The Sunday Lectures, Vol.III

By Peter Deunov

The collection of lectures in this volume are part of Peter Deunov's lecture series, Power and Life, which he delivered every Sunday for the next 30 years. Deunov primarily draws on verses from the New Testament. He examines the words of Christ as they relate to us and our modern world. Our modern views, however, are problematic. According to ph

• Language: English
• Publisher: Eagle Rock Publishing
• Release date: Oct 6, 2021
• ISBN: 9781952996085

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The Good Treasure

The good man out of his good treasure brings out good things, and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings out evil things.—Matthew 12:35 (WEB)

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Christ speaks of two [different things] that are brought out: The good man brings out of the treasure of his good things, but the evil one—evil things. Both one and the other bring something from their treasures, but the results from bringing out are different. So, one and the same act, or one and the same cause produces two different results. Two people sow one and the same things on their fields, but the result of their sowing differs. What is understood by the words good and bad treasure? In order to acquire good treasure, one must work upon himself for thousands of years. Only in this way can one become wealthy and bring goodness out of his treasure. One becomes wealthy in two ways and in two different directions: one can become rich quickly, or one can gain assets in his life in the span of many years; he can simultaneously get rich soon or across the span of years, but acquire negative [assets]. Wealth is useful for people, but what kind of wealth? People have turned, and continue to turn, more attention to material wealth, but it’s a transient acquisition, and not an eternal one. Up to a certain time, wealth gives joy and satisfies man, but afterwards he looks for something else apart from material wealth. When studying the profound meaning of Christianity, one comes to the understanding that true development is hidden in the internal, spiritual wealth of the soul. The spiritual science, as it is called according to some religion, requires spiritual development from man. In this case, the word religion is not befitting, but there is no other word in the Bulgarian language that can replace it. By religious person they understand a stupid, narrow-minded fanatic who doesn’t think correctly. Some think that man becomes religious when he begins to age. I’m not speaking of the religion of old people, but of the Divine religion that includes the Divine science. Some replace the word religion with theosophy, which is based on reincarnation; others replace it with spiritism, which is based on relations between the spirits. However, both words, theosophy and spiritism, are narrow—they cannot capture the essence of Divine science. Today even the word God has lost meaning, which is why they replace it with the word nature. After some time the word nature will also be replaced by another one, more befitting to man’s understanding. It’s not important that you’ll replace one word with another one; what is important is for every word that displaces another one to accurately and definitely express its meaning.

The good man out of his good treasure brings out good things. How does one acquire the good treasure?—Through knowledge, patience, and consistency. What does the good gardener, who has many fruit trees (including walnuts among them), do? When he sees the walnut start to ripen, he doesn’t hurry to shake it, to remove its green husk, but he leaves it on the tree, until it bursts on its own. Upon seeing this, he already knows that the walnut is ripe. If he removes its green husk prematurely, the nut inside will spoil. When the walnut ripens, he crushes it, removes its green husk, then the shell, and finally he reaches the nut inside, which is also covered by a thin membrane, bitter in taste. Just as the walnut shuts its good treasure in several layers, in the same way man also hides his real treasure in several layers. Material wealth is the outer layer, which you must leave alone so it can freely ripen, and not to remove it prematurely. It’s a sure protection of the truly good treasure. From the outer layer the juices pass into the inner one, and from there—into the nuts themselves. The membrane that covers the nuts contains enough iodine. Eat walnuts and have no fear. They replace the need for iodine, the good treasure. Those who don’t understand the meaning of spiritual life say they don’t need wealth, but want to be closer to God. In order to be closer to God, it means being healthy—in body, in mind, and in the heart, that is, the forces within him to be well organized. If he’s not healthy, if his powers aren’t organized, he’s far from God. Proximity to God is not an outward, but an internal process. The same applies to ordinary people. Outwardly you may be close to someone, but inwardly you may stand far from him. What must one do in order to organize himself?—[He must] keep his outer layer until he ripens. Without it he will disturb the tenacity of his inner content. One must be patient, not to rush to achieve great results in a short span of time. Every result comes in its own time. Many rush, they immediately want to realize their desires, but they cripple themselves by doing this.

