(go to part 1)
Christ says: “I no longer call you slaves but friends”. You have heard the word slave many times. Slavery is the lowest position one could have in this world. There is no lower position. Slavery, enslavement means that one must do whatever he is told without contradiction or counteraction. He will do it as there is no other way. I do not speak of conditions in Life but of deliberate slavery a person could get into. There is Slavery in the Mental World: you are not free to think in the way you want to; there is Slavery in the Spiritual World: you are not free to feel the way you want to. As long as other people determine your creed, as long as other people enforce a teaching on you, you cannot be free. Why did the Lord give freedom to the two spiritual students in Eden? Couldn't He have put two Angels in front of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil, in order not to allow the two students to eat the fruits of this tree? – He could have, but He put no guards in front of this tree, He left it free. What would the solution to the problem be if these Angels stood with ardent swords in front of the tree and let no one touch it? – We would still be righteous people. Freedom acquired in a negative way is preferable to restriction. There are restrictions everywhere. For example, there are restrictions in the Old Testament life, in the New Testament life, and also in the life of the righteous. However, in the life of the disciple there are no restrictions. Every step he makes is conscious and mindful.
So I say: there are three situations in the world in which you could act. The first situation: you are a rational being sent to Earth by the Invisible world and given a body without asking whether you want it or not; this is the situation of the Old Testament man. The second situation: you are sent to Earth, given a body, and you only have the freedom to choose where to go; this is the situation of the New Testament man. The third situation: you are sent to Earth by the Invisible world in the most favourable conditions to study, you enjoy comparatively greater freedom; this is the situation of the righteous man. In the Old Testament life you will redeem your sins and suffer, in the New Testament life you will perfect yourselves, in the life of the righteous you will help other people, and when you come to Earth as a disciple, you will study the first rule through which Love can be applied in your life. I define myself with Love, and also my deeds, my relations with people and Perfect Beings. If someone comes to you, your relations with him have already been determined; you know how to behave with him. You may talk to him very kindly but your relations with him will be unnatural; you may talk to him very roughly but your relations with him will still be unnatural. I ask: what is the right way to talk to this man? You should talk to him the same way you talk to yourselves. You should be as tolerant to him as you are to yourselves.
I say: those of you who want to enter the Path of the disciple must have high ideals. They should study the restriction within themselves. Those who live in the Old Testament life say: “We are already tired of life; we do not want to live anymore.” Someone else says: “I do not want to live anymore, I want to die.” I tell him: this is good but is there anyone to bury you? If you want to die you should find someone to bury you. The grain that comes out of the granary should find a man to sow it in the field. It is not enough to take it out and throw it somewhere; this is not a solution to the problem. If you die without having someone to bury you, then you lose your purpose in the world. Therefore, by the word dying we mean sowing. Christ says: “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it will give no fruit.” Then I ask how do you want to die: like the grain of wheat that dies and is buried in the ground, or without burying it? When the grain of wheat dies and is buried into the ground it gives many seeds and transforms from one state to another. So, whenever you suffer, you are buried under the ground. Every big darkness and every big grief makes you want to die, to throw yourselves from a rock or drown yourselves or hang yourselves or stab yourselves with a knife, cut your head off, etc. All these things come from the outside; they are not your wishes. They are your friends from the past who give you this advice. One of them tells you: “If you want to put an end to your life take a revolver or a cup of poison.” No, it is not so easy to end your life. Broken cups do not solve the problems in human life, neither do burnt houses or people dying. Sufferings, torments, disbelief and temptations are not capable of solving Life.
What is Life? – It is the elder daughter of God, the only one you can have as your teacher. She will take you to your Master. The Master has four disciples in this world which he loves, and if these disciples recommend you to Him, He will accept you into the School. If Love recommends you to your Master, He will accept you into the School; if Light recommends you to your Master, He will accept you into the School; if Peace recommends you to your Master, He will accept you into the School, and if Joy recommends you to your Master, He will accept you into the School. If these four disciples vouch for you, the Master will open the doors of the School; he will give you a free entrance, bless you, introduce you to other disciples, and from that moment on you will have access to the School. If you do not have the recommendations of Love, your Master cannot accept you. I do not speak of Love as a rational force, or as an inner feeling but I speak of Love as one of the Rational beings, the first of its kind. It is the mightiest Spirit and the strongest Angel. There is no more beautiful, stronger or nobler being than Love. If you look at the face of this Angel, any sorrow you have disappears. When he meets you, he embraces you, caresses you, and after letting you go, all your sufferings, and all your sins disappear. After that, when you look at yourself in the mirror you notice you look just like him. But if you say all of this is yours you will immediately become dark. So you should embrace this Angel, thank him and say: “Stand by me, do not leave me, from now on, I shall walk on your paths. Do not only comfort me from the outside but work inside of me. Tell me about my Master, I shall listen to you.” And he begins to talk in a sweet and fascinating way. This Angel of Love is the eldest daughter of God. She speaks in such a sweet manner that whoever listens to her voice, never forgets her.
