mind, you leave this society. Today you neglect one good desire; tomorrow you suppress a certain drive within yourself, so finally your consciousness splits up. No, in order to develop your spiritual power you should never give up your good desires and strivings, you should never block and split your consciousness. The spiritual forces in man develop only upon union of the consciousness. You should know that all of you are exposed to the influence of all the outside beings that have the desire to lead you away from the way. Having all this in mind you should take safe measures for recovering the initial state of your consciousness. If you retain your twisted philosophy, though, you might think that upon split of the consciousness there is some science or an acquisition. No, as regards the split of the consciousness there is not any science, any philosophy, or any acquisition at all. Consequently, whenever a desire arises within you to do some good, do not put off doing it, no matter what or how much it costs you. The desire to do good is a positive force, which gives something to the human being and never takes away anything. As soon as a desire to do even the smallest good arises within you, realize it. If you refuse to do this good, then you will feel some sadness or an indisposition. This sadness, this indisposition is your punishment because you haven’t done the good. A person who refuses to do at least the slightest good and who throws off the grief he has suffered as a result of this, will run across some misfortune. Not long after that he will, through carelessness, slip and break or dislocate his leg. This misfortune is a result of the split in his consciousness. And after that he will call a doctor, he will pay him, and then he will lie in bed for two or three months. What has he gained from all this? So all the misfortunes, all the sufferings in the human life are due to man’s reluctance to do the Will of God. In life nothing remains unpunished. – “Well, we will pay for this in some other life.” – You will not pay in any other life, though – you will pay now. Less than a week, a month or a year will pass and you will see the results from your lapse. Therefore, knowing all this, be careful of even your slightest strivings and desires. Do not neglect the small desires, do not block their manifestation. As disciples of the occult School you have to be careful and you must never block your consciousness. No matter what mistake you make – no matter if it is a small one, or a big one – be ready to make an inner confession. You have to be honest before yourselves. For instance, some young man enters a university, wants to study, to receive some education, but he is poor, he has no resources. At one time the Providence submits him to an examination in order to see in what degree he is ready to withstand his own honesty. The obstacles are being combined in such a way that he finds himself in front of the open safe of a wealthy man, he looks at the safe, then he looks at the door of the room, because he is afraid that somebody might come and see him, and after he makes sure that he is alone, he reaches in the safe, takes out two thousand levs and says, “I’ll use this sum to graduate, and after I start work I’ll help some poor students so they also can graduate some university.” What happens next? The theft is revealed and he gets caught. He starts to excuse himself, saying that he didn’t know what was in store for him, that he didn’t know he will have to bear responsibility, he thought that because he had to graduate university this was the assistance rendered to him by the very Providence. It is impossible for a man to know what the consequences will be from a theft. If he doesn’t know what these consequences might be, he will learn them in prison. Man should be honest before himself, he should confess, he should admit the mistake he made. In this way he will free his consciousness from the useless burden. This means: do not block your consciousness! So, do not neglect in yourself even the smallest Divine desire. As soon as such a desire arises into your heart – realize it. Each Divine desire is like a small seed, which you plant into the soil. As soon as you plant it, it will grow and give fruit, which you are free to pick and taste. Whenever you hold some Divine desire within yourself you are consciously blocking yourselves as a result of which you expose yourselves to the influence of many diseases. All the diseases are a result namely of this blocking caused by the failure to execute the Divine desires, which are driving you to do good. You should know that you cannot play games with the laws of the Wise Nature. Nature does not allow anyone to play games with her. Whoever tries to play games with Nature even once, will get his punishment very soon. As disciples all of you should have unity of consciousness. If you do not have such unity, then you cannot be disciples. Even if you attend the class here, you will not be accepted by those above. Unless you gain unity of consciousness, you cannot be any disciples at all. In the School disciples with a bright mind, noble heart and a solid back – to be able to bear - should be accepted. Feeble and ill disciples should not be accepted in the School. Let those who are feeble and ill stay at their homes; let them come after they recover their health. The disciple should have a diamond will, and should be able to put things into practice. No one expects from you great feats, no one wants you to save the world. You are required to do only the smallest and microscopic application of the Good. Whenever you feel some noble impulse, no matter how small it might be, give effect to this impulse. Just a minute will be necessary to realize this impulse. For instance, you go to work and on your way you meet a poor beggar; suddenly you feel a desire to say a kind word to him. Stop for a minute and ask him how his things are going. You might say, “Why should I waste my time to stop by this beggar and talk with him? If you are not ready to stop for a minute, then they will make you lose one hundred minutes. Unity of consciousness is required from you. As soon as you attain such unity, you will be able to regulate the forces within your organism. If you lack unity of consciousness, you will be led out of your way, and you will go along the left road. It is dangerous to split the human consciousness. Imagine that someone is descending to the ground with a parachute. Upon his descent the parachute must be opened by any means; if it is not opened, then death is inevitable for the one, who is using it. The opening of the parachute resembles the unity of consciousness. Why? Because Life resembles the opened parachute. By analogy with this we say, that Life resembles the unity of consciousness. Only upon this state of consciousness will you be able to control your thoughts, your feelings, and your actions. You should make experiments and you should try to control yourself and to test the strength of your will. For this purpose I will suggest that you make the following experiment: we will take a big needle – a packing needle and we will stick it to a certain depth into your hand till the blood comes. After that every one of you will see how long it takes until he is able to stop the bleeding of his hand by the help of his will. After that everyone will see how long it takes to stop the pain in his hand by the help of his will. This pricking with the packing needle is just the insults and sorrows, caused to you by your relatives. If you are able to forget and transform the insult quickly, then you are a person with strong will. Only the strong people will subject themselves to this experiment, i.e. the fearless people - we will leave the timid people aside. Nature does not like timid people – it sentences them to death. It has respect towards the bold people and it is always ready to help them. Only the person, who possesses a strong will in the laws of the Wise Nature, can be bold and fearless. The timid person transgresses these laws each time – for this reason Nature has a special opinion for Him. Each person should strive towards unity of consciousness as a method of healing, as a method of work upon yourself. No matter what illness you get, it is enough to regain the unity of your consciousness, so that you get up from bed healthy and cheerful. The higher forces of consciousness are being directed towards your organism and begin to influence it until they cause a turn in your body as a result of which all the energies start to flow upwards and start to move in opposite direction. In this situation the foreign matter in the organism, which cause the diseases, immediately disappears as the dust disappears from the surface of the drum. If one of you catches cold, let him apply the same method in order to see how long it will take to restore his health. Usually, the cold lasts, at the most seven days. Sometimes it lasts for three weeks and in exceptional cases it lasts for three months. By the help of this method, though, you can cure someone of the cold in five minutes; if you do not succeed to cure yourselves of your cold in five minutes, then try to free yourselves from it within at least two or three hours, or within two or three days. Many people complain that their memory has become poor and has started to fail. The initial strength of your memory can easily be recovered. In what way? Through recovering the unity of your consciousness. In what way can this be done? As you throw out from your mind and heart all those thoughts and feelings which are disturbing you. The consciousness split is a reason for memory weakening. At the same time the consciousness split generates fear within man. Some child steals an egg from his home and from fear that his mother will catch him he pretends to be ill. The fear from the punishment is a result from the consciousness split in this child. The fear denotes a weakness of the feelings, while the pride denotes a weakness of the mind. The destructive capability of man is due to a certain contortion of his creative abilities. When the forces and the energies in the human organism divert from their right course, the man begins to devote himself to fictitious, imaginary thoughts and feelings, which cause him unnecessary sufferings. For instance, someone imagines that so and so has offended his honour. Who might offend? (UNCLEAR) And what exactly is the honour? The contemporary people are sensitive, they are easily offended, and their feelings are easily outraged. The scientists say that the man has five types of feelings, i.e. five senses. From what was the word сетиво (sense), усет (insight) derived? We say у-сет, or у-сат. The letter у denotes the man, who has seeded something. The root of the word is сат, which denotes manifestation, and at the same time also denotes something, which is limited. Consequently under the word усет (insight) we understand something which was seeded into the soil or into the consciousness, within a limited space in which it starts to grow. The root сат has a Sanskrit origin and denotes something that can be manifested, something that can be limited. The letter а in the root сат has gradually changed upon its descent, upon its involution, until it has been converted into the letter е. So, from у-сат the word усет (insight) was formed. Which of the other words that you know resembles the word усет (insight)? – The word възприятие (perception). If you remove the preposition въз, there remains the word приятие, which begins with the letter п. This letter denotes fertilization. So at first the energies are being retained, and after that they are being subjected to fertilization. The word sense denotes an external process, while the word perception denotes an internal process; it denotes growth. After the Perception, grasping follows. This grasping comes from the word хващам (grasp) something with my hand; it is a physical process. But the word схващане (grasping) begins with the letter с which shows, that the thing the man has grasped by his hand, is in an ascending state, it moves upwards. In order that this thing can grow upwards we should create favourable circumstances for its growth; we should fence it off from all sides. In order to fence something off, the human mind should function. The letter щ in the word схващам (grasp) shows, that the mind can function only when the will is also participating in order to remove the external contradictions. After it grows, what was sown will pass on to a higher stage and will come back to life. Consequently, in the grasping as a process we can denote several phases: the seeding of something, the growing of the seeded plant, and the ripening – the conversion of these energies into fruit, into something alive. The main idea of this lecture is the unity of consciousness. Where there is unity of consciousness, neither twisted thoughts can exist, nor any negative feelings. In order to reach this unity you have to be honest within yourself, you don’t have to deceive yourself. Each of you should confess his good and his bad features without trying to exaggerate or to decrease them. Judging himself properly, the disciple will be able to direct the forces of his organism all on his own. Every person has shortcomings, but some men do not like to admit this. At the present conditions of Life the shortcomings are in fact blessings for the human being. By their help man can evolve. For instance, suppose that someone is physically feeble, thin, but at the same time Nature has put into him such forces, through which he can improve his physical condition. Someone else has a sharp mind, but the centres which are behind his ears are too well developed, so this man is susceptible to destruction. What should he do? Because he has a sharp mind, he will find a way in which to transform this energy, to direct it towards the front part of his brain and to put it to work. This energy is necessary, but it has to be used wisely. For instance, the anger represents the coals, which are being thrown into the fireplace in order to put the car into motion. So you should put the coals into the fireplace, you should put the water into the steam-boiler, you should transport the steam through the pipes and you should put it to work. In this way the machine will be set in motion and will move forward. Another kind of energy within the human being is the fear, which also has to be put to work. As an element, the fear should be joined to the reason and as a result one complex body or compound called wisdom should be formed. Then we’ll have the following equation: С + Р = Б. Translating this into the chemical language, the fear will be the base, the reason will be the acid, while the wisdom will be the salt. In the realm of the animal kingdom the fear is in the first place – it rules there. The hind legs of the rabbit have undergone elongation as a result of the fear. The long ears of the rabbit show that it is wise – it is able to hear well and to think well. The rabbit likes to climb steep places – that is why its forefeet have become shorter than his hind legs. The rabbit runs very quickly upwards, but when he has to run downwards – it often rolls. The hands in man resemble the hind legs of the rabbit. The hind legs of the horse bend in one and the same way as the human hands; the forefeet of the horse bend in one and the same way as the human legs. These questions are side-issues, but it is good to contemplate upon them, to see to what this analogy is due. So, as disciples you should attain unity of consciousness and an Absolute impartiality towards yourself. The impartiality is necessary for the development of the disciple. Where there is impartiality growth should be also present; where there is no impartiality – there you cannot find any growth. When we talk about unity of consciousness we have in mind the participation of the Divine consciousness, as well as the participation of the Divine Spirit, which functions within the entirety of Nature. Where impartiality exists, a contact of the human Spirit with the Divine Spirit also exists. Every evening before you go to bed, stand upright and get in touch with the great Light within the Divine Spirit and say: “In the name of the absolute justice, I confess my mistakes and I am ready to correct them.” Without excuses, without any delay mistakes should be corrected – they should not be excused. When you promise to do good, keep your promise without fear. – But the consequences might be bad. – It is better to make a mistake, than to go back. Let’s say that you have promised to some person one thousand levs; someone comes to you and starts to tell you that this man is not honest, that he will spend your money for food etc. Whatever happens with your money, don’t change your mind. Thus you will make one mistake only, while if you change your mind and refuse to give him the money you promised, you will make two mistakes. As soon as you have promised to do some good, you should not change your mind. Even if your promise was given by mistake, you should nevertheless keep it. Be brave and decisive. In no way can you avoid the karmic consequences. In order to acquire boldness and decisiveness, start with the small experiments for which little knowledge is needed. Do not strive towards great experiments, because you are not ready for them and you still don’t have the knowledge necessary for them. Now write down the following three rules: Put the Truth into your Soul and you will attain the Freedom you are looking for. Put the Wisdom into your mind! The Light will come and the Knowledge will give you its help. Put the purity into your heart! Love will come and the real Life will begin. Write down these rules on a separate sheet of paper and put this sheet on your table, or hang it onto the wall, so that you can read them whenever you like. After you get up in the morning, the first thing you should do will be to read these rules and to contemplate over them. Read the first rule and say to yourself: “I should put the Truth into my soul! Why? So that I can be free, so that I can attain my Freedom.” After that read the second rule and say to yourself: “I should put the Wisdom into my mind! Why? So that I can acquire Knowledge.” And finally you say to yourself: “I should put Purity into my heart. Why? So that Love may come.” A secret prayer 1 Truth – In Bulgarian this is the word ‘Истина’ Source
  5. urpose Of The Respiratory System Seventh Lecture by The Master, Held before the Youth Esoteric Class on November 22nd, Sofia Fir-für-fen Tau-bi-aumen Secret prayer Now read the positive words you have written. Next time you will read the negative words. For the next time, write on the topic: “The Purpose of the Respiratory System”. I will now give you a psychic exercise, which you will do in the morning after getting up and in the evening before going to bed. You will raise your hands upward and pronounce the word light, while observing the change in your condition. Do the exercise for ten to twenty-five seconds. The hands are placed one next to the other in front of your forehead, with palms turned towards the face. After that you will lower your hands and place them on the upper part of the nose, as you pronounce the word fragrance. After you pronounce that word, you will observe what change is taking place in your condition. Finally, you will place your hands under your nose – on the upper lip, and you will pronounce the word sweetness. Again you will observe the changes in your condition. The first word you will pronounce is light, then – fragrance, and finally – sweetness. The words go from an ascending to a descending stage: the substance of the word light is the thinnest, then it is the one of fragrance, and the thickest substance is that of the word sweetness. It feels strange to you why I am giving you the topic “The Purpose of the Respiratory System”. What knowledge do you have of breathing, why does man breathe? Man breathes to maintain life, the burning inside his organism. What is burning and what is breathing? According to some, breathing is a process of cleaning. There are more than six hundred million cells in the lungs, locked in miniature chambers, miniature laboratories. When air enters the lungs, each one of these cells for a short moment serves a twofold purpose – physiological and psychic. In that sense breathing is a double process of nutrition. In a single minute man inhales twenty times, twenty lunches, and in an hour – 20 x 60 = 1200 inhalations, 1200 lunches. If each of those lunches cost a hundred leva1, then each hour for every human 120 000 leva would be spent on breathing. For twenty-four hours he would then cost Nature 2 880 000 leva. At each inhalation Nature lays the table for man, and at each exhalation she clears the table. At each laying and clearing of the table workers perform their duties. Complicated is the work of those workers who have the utmost task of cleansing the blood. Despite all of their complex functions, you deem that those cells are not wise. Wise are the cells of the human organism. The cells of each organ, of each limb of the human organism have a special position and purpose. And so, breathing is a twofold process – physiological and psychic. The ultimate purpose of breathing as a psychic process is cleansing the mind. Hence, breathing is connected with thinking, with thought. Which kind of breathing is the best? There are three types of breathing: upper, medium and lower (depending on which part of the lungs does the most breathing). The lung resembles a complex laboratory in which a lot of energies intersect. The prana2 of the air penetrates into the lungs and helps ozonizing the blood even where air could hardly penetrate. Into such sublime blood the elements of Life are placed. Full breathing is the best. Mainly Love helps full breathing. So Love is first and foremost necessary condition for full breathing. When man breathes, he must value the air as an irreplaceable welfare. When you look upon air as an invaluable welfare, it penetrates into the furthest cells of your lungs, sends them its prana, its vital power, which they extract and dispatch over the whole organism. So Love first affects the lungs. He who loves, he expands, and so do his lungs. When man adopts a benefit consciously, and with gratitude, Love begins to operate inside him and elevates him. This Love is positive, ascending, and it broadens man. Every Divine energy, which descends from above, must pass initially through the respiratory system, from there ascend to the mind, and after that go down to the heart. When speaking about Love, many say that Love is blind. This expression is a remnant from the time when humanity existed under influence of the Moon – the period of constant changes. Actually Love reveals itself in rational Life, because, by itself, Love is the most elevated thing in the world. Where Love permeates, there is Life, and culture. The Divine day begins with Love. It is said in the Holy Writ: “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light”. Everybody can say something, but first, man is required to perceive air along with prana, and with the Divine energy which is infused in it. When it penetrates into the mind and heart, then that energy will give an impulse for man to express himself, to say that which he is thinking of. Therefore, he who wants to speak reasonably must learn to breathe properly and to think properly. Have you ever tried to breathe silently, so that nobody can hear you? When you breathe deeply, you breathe loud, and everybody around can hear you. It is an art to be able to breathe deeply, but silently, so that nobody can hear you. When you breathe deeply, put your hands on your stomach, so that every time you inhale and exhale air your hands lift. You must study the process of breathing properly, so that you could describe it in both the physiological and psychic relation. Study the various methods of breathing, in order to see which method will be the most efficient to apply. Try with every inhalation to think about the light, in order for you to be able to connect with its energies. Those energies are found in the air, from where you have to obtain them. When thinking about fragrance, you will obtain from the air a different sort of energies; when thinking about sweetness, you will obtain a third sort of energies. When you are thinking about these words, while breathing simultaneously, you will see that each word reflects differently on the pulse of your heart. The smallest, slightest changes in the pulse speak of delicate experiences of man. The abrupt changes in the pulse speak of grand experiences of man. When man is inspired by elevated thoughts and feelings, his heartbeat is rhythmic; his pulse is regular, and harmonious. When man lives in the field of rude, base feelings, his pulse is disharmonious and irregular – he loses the natural rhythm of his pulse. In such cases it appears to you that the heart of man stops. Thus beats the heart of men who suffer from palpitations. There is one thing you have to learn: to breathe correctly. Why? Because by breathing correctly you will cleanse your thoughts, you will cleanse your blood, and you will also cleanse your brains. Speaking of breathing, you have to know the composition of air. What elements are included in air? Air is a mixture of one fifth of oxygen and four fifths of nitrogen. So the Intellectual world deals with elements of the physical world. What is released during breathing? In the process of breathing oxygen is absorbed from the air, and carbon dioxide is exhaled. In what state are the elements oxygen and nitrogen found in the air? - In a molecular state. In general, when a particular element has already been obtained from some compound body, it is in a molecular state; when it is being obtained from the compound body, while its atoms have still not managed to combine into molecules, it is in an atomic state; and finally, when some compound body is dissolved in water, its elements are found in an ionic state. When are elements most active? - When they are in an ionic state. They are less active when in an atomic state and least active when in a molecular state. Man has to observe himself, to see what his condition is when he is moody, excited, and angry; and what his condition is when he is calm, and in a good mood. Good and bad moods reflect on the breathing, and on the pulse. He who understands this will be able to detect a man’s physical and spiritual mood by his pulse. As disciples, you must study all of the conditions; to distinguish their substance by thickness, and by composition. For instance, what is the substance of anger – thick or thin? - Thick. What compounds is it made of? - Explosive substances. Anger is dangerous because of the explosions that accompany it. When one has been furious, he feels like he has been burning, as if there had been a fire inside him. A lot of time has to pass until he repairs all the damage from that fire. The damage happens in his organism. What is anger due to? - Superfluous energies in the organism. When man has a lot of desires that he cannot fulfill, part of the energy which has been allotted for their attainment is left unused – that energy is the cause of anger in man. Unprocessed material in the brain causes a slight process of rotting, of fermentation, and as a result anger is provoked. Unfulfilled desires produce anger. When one is angry, this shows that he has many unrealized, unfulfilled desires. What is the cure for anger? - Implementation of those desires. Superfluous energy accumulates behind man’s ears. Among very angry people these areas have evolved significantly. Phrenologists call these centers destructive. These centers are connected with the motor muscles of the mouth and therefore, when man becomes angry, he starts moving his mouth. He who understands the law of transforming energy will know in what way to channel surplus energy from his ears to his brains and put it into work. He who does not understand this law, when he gets angry, will put his tongue to work – back and forth, until he casts that energy out and relieves himself. The tongue is a machine-gun, and the words – the gunfire that pours out here and there until it is all over. When you want to know which words are negative, go to an angry man, take a pen and a sheet of paper and start writing. He will speak such negative words, that you will not be able to find them in any dictionary. If you want to know which words are positive, go to a grateful, content man, and listen to him. As a method of influence upon anger, occult knowledge recommends that the disciple should forgo his numerous desires. The disciple is not allowed to have many desires simultaneously. Why? - Because they could not evolve regularly. It has been determined how many square meters of land are needed for a fruit-tree to grow well. If you had a quarter of an acre3 of land you wanted to plant with vine-stocks, you would be able to plant ten vine-stocks at the most. Should you plant any more, they would grow weak, and they would give puny fruit. Therefore, in order not to obtain puny fruit, do not rush to realize all of your desires at once. Desires of man are in embryo, and therefore he must gradually hatch them one by one, so that he can feed them in order for them to give good fruit. Every desire of man is a capital that can be transformed into kinetic energy, but it must wait for its time to come. Every desire is a power that will give its results, but this power must be awakened at its allotted time. The desire must not be awakened neither earlier, nor later than the allotted time – for every desire there is a determined time and space, when it can be realized. Should not you abide by that time, you would stumble upon a number of negative states, among which in the first place would be anger. When man cannot achieve one of his desires, he becomes envious. When he begins to envy, anger will come as well. Should you want to liberate yourself from anger, you have to attain your desires. In order to attain them, they have to be few in quantity. How many desires can you realize annually? - One desire. How many classes can a disciple finish annually? - One class. The most capable of students can finish two classes, and a disciple of genius – three classes. The genius studies too, and passes grades, but for him there is a special school. The genius is also prone to mistakes; he has the circumstances to make mistakes more than the ordinary man. The genius wins a lot, loses a lot, and suffers a lot; the ordinary man wins a little, loses a little, and suffers less. To regulate the energies of your organism, you have to breathe correctly, deeply. Thus, the numerous desires divert man’s attention. You meet someone – thoughtful, head bent down, looking towards the earth. That man has many desires, and as a result his breathing is poor. This has also been noticed in the life of eminent actors. When a capable actor becomes too ambitious, blood circulation inside him becomes irregular, his breathing – incomplete, and as a result he becomes nervous and gets angry. The remedy for anger is finding a friend of yours who is negative, passive; ask him to put his left hand on the right side of your head and you will see that after a short time all of the surplus energy in you will pass over to his hand and you will be relieved. You have been positive, active, and he – negative, passive, as a result of which between yourselves a right exchange has occurred. So the wrathful person must find a quiet, peaceful person to pass a part of his superfluous energy to. It is not bad that man gets angry, but he should know the law, and put that energy to work. It is preferable that man gets angry, instead of not getting angry at all. There are people who are passive and when they get angry they cannot express their anger externally. They act as quiet people – in reality they are not quiet. Passive anger generates fear, and active anger generates vengeance. Vengeance is particularly strong when someone tries to oppose anger. When a man gets angry, give him an opportunity to display his anger; should you stop his anger, he would start taking revenge. Why are some people incapable of getting angry? - Because they do not have a surplus of that energy. They resemble those drunkards that want to drink, but either they have no money, or there are no taverns open. So they do not have the circumstances to get drunk and so by necessity act as sober; they are ready to go to the nearest open tavern and get drunk. The truly sober, virtuous man is the one that despite having all conditions to drink or get angry, is still unable to get off his balance. Such a person has a will, has self-control. He who has a weak will succumbs even to the slightest temptation. Now, as disciples of an occult School, you must study the contradictions that you stumble upon. You have to study the various states that you go through. Sometimes you sit, you feel somehow oddly uneasy, and you do not know where to put your hands: you put them in front – you are not comfortable, you put them along your body or behind you – again you do not feel comfortable. If you understood the deep meaning of your condition, you would describe it easily. Hands represent the human will. When you do not know where to put your hands, this means that you do not know with what kind of movement you have to display your will. When you put your hands behind your back, in front of you or alongside your body, by doing this you are looking for the most suitable method of displaying your will. As soon as you find a suitable place for your hands, you will have already solved the question as to what way you should display your will. As a first method of displaying will, there is the application of the law of transforming energies in your organism via the lungs. Eastern nations pay great attention to breathing as a method of work in many directions. Western nations also wanted to use this method, but as utter materialists, it gave them bad results. They wanted in a quick way to achieve a lot of things, but paid dearly for that haste. Love is required from people, so that they could use properly the knowledge of breathing. Without Love there can be no breathing. The first condition is that Love participates in breathing. If Love does not participate in breathing, you can have no success. In that situation the organism cannot handle its superfluous energy, as a result a number of negative states are born in a man. When breathing is not done properly, semi-organic materials start to build layers of sediments in the organism, which are the cause of all illnesses. Thanks to these sediments, these semi-organic materials, the blood of man cannot be properly cleansed and causes the growth of many microbes. Now you have an idea of how complex the breathing process is. It is enough to imagine those six-hundred million workers, who work selflessly day and night, so that you can comprehend what a great process is preformed inside your organism. Besides, each cell has its own strictly defined specialty. If you do not consider this process consciously, you will say that living is not worthwhile. No, living is worthwhile. Each inhalation and exhalation is the result of the work, the effort of millions of workers. Therefore, breathe consciously, with Love, if you want always to have a good inner disposition. Should you get a bit angry, all harmony in the organism is disrupted, and along with that, breathing becomes irregular. To understand how expensive each human is to Nature, make a calculation on how much is spent on him in a year. As you know how much is paid for twenty-four hours, you will easily calculate the expense for a year. And that is an expense only for breathing. Calculate after that how much is spent on workers in the stomach, in the brains, and in all other organs and limbs. After all this, somebody will come and say that Life was not worth anything, and that everything had been given to us for free. Such is for those who do not understand. One, who understands, knows how expensive Life is, even for the smallest creature, and even more for man. You are fed by Nature, without realizing how many resources it spends on you. Indeed do children realize how much their parents spend on them? However, when they grow up, when they start supporting themselves, then they see how much they have cost their parents. It is not an easy job raising a man. When you render an exact account of all the resources Nature spends on you, you will see what a thing man is. Then in your soul will awaken a great feeling of gratitude to Life, which has been given to you. Only at this consciousness will you understand the deep meaning of the words “On blessing we live”. Secret Prayer Fir-für-fen Tau-bi-aumen 1 1 lv. = 0.5 euro today, although in the days the lecture was written, a lev was worth far less than that. 2 This is an ancient Sanskrit word that describes favourable energies in the air. There is no equivalent neither in English, nor in Bulgarian. 3 In the text a unit equal to a fourth of the acre is used. I could not find an equivalent in English and I decided to leave it as it is. Source
  6. Ани