What is understood by the word, internal content? What is man’s internal content?—His soul, that is, the Divine origin within him, which draws the necessary forces from life, energies for expressing his qualities and abilities. In order to have life within oneself, it means to live consciously. Whoever doesn’t know how to live is not a conscious person. When speaking of conscious life, many say, it’s not important whether I live consciously or not; what’s important is that I keep my body. It’s right for one to strive to keep his body, like a strong outer protective layer, but one day it will fall on its own. Just as the walnut’s green covering cracks and falls away on its own, in the same way man’s body will one day fall, and he’ll remain with his second layer. When will this happen?—When one ripens. However, until he ripens, no-one has the right to take away his outer covering. The same applies to the walnut as well. In order to keep the nut from rotting, leave its green covering to crack and fall on its own. Oftentimes the children shake the walnuts before they’re ripe, and they sully their hands from the green covering. They do this because they like the walnut’s fresh nuts. When they grow tired from life, the people say, what do we need this body for? Hopefully we’ll free ourselves from it. They don’t understand the meaning of their physical body. While he’s in his body, man ripens and organizes his powers. If he loses his body, he prematurely falls from his tree of life, going to the other world unorganized and undeveloped. Christ says, the good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings out good things. ¹ The heart is located in man’s physical body. Should he deprive himself of his body, he also deprives himself of the life of his heart. This is why the physical body is a layer, that is, an intermediary through which the juices flow from outside to within, that is, from the outer, physical world, toward the spiritual one. Through food, for instance, man absorbs the necessary external materials for constructing not only his body, but also his soul. From a Divine viewpoint, man is not yet formed, he is not yet a real person, that is, he’s not quite ripe yet. From the viewpoint of the angels, he is likened to a tree, hence why it is said in Scripture, the righteous will be like trees, planted by the rivers of water. ² The tree is taken as a symbol of knowledge. So, knowledge is hidden in the tree, the science of life. There were many trees in the Garden of Eden, two of which stood out: one was the tree of life, the other one, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Upon creating the first people and putting them in Eden, God said to them, you may eat from every tree, but not from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. On the day you eat from that tree, you will die. With this God wanted the first people to turn their attention to the fact that, until they organize their physical body well enough, with all its organs and systems, they cannot properly absorb the juices and energies that come from the higher world and make use of them. When He forbade the first people from eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God wanted to tell them that they’re not yet ready for this science. Until they form and organize their outer covering, through which they can absorb the energies of the outer world, they cannot busy themselves with studying the second, harder covering—the bones of their body. The first covering implies the science of life, of the external world, and the second one—the science of knowing good and evil. Upon acquiring this knowledge, man comes to the third layer, to the membrane, which covers the walnut inside. Once he tries the nut, he has already come to the internal meaning of life.

When you study the human head, you see that it too is comprised of three layers: the outer one—the skin, the middle one—the bone, and an inner one—the membrane, which covers the brain. If the membrane gets damaged or inflamed, one becomes disturbed. To keep away from disturbance, one must work upon himself, to create a strong body for himself, to deal with the conditions given to him, and to use them. If he’s not strong physically and mentally, in a single moment one can lose his health and become disturbed. For instance, if someone put his faith and trust in money, upon losing them he can get a stroke in the head, a heart attack, and die. Some people lost the meaning of life and fell into despair from their smallest setbacks.

The matter from which the material world is made can be found in four different qualities. The first conditions are external—solid, liquid, gaseous, light or solar, warm, and the others—internal ones, in their composition—inorganic and organic matter. One of the characteristics of matter is that it passes from one condition into another one. This is achieved by altering its vibrations and, namely, raising and lowering them. When matter purifies, its vibrations are raised; once it loses its purity, it lowers its vibrations. When matter purifies, man also cleanses himself. His cleansing happens mainly through the heart. Under the word heart we understand the soul of feeling in man, or his astral body, which comes after the physical one. When he dies, man goes to the other world with his astral body, just as the walnut is planted into the earth with its hard shell, and not with the green one. The hard shell of the walnut cracks in the earth; afterwards the membrane tears as well, leaving just the nut, from whose center a new walnut emerges. The new walnut, which hides in the nut within, represents the actual soul of man, which needs to be studied.

The philosophy of human life is contained in the walnut. Study and observe the development and growth of the walnut, in order to comprehend the threads which create the philosophy of human life. If the threads are not woven one after another, as the woman weaves them, no cloth can be woven at all. On the same basis, our thoughts and feelings must also be woven, not randomly, but according to the laws of proper thought and proper feelings. Proper thought excludes any suspicion, fear, and doubt. Liberate yourselves from the thought that someone can deceive you. Be like the money changer. Who can deceive a money changer? When you take a yellow coin to him and present it as gold, he takes the measuring guide out of his pocket and tests it. If it conforms to the standards of pure gold, he puts it in a particular place, apart from the other coins which aren’t gold. One must have a measuring guide within himself with which to test things. In order to keep himself from being deceived, he must apply his measuring guide and test whether the coin presented before him is gold or fake.

What is necessary for contemporary people in order to keep themselves from being deceived?—Faith, experience, and seeing. So, faith must pass towards experience, experience towards seeing, and seeing—towards rational life. Apply this in your relationship with your family, with your friends, and you’ll see its good results. When they don’t understand the laws in life, people violate them and, ultimately, whatever evil or misfortune befalls them, they attribute everything to God. If someone falls ill they say that God decided this. They judge someone; again, God is considered to be the culprit. Man is to blame for his own happiness or unhappiness. He himself is the cause of diseases, of the difficulties and contradictions in which he finds himself. There are two types of fate or punishment: for evil and for good. On earth, only those who make mischief and evils are punished. When one commits some crime or evil, the guard immediately grabs him, turns him over to the police, and a lawsuit is filed against him. The greater his crime, the greater the noise that gets raised around him. In order to justify him, well-known lawyers take up his defense. The newspapers write about him, society reads and discusses the issue, giving its opinion and so on. And the criminal becomes famous, and both the lawyers and judges, who take part in the lawsuit, also become famous. However, when someone does a good deed, no-one cares about him. It’s very natural. There are no laws on earth which examine the people’s good deeds and give them what they deserve. On earth they judge only the criminals and evil-doers. It’s exactly the opposite in Heaven: there they care about people’s good deeds, and not the bad and criminal ones. Over there nobody cares about the mistakes and transgressions of people; no-one looks for them. If someone does one good deed, the famous lawyers and judges immediately get up on their feet and say, bring this person to us, so we can see what good deed he did, so we can give him what he deserves. The greater the good that he did, the more the people are interested in him, the more noise he raises around himself.

