Lecture 12, to the Youth Occult Class
Given by the Master Beinsa Douno, May 17, 1922 – Wednesday, Sofia
Secret Prayer
There was a presentation of the remainder of the works on the topic "Applications of Karma in Life”
Now, I will give you another example for the understanding of karma. A young person went out with his friends. They stopped by an inn and went in to have a drink. This young man drank for the first time in his life, and very soon was so drunk he could hardly control his body or stand on his legs. After his friends also got drunk, they all left the inn together. The streets were muddy because it was rainy. The young man began to stagger in the streets, falling here and there, so that he was covered all over with mud when he got home. Then he sobered down, but the mud remained on him, presenting in his life a karma to be cleansed.
I will not discuss the reasons for this situation, why the young man got drunk and how he became muddy. You will say that he did not want to drink, that his friends duped him and so on. But the significant point is how this young person can cleanse himself of the mud; how he can purify his heart from the wish to drink to the extent that he loses his senses. I will now give you three methods for cleaning: precipitation, filtration/percolation and distillation/evaporation.
How will you know when to use the first, the second and the third method of cleaning? If water is turbid, i.e. mixed with solid insoluble substances, it could be cleaned in the first or in the second way – by precipitation or by filtration/percolation. When Nature wants to clean some water, She takes it to be filtered through the geological layers. In this case the geological layers represent the filters cleaning the water. If water was conscious it would feel grief and suffering during its sinking through the layers, losing its light and falling into darkness. Sinking down, it goes deeply into the ground, passing through several layers until it meets a stony or a clay layer that will stop it, not allowing it to go further. Thus, unable to sink further, it will find an exit and will go out onto the surface of the ground. When it exits onto the surface, it will be glad to see the Light again. Therefore, grief appears at the beginning of the filtration process, while joy comes at its end. The liquidation of one’s karma represents a similar filtration process, consisting of a descent into matter, a process of cleansing and an exit to the Light again. Precipitation is a similar process, but is accomplished with less suffering and grief. The greater the suffering and grief, the greater the result of cleansing.
Evaporation or distillation is another important method of cleaning. Joy emerges at the beginning of evaporation, while grief comes at the end. Why is this process the reverse of filtration? When water is heated, evaporation takes place; the water vaporizes and goes up into the air, or goes up to God. Water drops are joyful, because they are released from their sins and sufferings. So they spread wings and fly upwards. But when they encounter a cold front, they immediately cool and densify, and they fall down again. Falling down to the ground as rain, they become muddy and suffer greatly. But they are unaware of the benefit they have brought with their fall.
Like water, you are also subjected to a cleansing process that is carried out in two ways. When you are under filtration, at first you are sad and after that you are joyful. When you are under evaporation, at first you are happy and after that you fall into grief. Therefore, if you are sad due to filtration, do not oppose your fate, but go further so as to reach the deepest layers within yourself, in order to be better cleansed. And then you will emerge into the Light again; you will exit onto the surface of the ground and receive the joy and gladness that you deserve. As a consequence of connecting the two ends of suffering and the two ends of joy, you form a circle through which Life can fluently run. Those who do not understand this law will notice the constant exchanges of grief and joy in their lives, but they will not know the reason for this.
I ask, which of the two methods will you personally choose? Filtration is a method applicable to the human heart, while evaporation is a method applicable to the human mind. But from time to time these two methods may be reversed. For example, filtration can be used for the cleansing of the mind, and evaporation for the cleansing of the heart. Generally speaking, however, the mind is cleansed through evaporation, which is why people say that certain thoughts should get out of their heads, should evaporate so that a continuous circle of motion between feelings and thoughts can be formed. If you have undertaken one of these methods, you will begin to become aware of it. However, it is dangerous if you come to a deadlock, if no filtration or evaporation occurs within you. This state is called indifference or alienation from society. When someone says that he is indifferent, he does not want to know what will happen to him. No, one should be interested in everything that is happening within and also around him; one should even foresee or know what will happen in the future.