You say: “This is what first Love is.” You all speak of first Love but none of you have managed to keep it. Some of you experienced first Love for a second, others for five seconds, and others for ten seconds, and only a few experienced it for sixty seconds. Manifested Love is a great value. To experience it for 60 seconds is a great thing, as the scale of physical life is very large, I do not know if such a small morsel brought by a crow will be of use to us. Elijah did not know the law of reduction but while living in those restrictive conditions he learned it. When the crow brought him the small pieces of bread, he was no longer a big man instead he took the place of a little butterfly so there was even something left from the food. He used to say: “Lord, the food you are sending me is in abundance!” Thus, Elijah became smaller and was satisfied with the food a crow could eat. This law is also true with respect to God. Sometimes God comes to us and reduces Himself in order to raise us. God’s blessing is not in the big things but in the small ones. For example, the little grain of wheat contains all the conditions for a great Life. And you contain all the conditions for a great Life. Where are they hidden? – In your mind, in your heart, in your soul, and in your Spirit. But it takes time. To become disciples first, you should enter the Spiritual School but it takes time to understand Love, Light, Peace and Joy on a planet. And God has given you as much time as you want. Time is infinite; it has no beginning and no end. And regarding time, God sometimes says: “Wait for a while!” You die untimely, and you cry, and God tells you: “Wait for a while, there is enough time, I shall call you again. Then I shall give you as much time as you want.” You say: “Lord, I want to live for sixty years, to continue my work!” He asks you: “Do you want more years? I shall give you twenty more.” None of you have reached the age of one hundred and twenty years. What would your situation be if you were 120 years-old and looked around: alone on Earth, outcast for all? Your friends are gone, the new generation do not know you or respect you; everyone looks at you and says: “Why doesn't this old man go away, what is he still doing on Earth? His mind cannot comprehend the new times.” You will say: “At least this man has some experience.” What kind of experience?
Let me give you an example about an old man, Stoyan Pendjurski, who was 100 years-old. One day, he gathered his children around him and started talking to them: “Well, my children, do you know how many things your old man has learned from life? Do you know how much my head has suffered? When I was a 20-years-old lad, I went to Austria to make money as a gardener. One day, I received a letter from home saying that I was engaged. I took all the money I had gathered and immediately left for home happy and joyful. Passing through the Balkan Mountains, I was caught by Turkish bandits and robbed, so I came back home poor and wounded. It was all over with my fiancée! I could not get married. Do you know, my children, what it means to work abroad for 10 years the way I did in Austria and lose your money in just one day? Then I went back to Austria and started working with two partners in a garden, but after the three of us worked together for ten years, my partners robbed me. And so I went back to Bulgaria in rags, without being able to get married. When I was 45 years-old, I said to myself: “Once bandits robbed me, and the second time – my partners. What should I do now?” At last, for good or for evil, I decided to marry a rich girl; I sold my freedom. How did this marriage turn out to be? This woman beat me twice a day. Do you see, my children, how much I have suffered from this woman? But this was not enough: a son and a daughter were born to me, and they were the same as their mother. When they grew up, my son took me by the legs, my daughter by the hair and my wife started to beat me with a piece of timber. May God never let you have such an experience!”
This is what the old man Stoyan Pendjurski experienced. I ask: what is the philosophy in the fact that he was robbed by bandits and partners, and beaten by his wife, son and daughter? All of you have the same experience. Which of you have not been beaten? But where is the solution to the problem? Stoyan Pendjurski turns to the children and asks them: “Children, though you are young and I am so old, can you tell me what to do now? I do not know why I have had such hard times. I could make money neither by myself nor with partners; all I understood from marriage was thrashing. Tell me: do I pay for my sins, or for my parents' sins. What is it all for?” – “We do not know, old man.” – “Watch out, children so that you don't experience such hardships as I did” This was the conclusion that Stoyan Pendjurski made.
