"But to each the appearance of the Spirit is given for benefit." (1 Corinthians 12:7) [2]
There are many questions that occupy the human mind, many questions that humanity has been occupied with in the past; there will also be such questions in the future. I will give you a short definition of the conception [poniatie [3]] "Spirit". Many minds have a vague conception of the Spirit. Even in the mind of people who have vast knowledge, this notion is vague. You will ask: "How is it possible for a man to be learned and his conceptions of the Spirit to be vague?" I answer: quite naturally. If you were deprived of vision and you had a painting in front of you, you would have quite a vague conception of it. Consequently, for the learned man, too, the conception of the Spirit can be vague. When we examine this question, we should take into account whether we have the appropriate feelings and capabilities to come into contact [4] with the true reality of things; because we can have a conception of the world and its regulations directly or indirectly, but these conceptions of ours will differ from one case to another. I will give you a short translation of the word "YX" [Spirit]. In Bulgarian this word has four letters [5]. If we take the letter "" [D], it makes three angles and underneath the letter "" [P]; the three angles show the triunity of God, the three forces [sili [6]] which manifest. The letter "Y" [U] - two fingers, the index finger and the middle finger raised up, show that man's hand is doing something. The letter "X" [H], the cross - this is the manifestation of the force [sila [6]] which acts in four directions: the line which goes up and the other line which crosses it show man's manifestation, that is, the two forces [sili] which do not agree, which cross. When we raise a [7] finger upwards, this shows that we point to God, and when a man comes into opposition [8], this is the other line of the cross, it means the Spirit descends and defines this contradiction between God and His children. The letter "" [EU] [9] denotes the balance of the human mind which wants [10] to give people understanding of the basic laws [11]. This interpretation I derive from the very letters of the word. Now, the other interpretation of the Spirit is: the manifestation of Its essence. Take, for example, the light which descends from above - this is the Spirit. We do not know what the Sun is; the scientists say that it is situated 92 million kilometers away [12] from the Earth; it may be so - we do not know; there can be a few million kilometers error in this calculation. If we decide to check, it is questionable whether we will find it at the point defined by the scientists. And what is the internal state of the Sun - a profound philosophy. Some say that it is liquid, some say - solid. It may be that one and the other is true. But of the light which descends, we already have a real conception, because we see that, which comes down from the Sun and reveals before our eyes the whole Earth with all the objects upon her. The Light is Spirit, Which comes down from the Sun and has direct contact with our life. To this Sun we can also liken the Spirit. He [13] will not descend otherwise, for if He descends, He will melt, like the Sun, everything we see around us; it [everything] will become dust and ashes or it will be turned into a gaseous state. This is why God says: "I will not come down, but will send through space My Spirit to bring people My blessing". This is why God does not want to come down to us but sends His Spirit - the Light. This Spirit, this creative capability, is exactly what builds within us. Everything we have, we owe to Him. This rational [14] force [sila] which is manifested by God, is defined by the learned people in terms [15] of laws, of force [sila], of relation between the elements etc - they give it different names. But this is a rational essence, which works [16]; this is [a] Spirit, Which creates laws.
The Spirit has a direct communication with our soul. Precisely [17] through the changes which occur in our soul world [18], we gain a conception of His origin. Without the soul we would not have any conception of the Spirit. The soul, with its way of thinking, [re]presents the Divine world within us. And if there is anything divine within us, it is the luminous soul, which thinks. [19] That is why, when we speak about man, we need to understand her [the soul]. Separate from man the rational soul - what is left is a regular animal on four legs; there is no other difference: he eats, sleeps and has all the needs and weaknesses of the animal. The Spirit manifests in the human soul. Because of this, man, in contrast to the other creatures, walks upright. Why is it that the other animals do not walk upright? Because they are at variance [8] with the Lord. Where they walk on all four legs, it shows that their will is in contrast to the manifestation of God. There will pass, maybe, thousands of years, and they will achieve that stage of man - to rise and to stand upright. We have elevated ourselves relatively, and we are striving to elevate ourselves more, for we want to come nearer to God, and to be in accordance with Him - there is a desire in us to follow the divine path. And if we make mistakes, we do them not out of ill will, but for other reasons, that lie in our past.