When I speak of karma, there are several things that you should know. For example, there are karmic sufferings that come as a consequence of the past. But there are also sufferings that are due to a lack of foresight in some situations in the present. Imagine that you put an empty bottle of water into your pocket and go for a walk. You go to the outskirts of the town, stop near a fountain and sit down to rest in the shade. You rest and ponder on different philosophic questions – about the origin of the world, about the age of the stars and the Sun, about the solution of some social problems and so on. Thus, engulfed in your thoughts, you forget to fill the bottle with water from the fountain and you go back home with an empty bottle. The summer day is very hot and you get thirsty. You take out the bottle, but you see that you have not filled it. So, in this case, your sufferings are due to the fact that you were absent-minded and forgot to fill your bottle, because you were carried away by your thoughts.
Another example concerning karma: you take a big sack and put seventy or eighty kilograms of bread in it. But you have to carry it on your back for forty or fifty kilometres away. You have decided to carry this load alone so as to save money, for you will not pay anyone to help you. You meet some children on the road. If you want to get better, by all means you should give them some bread. Otherwise, you will start to feel scratching and back pain from the load. In this situation, you should empty your sack in order to avoid suffering. And when you go to the fountain, you should fill your bottles with water, in order to avoid thirst. If you must carry a full sack of bread on your back, you should have others carry part of it insofar as you can afford it, keeping only one load for yourself. Only in this case will you remain happy and satisfied.
In conclusion, there are two causes of human suffering: the first occurs when you are at the fountain and forget to fill your bottles with water. The second occurs when those who carry full sacks of bread on their backs do not give part of it to someone else. So when you suffer, it is not enough to argue and philosophize as to the causes of your sufferings. As disciples, question yourselves directly, within the present moment, as to whether you should fill your bottles or whether you should give some of your bread to the poor. One’s karma would not appear if, within the present moment, there were no reasons for its activation.
You ask: “What is the reason for the activation of karma in one’s life?” When one loses Love, karma comes to replace it. When one loses joy, grief comes to replace it. When one loses justice, lawlessness comes to replace it. When one loses mercy, fear and violence come to replace it. Therefore, your vices show what you lack, i.e., what you have lost in Life. And if an individual then resorts to injustice, violence or brutality, his karma appears immediately. It has been observed that some individuals who lose love try to seize it back violently. But a law exists to the effect that if they attempt to seize Love back or violate another's soul, the same violence will be inflicted upon them. Why? Forms of violence and limitations imposed upon others are like prisons, where those who have inflicted the violence will also go some day.
I will tell you an occult story to clarify this idea for you. In ancient times there was an adept who hated mice. One day, he set a trap in front of their hole to get rid of them. In accordance with karmic law, this adept, in one of his next incarnations, returned to Earth in the form of a mouse so that he could experience the consequences of his invention. He lived in the same hole where he had set the mousetrap at the front. And once, coming out of the hole, he encountered the trap, where there was a piece of salami. He stopped and began to investigate. He decided to go into the trap so that he might taste the salami. But what a surprise: the door of the trap banged shut and he was imprisoned there. What is the conclusion? The same person who had invented the trap in the past was put into the same jail, in order to experience in his turn the loss of freedom and the limitations resulting from his invention.
So I say, do not lay any traps for the minds and hearts of others, because you will go into them yourself! You will not miss any trap you have set in the past, not even over the course of thousands of years. It may wait for you for centuries and millenniums, but it will find you somewhere in time. Never mind how elevated you may be, the moment will come when you will return in the form of a fly, of a mouse, even of a microbe in order to experience your own trap. You will be imprisoned there until you learn your lesson. You think that there is no return in evolution. Do not have illusions, do not deceive yourself into thinking you will escape from the karmic law! Whatever position you may reach, whatever elevation you may attain, you will be returned to pay your debts; then you may go further. You will experience someday whatever thoughts and feelings you have created and emitted in space alone. They will come back to you and you will check their good or bad results. This is the meaning of the Bulgarian proverb: “What one has sown, the same one will harvest.” Each one will harvest what he has sown. Consequently, do not think there is no return, i.e., degradation in evolution. If Angels, who are much more elevated than humans, fell and lost their light when they made an error in the past, what about humans then? The karmic law concerns all living beings – from the smallest to the largest. There are no exceptions to it.
