Luke 14.
I shall give you the following thoughts:
That which flows is water.
That which rests is stone.
That which blows is air.
That which incites is a force.
In the fourteenth chapter of Luke three things are pointed out which hinder the development of man and divert him from the right path. They are fields, oxen and marriage. You ask: shall I buy a field? - The field is the first obstacle. - Shall I buy oxen? - The oxen are the second obstacle. - Shall I marry? - Marriage is the third obstacle. Does the stone marry? Does that which blows marry? Does that which incites you marry? Does the stone flow? The stone does not flow, but it obstructs the water. Does the water blow? It flows. Does that which blows incite you?
People today say that one must marry and form a family. The family is created by God; it is a Divine institution. Marriage, however, is a human institution. Human things are temporary, but Divine things are eternal. No matter how lasting a thing may be, if it is human, it has an end. When men ask you about the beginnings and ends of things, remember that human things have an end but no beginning, while Divine things have a beginning but no end. Therefore, everything which has a beginning but no end is Divine. Everything which has an end but no beginning is human. You may quote the verse which says: " I am the alpha and the omega." However, alpha and omega do not mean the beginning and the end of things. You take a stick and twist it into the shape if a circle. Then you place your hands on it. Can you tell now where the beginning and the end of the stick are?
In the beginning, man was created to work and develop alone. These conditions seemed difficult to him, which is why he wished to buy a field and expand. He bought a field and expanded, but along with that he encountered the first obstacle. He found himself in a difficult situation, not being able to cultivate his field alone. Then he started to search for a partner in his work. He bought five pairs of oxen to help him. With the five pairs of oxen he encountered the second obstacle. The five pairs of oxen represent the five senses of man by means of which he is in contact with the external world. Finally, he decided to marry. Marriage is the third obstacle of man. When man's mind and heart are aroused, it shows that he is married. Once married, man says: I do not care to know what others think of me. I shall think and feel as I understand and look after my home. The man is right. He has laid the foundation of his home and he must take care of it. Someone says that he is not married. That man takes the word "marriage" in its literal sense. According to me, there is no man in the world who is not married,
Many people marry in order to be happy. They think that after they marry, the door of the Kingdom of God will open for them. Others want to marry in order to be like the rest of the world. That is, they want to be in the human order of life. It is not a bad thing for one to marry, but what does one gain from marriage? Anyone can be a merchant, but it is important what he will sell. If some merchant sells coffins and grave stones, who will thank him for selling such things? It is not easy to go and buy these necessities for some friend of yours. He will only go to the store because it is necessary. Why do you need such things? Can your friend not do without a coffin and a gravestone? Why does a dead man need a coffin and a cross? You solve different questions; solve this one also. When a Christian dies, he is put in a coffin, buried in the earth, and a cross is placed on his grave. After that, his relatives weep and grieve because he is no longer among them. If you visit a family where the father has passed away, you will see the entire family weeping for him. If the father has been a miser, strict and severe toward his children, inwardly they will be glad that he has gone to the other world, because they can be free to live as they wish. In spite of his weeping, everyone wants to know what he will inherit. The Turks act differently with the dead. They accompany him to the grave and throw him from on high onto a hole so that he should understand he has gone to the other world; then all go away. After all the people have gone hone, he is buried. In general, all nations have their own particular way of burying the dead. When a man dies, he knows who has loved him and who has not.
All men speak about love. What is the touchstone for discovering whether a man has love? The first manifestation of love is the act of giving. Where there is love, there is always giving. It is impossible for a man to love and not to give. When love leaves a man, he stops giving. Love expands roan and stimulates in him the desire to give. This law can be tested everywhere in life. When a merchant works with love, he has a desire to open his shop and to sell. When the farmer works with love, he opens his barn and gives generously. When the young maid becomes a mother, she wants to give. When the teacher enters the school and the children surround him, he begins to give. All men whose hearts love enters have the desire to give. As long as people give, it is love that activates them. As soon as they stop giving, love leaves them. Thus, giving is connected with the law of love. It is so in the spiritual world. On the physical plane, however, we say: The merchant is selling his goods; the farmer is plowing the field and selling his wheat; the mother is bringing up her child and sending him to school. On the earth, the impulses of love bear different names. When one does not give, one comes across obstacles such as the merchant meets. A merchant buys goods, but does not sell them and keeps them in his store. After some time, he buys more goods which he also keeps in his store. In this way, he stores up many goods and invests all his money in them, but does not sell them. When he spends all his money and can neither buy anymore nor sell his goods, he has reached the point of bankruptcy. Thus, in love there is an interchange: giving and taking. Which is better, to give or to take? The Scripture says: "It is more blessed to give than to receive."
