Reflection
What is the difference between the healthy and the sick, between the wise
and the foolish, between the strong and the weak? There is something that
distinguishes them. What is the distinguishing quality of a capable and gifted
student? – He studies well and never repeats a grade. It is not enough for a
student to progress from one grade to another and upon finishing school, to
forget everything. What kind of student is he who acquires knowledge
throughout the year and forgets it during the vacation? What kind of student is
he who has forgotten the knowledge and experiences he acquired in his past
existences? It is as if a person carries in his mind the thought that he once was
well educated or rich.
Thought alone does not feed a person. His striving towards getting rich has
a definite place in the brain, above the temples. The more a person strives
towards getting rich, the more this center develops. Often people get cancer
because of their great greed for money and wealth. The cells in their
limbs become individualized, grow, become independent and do not listen to
their master. When they get sick, they turn to doctors for help. The doctors
perform surgeries, cut out the cancer, remove the tumor, but after that the
patient also departs to the other world. Why? – The cells do not want to obey
their master.
A man needs several essential things: eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hands, and
feet, through which he enters into communication with the external world. In
order to achieve this, he must be in a special state. Otherwise, he will look,
listen, smell, speak, eat, and move, but mechanically. It is time already to free
oneself from mechanical life. Mechanical life implies movement by inertia, in
which consciousness does not participate. Anger and anxiety over losing
something valuable create in a man a state of inertia, and once he succumbs to this state, it
is difficult to return to his original position. Having lost something valuable, a
man loses his self-control and surrenders to worry and anxiety. If he becomes
angry, he loses his inner peace, which he cannot restore for a long time.
Anger is useful as energy when it is under the influence of the mind, the
heart, and the will. If they cannot regulate it, anger acts destructively. It is a
flood which causes great damage. Whatever it encounters on its way, it
carries it along with itself. If this flood can be controlled, it does useful
work—watering gardens, trees, flowers.
One thing is required of a human being: to be brave and resolute in doing
good. Whether angry, or calm and peaceful, one must be brave. In the first
case, one must be brave enough to control one’s anger, while in the second,
brave enough to demonstrate goodness. When things go well for a person,
he is brave. When he encounters contradictions along his way, he becomes
frightened and retreats. Why does he retreat? God is present in
contradictions too. Through them He tests people. Why should they not be
brave and solve the problem hidden within the contradiction, but retreat instead?
Fear implies some weakness. As soon as a person notices any fear within
himself, he must work to deal with it and overcome it. If he does not free
himself from fear, he resorts to lying—either white or black lies. Children
usually lie. When they have done something wrong that leads to punishment,
they resort to lying to avoid being punished.
The lives of many people are built upon the white lie. When they cannot keep their
promise, they resort to the white lie. When they become frightened, they
again use the white lie. When they want to achieve something prematurely,
again the white lie comes to the surface. Why must a lad tell a maiden that he is
dying for her? Will he actually die for her? – He will not. Moreover, has he ever
died before, to know what death is? Then why speak words that will not come
true? Avoid lies, whether white or black.
The Japanese have a custom: at the eve of a New Year they visit everyone they are indebted to and pay off their debts. The New Year must find them without debts. A young man, the son of a wealthy family, had large debts that he
needed to repay. He went to one of his creditors—a well-known banker—to
settle his debt and said to the banker: “I owe you a large sum, but since I
cannot repay it, according to tradition I will perform harakiri, I will commit
suicide in front of you. I cannot bear the shame of owing such a large
amount.” The banker became worried and told the young man: “Don’t commit
harakiri, I am ready to forgive your entire debt. Do not kill yourself.” Upon
hearing these words, the young man thanked him and started to leave. “Wait,
stay for a cup of coffee” added the banker. “I can’t, I’m in a hurry: I still need
to go to several other places to commit harakiri.” The Japanese man goes
around all his bankers to perform harakiri.
People often use some folk custom in order to arrange their personal affairs.