    1922_11_08 Harmonization of Energies

    Harmonization of Energies Master’s Sixth Lecture delivered at the Youth Esoteric Class on 8 November 1922 – Wednesday, 19.00h, Sofia Fir-für-fen, Tao-bi-aumen Secret prayer Your topic to write on for the next time is, “The Difference between Soul and Spirit”. When writing on the topic each one of you should try to feel free, not to be under the influence of anyone else’s opinion, or of what certain authorities have written. Each one shall be one’s own authority. Write about what you know and what you understand the soul and spirit to be. You may also read what other authors have written on the issue, but it is important for you not to be influenced, to be true to your own understanding. What is your understanding of the word difference? You talk about the difference between two variables, between two equations. What we mean, when two variables are compared, is the difference between them. There is a quantitative difference; there is also a qualitative difference. People speak about difference in colours, so there must be a difference between the quantities of vibrations. We also talk about difference in the beliefs of various people; what is meant here is the degree of human evolution, and the lifestyle people keep. Everyone lives according to one’s beliefs. Human intelligence, as well as human life, is determined by one’s beliefs. Therefore, people say, “Do not dwell upon what one says, but dwell upon the way one lives.” One’s life style determines one’s beliefs, one’s views, and convictions. Some say that they believe in God, but when requested to do a favour they immediately delve into their memory to find out whether the person requesting the favour has done any wrong or harm to them. And if one is found, then they immediately give up doing the favour. Such people remember the evil for years. What belief can this be, to remember the evil? I now want to take your attention to the consonants. In this particular case neither the character of the letters nor the symbol, expressed by them, is of importance; the importance is the intensity of energy contained in each letter and needed to pronounce it. For example in order to pronounce ‘b’ one brings the lips nearer and applies a little tension. The upper lip is connected with the forces of the Astral World. Two types of energies flow out of the lips simultaneously: active energy from the upper lip, and passive energy from the lower lip. The letter ‘b’ stands for the creative principle in Nature. Note that when one wants to do something, one is tense, and makes an effort as if pronouncing the letter ‘b’. Chest thrown out, eyebrows puckered, straining oneself, one says, “Baa, I can do this thing!” Which is to say; that having pronounced the ‘b’ sound you connect to certain types of energies in Nature. This shows that nothing is accidental, nothing happens by chance. The graphic sign for the ‘b’ sound may vary with different peoples, but the particular energy related with the sound is not accidental. The intensity of this energy is a precisely determined quantity. Having pronounced this sound, one manifests one’s desire to create; in order to realise one’s desire, one should know how to pronounce it. When God pronounced this sound, He created the world; He said, “Let there be Light!” The Holy Scripture is known as The Bible, where the first letter is again ‘b’1. While pronouncing the sound ‘v’ you place the upper teeth upon the lower lip. Teeth are connected with the physical world. Hence, when pronouncing this sound there goes a unification of an active principle from the physical world (teeth) with a passive principle from the Astral world (lower lip). When pronouncing the ‘g’ sound, you have to pay attention to the position of the tongue. The word ‘glottal’ begins with the ‘g’ character2. Such is the shape formed when pronouncing the ‘g’ sound. This shape stands for infinity. When pronouncing the sound ‘g’, the tongue touches against the palate, close to the throat, which is to say that you have to understand the measures used to determine the infinite order of energies or figures. With the sound of ‘g’ there is a little rounding of the epiglottis, not of the lips. This sound represents a musical figure. The energies connected with it come from the Spiritual World, therefore the word ‘God’ also begins with the same letter. The letter ‘G’ designates infinity3; it is the sign for infinity. When we say that God is infinite, boundless, this particular attribute is contained in the letter ‘G’ standing at the beginning of the word. When pronouncing the ‘d’ sound, the tongue touches the palate, up there near the teeth. The tongue stands for the reasonable principle in human beings. The palate represents an active principle from the Divine world. Thus, when articulating the ‘d’ sound the principle of Reason within human beings interacts with the Divine world. The function of the tongue is three fold: to taste, i.e. to try the taste of things, to move, and to talk. When articulating the ‘d’ sound its tip only touches slightly to the Divine World. The sound ‘d’ contains such an active power, which is capable of reconciling the oppositions between the physical and the Divine Worlds. This letter represents an equilibrium law. The ‘d’ contains such rules, through which the forces of Nature can be regulated, counter-balanced and harmonised. When articulating the ‘e’ sound, there is a slight contracting of the throat and the tongue has a special position in the mouth – it touches slightly upon the lower teeth, upon its passive side. The letter ‘e’ stands for propagation in Nature. At the same time, it also designates two semi-circles, resulting from the division of the circle in two parts. The sign, placed in this position denotes the sound ‘e’, while when it is turned to face west, the same sign denotes the number ‘3’4, if turned upwards to face north, then it denotes the Hebrew letter for ‘sh’, ‘shin’, ‘w’. From this point of view, the sign of the letter ‘e’ denotes descent of Divine energies into the physical world, to be utilized for the propagation and realization of everything that wants to manifest, to materialize itself. When articulating the ‘z’ like in the word measure [mezə], (the Bulgarian sign for this letter is ‘ж’), there is a small hole between the palate and the tongue. This is to show that this sound is connected to such energies, which facilitate the growth of organic seeds in Life. If you examine the Bulgarian letter ‘ж’ carefully, you will note that it consists of two shin’s or of two letters ‘e’ – one facing up, the other facing down. This is to show that there is a double growth in this case; the upper growth is in the branches where there are blossoms and fruit, and the lower growth is in the roots, which grow, get stronger and propagate. Hence, the sound ‘z’/‘ж’ is connected with forces and energies fostering growth and evolution.5 Fig. 1 (up) and 2 (bottom) One should study the sounds in order to get connected with the energies flowing through them, so that one can experience the influence. It is the energies, which come out of the thoughts, feelings, words and acts of human beings, which account for the harmonic or disharmonic situations experienced by human beings. Imagine you are thinking about a friend of yours, and when you remember about him or her, you feel pleasurably harmonically predisposed. What is the reason for this predisposing? The good thought you are sending out to your friend. Thoughts do not travel along straight lines; they follow sort of wavy lines. At the same time, your friend is sending out a good thought to you, and is at the same time, preparing to visit you, as he or she had promised. Your thoughts meet your friend’s thoughts and the thoughts of both of you follow a proper exchange. As thoughts are wavy in shapes, the ups in your friend’s thoughts coincide with the downs of your thoughts and they continue on their way (Figure 1). What you feel is harmony spreading over you. However, the least suspicion in respect of your friend breaks the harmony of your thoughts and you feel a headache, a tension around the temples. Suspicion causes the collision of your thoughts. How do such collisions occur? The ups of your friend’s thoughts no longer get into the downs of your thoughts, but ups meet ups, hence the repulsion of thoughts (Figure 2). This repulsion is the cause of your headache. So, when there is harmony in the thoughts of one person or between the thoughts of two or more persons, there always appears Light; as soon as the harmony between thoughts is interrupted, darkness and obscurity come to one’s mind. This law can be verified everywhere in Life. A teacher explains a problem to his students. If a student is in doubt whether he or she can understand the problem, immediately the explanations given by the teacher vanish and the problem becomes obscure, non-understandable. Therefore, when the teacher explains something, the students must be in harmonic connection with the teacher. A single doubt interrupts the connection. When the students are in connection with their teacher, the latter elevates their thoughts higher, links them with the vibrations of his own thoughts and the students are happy and find the subject clear and easy to understand. They are glad that there is light in their mind and consciousness. This is how, when two harmonic thoughts meet, there appear waves, which flow properly along their course. The ups of the one thought get into the downs of the other thought and thus they form one wave (Figure 1). Similar is the position of two cogwheels, when they get into each other. If the movement of these two wheels is altered this immediately leads to disharmony and they stop moving. If they do not stop, there will be frictions, which may break some of the cogs. You may perform an experiment, to find out what impact harmonic and disharmonic thoughts have upon people. Out of two thoughts in harmony, one is positive – it is connected with the cold currents in Nature; the other thought bears negative energy – it is connected with the warm currents in Nature. As long as one keeps moving between these two currents, one finds oneself feeling all right, and healthy. Then in the one hemisphere of one’s brain there appear cold currents, while in the other – warm, magnetic currents. When the head gets hot, one finds oneself sick. In order to restore one’s healthy condition, one has to trigger a certain split of the mind within, so that there would be two different currents running in the two hemispheres of the brain. As soon as such a state is achieved, blood starts circulating properly and one starts feeling healthy. Rain in Nature is also formed under the same conditions, namely when two different currents – the one warm, the other one cold – meet. The same can be said about the origin of one’s thoughts and desires – they are also formed when two opposite waves or currents meet. Let’s go back to letters and words. When you pronounce letters, it would be good if you write them and study the movements of the throat, tongue, and lips. Little by little, you will move from letters to words. You will see that many words are grammatically correct in writing, but there is a certain lack of correspondence between their meanings and the forces acting within them. For example, the word criminal, by its meaning is a bad word, but as far as the forces or energies contained within are concerned, it exhibits an ascending movement6. When you call someone a criminal, you mean a person violating the law. However, the energies contained in this word are of an ascending order. This word is of a noble origin. With the Bulgarians when a child starts walking, i.e. the child makes its first step in life, the mother makes honey bread and invites neighbours to a treat. Consider there is a prison awaiting the criminal, while there is bread awaiting the newly walking child. This shows that even though certain words have acquired negative meanings, they have not completely lost their purity, have not been corrupted. I shall explain how this happens in the following example: Imagine you have a beautiful bottle made of pure high-quality porcelain; and you pour strong acid into the bottle. Acid is harmful, dangerous, but it does not corrupt the bottle, it does not penetrate through the holes of the porcelain. When the bottle is emptied you want to pour pure fine water into it. What do you have to do? You rinse the bottle thoroughly, and you see that it becomes pure, so that you can freely fill it with water. What does this show? This shows that the contents of the bottle were impure, but the very bottle itself has retained its primary features. Similar is the situation with the word criminal, which is corrupted only in its sense, but not in its primary origin, substance, and vibrations. As soon as we get rid of its sense, it acquires the features it originally had. Apart from form, contents and sense, words also have age. Some words come to live only a few years; others – a hundred, two hundred years, while still others – live a thousand years, two thousand, and longer. The word criminal is not a negative word, but it acquired a completely different meaning in Bulgarian and has become corrupted. Similarly, the word chantteuse is corrupted. It is of French origin. France is its native land, its mother and father are there, and it means a lady-singer. This word is of a high, noble origin. When it left its fatherland, it was motherless and fatherless, wandered among foreign peoples, knocked on foreign doors, which completely distorted its sense and meaning. Wherever it wandered, it was made do servant’s work – to wash up the dishes, and consequently the word today is corrupted. Chansonnier is understood today to mean an easy profligate woman of low morals. So, while you are studying various languages, pay attention to the positive and negative words. For example, the word light is positive, while the word darkness – is negative. Darkness always follows Light. These are two sisters; one is dressed in dark clothes, the other – in light ones. Having dipped below the horizon, Light becomes invisible. Darkness, however, follows it closely. Therefore, darkness is the opposite force to Light, to Love – hatred, to the Good – the evil. Light, Love, and Good are positive words, while darkness, hatred, and evil – negative ones. While classifying the words in such a manner you will dwell on the word criminal, to find out which other word corresponds to the contents implied in it. You have to find the father and mother of the word criminal, to study its origin. If the mother and father of this word are good, noble people, it is impossible for their daughter or son to be criminals – this is the law. Although, sometimes while a person is growing there are deviations – but there is no way such a deviation can be a crime. You say that the word criminal can be substituted with the word evil-doer. This word means a person who works according to negative methods. While studying the positive and negative words in any language, you have to dwell also upon the neutral words. For next time make a list of fifty positive and fifty negative words so that you could see whether the contents and sense of the words always correspond to their outer appearance, to their external expression. Being esoteric disciples, you have to do a number of exercises, to reach a point where you would understand words by their contents and sense. Why? Because esoteric disciples are not allowed to use ambiguous words. When you want to state a Truth, the words you use have to be positive in form, in content, and in sense. Moreover, each word represents a picture, an image of something alive, be it from the physical or Spiritual worlds. Remember the first esoteric musical exercise you were given at the Esoteric School. The first musical exercise was from the physical world: “Force alive, spring-like, flowing”. It represents a live picture of flowing moving waters. The second musical exercise was “The Sun is rising”. When you articulate the words the Sun is rising, you start thinking. You can see, before you, a live picture of the rising Sun – you can imagine how the Sun is rising, how it sends its light to all Nature, and what this light performs. “The Sun is rising, sending its light, bringing joy to life.” What is this Joy due to? Joy is due to the fact that all plants shoot, grow and develop. This is another picture, but it belongs to the Astral world, where the energies are superior, finer than the ones in the physical world. The third musical exercise that was given to you was “Honey Sweet”. It also conjures a number of pictures in your imagination – about the Sun, the flowers, bees and their lives, their culture, their great purity. These pictures bring meaning to the words of honey sweet. It is from these pictures that the idea, contained in the words honey sweet, stands out. The sweet has come from the Sun and has penetrated the flowers, from where bees suck it out and processes it. They convert it into honey and use it for food. When you try to visualize the picture about the life of the bees, the first that meets the eye is their physical cleanliness and great assiduousness. The tiniest deviation from the law is enough to inflict a severe punishment to any bee. Well, when studying a language it is good for you to classify the words in such a way that each one falls into the relevant world – physical, Astral or Mental. Thus allocated, each one at its own place, the words will be clear, understandable in meaning and content. Then there will be no such ambiguity, as you sometimes encounter with certain words. For example, you often use the word love, but some feel shy when they pronounce it, while others are wondering what kind of love is meant. This shows that this word has several meanings, which result from the various currents within it – ascending and descending. The fact that you ask yourselves what kind of love is meant shows that there are several kinds of manifestations of love: love manifested among animals, among people, among Angels, and finally there comes the Divine Love. What is the difference between Angels Love and Divine Love? As disciples of Love, you will say what the difference is between the one and the other kind of love. (- Divine Love contains forces, conditions for growth) – Divine Love stands out with Absolute fidelity – within it there is no changing, no betrayal; it does not alter by form, or content, or by meaning. Angels love alters by form, but never by content and meaning. If it does not alter by content and meaning, then this shows that Angels love is free of passion. If you talk to an Angel about passions, the Angel will understand nothing: Angels are absolutely ignorant in this respect. As far as human love is concerned, you are familiar with it, no need to dwell upon it. You all know that human love is interspersed with animal love, and this is precisely why it changes by form, by content, but not by meaning. It includes passion and excludes Purity. A distinctive feature of human love is that it always imposes restrictions. Suffice to say that if somebody falls in love with you, he or she immediately restricts you. He or she says, “I love you and you will mix only with me and my friends, you have no right to befriend anybody else outside this circle.” Animal love changes by form, by content, and by meaning; it is forgetful of everything. If we examine closely the Latin word anima meaning soul, and the word animal7, by content and by meaning, we consider them positive words. When we want to exaggerate something, to show that the energies flowing somewhere are lower, we use the word animal, but this word, does not in the least, contain lower energies within it. There are, for example, animals that manifest love at a level higher than human love. A rat was observed taking grains to a pigeon, to feed the pigeon. We consider animal love at a lower level, because it is predominantly connected with matter. It does not acknowledge a world higher than the material one; as soon as the material world stops existing, the animal love comes to an end as well. Animal love goes as far as their interests are connected with matter. Human love, however, spans both worlds - the material and the Spiritual worlds. When you study the bird life, you notice that they get together in great numbers not out of love, but out of need to defend themselves, to attack their prey etc. They disperse as soon as the danger is over. Human beings also pass through all of these states. In order to arrive at great Love, human beings have to go through all the phases of Love – through animal love, through Angels love and finally one will enter Divine Love. These are phases of Love, which one has to observe and study within oneself. So, as long as human beings are preoccupied only with material life, they are within the confines of animal love; as long as human beings are preoccupied with material and spiritual life, they are within the confines of human love; as soon as human love sheds passion, human beings enter upon Angels love; and finally when human beings get to know the reasons for all phenomena in Life, they enter upon Divine Love. If you want to verify the truthfulness of my words, keep an eye on your manifestations, as well on the manifestations of the people close to you, so that you can find what phase of Love you have reached. You will notice what subtle distinctions there exist in the various manifestations of Love with different people. Being esoteric disciples, you have to study Love in all its manifestations, in order to understand the supreme Love – God’s Love. If the word Love is not determined, the reason for this is that it contains four types of currents within, amongst which there is a certain correlation. Out of these four types of currents in Nature you can make four equations, where you will designate Divine Love with the letter “D”, Angels Love – with the letter “A”, the love of human beings - with the letter “M” (from the word manas, meaning man), while animal love – with the letter “N”8. If the stomach prevails over the other organs, one manifests human love; if the lungs prevail, one manifests Angels love; if the brains prevail, one manifests Divine Love. Fig. 3 Now, if the width of the head, i.e. if the width of the brain is bigger than the length, this shows, that with this person animal love prevails. The width of the head is measured by the distance from the one ear to the other one. The bigger the width of the head, the greater the intensity of forces active in these centres. Apart from its width, each organ has certain activity, which is a function of its volume, of the space it takes at a given moment. If you draw radii from the middle of the ear to the front and upper part of the head, the length of the radii will allow you to determine the kind of love within this person (Figure 3). If the OA radius is longer than the other radii, human love prevails; if the OB radius is longer than the others – Angels love prevails; if the OC radius is longer than the rest – Divine Love prevails. Hence, the length of the radii determines the intensity of Love manifesting itself in a person. The length of the radii determines the degree of Love’s intensity. Fig. 4 If we draw two lines from the ear – one, OA, above the nose, and the other, OB, below the nose, there will be an angle of 30 determining the intelligence of the person (Figure 4). The value of this angle determines the various degrees of intelligence with animals. Originally, the brain’s centre of gravity was located somewhere behind, but alongside the gradual evolution of humankind, the centre of gravity moved to the front part of the brain. This is exactly why the forehead of the human being is straight, while that of animals – is slanted, sloping. This is the reason accounting why animals walk on four legs, not on two like human beings. The AOB angle determines the intensity of mental energies with human beings. If you examine how the word love9 is written in Bulgarian, you will notice that the first letter ‘v’ represents an angle, similar to the AOB angle. This angle is composed by two variables – AO and BO, which head in two different directions and counteract each other. When you write the word love, you will notice that the ABC angle (Figure 5), which is a replica of the letter “V”, is also formed by two variables AB and BC, moving in different directions. In order to implant reason into Love, you have to link the A and C points with a straight line, so that you draw a triangle. In this situation, the three sides of the triangle can be equal, but their lengths depend on the direction of movement of the AB and BC lines. If these lines are longer or shorter than the AC line, there will be a right-angled triangle, to which one can apply the Pythagoras theorem: the sum of the squares of the two catheti is equal to the square of the hypotenuse. The surface area is a measure for forces. Thus, the forces acting within the square of the hypotenuse are equal to the sum of the forces acting within the squares of the two catheti. Fig. 5 Often in life, people talk about the straight path, which is symbolically represented by a straight line. However, the straight line does not in the slightest mean a straight path. The straight line determines the shortest distance between two points, but in no way does it determine the straight path. Why? Because even villains choose the shortest path, without actually taking the straight path. There is a huge difference between a straight line and a straight path. The straight path is determined by the intensity of the forces acting within a person. I shall give you a graphical representation of this idea (Figure 6). There are the forces – M and N – coming from two different directions and moving towards point A, but they encounter the resistance, CD, and are repelled. This resistance is a rock, in the middle of which there is a spring A. The M and N forces heading towards A, represent the forces of the mind, MA, and of the heart, NA. When these forces encounter the resistance, CD, they go back, forming a circle. Having traversed this circle, they go back to where they have come from. To avoid repulsion these forces have to be employed to work. This is to be done by the will. The will is a force, which employs one’s thoughts and feelings to work, and produces a number of actions. When a person has a weak will one’s thoughts and desires form a circle each, without performing any work. When a person has a strong will, such a person employs his thoughts and desires to work and thus performs something. Fig. 6 These are explanations, which distract students’ attention. Such explanations are needed as a break. This is how teachers treat little children – when the teacher notices that the children are tired, the teacher discontinues the lesson and tells the children a story. When they have had enough rest, the teacher goes back to the subject. Now you too, listening to my explanations about the forces, find it difficult to relate what I started my lecture with and what I am now telling you. The relation is in the point that whenever you pronounce a word, you have to manifest a thought, a feeling, and an action. From an esoteric point of view, each articulated word, each movement contains either positive or negative forces within. For example when you want to hit someone, you make a downward movement; when you want to prevent someone from committing a crime, you make a movement with the arms ahead. The upward movements we make contain ascending forces and can be positive or negative. The downward movements are descending and can be positive or negative. Now that you know this, you should be very conscious of your movements. Never keep your head facing downwards, to the ground, as you will connect with the forces of the Earth, which will affect your thoughts. Therefore, keep your head up, so that you will connect your thoughts with the forces coming from the Sun. It is at times necessary for one to take a look at the ground, but if one constantly looks at the ground, this person will be distorted. The Bulgarians have a saying, “Beware of a person who looks at the ground!” The Turks have a saying, “One who looks at the ground, burns the hearts around.” Each movement is a function of certain forces, regardless of the fact whether one is aware of these forces. These can be coming from the mind or from the heart. Movements can also stem from the consciousness, from the self-consciousness, from the sub-consciousness and from the super consciousness of the human being. Disciples should watch themselves, should study the movements and the forces related with such movements, so that disciples, via words, can regulate them properly. Now that you write on the assigned topic, “The Difference between Soul and Spirit”, for some time dwell upon the words spirit and soul; give it a thought. These will enlighten your consciousness and you will write something on your own. These words are ideal as they carry Light within themselves. By dwelling upon the words, you will learn how to understand the profound meaning implied in them. Esoteric disciples should never be in a hurry. Having, calmly and quietly pronounced several times the words soul and spirit, at the word soul you will feel a special warmth, special mildness in the pit of the stomach and will experience a desire to caress everything around you. Having pronounced the word spirit you will feel a special strength, special activity. The word soul generates mildness, while the word spirit generates strength. The word soul produces an internal opening towards a certain centre, while the word spirit – opening towards the external, accompanied by a desire to conquer the world. These are experiences you will go through having pronounced soul and spirit. You will then ask yourselves, “Am I a soul?” – “I am a soul, because I sniff, I smell something.”10 As you can see the Bulgarian word for soul has several meanings: sniff, smell something; strangle11 somebody, i.e. take somebody by the throat, i.e. try him or her, whether they are souls or not, whether they live or not. You will then tell yourselves “I am a Spirit.” Having said this word you will experience a current of a force flowing into you, of an activity having a desire to break loose, get outside. Having pronounced these two words, two currents will form; one flowing from outside, passing through the head and going down to the sympathetic nervous system; while the other one flows out of the sympathetic nervous system, passes through the heart and hence spreads over to the head. When pronouncing the word soul, the currents come from above and penetrate inside the organism; when pronouncing the word spirit, the currents follow an outbound direction. Now that you know this, you should regulate the energies in your organism properly. If the energies of your organism are not properly distributed, this will cause a number of sufferings for you. Now that I watch you, I can see that your energies are not properly spread – there are more energies clustered at certain places, while at other places there are less energies clustered, and subsequently you have disharmonic experiences. When we say that a person has a character, this means that the energies within this person are distributed exactly at their proper places and are in harmony with each other. Being disciples, you have to understand the law on the energy transformation within your organisms, not to be left to deal with deviations. To this effect, you have to regulate the forces of your organism, to balance them, to control your mind and heart, to direct your will, to understand the relationship between the Spirit and the Soul. As soon as you accomplish this, you will be able to perform the duties you have to Nature; you will also reach the objective you are aiming at – to get to know God, to know yourselves. This is the meaning of Life. To find the meaning of Life – this is one of the great tasks of esoteric disciples. To achieve this, disciples have to start with the smallest task – work upon one’s body. This takes exercises, efforts and diligence. Secret prayer Fir-für-fen Tao-bi-aumen 1 The Master makes reference to the beginning of the Holy Scripture – Genesis. The Bulgarian for Genesis is Битие [bitie] - a word beginning with the letter ‘b’. In order to retain the Master’s idea Genesis was translated as Bible – thus retaining the same reference source and keeping ‘b’ as the first letter/sound of the word. (tr. note) According to the Hebrew Bible, God created the world with 'b' (beth) and the first word in the Hebrew Bible is (Bereshit) which means in the beginning. The Book of Genesis is called Bereshit in Hebrew. Genesis means the coming into being of something; the origin. (Ed. note) 2 The Master makes reference to the ‘g’ sound – and his example is the Bulgarian word ‘гърло’ [gə:rlo] meaning throat. Moreover the sound ‘g’ is articulated in the throat, but is not present in the word throat. So, to preserve the reference to the ‘g’ sound and to the organ of articulation, гърло [gə:rlo] was translated as glottal. One more so to say deviation from the original – the Bulgarian letter for the sound ‘g’ is “г” – the Master says that this is the shape that stands for infinity. Perhaps, infinity can also be seen in ‘g’? … 3 The Master comments on the Bulgarian block capital letter for ‘G’= ‘Г’, which is a lop-sided ‘L’ sign. Quote: The ‘G’/‘Г’letter consists of the figure 1, upon which the sign for infinity rests… but the figure 1 is not a constituent part of the English letter ‘G’. So the translation of the above sentence in italics was condensed to: The letter ‘G’ designates infinity, it is the sign for infinity. 4 The mirror image of ‘E’ in Bulgarian is ‘3’=[z]; as the Master talks about multi-functionality, I was trying to find a letter which the ‘E’ sign would designate when facing west. Well, in English, when ‘E’ faces west, it designates the number/figure ‘3’ 5 The Cyrillic letter ‘ж’ presents a problem. It has no single letter/sound correspondence in English – the directly corresponding sound can be represented by a graphic sign only in the English transcription in [plezə] in pleasure; [mezə] in measure. 6 In this context, the Master comments on the Bulgarian word for criminal - „престъпник” [pres’təpnik]. The point the Master makes can be understood only through understanding the meaning vested in the Bulgarian word – it is derived from a verb meaning to take a step beyond. However, this word has two meanings a) to take a step beyond on the physical level, and 2) to take a step beyond on the moral level, i.e. beyond the limitations set by law; the second meaning translates in English as transgress -‘trans’=beyond & ‘gradi’=step. Hence the common deep sense in both meanings of the word in respect of a criminal and of a child. These comments do not directly refer to the origin of the English word criminal. 7 The Bulgarian word for ‘anim-al’ i.e. ‘живот-но’ is derived from the Bulgarian word for ‘life’ i.e. ‘живот’ - just like the English word ‘anim-al’ is derived from the Latin ‘anima’ – although anima and life are two different words the Master traces a derivative pattern and comments on the root word – life in Bulgarian – the closest approximation in English was achieved through the Latin word anima meaning soul in English.. 8 The Master wants animal love to be designated by the Bulgarian letter ‘ж’ standing for ‘животно’ = ‘animal’. 1. This letter has no directly corresponding English letter; 2. The English word animal begins with ‘A’; 3. ‘A’ was assigned to Angles’ love – So, ‘N’, being the second letter in the word animal is suggested to stand for animal love. 9 The Master refers to the Bulgarian word for Love = Любов [ljubov] (the two words begin with the same sound), and comments on the shape of the first letter ‘Л’ in relation with the angle – similar shape, hence resemblance to the angle, has the English letter ‘V’, although as if turned upside down. This letter is present in the word Love. But the first letter of the English word, unlike the first letter in the Bulgarian word does not show any resemblance to the angle – which is the point the Master makes. The translation deviates from the original text only in that it compares not the initial letters of the two words, but the initial letter of the Bulgarian word to the third letter in the English word, as these two bear resemblance. 10 The Bulgarian word for soul has several meanings. Moreover, the Bulgarian words for soul, sniff and smell are homophones, i.e. these three words, having three different meanings, are spelt and pronounced in the same way. 11 The meaning of strangling is achieved by shifting the stress of the word to the second syllable Source
  7. The Distinctive Features of Life Year 2, Lecture 4 of the Youth Occult Class (Special Class) given by the Master Beinsa Douno on October 25, 1922 Wednesday, Sofia Fir-fur-fen Tau-bi-aumen Secret prayer The disciples' essays on the topic “The Distinctive Features of Life” were read. Contemporary people say that Life is motion. Do you agree with this? How do you understand Life? The following verse was read: “A kind word on the tongue is the key to people's hearts.” What is the most important phrase in the above verse? – “A kind word”. Where does the kind word originate from, and where does Love originate from? Can we say that Love originates from Life? Can the cause originate from the effect? You might say that Love creates Life. No, Love cannot create Life. Why? Because Life itself cannot be created. The process of creation is a mechanical process. You can create, you can build a house, but you cannot create Life in that sense. Then you might say that Life doesn’t exist. Life is without beginning and without end. Can you say that something that doesn’t have a beginning and an end exists? In its original sense the word exists was in an ascending state, but gradually it started to descend and today in the Bulgarian language we see it in a descending state. The word exists stems from the root “са” (Bulgarian for "are"), which means manifestation, expression. That is, Life manifests itself. I’ll ask you several more questions. Can something that manifests run off? If your answer to me is that each thing that manifests runs off then I’ll ask you, where does Life remain? What do you make out of the word life? When you read your essays, I notice that you strive to write something beautiful, using beautiful phrases for this purpose, however, you aren't concerned as to whether these essays contain the Truth. In this respect you resemble those fashionable ladies who wear beautiful and expensive clothes to present themselves before the world, without paying attention to whether their clothes are warm or comfortable. However what is allowed to a worldly man isn't allowed to an occult disciple. When a worldly man is hungry, when he has travelled for several days without bread and has no relatives whom he can address, he will beg from this or that person. He will appeal to their nobility, to their benevolence that they might give him something to eat. But if an occult disciple finds himself in such a situation, he isn't allowed to speak as words are unnecessary. He should only say, “I am hungry!” – Nothing more. A third word would be irrelevant. Whoever hears him, will say, “The man is hungry; let’s give him something to eat.” Everyone knows what hunger is. If the hungry man starts to explain why he is hungry, how long he has been starving for, everyone who passes him by will say, “Never mind, don’t listen to him, this man isn't hungry.” Hunger is something powerful by itself. Each explanation would make it powerless. Let’s come back to the question of Life. What is your opinion – is it possible to define what Life is? Some people say that Life is consciousness, i.e., that outside consciousness Life doesn’t exist. The word consciousness is composed of a prefix meaning "with" and a word meaning "knowledge" – it means something accompanied by knowledge. Our Life doesn't include the whole of Life in existence, consequently Life cannot originate from consciousness. Consciousness cannot embrace our life even, let alone the entire life in existence. If we assume that Life is motion, the very motion itself is embraced by consciousness. This means that it is even less appropriate to view Life as motion. Now let’s trace out this thought further. What do you think – is consciousness something permanent? No, it isn't permanent. Is it possible then to measure Life by such an impermanent measure? If consciousness is something permanent, let’s subject it to a ten-day fast and see if it preserves its form or changes it. In this situation we will notice that consciousness, which initially was bright, gradually starts to darken. While your consciousness is bright, you are quiet, calm, and content. As soon as it starts to darken, you become nervous, discontented, and not able to control yourself. Consequently, if consciousness is a permanent, constant measure, it can be said that Life is consciousness. But it is impossible to compare Life with such an impermanent, changing value as consciousness. An artist draws a beautiful picture and he is glad at the sight of it; what is his joy due to? Is it due to the picture itself, or to something else? Can someone be delighted with an object in which there isn’t any Life at all? Can he feel delighted at the sight of a precious stone? Man cannot feel delighted with a picture, or some precious stone. The Delight is a result of something else. A young man loves a young lady; if this young man finds a precious stone and gives it to his beloved as a present, he will be glad. Yet his joy wouldn't be due to the precious stone but to the fact that he has given it to his beloved. If she didn’t exist the precious stone wouldn’t have any value to him. So, let everyone answer to himself what his Life consists of. Reflect on this topic. Consider especially the word life and watch closely how you will feel it deep inside you and how this word is connected with you. Don’t look into what philosophers or scientists have said about life. The important thing is what this word means to you. Pronounce the word life in syllables, pronounce it in a drawling voice, as a song, while observing the impression it will make on you. At first sight this word seems simple, but it contains one of the greatest truths of Nature. You haven’t asked yourself the question whether you are alive in order to feel how interesting Life is. Now you pass for disciples from a special class. But suppose that you take all your essays about Life and read them to a seriously ill person. Do you think that your essays would be able to awaken the Life in him? What are your essays like? Let’s say that you go to bed in the evening and in the morning you start telling others that you went somewhere and you met a lot of people. Would this be true? Your body was in bed, your legs and your arms didn't move from their places – how did you walk then? Were you awake, or were you asleep? You were asleep. If you had been awake you would have remembered where you went. Such is your state in your everyday life too – you think that you are awake. No, you aren't awake. You are still sleeping, but it is time to wake up. I am not the only one who says you are sleeping – you say it yourselves too. When some new idea enters your mind, you say, “I woke up! I wonder why I have been sleeping until now?” As soon as you find yourselves in greater light, you say, “Now I can see, I feel like I am awakening from a deep sleep.” That you are in a sleeping state can be seen from the fact that all the objects around you and all your notions are scattered and disconnected in your mind. When I am saying that you are in a dreaming state I don’t mean to criticise you, but I do want to give a new direction to your thoughts. What does the word "sleeping" mean? Imagine that you go to a music teacher and you want him to give you lessons. The teacher shows you the violin, the bow, he opens the sheet music and he watches closely what you do. You see a violin, a bow, some dots, some lines – some of them going up, others going down – and you leave. This is not music yet. You are intelligent and capable, you have the desire to learn music. The next day you still want to study music so you visit your music teacher again. He shows you the same things, but he also gives you a sheet of paper and a pencil and watches closely what you do. You take the pencil and you start describing the function of the violin, the bow and the notes etc. Again this isn't music yet. On the third day you go to your music teacher, you take the violin in your hands and you start practicing. He shows you how to hold the violin and the bow; he shows you how to play. Day after day you continue in this way until one day you are finally able to play on your own. All the notes need to enter your mind, your consciousness and then you can say you know what music is. Life is something similar. While you didn't know how to play you were asleep as far as music is concerned; as soon as you learn how to play, you become awake for music. Have you tasted Life? You say that Life is joy. Have you tasted joy? There is a lot of grief in life. Have you tasted this grief? Human beings haven't tasted real grief yet. Is the grief of the sheep that loses its life and that of the man who loses his hat one and the same? What kind of grief is that of the man who has lost his hat? This isn't grief at all – it is pure illusion. There is one single kind of grief that I know and it is the grief upon the loss of Love. There is no greater suffering for a human being than to taste Love and then lose it. This grief is true; it is real. Consequently, it is possible to grieve only for the Real and not for the illusions in Life. When does a man rejoice? When he finds what he has lost. There are two important things which Life requires: food and water. This means that hunger and thirst are two strong factors which can deprive all beings of Life. When a human being is hungry, the Life in him manifests and demands food. Unless he eats some food, he feels anguish, unrest and suffering; the minute he eats the food, peace and contentment fill him. This is the way simple, uneducated people understand Life. You might ask, “Are only food and water necessary for Life?” Life requires a lot of elements. I’ll give you the following example: imagine that they lock one person in a room and from time to time they bring him bread and water. He stays in this room for a year or two and everybody knows as he himself knows that he is alive and he is living in this room. After a time they take this person out of the room and place him in a beautiful garden. In this garden he is able to walk freely, breathe fresh air and enjoy the light. He says, “Now I am alive.” Shortly after they take this person to a rich library and let him read whatever he likes there according to his preference. He starts feeling satisfied and happy and says, “Now I live much better, I am beginning to understand the meaning of Life.” As you can see, in the first example this person is alive, but he lives as a prisoner. In the second example he is also alive, but he lives like a free man. In the third example he lives with all his inner and outer needs met. Life should be understood in all its most subtle manifestations, in all its most subtle requirements. A person who experiences Life in its most subtle and meaningful manifestations is always satisfied, because the sphere of his activity is widening. He experiences the pleasant feeling of growth, the feeling of life in his mind, heart, and soul. I am using the word "soul", but this is something obscure to you. The soul is outside of time and space. What are time and space in reality? They are two temporary measures which are used to define things in the material world. Life causes a warm and pleasant feeling in man. Once someone has experienced this feeling, he can never forget it. Imagine that you are climbing a slippery cliff; you go slowly, carefully, but accidentally you slip. At that moment a friend of yours grabs your hand and prevents you from falling. This change in your feelings, the horror that you experienced and the support that you received awakens a tender, warm feeling in you – a feeling which is a manifestation of Life. No matter what trials you undergo in life, you will never forget this feeling. The stronger your friend's love was, the stronger this feeling is in you. He supported you at the risk of losing his own life. Analyse this feeling inside you in order to understand at least the external side of Life. What characteristics do people attribute to Life today? Some people say that Life brings joy, grief, and motion. Others say that Life is a state of the soul in which the soul becomes aware of itself, i.e. a state in which the soul is aware that it lives, that it is in harmony with itself and with the great law of Nature. Being in harmony with yourself means that everything inside you should be in complete order. Imagine that you have a nice and well-arranged garden; imagine that all its pathways are covered with sand and you are walking along the pathways, satisfied and happy. Inadvertently, though, you forget all the things you carried with you on the pathway – a jar here, a small chair there, scattered stones somewhere else. In the evening you go home satisfied that everything is organised and in complete order. It happens that the very same evening while you are deep in your philosophical contemplations, you decide to go out to have a walk in the garden and get some fresh air. While walking on the pathways, you stumble over the jar and you wonder who has left this jar in your way. Then you stumble over the small chair or a stone and you wonder who has left these things in your way. You have forgotten that you yourself have left these objects on the pathways of your garden. After stumbling over one object after another you finally say, “It is really strange how the world has turned upside down!” Who has turned the world upside down? You yourself have turned your world upside down, you yourself have put these stumbling blocks in the way of your life and now you wonder who has put them there. You stumble over some object and you start grieving. Do you really have to grieve because some small chair has been overturned? Should you feel sorrow because you stumbled and fell on the ground? You should feel sorrow if you learn that some enemy of yours has put this stumbling block in your way. But if you know that you are the only reason for this, then there is no need for sorrow. And then nothing else remains other than to reach down, pick up the obstacle and put it aside. Therefore, when studying Life, start with its most essential and simplest manifestations. As regards the essence of Life, this is an issue that you will never solve. Understanding the essence of Life means understanding what God is – in His fullness. It is impossible to understand God in His complete fullness. You cannot even understand the brightness of His consciousness. He is constantly alert, His consciousness embraces everything, and He is sovereign - unlimited and powerful in his ability do whatever He wants to. To you this is incomprehensible. Within yourself you become aware that you cannot do whatever you like, and so you feel unhappy. There is no need to suffer because your growth lies namely in your helplessness. Today you are filled with joy, you are jumping, singing, you think you can achieve everything; tomorrow you see that you cannot achieve anything. Today you are ascending, tomorrow you will descend, but you don’t know why you ascend or descend. It is exactly in these contrasting states that you grow. If someone asks you why you have come to this world you will not be able to answer. If someone asks you where you have come from – again you know nothing. Some philosophers, some scientists say that you have come from the outer world, but you don’t remember this. Do you have some memories from the outer world? Not only you don't have such memories, but you don’t even remember anything from the first year of your life. Do you remember anything from the first year of your childhood? You don’t. You don’t remember anything from your second or your third year even. Perhaps only in the fourth year of your childhood did your consciousness gradually start to awaken and as a result of this you have preserved some memories from that time. When you reason and analyse things in this way, you will see that there are some issues which are difficult to solve and which you'd better set aside. For instance, what would you write on the topic: “What is God?” Some would write that God is the Primary great force, which has created the world, which pervades the atoms and the molecules and which sets them into motion – this force has created the whole Cosmos, all the worlds, all the oceans, all the seas, etc. This isn't God. Others would write that God is Love. What does this Love consist of? When God, that is God’s Love, penetrates in man, he feels inside a warm, expanding feeling towards everything that is alive in the world. Such a person isn't narrow-minded, he sees things properly. Nothing is able to disturb his balance. They might rob him of his millions, they might deprive him of his houses – he wouldn’t wince. He knows that the warm and great feeling he has inside is worth more than any wealth in the world. When they rob him, he penetrates those who have robbed him and becomes a master again. When a certain form disintegrates, Life takes on another form, but this feeling remains. There is no form in the world that could limit this feeling. The problem is not that the form might disintegrate, but that the person may lose this feeling, that Love may abandon him. Anyone who has this feeling in him will remain quiet and calm even if he meets a bear on his way. Why? Because he would penetrate the bear with his consciousness, and the bear will surely step back. A person who has Love knows that the One lives within all beings. As long as you look at all people and all living beings as something separate from you, as something separate from your consciousness, you will always suffer. Then bears will attack you and people will cause you harm. You should look at all living beings as consciousness through which one and the same Life flows. There is one Life; one consciousness penetrates all living beings. Now I will give you one task, one experiment to do: to transform one of your sorrowful states into a joyful one. Imagine that you get up early in the morning and deep within yourself you feel a great sorrow. You feel like working – you don’t feel like working, you feel like talking with someone – you don’t feel like talking, you cannot stand anyone, you don’t love anyone. Your grief continues to increase and you reach a state of great despair. What should you do in this situation, how can you help yourself? Here is what you can do: for a moment remain quiet and calm within yourself and go over your sorrowful state in your consciousness. After that, try to transform this state of yours using the laws of harmony. If you succeed in achieving this, you will notice that a small amount of Joy penetrates your consciousness and your grief gradually weakens until it disappears completely. It means that Joy penetrates grief, so it disappears completely. Then you find out that there is no need for sorrow. If the opposite happens, then grief penetrates Joy and drives it away. Everyone has experienced this: today he wins one hundred leva and he is delighted, tomorrow he loses one hundred leva and feels sad. These weals and woes are temporary and transient but with their help people grow and evolve. These are experiences that each of you has passed through and continues to pass through every day. For example, you are a disciple in an occult School and you have thought of something nice and you are glad, you are satisfied with yourself. Then your Master comes to you and tells you that you don’t know a B from a bull’s foot, that you know nothing; immediately you believe him and you become disheartened, your mood changes. I am asking you – should the disciple get discouraged at once? If he has knowledge, can this knowledge disintegrate because of one word coming from his Master? Imagine that on your back you carry a rucksack with forty kilograms of gold; suppose that you meet an acquaintance of yours and he asks you: “What do you carry in your rucksack?” – “I carry forty kilograms of gold.” “You are mistaken, you haven’t got any gold in your rucksack.” – “Don’t I? I’ll prove it to you right now.” So you take your rucksack off your back and you start counting the gold. I say: this is what true Knowledge is. The one that has Knowledge cannot have doubts in it. So when they tell you that you know nothing, you should get your rucksack off your back and start examining your knowledge. The task of the occult School is to free disciples from the outdated views which have deposited in their consciousness from the past. The value of contemporary people’s views is similar to the value of paper money, of the banknotes that they use. For instance, at present gold is hidden and people use primarily paper money whose value decreases every day. So there is some uncertainty in the lives of people – some uncertainty which they should free themselves from. The same holds true about knowledge too. Some thoughts and ideas are stored in human subconsciousness which aren't real and which don't have positive value. For this purpose your consciousness should be stirred into action, so you can free yourself from your unreal knowledge and keep with you only the knowledge that comes from life experience. If you cannot help yourselves, then ask some friend of yours to help you. If he understands the laws, your friend will change your state and you will see that this knowledge which you used to attach great importance to before, is worth nothing today. We call these changes in your states occult massages. Contemporary medicine recommends massages. Occultism also recommends them, but under the condition that the disciple’s mind is focused and concentrated. Whatever experiments you do you should know that not all of them will be successful. If ten experiments out of one hundred are successful, they are enough to add something to your belief in the laws of Intelligent Nature. Let’s come back to our main idea - Life. Many people say that Life is motion. There is motion only where this pleasant inner feeling is at work – the feeling of Love towards all living beings. Wherever this feeling is at work, there is Life. When you get up in the morning you should experience this feeling inside you, so you can be positive, active, and have an impulse for work. This is what it means to feel the impulse of each living being, irrespective of whether it is higher or lower than you. The first law of Life is the law of polarities. This signifies that the circle, which represents the entirety of Life, is geometrically divided into two equal halves. The letter "ж", with which the word “живот” (Bulgarian for "life") begins, is composed of the two halves of this circle, which have been turned with their back sides towards each other and joined by the diameter of the circle. This movement continues to infinity. These curved lines are called parabolas. If a body moves along such a curved line, it will go to infinity. When a body starts from the right thumb and moves upwards along the forefinger, one year, ten years, one hundred, one thousand or more years later, it will come back through the left hand, descend along the forefinger and reach the thumb of the same hand. If you join the tips of both thumbs and both forefingers, they will form the shape of the human being. These two semicircles which form upon the opening of the thumbs and the forefingers of both hands represent the polarization of human life. Consequently, man has originated from the movement of these two circles. The circle itself represents the Divine consciousness in which the human being moves. This consciousness is a common centre for all movements. The second law through which Life unfolds is the law of descending and ascending. During descent a reduction takes place, whereas during ascent widening and increasing take place. At these two points the warm and tender feeling in a person diminishes at one moment and at another moment manifests itself again, i.e. at times it decreases, at other times it increases. This pleasant feeling lasts for one moment only, but when it is lost, a certain gap remains in human consciousness. Even the smallest reason is capable of bringing a person to a position where he loses this pleasant and beautiful feeling. However you can gain this feeling in the same way that you have lost it. Consequently you should conceive Life as a moment – it manifests itself within the realms of time and space, but it is beyond time and space. Therefore Life cannot be embraced - it can only be felt. That is why a person can only note that a certain feeling has appeared, or another one has disappeared, but he cannot define when exactly it happened. The moment in which Life manifests itself is beyond time and space. If you draw a straight line over the middle of a human face, the letter "ж" will be formed. This shows that the human face gets polarized, that it can be divided into two halves. In one of them feelings occupy the first place and thoughts are second. In the other part of the face it is exactly the opposite – thoughts are in the first place and feelings are second. When we talk about the human who is made of flesh, i.e. the human who descends, we mean that his feelings have gained mastery over reason. When we talk about the spiritual human, we mean that intelligent Life has supremacy over his feelings. This can be seen from the very face of a human. When someone's lower feelings take over his thoughts, the lower part of his face gets harder and broadens; if noble thoughts and feelings prevail in him, then the upper part of his face narrows and gets more delicate. This can be used as a diagnostic tool to determine the direction in which somebody's inner life moves. For one week you should make the following observation on yourself: when you wake up in the morning, observe carefully if this pleasant feeling is present inside you. It is a constant feeling and it is present in everyone, but you have to watch yourself, perceive it properly and distinguish it from other feelings. As long as you focus on yourselves, try to feel this pleasant feeling of Life, observe it without criticizing. Some of you will notice that this feeling manifests in your mind, others – that it manifests in your heart, while others still will notice it manifesting in their consciousness. If it is in their consciousness, they will perceive it as a small, tender, pleasant light. It comes out from the centre of their consciousness as an intelligent force. Even the lightest touch of this light, of this intelligence is enough to transform a person and make him perceive things with greater wisdom. This is what awakening of consciousness and wise living mean. When you fall into a gloomy state, this light centre gradually starts to darken and small black dots which are in constant movement begin to form around it. While they are moving, they cast a shadow over the bright beams of this centre. Now I wish for you as disciples of the occult school to live and to make use of your own experiences – not the experiences of other people. As long as you use your own life experience, you will sit on the Eternal cliff where no dangers or surprises are possible. If you don’t have your own experience, then everyone will be able to deceive and fool you. You might say for some things that they are real, and for others that they aren't real. I am asking: are you alive? If you are alive, if you are on the eternal cliff, everything is real there. This can be proven easily. How? Take the candle of your life and see if you can read with its light. – “I can't read.” Since you can't read, then you aren't inside Reality. Come to me now and see if you can read with the candle of my life. – “I can read.” Since you can read then both of us are in Reality. This Reality never changes. Martyrs, who have a well-developed sense of Life, never change. Tortures, persecutions and suffering aren't able to shatter them or make them hesitate – they always preserve their feeling of Joy. Therefore, when it comes to Life, you shouldn't look for it anywhere on the outside – neither in Space, nor in the Sun. Where is Life? It is inside you. If you want to find Life you need to concentrate on yourself. This feeling of Life that occultists call Divine consciousness moves with a very high speed. It moves with such a high speed that in a single moment you can go wherever you want to – the Sun, Sirius, Venus etc. Because this movement is absolute, it seems that it absorbs all remaining movements while its own movement remains unnoticed. Those of you who haven't had such an experience would say, “It might be so, but it might also not be so.” Some day, however, when you find this feeling inside you, then you will see how high the speed of its movement is. Then you will feel that the whole Universe, all living beings – from the smallest to the largest, from the tiny flies to the Angels are within you. This movement manifests everywhere – it is Life itself. I wish that this feeling manifests within you and that all of you recognize the Life inside you. Do the following experiment: watch yourself for a whole week and see if you can discern this feeling within yourself. You will surely find something. All the ancient schools have taught us that man cannot know the lives of other people unless he gets to know his own. You shouldn't think that your present life is bad. No, it is the best life that you can have now. For the time being you cannot be given a better life than your present one. Next time I will subject one of you to a test to see what he has learnt from the lecture. The disciples will use words to offend him, and we will see if he is able to transform these words. It is not easy to pass such a test. Of course, those who will be subjected to this test should have a strong back and be able to endure. Don’t think that you will do without such tests. All of you will pass through a sieve. This test is scary! It is a whole operation which requires great composure. When they want to put somebody to the test they place him in a retort and there the tests begin. Once they see themselves in a retort, or lying on the operating table, many of you will say, "We never thought that these people who are so noble could treat us with such cruelty.” You should know that in the occult School the following morale is applied: they start badly and they finish things well. As long as the end result is positive, then the actions are considered moral. For us it is the end results which are important. You shouldn't think that we want you to give up your life. Not at all - we just want to show you the shortest route; we want to set in motion everything that has been deposited into your souls and remained there as potential for ages; we want all the seeds and forces within you to be developed and cultivated. If this is not achieved, then given the way you are living now, at some point you will stumble and come to a halt in your development. This is the reason why the occult schools have been kept hidden from people. Why? Because without understanding the laws, due to their curiosity people have caused them great mischief. They have done what some people still do to blossoming trees today: some person passes by a tree in bloom and without thinking much reaches out and breaks off a branch. After ten people break off a branch each, the tree becomes crippled. When a person does experiments there is a danger that after several people pass him by, each of them might break off a branch and cause him some harm. That is why Christ was telling His disciples that they should beware of swine. When the trees are blossoming, enjoy their scent from a distance, but don't touch their blossoms. Such is the great law of Nature. Now here is an analogy: when a school or university student is interested in the subject his teacher or professor is teaching, then the latter behaves especially well; if the student is careless about his lessons, then the professor is careless towards him, too. In the same way, as soon as we show an interest in this important psychological moment in Life, the Beings who are superior to us and who have completed their evolution, begin to show interest in us and to help us. An inner connection is established between their consciousness and ours. These Beings are close to you, but in order to feel them your consciousness needs to awaken and the tender feeling of Life to manifest inside you. Then you will feel that there is Life where you haven’t even imagined; you will feel that this Life is intelligent – something you haven’t thought of so far. Intelligent forces will then begin to flow in from places you haven't expected. This will be the result of your first experiment. In that case if you have decided to go, let’s say, to Musala, one of these intelligent Beings will start talking to you and determine the programme of your trip. It will tell you what time you should start, what paths to take, it will even tell you where you will meet a bear, so that you don’t get scared, etc. You start for Musala and everything happens as you were told. After that you will be told that you will meet an old man who will stop you and start a conversation with you; further on you will meet a beautiful young woman who will only smile at you. So you keep walking and indeed everything happens as predicted. When you get back home you remember all this and say, “Does anyone really talk to me?” Yes, of course someone talks to you. This Being makes a second attempt, then a third attempt with you; it says, “You will go to such and such a place, you will dig there and you will find a treasure. After that you will go further into the forest and after walking for ten kilometres you will dig in the soil at this particular place and you will find a valuable manuscript. You will find out the key to this manuscript and read it." I am asking now, is this an illusion or reality? – Whatever it says to you always comes true. When the spirits talk to you, however, nothing happens as they say – nothing comes true. When the intelligent higher Beings talk to you then everything turns out to be absolutely true without any exceptions. Finally, after you have done these experiments, your friend will tell you; “Be careful in your life because we see everything. Be careful in your thoughts, wishes and actions, because we know everything.” Then you will believe in this feeling inside you and will have gained valuable experience. And again you will hear the voice of your friend: “Always be cautious!” Secret prayer Source
  8. Ани