Therefore, for these reasons, if you want to liquidate your karmic debts, observe the Divine law, the law of Divine Love. Don't resist your karma, don't even think about resisting it so as not to be tempted. Think about Love and apply it as a sole device, a sole possibility for liquidating your negative karma. Someone may say that he alone is able to liquidate his karmic burden. Everyone can do this by applying Love in Life. Toward this aim you should ask yourself if you love all creatures in the same way. This can be achieved only if you view people as beings who can reveal the Divine. For example, let’s say that you meet a criminal who has committed many crimes and society is entirely against him. At this moment a woman appears who believes that he is a good person and she speaks well of him. Why does the woman have a good opinion of the criminal? Because once, he saved her from certain death. One day when she was passing through a forest she encountered a bear that was about to attack and tear at her. At that moment the robber happened by and saved her. So, at that very moment the Divine was activated in the robber. This explains why the woman believes that he is a good person. Therefore, love all human beings for the Divine in them! When the Divine is present, even the worst person, even the criminal is able do some good, some great deed. When the Divine is absent, even the best person can commit a crime. Should this person be considered bad in this case? The momentous action does not make a person good or bad.
I ask, what have you understood from these two examples – the empty bottle of water and the full basket of bread? Which is better: to give or to take; to teach others or be taught; to love or be loved? One who loves has a pleasant feeling. But is the beloved one pleased? What will happen if the beloved also wants to love? Both of them will give love but in the end they will quarrel. If both persons want to be loved, this means both want to receive. What will happen then? They will again become cross with one another. Think of the question: what does it mean to love and be loved? Or what does it mean to give and receive? Next time you will answer this question orally in class, but do not write it down.
Thus, from an occult point of view, you should clarify for yourselves the question of giving and receiving. Each thought and feeling that you have should be strictly determined. When you love, you should do so without any compulsion. Whoever is loved does a favour to the person who loves him. And whoever loves needs to be unburdened in order to feel better. In other words, whoever loves wants to give part of his burden to the beloved. He says: “I see that you are strong, so I want to put part of my burden on your back.” To love and to be loved – in occult terms this means the right distribution of the burden between two people. The mutual relationships between them are represented in the examples of the empty bottle and the full basket. If your bottle is empty, let another fill it with water; if your basket is full of bread, give to others who have nothing. You should observe these two situations in order to create mutual relationships based upon respect and esteem.
Many people have no respect or esteem, either for themselves or for others. First, one should maintain self-respect, respect for one’s higher consciousness, for the soul, and then – for others, for those around us. If you have a cat at home, how do you treat it? You touch its ears and tail, you caress its hair, so that at times the cat is angry with you and ready to scratch you. But generally it endures everything. However, if you treat a person like a cat you'll insult that person. That is why when you visit someone you should not express your love for that person as you would for a cat. Love for a cat differs from love for a human being. Love for a human being is based on strictly determined mathematical relations. If two individuals who are in love observe these relations, there will be harmony between them. Today, when two people meet, one of them will think: “I am more educated," “I am taller," “I am richer” and so on. In reply, the other will think: “But I am cleverer," “I am better," “I am heavier," etc. As a result of these comparisons they will begin fighting and competing and this will spoil their relationship.