They apply again the white lie. Some use it out of fear, while others – out of
weakness. The strong one frightens the weak one. The first advances, the second
retreats. If you realize you are strong, advance; if you realize you are weak,
retreat. In other words, if you are strong, solve your task yourself; if you are
weak, do not make mistakes which are hard to resolve, but let others solve
your task. Whoever cannot solve their task themselves, let them seek help
from one, two, three people, until finally it is resolved properly.
One of the great tasks given for resolution is the task of serving God. It is as
easy as it is difficult. Few have resolved it correctly. A person can serve God
both with love and without love, but the results are different. Thus, he serves
both good and evil, regarding them as forces which mutually assist each
other. A person is strong only to the extent that he gives conditions for the
good and the love within him to manifest. If he wishes to preserve his
strength, he must never stop doing good. Never delay the time for doing
good. Once you have decided to do good, do not delay. Even if robbers are
chasing you and guards are pursuing you, you can still turn aside and do a
small good deed. Imagine that someone is chasing you to kill you. At that
moment you see on your path a dying horse, fallen from extreme exhaustion,
weakness and thirst. If you can stop for a moment, find water, and give it to
the dying horse, you are ready at any moment to do good; you love goodness
and are connected with it. Do good with love and do not be afraid. The rich
man fears doing good lest he becomes poor. There is no case in life where
someone has done good and become poor. It is impossible to do good
without love. Anything done without love is evil. Conversely: anything done
with love is good. Whoever finds himself in the realm of evil, must strive to
commit the least evil. Upon entering the realm of Good and Love, one must
strive to accomplish the greatest good.
What is the greatest good a person can do? – If one can give a piece of
bread and a glass of water to a dying person and support them, that is the
greatest good at that moment. This dying person has spent forty days fasting;
if he fasts one more day, he will certainly die. If you give him a little bread and
water at that moment, you have done the greatest good for him. You might
say that money is important, that without money one cannot live. Before
death, money is worth nothing. In this case, bread and water are preferable.
For the discouraged, a kind word is worth more than any money. For the
discouraged, the sick, the dying, a good and compassionate person is a rope
by which they are saved. He transmits something of himself to them. A
person cannot transmit something of themselves to others if they do not carry
it in their mind, in their heart, and in their soul. For example, a believer can
pass on some of their faith to others, without even speaking of it. However, a
non-believer, no matter how much they preach about faith, will achieve
nothing. Their words will pass and go past people’s ears, without touching
them. Faith occupies a special place in the human head. It is enough to look
at a person’s head to recognize whether they are a believer or not.
Faith has different manifestations. It is not the same whether a person
believes in God, in his neighbor, or in himself. Whatever and whomever a
person believes in, this is imprinted on his face. It is said in Scripture: “I have
drawn you with My love.” This means that Love has threads with which it
draws or binds a person. The power of Love determines also the strength of
human faith. If Love is manifested in its fullness, then faith is steadfast and
uninterrupted. It acts both in calm and in difficult times; it accompanies a
person everywhere—both in this world and in the other world. With faith and
love, a person is well received both in this world and in the other world. He
has good friends everywhere, who will meet him with joy. Without faith and
without love, he feels lonely everywhere, like a stranger away from his
homeland. He has eyes and does not see, he has ears and does not hear; he
carries within himself only the awareness that he is alone, abandoned by
everyone. Knowing this, do not ask why you must love. You will love people
on Earth in order to see the external world. You will love the intelligent beings
in the invisible world in order to see through them the world in which they live.
When talking about love between people, they ask themselves whether one
can love a bad person. Can a good and a bad person be friends? How can
the bad person be corrected? – By placing him between two good people.
Unless he is placed among good people, he can never improve. If you look at
The (Bulgarian) letter „zh“ (Ж), you will see that it represents nothing else but a friendship
between two bad and one good, righteous person. Thus the strength of the
righteous or the good person is tested. This means that bad people oppress
the good one. How will he free himself from them? – By loving them. They
have turned their backs to him and look outward, toward the external world.
Therefore Christ says to love your enemy. The letter „zh“ (Ж) also shows the
position of a bad person between two good people. In one case the straight
line in the letter „zh“ (Ж) shows the position of the good person between two
bad ones. In another case, the straight line shows the position of the bad
person between two good people. Thus they help and influence each other.