    1922_10_18 Psychic Observation

    Psychic Observation Year 2, Lecture 3 of the Youth Occult Class (Special Class) given by the Master Beinsa Douno on October 18, 1922, Wednesday 19.00h, Sofia Secret prayer The disciples' essays on the topic “The Distinguishing Characteristics of Life” were read. I will now give you a psychic exercise. You will all take out your notebooks or notepads and write down the title of the exercise: ”Psychic Observation”. The exercise is not difficult, but it isn't easy either. You need to do the exercise on an empty stomach. Exercise: hold your left hand up, with your fingers spread and bring your palm against your face. Place the index finger of your right hand on the index finger of your left hand (their tips should be touching). Observe the thought which passes through your mind at that moment, and note it down concisely, using two or three words only. It is possible that no thought passes through your mind – this shouldn't bother you. Observe whether your thought is pleasant or not, whether it is negative or positive. If it is negative, mark it with a black dot; if it is positive – with a light-coloured dot. You should be sincere in your observations, noting things as they are in reality without feeling embarrassed about it. For instance, you travel from Sofia to the village of Dragalevtzi. You see all kinds of things on both sides of the road, left and right. If you want to give an accurate description of the road, you will note everything as you saw it, without embarrassment. Do not think that if you state a given fact as it is in reality, you will look bad. This fact doesn't represent yourself; it is something separate from you. As you put your index fingers together so that their tips are touching, you should concentrate your thought for a minute. After that you will place your index finger on the middle finger of your left hand and you will again concentrate for a minute; you will observe what thought passes through your mind. Then you will place your index finger on the fourth finger of your left hand, then on the little finger, and finally - on the thumb. You will hold your index finger on each finger for a minute, observing your thoughts as before, and noting them in your notebook. As you do this exercise, you will notice that there is specific cosmic energy coming out of each finger. Each finger is a channel for a particular type of energy, a specific current. When the index finger goes through all the fingers of the left hand, you will put your hands together so that only the tips of your fingers are touching. When your hands are in this position, you will think positive thoughts. Do this exercise twice a day – in the morning and in the evening at no predetermined hour, but mostly after you have finished the work you had planned. This is the first part of the exercise. The second part of the exercise differs slightly from the first one in the following way: you hold the right hand up, fingers spread, palm against the face. The index finger of the left hand supports the index finger of the right hand, but this time at the middle point of the finger, not at the tip. When your fingers are in this position, you will concentrate your mind for about ten to twenty seconds. After that, the middle finger of the left hand will support the middle finger of the right hand and you will once again concentrate your mind. Then the fourth finger of the left hand will support the fourth finger of the right hand and so on. You will concentrate your mind for ten to twenty seconds when supporting each finger. While holding all your fingers in this position, you will raise your hands above your head, concentrate your mind for some time, and then bring your hands down. You will do that three times, then bring your hands down, but the last time they will separated from each other. You will do this exercise for a week – this means a total of fourteen times. When you do this exercise, you will observe the manifestations of your consciousness and the extent to which it is awake and expanded. Take this exercise seriously. Do it when you are by yourself, not in front of people, so that they don't spoil it. If somebody sees that you are holding one of your fingers up, he or she will say, “This person is calculating something.” When they see that you are holding two fingers up, they will wonder what it is that you are doing. The two arms of man were formed under different conditions: the right arm – during the involution* of man, whereas the left one – during his evolution. So when humans were coming down from the Invisible world, most of the energy was passing through their right arm. However, this energy had first passed through the left half of the brain, then – through the heart, and lastly – through the mind. You will be very careful when you do this exercise, and you will observe what changes take place in your consciousness. It is possible that no changes happen – this shouldn't discourage you. The exercise is interesting in itself even if you don't expect much from it. Such movement of the fingers is nothing other than music. In the future it will be possible to create such an esoteric instrument that could be played. This exercise has a practical application. When you are feeling down and risk losing your balance, do this exercise a few times until you restore your normal state. You should reflect on your thoughts while touching each finger. When you touch your index finger, you will say to yourself, “I must be noble in all my deeds!” When you touch your middle finger, you will say to yourself, “I must be just, to reason correctly about all things in Life!” When touching the fourth finger, you will say to yourself, “I must love science and art!” When touching the little finger, you will say to yourself, “I must be equitable in all my business deals, to comply with all the laws of the material world!” Therefore you will make yourself the master of your objective mind and you will say to it, “Listen, I want you to be a noble, just, reasonable servant, do not lie to me or steal from me, and finalize your deals properly. If you don't follow these instructions, I will fire you.” This is how you will converse with yourself, with your objective mind. When it realizes that it has a good, reasonable master, the objective mind is always ready to listen. There are two minds manifest in a person, but the Higher mind should rule over the objective mind. It is the objective mind that dominates in animals, which is why they are cruel. It is the subjective mind that dominates in herbivorous animals. The Bible calls these two minds “the two men” – the man of Flesh and the man of Spirit, who always live together. When you do the exercise you should also think about the planets that correspond to each of the fingers. The thumb, for example, is influenced by Venus, the index finger – by Jupiter, the middle finger – by Saturn, the fourth finger – by the Sun, and the little finger – by Mercury. Once you complete both parts of the exercise, you will do the following movement of the fingers: you will place the right index finger on the tip of the left little finger and you will slide the index finger down the hand, all the way to the wrist; from there you will slide it up to the tip of the fourth finger; from there again down to the wrist and up to the tip of the middle finger; from the tip of that finger, the index finger slides down to the wrist and then up to the tip of the left index finger; from there down and up to the tip of the thumb. In this way the right index finger will go to all the planets, passing through Mars – the planet of war, and the Moon – the planet of the imagination. The fingers of the hand should be spread apart. When you do the exercise, it is good to note the exact hour, minute and second you started it. This exercise requires great precision because it is connected with time and space. It is preferable that you do that according to the sun clock. Those who are sensitive may do the exercise the moment the first sun rays appear on the horizon. It is then that you will have excellent results. Whoever is sensitive can turn their backs to the east and feel when the first sun rays appear. Exactly at that moment, they will feel slight pleasant warmth in the Solar plexus. The spine is capable of perceiving the warmth of the first sun rays since it is connected to the sympathetic nerve system. Someday we could do the following experiment: in the morning before sunrise, the whole class will go out in the open, turn their backs to the east and concentrate. Everyone needs to be blindfolded at the time in order not to be able to see. I will be on the watch to see when the first sun rays appear. I will be asking you from time to time if the Sun has risen. Those, who are sensitive and have sensed that slight warmth in the Solar plexus, will immediately say, “The Sun has risen!” Everyone can do these experiments on their own and test their sensitivity. Sometimes you sense that warmth, but you doubt whether the Sun has risen or not. Every doubt causes a split of consciousness. As soon as your consciousness splits, you lose your inner impressions. * Involution is a term used by the Master Beinsa Douno which means the opposite of evolution. Source
  9. Distinctive Qualities of the Will Year 2, Lecture 2 of the Youth Occult Class (Special Class) given by the Master Beinsa Douno on October 11, 1922, Sofia Without fear! Without darkness! Secret prayer For next time, please write on the following topic: "Distinctive features of Life". What are the distinctive qualities of the will? The first quality of the will is firmness. Firmness is the supporting pillar of the will. So the will has to be as firm and unwavering as a crag. The second quality of the will is bravery and fearlessness. The third quality of the will is the ability to apply things in practice, to bring them to realization, but without procrastination. Often a negative thought would come to a person's mind. Can't the manifestation of will stop the person in his act? When we talk about will, we have its positive manifestations in mind. The negative displays of will are accidents. If a train stops in the middle of the track, this is an accident. Its stops are pre-determined - from one station to another. Every stop which is different from the specified ones isn't part of the timetable of the train. Therefore firmness, bravery, fearlessness, and ability to apply things in practice are necessary qualities for the will to manifest itself in the physical world. In addition to the physical world, the will manifests in the mental world as well. The distinctive qualities of the will in the mental world are understanding, realizing, grasping, and sensing. What you have understood, you will realize; what you have realized, you will grasp, what you have grasped, you will sense. Can you go from the stage of grasping to that of understanding? No, you will walk in a consecutive fashion. One of the distinctive qualities of the will in the Divine world is its nobility - the will must be noble and be motivated a noble impulse, a noble stimulus. When you know the distinctive qualities of the will in three different worlds, you will be able to influence your body, your heart, and your brain. For example, understanding, realizing, grasping and sensing are methods through which you can influence the front part of your brain. The closer a certain brain centre is to the physical world, the bigger the influence it is subjected to from the physical qualities of the will - firmness, bravery, fearlessness without procrastination. The development of the upper part of the brain, i.e. the development of moral feelings can be achieved through noble stimulus, which is brought about by compassion, truthfulness, love of God and love of the fellow men. The human body serves as a tool for exercising the will. In order to come into contact, into direct communication or proper exchange with the powers of Nature, by all means you need to know how to control your body. The organs in the body have to be under the control of the will. People make volitional and non-volitional movements, their bodies have volitional and non-volitional functions which shows that many things don't depend on their will. For example palpitation, thoughts, feelings are outside of the control of human will. The science of the occult offers a number of methods for controlling human thoughts and feelings. As much as people may deny the fact that thoughts and feelings are out of the control of the will, this can be proved easily: it is enough for somebody to pierce you with a needle and you would jump immediately and change your mental state, even reach a point of explosion. Exploding, getting angry are processes which are out of the will's control. They are processes of fermentation. Each fermentation process is due to a special kind of bacteria which causes souring. Many similar bacteria exist in the physical, as well as in other words. In order to free yourselves from the influence of these bacteria, you need to exercise your will and thus affect the brain, especially the power of imagination. The brain must be under the will's control. Imagination represents the opening in the dark room, the camera obscura, which needs to have light-sensitive photography glass in it. It is up to the photographer whether he will open or close this camera obscura. When he is about to take a photograph, he opens the camera. When imagination is not under the will's control, the lense of this camera is continuously open. As a result timely and untimely, conscious and unconscious imprints are made in the brain. If you understand the laws of Nature, you will know when to open and close this camera. There are situations when you don't need any external impressions at all. For example, two people are arguing, you stop, open your camera, and take impressions. These impressions are passed on to the brain and two or three hours later they are still being played out in your mind. Some time needs to pass before these impressions wear off and the brain returns to its normal state. Take another scenario: you are passing by a restaurant at 12pm - it is time for lunch. You want to go in and have a meal. You feel your pockets and it turns out that you don't have any money. You start walking down the streets dissatisfied and indisposed as you keep bringing to mind the image of all these people eating. You pass by a second restaurant, then a third one and you see everybody eating. Your mood keeps deteriorating and you wonder why you have to fast today. Through this fast mindful beings have put you through a test to examine your will. On that specific day you shouldn't walk by restaurants. Of course that is exactly when you have the desire to walk around all the restaurants hoping that you will meet some friend who will invite you for lunch. On that day you should stay home and philosophize about it, "So many years I have been eating and drinking. What have I gained from this? Can't I not eat and fast for at least one day?" That is how an occult disciple should think. Fasting for a day doesn't mean torturing oneself with hunger. Staying hungry for a day is incidental, it is something temporary in life which should be perceived in a positive way. As you can see, Nature's methods are completely different from man's. Things in Nature aren't as systematic as people would have them be. At first sight, everything in Nature seems disorderly. When you climb onto mountain tops, you see valleys, forests and fields where everything is in a big state of disorder - here you see big trees and right next to them - some small ones; there you see big and small flowers all mixed up; somewhere else you see big and small stones next to each other or they are scattered around. You watch and you wonder at this disorder. When a human arranges a garden, in the first rows he puts the smaller flowers, then the bigger ones and arranges everything in this consecutive order. If he arranges stones, he will first place the smaller ones, then the bigger ones, etc. However, someone who understands the laws will be able to see through the external disorder and understand the sensibility, the intelligence of Nature. When moving in Nature it is important to think and to study Nature's methods and laws. Learn about the development of one tree and you will see what harmony exists in its different parts. You see that one tree has bent a little. This is not accidental. The bending of the tree shows that it has met some kind of obstacle on its way. In order to overcome this obstacle the tree has bent a little. It means that some intelligence has supervised the development of this tree. Therefore, when we see warping or some kind of disorder in Nature this hints at the unfavourable conditions which exist on Earth. If these conditions have been overcome, this shows that great intelligence exists in Nature. Similarly, human thoughts and feelings are scattered and disharmonious. Why? Because the conditions you live in aren't optimal. What do you need to do? You need to rebuild your brain and your heart. How will you rebuild them? By putting new content in them - new thoughts and feelings. Rebuilding your brain doesn't mean ruling over it. People often say that they need to take rule over Nature. No, nobody can ever rule over Nature. Nature represents the body of God. God will never let anybody rule over His body and do with it as he pleases. By wanting to impose their rule on Nature, contemporary people get into big misfortunes and evil. Thus Nature gives them a good lesson and shows them that they can't rule over it. They need to obey her and listen to her. Do you think that the father will let his son put a strap on his mouth and play with him as if he were a toy-horse? Ruling over Nature means ruling over our thoughts, feelings, and desires. Another distortion that can be observed in contemporary people is their belief that they need to influence and control each other. This is easy but it isn't allowed. The Dark Brotherhood has a number of methods for that. If you tie the legs and arms of a sleeping person, you have already taken over him. After he wakes up you will tell him: "Now you have to obey my orders." What do you gain by doing that? You can take control over the person's body but never over his mind and his heart. After he frees himself from the rope, he will do the same with you. While someone is sleeping you can tie him up, and once he is tied up, you can exert an influence on him, but after he wakes up the influence will remain only over his body, not his mind, heart, soul or Spirit – these can never be tied up or obey someone else's orders. Thus exercising the will of The White Brotherhood requires every thought to be pure, frank, proper and noble. A strong will expresses itself in conciliatory deeds, not in rough physical action as contemporary people see it. Imagine that one day you are given one hundred opportunities to do evil and one opportunity to do good. Your willpower will show in these hundred cases if you use it in a conciliatory way. However, if you commit a hundred evil deeds, the one good deed won't be able to compensate for all the crimes you have committed. Therefore, everybody needs to exercise self-control and use his will to understand his relation to Nature and to his fellow men. In order to study the manifestations of the will you need to watch the plants. If you go into a pine wood, for example, you will see that pines grow near to each other and take on the shape of a cone. By growing close to each other they save space. Pines transfer this quality to elms, as well as to other trees that grow around them. For example, elms that grow near pines take on a conical shape, but if they are far from them, they grow both upwards sideways. Pines, however, always keep their conical shape. This shows that pines have spiritual discipline, they aren't materialist. Therefore, when it expands sideways, the will has materialistic aspirations; when it keeps its conical shape and its constant desire to grow upwards, its aspirations are spiritual. I will now give you a method for the development of the will. This is the so called conciliatory method. It is only for people who have a strong will. The method is as follows. Imagine that you are a student, you have 25 000 leva in savings for your allowance but somebody accidentally gets into the room and steals your money. This sets off a number of trials: your landlady throws you out of her house, the restaurant owner doesn’t allow you to eat in his place, your friends leave you and you remain on the street alone, without accommodation, wandering through the streets without any help. When you imagine this, watch yourself to see what feelings awaken in you. If you get scared and say to yourself that you hope such a trial never comes to you, you will have failed. Irrespective of how much you pray to be spared such a trial, there is a possibility of it happening to you, and there is a possibility of it not happening to you. Both are possible. Do you think that when you enter a musical school you won't be given difficult exercises? If the student says to his teacher that he only wants easy exercises, the teacher will say, "Go and find another teacher!" Those who want to learn must be ready to do all exercises - both the easy and the difficult ones. If you go to a painter, you will experience the same. If you say that you want easy exercises only, the teacher will say, "Go and find another teacher!" Therefore, once you enter the occult School, you should expect difficult tasks. If you are under the illusion that you will be given easy tasks only, the teacher will say, "Go and find another teacher! This school isn't for you!" Therefore, just as exercises are necessary in science, music and art, methods are necessary in occult science too. If you don't apply in practice the methods that are given to you, you will not reach the intended aim and will not gain the necessary knowledge. There are people in the world with a strong, firm will. When the time comes for an operation, such a person gives his arm for an incision to be made without any anaesthetic. He remains calm, not a single muscle quivers on his face and when the operation ends, he says, "Have you finished already?" How did he develop that will? He did it with the help of exercises, by applying different methods in practice. I would like you to have that kind of will as well. When the knife reaches the bone, to be able to put your hand upon the wound and in twenty minutes for it to be healed. A person with a strong will can do that. Why? Because he can concentrate the prana in the air and aim it at his wound. In order to achieve that kind of willpower, you need to be merciless about your mistakes - not to criticize yourself but to state things the way a seismograph registers earthquakes or the way the light-sensitive slab in photography imprints images. Don't be blind to your mistakes, but correct them! How will you correct your mistakes? Visit any musical school and you will see how the teacher corrects his student. They play together and if the student makes a mistake somewhere, the teacher says, "You don't play correctly, start again". And they both start again. After the disciple corrects his mistake, the teacher says, "Now let's move on, take the next position!" When making a mistake, should the student put the bow down, start crying and say, "Teacher, forgive me, I made a mistake"? There is no reason to cry or to interrupt the process of playing. He needs to move on. And so when you make a mistake, don't put the violin and the bow to the side but go on making one attempt after the other until in the end the tones of your violin blend with the tones of your teacher's violin. After that continue forward.What is the violin for a human? The violin represents the human body. What do music students do? When things don't go well, they sell their violin. Keep the following rule sacred: even in the hardest conditions in life do not sell your violin! A violinist who sells his violin because of difficult circumstances in Life is doomed to great suffering. - "He had debts, which he had to pay for." - If he has debts he should play. In this way he will pay for his debts more easily than if he sells his violin. From an occult point of view, it is not allowed for a disciple to sell his violin. If he sells his violin, he will find himself out of the school. Every disciple must have his own violin; the school doesn't loan violins. Therefore, no matter what your body is like, or what kind of deformities it has, you are able fix it. How? You can fix it through exercises. Just as the sound of a violin gets better and better with playing, in the same way a human body can be improved and developed through exercises and effort. For example, this year I may give you the task of working on your nose - of elongating it or to widening it by 1-2 millimetres. It is easier to widen the nose than to elongate it. In order to make your will steady and positive, you need to change the thumb and the lower part of your chin. The lower part of the chin needs to jut out a little and have a small hollow. This shapes the chin, gives it a nicer form. The thumb has to widen and elongate. If you are unable to achieve that, what kind of will do you have? You say that people influence each other. I am asking, when you were students what influence did you render at university? You have convictions but you are afraid of people getting to know you, and try to pass unnoticed. You want to be like the rich tradesman who tries to pass unnoticed by the robbers, so that they don't rob him. That is the way a cowardly man acts. Whoever has a positive creed, a positive conviction, should be ready to defend his creed not with words but with actions. A man with conviction is like a current that passes through wires - wherever it passes it produces light and warmth. The minds of most secular people function mainly around the ears, near the temples, and as a result of this their thought can't move to the upper part of the brain. The experienced gardener sends the water there in order to moisturize these parts and induce higher thoughts in them. That is the way Nature works. How does it educate the materialist villager? As long as the harvest is rich, he goes around the taverns, drinks, says cheers to friends, doesn't think about anything. In order to make him think, Nature starts educating him. How? It sends drought. The villager sows but the harvest is small and the drought is big. The villager sits and thinks, "What is this about? How have I sinned before God?'' He thinks and raises his eyes upward. If no rain comes in the next two to three years, all that was planted will dry up. The villager becomes more reflective and more humble. Therefore when Nature wants to educate someone, she takes away from him the objects that divert his attention and prevent him from thinking. Another method which Nature uses with materialists is placing wedges. This method doesn’t need too much talking. You pass by any materialist and say to him quietly, "Do you think that matter is something real?" or "Do you think that our present life is permanent?'' You say these words and walk away, they are like wedges in a person's thought process. Then the person starts thinking. Nature aims to compel man to think, not to convince him. After his thought starts operating, he will search for you, he will want to speak with you upon the matter. But in this case too don't talk to him for too long, let him talk. When he expresses his thoughts, ask him: "Do you think that your views are right?" This will offend him and he will go on speaking and trying to prove that his views are right. When he talks you should listen to him carefully. It's enough to awaken his interest once and he will start looking for other opportunities to speak with you. He doesn't succumb, he even fights back consciously, but his thought starts working. Once his thought starts working, the energy of the new thought penetrates him and starts watering the upper centres of the brain. This method is called the method of plugging up. Through this method you will plug up the person in one place, so that he will search for an exit from somewhere else. You should make small experiments of this kind and see what results you will have. Reflection Without fear in boundless Love!
  10. Points of Contact in Nature Year 2, Lecture 1 of the Youth Occult Class (Special Class) given by the Master Beinsa Douno on October 4, 1922, Sofia Greeting: Without fear! Without darkness! Secret prayer All people ask themselves what good and evil in life are. Evil is useful in life as well as in nature, but it is not a necessity. When connected with the negative forces in nature, evil becomes a necessity. It represents the lowest vibrational frequency of Good. In life Bad, i.e. evil people, act as drains that impurities pass through. It has been written in the Scriptures that there exist impure and pure vessels. The impure vessels are bad people, while the pure ones are good people. Once they realize what kind of service they perform, evil people begin to suffer, gradually improve, and change their way of life. While they are not yet able to improve, they are dissatisfied with good people and say that they suffer because of them. This is the reason why evil people don't have a good disposition towards good people. Now that you know this, you should show understanding towards evil people. This is the occult view of evil. This explanation, however, isn't meant to encourage evil, but rather to help you understand its deep meaning as a law in nature, as a temporary necessity. As long as there are impurities in the world, there must also exist drains, vessels that these impurities can flow through. In the world, good and evil represent two schools with completely different programs and methods. The student of the first school should not pass into the second one, because he will lose the place which nature has determined for him. As long as he is in the first school, i.e. the School of the White Brothers, he will work with his head and his chest. Once he enters the second school, that of the dark brothers, he will work with the stomach and the liver where inevitably he will ferment. Therefore a man can live either in his head and lungs or in his stomach and liver. Then he will work according to the laws of either the White Brotherhood or the Dark Brotherhood. These two laws manifest everywhere in life. When someone raises only one finger, the index finger, for example, he wants to indicate with this gesture that he serves the White Brotherhood. The index finger is the flag of the White Brotherhood. When someone lifts two fingers - the index and the middle fingers, this indicates: "I serve both brotherhoods", or: "I give blessings on behalf of both brotherhoods, i.e. I will speak the truth when needed, when not - I will hide it." The two fingers are a sign of contradiction. This is dual morality: when the question is about God, I will work according to the first morals; when the question is about evil, I will work with both morals. In the first case I will work with the head and the chest, in the second one - with the stomach or the liver. It is up to you which rights a man should use - the rights of the white brothers or those of the dark brothers. When you raise both fingers and look at them this indicates that your subconsciousness is warning you to be careful in your actions and in your choice of method. By choosing the first method you will gradually learn to think correctly, you will learn that evil is not a punishment, nor is it something superfluous that you can change. One thing is expected of you: to be careful not to disturb the balance that exists between good and evil. The ratio between good and evil is determined by nature: for every one hundred good people there are ten bad people; and the other way round: for every one hundred evil people there are ten good ones. This is the first ratio, which is also the best one. There exist other ratios too: for every hundred good people - fifty evil ones, and the other way round, for every one hundred evil people - fifty good ones. The third ratio is as follows: for every one hundred good people - seventy-five evil ones, or for every one hundred evil people - seventy-five good ones. If for a given time period of 100 years the first ratio is in place - ten evil people for every one hundred good ones, a positive energy influx covering all aspects of life will be felt in the world; if it should happen that among one hundred evil people ten would be good, there would be a receding tide. For example, when a spiritual or religious wave comes into the world, then according to the first ratio, for every one hundred people ten people are non-religious; in the reverse case, for every one hundred non-religious people ten are religious, spiritual, good people. In no case can the number of good people fall below ten percent. There will never be a time when good people disappear from the world. The numbers one and ten are equally strong numbers. The number one represents the power of good people. Thus you should know that the positive and negative powers, i.e. good and evil are necessary for you but you should deal with them most wisely. This means that you shouldn't criticize each other and look for your negative traits, because you will get infected by them. When a student makes a mistake and strays from his path, the others should carefully look for the reason for his mistake, because they too can undergo the same trial. You cannot be judgmental about people's mistakes before you come to know Truth. How many ways are there to say the truth? There is only one way. If you use another way it will not contain the truth. For example, you visit a poor family. You stay there for an hour or two, it becomes dark and the host lights up a candle so that you can see each other better and continue your conversation in a lit up room. After an hour passes the host extinguishes the candle. "Why did you blow out the candle?" - "Sir, I am a poor man, my earnings are limited. If I let the candle burn out I won't have the money to get another one. Therefore if I light it up for a short time only it will last longer." This man speaks the truth. You visit another poor family, here too the host extinguishes the candle. "Why did you blow out the candle?" "Because, as you can see, we have a window looking out at the street and everybody can look into the room through the window." This man doesn't speak the truth. He points to the window as an excuse for blowing out the candle. In reality the reason is poverty. When you are asked something, you also answer either in the first or in the second way. Some of you say: I extinguished the candle because I can't afford to purchase a second one. The rest of you say: I extinguished the candle because people from outside look through the window to see what is going on inside. In other words, when one of the students makes a mistake he is ready to say the truth as it is in reality. He says: "I committed the crime, I am guilty because I don' t have enough moral strength to endure the trial." The disciple whom I compare to the second host says: "It is true that I have made a mistake but the fault lies with my friend who led me astray." I am asking, what kind of a disciple is he who follows his friend's lead? The disciple can follow only the lead of his Master. In order for you to come to know your Master I will describe to you the distinctive qualities of the Master of the White Brotherhood, as well as those of the one from the Dark Brotherhood. How does the good teacher differ from the evil teacher? The master of the Dark Brotherhood doesn't know truth and for this reason he pays great attention to the exterior: he dresses well in the best and most fashionable clothes, wears expensive jewellery, has rings with different precious stones. He says to his students: "Remember that you can find truth only with me." The Master of the White Brotherhood dresses in a modest yet always clean and neat way, and without any rings or other decorations. He says to his students: "Don't expect too much of me!" Therefore in order not to fall in error the disciple should know his Master not externally but internally. When a disciple of the School of the White Brotherhood visits his Master and starts to recount about some teacher who is very advanced and knowledgeable, the Master will not start attacking this teacher and calling him names, but will say: "You are right, this teacher knows much more than I do. He can accomplish certain things that I wouldn't dare to attempt. In this respect he is above me." "In such case I could go to him." "Go to him, you can learn something." He doesn't restrict his disciples but gives them full freedom instead. By going to the new teacher the disciple changes his place immediately: from the head he goes down to the stomach and the intestines where the impurities are, after which he ends up in the liver. When he sinks in these dark factories he starts to understand his first teacher and says: "I no longer wish to remain here. I would like to leave this prison as soon as possible. By not wearing any external decorations such as rings and other adornments, the Master of the White Brotherhood wants his disciple to find the inner wealth and purity of his teacher, his inner and not his external radiance. Realizing his inner poverty and dryness, the teacher of the Dark Brotherhood says: I will dress in rich clothes with fine adornments to be able to show my students what great wealth is in my possession." These are things of external value. Whoever has the desire to exhibit external wealth is poor on the inside. Whoever seems to be externally poor is internally rich. Beware of external delusions and remember that whenever a lot of promises are made, little is given; whenever little is promised, giving is generous. In the first situation you will run into beings of different levels of mental and emotional development and if you attempt to criticize them you will come under their influence. This is what fighting evil means. Whoever has tried to fight evil has always been defeated. All initiates and masters who have tried to fight evil have failed. Evil never succumbs, it is never defeated nor can it be brought under control. As an initiate, Apostle Paul said: "Defeat evil through Good." Thus Good can only partially restrain evil, so that these two powers can be balanced. Besides these two kinds of teachers there exists also a third one. These teachers make use of the methods of both brotherhoods but belong to none of them. Many of the teachers of the Dark Brotherhood have completed the school of the White Brotherhood, know all the methods and use them for the Dark Brotherhood. After finishing the school of the White Brotherhood some of the Masters of that school have also attended the school of the Dark Brotherhood so that they too know the methods of both brotherhoods. They use the methods of one or the other school according to the occasion. They take the liberty to do so because they are of a higher hierarchy than the others. The Masters of the White Brotherhood use the methods of their own school. The teachers of the Dark Brotherhood, who know the methods of both schools, often use the methods of the White Brotherhood for the benefit of their school. You need to know this because when you study the occult you may run into great difficulties and conflict. As disciples of a school of the occult you need to know your powers, because at the present stage of your development, with your present knowledge and moral strength, it is impossible for you to handle certain powers of nature. Why? - Because you can't withstand their inner pressure. I am talking to you now about these things in order for you to learn to differentiate between someone who speaks the truth and someone who doesn't. The Master of the White Brotherhood, the Master of truth brings three things with himself: freedom for the soul, light for the mind, and purity for the heart. The teacher of the Dark Brotherhood brings with himself enslavement for the soul, darkness for the mind, and impurity, defilement of the heart. These are the distinctive qualities of the schools of Light and of darkness, which every one has experienced. If you come across the school of darkness, immediately you will be prescribed a number of laws and rules which you simply must obey. As soon as you start obeying them you will notice that you fall into slavery and confinement. A long time may pass before you can be freed. It is difficult to escape from the iron hoops of slavery. Who can free you? - Truth. What will bring enlightenment to your mind? - Wisdom. What will purify your heart? - Love. What is Love? - Love is the most dangerous power in the world. Wherever it goes, it takes everything away: it opens and empties the purses of the rich, it carries away the full granaries of the farmers, it takes away the masters' servants. How does Love do it? By removing the servants' head-stalls. For a while it seems as if the connection between the master and the servant is severed, but later without the head-stall the servant goes to help his master free willingly. When this occurs you need to either accept love, or if you think that love has come prematurely, refuse it. - No, everyone needs to open their arms widely to accept love: the rich will empty their purses, the farmers - their granaries; the masters will free their servants. What should the state, the government give to love? One of the first forms of governing was monarchism, conservatism, i.e. repression. I am using this form of governing as a symbol, for clarification. I call these explanations first degree explanations. This means looking at the symbol as it is reflected in the nation. After that I will use another symbol figuratively, i. e. as a second-degree explanation. Such a symbol is the extinguishing of the flame of a candle. In this case the candle symbolizes life. Therefore every symbol should be examined first in its closest, most recognizable form, the way people use it, and later in its figurative sense. I wish that this year real, mindful harmony be created among you, but free willingly, not by force. This doesn't mean that you should tolerate everybody, but, knowing the law, at least not criticize each other. It is not a question of remaining blind to evil but rather of knowing that it is needed in this world. As soon as you see it you can distance yourselves from it. Once it becomes needed, evil has the right to exist. If it wasn't needed, it wouldn't exist. You are sitting somewhere entranced and suddenly an evil thought enters your mind. Why did this evil thought come? It came in order to take you out of this stupor. You need to be alert and not to get carried away. Therefore good and evil, positive and negative powers in nature, are as necessary as the floods and tides of the ocean. For example, you are sitting on a rock contemplating about God's Love, not realizing that the conditions where you are sitting do not comply with this Love. A child with a stone in its hand comes by, throws it at you and injures your head. This is a rising tide of evil which was aimed at you. Immediately you jump from the rock and start chasing the child. This way you were saved. Since you got carried away while sitting on the rock, if you hadn't run after the child you would have fallen into the precipice and lost your life. Without realizing it the child helped you escape this situation. There are hidden intelligent beings behind it who directed it to throw the stone at you. In this case you say: " Come evil, as it is worse without you". Therefore when someone injures your head and causes you sorrow, remember that rational beings did this through the child, thus wishing to tell you that you haven't come to this world to live blissfully. It is not a world of bliss. Therefore as long as you are in this world you shouldn't get carried away. Once you go to heaven you can get entranced, sing and jump as much as you like. In addition to high tides of evil there are also influxes of Good. Again you are sitting on the rock, but this time you are desperate, discouraged, ready to commit suicide. The same child passes by, throws the stone and fractures your skull. You drop the gun, put your hands on your head and forget about committing suicide. Good people come to your aid in this moment. They bandage your head and say some encouraging words. You relax, start thinking reasonably and say to yourself: "I am thankful to the child who injured my head, because if this hadn't happened I would have lost my life." Many such cases happen in life to good as well as to bad people in order to free them from evil. When an evil thought comes to your mind its purpose is to remind you that the world you live in is not yet the Kingdom of God, that you need to be alert. When a good thought comes to your mind its purpose is to advise you about which good deed to perform. These are thoughts you need to keep in mind as disciples of the occult. You may have many other philosophical thoughts, this is good too. This way you will be able to determine the degree to which the rules given to you are plausible. By evil and good, by negative and positive powers I mean powers that work in two opposite directions: evil operates in the roots, good - in the branches, in the blossoms. However both evil and good are necessary for life's development. Their services are strictly allocated. One day when you complete your evolution the Great Brothers who guide both schools as well as all of humanity will arrange a new way of living which is completely different to the present one. In the present conditions of life the plant lives like a plant with its head stuck in the ground; the animal lives like an animal; man - like a man, Irrespective of how much effort man makes, he cannot yet live like an angel. In the future man will pass through the favorable conditions of the angels, this however is not possible today. All of you are aiming towards the pre-determined peak but you need to remember that there is only one way that leads to this peak. The Master who is leading you is standing on that peak and saying: "There is only one way but there are turns that go down or sideways. Whatever diversion you may take, at the end of all ends you will see that the path is only one, the peak is only one." When you complete your evolution, i.e. when you reach the peak, you will meet your Master, who will show you a wide open field and say: "Now you can go wherever you wish, you are free." Until you reach the peak you will follow one path towards your Master. As soon as you reach him, many other ways open up and you can freely make a choice. As long as you are on the earthly plane there exists no freedom. Freedom exists high above, on the peak. Gaining freedom implies completion of one for of evolution and entering another one, a completely new one. In your present state you need to guard yourselves against delusions and thinking that another way besides the one pointed out to you, other easier methods for work may exist. The way is one and the methods are many, but remember that there are no easy methods in the world. Don't delude yourselves into thinking that because you are young you have the power to change the world. While they are students, young people think that they will write a book with which they will improve the world or that they will give a talk which will cause a radical change in people's way of thinking. Many of the prophets and teachers also have the same idea, but the Great Teachers who rule the cosmos know that everything will happen according to a completely new plan. When? After the end of this era. Now that you know this you should avoid criticism and not occupy yourselves with your negative qualities. This is a requirement of the science of the occult. When you stumble into one of your negative qualities immediately replace it with a good one. Do the same with your friends and brothers as well. Pay attention to what is good in yourselves an in your next of kin. Try as much as possible to avoid thinking about your shortcomings. You do just the opposite as if you have made it your conscious aim to occupy yourselves with your shortcomings. What happens in this case? Unknowingly you find yourselves in the Dark Brotherhood. The opposite happens too: if a student of the Dark Brotherhood is occupied with the positive qualities of his character he becomes a student of the White Brotherhood. Therefore I recommend that you work with your positive qualities. Regard your negative qualities as remnants of the past. I am not interested in the negative qualities of a disciple. I care to hear the truth from him. A doctor for example questions the sick person about his condition not because he is interested in his stomach or heart, but because he wants to know where the sickness is located. By pointing out your faults my intention is to help you free yourselves from them. In order to achieve this you need to know which virtue corresponds to the given fault. In this way you will influence yourselves. Good will chase out evil. I am not looking for the evil in you in order to reprimand you but rather to show you methods which cultivate the good instead of the bad. As disciples of an occult school you ought to act judiciously. I will not be telling you to be good and judicious. I am giving you methods instead which will help you act in the right way, judiciously. The mind needs to be fed food that conforms with reason. You may say that one needs to read books to feed his mind. - Do you know, however, what books you need to read? Do you know how you need to read? I would recommend to you the works of Shakespeare, Goethe, Kant or to read about the lives and deeds of the prophets and apostles. Many of the disciples read indiscriminately any book that finds its way into their hands and as a result their mind becomes cluttered. They spoil their taste for the truly beautiful and consider this or that not worthy. They become great critics with a high opinion of themselves. Once they notice that you are very knowledgeable, the White or the Dark Brotherhood will invite you to do some service. These schools need knowledgeable, educated people. If you are invited by the White Brotherhood, you will be sent as a preacher to a large church in America. After ten years you will be evaluated as to what category of preachers you fall into and how good your sermons are. If the Dark Brotherhood invites you, you will be made the prime minister of Bulgaria and will be instructed that these people cannot be governed with goodness and morality, but with an iron fist, with prisons. Thus you start sentencing one after the other until you make many enemies and accumulate a heavy karmic debt. All those you have jailed will create a number of misfortunes for you. This is what happens when someone is very knowledgeable. If someone knows a lot both schools will put him to work for their own benefit. For this reason disciples are advised to have positive knowledge and science. It is advisable for a disciple to be humble. The disciple must know every moment with certainty the source of every feeling, every action, every impulse - whether it comes from the right or from the left side. Every thought can have only two results, either good or bad. A thought may have good consequences in the beginning and bad ones in the end. And the other way round - it may have bad consequences in the beginning and good ones in the end. The same can be said about feelings and actions. And so all thoughts which cause constriction to the mind and deprive it of purity come from the left side and should be eliminated without fail. You have nothing to do with them. On the other hand, all thoughts which bring purity, light, and freedom come from the right side. Welcome these thoughts in yourselves and allow them to grow. When I speak of purity I mean living purity. Purity is mobile as are the colours of the spectrum. If you place a glass prism over a white cloth it will be colored according to the colours of the spectrum but only as long as the prism is exposed to sunlight. As soon as the rays of the sun stop passing through the prism, the cloth turns white again as it was before. Truth acts in the same way: it colours, beautifies things without staining them. As long as the prism of truth acts upon a certain object it colours it red, blue, green or any other colour; as soon as the prism is removed, the object turns back to its original state. You complain that someone has tainted you. This is an easy problem to solve. It is enough to remove the prism of truth from you in order for you to become pure again. In the White Brotherhood you can be tainted and you can become pure again. However in the Dark Brotherhood once you are tainted you cannot return to your original state of purity. Their colouring cannot be removed. The people of darkness are tainted with the colour from the Dark Brotherhood. Thousands of years must pass before they can remove this stain. Therefore in the White Brotherhood as well as in the Dark Brotherhood a cloth gets tainted but with the difference that a cloth tainted with the prism of the White Brotherhood can instantly become pure again, whereas in the Dark Brotherhood this is impossible. Living purity is connected with the law of Love and with the law of Wisdom. As long as you abide by these two laws you are pure. As soon as you make the slightest deviation you loose your purity. Living purity is not a constant quality of man. It is mainly a quality of love. This means that as long as love is present in a person's heart he or she is pure. Purity is a quality simultaneously of the mind and of the heart. Light is a quality only of the mind. As soon as light disappears from the mind, darkness and gloom set in. This is the diagnosis which defines the state of your mind and of your heart. These conditions further determine what path you will take. I wish for you to have this living purity. When it is present in your mind and heart you are joyous and cheerful. Man is not born pure, he becomes so later in life. Light appears instantly. It takes a long time for it to get ready, it manifests itself in an instant and disappears instantly as well. Thus living purity is a quality of mindful love. He who wishes to have this purity needs to be connected with love. Love excludes impurity, suffering, envy, hatred. It excludes all negative manifestation of life. Wherever love is absent all negative qualities exist. Wherever love enters there is peace, joy, gladness, growth, and freedom. When someone says that he suffers because of love he doesn't understand the law of love. We completely disagree with such a statement. One cannot suffer because of love. One suffers only when he loses love. This is a completely different matter. For as long as love abides in a person and illumines him, he is joyous and glad. When love abandons him he starts suffering. Why? There is no one to lighten him up. Therefore suffering and sorrow indicate that you have lost your love, that your candle has been extinguished, and that the object of your love has moved away from you. This may come contrary to your ideas about love but you can accept it as a new attitude. In the future when you write new literary works you will need to use a new language. At present you write: "This person is weeping for his lost love". Then you will write: "This man is weeping because his candle has gone out". Or "He or she is suffering because of the extinguished love, the extinguished truth." Sometimes you say that when someone is in love he or she becomes absent minded. In reality one becomes absent minded because of fear of losing his love or because he has lost it. He resembles a man who has lost his money. Love awakens in man the most sublime feelings and thoughts. If someone is weak, cowardly, hesitant and lacks intelligence, he lives without love. He who wishes to be intelligent, talented needs to acquire love and live with it. I am not speaking about that which people call love. These are feelings, passions which make a person unhappy. The disciple works with the common, human love and the Master - with the sublime love. When the Master speaks he uses every word appropriately. He knows why he uses a certain word, he knows what an effect it will produce. When a student speaks he doesn't know why he uses one word or the other. The Master's Love has been tried, it cannot be tested. The love of the disciple has not been tried, it needs to be tested. The knowledge of the Master has been tried, it need not be further tested. The knowledge of the disciple has not yet been tried and needs to be tested. The purity of the Master has been tried. He has passed through this test. The purity of the disciple has not been tried, it needs to be tested. Therefore the love, knowledge, purity, compassion of the disciple need to be tested. This is necessary and appropriate. Do not think that you can go a different way. This is the path that all your teachers have passed through, this is the path which you will also pass through. If you are tempted to criticize, you will delay your evolution. Boundless Love! Ceaseless Wisdom! Constant Truth! Write these thoughts down and work on them throughout the whole year. Contemplation. Without fear in boundless Love! Source
  11. Ани

