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1917_01_07 Grow in grace!


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The Book - The Spirit and The Flesh. Beinsa Douno

Translation from Bulgarian - Vessela Nestorova

 

GROW IN GRACE !

 

But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ?32

 

Growth is a process of development. What must grow? People often say, "An apple must grow, a tree, branches, leaves, blossoms—these things must grow and develop." But in the quoted verse, we understand that the human soul must grow. The human soul should grow, and the human spirit should attain the knowledge of grace. Which grace? God's. The word grace is broad, it implies the conditions under which a person must live up in heaven and down on earth. The Earth, which is so often mentioned in the sacred books, is so enormous that an innumerable number of people can live on it. In the Scriptures it is called The Promised Land. You are aspiring for this earth which God created originally. The Earth on which you live is so small, it is of microscopic size; compared in size it is not even as large as a small island like Cyprus. Paul and Peter say that heaven will be enflamed and the Earth will pass through fire.
 
Many interpret fire as a destructive element. In fact it is destructive, but it also constructs. For the fire which came down from the Sun has constructed our earth, it has also built our bodies and created thoughts and feelings in us. Everything freezes without fire. Therefore, the word growth implies fire as well. The fire which destroys is the coarse fire. Present day science has made the following experiments: if someone is placed under 2-3,000 volts of electricity, they die and in some countries criminals are electrocuted by such a current. However, if 10-50,000 volts of electricity run through the human body, all illnesses will disappear, the face will become youthful and bright; in a word, one will be fully rejuvenated. According to the present ideas of logic, one should burn up by such a fire. The  fire which destroys people is their passions. They destroy the body and the soul simultaneously. Being free of these passions means not warming oneself on destructive fire. When Paul says grow, he means a function under the influence of the Divine fire, or of these 10-50,000 volts that will purify and renew the people they pass through.
 
The word knowledge implies an understanding of the Laws by which this growing may be effected. Growing is twofold: upward and downward. When you are looking yourself in the mirror, you have a reflection. If anyone asks you by what Laws this reflection is effected, you will answer readily, "There is a reflection." But I would like to know the basic Law by which this reflection is effected. The physicists explain the mechanical aspect of an object the way the astronomers explain the mechanical aspect of the universe, as for instance what the Sun is like, its elements, its temperature, but what the Sun actually is remains a secret. From the Earth we can suppose this and that, but when a person becomes spiritual, they will be able to test the truth about the growing Paul speaks about. If you want to know whether there is life on the moon or not, you will take your bag, buy a ticket and in a few hours you will verify this truth. The same way one can go to the Sun and test what it is like.
 
Now we study things only by way of reflection, but the reflections are not always true. Every reflection has an inner and outer side; you access only the outer side, while the inner side remains concealed. You say, "I know this man." But you know only his shadow. "His eyes are black." This is, however, his shadow. "His beard is white." This is his shadow. "He is handsome." All this is a shadow. This man, who looks handsome to you in the daytime, is black at night. If the inner lamp changes its position, the inner Light of a person will change too. This is growth of the shadows, because the shadows can grow too—they can become smaller or bigger. For instance, when the Sun rises in the morning, the shadows are bigger; around noon they grow quite small and after sunset, they disappear. I am making this analogy, because you are people of the shadows—you study the creation of the cinematographer. If I speak differently, you will say, "Prove this!" In order to prove it, I must get you a ticket so you can come along with me to the Sun and then to the moon. You are people of the shadows, i.e. fictitious, not real beings. After fifty years, you will see yourself that you are fictitious. Where will you be then? In order not to be shadows, you must pass from the temporary to the eternal, to seek God, meaning to seek His Light and heat. This Light will introduce in you that ideal which you are longing for. A person is born as a small baby, gradually grows big, but is discontented all the time. He wants to marry and tries to find a beautiful girl and thinks until he finds her, but as soon as he finds her, he is discontented again—calls her evil as a snake. Then the two of them want children and have them, but find the children bad too. Then they hope when their children will marry to be materially well off, but nothing comes out of that. Thus, the life of people today consists only of shadows, but there is no reality whatsoever in these shadows. This is a pleasant life, but there is no growth in it, no Divine process.
 
Therefore, by the word growing I understand that only the spirit can grow and develop; only the real, the changeless grows. This substance which is deposited in us can undergo millions of eternal changes; this is a great Divine Law. At times a bad thought attacks you—that is a shadow. You say, "I hate that person." How can you hate her when you do not know her? Or, how can you ask a person for money, if you have never given her any money? In the world the shadows exist by necessity in order that the genesis of things may stand out. The more shadows there are in the world, the more our mind will stand out and will be the basis of knowing things, because knowledge cannot exist without shadows. You say you are suffering—that is a shadow, in order that you may learn the conditions of the new life. Therefore, growth is the cause of all changes which take place inwardly and outwardly. If you understand life this way, you will come to reality itself, i.e. to the testing of things. When a teaching is in accord with the reality of genesis, or with the Laws God has created in the world, it can always be put to a test. A doctor comes and says, "I have a medicine which cures this illness." If this medicine is real, it must cure the patient as soon as he takes it; but if this does not happen, the medicine is not real and the doctor only deludes people. A man comes and says, "I bring you a teaching, if you accept it, you will raise yourself." If this teaching raises you, it is real.
 
Thus, growth is a process necessary for the building of your spiritual body. The physical body is necessary as a scaffolding on the outside; if it is not raised, the spiritual body cannot be raised either. First of all, the physical world was created as scaffolding, while the spiritual world is constantly being constructed and organized to this day. In the Scriptures, there are verses which say that first heaven—the Divine World—was created and then the Earth—the physical world. The Earth is not organized yet, God is still organizing it. He created the world in six days: the sixth day He created human beings and on the seventh He rested. Now He is at work again. Moses says, "God rested." Christ says, "My Father is working." At the present time He is still working. God's rest implies His going out of His genesis and from there scrutinizing everything. He has created and then returned again to continue His work. His present work brings fire. He says, "This world lacks fire." When this fire comes, it will bring growth and knowledge of grace. When I speak of the world, I always mean human beings. The world is known to you to the extent you have a relation to it. All elements of the external world, of external Nature are connected with your body and with your mind, as a result of which all the changes taking place in you, the indisposition of your spirit, depend on the changes in Nature. If a wolf has been hungry for three or four days, or a week, he will pray to God for food. You respond to his thought and suffer along with him. All things in life are connected; that is why you experience equally both joys and sorrows. Someone says, "I cannot tolerate this man." Tolerate him, because he is part of you. If you ruin him, you will ruin yourself. Therefore, by growth, I understand the growth of our spiritual body which represents a unit of the Divine harmony.
 