If there is someone amongst you called Stoyan, please do not be angry at me for using this name, for any name I use there will be someone with this name. I am talking about Stoyan Pendjurski. In this example, you can see the three lives that one should solve on Earth. Bandits are the Old Testament life, partners the New Testament life and the daughter beating her father shows the way the righteous one should pass. Tell me which righteous man has not been beaten the way Stoyan Pendjurski was? Which artist had not been beaten according to all rules? If you ask me why it is so, I cannot answer you but I say it is a fact. This is the problem all of you should solve.
I will not solve the problems of Old Testament and New Testament life because I consider you are intelligent enough to solve them by yourselves. I am giving you directions as to what the Path of the disciple should be. The Path of the disciple should be a path of Love, a path of Light, a path of Peace and a path of Joy. Can you enter this path, not in the future, but right now, at this very moment? Love does not depend on your knowledge; knowledge is a secondary issue. Love does not depend on your strength or your beauty. Knowledge, strength, and beauty are only conditions your soul could use in order to solve the assignment of its life. Love is capable of solving all difficult problems with minor exceptions. In the present situation, Love is capable of solving 75% of your hardships. Hardships are assignments a disciple should not avoid. If he protests as to why God has given him this assignment, he is no longer a disciple. To the contrary, he must say: “Thank you, Lord, for giving me this difficult assignment.” When you are given a difficult assignment by the Lord or the Master it means they have a high opinion of you. When your Master does not examine you or give you assignments, then evil will come. If you are an Old Testament man you will become bitter; if you are a New Testament man, you will be tempted; and if you are a righteous man you will become sad. These are states. If you face hardships, what will you do? If the Old Testament life prevails in you, you will become bitter and say to yourself: “Am I the biggest sinner that God gave me so many hardships? My hair turned grey from suffering.” If the New Testament life prevails in you, you will be tempted and say to yourself: “Why are these sufferings coming to me? I pray three times a day, read the Gospel, and when I get examined after studying the whole day, the teacher gives me a pass, and that student over there studies less than me but is given excellent marks. There must be some reason; maybe the teacher is not well-disposed towards me.” If you determine your Master’s character by the marks he gives you then you have only partially understood the Old Testament life and partially, the New Testament life.
So I say: the task you have to solve in your life is difficult. Why? Because you are in difficult conditions but you should know that God is a God of Love, Light, Peace and Joy. The Lord reigns in Heaven, the Lord reigns over Life. And the Lord brings eternal Rejoicing and Peace to the soul.
What does the weather show us this morning? Today I am speaking of the disciple and looking at the sky, the Lord has made it so fine! This clear, bright and pleasant sky is because of the disciple who is the beloved of the Lord. God gives all of the best to the disciple who wants to study. And the disciple says: “Lord, all you have destined for me is good. I am delighted that I am capable of solving the tasks you have given me.” This beautiful day is not for the Old Testament people, not for the New Testament people, and not for the righteous people. This beautiful day is for the disciple who wants to study, the beloved of God. Therefore, only the disciple could say: “This day is beautiful.” He will not say it aloud but he will feel it in his soul that this is God’s benevolence. It goes to show that if you walk on the Path of the disciple the way I am telling you to, then your inner sky will be as clear and your heart will be as pure as the sky is today. And your mind and your soul will be like the cloudless clear and bright sky today.
Now, I want you to understand me properly. I am careful not to create with my words any illusions so that you might expect more than could be given to you. For example, I often make the following experiment: I give someone a pear but he is not satisfied, he wants a bigger pear. I give him a bigger pear but he is still not satisfied and he wants one more pear for his daughter. I give him a pear for her but he is still not satisfied and he wants one more for his friend. So he takes one for his friend, one for somebody else, and when you look at him he has gathered about ten pears. It is questionable if he will give them to those for whom he has taken them. But I see him sitting under the shadow of a tree and eating the pears alone, one after another. He represents his daughter and his friends at the same time. This is his understanding. Evil lies not in the fact that this man wanted more but in the wrong distribution of the acquired goods. He did not understand the meaning of things. However, the disciple who enters Life must understand its meaning in order to realize the good things in this Life.