    1922_08_02 Functioning Of The Heart

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

    1922_07_26 Possibilities

    Possibilities Year 1, Lecture 20 of the Youth Occult Class (Special Class) given by the Master Beinsa Douno on July 26, 1922, Wednesday 11.40h, Cham-Koria Secret prayer There was a presentation of the disciples' essays on the topic: “Tall and short people and their distinctive features." What is the difference between possibility and necessity? Possibility is related to human processes, to human beings. Necessity is related to Divine processes that are imposed through the power of something higher than the human order. When we speak of possibilities, we consider what one should do in a given situation in order to utilize the favourable conditions provided by necessity. Now I will give you an example which illustrates the relationship between the high and the low principle in human nature. If a master has a good horse which he loves, a friendly relationship is established between them. The master rides the horse, the horse carries him on its back, and together they go threshing. The master dismounts the horse and harnesses it, and they begin to thresh. In the evening the master releases the horse from its work, mounts it and returns home. He goes into his house and the horse enters its stable. I am asking, where do the possibilities lie – in the master or in the horse? - In the master. Only the master has the power to change the circumstances of the horse – to improve or worsen its living conditions. The horse in its turn is able to make the circumstances of its master easier. Therefore, the lower principle in humans makes things easier, whереас the higher principle improves their circumstances. The relationship between a Master and a disciple is the same as the relationship between the master and the horse. The Master improves the situation of the disciple and the disciple makes the position of the Master easier. After the Master has improved the conditions of the disciple, the disciple should use them wisely. Therefore, possibilities represent for a human being nothing other than the rational principles contained within them. Every possibility should be utilized in order to improve the condition of the horse, which in its turn will bring ease to its master. How can the position of the horse be improved? Its stables, food and water can be improved. When the horse's situation is improved, it becomes stronger and healthier, it is better able to serve its master. Therefore if the master of your body doesn't improve the rational powers and abilities of his brain, the feelings of his heart, and finally the acts of his will, he cannot expect his life to be made any easier. As disciples of this School, you are about to learn how to transform your discontent which will be an obstacle for you for years to come. What is a disciple discontented with? A disciple may be discontented with himself – with his mind, heart and will. A disciple may also be dissatisfied with the surrounding environment. Whatever form discontent takes, whatever cause it might have, it is an energy, a force which should be used as an incentive for work. Discontent is due to a lack of something essential for human happiness. I am asking, where are you going to find that which you are lacking? If you lack Heat, where can you find it? In the Sun. If you lack Light, where can you find it? In the Sun. You will say that any burning or heating body gives off light. We also have, for example, heat coming from a lit oil-lamp, from a candle or a burning piece of wood. Yes, but this heat is secondary. Candles, wood and other combustible bodies have solar energy stored inside them which can be turned into light or heat according to necessity. However, the most pleasant warmth and the purest light come from the Sun. Primary Warmth and Light come directly from the Sun. Therefore, you should look for heat and light in the Sun. Where should you look for Love, Wisdom and Truth? In God. Therefore, the external side of God, i.e. His disk, is Wisdom, the content of the disk is Love, and its meaning is Truth. In other words, Wisdom represents the real, external, visible form of things, Love is the content of these forms and Truth represents their meaning. If you want to search for Love, Wisdom and Truth in a person, these qualities are there as a secondary manifestation. When you search for Love in God, you are in a safe place. Why? Because the Love of God is inexhaustible. It is a source that springs continuously, a fire that burns incessantly. You should pour your water into this source and add your oil to this fire. If you don't pour your water into the Eternal source, it will cease to spring. If you don't add your oil to the Divine fire, it will cease to burn, just as oil-lamps cannot give офф light without oil, or electric lamps without electricity. Oil, fuel and electricity are the conditions for burning. People find that many of these conditions bring contradictions to life. When the conditions are finite and limited, they bring contradictions, but when they are infinite and unlimited, they exclude all contradiction. As disciples of the Great School, try to understand the Boundless and the Infinite which is revealed in limited, finite, but intelligent forms. Then you will recognize the origin of discontent. The Infinite makes humans discontented. What can you do to relieve this? You can expand yourself. If you become like a big, wide tube, through which the water of the Divine Source can freely flow without tension or pressure, you will expand yourself and your discontent will vanish. Your discontent is due to the fact that you haven't used the favourable conditions for your development in a timely and mindful way. When do people get discontented? When they get old. All old people are dissatisfied with themselves. They realize they should have studied and acquired knowledge and experience in their youth, whereas they have wasted their time instead and are now unable to go back in time. All old people, with a few exceptions only, are extremely dissatisfied with themselves. Young people on the other hand are dissatisfied with the limitations that impede them and hamper the implementation of their wishes. Each obstacle or difficulty on their path causes them discontent. One should be satisfied with the conditions one is placed in and should try to use them in the best possible way. If an individual is dissatisfied with his position in life, he will be like the frog in the fable “The Stork and the Frog.” This is an occult fable with a deep inner meaning. One day a young stork, which represents a beautiful young man, passed by a swamp where many frogs lived. The stork looked at the swamp and saw the head of a frog popping from the water. In this case the frog represents a young woman. The stork stopped in front of the frog and began telling her about the world he lived in. "Do you know what heights we can reach, what kinds of spaces and skies we can see? I wonder how you can live in this dirty swamp!" – "What can I do, I have no wings to fly away." – “It's very easy, climb onto my back and I'll carry you up to the wide spaces - you'll see a new world and new heights." The frog got on his back and thus flew into the skies. But since she couldn't endure the new conditions, she exploded and fell on the ground. What lesson can be learned from this fable? – Each person should live in the conditions he or she has been placed in. If they leave the position where Providence has placed them, they will inevitably fall and get killed. The stork told the frog about the high, beautiful places too soon, and the frog came out of its swamp too early. Now, you should know that in occultism too there are dangerous and tempting places which can cause you suffering. Don't get on the wings of the stork too soon! What is dangerous for the frog is safe for the stork and the other way round – what is dangerous for the stork is safe for the frog. If the frog had succeeded in making the stork enter the swamp, the stork also would have suffered. The world the stork lives in doesn't offer opportunities for the development of the frog; neither does the world of the frog offer the stork opportunities for its development. Possibilities provide conditions for the development of one’s mind, heart and will. Human thoughts and feelings should be endowed with the qualities of width and depth, and intensity should be introduced into the human will. Now, do the following experiment in order to find out how wide and deep your thoughts and feelings are, and how intense your will is. When a friend of yours uses a bad word, observe whether and how quickly this word can be transformed in a positive way. The sooner you manage to transform the bad word, the greater the width and depth of your mind and heart are. Turning what is offensive into music is a form of art. If your aim is to say a bad word to your friend, be careful not to use too heavy and insulting a word, for it will produce a large, deep incision in him. Whoever has such an incision should observe the time required for its recovery. The Hindu heal their wounds in an easy way. They use a method of taking prana from Nature and directing it mentally to the sick area, so the recovery occurs in no more than twenty minutes. Therefore, an offense is nothing more than a small incision made in one’s mind, heart or will. Those who have a sufficient supply of natural prana should just concentrate on the wound and put their hand on it, and it will recover by itself in a few minutes. This is what strong and intense will means. Without this experiment you will be like some trader who thinks he is rich, but who has no money in his cash-box. So do this experiment consciously. When you see that a friend of yours is in a bad mood, go to her and say something that will challenge her. Then she will say an insulting word in response. Thank her, explaining that you have carried out a small experiment with her and that is why you have teased her. You are to choose a person for this experiment whose use of bad words you will actually expect. Then, turn to yourself and observe the time you need for polarization. Such experiments could arise in a natural way, with no need to create them artificially. It would be better for you if the experiments were natural. So, you will arrange your own experiments only if they haven't been arranged for you through natural means. All experiments and tests you are given in the School represent possibilities for attaining energy. Those who succeed in their efforts and pass their tests will gain energy. Those who don't solve their tasks will lose energy. You should know that contradictions on the path of disciples are needed for their physical, mental and spiritual development. Contradictions are a necessary law for the development of the disciple. When we speak about the laws and forces in Nature, we must take into consideration the Primary Law, according to which things are precisely determined. There is only one exception to this law that exists as a possibility, as a door to something new. According to this exception, nothing is impossible for God. He can do anything, either instantly or gradually. When it is cold outside, you are dissatisfied; when it gets warm, you are happier. When it is dark outside, you stumble and fall and get discontented; when it is dawn and Light comes, you are happier. As you can see, cold and warmth, dark and light are forces that either spoil or improve conditions. The mental states of humans change in the same way. As long as their consciousness is in darkness people believe they cannot attain their wishes. When the Sun rises in their consciousness, their wishes become attainable. Therefore you should study the possibilities in your present life so that you know what you need to improve and what you need to make easier - i.e. you need to know what possibilities you have for improvement and for making things easier. The lower should make things easier and the higher should improve conditions. Sheep, for example, serve people by providing them with milk and wool; people improve the living conditions of sheep. Improve the state of your mind so that it can make things easier for you; improve the state of your heart so that it can make things easier for you; improve the state of your will so that, by becoming intensive, strong and powerful, it can make things easier for you. Today I spoke of the possibilities that exist in Life. Good and evil are possibilities that exist in the Universe. Discontent and contentment, grief and joy are also possibilities. Each disharmonious thought, feeling or action produces grief in a person; each harmonious state produces joy. Grief represents the ploughing of a field, joy represents its harvesting. When people plough, the Earth is joyful; when they reap, the wheat is joyful that it has gone through a lot of suffering and has now freed itself. Secret prayer Source
  13. Positive And Negative Forces Year 1, Lecture 19 of the Youth Occult Class (Special Class) given by the Master Beinsa Douno on July 5, 1922, Wednesday Cham-Koria * Secret Prayer The disciples' essays on the topic: “The most distinct feature of Light" were read. Next please write on the topic: “The Purpose of the Human Heart.” When you write about Light, unconsciously you think about darkness, too - it comes to your minds as the contrast of Light. Actually, if there was no darkness, could we talk about the growth of bodies in the physical world? Light and darkness in the physical world are the two states through which the soul ежпрессеs itself. The soul begins to know itself in the darkness by limiting itself. Darkness is a process of limitation and Light is a process of knowing God, or knowing Love. Love cannot be known without Light. So the most powerful feature of Light is knowledge of God, knowledge of Love. Introduce this idea into the summary that you will make of the essays about Light. Light represents a process related to the Mental world. When the Mental world is revealed before the human eyes, forms are simultaneously revealed, together with their content and meaning. In this way humans come to the Primal Cause – Love. Whoever wants to grow and develop in the right way should psychologically connect Light with the process of knowing Love. Therefore, all states that cause disharmony in the human soul pertain to the sphere of darkness аnd darkness places limits on human beings. All states that produce harmony in one’s soul belong to the sphere of Light. When you enter the sphere of metaphysics, the issue of Light and darkness is treated in a different way there; the statements that metaphysics makes will create great contradictions within you. Metaphysicians, as well as extreme occultists, maintain the idea that Absolute light is Absolute darkness. And when God said "Let there be Light!" He created the first limitation. This means that when Absolute darkness limits itself, it produces Light which cannot be overtaken by the darkness. I am asking, what is the first limitation of human beings? Sacrifice is the first limitation. Therefore, when an individual decides to sacrifice something he produces Light within himself. This is why sacrifices are needed. When you sacrifice something, the first day of Light comes to your soul. God said: “Let there be Light!” and there came Light. When Light comes to someone and he can differentiate between Light and darkness, it is a sign that he has made a sacrifice in the right way. If neither light nor darkness emerge in someone, he has not made the sacrifice at all or he has not made it properly. When Christ said about Himself, "I am the Light of the world" - this Light, this Daylight was produced as a result of His self-sacrifice. So, if one wants to produce Light, one needs to sacrifice himself. Thus, Light is related to the act of sacrifice. In the present evolution, Light has four different directions in the physical world, which are determined by four types of waves that have different frequencies. Those waves that have greater density form the back part of the human brain. The weight of the brain in animals - in other words, the greatest density of their brain - is behind the ears, and as a consequence they are compelled to walk on four legs. The weight in plants is down in their roots, so they are forced to keep their heads under the ground in order to maintain balance. The weight of the human brain is in front of the ears, therefore humans have to stand on two legs. That is the only way for them to maintain their balance. Thus, presently the three directions or courses of Light have created three different currents in the brains of living beings. These in their turn have produced three different positions necessary for maintaining balance: plants are upside down, animals stand on four legs, and human beings stand erect on their two legs. Now the fourth direction of Light is coming in order to form the current of forces required for the formation of the Spiritual body of human beings. This body is related to the Higher or supersensible world. Therefore, when Light acts upon human beings in four different directions – from behind, from ahead, inward and upward - a cross is formed. Now, you can draw this cross in order to find out in which of the four directions Light is strongest. The power of Light is evaluated on the basis of the length of the four lines forming the cross. If the west side of the horizontal line is longer or more developed, this is an indication that the animal essence in human beings predominates over the other forces; if the lower vertical line of the cross is longer, this is an indication that the vegetative forces in human beings are more dominant; if the east side of the horizontal line is longer, this shows that the ability to feel are more developed. Finally, if the upper part of the cross is the longest, this shows that the Divine prevails in that person. If you project a vertical plane down through the center of a person, parallel to his face, he will be divided into two parts. The back part represents the left path of his development, while the front part of the plane parallel to his face represents the right path of his development. If you project another plane through the person – from west to east – you will get another division in which the right part of the brain represents the narrow path and the left part of the brain the broad path. In principle, the left path indicates the aspirations of the human soul and the right path - the deeds of the individual. And indeed, only an active individual will follow the right path, while the one who has aspirations but has not yet begun to act will follow the left or the broad path. These are the two paths that contemporary people follow. When we speak of the influence and predominance of the vegetative or animal forces, or of the aspirations of a human being, we mean the first manifestations of human consciousness and subconsciousness. Under “animal influence” we understand the first manifestations of human consciousness. Under “vegetative influence” we understand the first manifestations of human subconsciousness. When more energy accumulates in the human brain or in the entire organism than what is necessary, a number of disharmonious conditions are created. For example, when the temples are well developed, their development corresponds to that of the lips. Therefore, there is a certain relationship between the temples and the lips. The stronger the temples, the thicker the lips. Thicker lips have been noticed primarily in people whose noses are close to their mouths. The nose is an organ of olfaction, so each smelling of a good dish makes blood flow into the lips through the nose, as a result of which the mouth becomes thicker. In general, all parts and centres of the brain exert an influence on specific organs of the human being, thus leaving certain imprints on them. For example, when the brain centre of Hope is well developed, this influences two specific facial muscles. In this case the edges of the mouth are curved upwards and not downwards. Therefore, the brain centres exert their influence in two ways – they create either straight or curved lines. Sometimes they also create concave angles. In general, lines go in two directions: up and down. When someone is sad, the angles of his mouth go down, and this means that the currents within him are either vegetative or animal. If these angles are pointed up, one is happy – then the human and the Divine states prevail in him. This is why as disciples of the occult you should do several experiments; you should research and study the various states that you go through, both positive and negative. When you are in low spirits, try to make this mood leave your consciousness. Observe it objectively, as something that has nothing to do with you. Subject this mood to criticism in order to understand its causes and consequences. If you haven't made a few attempts in this direction, you will think that each mood is your own, that it is related to your consciousness, that there is no way you can take it out of you. So you think you should bear its torment. No, you can separate it from your consciousness in the same way that you can take the devil’s nail out of you. Never mind that it will cause you some pain – take it out of your foot! When someone is fearful, or is ambitious but has weak hope, this person is a pessimist. Fear creates images of obstacles and difficulties in his consciousness that he cannot overcome. Together with his fear comes the feeling that he cannot succeed and that he will remain behind the others. At the same time his weak hope discourages him, so he falls into despair and pessimism. Pessimism in its turn generates a number of negative traits in him, such as slyness, wile, envy and hatred. You may ask why fear has appeared in the world. In the animal world it is in the right place, and is one of the great laws that has reached perfection there. When an animal is fearful, it shows that right is not on its side and that it needs to rely on its legs. Weak animals in the animal world are told, "You're not under the protection of the law and the law cannot save you, so you should develop your legs – may they be long, so that you can rely on them." Fear in animals is equal to conscience in humans. So fear in humans is substituted with conscience. When fear is experienced, all negative traits from the past are awakened, which causes unhappiness. For this reason, when fear comes to you, you should replace it immediately with conscience. When you transform fear into conscience, sense and reasoning will immediately return to you. Then it will be possible to talk about what is right. Therefore everyone should work consciously upon themselves and distinguish between their mental states in order to study them. If grief comes to you and you don't want to live, isolate it from your consciousness and observe it objectively: why has it come to you, how long will it last, etc. When you isolate it from yourself, you will see that it is not yours. This indisposition is of external origin. People are easily obsessed by external thoughts, they easily receive these external feelings, and because they don't know the laws, they suffer and torment themselves. Through suggestion and hypnosis some people can accept the thoughts of a hypnotist, and they can fulfill them later as their own. Having fulfilled the ideas suggested by the hypnotist, only then can they understand that they have acted under external influence. Many murders and acts of suicide in the world can be explained by hypnotism. It may also happen that a person who was in an occult school in the past received a certain thought from his master through suggestion - a good or a bad one - and he puts it into realization in the present. In such case, he himself wonders how he could have changed so much. You meet a good and honest man, you know him well and rely on him, but all of a sudden he changes. He begins to rob and blackmail people. You wonder what has happened to this person that has caused him to change so much. Then you meet him two or three years later, and he lives honestly and righteously – he has changed his behaviour again, he has returned to his original self. What are these abrupt changes that have happened to him? As disciples of the Great School, you should all work to correct these inner states that you have, in other words, free yourselves from them. So you have enormous corrective work to do. The School aims to give you the knowledge that will enable you to correct the errors of your past in a reasonable way. When you come into a hypnotic state from your past, you will go back and correct it with a reverse method. You will do the opposite motions of those you were hypnotized to do. The hypnotists of the Dark lodge usually make their passes starting from above and going downwards. Today many people wash their faces and bodies in the same way – starting from above and going downwards, and closing their eyes as if to say, "It's not good to have your eyes open." Yes, when you enter the material world it is good to close your eyes, but when you come to the School to study, it is better to have your eyes open. As disciples you should do motions that are the opposite to the passes of the Dark lodge. When you wash your hair, do upward motions, not the opposite. All the movements that you do have deep meanings and they exert an influence on you. Observe your movements and their influence on you, as well as the effects they produce within you. Some of them make you happy, others are unpleasant. Observe your movements and study them, but don't go to the other extreme – being doubtful about whether to do a movement or not. When you want to tune your mind, do an upward mental motion – following the evolutionary way. First think of plants, then of animals, then think of humans, and finally – of God and of the Beings from the Divine world. Thus you will feel spiritually uplifted and in an ascending mood. If you perform the motion in the opposite direction, starting from the Divine world and gradually going down to the human, animal and plant worlds, you will fall under the law of involution and you will experience a spiritual descent or a lowering. In applying the first exercise, you will be able to release many negative feelings. If you study botany, zoology and anthropology, if you read Divine books, you can do this exercise more successfully. People go down into the lower worlds and then come up again on a daily basis. Each experience of grief is a sign that one has linked with the plants. Thus people help the plants and the plants help them. When people are not feeling well, when they are angry or have other negative feelings, they link with the animals and help them in this way. When someone arrives at a state that is mindful and pleasant, they have entered the human world. And finally humans come to the High and the noble, i.e. they enter the Divine world where absolute harmony abides. These are the four worlds or the four states that human beings need to study. When someone is not feeling well, when he is confused or impatient, he can imagine that he is in a forest of pine and oak trees. In a short time his mood will change and he will acquire the mental state of the plants. If someone falls into laziness, he should think about the animals that are usually quick and mobile. Their need for food causes them to move all day long so that they can satisfy their hunger. When you think about animals, you make a connection with them and they stimulate you with their energy. Having satisfied their hunger, animals also become lazy, but once they are hungry again, they go out looking for food. After you have acquired the patience of plants and the mobility of animals, you will move on to the human state in order to develop reasoning and thinking. After that you will go to the Divine world, where all your thoughts will be openly displayed. The Elevated Beings of this world will make note of all the thoughts that you present. Wise people make such a presentation every day, ordinary people once a week, and foolish people once a year. When we say that someone will be subjected to critique, this refers to his presentation of thoughts in the Divine world, where Intelligent Beings will evaluate them and where he himself will monitor and observe everything, thus seeing the errors in all that he has ever created. Until people arrive at this position, they should consistently discipline their minds. You haven't yet gone through such discipline, so you are not prepared for the Divine world. If you go into this world too early for you, you will fall asleep, you will be disordered, unable to endure its high vibrations. However, those who have organized their minds will come back fresh and elevated from having visited the Divine world, bringing new Light and Knowledge with them. Absolute silence and complete harmony, undisturbed by any noise or worry, is required for your passage into the other world. Such an attempt to enter into the Divine world demands a clear surrounding aura, absolute harmony and silence. This atmosphere should be maintained for one or two hours at least, which is impossible to do in cities. This attempt is impossible even here, in Cham-Koria, where we are now. It will be possible only at some high and isolated mountain location. If such an experiment was made in Sofia, for example, a special room, surrounded by a solid, pure and harmonious aura, would be necessary. No one else should enter this room, no one should even suspect its existence. However this is impossible under the present conditions, as there are no people who are ready for that. Whoever is not ready for this experiment will not want to go into this room. Disciples, however, will strive to enter this room the way bees strive towards aromatic flowers. Disciples needs to work at creating a harmonious aura in their rooms, so that their efforts will be successful. Work hard upon yourself so that you can overcome all hardships. In this way you will develop your will as a tool for overcoming everything. What kind of will should you develop? Neither iron nor granite, but a diamond will. A will that is of iron or granite could easily capitulate, but a diamond will can overcome all obstacles. You will need broad views and great selflessness to clear away the delusions on your path. You can do this only with the Light of your consciousness. It is a special type of Light. If it doesn't enter your consciousness, you will stay at your present level of understanding, which cannot help you get the results you expect. When I am saying that a special type of Light needs to enter your consciousness, you shouldn't worry. This Light will come of itself, you only need to climb a high mountain peak and wait there. You know that the Sun first illuminates the mountain peaks, then the valleys, don't you? In the same way this Light will illuminate first the peaks of your consciousness, then its valleys. You are required to make efforts to climb the high Divine peak, where Light comes at the earliest time. Later it goes to the valleys and to the plains. Therefore, when you ask yourself what the advantages of the Esoteric school are, you should know that it shows its disciples the Right path for climbing the high Divine peaks which are the first to be illuminated by the Divine rays of the rising Sun. * (The old name of the Rila mountain resort Borovets) Source
  14. MANIFESTATIONS OF CONSCIOUSNESS Year 1, Lecture 18 of the Youth Occult Class (Special Class) Given by the Master Beinsa Douno On June 28, 1922, Wednesday Sofia Secret prayer There was a presentation of the disciples' essays on the topic: “The most powerful virtue of the disciple”. Next time please write on the topic: “The most powerful feature of Light”. When you write on this topic, take into consideration the feature of Light which one notices first. Any other features which come to mind after the first one are weaker. When you go to a vineyard, notice that the first grapes, which are the ripest and the sweetest ones, show the strength of the vine itself. A vine that gives only sour and unripe fruit is weak. It has no inner ability to develop its fruit. Therefore, each thing that is revealed first, and in a complete and well developed form, is the strongest of its kind. If it comes last, in an incomplete form, it is the weakest one. You should observe the same law in respect to virtues. Each thing that appears first in someone’s soul has the greatest power. Each thing that appears last is the weakest one. Therefore, when you write on a topic, first pay attention to its real aspect, which sticks out first, and then to its abstract aspect which is the weakest one. Now, being still young people, you should be cautious not to fall into certain traps in your Life, which may hamper you. There are certain decoys in the world, similar to the ones that inventors create for people. When they want to attract the attention of the audience to their inventions, they say the following, ‘Do you know how useful our inventions are? If applied in life they will generate great reforms. They will contribute to culture and so on.’ The invention might not yet be available, but they already advertise it. I am asking, how can you recommend an invention that has not been created yet? Each invention can be evaluated only after its implementation. This is the reason why you should consider things well. For example, reflect on the most outstanding feature of water, of fire and so on. Which is the strongest feature of fire in your view? – Fire gives warmth. Which is the strongest feature of Love? Often people fall into contradictions which they cannot solve. You have such contradictions as well. If you are asked, for example, about the strongest feature of the tongue, you will come to a contradiction, and you will not know how to respond. Why? – Because the tongue has several functions. The first one is to facilitate the passage of food and water into the stomach, the second one is to taste – with the tongue you taste food, the third function of the tongue is to speak. Which function is given first to the tongue? - The first one. Actually, in order to maintain life, a human being uses the tongue first to send food into the stomach. Therefore, one should be satiated first in order to be able to speak. First you take food, then you taste it and finally you speak, i.e. you voice your opinion about it. These three physical functions of the tongue correspond to other functions in the higher worlds: the first function of the tongue in eating is in the physical world, the second function – tasting - is related to the Spiritual world and the third function – speech – is related to the Divine world. Love also has different manifestations. It is said that Love requires sacrifices. Which world does sacrifice and self-sacrifice relate to? Who is able to sacrifice himself? It is the wise person who can sacrifice himself, not the foolish one. Consequently, sacrifice relates to the Angelic world. When a fool sacrifices himself, he is like a butterfly that flies around a lamp in the evening and gets burnt up. Its sacrifice is unconscious. A reasonable sacrifice may belong only to a wise person. Consequently, only an intelligent and wise person is able to sacrifice himself. If such a person sees someone drowning in the sea, he will jump into the water, thus risking his life, but he will try to save the one in need. Only a clever person, who has been gifted with intuition, will go into the water to save someone. Do you know what the most powerful feature of Love in the physical world is? It is motion. Therefore, if there is great motion somewhere, there is also great Love there. Which is the most powerful feature of Love in the Astral world? – Feeling. Which is the most powerful feature of Love in the Mental world? – Thought, the process of thinking. Which is the most powerful feature of Love in the Causal world? – Causes. The love of someone who lives in the Causal world is solid and never changing. The proverb: “A word spoken is past recalling” is true for such a person. Sacrifice refers to the Causal world. Only such a person lives or at least sometimes penetrates the Causal world - the one who can sacrifice himself. And only such a person who has something to sacrifice is able to sacrifice. Only those who live in the Causal world have something to sacrifice. As long as someone lives in the physical world only, he has nothing at his disposal and can sacrifice nothing. The wealth of a human being lies in the Causal world. That is why there are things there that can be sacrificed. You should all have notebooks to write your essays in. Each topic has a distinctive feature. After you have written the essay, it will introduce a new idea into your mind. Each topic represents a note of a given scale. If you connect all essays into one piece, you will form a whole musical piece. You should note the following: if your limited consciousness prevails over everything in you, it will hamper your progress and your entire development. You could easily verify this. How? If you observe the development of a child, you will see that it grows and develops properly due to the fact that its mind is not busy with the thought of its growth, whether and how it grows, etc. But if you manage to occupy its mind with the thought that it should grow and develop fast, its growth will cease. Therefore, if you begin to live with the thought of your growth, you will be hampered like the little child. One thing is required of you: to have an aspiration towards growing, but then you shouldn't think about it any more. Why? Growth is a Divine process which doesn't depend on you. You cannot make yourself grow. If you want to grow, put aside your temporary limited consciousness and allow your soul to freely develop. Introduce into your sub-consciousness and into your higher consciousness your wish to grow and don't think about it any more. You will see that you will achieve a positive result after some time. Contemporary people are hampered in their development due to certain manifestations that take place too early in their life, before they have come to the relevant stage of development. For example, many have seen visions, dreams or lights before entering the School, so they say to themselves, ‘Let us join the School to attain more knowledge.’ However, until they continue to be guided by such limited consciousness, they will lose even the knowledge they had before. The right thing for them is to preserve the knowledge they acquired from the outside world, because it is not in contradiction with the knowledge they will acquire in the School. Inside or outside, it is the same School. First of all, you should aspire to Freedom – to be free in spirit, soul, mind and heart. If you fail in something, you shouldn't be discouraged. Failure is a good sign. You know how difficult it is to achieve things under the law of evolution. Do you know what trials an ox needs to go through in order to become a human being? If the ox decides to describe its story and calls its path “golden and royal”, it will not tell the truth. How many times it was skinned, how many fields it had to plough, how many times it was goaded! It has gone and will go through great trials and great suffering before it reaches the human status. If you want to move from your present position to a higher one, you will also endure great misfortunes and suffering. It is law. Do not deceive yourself with the idea that you could evolve easily. If someone tells you that you could reach the royal path without trials and suffering, they don't tell the truth. This doesn't mean that you should create suffering yourself, but once you have been put on a trial, you cannot escape it. Be bold and resolute and accept suffering in the way it is given to you. Many of you want to have visions and spiritual experiences. This is an appropriate wish but specific conditions are necessary for it to be fulfilled. If you plant a small flower in a pot, you have to put good soil and water it regularly so that it may grow well. Otherwise it will dry up in a while. The centres needed for contact with the Spiritual world have a similar role. Spiritual experiences require relevant conditions for their manifestation. For example, in order to be a clairvoyant, one needs to have a broad forehead, e.g. well developed imagination skills. If you want to develop clairvoyance, you should communicate with people who have already developed this ability. Thus the energy that emanates from someone's well developed brain centres influence the corresponding underdeveloped centres in someone else. A disciple with an aspiration for music should seek people who have advanced musical abilities. Whoever likes drawing should make friends with artists. Writers should communicate with writers, priests - with priests, disciples - with disciples. As occult disciples, you should seek the company of learned people who know more than you. Before you wish for visions, you should develop inner courage, but not insolence. Some people behave impertinently, they intrude and think that they are courageous. Courage is a quality of a wise person. I will give you now a small exercise for a week: read in the morning and in the evening the third chapter of the Gospel according to St. John, from the first to the thirteenth verse, and reflect on the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus. During the reflection, try to remember this talk not only as it was written, but with all those details which are missing but could be read between the lines. Reflecting on these verses will bring new images, new thoughts and ideas into your mind. Nicodemus was with Christ for many hours and they had a long conversation. If you could rebuild even a hundredth part of this discussion, you would attain a lot. If your consciousness is awakened, you will easily link with the past and recollect the conversation between Christ and Nicodemus. If you don't succeed in recollecting this conversation, you will still gain something. If you fail, don't be discouraged. Those who have lived during the time of Christ can easily return to the past and recollect the whole conversation. If you haven't lived in that age, you consciousness will be closed and you won't be able to remember anything. If you reflect on these verses for ten minutes every morning and every evening, you will feel peace and inner calm in your soul. Disciples complain of difficulties and hardships. You will always have difficulties until you create a magnetic atmosphere between you. Such an atmosphere, such an aura has not yet been established among you. You will feel it once it has been created. How? You will feel enthusiasm, enlightenment and an influx of new thoughts and ideas. You will go to bed well-disposed and content in the evening and get up fresh and full of new aspirations, thoughts and wishes for the Great and the High in the morning. And now you go to bed exhausted, you get up worn out with the words: ‘I have lost what I have.’ Why does this happen? - Because you invest all your capital in goods just like traders do, without putting any amount aside. You have goods, but you cannot sell them, you cannot meet your daily needs. This situation darkens your consciousness, so you suffer, doubt and say: ‘Why did I have to enter this enterprise? It would have been better if I had stood aside.’ If things go well, you will be content that you have entered the enterprise. Others prefer not to enter, although they don't gain anything in this way. They are content that at least they don't lose anything either. In my opinion, this is not good philosophy. While you are alive you have to either win or lose. Gains and losses go together in Life. Each gain is followed by a loss and each loss – by a gain. Losses and gains can come accidentally, but they can be conscious too. Next time please write on the topic: “The function of the human thumb”. Find books on this topic and read what has been written about the thumb. You should study your thumb – if it sticks up or down; if it is short or long; if it is well-shaped or not. When you research this question, write no more than twenty lines. Learn to write briefly, clearly, and conceptually. What you write should represent a small sketch. Each idea represents a seed. Collect such seeds in your bags and when the time comes, sow them. Many of you study and work but still think that they haven't achieved anything. As long as they think this way, they have conditions for achievements - this shows that they want to study. When someone comes to school with the idea that he knows nothing, he has possibilities to study and advance. He says: “I am aware now that I know nothing yet. I am glad that I joined the School.” This is the awakening of consciousness. Then the disciple will want to fill his gaps of missing knowledge. Therefore, when someone is aware that he has lost something, he begins to strive for gain. The next homework that I will give you will be on the topic: “Tall and short people and their distinctive features”. You may know nothing about it, but when you think on the topic during the week as well as on the topic of the thumb, some ideas will emerge in your mind and you will write something. Tall people introduce one idea into the human mind, short people – another idea. Turks say that short people are a mischief for God. Short people are troublesome. There is also a saying that tall people are like wasps. But these sayings concern only the extreme types – the very tall and the very short people. If a tall man has narrow shoulders, then his height should correspond to all other parts of his body. The same is true for a short man who has broad shoulders. I will make an analogy to explain why some people are tall and others are short. I often observe the flowers in the garden and I have noticed that some of them, the hollyhock for example, grow higher when planted to the north than those planted to the south. That hollyhock, which is planted to the north, grows higher because it strives to see the Sun. In the same way we could explain why some people are tall and others – short. Tall people live in the north, where there is not so much sunlight. They strive to grow higher, so that they may see the Sun. This is the reason why pine trees grow in height. Thus, tall people develop in unfavourable conditions with a lack of sunlight but an abundance of moisture. Short people have grown in width - with a lot of sunlight but without moisture. This is a material, external, but not a conceptual difference between tall and short people. However there are also other physiological reasons that influence the growth of a human being. As disciples of the Great School do not think that this School comes into contradiction with common universal life. On the contrary, it solves all contradictions in life. Contradictions will vanish, but you should also work, not just wait for their solution without making any effort. Your progress depends on your karma. Whoever has more serious karma will encounter greater difficulties and obstacles and will evolve at a slower rate. Some day you are happy and self-content that you have gained something, but then a creditor of yours comes and robs you of it. Then once again you have to acquire materials and tools in order to work and achieve the same result. Those who have better karma will advance faster. In order to develop well, everyone should know his weakest point, so that he or she can work on it and transform it, because it is like a door through which one’s enemies enter. For example, someone likes boasting. He is given something or told something with the request to keep it secret, but he can't stand being silent and says to a friend: “I am going to tell you something, but don't tell anyone”. His friend tells it to another friend, the latter – to someone else and thus it spreads everywhere. If you are asked to remain silent, you should do so until you are allowed to speak. Someone has many desires, as a result he becomes absent-minded. He wants to be a philosopher, a scientist, a poet, a musician, an artist, a statesman, but he doesn't succeed in any of these fields. If you have many desires, put them aside and start implementing one of them only. When you implement it, then start with the second one, the third one and so on. If you intend to implement all your wishes at once, your thoughts will get scattered, you will exhaust your feelings, waste your time and won't achieve anything. You need to know the following: no matter how much you think about these issues, you will not have the same results as some of you lack well developed imagination skills, others – well developed reasoning, some lack faith, others – hope, observation abilities, reverence, self respect, friendliness and so on. As disciples of this School, it would be good to measure your foreheads in width and height as well as your noses and chins. After you have worked for a year upon your mental abilities or upon your chin as an expression of your will, measure them again and see if there is at least a microscopic change. Even the slightest increase indicates that you have succeeded in your work. Otherwise you will conclude that you have not worked well all year long. It is good for everyone to draw his forehead, nose and chin in exact sizes and to measure them again in a year, so that he can see how much he has achieved. If you worry about it, however, you won't achieve anything. You need to be able to concentrate your thought if you want to attain something and achieve certain results. For this purpose, you need to study the law of concentration in order to transform the occult forces and develop your mental and spiritual centres. That is the only way to achieve any results. If you have failures, don't get discouraged. You are capable of achieving everything – making your foreheads higher, prolonging your noses, re-modelling your chins. There is nothing you can't achieve or improve about yourself. A disciple should work and develop patience. How will he or she develop patience? Here is a method: when you are in low spirits and see a disharmonious feature on your face, take a mirror and look at it for ten minutes until you define the location of this feature on your face. Do not look into your eyes for more than ten minutes because you could fall asleep. While looking at your image in the mirror, you may say to yourself: “You need to be corrected!” Hold your negative feature in your mind and in a while you will see that it has been transformed under your suggestion. This method is not easy, but many of you can use it and achieve good results. If your eyes become watery when you look into the mirror, it is a sign that your nervous system is weak. If your eyes stop getting teary or never did, this indicates that your nervous system begins to strengthen or doesn't need strengthening. To begin with, look into your eyes for a minute or two without winking and forget that you want to influence yourself. Thus you will see that everything comes in its own time, unexpectedly for you, but gradually, not at once. Secret prayer
  15. Ани