Give as long as love is within you. Giving is an inner process which unites man with God. He who does not give cannot have contact with God. Christ said : "He who does not deny his mother and father, his brother or sister and his own life, can not be my disciple." This means: he who does not give up everything old that he has, cannot be a disciple of the new. What need has one of a mother (bear)? What need has one of a father (wolf)? What need has one of a sister (spider) or a brother (snake)? What will one profit by a sister (spider)? She will weave her webs all day long in the corners of the room, and you will sweep behind her. The spider catches flies and eats them itself, but it does not enter his mind to share its prey with someone else. Therefore, for a man to deny his father, mother, brother and sister is to deny all that he himself has made. Man himself has bought a field and bound himself - he must free himself of the first obstacle. Man alone has bought oxen and attached himself; he must free himself from the second obstacle. He has married and tied himself; it is up to him to free himself from the third obstacle. Free yourselves from all the bonds you yourselves have made. As you have bound yourselves, you must free yourselves. You have bought a field and oxen and then you deceive yourself by believing that they are yours! You have married a young maiden and you say that she is your wife! The mother has born your wife, she has suffered and cared for her and one day you take her daughter, marry her, and say that she is your wife. When you marry that daughter, you will bring unhappiness not only to her but also to her entire family. The same thing relates to man. This is what Christ wanted to say by: "Deny all that you yourselves have created, which brings misfortune not only to you, but to all your kindred as well!"
What must you do to escape misfortune? If you want to marry, find a partner who has neither a father, mother, sisters nor brothers. If you find such a person, get married and you will be happy. You must understand me correctly in order not to be plagued by a contradiction. What do modern men and women do? When the time for marriage comes, they search for a rich partner with a high social position, in order to rise in life. You will say: Then people should not marry. They will marry as they have done until now, but a new element - Love - must enter into marriage. Adam married Eve. Whose daughter was Eve? Who were her father, mother, brother or sister? As you see, Eve was a daughter who had neither father, mother, brother nor sister.
Now you wish to know how your life will end. If you have bought a field, you will vacate it; if you have bought oxen, you will leave them; if you have married, your wife will leave you. If you do not vacate your field during the first year, you will do so after 120 years at the latest. The extreme limit of any event on earth is 120 years. If your oxen do not leave you the first year, they will become old after ten years and they will not be able to serve you. If your wife does not leave you while she is still alive, when she grows old she will pass to the other world and you will remain alone. We consider things to be outside of man and we know what can happen to him. You consider everything as an inseparable part of yourself; consequently, you become attached to them. When you are deprived of them, you suffer. You enter an institution, get tied up with it, and can not leave it. For instance, someone marries, gets tied up with the institution of marriage and thinks that he cannot live without it. Man has lived before the creation of this institution. Modern man has reached a higher state of consciousness and wants to become free of the temporary and serve the Eternal Principle. In order to serve this Principle, man must understand the first manifestation of love - giving. To serve the Eternal Principle means to give. What do you understand by "giving"? From morning till night you think of this and that, you doubt and waver. Give your mind a rest. Liberate it from all doubts and hesitations. Implant in it an enlightened, sublime thought. You think much, but this is not correct thought. When the mind is full of doubts, that is not thought. A heart which worries and a mind which doubts can give nothing. Implant a noble feeling in your heart and a bright thought in your wind and give them rest. Give your heart and mind a rest!