Now, it is said that this Spirit is given to everyone for benefit; in what exactly does this benefit consist? The word "benefit" itself has a certain content, because everyone works for benefit. The worker hoes a vineyard, but expects to be paid a wage of 2-3 leva [20]. The wife does something for the husband, but she also expects something for Easter, for Christmas, for the festive occasions, for the summer season - everyone is always working for benefit. Some think that life is quite ideal; but what do they consider an ideal life? I understand the ideal life thus: to have harmony, accord in all our relations. Some wish to live in Heaven; but where is Heaven? Under the word "Heaven" we understand a state where complete order exists, where people keep their rights [prava] and responsibilities [zadaljenia] to each other. A man wishes to advance, but you hamper him, you delay his advancement by imposing on him your rules [prava], while you need to realize that you have obligations [zadaljenia] toward him. The chapter from the Gospel I have read shows what our relations should be. "But there are some meaningless things there" - you will say. A Russian proverb says: "Even in disorder there is order" [21] - even in the unseemly there is seemliness, I will say.
I will give an analogy, in order for you to understand from where stem the distorted [22] conceptions of things. For example, I give to someone a walnut and tell him to do research on it. Someone will do research on its taste, he will try the external green shell, he will bite it and will throw it away. I give the walnut to another person, he, quite sensible [blagorazumen] already, peels off its external green shell, but when he tries the second shell he breaks his teeth, and also throws it away. I give the walnut to a third person, he, however, even more sensible, peels off the external shell, breaks the hard nutshell with a stone, takes out the kernel and eats it. If we gather these three together and ask them what [sort of thing] a walnut is, one will say that the walnut is a fruit astringent, pungent and poisonous; the second - that it is a hard fruit that breaks people's teeth, the third - that it is something delicious and pleasant. This analogy can be adapted to our errors: all things in the world are wrapped in shells, and if we do not have enough knowledge, we will not find the essence. Food is necessary for the body, but also necessary is food for the mind and the soul; that is, we have to eat in two ways. And when we say that it is not good for a man to overeat, we understand that the body, the mind and the soul have to be equally fed. It is a whole triple circle, which forms the man. This is why those three [people] who pronounced themselves on the walnut, are not sufficiently clever. The one who ate the walnut thinks he is the cleverest. No! I give the walnut to a fourth person, he takes it, but instead of eating it, plants it and in 10 or 15 years this single walnut gives thousands of walnuts. So, we have four categories of people in the world, who philosophize [meudruvat]: some say: "The world is no good, lecherous, it is not worth living"; others say: "In it [the world] egoism rules, it cannot be worse"; third: "The world is good, pleasant"; they are closer to the truth. And who are the fourth? Those who have entered the divine school and have started studying i.e. started planting the good things. The best conception for man is to know that the Earth is a divine school, in which he is set to study, to learn to peel off the upper and the lower shell of the walnut, and not to eat the walnut but to plant it. And when he learns the properties of all things, he will understand the true meaning of the earthly life. And as a master sends his servants to the vineyard to work and gives them bread and tools necessary for the work, so God has given man the brain as a tool for work. What is it given for? To break stones or to try the bitter shell of the walnut? No, but to learn to plant the walnut. "Would I feel any better, if I only plant walnuts" someone will say, "I will not feel better". Under the word "walnut" we should understand the good thoughts, wishes [23] and acts which we can plant in others. This work will bring you prosperity. When you meet a certain resistance in achieving some wish, do not despair and do not give up: God has dressed a certain thought in three or four garments - one may not be favourable, but the other will be favourable. If you take off the bad garment, if you plant your thoughts in good soil, regardless of anything else, they will give good fruit. This is how I view the world. The evil is illusory [prividno]; these are the external shells of things. And people are seemingly [prividno] bad. Not that they are not bad, they are bad, but in essence they again are not bad, because evil cannot proceed from God. The bad originates from certain relations we have in the world. Two families live in one house, with four rooms; one family has more children, the other less, they start arguing first about the rooms, who will take how many rooms, and look - suddenly they have quarreled. I ask: why this quarrel about rooms? This is quite a negligible cause. And one of the families starts speaking about the other family: "They are people unreasonable", while the second one speaks about the other [(first) family] - the same. But in reality both families are unreasonable, because a reasonable man never quarrels. This word "kara" [= "quarrel" [24]] originates from a Sanskrit root: to quarrel means to be in darkness. People, who are in [the] light, do not quarrel. A certain manifestation in our brain darkens [pomrachava] our thoughts and then bad wishes follow. When we have enlightened thoughts we are ready to live in peace and accord; when, however, a small cloud [pomrachenie] comes, we are ready to change our relations. So, evil originates from the darkening [pomrachenieto] of the human mind. Now, because God knows that a certain darkness exists on Earth, which causes harm - the darkness always causes harm: if we were living permanently in darkness, it would cause an atrophy to all our feelings, eyes, ears etc., as there are certain fish, which have lived for years in the underwater caves and have lost the capability to see - He has sent precisely this Spirit to react upon us, upon our thoughts and feelings, upon the body, in order to think correctly about things and to establish a true conception about them.