    1922_06_21 Precious Stones

    Precious Stones Year 1, Lecture 17 of the Youth Occult Class (Special Class) Given by the Master Beinsa Douno On June 21, 1922, Wednesday Sofia The disciples' essays on the subject 'Precious Stones' were read. When writing on this subject, you have focused on the external characteristics of precious stones. Discussing only the external characteristics of a subject is equivalent to taking some food without feeling drawn to it or without feeling any hunger. Therefore the main impulse, the main stimulus connected to eating is the pleasant feeling one experiences while chewing and when the food is taken in by the stomach. If no pleasant feelings or attraction to certain food are evoked, one has no desire of eating it. If one eats without affinity to the food, there can be no positive results from eating. When we talk about precious stones we mean the human mind, because only an intelligent person can speak about them. Only highly intelligent, noble and virtuous people can speak about precious stones and distinguish one from the other. I would like you to focus on the 12 main precious stones and do a tiny experiment with them. The experiment is as follows. When you have an issue of physical, emotional or mental nature, start to imagine the 12 precious stones in your mind. Start with the most common one and gradually move to the best and most expensive one while at the same time observing which stone will make your unpleasant feeling disappear. As you move these stones through your mind, make a connection between the stone and the virtue that it is associated with. In this way every stone can exert a positive influence on humans and improve their mental state. Virtue is not expressed by a colour. If a maid is rosy and has red cheeks, it is not yet an indication that she feels love. If the maid puts lipstick on or a pink dress, this still doesn't indicate love. If someone likes blue, this doesn't mean that he or she bears the Truth. If you think that someone's fondness of a certain colour indicates that he or she bears the virtue associated with this colour, you will make a big mistake. A colour is only a passive expression of a virtue, but it must pass through the centres or focuses of the mind prior to becoming an active virtue. A transformation of the virtue is required. Each colour gains certain value and worth only after passing through the mind and being focused on a certain centre. In order to understand the content and meaning of precious stones, you must study them. Nothing is achieved easily. Work, effort, and serious labour are required of everyone. Imagine that some day you fall into apathy and laziness, that you don't want to study, that you are ready to give up your beliefs and decide to hit the road; or some other day, you ask yourself if you are on the right path or not; or another day, you experience a number of negative emotions such as envy, hatred, inner fear etc., and you start looking for the cause of this state but fail to find it. Instead of searching for the cause of these conditions, bring the precious stones to mind and then see the kind of result you will get. Sometimes your experiment will be successful, sometimes it will fail, but this shouldn't discourage you. Carry on with this experiment and eventually you will obtain results. Once you have obtained a result I can talk to you about the laws that act through the precious stones. In the past, precious stones were simple, ordinary stones. At some point they underwent a transformation and acquired their present state. For example, a diamond was once ordinary coal but by a series of processes across ages it got transformed into its higher state; it changed from a lower to a higher form. It was black when it was coal, and became colourless as a diamond with the ability to refract the sun beams. The occult science which you are studying now uses precious stones as a method of transforming the troubles you may get into. Precious stones can help you as a mainstay in the life you live in the material world. The experiments I described to you shouldn't take all of your time but only that part of it which you don't know how to use. A small experiment is like planting a small seed in the earth. My assignments are small but aim at investing your leisure time in a useful purpose. Being small, they will be fun and will incite a series of positive thoughts and feelings with regards to the material world which you live in and which you need to know well. Source
  16. REQUIREMENTS TO THE DISCIPLE Year 1, Lecture 16 of the Youth Occult Class (Special Class) Given by the Master Beinsa Douno On June 14, 1922, Wednesday Sofia Secret prayer Next time please write on the following topic: “Gemstones”. Now, I am taking the word “disciple” in its narrow meaning. One is a disciple as long as he studies, as long as he attends school. Discipleship is a specific state of mind. In the occult sense of the word, one can be a disciple as long as he keeps contact or connection with the Master. If one breaks or loses this connection, he or she is not a disciple any more. One needs obedience and attention in order to maintain constant contact. A human being can only be obedient towards the Higher Essence, towards the Divine. Absolute obedience is required here. Lower levels of consciousness need to be obedient and attentive towards higher levels of consciousness. Therefore, the disciple should have absolute obedience towards his Master. This obedience should come out of his or her consciousness. Before the disciple goes to the Master, he or she should know him and be obedient towards Him; if the disciple doesn't know the Master, he or she should make an effort to know Him. The disciple should have the necessary feelings and abilities that will make it possible for him to know his Master. The link between the Master and the disciple is not instantaneous – it did not take shape at a given moment nor is it temporary. It is eternal and has existed for thousands of years. The disciple should not become hesitant because of the failures he may experience at the very beginning of his discipleship. The world in which the Master lives and acts is absolute and does not accept any ignorance. The atmosphere in which the Master lives and acts is alive and whoever tries to enter it unprepared will subject himself to death. When I say that the disciple will be subjected to death, I have in mind the situation that a fish finds itself in when it is taken out of the water. When you take a fish out of the water and leave it on the ground, it will certainly die. The fish goes out of its natural environment and enters another one, which it cannot live in. Therefore, disciples should have obedience and attention towards their Master, so that they may gradually develop new feelings and abilities as a favourable foundation for the perception of the new ideas. So, if you go unprepared into the atmosphere of the Master, you will inevitably die. If you want to know why, look to the fish to see why it dies in the air. It has not adapted itself to the new conditions, as a result of which it suffocates. Observe how electricians work with electricity. They touch the wires very carefully to avoid an electric shock that may throw them on the ground in a second. Knowledge is required from those who work with electricity. Irrespective of who you are, if you don't understand the laws of electricity, it will throw you to the ground. And if you ask why, electricity will answer: “I like to have people around me who know more than me – I like learned people. I will kick out all those who know less than me, who are ignorant.” Furthermore, you should know that human bodies conduct either electricity or magnetism. At the same time human organisms can also conduct the so called black electricity or black magnetism. Black electricity and black magnetism come from darkness. This indicates that there is white electricity and white magnetism too, which come from the white light. Take a magnet and hold it towards a needle: the magnet attracts the needle. Is the magnet itself the reason for this attraction? No, a certain force, a certain current is hidden in the magnet, which attracts metals. If this current or force disappears, the iron itself is worth nothing. You should observe yourself too in order to see what currents flow and what forces act in your soul. If you play some instrument, if you play the piano, for example, you will be satisfied when all the keys give out precise and harmonious tones. But even if only a few keys do not generate the right tones, your playing will be disharmonious. Your first work will be to harmonize these keys in order to sound harmoniously. Therefore, if the slightest disharmony appears in your soul, you should harmonize the strings that sound incorrect. These tones, these strings have deviated from the common harmony, from the harmony of the whole. Your soul plays an instrument, consisting of three main octaves: the octave of the mind, the octave of the heart and the octave of the body. Each of these three octaves is also divided into three. So, your task is to see which of the octaves the deviation has occurred in. I will give you the following exercise for controlling the will: take a pin and pierce some thick part of your body up to a depth of two or three milimetres. Try to do it and see how you feel. Monitor your reactions to see the hesitations of your will. You will be brave in the first moment: you will take the pin, ready to stick it somewhere in your arm. But when the pin touches your skin, you will lift it at once – you have decided not to stick it in. You will try again and again you will take it away. It is interesting to count the number of hesitations you will have until you finally decide to stick it in. With this experiment you will test the strength of your will and your ability to concentrate. The number of your hesitations is a mathematical value which indicates your organism's condition and the time required for its tuning. Children do a similar experiment. When they see a river, they want to jump over it. They look at the river, it seems deep to them, so they make a few steps back. They dash towards the river, then go back, dash again and step back again. Finally they get new courage, dash once more and say to themselves: “I will try a jump, come what may – fall in the river or reach the other bank.” Once they make a dash, they overcome the obstacle. I am saying, there are many obstacles in your minds and in your hearts which you need to remove by all means. Thus you will tone the forces of your organism. This requires will, knowledge and strength. With the help of this new, positive knowledge you will transform and improve your character, so that you may easily overcome the difficulties that come your way. So if you use your knowledge in the right way, your character will improve; if you use it in the wrong way, your character will deteriorate. In that case you will say: “I used to be nobler and better earlier in life.” Nobility is always nobility, diamonds are always diamonds; gold is always gold. Why? Once you have succeeded in the transformation of a low element into a high one, according to the existing laws, there is no force in the world that can alter the results. Only the person who has transformed a low element into gold can reverse the process. Now that you know this, try to introduce into your bodies, brains and hearts those high and sustainable forces, which Nature uses for the development of humans. Only these forces are able to tune and regulate the energies of your solar plexus. Your sympathetic nervous system should be in perfect condition too. It there are unpleasant, bitter feelings in your heart, try to eliminate them. They will have a bad influence on your liver and cause a certain disorder in it. How many of you intend to complete the task that I gave you last time? I will also give you a formula to use while doing the task. The words you will pronounce will substitute the money that you used until now. You should say: “I am beginning to work with the Divine virtues that live inside me.” Use this formula every day, until you finish your task. It will act as a password for you. When you get up in the morning and undertake your task, pronounce this formula in your mind quietly, so that no one can hear you. When you refuse to use money for some time, you leave the weapon which you have used until today. Therefore you need to replace it with a new one. This formula will be your new weapon. Thus when you renounce money, you begin to work with the Divine virtues as keys for unlocking the human heart. You will gain your victories in this way. For the physical person money represents the same type of key: you will pay to this person or that person and you pave your way. You should be clever and witty like the worldly people, so that you may not miss any occasion for the application of the Divine virtues. I will give you an example with a worker, who was an occultist and was following God's orders in a certain way. He was looking for a job, so he knocked at a door, but got rejected; he knocked at a second door – again it was a rejection. The story repeated itself the next day. Two or three days, even a week passed by in the very same way and with the same result – no job for him. Finally this person fell into despair: his wife and children were waiting for him at home, but he had earned nothing for them. However, while he was walking in the streets, he saw a little girl who fell on the ground and broke her leg. He ran to her immediately, took her into his arms and carried her to her home. The child told him her address and the name of her father, who was a famous factory owner. When the child was brought home, her father thanked the poor worker and gave him a job in his factory as a sign of gratitude. What does this indicate? The child of the factory owner was the last lucky chance for the worker to find a job. If he hadn't been cautious, he would have missed this chance. A disciple should be awake, because if he is not careful enough and neglects a small task, the disciple may miss a favourable opportunity. This chance was the last one for the worker to find a job, but the first of the favourable occasions for him. It was only through this incident that he could find a job, i.e. that he could realize his idea. Many of you think that when they join the School, all paths for the implementation of their ideas will be open. They deceive themselves. Sometimes such great difficulties are created for the disciples that they get into a quandary, they don't know what to do. If they don't know the laws they will become discouraged and fall into despair over and over again. Their situation is similar to that of passengers traveling through seas and oceans; when they become sea-sick, they fall into despair and regret that they have taken the ship, but when they recover, their despair also disappears. I am saying to you too: do not regret that you have joined the School! Be brave and resolute, and go ahead! This is meant for those who are ready to follow the School. Those who are not ready may leave whenever they want to. As disciples of an occult school, you should comply with the processes of Nature and not limit them. You may come to the processes of cleansing, growing or awakening of consciousness. You should pay attention to these processes and see what they generate in you. You should be self-possessed to endure anything that Nature might bring to you. For example, when Nature subjects you to the process of cleansing, you have very unpleasant feelings and as a reaction you want to fight with Her. You should know one thing: Nature does not stand any impurity. So She submits everyone who comes into contact with her to a thorough cleansing. When you come to such a process, you start philosophizing: “What does Nature intend to do with this?” Nature intends one thing – to purify you. What does a hungry person intend to do? He intends to find food and help himself. The difference between hungry people consists only in the images they hold in their minds: one wants just bread, another one wants bread and meat, a third one wants fried chicken and so on. The hungry differ among themselves only in their thoughts and wishes. If you watch someone who likes meat, you will notice a peculiar colour on his face. A few years ago, I met a lady in the street who was from high society and exceptionally beautiful. Her face was veiled, but her appearance was very pleasant. As she was walking down the street, she stopped in front of a butcher’s shop. Right away her face took on a specific expression, something unpleasant and disgusting appeared on it as her animal nature was awakened. She went into the butcher’s, bought something, and as she was coming out I saw on her face the previous mask, which produced a good and pleasant impression. However at the sight of the meat she couldn't master her lower nature. Having bought some meat, she had satisfied it and then her face regained its initial beautiful and pleasant look. Therefore, the inner thoughts and feelings hidden in you can influence your image at any moment. And each thought, on its turn, is complex; it contains possibilities for compound processes that are also reflected on one’s face. For example, the thought of food causes a number of processes in the human organism. Especially if one is hungry, he may see different pictures in his mind. He imagines a nice soup made of turkey or chicken with rice, or with pasta. He may also imagine roasted pork, cooked with mustard or horse-radish, together with several glasses of six-year-old wine instead of water. All this exhilarates someone who is hungry. He walks, visualizing this and that and if he passes by an inn where his wishes could be fulfilled, he only sighs and continues his way as he has no money to pay. Some years ago in Varna I met a secondary school teacher who had been fired. He was walking with me and philosophizing on various issues. At some point we passed by a small inn where steaks, spits of meat and grilled rissoles were being prepared for lunch. When the unemployed teacher smelled this, he said: “This is what happiness in life is about – having money in your pocket and being able to enter the inn and taste these things whenever you wish to. Now I am passing by, but I can't enter and take a grilled rissole.” I am saying: the whole philosophy of this teacher came to nothing because of these grilled rissoles. All he had said broke to pieces at the smell of the grilled rissoles. After that I told him: “Your unhappiness now is a stroke of luck for me. If I find myself in this inn, I will feel unhappy.” Why did this teacher lose his philosophy at the sight of a grilled rissole? This indicates that the old habits of a person can emerge again; they are alive, not dead. You meet an occult disciple who is known to have reached a high level of personal development. He speaks about abstention and about achievements, but when he passes by an inn or a coffee-house, at once his wish to eat some meat or to drink a cup of coffee, to smoke a cigarette and to play cards, awakens in him. These are the old habits which re-emerge in one’s mind as a temptation. One should be cautious so that he may get over the old images of the past and clear them off. It is enough to put someone in certain conditions and the old images will reappear in his mind. How is it possible that an occult disciple could encounter such contradictions? I will answer this question with the following example: take a caterpillar that has just been transformed into a butterfly but has forgotten to throw away its old thinking of a caterpillar, so it lives simultaneously in both states. When it is in the state of a caterpillar, it looks for leaves and comes to a contradiction – it cannot eat leaves. Then it comes to its senses, returns to its second state of a butterfly and starts flying from flower to flower, sucking from their sweet nectar. It doesn't need leaves since it has a proboscis. Similarly, an occult disciple could be hampered by his old life. He could wish to return to the past and he may fall into temptation. The past means a return to the old forms. If you come to the past, say to yourself: “I don't need it. I have already passed through these states; now I am looking for the new conditions.” Imagine that being a disciple of the School, you are put through the test not to lie. You carry this weakness of lying from your past. First you used white lies, then black lies. In this way, gradually and imperceptibly to yourself, you got used to lying. You have a very strict master now. When you make a mistake, you hesitate: should you tell him the truth, or should you lie. After an inner struggle about what to do, you decide to lie, to hide your mistake, so that you may keep your job. In this respect you may find yourself in the position of a servant who once told his master the truth, but was punished. In certain circumstances he was forced to tell his master the truth, but the latter got cross and punished him without any understanding. Then the servant told him: “Master, you make me feel confused! I have lied to you several times, but you have never punished me. Today I told you the truth for the first time and you punished me. I am wondering why you punished me – for the truth I told you or for the fact that I had always lied to you previously.” I am saying, the same may happen to you too. If you tell the truth once, you will be punished. This punishment comes from the Invisible world. You don't get punished because you have told the truth, but because you haven't spoken the Truth previously. This doesn't mean that you should expect to be punished each time you tell the Truth. The opposite may also happen: if you have always told the Truth and you told a lie only once, you will be rewarded not for the lie, but for the Truth that you have served by that time. The punishments and the rewards which the Invisible world lays on humans are very specific. For example, material enrichment is a sort of punishment given by the Invisible world. Indeed, when someone becomes rich, he begins to gradually lose his inner peace and calmness. It doesn't mean that you shouldn't be rich. One should be rich but at the same time possess a strong and resistant character. A disciple should have a broad outlook on life; he shouldn't think that all things in existence are meant just for him. For example, when you walk by a garden with fruit trees, irrespective of how much you want to take some fruit, you don't have the right to do it if the master is not there. However everything belongs to God, doesn't it? Everything belongs to God, not to us. If you were meant to taste from the fruit, the master would have been there and he himself would have offered you some fruit. Some years ago, we were traveling with a friend from Varna to Burgas. I was walking on foot and he was riding a bicycle slowly. At some point it started to pour down with rain. We reached the Kamchia River somehow, but it overflowed due to the rain over a distance of several kilometres. My friend started carrying the bicycle on his back. But how could we continue further? We had to take our shoes off and walked into the water up to our knees. At that time we saw an inn nearby and stopped there for a while. The inn-keeper told us: “See, a cart driver is coming from over there, his horse is very strong and his cart is solid, but he is a headstrong man, he has not done a favour to anyone up to now, he will not agree to carry you in his cart.” – “We’ll try.” I went to the cart driver and told him: “My friend, will you help us? As you can see, our journey needs to continue across the river, but the water has risen a lot; we can cross the river, but we cannot carry the bicycle. Would you please take the bicycle in your cart and we will walk on foot.” – “I will help you with pleasure. Put the bicycle into the cart. But you may also get in the cart, I will easily carry you across the river.” I am saying, whoever is ready to take the bicycle into his cart will also take people. Whoever is not ready to take the bicycle, will not want to take people either. You should take the following into consideration: when one works with the Divine laws, one will see that there are absolutely no exceptions from them. Act according to these laws and don't worry about anything. We had decided to cross the river at any cost, we couldn't go back. We didn't rely on external help either, we were ready to carry the bicycle by ourselves. The Invisible world saw our readiness to help ourselves and the cart came. Then even the bad man became good and helpful. You should rely on yourselves. If a cart comes, it will be a privilege for you. If a cart doesn't come, you should go ahead. You may walk into deep water, but there is no way back. As disciples of this Great School, you should do many experiments in order to temper your character. However no one should know about them; no one should even suspect what you intend to do. Your experiments and actions should be natural, without any eccentricity. In this respect, Englishmen are free: they walk barefoot in snow early in the morning or in May, and no one pays attention to this. If such things happened in Bulgaria, people would criticize them and label them as eccentric. Therefore, it is better to do each exercise without bothering other people. The important thing is that each exercise has the purpose to temper you, to bring you out of the trivial order of things. For this purpose, the occult school offers to the disciples completely new methods for work which are expressed in beautiful and pleasant forms. Great sincerity is required of the disciple in order for him to succeed in his work. One should be sincere to oneself – never hide one’s mistakes, never exaggerate or diminish them. If one has made a slip, he could forgive himself for it, but should not find an excuse. Self-forgiveness means a conscious attitude to the slip. One forgives oneself but with the awareness that he should not repeat the mistake. Finding excuses for yourself - that the conditions were bad, that your karma was such – is not allowed. An error is an error, it doesn't need any excuses. You should state it as a fact and look for a method for its rectification. In some time, when you grow up and your mind gets visited by brighter and higher thoughts, then you will consider the problems from another point of view. Next time please write on the following topic: “The most powerful virtue of the disciple”. Everyone should reflect on this topic and write about a disciple's virtue that he considers most powerful. Some people compare virtues to gemstones. So, in the same way that you describe the properties of gemstones, you should describe the distinctive characteristics of virtues. We describe the properties and characteristics of all simple and compound chemical substances in the same way. For example, a specific property of water is its mobility or instability. Water is unstable, so that we might be stable. When we say that water is unstable, this means that it adapts to all conditions, good or bad. Another property of water is its dissolving ability – it is a good solvent. It cleans and washes bodies, due to its dissolving ability. At the same time, water has a cooling property. Everyone has experienced its cooling action in warm and hot days. Even uneducated people know these several properties of water. Ask a shepherd what water is – he will tell you immediately. Then come the other characteristics of water, known by scientists only, i.e. water is a compound substance, consisting of two volumes of hydrogen and one volume of oxygen. Water has other properties also, but understanding these properties requires more in-depth knowledge. In the same way we can describe the properties of light, for example. Light has the ability to illuminate adjacent objects. It lightens the Path of humans. Water makes life easier. There is no life without water. When people want to establish a settlement, they look for a place rich in water. Sometimes there are torrents that may carry off houses, animals and people, but nevertheless water is a valuable asset, a carrier of Life. As disciples you should think properly, so you can write good essays about gemstones. You should bring to mind several gemstones that you know better and describe their characteristics. Write in general terms, but underline the reason why they are called gemstones. Then write the reason why some precious stones have a higher price than others. Precious stones educate us, that is why everyone wants to have them. They contain fine energy in a condensed, i.e. compressed state. Sometimes they may lose their brightness and strength, but then they recover them again. People are often the cause for such a loss. Precious stones lose their brightness because of some people and get it back owing to others. Since you know some of the properties of gemstones, think if it is possible for a person to be a precious stone. What precious stone would you like to be? Someone wants to be a diamond, another one – a ruby, someone else – a sapphire and so on. Think well on the topic and write as briefly as possible. You would say: “What connection do precious stones have with us?” You should know one thing: each thought and each feeling – the object of your reflection - exercises a certain influence on you. Thus you connect with it. This is true from an occult point of view. Each topic or issue you reflect on exercises a certain influence on you and is useful to you to the extent that you have succeeded in making a connection with it. It exercises a certain influence on your development. For example, when you reflect on the most powerful virtue of the disciple, even if you could not attain it, you will benefit a lot. What will be the benefit? Making a connection with virtues. Someone will write that the strongest virtue of a disciple is Love, another one will mention Faith, a third one – Mercy, a fourth one – his learning ability and so on. When you think about a specific virtue, you connect with it, even without suspecting it. This is namely the benefit of doing these writing tasks which are given to you in class. All virtues are equally significant and powerful but for a given period of time a certain virtue exercises the greatest influence over the character of a particular disciple. The main virtue of a soldier going to the battlefield is courage; for those who look after patients it is mercy; for disciples it is obedience; for workers – diligence, for servants – wit and resourcefulness. This trait is especially necessary for a servant who has a bad master. He should be sufficiently witty and resourceful to be able to foresee the wishes of his master early enough. The servant should know his master in order to be able to behave in the most appropriate way. Some days ago I happened to observe the conduct of a little dog. It was very intelligent and witty. Its masters threw a bone for the dog to gnaw at. At that time a big dog came from the neighbouring yard and rushed to the bone. Right away the little dog abandoned the bone to the big dog, walking around quietly, satisfied that it had given up the bone. If the little dog had not reckoned that in this case it would be better to give up the bone, there would have been a great fight between the two dogs and the little one would have suffered. A bad man or a bad master is like the big dog. If you come into a relationship that leads to struggle, you’d better give up your bone, let him gnaw at it. This bone could be a job or an article – give it up, so that you may not suffer. A bad man disposes with physical power. Since he is strong physically, he is ready to do everything. In this case taking a step back is common sense. This is not fear, it’s a saving of time and energy. Those who want to be in class should maintain harmonious relationships with each other. Remember that everyone who disrupts the harmony harms himself and the others too. Whatever harm you cause to others, it will come back and will first be reflected in your consciousness. Each wrong thought, feeling or action represents a bad, ugly image which is imprinted first in the consciousness of the person who has sent it or created it. Therefore, evil is cast out in disharmonious and irregular forms or images. Good is expressed in harmonious and regular images. Humans create both kinds of images. You see two pear trees in a garden: you taste a pear from the first tree – it is sweet, and you taste a pear from the second tree – it is bitter. Why is it bitter? Bitterness shows its egoistic character. That tree gave bitter fruit, so that no one could use it. Thus the tree wants to show that it doesn't give its fruit to anyone. There are bitter cucumbers too. However clever people are able to use bitter fruit towards some purpose too. It is important for disciples to know the following: each of their actions gets chronicled. Each disciple is followed by detectives from the two lodges who note everything: the first chronicles the good thoughts, feelings and actions of the disciple, whereas the second one notes the bad ones. Both will use your deeds at the right time and place. While noting your bad deeds, the dark detectives study your character, in order to attract you to their side in the easiest way which is also most imperceptible to you. Both lodges want to attract you to their side, this is why they try to convince you that the path they offer to you is the right and proper one. The best path for the disciple is the path which releases his soul from those links that have hampered him from the past all the way to the present. In your free time I would like each of you to summarize the main ideas in this lecture and to draw out for yourself those important, basic conclusions, which you have best understood and which you will be able to use. When I say that obedience is required of the disciples, I mean obedience in the smallest extent. I want you to use only one hour out of the twenty four hours of the day for obedience – half an hour during the day, when you are awake, and half an hour at night, when you are in the Astral world during your sleep. However in these 30 minutes you should be absolutely obedient. This would be the basic measure for your obedience. So you will be obedient for half an hour or thirty minutes during the day, all the while reflecting on obedience. These thirty minutes could be divided into parts: ten minutes in the morning, ten minutes at lunch time and ten minutes in the evening. After that – ten minutes before you go to bed, ten minutes when you wake up during the night and ten minutes before getting up – one hour in total. If you wake up in a cheerful and happy mood, this shows that you were obedient. If you wake up tired and depressed, this shows that you were not obedient, you were not at school but somewhere outside. Such instants should not discourage you. One goes through all the phases of the flour until it becomes bread. Flour is light. If you leave it outside, even the slightest wind could blow it away. You take some warm water, put the flour in it and make a mess. You put more flour until the mess becomes denser and denser, ready for processing. You collect the flour from here and there and begin to knead this mess. It becomes elastic, easily worked up and you say that the dough is already well done. Then you shape it into bread and put it in the oven. Therefore, the human being is flour in the beginning, later it turns into mess, after that – into dough and finally it becomes bread. So you should know that if you are flour, you have just come from the mill; if you are mess, you are still in the kneading-troughs; if you are dough, you are still being worked up; once you become bread, you are taken to the oven and you are joyful that you can serve humanity. These are situations or states that a human goes through in his life. They will lead you to new images, new ideas and thoughts, which will bring you an impulse and an incentive for work. You will replace the old solutions, the old ideas with new ones which will make you young. It has been written in the Scriptures: “Those who wait for God will recover their strength. Those who seek the Path of Wisdom, will improve their way.” Bringing out something good out of good people doesn't require great skill, but bringing something good out of bad people is an art. Now that you know this, do not be discouraged, but work upon yourself bravely and resolutely. You should complete the tasks given to you without doubt or hesitation. Even the slightest doubt is an obstacle. It is enough to just think that you can do without this task and you will hamper yourselves. If you are given a task, it should be accomplished without any contemplation. When you fulfill the task and observe the result you get from it, then you can contemplate as much as you want. Whoever wants to be a disciple should first of all apply their mindful will. Why? Such is the law of the Divine world. In that world first you act, then you think. In the human world it is just the opposite – first you should think, then act. According to intuition, which is a law of the Divine world, when you feel, when you perceive something from the High world, you should act right away and then think of the consequences. Therefore, if you are in the Divine world, you will first act and then think; if you are in the human world, you will first think and then act. As you can see, these two methods are diametrically opposed to each other. This is why when I say that disciples should not think, I have the Divine world in mind. If you are in the Divine world, you will first act and then think; when you come down into the human world, you will first think and then act. Why? When we act, God thinks; when we think, God acts. What does an engineer do? First he thinks over the design of the house, taking a number of things into consideration – finances, materials, location – then he makes a plan and after that he will already apply it in practice and act in accordance with it. So if you say that you think first, you are in the human world. When you say that you act first, you are in the Divine world. You can guess which world you are in by the method you apply. If you interchange the methods, you will make a mistake. If you enter into the Divine world and think before acting, you will make a mistake. If you enter into the human world and act before thinking, you will make a mistake again. The methods of these two worlds are completely different. They are strictly determined, therefore interchanging them is impossible. So you should think and act, and you should act and think. Secret prayer
  17. Thought, Feeling And Action Year 1, Lecture 15 of the Youth Occult Class (Special Class) given by the Master Beinsa Douno June 7, 1922, Wednesday Sofia Secret prayer Each right thought is an image of a Divine idea. Human life begins with thinking. When a person thinks, he realizes that he is alive. In order to be alive, a thought needs to be combined with a feeling - this means that the thought comes down to the real world, to the world of form. In order for the feeling to be positive, it needs to be combined with an act of will. And by the word “act” we understand the final limit that Spirit reaches in each manifestation. Therefore, thoughts, feelings and actions represent the stations or stops of the Spirit. Thoughts are the first station of the Spirit, feelings are the second, and actions are the third station. The Path of Spirit is harmonious but only under the condition that no external influences interfere either in the thoughts, or in the feelings or the actions. How does a clairvoyant see thoughts, feelings and actions? In certain forms and colours. Often people get sick, they lose consciousness, etc. This seems abnormal to you. Indeed, these things are abnormal, but they happen due to disharmonious thoughts, feelings and actions. The lives of contemporary people are full of such abnormalities. Someone is sitting in reflection. His thoughts are clear, his feelings are calm and peaceful, so he says to himself that he is in full harmony. All of a sudden he thinks or feels something that is not compatible with his first thought and feeling, and great disharmony is born inside him. He loses his previous balance and begins to suffer. When higher beings from the Invisible world see him, what will they say about him? Therefore, when two opposite ideas or principles enter someone’s mind, they cause discordance in his consciousness, and each state of discordance deprives a human being of his Freedom. Everyone should know this: a human being's mind should never be penetrated by two opposing thoughts. Do the following experiment in order to test the accuracy of what I am saying. Each morning over the course of a month, send a positive bright thought to the same person, and then observe the result of this experiment. At the same time give a one-lev coin to a poor man every morning, also over the course of a month. At the end of the month compare the results of the two experiments. You will have better results in the first experiment than in the second one. Why? Because in the first experiment you've directed your positive pure thoughts to someone; they've come directly from you. In the second case, however, the coin you gave to the poor man has passed through many people, many hands before reaching his hand, and everyone has left an imprint of his thoughts on it. These thoughts are not all harmonious, so they create contradiction and discord in the consciousness of the man. Many coins from past centuries bear traces of the thoughts and feelings of the people of those ages. So when I say that many old ideas and thoughts should be replaced by new ones, I have in mind the forms of those thoughts coming from the Astral and the Mental world which have been engraved on the coins, i.e. engraved into human consciousness, as if on stereotyped blocks. These forms are impure and distorted. Money itself is not impure, but carries upon it the engravings of the past. Otherwise, as a symbol money represents the life of the conscious human being who thinks. When we say that we can live without money, we mean that those thoughts from the past of humanity that have created money should nowadays be transformed. Money today is the result of the human thoughts that created it. Having passed down through the centuries, such thoughts are now so debased that they have a negative influence on human life. Nevertheless, money is on everyone’s mind today. I am asking, why can't you live without money? Disciples should get rid of the thought that living without money is impossible. Money plays an important role in human life today, people consider it almost a primary factor in their lives. But if someone wants to travel around the world, he should put every thought of money out of his mind. He can go around the world without a coin in his pocket, this is what I call a disciple of the occult. Your pockets can be full of gold, but your mind and your thoughts should be absolutely free of money. And the opposite is true: you may not have a penny in your pocket, but your mind may be preoccupied with the thought of money. This is the idea I have in mind when I say that it is possible to live without money. Occult disciples of various schools have made numerous attempts to live without money for a certain period of time. You are still candidates, you haven't become disciples yet. First you should become believers and then you will become disciples. In order to become believers, you should do an experiment to see how long you will endure. However, it is only for those of you who are ready to do it consciously. The experiment is the following: try to live without money for a month. Those who are employees and receive salaries, as well as those who have other incomes, should consciously renounce their incomes and give them to the poor or to whatever cause they find appropriate, so that they will remain without any means. During this time you will work without thinking of money. Your mind will be concentrated on the Divine world and you will allow no fear about how you will spend the day. With the help of this experiment you will be able to observe the way Spirit works. Those who are ready to undertake this experiment should know that the deadline is twelve months from now. You should complete the experiment within this deadline. Doing it in a year from now will be useless. During this experiment, imagine that you are the poorest person on earth, that you have absolutely nothing and that there is no one to help you. Those who undertake this experiment should not share it with anyone, but keep it a secret. They should tell no one until they achieve some result. Some think the experiment will be easy, because they will eat at home and won't need money for food. No, that is no solution to the problem. In order to find the right solution, you should place yourself in the position of a person without money in an unknown, foreign city, such as New York or London. This person doesn't know the language and doesn't know anyone there. What will he do in this situation? He has no other choice but to go to work at the port as a stevedore, or to find some other job to earn his living. If you are a student and you eat in an inn, you can do the experiment in the following way: give all your money to others. When it is time for lunch, you will go to the same inn or to another one and ask the innkeeper to allow you to serve the guests at the inn, and for this you will receive lunch only. After lunch, do not think of having supper. Lunch is enough for you. Do not think of tomorrow either. Every day will bring you income, but you should rely mainly on your hands. Your work will provide you with lunch. If you cannot be a servant at the inn, then go to an entrepreneur and ask him for some work on a construction site – you can carry bricks or mix water with lime, etc. It is enough for you to earn your daily food. This is the only way to test how Divine law works. At the same time you will realize that besides physical life there is another one, a higher one, where everything is foreseen and thoughtfully distributed. From the very moment of birth everyone receives a predetermined credit that he can rely on. Outside of the physical world there are other laws that regulate our lives. Humans do not know these laws, so they think that everything is arranged according to the laws of the physical world. Due to this misunderstanding of modern man, evil has emerged. Humans strive for insurance because they think that everyone should take care of themselves, that no one knows what will happen tomorrow. Everyone wants to be insured, and that is why they save money, buy and sell land, but as a result thousands of kilograms of food decay and spoil, while at the same time in the cities hundreds and thousands of people die of hunger. I will tell you something else about this experiment: for those who are afraid of going hungry, it's better not to undertake it. However, if they do start the experiment and then find themselves in a difficult situation, they should come to me and I will help them out in one way or another. I will not allow anyone to fail. And if you think that a month is too long a period, then do the experiment for a week only. Those who live with their parents can also undertake the experiment by earning their bread, mainly through physical labour. Everyone can help their parents at home in order to deserve their bread. This experiment aims to free you from your fear of tomorrow. You should rely on that Great Law in the Universe that regulates all things. When disciples are given such experiments to do, they should interpret them not just literally, but according to their meaning and purpose as well. Someone who starts the experiment but cannot earn his daily bread might say: “It is all right, I will fast today.” No, this experiment excludes fasting. You should work at least one or two hours daily, expending that portion of your energy that can later be recovered with your food. Only in this way will you learn to rely on the Great Law that drives Life. This experiment is not so difficult – you can apply it for a week. The further you go into the Teaching the harder the exams become. You will be given tasks that will make you sweat several times daily. This is the Path of the disciple. The privilege of the disciple is that he or she will go through all of the difficulties and all the suffering consciously, in full knowledge of the reasons for the hardships. If you are not in the School, you will go through the same trials and tribulations, but you will not know the reasons for them. The privilege of the disciple is in the Light which he or she has. Consciously or unconsciously, one must go through the trials and difficulties of Life – they cannot be avoided. If you go through them unconsciously, you will encounter a number of contradictions; if you go through them consciously, you will receive the Divine blessing and you will know their purpose. If you endure suffering in this way, afterwards you will attain Joy and Peace in your soul. Now, as disciples of the Great School you should have a conscious and positive attitude to Life. In addition, our purpose is not to deprive you of suffering, but to teach you how to utilize it. Suffering is the greatest good you can be given in Life at present. Each experience of suffering is in its proper place and has its deep meaning. Why do humans suffer? – This is one of the mysteries of existence. When trials come, everyone should endure them without asking why they have come. When they go away, then everyone will understand them. Christ, the Great Teacher of humanity, subjected Himself to the greatest suffering that has ever existed in the world, without receiving an answer as to why He was suffering. Instead of an answer, He was crucified, He was pierced through His chest, so that blood and liquid dropped from it, and He was left to ask about the reason for this suffering. As He did not receive an answer, He said: “Let it be Your will, Lord!” Therefore, Christ too had to go through suffering, without receiving any explanation for it. He had to pass this exam. Now, after having suffered, you want to receive an explanation immediately. No, the understanding of suffering comes after you have overcome it, after you have passed the exam. Until that time you will think about it. When you come to a certain experience of suffering, say deeply within yourself: “This is the thoughtful Will of God! This is the Great Will of God! This is the Will of the Infinite Cosmos!” Any other understanding will plunge you into sin and crime. If, during the moment of suffering, someone comes to you and explains the reasons for it, he will cause you the greatest evil. Therefore, do not regret the suffering you are given. If you regret suffering, you should also regret the Love you are given. It is a Law: Joy and Love will follow each suffering. This law can be experienced. The greater the suffering, the greater the Love; if suffering is reduced, Love is reduced as well. Therefore, suffering is a measure of Love. Love gets increased mindfully; it comes gradually. Thus, suffering and Love move parallel to each other and play an equal part in the building up of the human soul. Secret prayer Go forward in Boundless Love! Source
  18. Ани