People become offended and embittered and thus encumber their hearts with unnecessary burdens. Why do men become offended? Someone pays you a visit and becomes offended because you have not received him as he expected. How is it possible for such a great and good man not to be received with the necessary honor and respect! Everyone considers himself to be a good, saintly and great man. This shows that every man expects to take something from others and not give anything to them. You all must know that when you take, you must also give. The teacher gives something to his student. The student must pass it on to another student, and so forth. Thus it will pass from one hand to another until it returns to the teacher again. A teacher wants to test his students to see how far they have progressed in giving. For this purpose, he gives one of his students a nice apple. The student gives it to one of his friends, who in turn gives it to another student. Thus the apple passes from one hand to another ten times. The tenth student takes the apple to his teacher. The teacher is pleased with the experiment. He finds that his students are good and generous. If the apple had disappeared somewhere, the teacher would have drawn a different conclusion about his students. Therefore, whatever is given to you, you must pass it on to others so that all might take part in it. In order that love may come, man must have learned the law of giving.
When the apple comes into your hands, do not think about its contents, but rather about whom to give it to, in order that it may return to its original source. Man is tested by the apple. If the first man had acted correctly, the world would be right today. When Eve received the apple, she should have given it to Adam. Adam, on his part, should have given it to God. However, Eve tasted the apple immediately and thus committed the first sin. When a desire enters your heart, do not taste it, but rather give it to someone else. Whatever desires and thoughts enter you, give them to others - let the desires move and traverse the world until they find their source.
As I observe and study life and all its manifestations, I come to the conclusion that the human takes, whereas the Divine gives. The smile of people takes and does not give. Someone smiles; he only moves his lips because he wants to take something. In general, in all unnatural human acts, there is always some hidden temptation, avarice or hypocrisy. Such an act leads a man to love sometimes, but that love is artificial. For instance, something inside you motivates you to go to church. At the same time a beautiful young girl is going to the same church. When you enter the church, your eyes fall upon the beautiful girl and your mind becomes distracted. This is the temptation which enters man in all conceivable forms. Sometimes man goes to school for the purpose of studying, but something that he has not expected at all results from that act. Generally, man does not know the source of the goods allotted to him - from God or from someone else. Every blessing given by the Divine world causes an expansion of the human soul. Every blessing coming from the human world limits the human soul. In order for one to benefit from a certain blessing, two other beings must take part simultaneously. For instance, you can eat if two other beings eat with you at the same time. Thus three beings must eat simultaneously; the mind, the heart and the will. Man is allowed to eat if his mind, heart and will are in their proper place. If one of these beings is not in its place, man has no right to eat.
We must give. How must we give? Freely, without any avarice. The farmer throws his wheat in the field and you say that he is generous and gives abundant wheat to his field. He is not generous, for he wants to take thirty, sixty and one hundred in turn. The plowman plows his field with the oxen and when he returns home, he gives them a little straw and says that he has given them enough. This is not giving, but taking. After the oxen have worked for a whole day like slaves, you give them an insignificant part of what you have taken from them. Man must think right! For this purpose he must free his mind from all worries and confusions. Men's hair turns white from worries, but that still does not lead him to a correct solution of the problems of life.
The world in which you live is full of invisible beings who walk on the wrong path. They follow you continually and cause you many trials and temptations in an unnoticeable way. Their methods are very refined. For this reason, you must be aware in order to discern their methods and ways and not to become their victim. You will be unhappy until you learn to interpret their methods. For instance, you are in a fine mood, but someone comes and tells you a word and spoils your good disposition. You rise in the morning happy and contented, but your child falls off a chair and breaks his leg. You immediately lose your good disposition. You come from school with a diploma happy and full of dreams for a bright future, but immediately you are given a telegram notifying you of your father's death. You are employed as a minister of Bulgaria, but at the same moment your wife passes away. As you see, the best and most beautiful things in the life of men are accompanied by bitter experiences. What must be done? Things must be foreseen. Remember that all nice things are followed by something bitter. If you want to avoid the bitter, do not take the sweet. What is the reason for this? The endeavor and the way of man. The way in which they walk is right, but the methods by which they want to achieve things are human. You have started on the path. What is required of you? The new path requires new methods. You cook nice food, but you put it on dirty plates. After a while the food has a bad smell and you refuse to eat it. The well-cooked food must be put on clean, new plates.