Knowing this, do not let bad people join together. Place good people among
them, to reduce the power of evil. Therefore, do not reconcile evil with good,
but through good the power of evil should be weakened. If this is achieved,
good and evil will go parallel and will fulfill God’s will.
Don’t think that a good person can do everything he desires all by himself.
Can he give life to the dead? Can he make people rich and happy? The task
of the good one is to fulfill his duties – nothing more. If he does that, he has
fulfilled his purpose – to soften the blows of evil. Can you love another’s child
as much as its mother and father love it? – “I want to help him, to lift him up” –
If you want to help him, you must love him more than his parents do. If you
love him as much as they do, you are not needed. Moreover, you must love
his parents as well. If you don’t love them, your love is selfish. This is how
you love a hen too: you feed her, care for her, so you can take her eggs. It is
difficult nowadays for a person to show absolutely selfless love. If this is
impossible, he must at least be fair. To be fair, good, and loving, a person
must possess a high level of awareness, he must have risen above the
ordinary conditions of life.
Beware of the common consciousness that creates anxieties, worries, and
contradictions. While living in this consciousness, a person often falls into
delusions. In a poor American village they appointed a preacher, about whom
it immediately became known that his hair was combed straight back, with a parting in the middle. The villagers did not like to comb their hair this way and immediately spoke out
against him. They said they did not want such a preacher. Whilst they were
preparing their protest in writing, the preacher had already arrived in the
village. What was their surprise when they saw that his head was completely
bald. He had no hair at all, and they had been deceived, yielding to false
rumors. What is wrong if someone combs his hair straight back with a parting? – It is better
to have a parting than no parting at all. Just as hair is combed straight back with a parting, so
thoughts must have a parting. How do they paint Christ; how did He comb His
hair, with a parting or not? The letter “zh” (Ж) represents a man’s hair combed
with a parting. On the left side of the head is evil, on the right – good, and in
the middle – the person himself who benefits from the forces of good and evil.
And so, remember that a good, righteous person is situated between two bad
people, as if in prison. What should he do? – he should pray. This is how good
people prayed when Apostle Peter was put in prison. In answer to their
prayer, an Angel came down from heaven, pushed the prison door and went
in to Peter. He touched the chains and they fell from his feet. Then he said to
Him: “Go out and never return to prison again.” Is this fair? – For the weak it is
fair: once someone comes from outside to free him, he must not return to
prison. Whoever is under the influence of evil, is in its prison; whoever is
under the influence of good, is in the prison of good. Which of the two prisons
is better? In the prison of evil they will beat you several times a day, and in
the prison of good they will feed you regularly with clean, healthy food, will
take you for walks, and in the evening will bring you back to prison, to rest.
As they do not understand life, many people worry about little things. The mother
worries about her children and her husband, the man worries about his wife,
the children worry about their parents. Scholars worry that someday the Sun might stop shining and that life will cease. This is strange! Why would you fear that the Sun will go out? In order for it to shine and burn, someone has lit it. The One who lit it takes care of it; He knows why He lit it. He who lit it is higher than the Sun. This is God, Who is Light that never goes out or darkens. Knowing this, strive to deal with worry. “How can we not worry when
we are hungry, when we haven’t eaten for several days?” What should a
hungry and tired traveller do? Imagine that a traveller passes through a village:
he has fasted three or four days, he has no bread, no money in his pocket. If
he is reasonable, he will easily deal with his situation. There are two ways to
do this: external and internal. If he works externally, he will enter someone’;s
home to rest. He will begin to tell something from his life, thereby making the
host well-disposed to give him something to eat as well. If he works internally,
he will seek some good trait in the character of the hosts, through which he
will open their hearts. He must penetrate the secret little chamber of their souls,
where God lives, and connect with them. If he thinks well of them, they will
surely welcome him kindly and feed him. If he thinks ill of them, he will
provoke evil and instead of receiving him well, they will rob him.