Someone says: “The ideas of the new teaching which are now being preached are not for the present time; they cannot be realized.” No, their time is exactly now but you should know how to apply them. You cannot break a rock using a piece of timber but if you take a diamond auger, you will be able to. There are augers in Africa which reach 800 meters deep under the ground and pump water out. Such augers could even dig to 2,000 meters deep under the ground where water is much better. Today, the Earth has not been explored much. There are certain earth strata that modern scientists have not yet reached. The disciple strives not only to penetrate with these augers to 2,000 meters deep under the ground but also to raise high pillars in the air, almost 500 – 1,000 km high. Do you know what energy would flow down through these pillars? We would create a perpetual-motion. Do you know what ocean of energy is hidden in space? In the same manner, there is huge energy hidden in your brain, and it takes time and space to show itself and be realized. The only reason you are not able to realize the things given to you by God is because you are occupied with ideas which have come afterwards. These are the ideas of the Old Testament life. You should abandon the Old Testament life; you should abandon the New Testament life, too. Someone says: “I want to be righteous.” No, you should abandon the life of the righteous. You should acquire only one thing, the life of the disciple. This is the new thing in the world. Do not settle with the old life but put it away and don't mix it with the new life. The first three kinds of life run into the roots of all mankind so we cannot isolate them all at once. Their isolation should happen gradually as we acquire real knowledge in Life. Can we isolate these lives before having finished the life of the disciple? – No, we cannot. It is not the point to isolate them or to use them, but to raise ourselves above them.
So you should know: if you become bitter this is the life of the Old Testament man, if you are tempted this is the life of the New Testament man; and if you become sad and suffer this is the life of the righteous man. All this happens because you want to find a man to love you, you want to gain Love in the world. Who else could love you but your Master? Only the one who teaches you can love you. If you love an animal and lift it up to your situation, what philosophy could it bring into your life? Tomorrow, this animal could die and you will mourn for it. Therefore, what you love should be immortal, unable to die. It should not lose its beauty; it should not lose its intelligence; it should not lose its kindness and goodness. I do not mean outward goodness but the Goodness of the soul. I notice that someone speaks in a wrong way, but there is something nice, good and noble in his soul that influences other people. Such people are good and generous but they do not pay attention to the minor things in life.
So I say: people’s wish to be loved is right. But as far as modern short-lived love is concerned, what will it give us? Only disappointment and suffering. We have experienced this love many times. Someone says: “Can a man stay thirsty?” Let us get this straight. It is true we cannot live without love as well as without water, bread, heat and light. Light and heat in the world are currents moving at a great speed. In this case, if you hinder light and heat, they will cause you the biggest suffering. Present-time people hinder these currents, and that is why they suffer. Therefore, you do not have the right to hinder what is flowing. Why? Because all currents are natural and we must let them to flow freely. There are light beams which emanate from you and travel around space and in ten years they return to you after travelling a full circle. And in order to make such a circle and return to the same place you started from, you need at least ten million years. So do not be confused, and do not cry. Light that travels around space will come back to you in ten years and say to you: ”Good day.” Energies of light and heat move at a great speed so do not stand in their way, let them flow freely. Love flows at such a great speed that the human mind cannot imagine. If you want to hinder the Love that God places in you, you will cause yourself the biggest misfortune. Let Love flow over you! God has planned a great thing for you. He planned and destined great things for each man. Your great Master will choose a friend for you to study with. Your friend will be one of the smartest students, not like the adept who came to the Tree of the Knowledge of good and evil, and caused big suffering to the two spiritual students in Eden. Now spiritual students are required to go back to the Tree of Knowledge of life. Therefore, Life results from Love. So anyone who wants to find this Life exactly should not follow the Old Testament life, New Testament life or the life of the righteous but must enter the Path of the disciple.
Christ turns to his disciples and says: ”I no longer call you servants, because you have passed through this way but I call you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” What did he learn about? – About the mighty, great Knowledge in the world which they will try themselves. Christ acquainted his disciples with the forces of Nature, so once they asked Him: “Master, should we take fire down from heaven as you taught us, and the way Elijah did, to frighten that man over there?” Christ answered them: “This fire is not for now. You should take fire for the hearts of the people, not for the outside. You should put fire into their hearts. If you take this fire outside you will lose your path as disciples. I did not come here to ruin but to give life, superabundant life.” It means: “I am not an Old Testament man, nor a New Testament man, nor a righteous man but I am Master.” Who’s Master? – The Disciple’s. That is why it is written in the Gospel: ”You can do nothing without me.” The world needs a model.