In the first place we need to establish a right conception about ourselves, i.e. what our relation to God should be. [25] According to my understanding, the Earth is only a school for the individual human soul. If there is something real in the world, it is the human soul. Some ask themselves: "What am I?" - I am that which thinks, that which feels and desires. But every thought, every feeling and every desire has its own form. When you want to make a weapon, with which to kill people, how do you adapt it? You take certain practical considerations [into account] about what it should be - to be sharp, to be able to destroy. You make a ball for the children to play with: do you make it sharp? No. You make it round, smooth, in order not to cause harm to the child, because all things that are sharp are harmful. They say about someone that he has a refined mind; yes, if it is necessary to [wage] battle [voyouva [26]], he has to have a refined mind and explosive powers - wherever they hit, to shatter. But, when a man lives in a peaceful society, what need and what benefit does he have from such a sharp and fine mind? And if during the time of battling you put a man with a blunt mind at the helm, he is out of place as well. We have changed the order of things: we have put the blunt things with the sharp ones or vice versa. I am not saying that there should not be battling [voyouvane] on the Earth; battling in nature has two principles: one which destroys and one which constructs. But in [the] one and in the other there is a constant exhaustion. Not only when we love, but also when we hate, we exhaust ourselves, because the one who hates breaks stones and when we exhaust our life by breaking thousands of tonnes of stones, what meaning will life have for us? When we constantly think evil, we constantly break stones. But God, incidentally, needs this material as well: He will use our labour to make smooth roads, and people will indirectly thank us that we have crushed the stones necessary for their road. Whatever we do in the world, our labour will be useful, if not for us, then for others. In one case, if we love, we perform conscious work, in the other case unconscious [work], and consequently the reward cannot be one and the same.
Thus, if you wish the Divine Love to manifest itself, the Spirit must be in you, [you have] to give Him room to manifest himself. But the Spirit is a very delicate being; do not think that He will come to knock strongly on your door, no; he will knock quietly on the door of your heart and if you open, immediately your life will change completely, He will show you how to live; if He knocks on the door of your will, He will show you what to do and do it consciously. But if you do not open, soon you will understand what you have lost. When you meet an idiot, you have to know that in the past, when the Spirit had knocked on his door, he did not open [the door] for Him. You say of somebody that he is foolish. Why? Because when the Spirit once knocked on the door of is mind, he rejected Him. Whoever is violent, you have to know, that when the Spirit knocked on his heart, he also did not accept Him. Violence is like a crystal that does not have softness. But you should not think that among the violent people sometimes there are not good people; but in general they are not for an organized human society. And so, we must always be ready to give the Spirit place to penetrate [27] and to manifest in each of us.