"The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings out good things." The good treasure of the heart represents the Divine soul, in which man stores what was given to him by God. Since he has something that was given to him, man must pull it out of his treasure in order to distribute it, so they can make use of it—just as he himself makes use of it, his neighbors must do so in the same way. All the goods in life are given by God. The good man has the right to draw from them, until he satisfies his natural needs. Afterwards he gives to his neighbors as well. In order to make use of the Divine goods wisely, man must be guided not only by his mind and heart, but also by his soul, to transmit the energies from the air through the lungs, from there through the cerebrospinal brain and, finally, into the central brain. This means for one to be active in mind and in heart, to resolve his tasks correctly, in order to make himself useful both to himself and his neighbors. Don’t the gardeners do the same? They first make use of the energy from the main source as they release the water through little channels, in order to satiate even the farthermost corners of the garden. You will say that this doesn’t happen quickly. One cannot do a task by rushing. Patience and perseverance is necessary for man, not haste.

An American doctor was called to treat a manafin in Malaysia. ³ After examining him, the doctor prescribed a medicine, to drink three spoonfuls a day in the span of ten days. His condition would improve upon drinking the medicine. The manafin examined the medicine, pondered and said to himself, why should I drink it for ten days? It’s better for me to drink it all at once so I can become healthy sooner. He raised the bottle and drank it all at once. In one or two hours his condition worsened and he died. Observe the laws and instructions of God, of nature, and the doctor who treats you. Follow the prescription given to you—three spoonfuls a day. God also writes in His book: Three spoonfuls a day. You’ll say that the manafin was a stupid man. What will you say about modern-day people who eat several foods during lunch, after which they drink up to two-three kilos of wine? When they overeat, they call a doctor to help them—they made their stomach upset, they lost their appetite, and so on. There are manafins everywhere, not only in Malaysia. When he doesn’t think correctly, man resembles the manafin who drank all the medicine at once, also like those people who overeat every day and make their stomach upset. From my perspective, 75% of today’s people overeat. Someone says that he doesn’t overeat. He doesn’t overeat, yet he wants to love everyone, and for everyone to love him. Isn’t this overeating? Can you give everyone what they want? Do you have the power of the sun? You don’t know how to love your mother, your father, your brothers and sisters, your friends, who did something good for you, yet you’re ready to love the whole world. One comes to know the human heart in difficult times. One must store the Divine energy within himself, to enrich his heart, so he can reveal his feelings in difficult times. In times like these, namely, he must have food with which to support the life of his neighbor.

An impoverished Russian prince married a young, beautiful woman from an upper-class lineage for love. In the first days after the wedding, he frequently kissed his beloved, but she became hungry and wanted to eat (she wanted bread).—Well, let’s kiss, he said.—I’m hungry! his beloved replied.—Well, let’s kiss! Let’s kiss today, let’s kiss tomorrow—she lost her disposition for her beloved, her love grew cold, naturally. She felt deceived by him; he was extremely poor, possessing only a single title. One doesn’t need only kisses, one needs many things. The repetitive kisses can kill a person. Some people’s kisses suck the energy of a person. These kisses are similar to suckers that don’t suck out the bad and impure blood of a person, but the pure. It’s enough to receive ten kisses like these, ten sucks, in order for you to see what they represent. I take the word kiss in a broad sense, not only in form. Everyone who stirs up the mind and heart of a person gives kisses like the sucker of a leech, however, he doesn’t just suck out the impure, but also the pure blood. The teaching of Christ doesn’t tolerate such kisses. It requires harmony everywhere and in everything. According to this teaching the crippled must walk, the blind must see, the stupid must wisen up. By the words, stupid person, I understand one who has no conditions for development. Shut a smart person inside a dark room and keep him there for ten years, you’ll see that he’ll become stupid, he’ll become idiotic. Why?—He has no conditions for development. And vice versa: if you give a stupid person good conditions for development, in ten years he’ll wisen up.

Christ says, the good man out of his good treasure brings out good things, and the evil man—evil things. Everyone must pull out the good things from his own heart, first for himself, and then for his neighbors. This means: you yourself must learn to love God, and then teach your neighbor. If you still haven’t learned this art, but teach others, they’ll expose you. They will immediately question you: "What did your God give you?" This isn’t a reproach but, before teaching others, open your mind and heart to the Divine light, in order to develop properly. Many shut themselves off from this light, like the walnut in its shell, yet they expect good results. This is impossible. Open up yourselves to the Divine light that will free you from all difficulties and contradictions. How do you check to see if the Divine light enters your mind and heart? The Divine light doesn’t bring any duplicity into the human mind and in the human heart. It’s similar to pure mountain spring water, which refreshes and invigorates a person. If you drink water that has various gunk, it will disturb your organism; it will bring gloom and darkness into your thoughts and feelings; it will cause division in you. Every teaching that raises and ennobles a man is Divine.

