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.

12. A lecture delivered on 7th January, 1917