Some say" "We want to see the Spirit". But the only thing you see is the Spirit. He speaks, but because your ears are blunt, you cannot hear, as when you speak to deaf people, they do not hear. You want to hear; good then! Adjust your ear to comprehend that, which the Spirit speaks to it. "I want to see the Spirit". Excellent, but if your eye is veiled, how will you see Him? The only thing that we see in the world, I repeat, is the Spirit. This flower here, which I hold in my hand - it is Spirit, and if you were able to see, you will observe a whole human figure in it. Now, why you are not able to see? Because your vision is restricted, you see only the dense parts, but the non-dense [28] parts you do not see. For example, some things seem round to you - the walnut; but if you plant it, will it grow a round stem? It will immediately express its essence. In order to recognize things, you need to plant them in their soil. And if you could plant this flower in this way, immediately you will see that it is an intelligent being. And what does this flower speak to you? Why is this colour is applied [29]? It is applied to show that life without love does not have meaning. And for thousands of years the flower has been speaking to people what they should do - that they should love, that the mind should be neither too sharp, nor too blunt. In some cases it has to be sharp, but when you are among clever people, you do not need wit [30]. When you are among enemies, the heart has to be hard, among friends - soft. You must know how to love [obichate [31]]. When you take a rose and smell it, two things are manifested: one - the tender aroma, the other - thorns. Every man has his thorns, but of course, they are not the man. The thorns are for those conditions in life when man has to battle [voyouva], to defend himself, when he does not have to be very soft. You should not make rendezvous with the devils; against them you have to have spikes. But among friends your gunpowder has to be moist. There are times when it has to be dry and [times] when it has to be moist. What will the husband [meujaut [32]] do when his gunpowder is dry and his wife [jena [32]] teases him every day? When they get married, both of them have to make the gunpowder moist. In the world, your gunpowder has to be dry, just in case... This is an allegory, which I give so that you [may] learn all these relations existing in the world. You have friends and say that you know them, but until you learn both the dark and the bright side of your friends, you do not know them well. You want to be good always; you should be good under certain conditions and bad under others. When you anger your friend you already have to defend yourselves, and, in order to defend yourselves, you have to know how to battle [voyouvate]. If you fight with an enemy you are doing your duty; if you battle [voyouvate] with peaceful or unarmed people, you are doing a foolish thing. They say: "Life is a battle [borba [33]]". And man [meujeut], when he gets married, says: "Life is a battle [borba]". But against whom does he battle [voyouva]? Against his wife [jena], and the wife [jenata] against her husband [meujeut]. They give birth to children, and the children also read the motto: "Life is a battle [borba]" and say to themselves: "So, who do we fight with - brothers with sisters". And a fight starts, they pull each other's hair and bursting into tears here they go to mum and dad. People have a motto! When they do not have a real opponent, they create one - the husband [meuj] with the wife [jena], the brother with the sister, the priest with his parishers, the teacher with his pupils. Here we have people who do not understand life. The battle [borba] has to exist, but with that nature, which has to be subjugated. When we are to shatter a certain rock in the mountain, to bore a tunnel, I understand us acting like this, but to apply these means in an organized society, I do not understand. It shows that people do not understand the relation that exists between them and their spirit, the tasks that the latter sets to them.