    1922_05_31 LINKS OF KNOWLEDGE

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

    1922_05_24 CONTRADICTIONS IN LIFE

    CONTRADICTIONS IN LIFE Year 1, Lecture 13 of the Youth Occult Class (Special Class) Given by the Master Beinsa Douno On May 24, 1922, Wednesday 17.00h, Vitosha Mountain Secret Prayer I am going to speak now about the contradictions in Life or the contradictions in the life of a disciple. The sign “V” is considered a symbol of contradiction. Generally speaking all disciples often succumb to fear and doubt which usually go together. Have you asked yourself why you feel fear? What is the origin of fear? For example, when I give you the task to write an essay or a lesson, you feel some fear that you could not accomplish this work. Where has this fear come from? Fear is a negative feature of the low human mind, of the low manas. If one has no possessions, will one ever be scared? Suppose that you have only a consciousness, but not a physical form at your disposal. This means that you are aware of yourself as a human being – you think, you contemplate, but you have absolutely no form. In this case would you feel fear? Therefore, fear is a consequence of the awareness that you could lose what you have or that you could not attain what you want. Fear will appear when one’s conscience is occupied with the thought that one may lose what they want - for example, one is afraid not to lose one’s life. And when someone thinks that they will not achieve what they want, then doubt comes. Now I would like to explain the psychological reason why doubt finds a reason to emerge in the human soul. When fear appears in you, your will is weak; fear is always a sign of a weak will. This is encoded in human nature. Doubt shows that your intellect is not strong enough. For example, some work is assigned to you and you start doubting if you could do it or not. Why is that? You feel that your intellect is not able to fulfill the assigned task, but if your mind is bright and capable, you will not feel any doubt. Doubt should give you an impulse, it should not be protected as a precious object, but should stimulate and increase your mental activity. How could your mind become stronger? If your mind is weak, you should absorb the blue[1] vibrations of Light. The colour green in Nature is materialistic. When someone deals mostly with the colour green, he becomes materialistic - he starts thinking about houses, fields, money and riches. That is why materialists are fond of the green colour – it is their favourite colour. Contemporary evolution is immersed in this colour; green is the prevailing colour in it. Fear comes as a result of the absence of strength. When fear is strongly manifest in someone, it is good for this person to receive the vibrations of the colour orange as a means of balancing the energies; orange is the colour of healing. If you are afraid of darkness, try to assimilate the orange rays of the Sun during the day and your fear will be balanced out, it will be transformed into prudence. For example, you think that you are not fearful, that you have faith, and you can think and philosophize, but if there is an earthquake, you stop thinking and you suddenly find yourself in the street. When you realize you are in the street, you start thinking about how this could have happened. This means that you possess no self-control, and your will does not control your mind. For example when you get burnt, you do not think. There was a time when fear, a sense of caution, was appropriate, but today fear is abnormal and has become a painful feeling. Attention, caution and prudence come in contrast to fear. You should know that you live in a world where certain forces are opposed to evolution and the path that you are following. When fear predominates in someone, this person has convulsions and irregular movements of the arms and legs. In such cases you can regulate fear with the orange rays. Fear enhances people's negative traits. For example, if some unpleasant event has happened to someone, he will magnify it at least tenfold. If someone has suffered, he will not describe the suffering naturally, but in a rather exaggerated manner. There is a certain analogy between fear and doubt. For example, doubt leads to exaggeration of people's errors. You can draw big conclusions from a small occasion. Let’s assume that you have read an author who doubts the existence of life after death and God - this shows that this author's mind hasn't developed yet. He may be a scientist and have a sharp intellect, but his mind is weak. Under “mind” we mean all its constituting abilities, feelings, intellect and powers. Intellect represents the low human mind or the low manas, whereas reason represents the high human mind or the high manas. Therefore, there are people with highly developed reasoning, but a weak intellect, as well as people of strong intellect, who are weak in reasoning. Both of them make mistakes. Some philosophers have excellent systems of thinking, but they are so ignorant about Nature that even little children possess more knowledge than them. For example, an Englishman who was a famous preacher and a great philosopher said in one of his speeches that sheep drank water only when they were ill. What does this show? This preacher's philosophy was far removed from the reality which surrounded him. He had a well-developed mind, but a weak intellect. In fact, sheep do not drink water when they are ill, but when they are healthy only. Similarly to this preacher, many contemporary people now say that God does not exist, i.e. that sheep drink water when they are ill. The preacher is weak in his proof, because he wants to give evidence of the existence of God while providing wrong information, such as the fact that sheep drink water only when they are ill. God is an essence that cannot be proved. He exceeds any proof. God is a Being beyond time and space, beyond consciousness, beyond Life, beyond any human intelligence, etc. God is beyond time and space, but simultaneously God contains time and space in Himself. He is beyond Life, but He contains Life in Himself. He is beyond consciousness, but He contains consciousness in Himself. He is beyond intelligence, but He contains intelligence in Himself. How do you understand this? It means that God, the Infinite One, cannot be proved. This is why everything that cannot be proved in the physical world provokes doubt in the human mind. Actually only what cannot be proved is real, whereas anything that can be proved is just a shadow of Reality. When I say that certain things cannot be proved, I do not mean that you cannot think and contemplate about them. You can think about them for as long as you like, but you cannot prove them in time and space. Therefore, when doubt penetrates your mind, you should know that you are close to Reality. I will give you an example in order to explain this idea to you. Suppose that you don’t have a friend in Life. In this case, can you doubt him? Of course you can'tt, but when you do have a friend, you already have the opportunity to doubt - you could doubt, for example, whether your friend loves you, whether he thinks of you etc. Therefore doubt is an expression of the negative side of Reality. The same can be said about fear. Can one be afraid, if one does not see anything? Therefore one can only be afraid of the things one can see. He can be afraid of what he doesn't understand and cannot explain to himself - only what has remained unexplained and secret creates fear in human beings. If someone takes you out of your room at night while you are asleep and leaves you somewhere in Nature in an unknown place where you cannot define even where East and West are, will you not get scared? You will certainly be scared and in panic. You cannot explain what has happened and how it has turned out that you are outside. You remember that you were in your room and in your bed, but you do not know who took you out and why. The reality you are in now awakes fear in you and in order to release it you need to start thinking about how your removal took place. Once you find out the reason and explain this phenomenon to yourself, your fear will disappear. Imagine now another situation that can awaken fear in you. You are in your room, sitting in contemplation. All of a sudden a bear comes in through the open door and appears in front of you. You get scared and start running away. It is good that in this case you have a second door through which you go out immediately. You tell everyone you meet in the street that a bear entered your room and nearly attacked you. If you didn't have a second door in your room, you would have had to defend yourself, i.e. fight with the bear. However if you had self-control, you would have started thinking. First you would have asked yourself: “How is it possible for a bear to enter my room?” Then you would have looked at it closely and seen that it was not a real bear, but a person dressed in a bear skin. You would have find out that it was your friend who pulled a joke on you. Therefore, when fear enters your mind, you can escape through the door of the heart. This means that no matter what danger may threaten you, you always have an exit to go through and save yourself. When fear enters your heart, ask yourself if all that you see, feel and experience is real. Someone with self-control can sit calmly on a stone in the forest in the presence of the wildest of beasts – tigers and lions - and they won't cause him any harm at all. They will pass him by without even touching him. If he is afraid, however, they will inevitably attack him. Even the most ferocious of animals step back before a brave and fearless person. They feel this person’s strength and are afraid of it. Indeed a brave person has a strong will and a strong thought; he is able to concentrate. Can you tell me now what the dog which just passed by was thinking about? As you could see, it stopped, looked at you for a while and moved on. Did it realize that you are disciples in a spiritual school? It understood that you had gathered here for some important work, but it did not grasp the nature of this work. If you had frightened the dog, it would have barked, but your thoughts gave it an impulse to continue on its way instead. It understood that its place was not with us. It had good observational skills and a well developed lower mind, that is why it didn't stop with us, but continued on its way. It had observed its master and concluded that just as its master is often occupied with his own work, we also have some work to do here. Fear and doubt come naturally in the physical world but in occult schools they get created artificially. This was the case in occult schools in India, Egypt etc. For example, a disciple went to one of the masters in an occult school, but the Master didn't speak to him. The disciple said something, but the Master stayed silent; the disciple was shocked and didn't know what to do. Two or three days passed, but the Master remained silent. The disciple began to think that he may have joined the school too early. After that the Master put the disciple through a test, causing him great fear. Thus the Master could observe whether the disciple’s mind and will were well developed. He watched the reactions of the disciple in order to find out his positive and negative traits. Spiritual disciples need to possess positive traits. If they have any negative traits, they cannot be real disciples. Someone who has weaknesses cannot be a disciple. Therefore, you should know that the difficulties you face in Life are strictly and mathematically defined as they are necessary for your development. You cannot avoid them whatever you do. If you avoid them in one form, they will come to you in a second form, in a third one and so on. If you avoid them in a form which is easy to manage, they will come back to you in a form which is more difficult to handle. It has been noticed that one encounters exactly what one is most afraid of and the other way round - one achieves what one wishes for the most. From the viewpoint of the School of the Brotherhood of Light, fear and doubt in human beings are negative traits which show that higher Love has not yet entered the human heart. Fear and doubt show also that higher Wisdom has not yet entered the human mind. In order to overcome fear you should work on doubt and other negative traits of your character. In this respect, the occult school offers a number of methods to its disciples, so that they can work on themselves. The first characteristic of a disciple is the ability to work. One should like one’s work and should always be ready to work. Once a young person who had graduated from university went to a master of an occult school and asked him to become his disciple. At that time the master was digging in the vineyard and didn't give him an answer. The young person asked questions on several issues, but didn't take a hoe to dig with the master. Was he ready to be a disciple in this situation? No, a disciple should be diligent and quick-minded. He should work jointly with his master. He will ask questions and his master will answer to him while they are working. Their conversation will start in a natural way. They will work and talk at the same time. That young person, however, expected that the master would leave his work to converse with him. The master will not interrupt his work. In such a situation it is the disciple that needs to adapt to the master. Contemporary people doubt the existence God because they want Him to interrupt His work and ask them about their problems and material circumstances. In other words, they expect Him to give them the kind of attention that little children need. This is where their mistake lies. They should know that God will never discontinue His work. He is able to extend or reduce time and space, in order to give humans the possibility to study, work and develop, but He will never stop working. When someone is about to get hanged, time contracts and the days pass quickly. When someone owes something to somebody, time also goes fast. In both cases people wish for time to be prolonged. In this respect contemporary people have no precise criterion or measure which they can apply to determine what the real time is, i.e. to define the length of a given time. When I speak to you about the duration of time, it is an issue that relates to consciousness. If you move with the speed of a normal train, you will reach the Sun in two hundred and fifty years, but if you move with the speed of Light, you will be there in eight minutes. Therefore, your consciousness could move with the speed of a normal train or with the speed of Light, or even faster. This means that time and space depend on consciousness. Consciousness is outside of time and space, outside of any contradictions, outside of fear and doubt. Space produces fear, time produces doubt. If you fall into a well, you will feel fear. When the time approaches for you to pay a bill, you will feel doubt. When you see that your creditor is coming, you will ask yourself: “Has he not made a mistake, has he not come earlier for the payment?” When two disharmonious objects are placed together in time, they will produce doubt in the human mind. When these two objects are separated in space, they will produce fear. For example, if you say a bad word to your friend, you will feel fear in this very moment that you could lose him. Fear indicates that you are in space and you worry that your friendship can be broken. I will ask you some questions now. Is it better to love or to be loved? – To love. Is it better to give or to receive? – To give. What will happen then if all of you love and give? You will repel each other. Loving is one thing, being loved is another; these are completely different states of the soul, originating from two different processes in Existence. Loving is a process of Love whereby you develop your strength; being loved is a process of Wisdom whereby you gain knowledge. Is there any contradiction here? So when God works on your soul with His Love, you want to love; and when God works on your soul with His Wisdom, you want to be loved. However you need to create the necessary conditions in order to be loved. No one can love you if these conditions haven't been created. For example, in a dark room with closed shutters you want to see Light and to be joyful. Is it possible in this situation for Light to reach your eyes? You should open the shutters of the windows, so that Light may come into the room, touch your eyes and love you. Under these circumstances you will enjoy the Light too. Therefore, to love means to connect with the First Principle – Divine Love. To be loved means to connect with the Second Principle – Divine Wisdom. And it is true that after someone has loved for two or three days, for months, for a year or two, or more, this person comes finally to a passive state, wishing to be loved. In this way an alternation of processes occurs and the wheel of life starts turning in the opposite direction. During this alternation a change takes place in the role of human bodies as well: at first human activity was concentrated in the Astral body or in the World of the human heart; later with the change of processes it moved into the Mental body or the World of the human mind. If the activity in that world ceases as well, the human being comes down to work in the physical world. Consequently, when human activity in the physical world stops, it goes to the Mental world; when it stops in the Mental world, then it passes to the Astral world and everything starts from the beginning. This means that in human Life in its entirety a continuous circular movement takes place. This shows that one cannot remain at the same point in life forever - this would mean remaining in eternal stagnation which is impossible. You cannot love and be loved all the time. If these processes continue for too long, you will become indifferent. You cannot think and feel all the time either. If you find yourself in one of these situations, you should consciously look for some work to do, so that you can change your mental state. For example, if you have loved until now, find some books to read. While reading them, you will feel the author’s love, and if you read your works to someone else, you will give them your love as well. Loving and being loved are equally powerful processes. Why? The soul that expects to be loved creates an impulse for the other soul which is giving its love at that time. Loving and being loved present two poles of Life. Those who give love create the subjective side of Life; those who receive love create the objective side of Life. Because of that the person who loves wants to see their image in their beloved. You like mirrors, because your image is reflected there. If you have a mirror in your pocket and somehow you break it or lose it, you are very regretful, because you cannot maintain a clear vision of your image anymore. You see your image in the mirror much better than you can imagine it. Therefore, the person you love is always an expression of your love. This is the reason why you love him. If your mirror is a bit smudged you don't like it, because it doesn't give a clear reflection of your image. You love only the one who is able to inspire you, to give you an impulse and an incentive for something. It has been written in the Scriptures: “Love God the Lord with all your heart.” This means that the Divine should be reflected in you. And when the Divine sees Itself reflected in the human soul, God rejoices, as He knows that this person has worked on himself. When God rejoices, the person is also joyful. When one loses joy, this indicates that God is not satisfied with this person. This is why you shouldn't think that the Love you manifest is yours. Humans are only instruments for the manifestation of Divine Love and Intelligence. Writers, poets and scientists know this. Sometimes they have great ideas and write with inspiration, beautifully; at other times they cannot write anything and feel poor, as if they don't know or comprehend anything. If Intelligence and high reasoning were their innate nature, they would always have it at their disposal, but that isn't the case - they are creative only when someone brings something to them. So if someone fills their basket with cherries, they go around, share it with others and write. In the present conditions of life, the Invisible world expresses Its Love in the form of Intelligence. Humans are interpreters of this Intelligence. This doesn't in the least mean that humans are automatons - they just need to be aware that they are interpreters of this Intelligence. Having realized this, humans should be happy that they have received something from the Divine world which they should use mindfully. For next Wednesday please prepare an answer to the following questions: “Why should I love?" and "Why should I be beloved?” It is not so important for me if you answer these questions correctly, but that you think about them. What is important is what you will gain after contemplating this topic for some time. This topic is a very important one and you need to think about it. The power of a human being lies in its thought. If you think, you will always acquire something which may not find an external expression today, but in a year or two or maybe more, it definitely will. Irrespective of how correct your answer to these questions will be, you cannot be on the right path yet. It is not enough to only write about Love, one needs to experience it. Therefore, whoever writes about Love definitely needs to love and feel loved as well. This shows how difficult it is to write about the essence of things. As I am giving you this topic, I would like to point out to you the fact that you will be writing about things which you don't know much about. Why is that? You have not loved nor have you been loved until now. What you call love is a shadow of Love. Therefore, neither your love nor the love of your kin can be called reality. You would ask: “Is it possible for our love to be a shadow of Love?” This could be tested. If your love were to be tried, you would fail right away. You have love, but not the one I am talking about. I have Divine Love in mind in which no polarization exists. If it penetrates the human soul only for an instant, it will be enough to bring enlightenment to your mind and make you feel one with all creatures all over planet Earth and the entire Cosmos. It can be experienced by anyone who loves and who is loved. This is what understanding the inner meaning of Love means. You will study Love for thousands of years until you understand what it actually is. You need to pass through many levels of existence in order to perceive the Reality of things at least partially. If Love would visit someone right now, this person wouldn't stand its vibrations – he would lose consciousness and fall to the ground, his breathing and pulse would cease. He would have no alternative but to ask to be returned to his initial state. Contemporary people's nervous systems and their whole organisms are not ready to endure the strong vibrations and the currents of Love. That is why spiritual science recommends to its disciples a number of methods and exercises for strengthening of the mind, the heart and the will, so that the forces of their organism can get in tune with the natural forces and currents. When I say that your love is a shadow of Real Love, I mean that you have not yet experienced such Love, you have not had such an opportunity, so it is unknown to you. If you ask a young man to describe his love, he will say: “I told her about my love, but she didn't understand me.” And the young woman will say: “I loved him, but he was unfaithful.” One could be unfaithful even without being beloved. Precisely in a situation in which you love someone the possibility for infidelity is minimal. It is impossible for the one you love to be unfaithful to you. This does not happen anywhere in Life. If there are exceptions they are outside of Divine Love, outside of Divine Wisdom. There are absolutely no conditions for infidelity in Divine Love and Wisdom. When we talk about infidelity, we should understand human love, i.e. love between human beings on Earth. If there is infidelity, we cannot speak of Love. Therefore, you should know the following: if you have doubts, Intelligence is absent from your mind; if you have fears, Love is absent from your heart. This says it all. You all need to know this as disciples of an occult school. If you are not guided by these precepts in Life, you will only study the shadows of Reality and in the end you will fall into despair and discourage and say to yourself: “It was all for nothing!” In order to avoid reaching such a state, put your love to the test and see how much you can stand. I will now give you two rules to always have in mind: you should not be afraid when you want to love; you should not doubt when you want to be loved. Apply these rules in your life to see if and to what extent they are true. When you have free time, think about them. When you watch the reactions of people or read philosophical books, or study the works of some writers and poets, put their thoughts through your sieves and keep only what remains on the surface. That is what is most valuable and useful to you; whatever falls down is not meant for you. Rely on the sieve of your heart and of your mind and do not be discouraged! Do you know how to sift? All of you have sifted flour so you are familiar with this art, but there are things which do not pass through your sieve and which are still not useful to you. What will you do with them? You will bend down, take them with the pincers of your will and put them aside. Therefore, you can separate the usable from the unusable in your life with the help of your thought, your feelings and your will. Did you understand everything I told you this evening? – We understood a tenth of everything you said. Keep this tenth then! It will be the unit of measurement which you should use. Indeed, the human being represents a tenth of the Divine Truth. By “one tenth” I mean the unit which is used by every human being to measure things according to the level of his or her intellectual development. Currently the task of all humans, of all humanity, is to prove that human beings represent one tenth of the whole. Secret prayer [1] The colours mentioned in this lecture carry symbolic significance as the Master Beinsa Douno had previously written a book in which he grouped quotations from the Bible and designated a colour to each of these groups. The book s is called “The Legacy of the Coloured Rays of Light” and all participants in the Youth Occult Class were quite familiar with it.
  20. Ани