Today many preachers walk in the world in order to preach the doctrine of Christ, but few can convey it as it should be. The Americans and Englishmen sent many missionaries in the world in order to preach to the people, but along with Christianity they also brought alcoholic beverages. Some nations appealed to them, to keep from sending this poison. What would be the meaning of Christianity for a nation if, on one hand you raise it up, but on the other you poison it? To poison, to destroy a man, is the easiest task. You will say that you’re not one of these people. There is no man in the world who didn’t poison himself first. How many times a day did you put poison in your blood? Today you’re well-disposed, you have a Divine disposition in your spirit, but you allow one thought within yourself that immediately darkens your spirit, and you weaken, losing what you gained. How many times a day does man descend and rise! This is the manafin in every person, who, when he doesn’t listen to the Divine words, raises the bottle with the medicine and drinks it all at once. This man awaits death, nothing more.

What does death represent?—Purification, that is, leaving the old and unclean house so it can burn. A house in which the people lived for 30 years in disagreement, in arguments and misunderstandings, must burn down. A hospital where thousands of sick and contagious diseases passed, and where the walls are lined with groaning, crying, and uncleanliness, must burn down. Today God sends fire throughout the entire world, in order to cleanse all bad, unclean, and contagious thoughts and desires. This is how He will save the people from a greater evil. This is why God says, I’m already starting to dismantle what is old, what is rotting, so I may build something new, stable, and pure. Today I remove the outer shell of the walnut, so that the internal content—the nut—may come out and reveal itself. The human soul is hidden in the nut, where the good thoughts and desires develop, in which the will is tempered and the forces of the mind and heart organize. In order to create good thoughts and desires, it doesn’t mean that you must kill every desire within yourself. In the book, Light on the Path, it is said, kill every desire within yourself! This idea must be revised. It must say, "kill every bad desire within yourself, and resurrect every good desire." As you read this book you’ll see that many ideas within it need to be straightened out. Whoever wrote the book either consciously hid the truth, or he didn’t understand the profound meaning of things. When studying the Divine science, man must be guided by his inner understanding of things, not to fall into contradictions. If you come across conflicting thoughts, don’t rush in drawing conclusions. Think about them, and then make your conclusions.

Christ says, the good man out of the treasure of his heart brings out good things, but the evil one—evil things. This thought also has two sides: from one and the same place—the heart, [from which] the good one brings good things, and the evil one—evil things. Consequently, when I want to rectify the person, to the evil one I say to kill within himself every evil desire, so he doesn’t bring evil upon himself and the people. To the good one I say to resurrect within himself all good desires, to realize them, so it can go well both for himself as well as his neighbors. One must be careful in his desires, not to forget himself. If he goes too far in his good desires, he might encounter contradictions, the kind that bad desires create. An American professor loved his subject so much that he got carried away while teaching, and he held his students for half an hour, and sometimes even an hour after the lecture. They decided to give him a good lesson, to wean him from his custom of holding them back after the bell. One day they rubbed the chair where the professor sat with glue, and they screwed it in well into the floor. On that day the professor spoke for two whole hours and, when he finished his lecture, a whole half an hour had to pass for them to free him from the chair: his clothes were stuck to the glue. The professor found out who did the prank, and he no longer held his students after the bell rang. The time is nigh for all who are glued to their chairs to peel themselves off. Everyone must be cognizant of the fact that if he has no success in his tasks, the reason is because he’s glued to the chair. First peel yourself off, and then work. Being glued to the chair shows that people are still living with their old beliefs and convictions. If you can’t peel yourself off, ask someone to come and assist you, but do not remain glued down.

The good man out of his good treasure brings out good things, and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings out evil things. Christ lays out the issue sharply: good treasure and bad treasure. By the words, good treasure, He understands the human soul, which develops properly. According to the occultists, it represents man’s good karma. The good man kept God’s laws, he gathered good treasure into his heart and today he has something to bring and give to his neighbor. The evil man overstepped God’s laws, he did evil, with which he created bad karma. Today they put him in jail where he lays for several years, until he acquires some experience. Through sufferings, the juices of evil turn into good things. In whatever village you go, you’ll see how the villagers bring the manure from their dung site and use it to fertilize their fields and gardens. In this way they enrich the trees and flowers, turning them into [something of] good quality. Every person must bring the manure from his dung site, that is, to pull the evils from the evil treasure and to put them on his field, to fertilize it, to turn evil into good. Only in this way can one become wealthy. Nature never uproots the imperfect forms, but she ennobles and cultivates them. She uses everything in order to turn it into something good, which is a necessary element for man’s health.

How can one know which person has a good treasure in his heart? Imagine that you get up in the morning [feeling] happy, joyful, and throughout the entire day you keep your [good] disposition. In this case you have the good treasure in your heart. If, during all tribulations that occur throughout the day, you keep your [good] disposition, you are a wealthy person—you bring good things from your treasure. What is righteous on one day is righteous on many days. If you get up in the morning with a bad disposition in your spirit, and you cannot improve your disposition throughout the entire day, you carry a bad treasure within your heart. You’ll excuse yourself that you’re indisposed, that you’re sick, and so on. Nothing can excuse you—your treasure is not good. Nothing else remains for you to do, except to take your evil treasure and put it on the field as fertilizer. The sufferings will follow afterwards, but say to yourself, I’m ready to suffer so I can become noble, so I can acquire patience and love. One must be patient. Someone passes for being patient because the conditions force him to endure. This is bondage, not patience. Bondage is forced onto man, but patience is the result of rational human will. Never impose your beliefs, understandings, and convictions upon a person. Leave him free; [let] him plant his garden by himself, as he understands. You may give him seeds, but he must plant and cultivate them by himself. He might make some mistake—this means nothing. Evil is not in the mistakes that one makes, but in failing to straighten them out. It’s important for one to be free in order to develop properly. One must also give freedom to others, so they too may develop properly.