You say, "The world is not organized yet." It is not organized but work is necessary in order to organize it. We are the plants which must work; we receive and process the materials, then we give them to God. You eat a hen, a sheep, a lamb—that becomes a part of you which goes to the building of the world. From this point of view all sufferings will be justified. We have all suffered in the world that is why we shall live all together. Some day you will realize that the bugs are your brothers too. When a bug is biting you, or sucking blood from you, it is saying, "I must do this in order to build my house." In all beings conscious and unconscious processes are taking place. The conscious process is effected so powerfully that you must grow up in a short period, as wheat grows in May; and you must bear fruit in a short period of time, because growing has in view blossoming and blossoming—fruit bearing. Growing is a life in which blossoming, setting and ripening of the fruit take place. There is no setting and ripening without blossoming. Are you blossoming? "No." Then you will not manifest yourself. People, like the flowers, find their expression only when they blossom and bear fruit. Love is manifested only when plants are blossoming; it is the same with people. When there is blossoming in the physical world, the physical ripening comes, the physical love; when this process is over, a spiritual blossoming and ripening takes place in a person. One must blossom at least seven times, i.e. set seven fruit at least. We must blossom up at the same time in seven worlds, but this blossoming up is achieved consecutively. Therefore, when blossoming in the physical world loses its sense for you, this blossoming should be taken up above. Why do you die? Dying is nothing other than going to a higher world for growth. When you do not have conditions for growing in the physical world, you die; when you have conditions—you are born.
 
Therefore, those who are not acquainted with the deep sense of life find that in the blossoming of the branches and growing of the roots there is a certain contraction. When water comes out of a spring, would it not flow in all directions? If you open a jar full of steam, would not these vapors spread in all directions at the same time? Thus, the life which has sprung up from a center sends its roots downward. And conversely, at night, when the Earth has turned, we are with our feet up. The same is true of a tree: in the course of 24 hours, first the branches are turned up, and then the roots are up. You will say that people are with their heads up. Human beings are double trees: they have roots up, which means the Divine World; also they have roots down in the stomach, which means the physical world. When the Earth turns, you also turn with your feet toward God, and then the roots of your stomach are turned to Him. So every 24 hours both the feet and the head turn toward God. Before God, the feet and the head have an equal meaning. Why? Because in the spiritual world, the feet are the ground on which you build your house. They are the soil on which your life may grow.
 
Now in the process of growing, you should love all people, alive or dead, who have a reflection and live in you. You have a John inside and a John outside; you have an angel inside and one outside; you have a devil inside and one outside. Heaven and earth live at the same time in your soul. There are good and bad spirits in you who get along well. Some people who hate the evil spirits say that there is disputing between them and the angels, so they think they are quarrelling. There arises a dispute only when we meddle in their work. Otherwise a complete balance exists between them. As soon as we meddle in their work, a struggle begins. When there is a dispute between two spirits, you should only listen. The dispute is a conversation between them. The students are not allowed to meddle with the business of the teacher. The bad and good spirits are great teachers. You have no right to pass judgment, but only to listen; such is the Law. If you interfere in their work, they will beat you and say, "Listen, you are a small baby; you should not interfere, but listen." Often people complain of attacks by the evil spirits. I tell them that the evil spirits do not care at all about you; they are not interested in your existence. They have only stopped under the shadow of your tree to talk, but you have overheard them. People are babies not born yet. "The evil spirits tell me to do this or that," some say. They do not say this to you, but to themselves and you say, "Wait, let me do this!"
 
The Apostle Paul says, "Grow in the grace of Christ, in order to know the spirits." Up till now the world has always used charms and conjurations against the evil spirits. In the church the Vassil Prayers are all conjurations against them, but evil spirits still exist. That is why Christ says, "Resist not evil." The evil spirits have their own work and when they are doing it, let them be free, do not interfere. I have heard how some Christians quarrel among themselves, "You are ignorant, but I have graduated university and have learned something." If you have graduated and have knowledge, you will keep silent, because there is conversation in silence, which brings power and growth. Those who do not know how to keep silent have no knowledge; they know only the rod. Silence is actually growth— this is how plants grow. They are silent, only at night a faint cracking can be heard—they are whispering to each other. They are not like people, who want the whole world to hear, if they have done some good. The hen acts the same way after laying an egg, she cackles so that everybody should hear her. What of it that she has laid an egg? That is her duty. It is a question whether she laid it, or it was laid for her. When an ass carries a burden of precious things, he says, "I carried the precious things." We must know that having come to earth, we are servants of God. Someone says, "Humans have free will." But I say that those who live in this essential, unchanging world where God lives and serve God, understand His Laws and orders, only they are free and only they can have a free will.
 
We must find time to accelerate this growth of which I am speaking, i.e. the building of your body. Often your saying that you have no time for this, no time for that provides the occasions for disobedience. An English preacher once visited a poor boy—a sweeper—and asked him, "Does anyone come to see you?" "Yes, Mr. Gladstone."33 Who?" "The English statesman." How strange that in spite of his great tasks, he found time to visit a poor sweeper! Why? Who lives in this sweeper? Gladstone realizes that one of his brothers lives in him and says, "I must visit him!" When someone rises in life today, they do not recognize even their father and mother, thinking this will infringe on their greatness and high position. There is nothing greater than knowing our obligations. The greatest trait of God is that in spite of His numberless great tasks, He always finds time to visit some sinful soul, the way Gladstone acted. God always finds a few minutes free to visit someone, to leave a good thought, or render His help. And when everyone attacks you like swarms of mosquitoes, God appears and says, "Fear not! I am here; I am with you to help you." When God does this, say to Him, "Give us strength to grow and become free from transitory things, to know Your Will." Do not say, "They attacked me, but they will see who I am!" We often say in the Lord's Prayer, "Thy Will be done!" You do not know the Name of God, the Kingdom of God, and you want to fulfill the Will of God. You will be like that mother who sews skirts and pants for her child which has not been born yet. In the process of seeking the Name of God, the Kingdom of God and the Will of God, will come the Kingdom of Heaven.
 
You must have the valor of that Russian king of whom Tolstoy tells a legend. The murder of King Peter I, in which Alexander I was also involved, cased great pangs of conscience in the latter and darkened his soul to the extent that nowhere could he find rest. The glamour of the throne and the vain pleasures had not the power to distract and calm him. He withdrew into himself more and more until finally he decided to abdicate and start living in Taganrog34 as an ordinary citizen. One day while walking in the environs of the city, he noticed that crowds were gathered round two rows of soldiers unarmed, but each holding a rod. An old soldier was brought with arms tied to a gun. They took off his shirt and while the drum was beating, he was subject to a horrid punishment, "passing under the rods."
 