I ask, what is the reason for disharmonious relationships among contemporary people? Such disharmony is due to the fact that human beings base their love upon knowledge, upon wealth and so on. You should consider one thing: Love is a strictly determined law that does not depend upon any social situation or relationship. This can be experienced. Neither knowledge nor power nor wealth can hold Love. You can observe this every step of the way in Life. Show me someone who is happy because he is powerful, learned or rich. When they enter life, many think that they will be excluded from love. No, Love does not exclude. Every human being in life is like a comma in its proper place. The comma signifies a little rest, yet often the comma is put where there is no need for a rest. The smallest Love in the physical world represents the smallest rest, so that one can catch his breath after he has become tired. Or, the smallest impression that one can receive in the physical world represents the smallest Love.
When I speak to you of these new ways of looking at Life, I do not intend in the least to immediately liquidate or destroy what is old. The old remains as compost in which you can plant the new. Or you can graft new branches onto the old tree. Therefore, you must learn what to do with the new seeds and the new grafts. If you decide to destroy what is old in one deed, you will hinder your evolution. How could you act so negligently towards the old, which is the result of the activities of so many great people, even geniuses? Great people are a manifestation of humanity in its entirety. A multitude of monads from the Spiritual World have to gather at one place, uniting their power and activity, so that one great person can be born upon Earth. A countless number of high monads or souls, acting collectively, send their activity, or concentrate their activity in one person - or in one Master on Earth - and he becomes great in the same way that a tree sends its ambassador in the form of fruit to another tree. In this respect each person - never mind how simple this person may be - represents a collective activity of souls.
Since you now know this, everyone should work consciously upon themselves, because one’s turn will come to enter into this wheel. Everyone has one’s own time to be set alight. Toward this aim the required quantity of fire should be prepared within one's self. This fire is set by one's experiences. Without these experiences nothing can be attained. What do you do when you see a lit candle? You want to be alight too. Do not be in a hurry! As the wheel is turning, so will your own turn also come. But until then one must go through great trials and sufferings. What minister in Bulgaria or in another country has not received a cross instead of a wreath? In this respect everyone should expect a prison, within as well as outside of one's self. The Romans and Jews erected a cross for Christ, did they not? Contemporary Christian nations have erected many churches in the name of Christ, but He is not in them. A long time is required before humans will give place to the Divine, to the Great within themselves. During this time humans should work upon themselves, in order to create proper and pure relationships among themselves, based not on violence, but on the Law of Freedom.
Make links without being linked; place limitations on yourself without being limited! In other words, when you make a trap for others and for yourselves, allow for two doors, so that when you enter through the first door, you can go out of the second door. In this case, a mouse, after it has come into the trap from the first door to eat the meat, can also find the second door open and go out. And when you see that the meat is eaten, be content that the mouse has acted reasonably.
Now, as I am speaking about Love, I should tell you that Love brings limitations. Both the loving and the beloved impose limits upon one another. For example, a trader with a love of money spends a great part of his time in search of better and cheaper goods. And the beloved also spends some time expecting to receive something. So both of them bear a loss. If this loss is not reimbursed, karma will appear. Therefore, karma comes as a result of the disharmonious manifestation of Love among human beings. And karma will grow, weighing more and more in human relationships, unless harmony is attained in human Love. If the beloved does not arrive on time, the loving one asks at once: “Why did you not come on time?” Therefore, according to the understanding and development of human beings in our age, there are mutual limitations among loving ones and those loved. Contemporary people want to be free of these limitations, but for this new philosophy of Life, new solutions for social problems are required. If you do not attain this new philosophy, there will be many more halters and goads than the current ones. What of the new will you learn, if your master puts a hundred halters and goads on you daily? You will certainly learn something. Halters and goads represent the trials and sufferings one must pass through so that one’s consciousness can rise up to a higher level. The present situation of humanity is temporary, transitory, but in order to overcome this period, efforts should be made to transform the forces of human consciousness in order to overcome the present boundaries and limitations. If you think you can settle your problems without such effort you deceive yourself. You can settle them for a while, but then you will find them twice as confusing as before. If you work consciously upon yourself, however, you will settle the problems of Life directly, without any detours. Solving your problems in this manner, you will acquire new Light and new understanding of Life.
