methods for self improvement together

8/3/2019 Methods for Self Improvement Together

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Beinsa Douno

Methods for Self-improvement

Collection of Lectures

BIALO BRATSTVO PUBLISHERS

SOFIA, 2011


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Compilation and translation by Maria BraikovaGraphic design by Steve Eagle

Acknowledgments

This book is a result of the collective efforts of many people whohelped in one way or another for bringing it into reality.

Copyright 2011 by Bialo Bratstvo Publishers

Printed in Sofia, BulgariaAll rights reserved.

For more information about Beinsa Douno and available materials: visitthe following Web sites:

http://www.beinsadouno.orghttp://www.everabooks.com
http://www.beinsadouno.org/http://www.everabooks.com/http://www.beinsadouno.org/http://www.everabooks.com/


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Home of the Human Soul

Everyone talks about their unattained ideal, yet they continue tostrive toward it. The child attends school in order to learn reading andwriting. Passing unnoticeably from one grade to the next, he becomesa young man and finishes university. Then you may hear him saying, Ifinally achieved my ideal and finished university. What has heachieved? He has learned the alphabet and how to use the letters formaking syllables, words, and sentences. If the young man has finisheda musical academy, he would say, I reached my ideal and learnedhow to sing and play an instrument. What has he learned? Themusical notes and their combinations.

Ask yourself, everyone of you, What is the ideal of my life? If all

people have ideals, why are they not content? Someone is not happywith being short, so he strives to become taller as his ideal in life. Whyis he short? It is because he did not eat enough. Can a drop of watermake a river? Can a thread make a whole rope? The tall person is notsatisfied with his height too and he wants to become shorter. Why is hetall? It is mostly because his nourishment was plentiful. Has anyoneexperimented to find out how many web strands will form a thickregular rope? Even if ones wish of being the desired height is fulfilled,this person will be not satisfied again.

Why are people discontent? It is because they lead amonotonous life.Without being aware, they repeat and repeat things

until getting bored at the end. Nature does not allow any repetitionwhatsoever. As much as you repeat a song, you cannot sing it in thesame way twice. Why? The reason is that you have changed, theaudience has changed, and the surroundings have also changed. Whenyou are hungry, you sing in one way; when you are full, you sing inanother way. When you are young, you sing in one way; when you aregrown up, you sing in another way; and when you are oldyou sing ina very different way. It is good to have diversity in your life, otherwiseyou would have died untimely. The monotonous existence does notbring Life, but debases and brings premature aging. Only renewalbrings Life.

Remember: while you live on Earth, you should move in alldirections: east, west, north, and south. If you build a house, whichside will you place the front door? The house facing north will be lit bythe Sun from above where the Sun is; the house facing south will be litfrom below; if the house is facing east, it will again be lit from above;and lastly if it is facing west, it will be lit from below, too. In housesfacing east the Sun is always rising, and in those facing westthe Sunis always setting. What do you prefer: the Sun always rising or the Sun


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always setting? If you have to get money back from someone, you willwant the Sun to shine so that you could find your debtor. But when youowe someone money, you will desire for the Sun to set so that thecreditor could not find you.

And so, regarding the four directions of the world, we have in

mind the four stages, or in other words, the four key points ofconsciousness. The necessity of the moment dictates which point tochoose. How will you determine which bounty to choose: bread, water,air, or light? If you are hungry, you will want bread; if you are thirsty,you will choose water; if you are suffocating, you will desire air, and ifyou are in darkness, you will require light. What is a must for a personin a sinking ship? Life-vest. What does one need in the winter? To goout, one needs warm clothes and warm shoes.

What is the difference between the four directions of the worldor the four points of consciousness? East refers to the good conditionsof life; the Sun rises in the east to bring Life. West is related to the

night, when the Moon is shining. East means a sunlit-house; westamoonlit house; northa house placed on a visible place; and southahouse placed on a well traveled road, where many people will stop by,eat, and drink. Some of them will pay, while others will not, which maycause quarrels and misunderstandings. Therefore, the human beinglives in four houses simultaneously: in the houses of ones mind, heart,soul, and spirit. The houses of all people differ from one another. If youare in the physical world, you live in your physical body. Going into themental world you leave your physical body and enter the mental one.In this manner one moves in four bodies: physical, emotional or astral,mental, and causal, in other wordsone lives in the mind and heart, in