Alexander looked the soldier in the face and was amazed at the great likeness between them. He asked about the crime of the unhappy soldier. They told him that when the soldier heard his father was on the death-bed, he asked permission to go and part with him. After being denied that, the soldier tried to run away, but was caught. He tried to escape a second time but was caught once more and this time was severely punished to pass between the two rows of soldiers under the blows of 8,000 rods. This penalty meant certain death. Hearing the sounds of the blows and the groans of the dying man, who soon stopped groaning, Alexander was horrified. "My God," he thought, "all this only for a reason that he wanted to kiss his father's hand as a farewell and receive his blessing! That poor man is tortured so cruelly, in my name too!"
 
He compared his attitude to his father with that of the soldier and seeing how much lower he stood than him, Alexander started weeping bitterly. After being informed by the doctors that the soldier would not live after the 4,000 blows, he made arrangements the soldier to be clothed secretly in his outfit and to be carried in Alexander's room. He, on his part, dressed in the soldier's uniform, submitted himself to the remaining 4,000 blows. These he bore to the end and survived because the soldiers, taking pity on the exhausted soldier, did not hit him hard anymore. The soldier, disguised in the Emperor's clothes, was carried to the palace, where he died. The great similarity between the two served for an official announcement that the emperor had died. In reality, the emperor wandered away, giving himself over to kindly deeds the rest of his life. Tolstoy ends the story with the death of Alexander in the following words, "What a moment of triumph must have been his death! What liberation of the soul!" I ask, how many of my listeners will be ready to bear at least ten blows for their brother? And after all this people are pretenders, preparing themselves for heaven!
 
I say, the inner sense of growth is in learning to discriminate the shadows from the real things, to liberate one's soul by bearing all sufferings. When a pear and an apple are growing, that is done for the sole purpose to give fruit which will bear a new being. Some want to marry and have children. Why? They want to marry, because they are already tired and cannot do anything else. As soon as they marry and have a son or a daughter, they will finish their parents' work. Someone says, "I do not want to be married." That means you are strong. If you cannot finish your work yourself, you must get married. By the word development I understand that either we must finish the work God has assigned for us, or give our place to others to finish it. That is why people are born and reincarnate—descend and ascend—on this earth. Some day when you say you are tired, God will ask you, "Do you want to give your place to your brother who will finish your work?" The knowledge I give you now is elementary. In the future, you will learn something more. God has already started the reorganization of the world. In this epoch of growth, we are under the most favorable conditions, under the effect of the Divine fire. In this fire, the hard things will melt, matter will be refined and God will form out of it a world of a different order. Those who will not finish their development will be sent by God to another place. There is no perishing in the world, one is only deprived of the duty, or work, one is not doing. In our schools, they keep you two or three years in the same class until you can pass it. The same refers to life itself.
 
Now it is desirable that this thought should become central in your mind. It is not important what work you are doing, whether you are a mathematician, or a doctor—these are shadows, forms in life. The essential thing is to sanctify the name of God and to implant the Will of God in your soul. Those who want to be strong must give first place to the following: the name of God, which is the supreme good; the Kingdom of God—in relation to the Earthly life. The spiritual world is connected with the physical world—humans are at the same time spiritual and physical beings. These two elements exist in us simultaneously: there is a bond between the two beings, which keeps them together and directs them. This bond is the soul which is semi-spiritual and semi-material. You can never change this state of things. By the words physical matter I understand the world of forms necessary for the manifestation and genesis of things; by the words Spiritual World I understand those forces which work for the creation of these forms; Soul, on the other hand, implies the conditions that prepare the construction of these forms. Therefore, life cannot be manifested without forms. Every Soul must have a body in the world in order to be manifested as an individual unit. She must have a body so that God can visit her. Can you invite guests, if you have no house? When a man wants to marry, he first has his house made, as the birds who want to lay their eggs first make their nests. Do not take my words in their literal meaning. Every person must have house, but where must it be built? In the spiritual world. They will not receive you in heaven, if you have no house; there you must have a house by all means. Growing implies the idea of having a garden around your house with flowers and fruit-trees to decorate it. In order to grow, you should forget your shadows, your misunderstandings.
 
All things existing in the world today are shadows; when you fall asleep for a long time, everything will disappear: France, England, Germany will disappear in your mind; there will be no wars; you will forget all about sugar, rice, your debts, you will forget everything. Why? Because all these things are shadows. To know a person in the real sense of the word, you should love them. Only those who love know people. Someone may say, "I love, but I suffer and fear." Since you fear, you have no love. Love does not tolerate any fear. All contradictions, of one kind of another, cause unpleasant troubles for people. However, the human spirit cannot develop without hardships. This teaching should be preached to open-minded people today. Only then will your home be freed from the sufferings which are essentially fictitious. There are magnetizers who hypnotizing a person draw a line before them and tell them they can go only that far and meet a wall on their way and the hypnotized person actually cannot pass that line where the other people do not see any wall there. When the magnetizer blows, the wall disappears. Now the devil has raised such a wall in the minds of people. He has drawn a line and they see many obstacles and hardships which are in fact shadows, not reality. Everything in the world is possible. How is everything possible? For instance, if you have been hungry for several days and pray to God for a piece of bread, He will give it to you, but if you want from Him 7-8 loaves, He will not give them to you. These are true facts which you can test yourselves. People should give up their greed and not desire more than what is necessary to them. If you have one kilo of sugar, be content with that, do not want more. Can all people be millionaires at one and the same time? As the growth of a tree has its limits, so people have a limit of growth on the physical plane: when they come to the age of 21, they reach a height after which their body stops growing, but the mind, soul and spirit continue their development.
 
These are great things which you will understand when your eyes are opened. You must pray to God to open your eyes as Elisha, one of Israel's prophets, did. One night the Syrian king sent a great army against Elisha to take him and bring him to the king. When Elisha's servant saw the great number of the enemy's army, he was scared and said, "What shall we do now, my master?" "Fear not for those who are with us are more than those who are against us." Elisha prayed that God might open the servant's eyes to see all. Then the servant saw the forest around Elisha full of horses and carriages. When the Syrians approached him, Elisha prayed to God, saying, "Smite these men with blindness." Then Elisha led them to Samaria and said, "God, open the eyes of these men that they may see." God opened their eyes and they saw they were in Samaria by the king of Israel. When Israel's king saw them, he asked Elisha, "My father, shall I smite them?" But he said, "Do not smite them but set bread and water before them and after they are fed, send them to their master."
 
People today ask, "What will become of us?" Those who are with us are more than those who are against us. Who are against us? Our thoughts and feelings—our shadows which we have been creating for years! Say to yourself, "I have created these thoughts—these wolves and bears—and I am not afraid of them." Some say they have strong faith. They can test the power of their faith, if they were placed among wolves and bears in a menagerie. If you fear, if you are tempted and yield, if you hate—God is not with you. The Christians must be heroes. Heroes are necessary for this world. You must bear up all misfortunes and say, "May the name of God be sanctified and may God's grace come!" You will say that so many people have died. In my view they have not died, but have been raised up. I would wish to go with them. It is a glorious thing to go to Heaven! Some people are afraid of death. They love God, but when death comes they call the doctors. God is not with them. When death comes, say, "I am coming, Lord, prepare new work for me there." I do not want anyone listening to me today to fear. Enter the place of your lions, tigers, snakes and pat them. Until you learn to pat the snakes and the crocodiles, God cannot be with you. Take as an example Daniel who did not suffer among the lions, but said, "God, Who is with me, will tame the lions." When you are among your lions, I wish you would call to God to shut their mouths. Be resolute and not faint-hearted!
 