Therefore, everything from one end to the other must be done well in absolute purity. Every thought, feeling and act in all their manifestations must be absolutely pure* You take a thought and put it on a dirty dish of your heart. Thereafter, you put the same thought on a dirty dish of your will, then you offer people this thought. No, this thought is already unclean. You have no right to offer people unclean thought. The dishes of your acts must be absolutely clean. This is required of all people. Be pure in your thoughts! Be pure in your feelings! Be pure in your acts! If you are not pure, you have no excuse. You will give the excuse that you have been ignorant. This is your own alibi. There are no ignorant people in the world. Even plants are not ignorant. Stones are not ignorant either. You see a stone resting in a place for years. The wind blows around it, but it rests philosophically and says: In order to philosophize, I must be calm. If someone rolls it down the hill, it wonders who has dared disturb its rest. When it regains its repose, it begins to philosophize again. From the stone man can obtain that inner repose in which one can reason sanely.
Someone looks at a stone and says: This is a stone! It really is a stone, but you will take from it a lesson in patience. Water will teach you the lesson of giving. Wherever water passes, it gives something of itself. If it passes by a dry tree or grass, it will refresh them. The air which blows also gives. And the power which incites also gives. Therefore, give as the water gives, give as the air gives, give as the power gives. The stone, the water, the air and the power all serve as practical lessons to teach men the law of giving. Write about the theme: "How the water gives." When you develop this theme, see what you can apply to life. Apply the methods of the water in giving and see what results you achieve. The water gives what it receives and returns it to its source. You should give in the same way. If you invite rich people to a feast in order that they may invite you some day, this is not giving. Give to the poor man who can give you nothing in return. When you give something to a poor man, he thanks God for what he has received. Giving is a continual process which passes from one being to another. Only the form and manner of giving changes, but the process does not stop. When you are invited to dinner somewhere, first direct your thought upward to thank God for what you will receive. If your gratitude is sincere, He will immediately notify you inwardly whether you must remain at that dinner or not. If a spoiled chicken is offered you, should you eat it? On the outside it looks well cooked and seasoned, but the meat is spoiled. What must the man invited to that dinner do? He must take his hat and go home. Many poisonous and spoiled hens are offered to people today, but one must be sane enough to recognize them and not accept them. What is more poisonous than the thought that God does not exist? If someone offers you such a thought, refuse to accept it. Let that man recognize that you recognize the spoiled hen and that you neither wish it for yourself, not wish to offer it to someone else. Cook pure, healthy food, if you want to have friends.
Thus the first manifestation of love is giving. Give purely and uncovetously. He who does not give cannot contact Love. He who cannot make contact with Love, cannot test it either. The prophet has said: "Test me, o Lord!" He wants to be tested to see if he can give in a Divine way. Thinking is a process of the mind, but giving is a process of the heart. The real life begins with giving, because man becomes a transmitter of the Divine Principle within himself. How do ordinary people give? They fill themselves with good food and whatever remains of their meal, they offer it to others. This is not giving. To give implies a freedom of the heart - give what you have not yet tasted yourself.
Today I am speaking about giving, because the new life requires it. The life of people today, the old life, is full of confusions and worries. Your head aches and you worry; you become ill from rheumatism and you worry again; your stomach aches and you worry. What are these painful states due to? All illnesses are due to the fact that man does not give. Someone fails in life, because he does not give. Fulfill the will of God, give freely, in order to be rid of all illnesses, troubles and misfortunes. God gives from morning till night. He regards us with a good disposition and waits for the time when we will begin to work consciously. Many, however, hide themselves here and there, waiting for Him to leave them so that they can freely do what they want. All men say that the eye of God is omnipresent, yet in spite of that, when they commit a crime, they are not afraid of that eye, but of the people. What does that show? It shows that the thought that the Divine eye observes everything has not yet deeply penetrated the consciousnesses of people. You pass by an orchard and wish to pick fruit. You begin to turn this way and that to see if anyone is watching you. You say that you are afraid of God, but in reality you fear people. When you make sure that nobody is around, you pick the fruit and continue on your way. If you were convinced that the Divine eye were observing you, you would turn to Him mentally with a petition to pick some fruit.