the soul and spirit.The four directions of the world represent the four homes in

which people live. When you connect these four points, you form asquare. As a result of its constant motion the four points trace a circle.To move from one home to another is a natural process. You cannotremain at the same point forever; neither can you keep your wealthforever. Sometimes you will be rich, sometimespoor. When passingthrough those conditions you constantly bend down and rise. Ifsomeone says that he does not want to bend down, this shows that hedoes not understand Life. When you are poor and you have beenhungry for a few days, if you see a golden coin in front of you, will you

not bend down to take it? You will certainly bend down, pick up thecoin and then rise. Therefore, the reaching for the coin on the groundis bending. It is meaningful, only when one attains something precious.Otherwise, to bend down for a trifle makes no sense. What will happen,if two people see the golden coin at the same time? They will bothbend down: the first will grab the one end of the coin and the secondonethe other. As long as the coin has not been shared, both willstand close to each other. Right after the division of the coin, they will


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move apart: the first will take one direction, the secondanother,continuing on their ways. Therefore, people are close to one anotheruntil they divide their life-provided bounties. After they havedistributed the goods among themselves, they move apart and followtheir own paths.

How many blessings of Life are there? These are mainly four:bread, water, air, and light. Which one will you prefer at any givenmoment? If you are hungry, you will ask for bread; if you are thirsty,you will ask for water; if you lack air and suffocate, you will ask for air;and if you are in darkness, you will ask for light. Which part of thehuman body is food related to? Food is related to the mouth, which is asymbol of the word of wisdom. Water passes through the mouth and intogetherness with foodor breadit goes to the stomach. Bread andwater go to the same place supporting each other. Air is in relationwith the nose and lungs: it passes through the nose and goes to thelungs. Light, on its turn, is related to the eyes.

People often get depressed; they feel indisposed and do notknow how to help themselves. They are surrounded by bounties, yetthey do not know how to make use of them. For such cases theBulgarians have a proverb, He is wading into water and he is walkingthirsty. Four elements can change the indisposition and transform itfrom negative into positive. These are: light, air, water, and bread.When you know the reason for the indisposition, you can apply one ofthe four elements corresponding to the current situation. The reasonfor the indispositions of the same person may varyit can be hidden inthe physical, emotional, mental, or causal world.

Imagine that you meet an elementary school teacher. You talk

with him, but you see that he is dissatisfied with something. What isthe reason for his discontent? He wants to get a higher position andbecome a high school teacher. What is the difference between anelementary, high school teacher, and a professor? I think that in oneaspect the position of the elementary school teacher is preferable.Which is this aspect? The level of trust of the first grade students is thehighest. When students come to middle school, they trust theirteachers less and less. The trust goes down even more with the highschool students; whereas the university students often criticize theprofessors and argue with them.

What is the criticism like? It is like skin rubbing. When you visit a

public bath of Turkish type it is good for you to be criticized, in otherwords, it is good for you to have someone who will exfoliate your deadskin and remove the dirt from you. However, after getting a good bathyou are clean and you do not need blunt criticism anymore, so if stillcriticized, this will cause you pain. Nature also uses similarmassages, but knows when and how to apply them. When she meetsan unclean person, she takes out the exfoliating sponge and says,Come to me, my child, I am going to clean youyou do need it. She


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massages and cleans him well, and then let him go free. Therefore,criticism is meaningful when coming from a wise, just, and lovingperson.

People of today are not happy with life, because they cannotachieve their wishes. And yet, if they cannot really fulfill their desires,

they should still be happy. Why? They are given an opportunity to workmore. By working and working, they will eventually attain something.In reality, people get unhappy when the good things in their life are notrepeated. However, this is impossible. Nature does not like monotonyand repetition. You cannot sing a song in the same way second andthird time. If the first time you have sung it well, the second time youwill sing it either better or worse as the situation and the moment aredifferent. For example, if you have flour, water, and salt, you can makebread. If you are given flour, cheese, water, and salt second time, youwill not make bread again, but banitsa1 instead. This is what you willusually do as you also tend to avoid repetitions. Then, why should you

be cross with Life and Nature, when they do not allow you to repeatthe same things?

You say that these are ordinary things. You are not sufferingbecause of the lack of bread and banitsa, but because you have notfulfilled some great idea or sublime desire. For example, someone isunhappy, because he has not become knowledgeable. And yet, what isthe essence of knowledge? Is someone with a heavy mental load in hishead considered to be a knowledgeable person? He is telling how theworld was created, how the plates of Earth were folded, how the lifecame into existence, and so on. His head is full of theories, but anotherscientist comes after him who dispute these theories and create new

ones. Who of them is closer to the Truth? Genuine scientist is the onewho brings the absolute unchangeable Knowledge.