Now equality and brotherhood should be preached everywhere, not only seemingly, but in practice. Scientists and great people must set an example of how we should live. You may be a chemist, an astronomer, a judge, a priest—harness all your forces for the good of humanity. We are not far from this—the fire is coming, there will be a great heating, but be unafraid: those who are with us are more than those who are against us. Let all people know that God is coming into the world to restore order, Lawfulness and justice. And you men and women who are given these lovely names by God, will submit to the new order. There is not better name in the world than man and woman. But now both men and women complain of their state. The men say, "Woe unto us who were born as men to go to war!" The women say, "Woe unto us who were born women that we should bear children!" It is not woe unto anyone; on the contrary, it is a great blessing that you were born such as you are, destined for so great a work! Reconcile yourselves inwardly. "How can we do that?" Do not say anything about anybody! Be reconciled in your soul with all your brothers, with all the subjects you have! Call to God that His name may be sanctified and His Spirit glorified in you and that you may grow up to fulfill what God has assigned to you! You will not die; from now on good conditions for gaining knowledge are coming, you will study astronomy, mathematics, and so on. Some say that mathematics is a very easy science; everything is implied in the numbers up to 10. But how many million relations there are among these ten numbers! Some say: "We should be good," that is 1; "we should be just," that is 2; "we should be loving," that is 3; "we should be wise," that is 4; "we should be truthful," that is 5. We have come to five. "Let us be good and just," it is 1 and 2; "let us be good, just and loving," it is 1 and 2 and 3; "in addition, let us be wise," it is 1 and 2 and 3 and 4. No, this is not any science. In the number 1 we must understand the Law of one, the soil, the elements; we must make use of chemistry and see what grows in the one and then say: there grow apples, cherries, grapes, wheat, rice, cabbage, carrots and so on. This one will determine what elements are needed for the apples, for the pears.
 
In our mind we say, "Let us be good." To be good, we should work. We can be just too, but we must work. Good, Justice, Wisdom—everything comes from above. You say, "We want to be good." Come to me and I shall teach you how to be good. I shall take a nail and when I heat it up, it will become good. Where is the hearth? It is in your heart. Take the bellows and coal, start a fire and put the nail in it—your thoughts—and heat them up. This is the process by which we must work within ourselves. In this sense, Christianity is an alchemical science.
 
You listen to me and say, "My heart is heavy, I am sad." Why? Because you have closed your windows and do not allow the Divine Light to pass through them. God can live in you, but you have not opened your windows to let Him in. If sometime He slaps you, say, "God, I thank You for visiting me." Interpret your husband's slap the same way. Why do you thrash the walnut tree? That the nuts may fall from it. So God comes to you and asks you, "Have you any fruit to give me?" If a brother slaps you, invite him to your house and set for him food and drink. What food? The food of the new spiritual teaching. If you teach him the new teaching, he will pick the walnuts by his hand; otherwise he will bring them down by throwing stones at them. It is like this everywhere today: men, women, teachers, students, priests, preachers—all are throwing stones at each other.
 
The present sufferings are a great blessing for people. I thank God for many things: I thank Him for being the King, so I can be a servant. Since He is King, that is the greatest blessing for me and for others. Now you are servants, but if you want to be real kings and queens in the future, apply the Divine teaching. Every morning when you get up say, "God, I thank You that I am alive, so I can serve You today." How do you get up in the morning? Some get up with their face up, others with their back up. Take care of the children, how they get up in the morning. Never get up with your back up. What must be your first thought after rising? Say, "God, bless my soul. I thank Thee for waking me up today to finish my work the way I should, wherever I may be, and to be able to grow as much as it is necessary." This is the first basic teaching. But what do we do? If someone is a teacher, they say, "Oh, today I have to correct 40-50 notebooks!" If they are a judge, they say, "Today I have so many Law-suits!" If they are a preacher, they say, "I must hold a sermon today, but have not prepared anything yet." If one is a mother, she says, "Why are all these children crying now?" In such a case, God is not with them and their work does not go well the whole day. Blow and say, "Hwuu-u-u! God, purify me of all evil thoughts and bless my soul!" Try this. Some say, "God was so merciful that He shed His blood for us and was nailed to the cross." How was Christ nailed? With His head up. That is why when you get up in the morning, you must rise with your head up, not down. And when you go out, show your head to God, not your feet. Go out with your head first and thank God in your soul. If you observe these rules, all Spirits of Light will be around you, you will acquire power, Wisdom and grow. God makes things grow.
 
Now, do you know why I am telling you all this? You must know that God does His work through people. And when I speak to you, you say, "Mr. Dounov says so." What I am saying to you has been said above, the whole heaven says it. I repeat that God is coming to purify the Earth by fire, to take off people's old rags and give them new bodies with love in their hearts, to uplift their minds and take away from them all malice and hatred. This is what the Divine teaching proclaims in the new epoch. When you rise in the morning, make an experiment, say, "I thank you, God, for the great grace You have for us. We know You as all-merciful, all-truthful, all-wise." Repeat this every morning for one month, then come to me and tell me what the temperature of your soul is. This is the whole secret. If you repeat this for ten months, it will be still better. This is the A—the beginning. In the past, when I was at your age and was learning this science, after rising in the morning, I started thus: "I thank You, God, for everything You have given me and taught me." You start the same way. This is a great teaching. If you do not start with it, you will be in eternal darkness, an eternal gloom around you. If you apply it, God, the angels and the saints—all will smile at you and help you to become Children of God. You will be ready to endure 4,000 blows on your back for your brother, so when Christ comes you will say, "Let Him take my place, I shall bear the rest myself." I understand this in a figurative sense and thus I speak. Spread this teaching among the nations! Only this way will every nation be able to ascend. Those who want to try, let them apply this teaching and see its results. It is a positive science. Every nation, every society, every home what works this way will be blessed. These are the good tidings Christ brought for the regeneration of humanity two thousand years ago.
 
Those who have ears to hear, let them hear.
 
Sermon held on January 7, 1917, in Sofia.
 
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32. II Peter 3:18.
33. William Gladstone (1809-1898), an English politician Chair of the Labor Party. He supported the independence movement in Italy and took a rigorous stand against the 1876 Turkish massacres in the then dominated Bulgarian territories (ed. note).
34. A south-Russian city at the Azov Sea coast (ed. note).