Apostle Paul describes in the chapter [we] read what this relation should be. You may ask me the question: "Are there not in existence thousands of relations in the world?" - But we should choose only those, which are favourable for us. We should know, for example, the relations of the water towards us. If we put it in the stomach, there will be favourable consequences; if, however, we put it in the lungs, it will produce entirely different consequences. If we bring air in the lungs, it will be favourable for us, but if we put it in the stomach, it will have exactly the opposite result and so on. Things have relations to certain organs. We should know what the [right] place is for the water, the air, the light, the sound and the smell. You will say: "But we know these things - that the light is necessary for the eyes and the sound - for the ear". So. But do you understand the internal meaning of this light? In the morning, when the sun rises, what do you say to yourself? "Right [34], the sun has risen". But when somebody says: "The Teacher is coming", what do the students infer? All of them shuffle, take their books and sit at the desks. When the sun rises, each of us should take his book and say: "The Teacher-Spirit is coming" and sit at his desk and ask what he should perform [35] this day. The Sun says: "I will listen [36] to you, you will answer me, I will impart to you and you will impart to me". This is what the sunrise means. [37] If every day we can study [38] the program which our Spirit sets, life would flow [39] very favourably. "But", you will say, "today's sun looks like yesterday's, it rises in the same way [40]". - No! I have not seen in my life two days alike and the sun to rise in the same way [40]; every day differs from others and each has its own program. And the light which comes is not the same: it differs from the light which came several days ago. Here exactly is the greatness of the Divine Spirit, Who brings countless riches, invisible worlds and reveals what God is in Himself. He is something majestic [41]. You meet a friend of yours and say: "[About] Ivan, how do you appraise him?" - "He is 1 1/2, or 165 cm tall, he has dense eyebrows, thickish lips, enjoys his food and loves to have a drink". But this is not important. A day comes [when] you come to love him and for you his thick lips, his external invisible defects already disappear - you begin to see something else in him. So, you take off the first shell of the walnut, you see his mind. If you plant him, half of the walnuts he will bear will be for you, the other half for him. If you eat him, what will you benefit? Neither you, nor Ivan will benefit. For when the Spirit comes, He says that every day you should plant better thoughts, better wishes. You meet a friend of yours and sometimes you say: "I do not know what to speak [about]". You see the people chatting a lot, but you do not know what to say or you speak many things, but not that, which you need. First, you have to plant the walnut and then talk as much as you want. Before you plant the walnut, do not speak. He, who has worked, comes back home and says: "I have worked, I am tired, I am hungry". The speech shows certain relations which exist between us and our actions. The first thing you should do every day is to ask yourself the question: "What fruit should I plant today?" If you plant a walnut, after time it will bring [forth] its riches in abundance. You will only understand this parable when you return, as you will [42], to the other world, where you have come from; then you will notice what benefit was brought by those good wishes and thoughts, which you have planted, the good deeds, which you have done for your neighbours, friends, wife [jena], children. Now these things are still dark for you. - Another example. You say to yourself: "This son, I feed him now, but who knows if he will look after me one day?" "Now I educate him, so that he will look after me when I get old". Do not expect him to look after you, when you get old. You may not even get old, you may pass away earlier without the need occurring for him to look after you. The mother says: "I wish I had a daughter to look after me in [my] old age". This is a very distorted [22] understanding of life. Give an upbringing to your children and do not expect anything for yourselves. If you have planted a good walnut in them, not only will they look after you, but they will also love you [obichat]. When a mother is not loved [obichana] by her children, it shows that she was unable to bring them up [well]. Hence, the first thing to do, so that your children would love [obichat] you, is to teach your children to love [obichat] you under the guidance of this Spirit.
I will conclude my lecture with a comparison. There are three relations we must keep. In the world God exists, we exist and a certain society exists; some put themselves in the first place by saying: "I, then the society, and at the end the Lord". This is a completely distorted [22] solution of the issue [44]. Others say: "First society: I live for the people, for the society, then I come, while last [comes] the Lord". This is also a bad solution. Still others [45] say: "First God, the Lord, my Spirit, then I, the rational soul, which should serve Him, and afterwards serve society, and at last serve myself". Here is the right solution. Any other solution will not be a correct solution. All errors originate in the following. We want to know what is the head, the society or us. If we put three heads on a single body, it will not accomplish anything! There will never be an agreement in what way to go. Sometimes you struggle what to decide, it shows you have three heads: chop off the two, put the Lord to be the head. Every thing should be where it belongs. [46] Now, ask yourself: who is your head. If you say it is the Lord, I would be glad. Put the Lord at the head. And do you know what your state will be then? There will not be in you any hesitation [47], fear, tremblings, you will have willpower, you will be courageous, decisive, clever, good people. You will be rich in every respect - whatever you grasp with your hand, will become gold. [48] Some are afraid of the money; only the foolish are afraid. Why? Because they are weak in spirit. You know what the scriptures say about the righteous Job - that he had worms and when he gave [49] them to some beggar, the worms turn into into gold coins. If you are like Job, the worm, which you give, will turn into gold. Often you do injustice to the worms, but they also do an excellent job in the world, the present-day [50] world owes much to them. When the Lord takes them with one hand and gives them to you, they turn into into gold coins. And what is this gold, this coin, which the Lord gives you? You acquire knowledge and experience. A clever woman, when she takes [some] "seriava", dirty wool, what does she do with it? She washes it, cleans it, spins it and weaves a cloth [51]; the foolish one, on the contrary, when she sees it is so dirty, will throw it away [52]. How many times the Lord has given you Spirit, and you have rejected Him!