Now, as disciples you should strictly keep within yourselves the thought that the disciple is free to listen to anybody, no matter whether he speaks right or wrong, but when it comes to applying what was said, he would say: “Brother, I should start first with Love, then with Light, and then with Peace and finally with Joy.” This is the inner connection of the disciple with God. I can listen all day long, even my entire life without getting bored, to anyone who can speak of Love, Light, Peace and Joy.
While listening to me some of you might say: “Look, our Master wants us to leave the world.” No, I am not one of those who want you to leave the world; I am not one of those who want you to leave school. I want you to solve all the difficult problems in the program. I want you to solve all difficulties in Life. And everyone who surmounts the biggest difficulties deserves my respect. I met a righteous man who pretended to be a disciple, and he told me: “Master, today I was beaten up by some friends of mine. I had a lot of blood, and I gave them some. They greeted me in a strange way but thank God, that certain mistakes in me disappeared in this way.” After that, he smiled a little and continued on his way. Later, one of the sisters told me of her experience that she escaped from safely: “I was walking through the pine-trees of Izgrev1, and two-three steps before me, a sister hurried along. At one time, she caught one of the branches to push her way through but she immediately let it go. At the same time, I approached and the branch struck me violently in the white of the eye which started bleeding.” I say: “Be thankful you paid so little, for the branch could have struck the pupil of your eye which could have been more dangerous. Go and bathe your eye with clean water. You should have walked at least twenty steps behind her, not as close as you were.” What would this sister do if she was from the Old Testament people? She would catch up with the first sister, shake her and say: “Why are you walking so carelessly? Couldn't you have held back the branch until I caught it?” And she said: ”It is my fault; I should have walked way behind her.” Thus, all people have the weakness of walking close to one another. When you go through a forest you must walk at least twenty steps away from each other. Many people have gone blind or become crippled in this way. People in Life draw closer together but in this case this proximity is no virtue. When travellers go through a forest they should keep a distance of at least 10 meters.
So I say: this nice day we have today, is for the disciple. It shows us what the Path of the disciple should be. As you see, this Path is great.
Christ says: “Go, sell everything and give it to the poor; come and follow me.” So I say: go and give away the Old Testament life you have; then, give away your New Testament life. Finally, give away the life of the righteous that you have in you; then go to your Master. He will meet you. But if you go to your Master with an outspread gown, necklaces and your great dignity, He knows how to meet you. He will only smile and say: “Come some other time, a little bit later. At the moment there is no place in the Spiritual School. When you arrive the following year, you will enter a competition, and let us see what the terms of admission will be.” So year after year you are delayed until you grow old and say: “I am sorry I could not enter the School.” But the School should be entered. The best thing in Life is to enter the Spiritual School as a disciple. You ask: “When, next year?” – No, this very day, even this afternoon. If you do not enter now, time will have already been lost. Now, at this very moment I am speaking. If I stop talking, everything is over. When the lecture is over, you may knock as much as you want to, you may break all the doors but it has already been closed. Now, all of you may enter but with no luggage. Remember the verse where Christ says: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God.”
The first thing through which we can succeed is the inner process of liberation taking place in us. And we should all free ourselves! How? – By listening to each other, and by helping each other. This individualization noticeable in contemporary culture leads to a wrong direction of life. Nowadays, there are many people who destroy their lives under the burden of ignorance. It is hard when the soul has been cruelly injured! Such a man should be helped with a kind word or glance. Sometimes, you find yourselves in a financial crisis; you do not have even 5 cents in your pocket. There must be a rich man to help you. Another person is in such a mess, up to his eyes in debts, and says to me: “Talk to me, talk a lot to me, and encourage me! Put yourself in my shoes and see how I am suffering!” I look at him: he has a 20,000 levа bill which he must pay up within a certain period of time. In this case, what will be the use of my words if I start talking to him: “Do not be afraid, God is great; He has many angels at His disposal to come and help you. Look at how they helped a gentleman in America called so-and-so”, etc. But I shorten my speech, take a 20,000 levа cheque, sign it and give it to him saying: “Go to the Popular bank to cash the money.” He takes the cheque and departs. Thus, the problem is solved. One must give something to the world. When God speaks He always gives.