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Grow in grace!

 

“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (The second Epistle of Peter, 3:18)

 

Growth is a process of development. What needs to grow? It is often said: It is apples, trees, twigs, leaves, and blossoms that need to grow – it is they that have to grow and develop. What, however, is meant in the quotation is the human soul. It is the human soul that has to grow and it is the human spirit that has to attain the knowledge of grace. Which grace in particular? – Lord’s grace. The word grace has many meanings. It is suggestive of the conditions in which one has to live in Heaven and here on Earth. The Earth, often discussed in holy books, is so vast that myriads of people can live on it. It is referred to as The Promised Land in the Epistle. It is this land exactly you all aspire after, the land initially created by God. The Earth you live on is too small and so microscopic that if compared in size, it does not comprise an island as big as Crete. Paul and Peter say that the skies will be ablaze and the Earth will go through fire. Fire is often interpreted as a destructive element but though it truly destroys, it can be constructive as well. It is the fire descending from above, from the Sun, that built our planet and our bodies. It is this fire that imparted thoughts and aspirations in us. Everything gets frozen without fire. So the word growth implies fire. The fire that destroys is the coarse one. Some scientific experiments have been carried out – one dies if a 2/3,000-voltage current is passed through the body. That is why, there are countries where execution is through electrocution. However, if a current of 10,000 to 50,000 V is passed through a person, he or she rejuvenates completely – the face glows with health and youth and all diseases vanish without trace. According to modern logic one has to burn in such a fire. But the fire that really destroys man is his passions. They destroy both the body and the soul. If one has no passions, it means that he is not exposed to the destructive fire. Paul, when saying “grow”, means the effect of the Divine fire – this 10 to 50,000 voltage, which when passing will purify and rejuvenate people.

 

The word knowledge means knowing the laws that have to be observed in the process of growing. Mind that any growth is twofold – upward and downward. When looking at the mirror, you see your reflection. If asked what the physical laws of reflection are, you will give an easy answer – there is reflection. However, I would like to know the basic law that makes the reflection occur. Physicists have an explanation for the mechanic aspect of the object; astronomers have an explanation for the mechanic aspect of the universe, for example, what the Sun was, what its elements were, or what its temperature was, etc. But what exactly the Sun is remains a mystery. Here, on the Earth, we can suppose this or that, but when one becomes truly spiritual, they will be able to see the truth about the growth meant by Paul. You want to know whether there is life or water on the Moon, so you can book a ticket, pack your luggage and within a few hours you will be able to verify the truth. In the same way, you can go to the Sun to check what it is. While, now, we study things only through reflection, and reflections are not always correct. A reflection has an inner and outer aspect. All you can see is only the outer aspect, while the inner side remains hidden. “I know this man.” No, what you know is his shadow. You will say, “His eyes are black”. This is his shadow. “His beard is white” This is a shadow. “He is handsome”. All is a shadow. The person you see as handsome in daylight can be ugly late at night. Changes in the source of light can change the light in man. This is the growth of shadows – a shadow can grow, or diminish and disappear. For example, in the morning, at sunrise, the shade cast is big, at noon it diminishes, and at sunset it vanishes. I am giving this analogy because you are people of shadows – you study things through cinematography. If I put it differently, you will say, “Prove it.” However, to prove it, I will have to book you tickets, and take you with me on a trip to the Moon and to the Sun. You are people of the shadows. You are fictitious creatures, rather unreal. You will see in fifty years that you are fictitious. Where will you be then? To avoid being shadows you will have to transcend from the temporary to the eternal in search of God. I mean that you will seek light and warmth. This light will give you the ideal you are aspiring after. One is born a little infant, grows up and feels discontent all through his growth. One wants to get married and looks for a pretty girl, but when he finds her, he is still displeased because she is as vicious as a snake. Then people want to have children, yet after they have given birth to them, they find them bad. Parents hope that one day their children will get married and settle, but nothing much goes out of this, either. So modern people live in shadows. There is nothing real in shadows. It is a pleasant life, but there is no growth in it, no Divine process. Consequently, what I understand by Growth is that the Spirit has to grow and develop only in what is real and immutable. Thousands of continual changes can occur in the substance within us as it changes by itself. This is a great Divine law. Sometimes a negative thought occurs – this is a shadow. You will say, “I hate him. I hate John.” How can you possibly hate him, when you do not know him? Likewise, how can you borrow money from a person to whom you have never given anything? Shadows in this world exist only because reality has to stand out. The more the shadows in this world are, the more our mind will stand out and become the basis of knowledge. There cannot be any knowledge without shadows. When you say that you suffer, this is just a shadow that makes you study the conditions of a new life. Therefore, growth is the cause of all changes, going on both in the inside and on the outside. So, when we get to know life, we will get to the very reality, i.e. we will be able to test things. When a theory is in accordance with the reality of being or in accordance with the laws God imposed on this world, it can always be tried out. A doctor comes and says, “I have a cure for this disease.” If the remedy is efficacious, it will cure the patient, but if it fails to do so, it is not a true medicine, and the doctor has tried to mislead you. A man comes and says, “I have a teaching which if adopted, will elevate you.” If the teaching elevates you, it means that it is a true teaching.

 