What does the rule require? When you come back from work in the evening, to take off from your back the rucksack and to leave it in the entrance [hall] all dealings [53] that you have, leave them in the entrance [hall] too; to enter your room free as though there are no dealings [53] for you in the world, and to say: "I thank the Lord for that, which He has given me"; eat well, thank Him again; and in the morning when you get up, again take your rucksack or notebooks and go to work. What do we do? We come in the evening and go to bed with the rucksack full on our back and the whole night toss in the bed. The Spirit says: "Take off your rucksack, its place is not here." We sit to eat - we feel heaviness; because we have a rucksack on our back. We have to take it off and have the meal. [54] This is it, the message of the Spirit. But some people have erred [greshili]; leave this question out, in the entrance [hall]: does the Lord not know that people err [greshat]; are we [those who are] going to fix the world? There is someone to fix it. In the evening, when we come back, we should thank God that He has sent us among these sinful [greshni] people, so that they may teach us good lessons. When you meet someone like this, you should say to him: "You are carrying your rucksack very well" He is a sinner [greshnik] and in this state he is a man with a rucksack. One day it will come off his back. Someone is vulgar, sour; why? Because he has not taken off his rucksack from his heart. Someone else cannot think: why? Let him take off his rucksack from his mind, and then he will think well.
Now, I will give one more example and will conclude. There are two extremes, two opposites in the in the real life, which we should always take into account; these are: the good and the evil - two poles, the endpoints of contact of the earthly human life. In the old time some king had two daughters: the older one was very beautiful and slender, but had a very sharp [55] tongue; the younger [56] one was with a very good soul but with a very ugly face. Because of these external and internal defects [57] not one of the princes around wanted to offer his hand. Anxious about the future of his daughters, the father, because he did not have any heirs, decided to convene a counsel of the wisest people in his kingdom, to get show him a way out of this desperate [58] situation. Among the many good counsels [seuveti] that everyone offered, the oldest man and, incidentally, the wisest, gave the following advice [seuvet]: "You" - said he to the king - "will make an inn for everybody and the first two young men to enter will be your sons in law, which destiny [seudbata] allots to you. The good father thought that maybe fate [seudbata] will smile upon his greyed [59] hairs and will send some illustrious persons from kingly homes. When the inn was completed and opened, the first visitors were indeed two young lads. However, much to the father's astonishment, one of them was blind and the other - deaf. Surprised by this, the king summoned the old wise man and said to him: "What is the matter - the one is blind, the other is deaf? How are we going to settle this, I cannot see". - "I will tell you" - replied the wise man - "the deaf one you will marry to your beautiful daughter, and the blind - to the ugly one". Thus did the king. And truly, both marriages came out to be happy: the daughters lived [60] well. At some stage the sons in law started feeling uneasy about their defects. The deaf one, when his wife yelled and poured over him all curses, shrugged his shoulders and thought to himself: "That's how it is when one is lacking one [of his] senses. I believe she is saying divine things, but since I cannot perceive [61] them, this is my misfortune. I would give everything in the world to be able to hear just a single one of her sweet words". The blind son in law, in turn, when he listened to the clever and sweat speech of his wife, the outpouring of her soul, thought to himself: "What a splendid being she is! How pretty she must be! But as I am blind - this is my big misfortune in this life. I would give everything just to be able to see for a moment the external appearance of this divine treasure". This reaches the king's ears and he summons the old wise man and entreats him [the wise man] to tell him [the king], is it not possible for the fate of his two sons in law to somehow change, so that they may rescue themselves from their defects. "It is possible" - said the venerable old man - "but this will destroy their happiness and bliss on the earth".