So, only on the Path of the disciple can life be correctly solved. In the other three lives, methods and manners are different. You should be aware of the following delusions: do not think that the Kingdom of God could be entered by lighting candles, doing acts of kindness, and bribing, etc. One cannot enter the Kingdom of God by lighting candles; one cannot enter the Kingdom of God by acts of kindness; one cannot enter the Kingdom of God by bribing. Someone has taught you something and you say: “I can repay this man.” How? – “By giving him money.” No, this Master takes nothing; he does not work for money. The lessons of this Master are expensive. I ask: how much have we paid to come to this world? If you start solving a mathematical problem, calculating the cost of the conditions we live in, you will see that for each of us billions of levа of living energy are spent. This energy is not that easy to be found. For example, if you lose your vitality or if you lose the Light of your mind, you will see you cannot replace it easily. This energy is not on Earth. Many contemporary people suffer from neurasthenia. Why? – They have lost a lot of that living energy, their vigour is gone, and as a consequence their nervous system cracks. Then, life-giving magnetism and life-giving electricity flow out of man and he feels an inner weakness, a kind of faint feeling inside. Such a man is no longer interested in anything.
But this is not the philosophy of Life. A man should study in the school of Life up to his old age. Even at the age of one-hundred-and-twenty, he should study. One should study up to his last hour, to the last moment of his life. As soon as he gets free from his body, he is already young. The human soul is always young. The man dresses in another body in which eternal youth exists. When the body grows old, sorrow is born inside the man. Why? - Because he has separated the life of the body from the life of the soul. In each body that grows old, the Old Testament life flows and leaves deep traces. The New Testament life also leaves deep traces on the human body, as well as the life of the righteous. As a rule, these three lives destroy the human body and his task in this world remains unfulfilled. That is why when we enter the other world, we encounter a big contradiction.
Christ says: “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life“. “I am the Way.” – There is only one Way but this Way has three branches. “I am the Truth.” – In order to have Truth inside himself, he certainly must have Peace in his soul, and only a man who has Wisdom on his side can be peaceful. “I am the Life.” – Life is one and it flows out of Love.
So I say: some students entering the Spiritual School now are still only listeners. That is why they should learn from the experience of the elder, more advanced students. There should be a proper competition between you. Nowadays, all students want to approach the Master. It is not possible. Sometimes, you will learn from one another. You will consult with the more advanced students about the assigned tasks. There should be mutual respect between all students. The younger student should treat the older with respect. If the young, new students have no respect for the older, i.e. those who have studied and know more, one day they will find themselves in the same situation. “By the way you measure, you will be measured.” – says the Scripture. You say: “We know that.” Yes, you know it but you have not acquired the essential knowledge about Life. For example, you are an honest man but the bank does not lend you money. Besides, you are a scholar graduated from three faculties but in the present conditions in Bulgaria there are many clerks available and no place for you. You have a high opinion of yourself but people do not acknowledge you. You can write well, you are a poet; you write something but people do not value it and pay you so little that you regret the effort you made. You also have artistic talent; you paint a picture but again they do not appreciate it. As you see, there is something essential in Life that people are not aware of; hence their affairs do not go well.
Some days ago, a painter came to me and offered me two of his paintings which were for sale. I have a rule not to give money for paintings; besides, I did not need them. But in order to encourage him I took the paintings and gave him a certain amount of money for them. After that, he painted the little spring down by the river. I also paid him for this job. What was the result of all this? – He did not use the money properly. I did not say anything to him but thought to myself: “The path of this man will lead him to loss.” Why? – Art is not for sale. An artist who sells his paintings is like a mother who sells her children. Each painted picture is the artist’s child. He should send this child away to bring him money. How? – He will exhibit the pictures and each picture speaks for itself: “Everyone who wants to see me should pay something but without taking me away.”
So I say: regarding the new views about Life, you should encourage the talented ones amongst you and show interest in their good works! I have heard old things repeated over and over again. It was good for me because I learned to be patient; but is there something new to be gained from that? Some years ago, an evangelical student came to me to preach the Gospel. He started quoting verses from the Gospel from beginning to end. Thus, he went on for three hours. I asked him after that: “Have you finished?” – “Yes, I have.” – “Well, I am satisfied. Let us now go for a walk and think over the nice verses.” – “Yes, you should think so; no one has quoted them the way I know them. Do you know how much time I have spent learning them? I have dedicated twenty whole years of my life just to these quotations.” – “Yes, the quotations are very nice.” I say: as disciples you should learn to endure. Whoever wants to preach to you, listen to him, and learn to draw a lesson from everything.