What do mothers do with their children? While the child is small, the mother wraps him in swaddling clothes, ties him up with swathing bands and he lays like this for hours. Before bathing him, she unwraps him, leaves him free for awhile, to kick a little with his feet, and when she bathes him, she quickly wraps him in the swaddling clothes, ties him up in the swathing bands, and lets him sleep in the cradle. The child should lie down and be calm—this is the law. Some religious people also act like this. They grab someone, put him in swaddling clothes, tie him up in swathing bands and say, we turned this person over to God. You didn’t turn him over, but you gave him limitations. Should you meet a person wrapped in swaddling clothes and tied up in swathing bands, follow the mother’s example. When four or five months pass she removes the swathing bands and frees the child. In this way she allows him to develop freely and naturally. If the child remains in his swaddling clothes, tied up in swathing bands for a long time, he will stop his development and will age prematurely. The mother doesn’t want to see her child aging prematurely. She wants him to become healthy, strong, to develop well. Upon entering a religious society, one first finds himself in the condition of a child wrapped in swaddling clothes and tied up in swathing bands. After awhile he frees himself from the swaddling clothes and swathing bands and begins to develop properly and naturally, to grow and become wise. He manifests the good treasure he carries within himself. Consequently, upon rising from sleep, one must ask himself whether he is free from the swaddling clothes and swathing bands. When he is convinced that he’s free, he starts to freely move his hands and feet, to stretch, which shows that he’s ready for work. The hands and feet represent the human will. So, when one’s eyes, tongue, hands, and feet are free, this shows that he has a mind, heart, and will, with which he can work, to fulfill the will of God. Sleep represents the swaddling clothes and swathing bands in which one is wrapped. If you wake up, untie the swathing bands, remove the swaddling clothes and say, thank you, Lord, for giving me freedom, so I can move and work, [and] apply my will, mind, and heart, to serve You, to do Your will. Prepare yourselves for Heaven while you’re still on earth, because there’s no sleep there; there are no swaddles and swathing bands. Work upon yourselves so you may ennoble your soul, so you may develop your spiritual body with which you will rise. There are people who will rise while still on earth. Regarding them, namely, apostle Paul says that their outer layer will fall; they will rise and change. Strive for the resurrection as an internal process. This is what it means for one to free himself of all doubts and limitations. Believe in your mind and heart, in your spirit and soul, which God put into you, and you will rise. Consequently, if you carry a good treasure within yourself, you must recognize it. If you carry an evil treasure, fertilize your field with it, in order to transform it into something good. This is the thought that Christ put into the verse regarding the good and evil treasure.

It’s time for man to pass from the transient and limited toward the eternal; from the swaddles and swathing bands toward freedom; from the milk toward hard food. If the little child feeds on milk, it’s in the order of things, but if the young woman and young man still want to suckle, this is an unnatural process. Once he begins to walk, the child can already feed on hard food. Freedom is necessary for his growth and development. Let the horse go free, so you can see that he knows how to jump and kick. On the field his jumping is in the right place, but in the city it’s not the right place. He might trample some child, or even an elderly person. Freedom is necessary for all living beings, but at the right time and in a specific place.

The good and bad treasure. Everyone must answer himself whether he falls into the [category of] good or evil people; into the [category of] believers or unbelievers. Which person is an unbeliever?—Whoever doesn’t have light in his mind. Open the windows of his house, so light from outside can enter. If he doesn’t have money for opening windows, let him open them by himself. Whomever they place in a dark room without windows, he will surely become an unbeliever. Faith manifests in the light, whereas faithlessness [manifests in] the dark. One must transform his life, that is, to leave darkness and to enter into the light. Every morning, upon rising from your sleep, say to yourselves, I am a good and wise person, because God created me. You will say this is not true. From my perspective, everything created by God is good and wise. In order to convince yourselves of this, throw away your old tattered clothes, so you can see the Divine garment with which God dressed you. Who is to blame if you dress in old rags and cannot recognize yourselves? Don’t believe those who uphold the idea that man is sinful by nature. Only he is sinful who lives in a dark, gloomy basement and doesn’t know how to go outside. Pull this person out of the cellar and put him in the Divine world, in freedom and a large open space. Christ turns to the good and wise people, so they can pull the good treasure from their hearts and help their fallen brothers. Give freely, so that you may also be given. Give from your own gold, and not from your paper money, because paper money doesn’t work in Heaven. Every good thought, every good feeling, and every good deed is money in coins, which never lose their price and value. The good treasure implies money in coins, but evil [is] paper money. David says, my mother conceived me in sin. He admits that sin is a human creation, and not a Divine one. John, however, says, I was conceived in God. Whoever lives in a dark room and brings evils from his heart is conceived by the devil. Whoever lives in an illuminated room and brings goods from his heart is conceived by God. Live and work like Christ, so that you may be one with God. This is what Christ requires from all people, so they may revive, so that societies and nations may reorganize themselves, so the new life may permeate everywhere, to establish the Kingdom of God on earth.