So, growth is a process necessary to build up the spiritual body. The physical body is as necessary as scaffolding – if it cannot be put up, the spiritual body will fail to rise. It is the physical world that was initially built – to serve as scaffolding. The spiritual world is constantly being built and arranged. Some verse in the Scripture says that it was heaven that was originally raised, so it is the Divine world; then Earth was created – the physical world. Earth has not been fully organised, so God is still arranging it. He created the world in six days, made man on the sixth day and had some rest on the seventh day. Now He is at work again. Moses says, “Lord had some rest.” Jesus says, “My Father is at work.” So, He is still working. God’s rest is to get out of His being to examine everything He has created so far and get back to resume His work. His present work carries fire. He says. “This world is deficient in fire.” When this fire comes, the growth and knowledge of grace will also arrive. When speaking about the world, I always mean man. You know the world as far as you refer to it. All elements from the outer natural world are related to your body and mind, and all the changes you undergo and any indisposition of your spirit depend on the changes in Nature. If a wolf fails to find food for three or four days on end, it gets hungry and prays to God for food; you catch its thought, you understand that this wolf is suffering and you sympathise with it. Everything is interrelated – you experience equally intensely both joy and sorrow. Someone will say, “I can’t stand this fellow.” You will have to tolerate him because he is part of you. If you ruin him, you will ruin part of yourself. Anyway, by growth I mean the growth of our spiritual body, by which we comprise Divine harmony. You say, “The world has not been completed yet.” Yes, it is true, but in order to complete it, you will have to work. We are the factories that have to produce things. It is we who have to receive and process the materials and yield them to God. If you eat a hen, a sheep or a lamb, this is part of you and it is all meant to build the world. There will come a day when all sufferings will be justified from this point of view. We will have all suffered, yet we will be all living together. There will come a day when you will understand that the smallest bugs are your brothers. When a bug stings you to suck blood, it says, “I need to make my contribution for the building of this edifice.” All creatures have conscious and unconscious processes. The conscious process is so well-developed, that you will have to grow in a limited time, just as the wheat grows in May, and has to knit, because growth boils down to giving blossom and blossom means fruit. Growing is life, which manifests itself through blossoming, knitting and ripening. There cannot be fruit and ripening without blossom. Are you blooming out? - No. – Then you cannot manifest yourself. People, just like flowers, can manifest themselves only through blossoming out and setting. Love can manifest itself when plants flourish. The same refers to people. When flowering takes place on the physical plane, there is physical maturity, physical love. When this process is over, the spiritual flourishment and maturity occur. One has to flower at least seven times. One has to knit at least seven fruits and come out at least in seven different worlds. This happens at stages. So, as flourishing on the physical plane is already pointless for you, you have to do this on a higher plane. Why do we die? Dying is nothing but moving to an upper plane of growth. When there are no conditions for you to grow, you die. When there are conditions, you come to existence. Those who are not well acquainted with the profound meaning of life find that there is a certain contradiction in the blossoming of branches and in the growth of roots. When water comes out from a spring, will it not disperse in all directions? If you have some gaseous substance or a pot full of vapour, will this vapour not disperse when you take off the lid of the pot? So, Life, stemming from the centre, shoots its roots downward. Science proves that we stand upward during the day, and when the Earth rotates in the evening we stand with our head downward. The same refers to the tree – at midnight the branches are turned upward and then the roots are turned upward. With the Earth’s rotation you take a position with your feet up to God, the roots of your stomach also facing God. The head and the feet are equally significant to God, because when you enter the spiritual world, the feet are the basis of things. Some say, “Why do I need feet?” Why do you need some basis? - To build a house. Therefore, they are the ground on which you lay the foundations of your house and they are also the soil on which your being can grow.

 

Now, in this growth we have to love all the people inside us, both alive and dead, who have affected us and live within us. You have a John inside and outside; an angel inside and outside; a devil inside and outside – both heaven and the Earth coexist in your soul. There are good and evil spirits getting on along within you. Some people who hate evil spirits say that these spirits are at war with the angels. The conflict arises only if we interfere, otherwise there is harmony between them. There is a struggle if we get involved. When there is a contradiction between the two spirits, you only have to listen to them. The argument is a kind of conversation between them. The students are not allowed to interfere with the teacher’s job. The evil and good spirits are great teachers. You are not supposed to adjudicate - you only have to listen to them. Such is the law. If you interfere, they will punish you. They will say, “Listen, you are just a baby! You shouldn’t get involved. You just have to listen!” People often complain about being attacked by evil spirits, but I tell them: These evil spirits are not interested in you, they do not care about your existence. They have just stopped in the shade of your tree and you have happened to overhear their conversation. You are babies; you are not even born yet. “The evil spirits have told me to do this or that.” It is not you to whom they have spoken. They have told this to themselves. You only say, “Let me do it.” That is why Apostle Paul says, “ Grow in the grace of Christ to know the spirits.” Although the world keeps sending conjuration to the evil spirits, and the church also offers prayers to drive them away, they persist. That is why Christ tells us not to defy evil. Evil spirits have their business to do – let them do it. I have often heard Christians quarrel: ”You are ignorant! I know everything because I have a university education!” If you have graduated from university and have some knowledge, you had better remain silent because there is conversation in silence – it is a force, a plant. A person who is not able to remain silent does not have any knowledge – all he knows is to get a hiding. Silence is actually a growth: this is how plants grow – they remain silent, only in the evening some faint cracking can be heard as they are whispering. They are not like people, who after doing some kindness will trumpet it around. The same refers to the hen – when it lays an egg, it will start quacking so that everybody can hear about it. It might have laid an egg, but it is the hen’s duty. It is arguable whether the hen itself laid the egg or had it laid. When a mule is loaded with some precious weight to carry, it boasts, “It was I who carried the load.” What we should know is that in this world we are nothing but God’s servants. Someone might say, “We have free will.” Only one who lives in the essential, immutable world of God, only one who serves God and is able to comprehend His laws and precepts can be free and exert his free will.

 

We need to find the time to foster the growth I am talking about, i.e. the building up of our body. You often find excuses for not obeying the rules by saying, “I can’t find the time for this or that.” An English preacher visited a poor sweeper and asked him, “Has anybody visited you?” “Yes, Gladstone came once.” – “Who?” - “The statesman.” – “How strange!” the preacher said. “How has he found the time to pay you a visit busy as he is?” Why? Who lives within the sweeper? Gladstone is aware that the sweeper is a kind of brother to him, so he says, “I need to see him.” Modern people climbing the social ladder forget about their parents, thinking that their social status will be marred. Greatness is in recognising our obligations. The greatest virtue of God is that despite His numerous duties and tasks, He always finds the time to pay a visit to a sinner. God always finds the time to visit a person, leave a comforting thought and offer His help. It always happens that when everybody is against you attacking you like a swarm of mosquitoes, God always makes an appearance, saying, “Do not fear, I am here, standing by you. I’ll give you a hand.” When God does this, you should tell Him, “Give me the strength to grow and get rid of everything that is transient. Let me know Your will.” Do not ever say, “They came down on me, but we’ll square our accounts!” We often read God’s prayer, “Let it be Lord’s will”. You do not know Lord’s name, nor His kingdom, so how can you know His will? One who does not know Lord’s name cannot fulfil Lord’s will. You will be very much like the mother who started sewing clothes for her unborn children. In the process of searching for Lord’s name, kingdom and will the reign of Heaven will arrive. We need to adopt the chivalry of the Russian tzar about whom Tolstoy tells the following legend: The murder of Peter I, in which Alexander I was involved, caused qualms of conscience and anguish with the latter, who could not find peace of mind. The glory of the throne and worldly pleasures could not distract nor comfort him. He withdrew more and more until, finally, he decided to abdicate and settle in the town of Taganrog as an ordinary citizen. Once, as he was walking round the town, he saw that many onlookers started crowding round two rows of soldiers on the road, who were carrying sticks instead of rifles. At a point an old soldier was brought forward. They tied his hands to the butt of a rifle, stripped off his shirt and then under the beat of the drums he had to suffer the severe punishment of cudgelling. Alexander peered into the poor soldier’s face and was stunned by the striking similarity between them both. He was curious to know the soldier’s fault and was told that the soldier asked for permission to see his dying father and when not allowed to do so, he tried to escape. He was arrested for his attempt, but managed to break free again. On his second capture he was sentenced to undergo the punishment of 8,000 thrashes. This punishment meant sure death. Alexander, who was listening to the faint noise of the thrashes mingling with the soldier’s moans, was appalled. “Good gracious!” he thought, “The poor fellow just wanted to kiss his father’s hand and get his blessing. They are torturing him now so severely and all that in my name!’ Comparing his behaviour to his father with the soldier’s, he realised his inferiority and started weeping. Learning from the doctor that the soldier would not survive another 4,000 thrashes, he arranged for the poor fellow to be dressed in his emperor’s clothes and carried to his home, while he himself dressed in the soldier’s clothes lent his back to the remaining half of the punishment. He managed to survive it because the soldiers took him for the done up soldier and beat him less severely out of pity. The soldier, dressed up in the emperor’s clothes, died in his home and this resemblance to the emperor served to pronounce the emperor dead, who, taking the opportunity, left the city and devoted himself to righteous and charitable deeds. Tolstoy ends the story about the emperor’s death with the following words: ”What a solemn moment his death must have been! What a great liberation of the soul!..” My question is: How many of you are ready to suffer even ten thrashes? Then what claims could you possibly have? How could you expect to be admitted to Heaven?