If God has connected you with the beautiful princess and has deprived you of hearing, do not be sorry that you cannot hear her voice. Delight in her appearance and give thanks. Do not wish to hear her words so that you do not become embittered and come to a contradiction with yourself. Two good things cannot be gathered in one place on the earth. If God has connected you with the ugly princess and has deprived you of vision, of the temporary illusions of the earthly life, again give thanks. Delight in her kind speech,, in her sweat tongue; do not wish to see her external appearance and image, because you will lose even that, which you [already] have. The good is not always dressed in a king's mantle. Goodness and beauty live together only in Heaven. Here, in this world, it is so - good and evil alternate in man's life. If in one life God connects you with the evil, thank Him. Do not worry [62]. You do not know the deep causes [of] why this is done. Know, that the aim is for good. In time, you will understand the great Love of Heaven. If in another life you are connected with the good, thank Him and do not desire to put on a king's mantle and to enjoy [63] your looks. Do not seek to reconcile the good and the evil within you: it is impossible. This is given to you, in order to learn to know the profound deeds of the life of the Spirit. Your defects will depart when your heart opens, the Spirit comes and your soul unites with Him.
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Notes to the lecture:
[0] Footnotes are given to explain certain words, whose meaning cannot be transferred into Enlgish, or to clarify the meaning of a certain sentence. Most often they give the literal meaning of words, so that the reader can better understand the nuances of the Master's Word. The words in square brackets is, if in italics, the Bulgarian word, placed for the sake of recognition, dues to the fact that sometimes a word in Bulgarian, together with its cognates, are transated into different English words. The reader who finds these scholarly aids tedious, can safely skip over them. The words in square brackets which are not in italics are words not present in the original, placed as an aid to understanding the given sentence, and are most often necessary due to the aspiration of precisely rendering the original.
[1] The title can also be translated as "The Manifestation of the Spirit" or "The Revelation of the Spirit", however, "The Appearance of the Spirit" is closest, as the word "iavlenie" literally means "appearance".
[2] The translation is from the original Bulgarian version, as it appears in the beginning of the lecture. The DARBY.translation of the Bible is closest and reads: "But to each the manifestation of the Spirit is given for profit."
[3] In Bulgarian, the word "poniatie" means both notion, idea, concept, and at the same time understanding, conception, comprehension. The word "conception", which encompasses both these aspects is the most appropriate word to use, however, the reader should be aware of the subtle nuance between when it is used to mean "notion/idea", and when "understanding".
[4] "doidem v seaprikosnovenie", which also means "get in touch with".
[5] The word "Duh&" in Bulgarian - pronounced "dooh" with a clearly audiable "h" - is spelt here in the old spelling with the added "&" at the end (which is the 26th letter in the Bulgarian alphabet, "") and means "Spirit". According to the old Bulgarian orthography, after the reform of 1945, this word has "lost" the last letter "".
[6] "sila", which in Bulgarian has numerous meanings, no less: strength, power, force, fortitude and energy, depending on the context.
[7] "edin prast", which could mean "a finger" or "one finger".
[8] "razres", which means to be contrary to something, in opposition to, at variance.
[9] This letter is not pronounced when at the end of the word. After the reform of the orthography finalized during 27 Feb 1945, this letter ("") is not used any more at the end words.
[10] "iska", which can be translated variously as wants, wishes, desires etc., depending on the context.
[11] "da dade na horata da razberit velikite zakoni" - "to give people understanding of the basic laws", i.e. literally: to give people the ability to be able to come to an understanding of the great laws.
[12] "dalech", which literally means "far", but in this context "away" as in "far away".
[13] "Toi", with several supressed "toi"s in the text, are here literally translated as "He", but it most likely refers to the Spirit (elsewhere without gender).
[14] "razumna", which means "rational", "intelligent", "reason-filled", even - to a degree - "sensible" and "mindful".
[15] "vid", which literally means "type" or "kind", but also "the look of something", i.e. form. Here it also means "term" in a broader sense.
[16] "raboti", verb, i.e. "is working".
[17] "Imenno", literally "namely".
[18] "dusheven mir", literally means "soul world".
[19] In Bulgarian "soul" has a feminine gender "she, the soul".