    1922_05_17 Methods Of Cleansing

    Methods Of Purification Year 1, Lecture 12 of the Youth Occult Class (Special Class) Given by the Master Beinsa Douno May 17, 1922, Wednesday Sofia Secret Prayer There was a presentation of the remainder of the essays on the topic "Applications of Karma in Life” Now I will use another example to explain to you what karma is. A young person went out with his friends. They stopped at an inn and went in to have a drink. This young man drank for the first time in his life and very soon got so drunk that he could hardly control his body or stand on his legs. After his friends also got drunk, they all left the inn together. The streets were muddy because it was rainy. The young man began to stagger in the streets, falling here and there and getting all covered in mud. By the time he got home he sobered up but the mud remained - the mud is his life's karma which he will have to clean up. I will not discuss the reasons for this situation, why the young man got drunk and how he became covered in mud. You mаy say that he did not want to drink, that his friends led him astray and so on but what really matters is how this young person can cleanse himself of the mud; how he can purify his heart from the wish to drink to the extent that he loses his senses. I will now give you three methods for purification: precipitation, filtration/percolation and distillation/evaporation. How will you know when to use the first, the second or the third method of purification? If water is turbid, i.e. mixed with solid insoluble substances, it could be purified by one of the first two methods – by precipitation or by filtration/percolation. When Nature wants to clean some water, She takes it to be filtered through the geological layers. In this case the geological layers play the role of filters that clean the water. If water was conscious it would feel grief and suffering during its sinking through the layers, losing its light and falling into darkness. When it sinks down, it goes deeply into the ground, passing through several layers until it meets a layer of stone or clay that will stop it, not allowing it to go further. Thus, unable to sink further, it will find an exit and resurface on the ground. When it comes out onto the surface, it will be glad to see the Light again. Therefore, grief appears at the beginning of the filtration process, while joy comes at its end. Liquidation of one’s karma represents a similar filtration process, consisting of a descent into matter, a process of cleansing and an exit to the Light again. Precipitation is a similar process, but one accomplishes it with less suffering and grief. The greater the suffering and grief, the greater the result of purification. Evaporation or distillation is another important method of purification. Joy emerges at the beginning of evaporation, while grief comes at the end. Why is this process the reverse of filtration? When water is heated, evaporation takes place; the water vaporizes and goes up into the air, i.e. it goes up to God. Water drops are joyful, because they are freed from their sins and suffering. So they spread wings and fly upwards but when they encounter a cold front, they immediately cool down and become dense, and eventually fall down again. As they fall down to the ground as rain, they become muddy and suffer greatly but they are unaware of the benefit they have brought with their fall. Just like water, you are also subjected to a purification process which is carried out in two ways. When you are under filtration, first you are sad and later you are joyful. When you are under evaporation, first you are happy and later you fall into grief. Therefore, if you are sad due to filtration, do not oppose your fate, but go further so as to reach the deepest layers within yourself, in order to be purified more thoroughly. And then you will emerge into the Light again; you will emerge on the surface of the ground and experience the joy and happiness you deserve. As a result of connecting the two ends of suffering and joy, you form a circle through which Life can run smoothly. Those who do not understand this law will notice the constant alternation between grief and joy in their lives, but will not know what its reason is. I am asking you, which of the two methods will you personally choose? Filtration is a method applicable to the human heart, while evaporation is a method for the mind. From time to time, however, these two methods will swap places - filtration will be used for the purification of the mind, and evaporation for the purification of the heart. Generally speaking, however, the mind is purified through evaporation, which is why people say that certain thoughts should evaporate and get out of their heads so that a continuous circle of motion between feelings and thoughts can be formed. When someone starts applying one of those methods, he begins to be able to see. However, it is dangerous if you come to a deadlock, if no filtration or evaporation occurs within you. Society calls this state indifference or alienation. When someone says that he is indifferent, he doesn't want to know what will happen to him. No, one should be interested in everything that is happening within and around him; one should even foresee or know what may happen to him in the future. When I speak of karma, there are several things that you should know. For example, there is karmic suffering which comes as a consequence of the past, but there is also suffering which is due to lack of foresight in some situations in the present. Imagine that you put an empty bottle of water into your pocket and go for a walk. You go to the outskirts of town, stop near a fountain and sit down to rest in the shade. You rest and ponder on different philosophic questions – about the origin of the world, the age of the stars and the Sun, the solution to some social problems and so on. Thus, engulfed in your thoughts, you forget to fill the bottle with water from the fountain and go back home with an empty bottle. The summer day is very hot and you get thirsty. You take out the bottle and see that you haven't filled it. So, in this case your suffering is due to the fact that you were absent-minded because you were carried away by your thoughts and forgot to fill your bottle. Another example concerning karma: you take a big basket and put seventy or eighty kilograms of bread in it. But you have to carry it on your back for forty or fifty kilometres. You have decided to carry this load alone in order to make more money and not have to pay anyone to help you. You meet some children on the road. If you want to make your load lighter, by all means you will need to give them some bread. Otherwise you will injure your back. So in this case you will empty your basket in order to avoid suffering. And when you reach the fountain, you should fill your bottles with water in order to avoid getting thirsty. For as long as you are rich and carry a full basket of bread on your back, you should share it freely with everyone and keep only one loaf for yourself. That is the only way to stay happy and satisfied. Consequently there are two causes of human suffering and misfortune: the first one is that when they get to the fountain they forget to fill their bottles with water. The second one is that when they were carrying a full basket of bread on their backs, they didn't share it with anyone. So when you suffer, it is not enough to argue and philosophize about the possible causes of your suffering. As disciples, question yourselves directly whether you didn't fill your bottles or didn't share some of your bread with the poor. One’s karma would not surface if there were no current reasons for its activation. You would ask: “What is the reason for the activation of karma in one’s life?” When one loses Love, karma comes to replace it. When one loses joy, grief comes to replace it. When one loses justice, lawlessness comes to replace it. When one loses mercy, fear and violence come to replace it. Therefore, your shortcomings show what you are lacking, i.e., what you have lost in Life. If an individual then resorts to injustice, violence or brutality, his karma appears immediately. It has been observed that some individuals who lose love try to seize it back violently. However a law exists to the effect that if they attempt to seize Love back or violate another person's soul, the same violence will be inflicted upon them. Why? Because violence and limitations imposed upon others are like prisons where those who have inflicted this violence will also go some day. I will tell you an occult story to clarify this idea to you. In ancient times there was an adept who hated mice. One day, he set up a trap in front of their hole to get rid of them. In accordance with karmic law, this adept, in one of his next incarnations, returned to Earth in the form of a mouse so that he could experience the consequences of his invention. He lived in the same hole at whose entrance he had placed the mousetrap. Once as he was coming out of the hole, he encountered the trap and there was a piece of salami in it. He stopped and began to investigate. He decided to go into the trap so that he can taste the salami, but what a surprise: the door of the trap banged shut and he was imprisoned there. What is the conclusion? The same person who had invented the trap in the past was put into the same jail in order to experience in his turn the loss of freedom and the limitations resulting from his invention. I am saying, do not lay any traps for the minds and hearts of others, because you will go into them yourself. You will not escape any trap you have set up in the past, not even over the course of thousands of years. It may wait for you for centuries and millennia, but it will find you somewhere in time. Irrespective of how high you may have reached, the moment will come for you to return in the form of a fly, a mouse, even a microbe in order to experience your own trap. You will be imprisoned there until you learn your lesson. You think that there is no going back in evolution. Do not harbour illusions, do not deceive yourself into thinking you will escape from the karmic law. Whatever position you may have reached, whatever height you may have attained, you will be brought back to pay your debts; then you may go further. Whatever thoughts and feelings you have created and emitted in space you will experience someday for yourself. They will come back to you and you will experience their positive or negative consequences. This is the meaning of the Bulgarian proverb: “You reap what you sow.” Everyone will reap what they have once sown. Therefore, do not think that there is no going back in evolution, no degradation. If Angels, who are much more elevated than humans, fell and lost their light when they made a mistake in the past, what to say about humans? The law of karma encompasses all living beings – from the smallest to the largest. There are no exceptions to it. Therefore if you want to eliminate your karmic debts, observe the Divine law, the law of Divine Love. Don't fight your karma, nor think about it so as not to challenge it. Think about Love and apply it as a sole device, a sole possibility for eliminating your negative karma. Someone may say that he alone is able to eliminate his karmic burden. Everyone can do this by applying Love in his life. For this reason you should ask yourself if you love all creatures in the same way. This can be achieved only if you view people as beings who can manifest the Divine. For example, let’s say that you meet a criminal who has committed many crimes and society is entirely against him. At this moment a woman appears who believes that he is a good person and speaks well of him. Why does the woman have a good opinion of the criminal? Because once he saved her from certain death. One day when she was passing through a forest she encountered a bear that was about to attack her and tear her to pieces. At that moment the robber rushed to the woman and saved her. So, at that very moment the Divine was activated in the robber. This is why the woman believes that he is a good person. Therefore, love all human beings for the Divine in them. When the Divine is present, even the worst person, even the criminal is able do some good, some great deed. When the Divine is absent, even the best person can commit a crime. Should this person be considered bad in this case? A single action which a person did at a given moment does not make him good or bad. I am asking you, what have you understood from these two examples – the empty bottle of water and the full basket of bread? What is better: to give or to take, to teach others or to be taught, to love or to be loved? Someone who loves experiences a pleasant feeling, but is the beloved one pleased? What will happen if the beloved one also wants to love? Both of them will give love but in the end they will come to an argument. If both people want to be loved, this means that both want to receive. What will happen then? Once again they will become cross with each other. Think of the question: what does it mean to love and to be loved? Or what does it mean to give and to receive? Next time you will answer this question in class orally, but do not write the answer down. Thus you should clarify to yourselves what giving and receiving mean from an occult point of view. Each thought and feeling that you have should be strictly defined. When you love, you should do so without any compulsion. The one who is loved does a favour to the person who loves him. The one who loves needs to release his burden in order to feel better. In other words, whoever loves wants to give part of his burden to the beloved. He says: “I see that you are strong, so I want to put part of my burden on your back.” To love and to be loved – in occult terms this means the right distribution of the burden between two people. Their mutual interaction is like the examples of the empty bottle and the full basket. If your bottle is empty, let another one fill it with water; if your basket is full of bread, give to others who have nothing. You should observe these two principles in order to create relationships among you based upon mutual respect and esteem. Many people have no respect or esteem, either for themselves or for others. First, one should maintain self-respect, respect for one’s higher consciousness, for the soul, and then – for others, for those around us. If you have a cat at home, how do you treat it? You touch its ears and tail, you caress its hair, so that at times the cat is angry with you and ready to scratch you but generally it endures everything. However, if you treat a person like a cat you'll insult them. That is why when you visit someone you should not express your love for that person as you would for a cat. One's love for a cat differs from one's love for a human being. Love for a human being is based on strictly defined mathematical ratios. If two individuals who are in love observe these ratios, there will be harmony between them. Nowadays when two people meet, one of them will think to himself: “I am more educated," “I am taller," “I am richer” and so on. In response the other will think to herself: “However I am cleverer," “I am better," “I am heavier," etc. As a result of these comparisons an inner fight, an internal competition between them will commence and it will spoil their relationship. I am asking, what is the reason for disharmony in the relationships between contemporary people? Such disharmony is due to the fact that human beings base their love upon knowledge, upon wealth, etc. You should consider one thing: Love is a strictly determined law that does not depend on any social situation or relationship. This law can be tested and tried. Neither knowledge nor power nor wealth can keep Love. You see this all the time in Life. Show me someone who is happy because he is powerful, learned or rich. When they enter life, many people think that love will make an exception for them. No, Love doesn't make exceptions for anyone. Every human being in life is an ordinary comma which has been put in its proper place. The comma signifies a short rest, but a comma can often be placed where there is no need for a rest. The smallest Love in the physical world represents the smallest rest, so that one can catch his breath after he has become tired. To put it differently, the smallest impression that one can receive in the physical world represents the smallest Love. When I speak to you of these new ways of looking at Life, I do not intend in the least to do away with or destroy what is old immediately. The old remains as compost in which you can plant the new. You will graft new branches onto the old tree because you need to learn how to plant the new seeds and how to grow seedlings. If you decide to destroy what is old in one go, you will hinder your evolution. How could you act so negligently towards the old, which is the result of the activities of so many great people, even geniuses? Great people are a manifestation of the activity of humankind in its entirety. In order for one great person to be born on Earth, a multitude of entities from the Spiritual World need to gather in one place and direct their whole activity and power towards him. Just like a tree sends an ambassador to another tree through its fruit, in the same way a countless number of higher entities or souls acting collectively send, i.e. concentrate their intelligence in one person or one Master on Earth and he becomes great. In that sense each person - irrespective of how ordinary he or she may be - represents a collective body of souls. Now that you know this, you should work consciously on yourselves, because everyone’s turn will come to enter into this wheel. Everyone's time will come to be set alight and for that purpose everyone needs to prepare the necessary quantity of fire within himself. The fuel for this fire are the experiences that one gathers throughout his lifetime and nothing can be achieved without them. What do you do when you see a lit candle? You want to be set alight too. Do not be in a hurry. The wheel keeps turning and one day your turn will come too, but until then one must undergo great trials and tribulations. Has there ever been a minister in Bulgaria or any other country who has not received a cross instead of a garland? In that sense everyone is heading towards a prison, either within or outside of himself. Didn't the Romans and the Jews erect a cross for Christ? Contemporary Christian nations have erected many churches in the name of Christ, but He is not inside them. A long time needs to pass before humans give place to the Divine, to the Great within themselves. During this time humans should work upon themselves, in order to create proper and pure relationships with each other, based not on violence but on the Law of Freedom. Tie yourself without getting tied; place limitations on yourself without becoming limited. In other words, when you build a trap for others or for yourselves, leave two doors open in it, so that when you enter through the first door, you can go out through the second one. In this case, a mouse, after it has come into the trap from the first door to eat the meat, can also find the second door open and go out. And when you see that the meat has been eaten, be content that the mouse has acted reasonably. Now, as I am speaking about Love, I need to tell you that Love brings limitations. Both the one who loves and the beloved impose limitations upon each other. For example, a merchant loves money and so he keeps going around in search of better and cheaper goods thus wasting a great deal of his time. The beloved also expects to receive something and thus wastes his time. So both of them incur a loss and if they don't find a way to compensate for it, karma will take its place. Therefore, karma comes as a result of a disharmonious manifestation of Love between human beings. For as long as the love between people lacks harmony, their mutual karma will keep growing and getting heavier. If the beloved does not arrive on time, he gets asked immediately: “Why weren't you punctual?” Therefore, given the current level of development of human beings and their understanding of love, both those who love and the ones who are loved limit each other. Contemporary people want to be free of these limitations, but this requires a new philosophy of Life, new solutions to the existing social problems. If you do not acquire this new philosophy, many more halters and goads will appear. What new ideas can you acquire, if your master puts a hundred halters and goads on you daily? You will certainly learn something. Halters and goads represent the trials and tribulations one must pass through in order to reach a higher level of consciousness. The present situation of humanity is temporary, transitory, but in order to go through this period successfully, one needs to make efforts to transform the forces of his consciousness and overcome the present boundaries and limitations. If you think you can solve your problems without such effort you deceive yourself. You can solve them temporarily, but later you will make double the amount of mistakes you did before. If you work consciously on yourself, you will solve Life's issues directly, without any detours and thus gain Light and a new understanding of Life. If I shared with you some occult laws and rules, given your current level of awareness you wouldn't be able to cope with them. You would say that you promise to apply them and will be very precise in doing so. No, new knowledge requires new containers, otherwise many of your containers will start cracking here and there and you will start complaining of headaches or stomachaches and so on. When the higher energy of these spiritual truths penetrates your nervous systems, it will cause total perturbation and if you have no connection to the great Divine law so that it can help you, you could simply melt. That is why disciples of the occult need a long period of preparation before they can become independent. This preparatory period has the aim of increasing their vibrations so that they can become stronger. That is the reason why occult knowledge, occult Light are not given to disciples before they have been well-tempered - this knowledge is power capable of destroying the organism of someone who is not prepared for it. The disciple needs to start with minor experiences in order to temper his nervous system. For this purpose he is first placed on a grate at an average temperature of about three hundred degrees which is gradually increased until it reaches four or five thousand degrees. Each disciple will test the level of his tenacity. Someone who can endure up to four hundred degrees can be compared to lead, because lead melts at approximately that temperature. Someone who melts at about a thousand degrees is like iron and if someone melts at one thousand seven hundred and fifty or one thousand eight hundred degrees, he is like platinum. The more you can endure the more you will learn. Do you know how many degrees you can personally endure? Have you tested at which temperature you would melt without burning? In this case alchemy aims to melt what is hard and stubborn in the human being, without burning it. If we could melt carbon in some way, we would change its state and transform it into something new, but if we burnt it, we would have an entirely different process. When I speak about the power of Occult Science, I do not want to frighten you, I want you to be brave. All higher beings have trod this path and you have to do it too. It is the easiest path. Its methods are complicated, but the path itself is straight and easy, therefore, you need to work and you need to think. Think mainly about the two sides of Love – to love and to be loved. Ask yourself the question: when and how has the wish to love and be loved emerged in human beings? What do you think: when have these two states appeared in human consciousness, in your understanding? Do the following experiment to answer this question: when after a good meal you are satisfied, take a beautiful cherry and look at it for a while. You will admire the beautiful cherry for as long as you do not feel any hunger, but when you become hungry, the wish to eat your favourite cherry will enter your mind. While you do this experiment, observe the changes which will occur in your consciousness. There are a lot of cherries this season, so all of you can do this experiment. When you are full, take four or five cherries and put them in front of you. At this time you'll love them. But when you get hungry, you look at the cherries in a different way, you want to eat them. At this moment, the wish enters your consciousness for the cherries to love you. It is interesting to observe these fine changes occurring in your consciousness. This means that the one who loves will become engulfed. In this example, the cherry loves the person, and that is why the latter swallows it up. That is the law. It shows that the power lies in small things, not in big things. When you do this experiment, you will come to interesting conclusions, you will observe how different processes in your mind develop. However in order to reach the right conclusions, you need to be completely calm. Therefore, work in a state of calmness and do not be disturbed if some issues inside you or in your interaction with others have not been solved yet. A number of methods for solving issues exist. When an artist makes a mistake he takes the brush and covers it up. When a clerk makes a mistake he takes the rubber and erases it. Covering up and erasing mistakes are external methods, but when we come to the correction of errors in human consciousness, then we have to use very different methods. Each external error is first of all an error of someone’s consciousness. Those who understand the laws will correct their mistakes through transformation of their consciousness. It is one of the most difficult methods to apply. Everything is hidden in one’s consciousness; that is why your work on yourself should definitely start from there. Purification of consciousness – that is the disciples' task. Two main methods can be applied towards this aim: filtration and distillation. Purification of consciousness means transforming your consciousness so that it can make a transition from a lower to a higher level. Secret Prayer Source
  21. Ани

    1922_05_10 The Law Of Energies

    The Law Of Energies Year 1, Lecture 11 of the Youth Occult Class (Special Class) Given by the Master Beinsa Douno May 10, 1922, Wednesday 19.00h, Sofia Secret Prayer The disciple's essays were read on the topic: “Applications of karma in Life” Your essays deal with the theoretical side of the question of karma. Physical life and the physical body of the human being are often talked about. What does the physical body represent? It represents a conductor, a great installation for the forces of Nature. Two types of natural forces pass through this installation: positive and negative electricity as well as positive and negative magnetism. At present, your bodies are not physically tuned. Some are positive, others are negative; some have more positive electricity in them, others have more negative electricity. If two individuals with a positive electric charge come together, they will surely repel one another. If they begin a conversation, directly after their parting they will feel aversion and dissatisfaction. If neither can transform the other's positive electricity into negative one, it is better for them to part consciously, at least for a while, and look for a friend with the opposite electric charge. Otherwise, they will develop a hostile attitude towards each other and will act out of their hostility. Rude behavior will result as a consequence. Irrespective of whether the person is male or female, they will display rudeness because electricity moves in short waves and so does rudeness. If two negatively charged individuals come together, they will also repel one another. A certain discontent, doubt or fear will become apparent; they will be afraid of each other. Therefore, when two positively charged people meet, they will become active and will fight or duel one another, and when two people of negative electric charge meet, they will not fight for reasons of safety, but hypocrisy and deceit will enter into their relationship. One of them will find an indirect way to deceive the other one and tie him up so as to get a revenge. So if you want to duel with someone, you should know that both of you have a positive electric charge. If you feel fear, doubt or hypocrisy when you meet someone, you should know that both of you have a negative electric charge. If you meet someone whose electricity is the opposite of yours, you will love one another. The relationship of two people with the same electric charge in their organisms is the same as the relationship one has to one's own self, when both hemispheres of the brain are charged with the same or the opposite type of electricity. In order for a person to have a harmonious state of mind, each hemisphere of his brain needs to be charged with the opposite type of electricity. In the same way when two people meet who have heterogeneous or homogeneous electric charges, harmonic or disharmonic relationships emerge. For example, if the electricity in the right hemisphere is positive in both individuals, they will be rude to each other; if they both have an accumulation of negative electricity in the left hemisphere, they will be suspicious of one another. Many are worried about what to do with their negative electricity if they cannot put it to work. I will give an example from real life, so that you can see how to apply the law of assimilation to your excess energy. Suppose that one of the women in class, who is stronger in character, attracts two other women. However she likes one of them more than the other, and has a close friendship with her. She often talks to her, while the third woman remains to the side. These two friends who love one another assimilate each other's electric charges but the third woman, who is not loved as much, has surplus energy which has accumulated either in the right or the left side of her body. If the energy remains in the right side of her body, the woman will become rude; if it remains in the left side, she will be dissatisfied and suspicious, both towards herself and towards her kin. What should she do to come out of this situation? She should find another friend who will love her. That is the only way for her surplus energy to be assimilated. Now that you are aware of this law, you should be very careful not to misuse it. Whoever misuses this law will be strictly punished, as he has never been punished before in his life. Once you know this law, you are expected to use it only for good. Everyone should remind themselves not to misuse this law under any circumstances. What does it mean to misuse this law? One misuses this law if he consciously directs his positive electricity towards another person. Thus he will increase the amount of positive electricity in the other person, he will increase his rudeness and lead him to aggression and rancour. When an individual's right side is positively charged he should find a friend whose right side has the opposite electricity, so that the two opposite types of electricity can be neutralized. How can this neutralization occur? One of them can put his left hand on the right side of his friend’s head, and the friend can put his right hand on the left side of the other person's head. Thus, little by little, they will begin to feel better. Neutralization can also be achieved by simply holding hands. The aim is to transform the energies in both individuals. You can do this experiment in order to see the above law in action. It is best to do it when you are not feeling well. You should also do the experiment always in pairs – two female friends or sisters and two male friends or two brothers together. When I say that you should hold hands, sisters with sisters and brothers with brothers, I have in mind the different principles operating in Nature: Love with Love and Wisdom with Wisdom. Looking at the way you are sitting next to each other in class, I find that you have not taken this law into consideration. Students at school should take seats in an order that will promote perfect harmony between them. Because you are disciples of a spiritual school, you need to know the law of energy transformation and apply it properly. If you meet someone who violates your inner peace with his opposing energies, stay away from him. If you cannot distance yourself from him physically, do it mentally. How can this be done? Imagine that a certain distance exists between you. Therefore, when you take a seat or when you meet others to talk and communicate, always observe the law of liking. If two people like each other, there will be full harmony between them; whenever one of them thinks, the other one will think as well. However if they are not fond of each other, whenever one of them thinks, the other one will feel. Such disagreement of forces will create a number of disharmonious situations between them. Two people should think, feel and act simultaneously in order to maintain harmony with each other. Moreover, if one of them thinks, feels or acts positively, the energies of the other one should be negative. So do this experiment for the purpose of regulating the forces in your body. If you achieve positive results, I will give you other experiments to do. What indicates the presence of surplus electricity in the left side or in the right side of the brain? – When a person has a tendency to quarrel with everyone he meets on his path, it shows a surplus of electricity in the right side of his brain. When a person is in bad spirits, when he is pessimistic or unhappy, it shows a surplus of electricity in the left side of his brain. This refers to the energies of the physical body. The same can also be said about the energies existing in the Astral and the Spiritual worlds. You should make efforts to control these energies, and then monitor the results. However, you should not expect success with the first attempt. You may undergo a hundred trials, yet barely achieve one microscopic result. These experiments aim at the development of your awareness and of your will. When I say that electricity has accumulated in the right or in the left hemisphere of the brain, I mean the brain's general state. Otherwise electricity could accumulate in specific centres of the brain, but again either in the left or in the right hemisphere.When you are not feeling well, you should realize that you have surplus electricity and you need to put it to work. How are you going to do this? You will find a friend from the class or from anywhere else who is of about the same level of personal development and do the experiment with her. When you do the experiment together you will gain double. On the one hand you will get rid of your excess electricity, and on the other hand you will help your friend move onto the right path, the path that you are following. However, if you conduct this experiment with a person who is moving in a direction opposite to yours, you will link yourself with this person and will experience a contradiction. Now, as disciples you will need to do this experiment frequently. Since you do not yet abide by the laws properly, you will accumulate surplus electricity in your brains which you must manage in a reasonable way. This excess of energy is a form of surplus baggage from the past. Similarly, rich people leave a surplus when they cook a lot of food but eat only part of it. If a meal remains uneaten, after some time it begins to spoil and the servants are forced to throw it away. The same process takes place in the entire human organism because of surplus electricity accumulating in the brain. Here and there in the organism processes of souring and decay develop, leading always to destruction. However, whenever you feel an accumulation of electricity in one hemisphere of your brain or the other, you can help yourself. For example, if the accumulation of electricity is in the right hemisphere, you can stroke the right part of your head with your left hand - not with your right hand, because then you will increase the accumulated electricity. And the other way round, if the surplus energy is in the left side of your head, you can stroke it with your right hand. After you do this you will become calm and your mood will improve. In the summertime, when the Sun shines strongly over your head, you can stroke your hair with both hands. With the help of your hands you will remove excess electricity from your brain and thereby avoid a sun stroke. Apply this procedure even when the slightest agitation occurs and you will be able to observe positive results. There are many schools in the world that use these rules and methods for magnetizing and tuning, but due to improper application of the laws of Intelligent Nature, they cause great harm to their disciples. Disciples should not allow themselves to be hypnotized. Those who want to give you money should not demand a promissory note from you. If they want to do you a favour they should give you the money on trust. If they want a promissory note, accept no money from them. It is better to stay hungry than to sign anything like that. The Spiritual school recommends the following to its disciples: if someone gives you a loan without a draft or a bill, then accept this money, use it and pay it off on time. Now, I would like you to be sincere to yourself, be honest to your soul. For a period of two weeks, right after you get up each morning, ask yourself: “Am I sincere to my soul? Am I ready to do what my soul whispers to me, what my soul prompts me to do all day long? And if I fail in something, am I ready - without justifying myself, without asking my soul for an excuse - to tell the Truth as it is in reality?” Therefore, when you make a mistake, do not diminish or exaggerate it, but state it before your soul as it is, as Nature has also stated it. Honesty to the soul is a prerequisite for the development and awakening of your awareness, so that you can perceive things correctly, without things getting exaggerated or diminished. What I understand by the word “soul” is the Divine source in the human being, its highest manifestation in the physical world. As I am giving you a number of experiments, I am bringing your attention to honesty so that there will be no misuse. Why should you not misuse the experiments? Because all experiments in the School should be done consciously and free willingly. For example, when you put your hand on someone’s head, you should be aware whether you are giving or receiving something from him. If you receive, you should know if you can use what you receive. If you give, you should know whether the receiver has benefited from it. If what you give does not benefit the other and what you receive does not benefit yourself, both processes of taking and receiving are useless. In order for giving and receiving to be made conscious and to be used well, one needs to be thankful. The energy that flows through the person who gives and the person who receives is Divine. Full accounts of it is kept, it cannot and should not be spent in vain. Nature has at Her disposal precise instruments for measuring and reading how much energy is used and who it is used for. Moreover, Nature monitors the amount of energy going out of one’s brain, out of one’s hands, etc. Nature represents a great installation of energies and She renders a precise account of all that is spent. She monitors the results also which are obtained after the expenditure of this energy. This is of special importance because these results give this energy the opportunity to echo in universal existence. Therefore, it is enough for you to put your hand on somebody's head and they will already know the exact result of your activity and will hold you responsible for it. I am not saying this to frighten you, but to warn you that an account is kept of any work that you do, so you should be careful. You should work consciously, оn principal and not out of fear. The impulse of your soul should be in tune and harmony with God, with the Great in the world. This is what conscious work means. Some issues may be have remained unclear to you now, but you should know that through the experiments you will achieve clarity. If the explanations of the experiments are too long, this can also be a burden for you. What is obscure for you today will become bright and clear tomorrow, when the Sun rises. Without fear in the Boundless Love! So, when an issue is unclear to you, ask for an explanation. If you do not ask, you may delude yourself, because you will be visited simultaneously by the disciples of both Brotherhoods: of Light and of darkness. Whatever may happen to you, whoever may visit you, do not be afraid, do not be afraid of the darkness. It has its own laws and you will study them in a reverse way, by going from Light to darkness and from darkness to Light. Secret Prayer Source
  22. Ани

    1922_05_03 BEAUTY IN NATURE

    BEAUTY IN NATURE Year 1, Lecture 10 of the Youth Occult Class (Special Class) Given by the Master Beinsa Douno On 3 May, 1992 Wednesday, Sofia Secret Prayer There was a presentation of the disciple's essays on Beauty. I am asking you, what is Beauty? Can Beauty be seen or felt? How will you draw a beautiful face? When you look at some people, you like them when they strike a certain pose. For example, they are beautiful when they stand still in silence, but when they laugh, they become ugly. For others, it is just the opposite – they are beautiful when they laugh, and ugly when they are silent. How will you explain this: imagine a round, ball-shaped face with small eyes situated close to the nose. Is this face beautiful? It is not. Is a face beautiful, if the eyes are placed at a big distance from the nose? It is not beautiful either. What will you say then about a big, round face with big or small ears? Again, you will say that it is not beautiful. What should the size of the ears be? Your likes and dislikes show that you have a certain inner measure or a scale for estimating things. Therefore, what is important in each case is not what different authors have said about Beauty, but what your inner understanding is. Different authors' views will only serve as an explanation and a supplementation to your view. People long for Beauty, they perceive Beauty, but if you ask them what Beauty is, what its outer features are, they will not tell you anything in particular. A beautiful face is one that will maintain its basic features in all conditions of Life. Whether sad or unhappy, serious or joyful, the basic features will always remain the same. If one’s eyes are small and close to the nose, this is an indication of low impressionability. Small eyes are a sign of parsimony. Large eyes are a sign of wastefulness. In other words, people with small eyes are poor and people with large eyes are rich and capable of squandering their wealth. As a general rule, a beautiful face is a face in which all parts are placed proportionally to each other. For example, the forehead, the nose and the chin should each take up a third of the whole face. In addition, the facial form should not be completely round but somewhat pear-shaped and pointed. When you see a very round face, it is due to a certain quantity of fat accumulated around the chin. A face loses its beauty as a result of this excess fat. Everyone today longs for Beauty, but outer beauty has caused great evil in the world. Beauty should exist on the inside, not on the outside. Inner beauty expresses itself in a flexible lively face. A beautiful face also indicates inner depth, great sensitivity and a nobleness of the soul. In a beautiful face curved lines should prevail over straight ones. Straight lines show that electricity prevails in a certain person; curved lines are an indication of magnetism. Some people have beautiful foreheads, but their ears and chins are not beautiful. In order to determine which forehead, nose, mouth, chin, beard and ears are correct in size and beautiful in form, one needs to apply Nature' measure which uses strict mathematical and geometric rules. Those who try to lead beautiful inner lives will also acquire Beauty on their faces. For example nobleness, purity and tenderness give softness and clearness to one’s eyes. If personal feelings are predominant in someone, it will give serenity to his eyes, but this serenity will lack softness. The look in their eyes will be coarse and rigid. In general, the eyes play an important role in one’s life. That is why if a negative thought enters your mind, if a bitter or rough feeling enters your heart, do your best as disciples to get rid of it. Take the hammer in your hand, cut and chisel them like a mastered sculptor, process them until they are fully softened. You need great self-control for this. Not only students, but teachers too need self-control. Contemporary teachers in music are cross when their students sing out of tune. If teachers could keep their self-control and presence of spirit, they would easily correct their students. Under the influence of such serenity, even the worst student would be able to improve their voice and start singing beautifully. If a teacher gets angry, the tones that the students produce get shortened and they start singing out of tune. When I am speaking about Beauty now, I have in mind the human soul which is beautiful by itself. The beauty of the soul always needs to take some form or another and the more beautiful a certain form is, the closer it is to Truth. For example, your essays on Beauty were beautiful but only when it comes to external expression. However they weren't as good internally, i.e. in content and meaning because they didn't contain Truth in them. The first thing which is required of disciples is to make place for Truth in their lives. Every single thing which contains the Truth as it is, without any additions, exaggerations or understatements, is beautiful. I will give you a few rules for writing your essays. Calm down completely before you start writing. When your work is ready, read it out loud to see how it sounds to you. In addition, observe the effect it has on your mind and your sympathetic nervous system. It is well done if it affects both of these systems in a harmonious way. Read your essay two or three times to make sure that it sounds good. If it sounds good to you, it will sound good to others too. And the other way round – if it does not sound good to you, it will not satisfy others either. Disciples need to present works which sound good and which are pleasant to listen to. Each text that is pleasant and sounds good to you will be good for us to listen to as well. You should also learn to write concisely, but clearly and conceptually. When we have time, I will give you an example with an idea which has been expressed in three different ways, so that you may see which form is the best one. It will also be the most beautiful one. Therefore, each idea could be expressed in three different ways. It is good for you to read beautiful descriptions, so that your sense of the beautiful and the delicate can develop. The Bible story of Joseph is beautiful and it would be good for everyone to read it. Now, I will give you an example with an idea which has been expressed in three different ways. This is the idea of Life. I say, Light brings Life, Love brings Life, Truth brings Life. In this case, what kind of Life does Light bring? What kind of Life does Love bring? What kind of Life does Truth bring? Can Truth bring Life directly? Certainly, there is some difference between Life which has been brought by Light, Love and Truth respectively. Therefore the object of Truth is Freedom, the object of Light is Knowledge and the object of Love is Life. When we say that Light brings Life, we consider Light to be a prerequisite for humans to be able study. They need to have Love as well in order to be able to study. Therefore Light brings Life to Knowledge, in order to give Freedom to humans. Truth brings Life in the same way. So when you write your essays in the future, you should read them out loud several times and correct them if there is something you dislike. When you read your work out loud and it sounds good to you, you will see that it will be appreciated in class too. Write slowly, patiently, without haste. Spiritual science demands geometrical accuracy from disciples. The sheets of paper you will use can be small or big according to your preference, but regular in form. They can be triangular, rectangular or anything else, but by all means regular in form. Your handwriting should be neat and beautiful. It is not enough to speak about Beauty only, but to act in beautiful ways as well. Many of you will start writing beautifully and legibly, but at the end their handwriting will become nervous and unreadable. This shows that they are not in agreement with themselves and that they have some weaknesses. Fight against your shortcomings until you overcome. I am saying, remember all the writing rules I gave you and apply them. You should know that each thought, feeling and action of yours, good or bad, are imprinted in your consciousness and have their influence on it. Thus what is ugly and negative will help you realize what is beautiful, noble and positive in Life. Secret Prayer
  23. Ани