It’s not enough to know who Christ is and what He did, but everyone must ask and answer what he himself has done. Everyone knows what Christ did two thousand years ago. Everyone sees what He is doing today, but what have you done as a man, and what are you doing?—You, who now speaks, what are you?—Come, let’s work together, so you can see what I am. If we work together and I take 90% of the earnings, but give you 10%, you’ll see how orthodox I am. However, if I give you more, but take less for myself, or if we divide our earnings in half, you’ll understand me nevertheless. This is what the verse means that Christ said: By their deeds you will know them. Today I want everyone to untie their money-pouches, their minds and hearts, to throw aside their swaddles and swathing bands, and to begin to move their hands and feet freely. This is desired from both religious and worldly people alike. Rational life requires this from man. You will say this is easy to say, but difficult to put into work. Whoever speaks with love, he works easily—with love. He passed through difficulties and sufferings, he understood life and knows how to work. His words are filled with content and meaning.

Christ came on earth to reinvigorate all of mankind, the nations, societies, as well as each person individually. Hence why everyone must say to himself, I can do everything together with God, with the angels, with the saints, and with good people. If everyone says this to himself, the world will become better and everything will move forward. There are three ways in which a person can enter the narrow path, that is, the Divine path: The first way is to push the train that takes you on this path; the second way—to race with it, and the third—to get on the train and to let yourself be taken freely to the designated destination. If you see this train, don’t push it to go, it moves on its own; don’t race it—you cannot follow it, but, get inside and trust that it will take you to the Kingdom of God. I wish for you to be that good person of whom Christ speaks, who, out of the good treasure of his heart he brings good things.

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—Lecture by the Master, held on 20 May 1917, in the city of Sofia

2

Abide

If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.—John 15:10 (NKJV)

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If you keep My commandments and abide in My love. In the original, the word if has a different meaning, and not as it does in the Bulgarian language—a condition. The verb keep relates to the human will. To keep the commandments means to fulfill them, and fulfillment happens only via participation of the will. Whoever doesn’t fulfill God’s commandments cannot abide in His love. So, it’s not enough for one to merely abide in the Father’s commandments, but to also abide in His love. In both a broad and narrow sense, fulfilling God’s commandments gives one and the same result.

When we come to the outer side of things, to the outer world, we see that something binds us to it. The same can be said about the relationship between man’s organs and his soul and spirit. If the soul and spirit do not maintain the hands, feet, brain, lungs, and stomach, nothing would remain of man. The spirit maintains all the organs of the body in complete order and organization. The soul however abides in the functions, which the organs fulfill, and makes use of the energies which they perceive and transfer. The soul doesn’t keep the air, but it abides in it. Breathing, thinking, [and] feeling represent abiding, whereas the actions that accompany them we call keeping. One of the processes that takes place in the human organism we refer to as either free or dependent upon our will; the others are limited, independent of our will. The movement of the hands and feet depends on our will, but the beating of the heart, breathing, digestion do not depend on us.

Abide in My love. Whoever doesn’t understand life’s basic law—love—thinks he can restrict it. One cannot put a limitation on love, it refers to free action. One can abide in love, but not to restrict it. In abiding, one simultaneously perceives and gives—a proper exchange takes place. In keeping the commandments there is fulfilling, giving—expending energy. To some, the issues regarding keeping and abiding seem abstract: Whether they’re abstract or not depends on them. As one thinks, so it happens. If he closes his eyes, naturally, he’ll be unable to see. Since he doesn’t see, he also cannot understand things. Seeing and not seeing depend on man. When he closes his spiritual eyes, he neither sees, nor will he understand. Consequently, if you want to see and understand, open your eyes.

A certain movement is hidden in understanding (as an internal process). For instance, in order to study an area and understand it, you must travel through it. In order to study some unclear issue, you must make a little effort. What do you do when you want to light an electric lamp? You grab the key, turn it, and say, let there be light! and it becomes bright around you. Why don’t you say that you want light in your mind as well? Enter a library, take the book where the issue is addressed, which interests you, and start reading. Once you work for awhile in this direction, the murky issue will become clear. Man wasn’t born educated, but with effort, consistency, and labor he achieves what he desires. For the one who doesn’t work with love, life represents suffering and hardship. He constantly complains that he’s suffering, that he’s in peril, but what kind? Even he doesn’t know. The sufferings and hardships that man goes through show the presence of some disharmony in his life. The intelligence of nature turns your attention in order to straighten out the mistake that caused your disharmony. If you cannot straighten it out on your own, turn to some doctor or craftsman who knows how to straighten out mistakes. You will say that you have to pay the doctor. One needs to pay. Furthermore, the better and more experienced the doctor, the more you will pay. The greater the severity of your illness, the more experienced doctor you must seek. The inexperienced doctor takes less money, but instead of helping, he can cause you harm.

Today, most people seek an easy way to acquire something great, or to enter the Kingdom of God. There is no easy way for entering the Kingdom of God. Whoever came on earth to study and work mustn’t evade the difficult path. Whoever is grateful for the difficult and arduous path in life, he has the conditions to rise. To seek the easy path means for you to expose yourself to danger. The easy path is [a] man-made [concept], whereas the difficult one is Divine. If someone lifts you up on the mountain and drops you down from there, over a sloping area, you’ll easily get to the foothills of the mountain, but this doesn’t show that you solved the difficult issue yourselves. In the same way, even the children slide down with their sleighs during winter time. The teaching of Christ is neither a teaching of sliding down, nor is it one of descending, but of rising, and with difficulty and effort. See how the peasants dig with their pickaxes; see how they overturn the earth with their rakes. You will say that neither the pickaxe, nor the peasant’s rake interests you. However, you must know that Christ makes use, namely, of rakes and pickaxes. They’re the instruments with which He teaches the people how to plough and dig through their fields. There’s a profound meaning hidden in the pickaxe, rake, the oxen, the goad.