 

Here is the inherent meaning of growth – one has to distinguish shadows from true essence and to liberate the soul by enduring all sufferings. When the pear and the apple grow, they do it only to give fruit, which, in turn, will give a new life. You have also come here on earth to give life to somebody else. Some want to get married and beget children. Why? I will tell you why. They want to get married because they are already tired and do not want to do any other job. When they get married, they will give birth to a son or a daughter, who will complete their job. You will say, “I don’t want to get married.” It means that you are strong. However, you cannot complete your job, so you have to get married. Do not think that this is an allegory. This is the truth. By development I understand the job God assigned to us, which we have to complete or withdraw and let somebody else take over from us. Here is why people are born and reincarnated – they descend and ascend. Some day, when you say that you have got tired, God will ask you, “Would you like to give up your place to your brother, who will complete your job?” That is it. All this is basic knowledge. You will learn something more in future. God has already started rearranging the world. In this era of growth we experience the most favourable conditions of the effect of the Divine fire. In this Divine fire solid substances will melt. The matter will be purified and refined and God will rearrange it in a different order. God will send those who have not completed their development to a different place. There is no extinction in this world. There is only withdrawal of duties and assignments we fail to carry out. At school a poor student can be kept back a year or two. The same refers to life. It is desirable that you become fully aware of this. It does not matter what job you do – whether you are a mathematician, a chemist, a doctor – these are all shadows, forms of life. What counts is whether you enlighten Lord’s name and accept His will with your soul. One who wants to be strong should hold forth these: Lord’s name, which is the greatest blessing, Lord’s kingdom, which refers to the human soul, and Lord’s will, which refers to life on earth. The spiritual world is interrelated to the physical one: man is both a physical and a spiritual creature. These two elements coexist, as there is a correlation that unites and guides them. This is the soul, which is semi-spiritual and semi-material. This is a condition you will never be able to change. Under physical matter I mean the world of forms necessary for the manifestation and being of things. Under spiritual world I understand the forces working in the direction of creating the forms. Under soul I mean the conditions preparing the building up of these forms. Therefore, life cannot manifest itself without forms. Each soul needs a body to exist as a unit or entity in this world. It needs to possess a body to be visited by God. Can you invite any guests if you do not have a home? When one wants to get married, he first needs to build a home, just like birds, have to nest before laying eggs. Those without houses will say, “Now we are in a nice fix!” Do not take this literally. What I mean is to have a house in the spiritual world. You will not be admitted to Heaven without such a house. By growth I mean having such a house. It would have a garden, trees, and flowers to decorate it. To grow you need to forget about your shadows and misunderstandings. All things that exist in this world are shadows. If you fall asleep for a long time, everything will disappear. France, England, Germany will disappear. There will not be any wars. You will forget about your debts, about sugar and rice – you will forget about everything, because everything is just shadows. To know a person truly you need to love him or her. Only one who loves knows people. Someone will say, “I love, but I suffer and I fear.” There cannot be love if you fear. Love excludes fear. All contradictions give rise to trouble. The human spirit cannot develop without facing difficulties. This is the teaching that has to be preached to cultivated people nowadays. Only then can your homes be free from fears and sufferings, which are fictitious. There are magnetizers which when hypnotising someone, draw a line and tell him that when he gets to it, he will face a wall. So, one who is under hypnosis cannot go through it, while you actually do not see the wall. When the magnetizer disappears, the wall vanishes as well. Now it is the devil that has put up such a wall in human minds. It is just a line, but you see plenty of difficulties, which are nothing but shadows. Nothing is impossible in this world. Anything is possible. Someone will ask, “How can everything be possible?” For example, if I have starved for several days on end and I pray to God for a piece of bread, He will give it to me. But if I ask Him for 7 or 8 loaves of bread, He will give me nothing. What I am telling you is the very truth, which you yourselves can check. You should give up being avaricious. You should not ask for more than you need. For instance, if you have a kilo of sugar, be happy and content to have it and do not ask for two or three kilos. Can all people be millionaires? Just like the growth of a tree has its limits, so one cannot grow further than the age of 21. Then one can grow only in mind, soul and spirit. These are the great things, and when you open your eyes to them you will grasp them. Sometimes it is necessary that someone pray to God to open your eyes. This is what one of the Israeli prophets, Elyseus, did once. The Syrian king sent a powerful army against Elyseus. He wanted him captured and brought to him. Elyseus’s servant, on seeing the army in the morning, got frightened and asked, “What are we going to do now, master?” – “Do not fear! Those who are with us are more than those against us.” Elyseus prayed to God, “ I pray to you, Lord, that you open my servant’s eyes so that he can see what I see.” God opened the servant’s eyes and he was able to see the forest full of chariots and horses surrounding Elyseus. When the Syrians approached, he supplicated, “Oh, Lord, strike these people blind!” Then Elyseus led them to the Land of Samaritans to meet the Israeli king and said, “ Oh, Lord, open their eyes so that they can see!” God opened their eyes and they saw tehmselves facing the king. On seeing them the king asked, “Shall I smite them, my Lord?” So he said, “Do not smite them. Give them some food and send them back to their master!” While we, the modern people say, “ What is in store for us?” Those who are with us are more than those who are against us. What is against us? It is our thoughts, our shadows, which we have been creating for years. You should tell yourselves, “ These thoughts, these bears and wolves, which I have created, should not frighten me.” Some claim that they have a staunch faith. You can test it by placing them amongst bears and wolves. God is not with you if you succumb to fears, temptations and hatred. Christians have to be brave. What this world needs is brave people. We have to bear sufferings and say, “I will praise Your name and Your grace!” You will say, “But so many people died!” I do not see them as dead but as resurrected. I would like to join them – Oh, what glory it is to go to heaven! Some people are afraid of death. They love God, but when the moment of death approaches, they start seeking the help of doctors. God is not with them. When the time comes you should say, “I am coming, my Lord. Give me some other job to do!” I want all of you who are listening to me today to be brave. Go among your lions, tigers and snakes and stroke them. God will not be with you until you learn t constrict snakes and crocodiles. Take Daniel for instance, who was not injured in any way while he was among the lions because he said, “God, who