I told you that this gathering is the first one of its kind. In what way can this be understood? The first day of this gathering begins with the day of Love. That is why you should apply Love right now, today. If you begin with Love then everything will go like honey and butter as the Bulgarians say. Then Light will also come to you. How will you know if Love operates in you? When you wake up in the morning, if there is no decay in you, then it shows that Love is already operating in you. However, it is not enough to check for one day, but when two, three, ten, one hundred, five hundred, one thousand, ten thousand and one hundred thousand days pass and no decay, no confusion is noticeable in you, then you have acquired the new Love. Let us not talk about such a long period of time as ten thousand or a hundred thousand days. It will be good for you in your life if for at least for a hundred days in succession the Sun does not go down and your heart does not lose its Love. New Love comes from God, from the Angels, from all your brothers who live on Earth and up in Heaven, and from all disciples. When you go to bed at night and meditate, you will feel this Love coming from everywhere: from the outside, inside, from above, and from below. It will send someone to call you on the telephone and ask, ”How are you?” Every night it will send you its greetings through someone saying: “Today, I have sent you a basket full of grapes, a basket full of pears, a tin-can with honey, a pair of new shoes, a new hat and new clothes.” You only listen to what is sent to you. Besides, every day so many letters from these Creatures of Love arrive by mail that you do not know what to do with them and reply: “Please, brothers, stop for a while until we clear the mail that we have received.” This is how Love proceeds; it is remarkable for its inner abundance.
And now I wish for you to repeatedly receive by mail full baskets of grape, pears, apples, plums, figs, oranges, bananas, and generally all the best fruits that exist on Earth. Transform all of this into a spiritual meaning. Thank God for the good and for the welfare He has given you. Thank God for the good words He has said to you. You will give thanks only to God. If you do not thank Him, whatever you tell me or whomever else, it will be of no use to you. God is the prime source of all goods. You will thank Him and direct your mind and heart to Him. You will thank God for the nice weather, for the good life, and for the good living conditions. You will thank Him for sending you to Earth amongst these people; you will give thanks for being a member of the human race; you will thank Him for being connected with the Angels, and sometimes He Himself has the kindness to talk to you. Some of you can sing well, others can paint or write well, and you say: “I have a small talent.” No, you should thank God for your talent and know that small talents could increase and become bigger. I compare small talents to a little hole through which light enters. The more you open this hole, the more the light will be able to enter. It depends on the person himself whether this hole will be more open and become bigger.
So I say: you should preach Love in your life. How? Let me give you an example: there were two goats and a monkey living together on a farm. When the goats came back from grazing in the evening, their hair was full of thorns. As the monkey saw them returning, it went to clean their hair by pulling out the thorns. First, it cleaned one of the goats, then the other; when it had nothing else to do, the monkey sometimes fell on the neck of the one and sometimes on the head of the other goat, pulling their ears and scratching them; thus it meant: “Bring more thorns.” The goats shouted and screamed trying to get rid of the monkey. What could the conclusion be from this example? When hardships come to your life you should know that the monkey has done its job and you should go to the forest.
Before I finish my lecture, I shall give you another example. It happened in the new times. Count Berosi had a good friend, an Italian named Nunzio. Once, Nunzio fell in love with a rich girl but she had another suitor. When the latter learned about Nunzio’s love, he began to hate him so much that planned to poison him, to get rid of him in order to win the girl. How did he plan to do it? He wanted to commit the crime in such a way that no one would know; even Nunzio himself would feel nothing. However, Count Berosi, who loved his friend, caught his adversary’s thought. One day, Nuncio’s rival went to visit him at home and gave him a glass of sweet wine in which he had put one of the modern poisons which acted slowly but surely. Death from this poison would come only six months after drinking it. At that moment Count Berosi happened to be there and he saw him taking the glass of wine to drink, so he took his gun and aimed right at the glass; the glass broke into pieces and fell to the ground. Nunzio and his rival were frightened but Count Berosi calmly said: “Excuse me, I wanted to see if I was a good marksman; whether I could hit the glass without hurting anyone.” Nunzio did not suspect that his friend had rescued him from death, and his rival also did not suspect that this was deliberately done to save his friend’s life. Both admired Count Berosi for his shooting skills.