How does the Bulgarian plough the earth?—With oxen, sometimes with two oxen, and sometimes with four, or six. It’s not important with how many oxen he ploughs, because the principle is one and the same. And the two principles are in action during the ploughing: I keep and I abide. The two oxen represent the human mind and the human heart; the rake—the human body, and the goad—the law which, from time to time, pokes the mind and heart, to remind them that they must work and follow the direction, the course. Some people think they’re free, but everyone is actually harnessed—somewhere in twos, somewhere in threes, or four at a time. They unharness you from time to time, so you can rest. When do the oxen rest? When the master says so. Once they rest, their master harnesses them to work again. That’s the reality. You will say that this is the condition of the oxen. Do you think the souls of the oxen are deprived of intelligence? In a certain sense the ox stands higher than man. They say about some person that he’s patient like an ox. So, the ox is taken as a symbol of patience. What will you say about the grains of wheat, placed in various conditions? Those which are placed in favorable conditions for development have grown and they yield good-quality fruits. The others, which were not in favorable conditions, were unable to grow. However, this doesn’t mean the latter grains of wheat don’t hide within themselves the same potential as the first seeds, [which were] placed in favorable conditions. Consequently, whatever the relationship is between the first and the latter grains of wheat, it’s the same between the soul of man and the ox. Today the ox is deprived of conditions for development, to express the qualities of his soul. A day will come when God will place him in conditions where he’ll be able to express his abilities. Then you’ll see that people possessing talent and genius will come out of him, the kind that we find nowadays. Today the ox ploughs, he overturns the earth, he fulfills the basic law and helps man. For the work he does, his master feeds him, and he shows gratitude for being fed. The same happens with man. He also works; he labors and he eats three times a day. He sits before the dinner table, he eats and says, the world is well created. It’s true, the world is well created, but you must thank your Master, who feeds you for the work that you completed. If you stop working, the Master also stops feeding you. When you begin to hunger you start weeping, praying, until your Master releases the food that is so dear to you again. In relation to his work, man resembles the horse who, when he becomes accustomed to the weight, cannot make use of his freedom even if they release him. A horse worked for a whole 30 years for his master and when he became old, his master freed him from work, he let him go free in the forest. However, every day, at the same time, the horse came by the well where he used to haul water for watering the garden, and he stopped there; he expected his master to come, to put him to work.

Christ says, if you keep My commandments. Which commandments?—Those which can make human life happy and meaningful. Upon hearing one speak of these commandments, many say that they read them. Since you read them, I ask, did your life become happy and decent?—We didn’t become happier.—Since you’re not happier, this shows that you read without understanding them. Afterwards Christ says, you will abide in My love. Can you expect something greater than applying the Divine commandments? There’s no greater joy in a home if the husband abides in God’s commandments, and in His love, and the wife—in her husband’s commandments. Why do the families become upset?—Because neither the husband nor the wife fulfill their promises. The husband promises to keep and abide in God’s commandments, but upon marrying he forgets everything: he starts drinking, partying with friends, and he spends everything. The wife says, I cannot live with such a man. Consequently, a family in which the husband doesn’t abide in God’s commandments, and the wife doesn’t abide in her husband’s commandments, is condemned to death. If the husband doesn’t abide in the Divine commandments and doesn’t do His will, [then] the wife is also free from obeying her husband’s commandments. However, if the husband fulfills the will of God and abides in His commandments, but the wife doesn’t abide in her husband’s love, [then] she is responsible. This is what Christ preached to his disciples.

You will abide in My love. Whoever abides in God’s love fulfills His commandments. Whoever doesn’t abide in love cannot fulfill the commandments. He makes mistakes, like the children. In [the province of] Varna, in St. Nikolaevka, the priest’s wife wiped her house down well: she washed and cleaned it. This was before Ascension Day. ¹ She was in a hurry to complete her task so she could go to church the next day early in the morning. Her child, a ten-year-old boy, saw how they threshed during the summer and, when he remained alone at home, he decided to also do some threshing, to play. He took corn in a container and released all the geese in the room. He threw corn to the geese, chased them, ran after them—he had a good time. When they passed by the priest’s house, the neighbors heard a great raucous, but they didn’t know what was going on inside. They saw the priest’s wife at church and told her, something is happening in your house, but we don’t know what. We can hear screaming and noise from afar. After the service, the priest’s wife immediately went home and, to her amazement, upon entering the room she saw all the geese honking, flying, throwing themselves on the walls, and the little champ chasing them, making them flail. When he saw his mother, the culprit immediately ran off, leaving her alone to deal with the uninvited guests.