People today are all seeking their fortune. Their fortune lies in the purity of their thoughts, feelings and acts. There is a proverb that one becomes like his companion. This proverb is related to the thoughts, feelings and acts of people, also. You become like the thoughts you cherish. Cherish nice thoughts and feelings toward every person without asking whether or not he deserves them. If you begin to think about who deserves to be loved and who does not, you enter the human order of things. You say: Must I give this man something, or must I not? - Give and do not think. - But how will he act? - That is his business. If he does not act correctly, he shall bear the consequences of his own act. If you do not act properly, the consequences of your act will follow you. When your turn comes, give and do not think. Men are links in a chain. If one of the links does not fulfill its service, it Will rust. As soon as it has rusted, it will be removed from the chain and replaced by another. He who enters the chain of the Divine world must do the will of the Father. If he does not do His will, he will bear the consequences himself. Sin is excluded in the Divine world. There are no wrong acts. Tell me about a wrong act according to your conception. You will say that someone has not acted with you as he should have. As soon as you say this, you judge yourself. No one has given you the right to judge. That man has not acted well with you, because you have stopped in a place where you should not be. As soon as you stop judging, all men will act well with you. This is what it means to live in the Divine and not in the human order of things.
A young Bulgarian maiden married a Bulgarian, but he proved to be a very awkward man. Whatever he started to do, he was unsuccessful. One day his wife said: "Put on this cassock, take a small kettle of water in one hand and a bunch of hyssop in the other and go from village to village and sprinkle the people with holy water. All the money you collect in the kettle you must bring to me." "See, I can do this work," said the young husband, and he went to work. After some time it was reported to the bishop that a certain peculiar priest went from village to village sprinkling people with water. The bishop ordered him to come to him and asked: "Who ordained you as a priest?" "My wife." I ask you: What does this show? It shows that people have created an order of their own which they follow. They follow the human, but neglect the Divine order of life.
The Divine order requires men to give. Giving is the first manifestation of love. Which of you has thought of this? Which of you, upon being asked about the first manifestation of low, could answer correctly? Thought is required of people. Now I am telling you things that you will hardly understand even after twenty years or more. For instance, in order to understand giving, you must give. He who gives is a good man. But the good is not something static. The good is a dynamic process. Man must constantly give, in order to be good. If he notices in himself the slightest desire not to give, at that moment he is not good. In this sense, every man can tell for himself whether he is good or not. He is good as long as he gives, but as soon as he stops giving, he is not good. The good man does not retain anything in himself. Since he does not retain anything within himself, he does the will of Cod, and consequently he enjoys inner peace.
I leave the question of giving with you for each one to solve for himself. Every man must decide for himself to give or not to give. Every spring which has abundant water gives constantly. The well gives temporarily and has little water. I leave it to you to decide for yourselves whether to be wells or springs.
It says in the Scripture: "Judge not that you be not judged!" This means: Do not judge and criticize people. You can criticize yourself, but with the standard of absolute justice. Neither exaggerate nor diminish the facts. The facts must be stated just as they are in reality. To criticize yourself is to take the rotten products out of your bag and replace them by fresh, new products. Take the old things out of your bag and fill it up with the new. The old habits you have inherited from your ancestors must be thrown out and replaced by new habits. The old and the new cannot be reconciled. In this respect, Christ was categorical. He said: "If you do not deny your father, your mother, and yourself, you cannot have life." You also speak about self-denial, but which of you has denied himself as he should?
Now, for instance, you have come to the mountain to receive something from it: refreshment, rest and transformation of your energies. You want to be given something and you are right in that. But do you give yourselves? You have all come here with cars, tents and other comforts. You must know one thing: only he who fulfills the law of giving can receive from nature what he has come for. Since he has come here, he must take care of three more persons, pay their automobile or train tickets and care for their meals here as for his own. You will say that some of you have wives and children. These are not taken into account. Each one must take care of three more people outside of the family. This is what summer resort means. Each man taking care only of himself is not the will of God. If God would begin to judge you, it would all be finished with you. Each man must judge himself. After passing judgment upon himself, he should write it down and take it to the invisible world. There they will say whether or not he is right. If they find it wrong, they will give it back for correction. Until the verdict is approved, man must correct and examine his acts.