In every person lives both good and evil – it depends on you which one you
will awaken in him. Good and evil must be tested in order to know which one
is stronger in you. If evil is stronger, you will work on the good, at least to
balance them. In the beginning the good is weak, and the evil – strong; in the
end evil is weak, and good – strong. Love, however, is equally strong both in
the beginning and in the end. The more good increases, the greater the
conditions for the manifestation of Love. If good does not start with its weak
side and gradually strengthen, Love will never manifest itself.
One of the main laws of Love is that it gives everything and takes everything.
This does not mean that you should desire the whole world to be yours, nor
should you wish for all blessings to be yours. Give your loved ones the
opportunity to share in your blessings, so they may become your friends.
Give your love to your loved ones, so you may be loved and respected by
them. If you do not give your loved ones the opportunity to share in your
knowledge, in your goodness, in the blessings and love you have, you can
achieve nothing. If you are a singer, do not sing only for yourself, but sing for
the sick, for the discouraged, and for the despairing. Sing them a song, say to
them a sweet, encouraging word. Say to the sick and to the discouraged: “As
surely as the Sun rises, so too will your affairs be set right.”
Today everyone is asking who will win the current war. To ask such a question
means to ask who will win: the river or the rock? The river must follow its
path, to flow into the sea. The rock may deflect the water, but only to direct it
where it is needed. If it meets no obstacles, the river must follow its way—to
flow where it is needed. If it deviates from its path, it will circle around and
again go where it is expected. A person has come to Earth to fulfill God’s will.
A maiden and a lad marry in order to learn to love the Lord mutually. If they
do not learn to love the Lord, their marriage is pointless. If you have a friend,
your task toward him is this: to teach him to love the Lord. And he has the
same task toward you. All people must love the Lord and realize that He is
Love. When Love enters human minds, hearts, and souls, the world will be
set right.
Where Love is, there is order and harmony; there is music, there is art. Whoever
plays (an instrument) with love, can regulate the weather: if it is dry, he will bring rain; if it is a
storm, he will calm it. When playing for a sick person, he lifts him from his
bed. “How does this happen?” – That is not my concern. This art is from the
Divine world. Whoever acquires this art immediately becomes musical—their
musical sense is revealed. No one has the right to abuse this art. Ordinary
love brings ordinary achievements, while Divine love brings extraordinary
achievements. Apply Divine Love, learn from it, so that you may have
extraordinary results. When all people become good, beautiful, strong, and
loving, the world will be set right. It is time now for people to leave human
love and enter Divine love.
Someone says that he cannot tolerate people. Why can’t he tolerate
them? – Because their love is limited: they give to one person, but not to
another; they smile at one and welcome them well, but are strict toward
another and do not welcome them into their home. Expand yourselves, open
your hearts to God’s Love, so that you may tolerate all people and love them.
Teach each other to love the Lord, so that He may love you too.
One of the qualities of Great Love is its ability to turn sour fruits into sweet
ones, sick people into healthy ones, and bad people into good ones. Whoever
has learned to love God, will teach their loved ones how to love. If one has not
learned this art himself, he cannot pass it on to others. Moses gave the Jews
several commandments, showing them how to love God, but they did not
learn this art. God sent His Son to teach them, yet they did not wish to follow
Him and crucified Him.
Now it is also said to you: accept Divine Love as truth, as beauty, as
knowledge, so that you may be useful to yourselves and to your loved ones..
All people are called to be workers in God’s vineyard. When a person works
with love, they fulfill God’s will. They help without speaking. Fire shows from
afar that it is burning. Bread speaks for itself. When it enters the stomach, it
reveals its strength. The same applies to Love. It does not need preaching. It
is enough to perceive it, to understand that it carries life within itself. It
renews, rejuvenates, and uplifts a person. Strive towards Love, so that you
may rejuvenate and resurrect.
This is eternal life, to know Thee, the only true God and Christ, whom Thou
hast sent.
20th conversation with the Master, held on August 19, 1942, at 5:00 a.m.,
Sofia – Izgrev
Translated by Rossica Traykova