Many people do as the children do: Their mothers wipe down and clean the walls, yet they bring the geese inside, to entertain themselves with them. In this way they want to show that they’re free, but this is a childish freedom, a childish understanding. Someone has a good disposition in his spirit, he’s inspired by something Divine, but suddenly his child enters the room and brings the geese and ducks after him—he devises an entertainment. The father sees that the room is dirty, and in a single moment the good disposition leaves him. To keep themselves from losing their good disposition, the mother and father must shut their room with nine keys, so the children don’t enter with the geese inside, to make a mess. The mother and father are at fault, and not the child. Upon finding the room open, [the child] enters inside, takes the corn, and brings the ducks and geese so he can play with them.

If you keep My commandments. Since the verb keep refers to the will, never say that you cannot do something; that some issue is murky and you cannot understand it; that you have unfavorable conditions, or that the time has not yet come for you to manifest, and so on. Leave these things aside. Who stumbled the first people in paradise? God placed them in favorable conditions for development, but they transgressed and left paradise. The fault lies in them, in their hidden desires. Man stumbles when he doesn’t understand his desires; he doesn’t know whether they’re beneficial or not. The wife of an American millionaire had many desires and didn’t understand when and how she must fulfill them. When she went to Paris, she entered all the great boutiques and bought everything her eyes saw. One day she bought objects at an extraordinarily high price and, lacking the ability to pay them in full, she signed them under her husband’s name, who was well-known among the great merchants in Paris. Upon receiving the bills for payment of large sums [of money], he immediately paid them off, but decided to divorce his wife. In order to free himself from his obligation to her, he built a house for her—a palace for $15 million; he handed her $30 million, to spend them as she saw fit. He preferred to give her large sums [of money], to secure her well, but to save himself from ruin.

Just as the millionaire did with his wife, God does the same with those who waste the Divine goods. He gives them $45 million at their service and divorces them. You will say that whoever has $45 million at his service is a happy man. Woe to him who is divorced from God. He’s ready to commit all kinds of crimes. Whoever doesn’t keep the Divine commandments can commit all crimes. If you want to free yourselves from evil and [drive] crimes away from yourselves, and from within, keep God’s commandments and abide in love. When you rise in the morning from sleep, if you’re a woman, ask yourself the following questions: do I keep my husband’s commandments, and does my husband keep the Lord’s commandments? Do I abide in my husband’s love, and does my husband abide in the love of the Lord? If you answer these questions affirmatively, you will spend the entire day in peace and joy, because God has blessed you. If your answer is negative, you’ll be dissatisfied, indisposed, unhappy. Why are people unhappy?—Because they do not fulfill God’s commandments, they don’t abide in His love, yet in spite of this they want to realize all their desires. Greed makes people unhappy.

A hunter, who often went hunting in Stara Planina, ² related the following experience: When he passed by a river in the mountain, he saw a bear with five little cubs on the shores of the river. They played by the shore while the mother constantly reached in the water and pulled little crabs, which she gave to her cubs. He stopped to observe them, but what did he see? While the mother handed the crabs to her little ones, one of them went ahead of the other ones and ate the crabs. The others didn’t get a turn to eat even one crab. Upon noticing this, the bear smacked the greedy cub very hard, which rolled on the ground. Finally she left for her lair and turned to the punished cub, but she saw that it was dead. She took it in her hands, rocked it, but couldn’t bring him back to life. Saddened by the loss, she went into the forest.

Man also carries one greedy cub within himself, which he must discipline and punish. He has a right to punish it, but not in a way that will kill him. If he kills it prematurely, he will suffer. This is why Christ says, whoever wants to be happy must have a tempered will, an illuminated mind, and a pure heart. He must keep My commandments the way I keep My Father’s commandments, and he must abide in Me the way I abide in God’s love. Only in this way can man be great, because God—He who lives within him, is great. Consequently, open your hearts and souls for God, so He may enter you with His commandments and His love, in order to make you great and powerful. Then one says that everything he desires to achieve is possible. If you keep God’s commandments and abide in His love, you will understand the verse uttered by Christ: What is impossible with man is possible with God. Where is this God?—Within everyone who does His will.

Some want to know how to tell who keeps God’s commandments. It’s very simple. If your thoughts are clear and positive, your feelings are noble and pure, you keep God’s commandments and abide in His love. I told you to check things. Regarding everything, apply the words, try and see. If you have some difficult issue to solve, don’t hurry to solve it at once, but think about it for a few hours, until light comes into your mind. If you cannot solve it by the evening, this shows that you have some negative thought that is stumbling you. Free your mind from the negative thoughts, and your heart from the unclean feelings, and start thinking about the question that interests you. You will say that you don’t have free time to devote hours and days on this question. You’ll continue working whatever you have to do, but will think at the same time. If you cannot solve the issue in a single day, you’ll solve it in a week; it’s important to solve it correctly. If you want to know whether your heart abides in love, see if you have internal peace and tranquility. If you have internal peace, whatever happens to you, even if you become discouraged externally, you’ll be inwardly calm. Whether you believe in this or not is unimportant. Make an attempt, and you will see the conviction of my words. Many of the sufferings of today’s people stem from external influences and suggestions. This shouldn’t disturb you. Man has willpower, with which he can endure all hardships and sufferings. If you have strong willpower, you can do wonders. Whoever has a strong and intelligent will can cope with even the most severe sufferings. In this case, the martyrs of Christ set an example. They were burned, torn to pieces, tortured, but by the power of their will they endured everything without feeling pain. They kept God’s commandments and abided in love. If the starfish can recover its severed or