[20] "lev" is the Bulgarian montary currency
[21] "I v besporiadk est poraidok" (Russian), literally means "And in chaos there is order".
[22] "krivi", "krivo" etc., literally means "curved", but also "bent", "crooked" or "distorted", and the meaning which the Master imparts to the word is "wrong".
[23] "jelania", which also means "desires", and is later used in that sense also ("jelaia" as "desire").
[24] Written "kapa" in Bulgarian, pronounced "ka-ra"
[25] "nasheto otnoshenie keum Boga" - "our relation to God", which can also mean "our attitude towards God".
[26] "voyouva", which means to be belligerent, to fight, wage war or a battle.
[27] "pronikne", which also means "permeate".
[28] "sgeusteni" - "dense", "ne-sgeusteni" - "non-dense" or "rarefied".
[29] "turena", literally "placed".
[30] "ostroumie", literally "sharp-mindedness".
[31] "obichate", means "to love", but in Bulgarian there are two words for "love": "Liubov" and "Obich". The first - "Liubov" - is unambiguously translated as "Love" and nothing else, while the second - "obich" - can be translated as "affection", "ardour", even "love". This distinction is of great importance in the Master's lectures; therefore, all occurences of "Liubov" are translated as "Love" without further ado, while "obich" is translated as "love [obich]", the Bulgarian word in square brackets indicating the difference.
[32] "meuj" literally means "man", "male" and in this context it means husband, while
[32] "jena" literally means "woman", "female", and in this context wife. In Bulgarian the words for husband and wife are the same as those for man and woman respectively. However, the concepts "man", and "woman" are of great importance in the Master's lectures and will be translated with the Bulgarian in square brackets - for the sake of recognition - wherever it is not obvious.
[33] "borba" (noun), literally "a fight"; distinct from "voyouva" (verb) in note [26].
[34] "ha", a colloquial gesticulation.
[35] "veurshi", which means to "do (work)".
[36] "prislusham", but the Master could have said "proslusham", which means to test out, to try, examine.
[37] literally: "This is what is understood by [the] sunrise. "
[38] "prouchvame", which literally means "investigate", and also "examine", "explore", even "go through".
[39] "tekeul", literally "flow", but actually means run, go, proceed.
[40] "ednakvo", which also literally means "identically".
[41] "veliko", which literally means "great", as in immense, glorious, exalted.
[42] "as you will", in due order
[44] "veuprosa", literally: "the question", i.e. the questions/problem under consideration.
[45] "treti", which literally means "[the] third", or the "third people".
[46] Literally - "Every thing should be in its place. "
[47] "dvoumenie", literally: "two-mindedness"
[49] Literally: "whatever you grasp with a hand, will become gold".
[49] "podariaval", which means give as a gift or present. The next sentence uses the word "give" ("dadete") literally.
[50] "seuvremenen", literally "contemporary"
[51] "plat", which means a cloth, linen or a textile material.
[52] "izhveurli naveun", literally: "throw it outside".
[53] "vzemania-davania", an idiom which literally means "takings-givings", making business.
[54] "nahranim", literally "to eat and finish".
[55] literally "bad"
[56] "po malkata", literally "the smaller one"
[57] "nedostatetsi", literally "deficiencies"
[58] "bezishodna", literally "without exit".
[59] "pobelieli", literally "whietened (from age)"
[60] "prekarvali", literally "spent their time".
[61] literally "understand", but in this context has wider connotations.
[62] "utesniavai", which means to "worry", "vex", constrict oneself.
[63] "liubuva", literally "to enjoy, adore", but the etymology of the word comes from "liubov" (love).
Translated by: Christophorus, Published online: 26 Jan 2006
From: Strength and Life vol. 1 - "Behold the Man!", Lecture 3, 20 Apr 1914
First published: Deunov, P. K., "Eto chovekat!", Sila i Jhivot, Pearva Seria, Sofia, 1915
Reference: Deunov, P. K., "Eto chovekat!", Sila i Jhivot, Pearva Seria, Pearvo phototipno izdanie (facsimile edition), Sofia, 1999, Janua-98, ISBN 954-9589-47-1;
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