is with me, will tame the lions.” I would like you to call upon God when you are among your lions. Do not be pusillanimous! Have courage! What is more, equality and brotherhood should be preached all along the line and not on the face of it but truly. Great people and people of science have to set an example for you how to live. If you are a chemist, an astronomer, a judge, or a priest – you need to harness all your energy for the sake of humanity. We are not that far – the fire is coming; there will come quite a heat. But you should not lose heart – those who are with us are more than those against us. Let everybody know that God is coming to put the world in order, establishing law and justice. Then you, men and women, endowed by God with these nice names, will have to obey the new order. There is no better name than man or woman in this world. But now both men and women are complaining about their position. Men say, “Woe to us, men, as we were born! It is our duty to join the army and fight in times of war!” Women say, “Woe to us, women, as we were born! We have to give birth to children!” There is no woe about it all. On the contrary, it is a blessing that you were born what you are, destined to do a particular job. All you need to do is give yourselves a hand. Someone will ask, “How can we reconcile?” Do not complain, find some reconciliation with all your brothers, and all the subjects you have got, call upon God to glorify His name and the Spirit within you, and your supplication should be to grow up so that you can fulfil what you are predetermined to do. You are not going to die. From now on more auspicious conditions and sciences are forthcoming; you will be able to study astronomy, mathematics, etc. Some will say, “Mathematics is an easy subject up to the number ten.” But have you considered how many ratios exist between these ten numbers? Some say, “Let us be good.” This is 1. “Let us be just.” This is 2. “Let us be affectionate.” This is 3. “Let us be wise.” This is 4. “Let us be truth-loving.” This is 5. We are up to 5. Let us be both good and just. This is 1 and 2. Let us be good, just and affectionate. This is 1, 2, and 3. Let us be wise – this is 1, 2, 3, and 4. This is no science whatsoever. With 1 we need to understand its laws, the soil and the elements. We need to apply chemistry and see what grows with 1. Then we will say that it is apples, cherries, grapes, wheat, rice, cabbage, carrots, etc. that grow with 1. It will be found out how many elements are necessary for the growth of apples and pears with this 1. So we can say, “Let us be good.” But in order to be good we have to work. We can also be just, but we need to work, too. Goodness, justice and wisdom come from above. You say, “We want to be good.” Come to me, I will teach you and show you how to be good. I will take a nail and heat it. The nail will become good. Where is the furnace? It is within your heart. Take the nail, the bellows, and the coal, put the nail – your thoughts – and heat it. This is the procedure we have to follow when working on ourselves. In this respect Christianity is a kind of alchemy. You are listening to me and perhaps you say, “I feel wretched, I feel miserable.” Why? - Because you have shut the windows and do not let the Divine light penetrate through them. God is alive, but you have not let Him enter. Sometimes if He slaps you in the face, you should say, “Thank you, Lord, for visiting me. You should look upon your husband’s slap in the same way. Why do you thrash a walnut-tree? - To knock the walnuts down. Likewise, God comes and asks, “Do you have any fruit to give me?” If a brother slaps you, you should take him home, offer him food and drinks – nourish him with the new teaching. If you offer him the new teaching, he will start picking the walnuts by hand instead of thrashing them. This is what is going on now everywhere. Men, women, teachers, students, priests and preachers are throwing stones at one another. Sufferings nowadays are the greatest blessing. I am grateful to God for many things. I am grateful to Him that He is the king and I am His servant. Him being a king is the greatest blessing both to me and to the others. Now you are all servants, but if you want to be kings and queens in future, apply the Divine Teaching. In the morning, when getting up, you should say, “Thank you, Lord, that I am alive so that I can serve You.” How do you usually get up? Sometimes you get up with your face up, sometimes with the wrong side up. Keep a watch on how your children get up. You should never get out of bed on the wrong side. What should your first thought be? “Lord, bless my soul! Thank you, for letting me get up today so that I will be able to do my work whatever it is and wherever it is and that I will be able to grow as much as I should.” This is the primary, basic knowledge. However, what is it that you usually do? If any of you is a teacher, he or she will say, “Oh, dear! I have to grade 50 papers!” If he is a judge, he will say, “I have so many cases today!” If he is a preacher, he will say, “I have a sermon to read today, and I have nothing ready yet!’ If she is a mother, she will say, “Why are these kids whimpering?” God is not with these people, so they will not be successful in their work throughout the day. You should blow, and say, “Oh Lord, help me get rid of bad thoughts! Bless my soul!” Try this. Some say, “God was so merciful that he sacrificed himself and was crucified.” How was he crucified? – With his head up. That is why, when you get up in the morning, your head should be up and not down. When stepping out of the house it is your head that should go out first facing God, not your feet. I would go into further detail, but, unfortunately, I am pressed for time. You should go out with your head first, thanking God in your soul. Then all the light spirits will surround you, and you will get the strength and wisdom to grow. It is God who helps things grow. Why am I telling you this? It is God who does things through people. Sometimes, when I am speaking to you, you say, “Mr. Dounov said so.” What I am saying is said from above, it is what all heaven says. I repeat that God is coming to purify the earth through fire, to strip people from their scruffy clothes, give them new bodies, pour love into their hearts, lift their minds and eliminate any hatred or malice. This is what the new teaching heralds in the new epoch. So when you get up in the morning, try to say, “We give thanks to You, O God, for Your grace! We give You thanks for You are good! Your mercy endures for ever!” Keep saying this for a month and then come to me. You will see then what the temperature of your soul will be. That is the whole secret. If you repeated it for ten months, it would be even better. This is the A, the beginning. When I was your age I started studying this practice so on getting up I said, “I thank you, God for everything You gave me and taught me.” You should start with this, too. This is a great teaching. If you do not start with it, you will live in eternal darkness. If you start applying it, God, the angels and all the saints will smile at you and help you become God’s sons. You will be able to bear 4,000 thrashes on you back and when Christ comes he will say, “Let him take my place, and I will bear the rest.” I understand this as a metaphor, and I am trying to put it metaphorically. Disseminate this teaching among the people. This is the only way people can be elevated. Those who are willing should try this teaching and see the results. It is a positive item of knowledge. Each people, society or household that works in this way will be placed. This is the annunciation that Christ brought for the revival of society 2,000 years ago.

 

Let anyone who has ears listen to this.

 

Lecture delivered on 7th January, 1917

 

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