If I give you some spiritual laws and rules, at the present stage of your knowledge you won't like them. You will reply that you promise to apply them and will be precise in this. No, new knowledge requires new skins. Otherwise many of your old skins will break and you will start to complain of headaches or stomachaches and so on. When the high energy of these spiritual truths penetrate into your nervous systems, it will cause uneasiness and confusion. And if you have no connection with the Divine law that can assist you, you could dissolve or melt. That is why spiritual disciples need a long period of preparatory activities before they can become independent. This preparatory period has the aim of increasing their vibrations until they can achieve a higher firmness and cohesiveness. It is the reason why spiritual knowledge and Light are not given to the disciples until they are well-tempered. Spiritual knowledge is so powerful that it could destroy the organism of one who is not prepared for it.
Consequently, a disciple should start with modest experiences in order to temper the nervous system. Toward this aim the disciple is first placed on a grate with an average temperature of about three hundred degrees. Then the temperature is increased until it reaches four or five thousand degrees. Each disciple will check the level of his tenacity. Whoever can endure up to four hundred degrees is like lead, because its melting point is approximately at this temperature. Whoever melts at about a thousand degrees is like iron. And if one melts at a thousand seven hundred and fifty or a thousand and eight hundred degrees, he is like platinum. The more you can endure the more you will learn. Do you know how many degrees you can personally endure? Have you tested at which temperature you would melt, without burnout? In this respect, alchemy wants to melt what is hard and stubborn in the human being, without burning it. If in some way we could melt carbonic acid we could transform its state and turn it into something new; but if we burn it, we have quite a different process.
When I speak about the power of Spiritual Science, I do not want to frighten you, I want you to be brave. All elevated beings have trod this path and you should, too. It is the easiest path. Its methods are complicated, but the path itself is straight and easy. Therefore, you should work and think. Think mainly about the two sides of Love – to love and to be loved. Ask yourself the question: when and how has the wish to love and be loved emerged in human beings? What do you think: when have these two positions appeared in human consciousness, in your understanding?
Do the following experiment to answer this question: when after a good meal you are satisfied, take a beautiful cherry and look at it for a while. You will admire the beautiful cherry as long as you do not feel any hunger, but when you become hungry, the wish to eat your favourite cherry will appear in your consciousness. While undertaking this experiment, observe the changes occurring in your consciousness. There are a lot of cherries in this season, so all of you can do this experiment. When you are full, take four or five cherries and put them in front of you. At this time you'll love them. But when you get hungry, you look at the cherries in a different way, you want to eat them. At this moment, into your consciousness comes the wish that the cherries will love you. It is interesting to observe these fine changes occurring in your consciousness. This means that the one who loves will become engulfed. In this example, the cherry loves the person, and that is why he swallows it up. That is the law. It shows that the power is in the small, and not in the big things. When you do this experiment, you will come to interesting conclusions, you will see the development of the processes in your mind. But you should be completely calm, so that you may come to the right conclusions.
Therefore, work peacefully and do not be disturbed if some relationships among you do not go smoothly enough. There are many methods for correcting this situation. When an artist makes a mistake he takes the brush and deletes it. When a clerk makes a mistake he takes the rubber and erases it. Deleting and erasing mistakes are external methods, but when we come to the correction of errors in human consciousness, then we have to use quite different methods. Each external error is first of all an error of someone’s consciousness. Those who understand the laws will correct their errors through transformation of their consciousness. It is one of the most difficult methods to apply. Everything is hidden in one’s consciousness; that is why you should definitely begin to work upon yourselves from there.
Purity of consciousness – this is the task of disciples. Toward this aim we recommend two main methods: filtration and distillation. Purity of consciousness means that you should transform your consciousness and raise it from a lower to a higher level.
Secret Prayer
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