    1922_04_26 THE LAW OF KARMA

    THE LAW OF KARMA Year 1, Lecture 9 of the Youth Occult Class (Special Class) Given by the Master Beinsa Douno April 26, 1922 – Wednesday 19.00h, Sofia Secret Prayer Next time please write on the following topic: “The Place of Beauty in Nature”. I am going to speak now about the law of karma. If you want to learn more, you can read about it in all the books written in foreign languages – German, French, English, Italian. I will treat this topic from the viewpoint of Divine science. Karmic law originates from the very moment a human being starts its journey away from God. The action or manifestation of this law begins with the polarization of the human being, i.e. with the emergence of two poles in the world. Polarization means a division of human consciousness into positive and negative, ascending and descending, or at the highest level: awareness of Love and awareness of Wisdom. These are the two poles in a human being. You would ask, “What is the reason for the division of human consciousness?” It happened because the wish to appropriate and master things was introduced into each individual, into each human self. These two poles, which developed separately from one another, went in two different directions and forgot that they were sides of one whole. Therefore, once they were divided, they felt the inner impulse to possess one another in a mechanical way. And wherever mechanical possession of things exists, violence is born. In contrast, Nature only requires voluntary sacrifice from human beings. Nature says, “Humans are brothers and they should sacrifice themselves for one another voluntarily, out of Love.” I will give you now a definition of the word “sacrifice” from a spiritual point of view. Sacrifice means a “law of proper growth and development”. Why? Because only entities that grow, blossom and give fruit are able to make sacrifices. Let us return to the question of karma. How did this law appear? When the first consciousness in the world limited the second one, conditions for karma were created. I will clarify this idea with the following example: suppose that Nature has placed two people, equally rich and intelligent, in a position to trade with each other. They need one another, yet each of them wants to take possession of the wealth of the other one. At last one of them succeeds and the other one is left without means. What should he do? He should become a servant to the person who managed to take everything. So one of them will be a master and the other one – a servant. In that sense, the masters in the world represent the first consciousness that gained supremacy over the second consciousness. Servants represent the category of those people, whose consciousness was subdued by the first consciousness. However servants have still preserved their wish to become masters and to rule over others. So when a master has many servants, soon they begin to unite and organize themselves in an attempt to overthrow him. One day they will catch him and beat him up really well. After that they will become masters and he will become a servant. Thus the two sides of human consciousness exchange their places and their roles. When I am speaking about the karmic law now, do not think that you will comprehend it at once in its fullness. I am asking you, how can evil appear among the disciples of a spiritual school? It will emerge if one of them decides that he wants to become a master, to dispose оf everyone else's knowledge. Evil will also emerge if one of them decides to impose one’s own will on others: i.e. if he has an idea which he insists that everyone should accept. Or someone may have a certain habitual behaviour or certain powers, which he may want to impose on others at any cost. However disciples should be aware of the existence of a law which regulates the actions and manifestatoions of all living creatures. Nature has placed each force within certain limits or frames of development. Once a certain force reaches its possible level of expansion, it will start working in the opposite direction. As long as people don't know your inner private intentions, they are inclined to listen to you and obey you. Once they understand what your hidden intentions are, they start opposing you. This counteraction is a result of the law of self-preservation, of maintaining one’s freedom. Therefore, the law of karma can be balanced out only when humans are ready to make sacrifices for others, to become their servants and to acknowledge the rights of every living creature. You should give others the rights you want for yourselves; you should send others the blessings you wish for yourselves. Everyone has the right to develop one’s mind and heart, to work towards the strengthening of their will, irrespective of whether they are educated or not, rich or poor, servants or masters. One person's riches are everyone's riches; one person's rights are everyone's rights. The difference is only in the way of using and applying these riches and rights in everyone’s Life. Disciples may be subject to a certain danger, a so-called vampirism, i.e. ability to suck one’s vital energies out. Only those who understand the laws of the occult are able to do it, but it is absolutely forbidden. In the School you have joined, parasitism is absolutely prohibited. Sponging one’s vital energies is nothing other than parasitism. Those who dare to do it will bear the consequences of their disobedience. Disciples should be highly conscious in order not to misuse the inner powers they have acquired. Many spiritual schools maintain the belief in their disciples that the power of human beings is hidden in their thought. It is temporarily true, but in reality the power of a human being is neither in its thought nor in its feelings, nor in its will. These are just human expressions but they are not yet the source that brings power. It is the same as to think that each expression of love is real love, manifest in its completeness. Sometimes Love is expressed in form, at other times – in content or in meaning, but these separate expressions of love do not yet represent Love in its fullness. I will give you some examples so you can get a clear idea of Love which has been manifest in form, content and meaning. For example, when a worker who is passing by a river sees a drowning person, he goes into the water, grabs this person by the hand and pulls him out of the water onto the bank. Then he says to him: “Come, go home now!” This is an example of a physical manifestation of love – love which has been manifested in form. A second example: a person who has not touched food for several days is walking down the street. A stranger meets this person and reads on his face that he is very hungry. The stranger stops and invites the hungry person to his home for a refreshment. He gives him enough food and after satisfying his hunger, says: “Now you may go home.” It is a manifestation of the content of Love. A third example: you meet a young and studious person who wants to study and acquire knowledge. You are a teacher of several subjects, so you offer him lessons. You teach him for one or two years and when you see that he has acquired some knowledge, you say to him: “Now you are able to continue your studies alone. Keep making efforts and you will succeed.” It is a manifestation of the meaning of Love. I am asking you, do you think that if you help a drowning person or feed a hungry one or give knowledge to an uneducated one, you will manifest Life completely? No, Life and Love can be expressed in its entirety only if you live in the Causal world, where all live for one and one lives for all. In that world the well being of each person is common well being, and common well being is the well being of each and everyone. Based on this law, the joys and the grief of every creature, irrespective of how small it may be, should be sacred to you. It could be a fly, for example, but you should treat it in the way you treat a human being. That is the only way to bring joy to God. But only God is capable of directing His attention to small things. Humans pay much more attention to things of greater scale. Now since you have come to this School to study, you need to exclude lying from your life completely – not the slightest trace shall remain of it. It is the only thing that is not forgiven to the disciples of this School. All other mistakes may be excused, but lying – never! If a lie enters your mind, protect yourself from it as if it was fire! Falsehood is a principle that will lead you to the contradictions of Life, which you can hardly free yourselves from. When someone falls into a difficult or helpless situation, he immediately resorts to lying and says: “It is impossible to live without lying!” No, it is impossible to live without Truth, but you can certainly live without lies. Therefore, write the following sentences, which are valuable rules in life: It is impossible to live without Love, but one can live without hatred. It is impossible to live without Wisdom, but one can live without foolishness. It is impossible to live without Truth, but one can live without lies. If you say the opposite – that it is impossible not to tell lies, it turns out that falsehood generates Truth, which it is not true. If you say that it is impossible to live without foolishness, it appears as if foolishness generates Wisdom, which is not true either. When we speak about the law of karma, we have different types of relationships in mind. For example, relationships between servants and masters, students and teachers, brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers - all these are karmic relationships. Mothers and fathers represent one of the moderating circumstances of the karmic law. According to this law, all beings are placed in close or distant relationships to one another so that they can pay their debts. Contemporary people should understand this law, so that they are able do away with their karmic debts properly. Otherwise, if they do not understand this law and its requirements, they will create new karmic relationships between themselves that will need to be settled in the future. For example, if a master treats his servants badly, he will become a servant in some future life and his present servants will be his masters. He will have to serve them for a long time until he pays his debt off. So if you ask yourself why you should serve someone, the reason is hidden in your past when you tried to subdue someone's will and make him your servant. This, however, is absolutely forbidden! To subdue someone’s consciousness means to subdue the Divine element in someone to yourself, thus trying to make it your servant. However this is the single impossible thing in the world - subjugation of the Divine to human will. The liquidation of karmic debts needs inner work towards the transformation of one’s thoughts and feelings. Theosophists speak about high and low manas, high and low mind, spiritual and material nature, or the two poles in each human being. Your work on yourself expresses itself mainly in the following: moving from one pole to the other, mostly from the lower pole to the ascending one. And it is true that if you want to appropriate something in an emotional way, by way of your feelings, you will create negative karma for yourself, and you will clear this negative karma when you set people free. If you demand from a friend of yours to love you and to show you his love, he will put a halter on your head, goad you from behind and ask you if you agree to be loved in this way. This is the way karma between two people is created. The law of karma is an awful thing! A karmic relationship may start with a single bitter word which was said to someone in some unfavourable circumstances. This word could be pronounced in a fictitious way, kindly, with a smile, but if it is bitter it will produce its negative effect. Irrespective of how a word is said, if it is bitter, it will bring thousands of negative consequences. Therefore, be cautious about each feeling and thought of yours. Before you let them out, filter them carefully to avoid impurities coming out at the same time. How will you do it? By using suitable filters. From a spiritual point of view, the human heart, mind and will are like filters which purify human feelings, thoughts and actions. Each thought, feeling and action should pass through the human mind, heart and will, in order to be filtered. Only after this filtration has occurred should they be planted in the garden of the soul. One doesn't need to be clairvoyant at all in order to see how karma between two people has been created. Without any use of clairvoyance you can understand how and when a karmic relationship has emerged. Even the slightest violations of the law of Love lead to the polarization of the human brain: it happens when more energy is gathered in one of the hemispheres of the brain compared to the other, as a result of which a person gets angry and starts offending his friends. If more energy is gathered in the left hemisphere of the brain, a person becomes very kind and polite, but not as a natural expression of kindness. It can be noticed in such cases that the muscles on the right side of one’s face begin to contract and shrink, and then you see certain disharmonious tics on the face of that person, caused by his disharmonious thoughts, feelings and actions. If these unconscious facial motions continue for a longer time, it may happen that the mouth becomes warped, because the muscles on one side of the face shrink, while on the other side they expand. The law of karma will leave its mark on one’s face, eyes or some other part of the body within a short period of time. For example, if a person often tells lies, some of his muscles shrink and the ray coming from his eyes starts pointing down towards the centre of the Earth. If such person looked himself in a mirror and saw this ray pointing towards the Earth, he wouldn't like his own appearance. Now, when you write about Beauty, you should know that Beauty originates from the inner harmony inside a human being. One needs to be absolutely pure in order to attain and maintain this beauty within oneself! Now, write down one more of the rules of life which is the following: Introduce Truth into your souls, Light into your minds, Purity into your hearts. So, write this rule down and every time you go to bed ask yourself whether Truth is in your soul, Light – in your mind and Purity – in your heart. How will you know this? If Truth is in your soul, it will set you free. If Truth is in your soul, you will do things with vigour, thus giving freedom to yourself and those around you. If Light is in your mind, it will bring you knowledge. Light is the conductor of knowledge. If Purity is in your heart, you will be strong in every way. Sometimes when you notice mistakes and negative feelings in your fellow men, you are ready to judge them. No, according to the law of karma you should correct whatever mistake you have found in your fellow man yourself. Try to correct even the smallest mistake that you observe in your friend. You would ask, “How can we correct the mistakes of others?” I will give you an example that will show you how. A young person from the town of Varna went to an Evangelical bookstore owner to buy some books. When the bookstore owner saw him, he said, “A few weeks ago a friend of yours borrowed some money from me. I did him a favour, but he has not come to return his loan yet. This is what your friends are like!” – “How much is his loan?” – “Such and such an amount.” – “Here you are, take this money and consider the account settled. I am one with my friend.” With this act the young person proved that he and his friend were honest people. This is what I call noble character. Therefore, if you hear negative talk about your friends, pay for them and say: “I am one with my friends!” How would someone behave who doesn't have such morals? Upon hearing bad words about his friend, he would say: “Yes, it is true that my friend has this weakness, he is somehow neglectful, but I will talk to him and tell him to pay.” There is no need to talk. The School you have joined does not allow talking in such cases. Disciples are required to pay for their friends and to settle their debts. And when you meet your friends later on, do not mention anything to them. If you apply this method, you will come to experience its positive effect. The above mentioned method is for those who are ready to pay for their good friends, but not for those who have the possibility to pay, yet they leave their friends to settle their debts on their own. This is violence and misuse of people’s conscience and it will result in negative karma. One day such people will lose their good friends and will have to pay for themselves. If you have good friends and you rely on them to settle your debts, you are on the wrong path. One day Providence will place you in the same position – you will need to pay double with the interest. Those who think that they can outwit the law of karma are mistaken. The Bulgarian proverb, “The old fox walks straight into the trap”, fits such people perfectly. You should not play with your karma. It is the creditor. It does not allow any delay, even for half a day. It does not accept any excuses – you will pay the precise amount of your debt, together with the interest. It does not remit even the interest. The law of karma is strict. It will grant you your freedom only after you have settled everything. You should know that all good thoughts and wishes that humans generate get polarized in one direction or another. When you understand the law of polarization you will be able to see that everything in Life is polarized. You say, for example, that there are new teachings and old ones. Let the old teachings function in the roots of the tree and the new teachings - in the branches. The old teachings will serve to fertilize the tree which will grow and bear fruit, and the new tree – the New teachings - will develop from there. According to the New teachings, the law of karma will not be a cause for fear in humans. Why? Because you will know that karma likes brave people. Be brave enough to receive your karma well – as a dear guest who is paying a visit to you. If you try to escape from it, it will reach you with the stick and beat you up. Karma possesses some nobleness of character - it will beat you up, spit on you, but in the end will pass you by without doing you any harm. Karma possesses the character of a bear. When it wants to attack someone, it goes around him, strokes its hair, pretending that it does not see him. Its hair becomes soft while this person’s hair stands on end. If karma does not want to attack someone, it walks around him, bristles, stands up on its back legs, spits on him and goes away. In this case the person gets away with his skin intact, but he has experienced a real fright. Karma is like a bristled bear for brave people: it will walk to them, stand up on its back legs and spit on them, but then it will go away with the words: “All right, I will let this one pass.” You should thank karma that it has not touched your skin. The fact that it has spat on you and given you a fright is nothing, the main thing is that you you were left to live. When you know this, you will solve the problems of your life accordingly. If you come to a big disaster, say to yourself, “My beloved karma has bristled up, it is spitting on me, but it can't do more than that.” You would ask, “What shall we do and how shall we live so as to avoid the creation of karmic relationships between people?” I will give you an example and you will draw your own conclusions. Visualize two parallel railways with trains going in two opposite directions – East and West. Suppose that a hundred trains go East and they are located along one of the rail tracks at an equal distance from each other. If the trains maintain the same speed, there is no danger of clashing. If their speed differs, however, clashes will be inevitable. Therefore, according to the law of karma, it is not important if trains go East or West, but their speed is of vital importance. Trains need to move with the same speed. Consequently, when two people move in the same direction with a different speed, they will surely face a collision. If the speed of a train is a hundred kilometres per hour and the speed of another train is eighty kilometres per hour, no danger of collision exists, but if the speed of the first train is eighty kilometres per hour and that of the second train is a hundred kilometres per hour, there is a probability of collision, especially at night. In order to avoid the collision, the second train should reduce its speed to become at least equal to the speed of the first train and by all means it should keep some distance from the first train. Now, for as long as you live among people, you should be neither too smart nor too foolish. Why? Both foolishness and smartness are karmic laws. If you are too smart, you will go very fast and you will collide whit those who are slow. If you are too foolish, you will go very slowly and clash with those who are fast. You will have the same results in both cases. How should you behave then? You should be as intelligent or foolish as those around you. You would ask, “When and how should we manifest our intelligence?” You should save your power to be used in better times. For example, if a slow train goes before you, you should reduce your speed. If your way is clear, i.e. if there is no other train before you, you can release your full speed. In two weeks from now, make a summary of everything that was said until now. Next time write on the topic: “Application of Karma in Life”. Today I outlined some ideas about karma which can help you prepare your essays and I am going to talk about this later on again. When your essays are ready, everyone can read his essay out to the class and the rest of you will discuss it. Any critical remarks should comply with the rules of the New teachings. Criticizing means saying only things which are true and which you are absolutely sure about. Criticizing implies presenting things as they are in Nature. You should spend no more than an hour daily for your work on the lectures and for writing your essays. As far as the essays are concerned, ten minutes are sufficient. When you write your essays on karma, consider the following thoughts: 'If you are in front, move faster! If you are at the back, move slower!' This topic comes as a response to some ideas from the new philosophy. However these ideas solve the problems only partially. Why? The situation will be different if there is a second train behind you as well as a third one. In this case you will take into consideration the following rules: if someone moves in front of you, give way and let him go as fast as he wants! If you are behind, go slower! These are four significant positions in Life that should always be observed. Therefore, I am saying that when disciples want to go faster, the Master cannot give them the right to go with a higher speed. While you are disciples in this School, go slowly! After you have finished this School, activate all your powers and go as fast as you can. If there is someone ahead of you, do not hurry but reduce your speed. Whoever is at the back should go slower. These are symbols which you need to turn into actual deeds. What does fast speed correspond to? It corresponds to Virtue. Therefore be fast, stay in front when you do Good, and keep it slow, i.e. stay at the back when you do evil. This is a translation of phenomena that can be observed in Life and in Nature. In other words, the phenomena of the physical world should be translated into the language of the Spiritual world and the other way round – the phenomena of the Spiritual world should be translated into the language of the physical world. Only then will things become clear. Therefore high speed represents Good and low speed – evil. If you get angry often, you should know that you will move to the rear and will advance slowly. In the future, if any issues of importance arise between you, you can write them down and we can spend some of our time discussing them. Secret Prayer
  24. Ани

    1922_04_19 Analysis Of Words

    Analysis Of Words Year 1, Lecture 8 to the Youth Occult Class (Special Class) given by the Master Beinsa Douno April 19, 1922 – Wednesday 19.00h, Sofia Now I would like each of you to write one sentence in your notebooks which includes the first of the proposed words from last Wednesday - that is the verb “Come!” Your sentence structure should be simple, with one conjunction only, without attributes or direct/indirect objects. Now let's read the sentences you have written. Here are some of them: “Come to God!” “Come to Truth!” “Come onto the Path!” “Come into the steps of your Master!” I am asking you, can one really come to God or to Truth? Motion is a spatial process, while Truth is not spatial. In this case, can one really come to God or to Truth in time and space? Being disciples of the Spiritual school, you should learn to think and speak precisely, using strictly defined words in the same way that mathematicians are strict and precise in their work with numbers and formulas. Each word that is used should express its exact meaning. Now write some new sentences using the verb “Come!" The motion expressed in them should refer to strictly defined time and space. What is the definition of verbs? Verbs express actions and states and all actions are related to time and space. Which world includes time and space? Time and space are related to the material world. As a matter of fact, only physical bodies require space and a certain place. Therefore, volume and space are characteristics of the physical or the spatial world, for example, the world of forms. I am asking you now about the meaning of the word "Love." Is Love spatial? Love is not spatial. Love knows neither time nor space. Love has neither beginning nor end. In that case how can you know something that is without beginning or end? How can you know something that does not require time and space? It remains unknown. But if you begin to feel Love, this is the first moment that defines a state of Love. Is there a relation between states and space? When you say about someone that he is a person of substance, it means that inwardly he has much at his disposal. What was the second word that was written? It was “harmony" followed by “symphony”. What is the difference between “harmony” and “symphony?” A symphony comes as a result of harmony. These words are outside of spiritual science because they have meanings which are different from their literal meanings. When you examine a certain word, you have to pay attention to its root and origin. You must also consider its conceptual meaning, in other words, you should know the idea that is expressed by the word. In this sense, "symphony” is not a precise word. We say “symphony” and “symphonic orchestra." Which of the two words is more precise, "symphony” or “harmony” ? Harmony can exist between two tones, whereas symphony cannot. Which are the most important words out of those you have read? The words “persistence” and “perfection" express the result of something. “God” is a very indeterminate word. “Love” is a good word. Humans are able to love, but whom? Are they able to love one another? First they should love God. Before you utter the word “God,” you must say the word “Love.” To say the word “God” without love is like reading a book without light. To pronounce a name, or to go somewhere, you should first have the impulse in your consciousness. You cannot enter onto the spiritual path if you do not have the impulse to do so. This motivating force can be conscious as it is in animals, self-conscious as it is in humans, and subconscious or superconscious as it is in Higher Beings. Any movement in a certain direction is caused by an inner impulse that aims at some fulfillment. If the word “mother” is pronounced without love, it loses its meaning and content, as a result of which it will produce a certain disharmony in human thoughts and feelings. In that sense Love is a key to Life, like a musical key for the tuning of instruments. Therefore, the word “God” becomes meaningful only when it is pronounced with love and tenderness. Love is the key for the notes of Life. First you should use the key of Love and only then you can pronounce the word “God,” for only in this way will this word be filled with meaning and content. And when the word “God” is full of meaning, it will also give meaning to the other words: “come,” “harmony,” “symphony,” etc. So, you know now that in the flow of speech words are ordered in the same way that tones are ordered in musical works. The poets among you who have not realized that words play the roles of keys in human speech should learn to regard them in this way, in order to know how to use them and where to place them. What inspires poets to write poems? Love for their native land, for their mothers and friends. Therefore love and affection represent a path leading to a particular destination. You cannot begin a journey every time, but when you do begin it, you should have a defined direction and destination. What is the destination of an apple seed when it is placed into the soil? It moves in two directions – upwards, to the centre of the Sun, and downwards, to the centre of the Earth. In your opinion, what is the destination of human beings? – The Sun. No, a human being first strikes roots inside itself and then thinks about how to come to others. To come to yourself in your language means to come into yourself. Two other verbs originate from the verb “to come”: “come in” and “come out.” First you have to begin, so as to come in and then come out of a particular place. Once you have decided to come into a place, this means that you have already started on your way. If at any moment you want to come out, it means the same. Therefore, whatever you do, thinking or feeling, it has a starting point. So the word “to come” is like the placing of a key. Keys are needed everywhere and in everything. When you say that we should come to God, you are not precise in one aspect, namely that we should know the direction and the destination of our movement. If someone wants to go to the town of Russe, Varna, etc., the name of this town determines the destination of one’s journey. Therefore, when you say that you should come to God, you must know the direction and the destination of your path. Which path leads to God? – The inner path, the path that is lodged within ourselves. Do you have any experience in this matter? – We have not experienced such things yet. How can you then talk about the experience, when you have not yet gone through it? You should learn to think correctly. Everything you speak about should be experienced and tested by yourself personally. It is not good to think without having a thought. What does it mean “to think without a thought?" Thoughts consist of two components simultaneously: feelings and actions. Without these two components thoughts are not proper. It is akin to saying that you love without Love. If it lacks an impulse and a method, it's not love. Love says to you in a symbolic language: “Come!” In other words: “Put the seed in the soil! Sow a feeling in your heart! Sow a thought in your mind!” Therefore, we treat each feeling as a separate seed to be placed in the heart, so as to bear fruit in the future. We will judge the quality of each seed by its fruit. The words “Love,” “to love,” and “I love” have two significant elements: the first element is growth, and the second one is the “ripening” or the result. The letter “ч” ("ch") in the Bulgarian word "обич" (“obich”, Bulgarian for "love") shows that the seed should be put into the soil, so that it may grow and develop. But that's not enough, for the seed should also blossom, set and bear fruit, and its fruit should ripen. This means that the seed has to overcome all difficulties: winds, storms, snows, frosts, droughts, etc. The letter “a” in the Bulgarian word “obicham” (I love) shows that the seed will produce good results. Once we have the results, we can test what Love really is. Any results by which we can judge the reality of things, without falling into contradictions, indicate that we are on the Path of Love. Thus, the first word “come” means that you will begin to seek Truth. When you find Truth, you will begin to love it. When you love Truth, it will free you from fear and falsehood. At present you are not able to tell the Truth. Suppose that a teacher gives an easy problem to a student to solve, but the latter cannot do it. The teacher asks him: “Why did you not solve the problem?” Since the student does not have the courage to reveal the real reason, he finds a number of other excuses to present to the teacher. Thus he resorts to falsehood. This student's self-conceit does not allow him to tell the Truth, because it will discredit him before his classmates and he'll lose their esteem. He will lose nothing in respect to his classmates, but he will lose in respect to the Truth. As I am giving you these exercises, I can read your thoughts and see your ambitions to display your knowledge. But this is already a lie. When you write on a topic, you think you have said a lot. One can say a lot in theory, but the theory will fail in the first clash with Life. This indicates the existence of a great difference between theory and practice. Someone says that evil does not exist in the world, but when he is robbed he changes his stance at once. After that he becomes firmly of the opinion that evil exists in Life. If theory and practice were in unison in this person, then even after he had been robbed, he would not have thought of evil, or admitted to it. He would not have cared whether his money had been in his or in someone else’s pocket. This indicates that people say one thing in theory and achieve something different in practice – there is a dissonance. You would say: “How dare they take my money! Didn't they know that I needed it?” So what? They took your money because they needed it as well. “But this is not right!” What is right is one and the same for you and for them. Whether you get the money or they do, it's the same thing. That is just how it is - if you think as philosophers. However, in practice it is different. This is where evil is hidden. If a hungry person sees that someone has more than he can eat, he has the right to take the surplus food and satisfy his hunger, but if someone who is not hungry takes the food, he will commit a crime because he does not need it. Therefore, only those who are hungry have the right to take bread from someone else’s bag in order to satisfy their needs. Those who do not have such needs do not have the right to steal. Please observe the rules that I am giving you. They are maxims that should be used in Life. You would ask: “Who has the right to eat?” Those who have starved for three days and have prayed to God for bread have the right to sit at the table first. Those who have starved for two days have the right to take the second seat. Those who have starved for one day may take the third seat, etc. Therefore, an individual's right to take this or that place is determined by the extent of his need. In that sense we consider hunger to be a deep inner experience. Only those who are hungry deserve this experience. I am asking, why do people not tell the Truth? Someone goes to buy a cloth. He trusts the merchant and buys a pure woolen cloth on trust. Once he is home, however, he realizes that the cloth is not made out of wool but out of cotton instead. This individual then meets a friend of his and shows him the cloth, telling him that it's wool. His friend likes it and buys it, but later on he also realizes that he has been cheated. He resells the cloth to another friend and so on. In this way everyone gets cheated. I say, check the quality of things before you buy them! Those who are not experts in certain fields should not go shopping alone. Thus people will learn to tell the Truth. Only those who know and understand the quality of certain goods should become traders. Otherwise, they will forever justify themselves, they will cheat others in the same way that they've been cheated. Only those who know and understand the subject of farming should become farmers. The ignorant should stay away. Only good disciples should attend school in order to study. School is a place for talented and gifted students. It has been written in the Scriptures: “Freely you have received; freely give.”1 Only talented disciples receive free schooling. A teacher in music will take up a student and teach him for free, but only if the student is gifted. Why? Because the student’s heart will be burning with love for music. Mediocre students usually wait impatiently for the end of the lessons so they can get away, while talented students are very single-minded. They think mainly of one thing: their work. Mediocre students are double-minded, thinking of at least two things simultaneously. Therefore, talented individuals and those of genius are distinguished mainly by their thinking – at a certain moment they have only one thing on their minds, the one thing that is most important. If you go to God with your gifts, burning with an aspiration to study and grow, He will take you as His disciple and teach you for free. Now, since we are speaking of Truth, the Invisible world will put you unexpectedly to a test so that you can see for yourselves the extent to which you can tell the Truth. It will be a great surprise for you, but you want to know Truth, don’t you? It is not easy to know Truth. It is even more difficult to realize when and how to reveal Truth. I will give you an example of this. A young person had three good and faithful friends who had sworn their friendship and loyalty to him. One day he decided to put their friendship to a test. So he killed a calf and put it in a sack, then went to the first friend and told him: “A creditor of mine came yesterday to get his money back. As I did not have the money, I killed him and I have hidden his corpse in this sack. What will you advise me to do now? Give me a piece of advice, please!" – "Get this sack out of my house right now! Hurry up, because we will both be blamed if someone finds it here!” Then the young man went to the second friend, told him the same story and asked: “What is your opinion?” – “I do not want to interfere in this. Treat the dead body as you wish.” Finally he went to the third friend with the same story. “What shall I do now?” – “Listen, my friend, I am going to help you. I have a secret place in my garden that no one knows about. We will bury the corpse there, and no one will know what you have done; your crime will not be discovered.” I am asking you, whose love was the greatest? The third friend demonstrated his readiness to sacrifice himself for his friend, which means that his love was real. He took part in concealing the crime and was prepared to share the penalty. The first one will be the main criminal, the killer, and the other one will be the concealer and accessory after the fact. In such case, he will share the penalty with his friend. Through this example I wanted to draw direct attention towards extraordinary Truth, not to ordinary Truth. Real Truth will free you; ordinary Truth will limit you. The Master may also come to class with a dead calf in a sack in order to test his disciples whether they would reveal the Truth or not. He may say to one of them: “Listen, I killed a person and put his body in this sack. Tell me where to hide it and keep it a secret.” He may tell the same story to another disciple, yet ask him to share the information with everyone in the street. When both disciples are called into court to reveal what they know, the first one will say that he knows nothing. The second one will say that he knows about the crime of his Master. Finally the two disciples will fall into contradiction. I regard the next two cases as symbolic in Life. The Master gives a full bottle of water to one of his disciples with the assignment: “Do not tell anyone about the contents of this bottle, keep it a secret.” Then he gives a full bottle of water to another disciple with the assignment: “Tell everyone that the contents of this bottle is water.” Therefore, when someone keeps silence, he will receive the maximum amount; when someone speaks, he will become empty. When people do not reveal the Truth, they fill themselves; when they do reveal the Truth, they become empty. It is a Law. This is the deep meaning of the words: “Tell the Truth!” or “Do not tell the Truth!” Keep quiet and do not utter a word when you are empty, and when the Truth is not in you – then your bottle will be filled. When the Truth comes to fill you, then speak, tell the truth to everyone; thus you will empty your bottle and it will begin to refill. We will stop here. I spoke to you mostly about the first word, “come.” I also spoke of some other words. Today we spoke of seven words altogether. We will discuss the remaining words throughout the year. They will provide us with material for many lectures. Be ready, for the Master may come to you with a sack and order you to hide a dead person. Consider well what you should do, because you could go to prison for more than ten years. It is not easy to tell the Truth! You may see all of this in a dream, realize you've concealed a crime, and go to prison. When you wake up, you will say: “Thank God, it was just a dream, not reality.” Many events and situations in Life are like this, as though happening in a dream. Those who awake from the dream and are aware of reality are on the right path; those who are not awake live unconsciously and feel fear and horror. They ask themselves: “What will happen to us?” I wish you to awaken from the deep sleep into which you have fallen, and to realize that much of your experience is not real, but fictitious. Secret Prayer ____________________________ 1 Matthew 10:8 Source
  25. Ани

    1922_04_12 THE LAW OF MOTION

    THE LAW OF MOTION Year 1, Lecture 7 of the Youth Occult Class (Special Class) Given by the Master Beinsa Douno April 12, 1922, Wednesday Sofia Secret Prayer The disciples read the words they had to write in the following order: “come”, “harmony”, “absolute”, ‘nature”, “to hope”, “symphony”, “persistence”, “beginning”, “disciple”, “peace”, “height”, “crystal”, ‘to build up”, “the hero”, “diligence”, “can”, “nice”, “star”, “light”, “child”, “silence”, “to sacrifice oneself”, “aspiration”, “magnificent”, “God”, “comes”, “mutual aid”, “lotus”, “affection”, “wisdom of humbleness”, “warmth”, “perfection”, “wellspring”, “purity”, “bread”, “serenity”, “daylight”, “to love” and “enlightenment”. The first word which we read was “Come!” - the imperative form of the verb “to come”. This verb is related to motion. Therefore, you should study the law of motion. Motion refers to the first wish which puts all other wishes and aspirations in action. Can you remember your first idea or wish, when you were a child? The first impulse in the newly born is to breathe. Humans start breathing from the moment of their birth, because the law of motion originates from the Astral world. Babies start crying with their first in breath of air. It is an indication that the physical world they are entering is not very harmonious. Both children and adults cry, because the environment they live in is not very harmonious. This time however we will direct our attention to conscious Life which is manifest today. Human beings come down to Earth to understand Life. Consequently, the souls leave God in order to study Life and each soul wants to know itself. This is the first impulse or the first motion in consciousness. Knowing oneself means knowing God. Knowing God means entering Infinity in the frames or boundaries of the Finite. It is nothing other than self-determination. Each limitation creates forms and each form contains a direction of development or a path of evolution that should be taken by the Self, the personality or the human soul for the purpose of reaching perfection. Therefore, human souls come down to Earth to become strong. The words “strong” (“силен”{silen} in Bulgarian) and “weak” (“слаб” {slab} in Bulgarian) begin with the same letter (“s”) in all Slavic languages. The word “weak” relates to the law of changes; the word “strong” – to the law of constant values, i.e. values, which do not change. In other words, strength means expansion while weakness means contraction. I am asking you, what do you think about your coming to Earth? From your individual point of view, why have you come to Earth? You will give different answers. You may say that you have come to Earth to become strong, to be saved, to get to know God, etc. You will know God when you become strong not only physically but spiritually as well. If a child has no power to hug its mother and to suck milk from her, will it get to know her? - It will not. Human thoughts, feelings and motions, no matter how small they are, hide inexhaustible powers in them. According to the law of contrasts, weakness means strength. “A weak person” in our understanding is someone who has gotten to know the smallest values, the smallest manifestations of Life. For example, babies are aware of their helplessness from the moment of their birth, but their power lies precisely in their helplessness. I am pointing this law out to you because many people feel morally weak and so they say: “We are weak, we have many vices, that is the reason why we cannot follow the spiritual path.” This shows that from a spiritual point of view you are like little children and your mothers have to bathe you in bath tubs, while you often do immoral deeds. Your mothers need to take care of you for years on end by bathing you, feeding you, dressing you and educating you until you grow up and become mature enough to make your own living. Little chickens, for example, are able to make their own living two or three days after they hatch. It doesn't mean that humans are weaker than birds, but that the matter which they find themselves enveloped in is denser than that of chickens, and they cannot overcome the limitations that this matter has imposed on them. Keep the idea in your mind that you can overcome any difficulty you encounter. The science of the spiritual gives two explanations why humans cannot cope with their problems and consider themselves weak. After they come down into dense matter some people forget that they have come from Infinity; thus they do not know that they possess hidden inner powers which they should develop. Others who have come from the Finite have deluded themselves that they can do anything as if they were all powerful, and as a result they have fallen and have lost what they possess. Today both types of people think that they are weak, feeble and unable to deal with the present conditions of Life, and consequently they are in low spirits. If you want to get rid of your mental delusions, of the idea that you know everything, ask yourself: “What is happening on the Sun today?”, and try to give an answer. Then ask yourself some more questions: “What is happening on the Moon? What is going on in the entire Universe? What is a human being?” If someone considers oneself to be a deity, he or she should be able to answer such questions. A deity knows everything. If you are not able to answer these and many other questions, you should know that as a human being you represent just a small part of universal consciousness, of the consciousness of Being. I am saying, as you follow this train of thought you will come to the question about the moral development of people. From a spiritual point of view, the moral powers of human beings depend on the primal energy of the human organism. The Hindus called this energy “prana”. That is why it is good for you to study the pranic laws. A good disciple always makes more errors than a poor and unlearned one. The form that contemporary people have is nothing other than prana in action. When the amount of prana is not equally distributed in the human organism, this leads to disease. When it is not equally distributed in the human feelings, it leads to discontent. When it is not equally distributed in the human thoughts, it leads to senselessness. I will give you an exercise now which you should do three times a day – in the morning, at noon and at night, before you go to bed: bring your arms forward in a horizontal position with your palms facing down. Form a beautiful triangle by bringing the thumbs and the forefingers of your hands together. Then slowly open your arms to the side, forming a semi-circle. Turn your palms upwards. Bend your arms slowly at the elbows and catch the top of your ears with the first three fingers of your hands (thumbs touch the front side, the other fingers – the back side of the ears). Move these three fingers of each hand along the edges of the ears, the thumb in the middle, the forefinger – along the back part and the third finger – along the front part of the ears. After that, raise your arms and bring them forward to a horizontal position. Do this exercise ten times in a row and finally put your arms down in the following position: the top of the thumb of each hand should touch the top of the forefinger. When you catch the top of your ears, it will invoke a small moral impulse inside you. The lower part of the ears is related to the human stomach. After you perform the exercise, you will observe the results. You should perform it without philosophizing and nit-picking, but while observing yourself and the effects it will produce in your thoughts, feelings and actions. Unless something is applied in practice, it can be of no use for you. You should perform the exercises I am giving to you until you feel a positive effect. Consider these exercises sacred and do not talk about them until you have experienced them and achieved some results. When I ask you to keep these exercises secret, I warn you not to fall into the position of Adam and Eve who ate from the forbidden fruit just because it was forbidden. You should observe the following rules when performing the exercise: you should sit down, keep calm and expand your chest. You should stay concentrated the whole time and follow the movement of your arms. The main aim of the exercise is namely to keep your mind concentrated on the movement of your arms. This concentration is easy, because the mind only goes from the physical to the Astral world and no further. If it reaches a more abstract world than the Astral one, it will not be able to cope with it. It will be good for you to note the states that you will pass through during this exercise and during all other exercises. So, you will do this exercise three times a day: before or after praying in the morning, when you are well disposed; at noon; and finally at night, before you go to bed. No one is supposed to see you doing this exercise. If some of your neighbours ask you what you are doing, tell them that you have an exercise to do. If they insist on knowing details, keep silent. If they continue asking still, tell them the the following: “I have read in some book that the best thing for humans is silence. So, I want to do my best – to keep silent.” The exercises you are given in class are microscopic. In order not to become disappointed afterwards, you should not expect great results. These exercises are as insignificant as the first lines in an artist’s sketches. If an artist wants to draw a nose, he will first put a vertical line, thus creating an illusion of a nose. Then he will put some curved lines and after that he will draw the shadows of the nose. In this respect, the exercise I gave you is like the straight line that will later need some curving, some shading and so on. This exercise will teach you to concentrate your mind and to be obedient. In order to achieve this you need to be on the one hand lively and joyful, and on the other hand - honest, sincere enough to yourself. These are specific states of prana. The first state concerns the Mental world, the second one – the physical world, and the motion that runs through the middle, between the first two, is related to the Astral world or the World of emotions. Do this exercise as soon as tonight, before you go to bed. Breathe deeply while you are doing it in order to receive more vital prana. Prana has various states: physical, emotional and intellectual or mental. Without prana thoughts cannot be formed, feelings cannot be expressed and actions cannot be manifested. So, when I say that prana causes the creation and manifestation of thoughts, feelings and actions of human beings, this does not mean that all humans should have uniform thoughts and feelings. Each one will receive what he needs and will manifest what he is able to, according to the level of one’s development. For example, if you put your fingers on the lower part of your earlobe, some of you will wish to drink milk, others – to eat boiled wheat or nuts, or something else. Different foods will pass through your mind. You would say: these are foolish things. In our opinion, only the unattainable is foolish. For example, we consider that the wish of a poor simple person to become a king is foolish. In the remote future, after a long process of growth, this person could really become a king, which is impossible today. Therefore, when you say that something is foolish we think it is something impossible to achieve today, but some day in the infinite future this foolish thing could become reality. The first letter of the word “foolish” in Bulgarian (“глупав” {glupav}) has a line above it, which signifies infinity “-”. Contemporary people have lost a great part of the primal vital energy of their organisms; as a result their internal movement is weak. In order for people to understand each other, to love each other and to be able to learn, the vibrations of their internal movement need to be uniform, i.e. homogeneous. Heterogeneous vibrations result in mutual misunderstanding and alienation between people. The exercises you are given create uniformity in you. Therefore nowadays you need to busy yourselves less with philosophy and more with exercises. Later on you will reach a state in which more philosophy and less exercises will be appropriate. When we were reading the words you had to write for homework, you noticed that the first half of the words was more harmonious than the second half. This is due to a feature typical of Bulgarians – they start things well until they reach a certain point of difficulty, and then they end up badly. The disharmony in the second part of your words is an indication that knowledge has not yet become the object of your mind's interest. You study for the sole purpose of being able to say that you know something. Therefore, there is a part of your mind that has not been awakened yet. What hasn't been awakened yet is in your consciousness, i.e. you are not aware yet that you have the possibility to know and to be strong. Being strong does not yet mean that you are allowed to be violent towards each other. A strong person, in the full sense of the word, is someone who can elevate himelf without being violent to others. It is a rule: if you are violent towards yourself, you will also be violent towards others; if you elevate yourself, you will also elevate others. Secret Prayer
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