I say: when someone is given a glass of poison, take your gun and shoot at the glass. What is this gun? Your right thought. Direct it to the glass of poison to break it! The only thing that the disciple is allowed to do is to break the glass of poison. It is a method which has been practised since ancient times. The glass represents human pleasures which keep people in slavery. All of you know what these pleasures are. I take the word "pleasure" in the broad sense of the word. Pleasures are a form of slavery that has to be paid for, over and over again, for thousands of years. Because of this, the glass that enslaves the man should be broken. I say to you: throw off the glass that poisons your life; help your soul, your mind, and your heart. You can help yourselves.
One of the ways in which you can help yourselves, is through prayer. We consider prayer as conversation with the Invisible world, as conversation with God. To pray means to learn to talk; one must talk. Nowadays, we suffer because we have not learned the heavenly, Divine language. It is not enough for a man to pray; however, prayer should represent an expression in which the entire human Spirit, the entire soul, the entire human mind and the entire heart take part. There should be only one inner sense in the things a man wants from God. If you pray, say: “Lord, Your will be done. I shall gladly accept everything that comes from Your hand, and obey Your Will without violating Your law.” Thus, the disciple should say to his Master: “Master, I shall solve all the tasks you have given to me in Life. I shall bring them to You for Your approval and whatever correction you make I shall willingly accept it.” This is what the New path must be! It you start along this Path even today, you will notice a great change taking place in you. You will see new Light pouring down on you. You will feel such Peace and Joy in your soul as you have never experienced in your life. And only thus your life will be given meaning.
Now, let youth not tempt you. First, be interested in Love not in youth; and then, be interested in Light not in youth; later, be interested in Peace not in youth while at last you go to Joy itself.
So, now I am greeting you with Love. What does greeting mean? Whom are we greeting? When we love someone do we greet him? – Only a stranger is greeted. We smile inside ourselves to the one we love and give him the best we have. We should open our soul for him the way Heaven opens for us. We should smile to him inside ourselves and tell him: “Please be welcome; we have been waiting for you for a long time! I am very pleased that you came to visit us.”
Now, all of you should open your souls for your Master. Those who can, let them do it today, at this moment, do not even wait until the end of the lecture. Let it be a completed act. Then there will be internal harmony amongst all of you. I want your minds to be in harmony and to think alike about Love. You can apply Love in different manners and as you wish; you are free. When applying Love, there are no guards or Angels with their ardent swords. You are free to express Love as you choose; no one has the right to judge you. By acting this way, you are being blessed. We look at the motives that cause the manifestation of Love.
I say: we should all open our hearts for the new day. It is the day of Love; it is the day of eternal Life. I believe you have all come here for the new life. If you are busy with the old life, your coming on Earth makes no sense. If you have come to Earth hungry, barefoot, poor, in ragged, dirty clothes and we see you off again in the same way, your coming to Earth makes no sense. I want you to return well dressed, well fed but not over fed, refreshed with good water; to have listened to the best sermon that showed you the way to the great goal in Life; to have written a program to work on for the future, so that all hardships in Life will not, in any way, lead you astray from the path you follow.
I know that many of you are poor, many of you are ill, many of you are ignorant, many of you are crippled, many of you are simple-minded, uneducated; I know everything. You say: “Does the Master not know all this?” I know and because I know I show you the way to find these riches; I show you the place where you can take it from. You say: “Master, come with us, give us from this granary.” We do not give half a bushel, and we do not measure wheat by its weight; everyone is absolutely free to go by himself and take as much as he needs. Everyone should be honest and aware that this spiritual teaching can be applied in life.
God reigns on Heaven, God reigns on Earth! And any intelligence, any knowledge, any power, any goodness and any might, either of man or of society or of people or of all mankind is owed to the One who created the world. This world also has an outer expression. We are members of this world and we must fulfil God’s will whatever it is. This is the great law of eternal Life; this is the great law for the disciples who want to realize Good the way it is written in the Divine book that has not been printed on Earth, yet.
I wish for you all to begin with Divine Love, let your hearts and minds be free. Let the Divine Spirit and Divine Love be with you, may you be joyful and merry all day long.
19 August 1927, Sofia 32
32 The lecture “The Path of the Disciple” was first published in the collection “The Path of the Disciple”, Sofia, 1927.
1 Izgrev – a district in Sofia where the Brotherhood of Light settled a village in which The Master Beinsa Douno and his followers lived
---------------
------------------------------------------------------------
---------------
------------------------------------------------------------
1
|