Do not force the stone to walk in the path of the water. Let the stone go its own way. Adopt the character of the water which constantly flows, moves and gives something to everybody and does not wait for anybody. When you want to help someone, do not wait for favorable conditions, just as the water does not seek them.
Do not force the air to follow the course of the powers. Let the air follow its own course. Adopt the character of the air. When it wants to help a suffocating man, it immediately runs to his aid.
Do not force the powers to change their course. The powers cause man to think, feel and act.
These are new rules which you must follow. If you follow them, you will taste the happiness you are seeking. If you do not follow them, you will drink wormwood which will make you bitter. In order to rid yourself of the bitterness, you must regurgitate it.
Now I say to you: "Regurgitate all the old things you have eaten for thousands of years. When you become free of the old, your consciousness will shine forth, your soul will be freed from the heavy load of the past and like a new-born child, you will lift up your eye* and say: God,Thy will be done!" This is what it means to live in the Kingdom of God. I meet someone who can hardly stand on his feet and can neither think, feel nor do good, but who says that he is pleasing to God. If you cannot think, feel and do good, you are not pleasing to God. When you think, feel and do good, you are pleasing to God. There are no contradictions in God. Contradictions exist in the human and animal kingdom, as well as in the life of the spirits. What disturbs and torments man is not Divine. In this way, however, man is tested as to how well prepared he is to accept the new which brings joy and happiness to the soul. In order that freedom may come, man must by all means pass through limitations.
Suppose that a large boil has appeared on your body. It has taken up a large space and wants to convince you that it is the owner of that space. From time to time, you look at it, seeing that it has turned white, ready to burst. It, however, wants you to put certain oils on it. No oil is necessary. Take a needle, burn it well, and pierce the boil in the middle. It will gradually grow smaller, until one day it will entirely disappear. Man has such boils in his psychic life also. The thought, for instance, what people say about you, is such a boil. It is very simple - people say that you are crazy. Who would not say that you are crazy? You have climbed this high peak in this foggy weather, waiting for the sun to rise. Did you see the sun? You did not. There is a sun in man which never sets, and which no cloud or fog ever covers. Once this sun has risen, it never sets. If you do not want people to consider you to be crazy, when they ask you where you have been, say: Since I intend to build a house, I climbed this peak to choose some good, solid stones. But I like the water in the river also. I shall slake the line with it. I shall convince people that I know how to build houses which ordinary masons cannot build. When I say this to them, they will see that I am a sane man. And actually, besides the external house for living, man works for the construction of his inner house. Therefore, let your boils burst. You should not be offended by what people think of you. Let them laugh. When one laughs, one will find the right way.
A young maiden once married a young man. She was goad, but she was very easily offended. One day she cooked chicken. Her husband came at noon and said something which offended her. She set the table, but she did not want to eat. - Come to dine! - No, I am not hungry. Another time, she cooked chicken again and her husband offended her at dinner. - Come to dine! - No, I am not hungry and I do not wish to eat. A third time she cooked chicken. Her husband again said something to her which in another case would have offended her, but this time she smiled and said: I shall not be offended any more. If I continue in the old way, I shall be offended, while my husband will eat chickens without me. So I say to you: Do not be offended by what people say about you. Smile and eat the chicken*
Therefore, live according to the inner law of love - the law of giving. In this way you will test whether you love. This does not mean that violence should be inflicted upon your consciousness, that you should be forced to give. Each man must give voluntarily, out of love, without any external or internal compulsion. If you give out of love, you will always be rich.
Give in the new way, according to the law of love. This implies a denial of the old order of things, of one's old views and theories, of everything of the human order, and an acceptance of the new, the Divine order. Apply the Divine order of things so that you may receive the great blessings of life.
If the sun does not rise, if water does not flow, if air does not blow and if power does not impel, the new Will not cone into the world.
"The Divine Spirit bears all the bounties of life."
August 23, 5 A.M.
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