There were two scientists who often had scientific discussions.One of them was very self-respecting and did not allow to be criticized.One day, he unwittingly put his vest on with the wrong side out. Hemet the second scientist who told him, Dear colleague, your vest isinside out. As that one did not like remarks, he did not acknowledgethe fact, but looked at himself and said, I did this on purpose. So far Ihave worn my vest with the face out, but today I turned it with its backout to see how I would look like. His friend was a delicate person anddid not want to argue anymore, so he said, Yes, this can be a kind of

research. In reality, the first scientist dressed his vest on the wrongside by mistake as he was absent minded. He did not think about anyscientific experiments, but his mind was occupied with finding a way topay a pending debt.


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____________________1. A traditional Bulgarian baked pastry prepared by layering a crumbled feta cheeseand other optional ingredients between brushed with butter or vegetable oil filopastry sheets.

In one of the American universities there was a very strictprofessor whom the students often joked with in order to provoke him.

One day they rearranged the wheels of his carriage placing the frontgears on the back and the back gearsto the front. When theprofessor mounted his carriage, he noticed that something was wrong,but did not want to look fool before the students and said, My carriagewas for a repair the previous days and obviously the mechanic hadmade a mistake. He knew that the students had done the prank, butdid not want to acknowledge this.

Such displacements happen in everyones life. When they are inthe physical world, it is easy to be corrected. However, thedisplacements in the spiritual world are difficult to be put right andcomprehended. That is the reason why people suffer, face difficulties,

and fail to solve their assignments. Someone may suffer because he isbehind in his development, everyone has gone ahead of him. He doesnot understand the Law. If twenty strong people come to wrestle, whowill begin first? The weakest will be first on the stage against anotherweak one. Afterward the stronger wrestlers will show and at the endthe strongest. It means that the strongest, or the heroes, remainbehind and they are the last. The true hero remains the last, so that hisstrength could be tested. Nature acts in the same way. She lets theweak wrestlers go first to the stage and keeps the strong ones for thefinal. Nature does not hurry, neither she gives things the momentsomeone wants them. The strong person remains last, behind all

others. As he comprehends the Law, he awaits patiently his time tocome.

And so, when you know all this, do not criticize Nature. Whatevershe does, it is for the highest good. She does not promote or debaseanyone, but places every living being in its place. The one who comesto understand her waits for his time and enjoys his achievements. Theone who does not understand her suffers and faces difficulties. Natureobserves such one and whispers to him: wait a little more, your hourhas not come yet. When a mother nourishes her children, which onewill she give food first? The youngest because this infant needs onlylittle food. This child is satisfied with little milk or bread. When theolder are concerned, things are more complicated: you need to set atable with glasses, plates, to place more bread, more food, and so on.The older ones eat more and are more pretentious. Which is better: tohave a laid table before you or to eat without a table like an infant ortraveler? If you are in the mountains and you are hungry, will you belooking for a table?


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You are travelers who visit the Earth for some studies. When youare aware of this, you will not require to have a table in order to eat.Strive not for the first place either. There are no leaders whiletraveling. Having just made one step and the first position couldbecome the last. What is before youthat is the first position, what

you have already passedthat is the last position. Rejoice that youhave walked a certain path acquiring some experience in the process.And do not think that the place you are at the moment is not good. It issuch as it is only for a moment. Once you move your leg forward anew, better place is waiting for you. The future will usually bringsomething better, brighter, and greater. However, you need to have anappropriate knowledgein order to see the good side everywhere in life.If a long journey is ahead of you it is preferable for you to carrysaccharin instead of sugar. One kilogram of saccharin is equal to fivehundred kilograms of sugar. However, sugar is more nutritious thansaccharin.

People often strive for some exquisite things and great ideaswithout realizing that this is saccharin, not sugar. A silk dress isbeautiful, but it is not appropriate for the winter. If you wear it in thewinter, you will catch cold. A silk dress flows elegantly around thebody, but should be used in the summer. A dress which cannotpreserve the body warmth is not good for health; a dress which cannotpreserve the light is not good for health either, and if it is not clean, itis not hygienic. A good dress is that one, which has the qualities of thesolid matter like thickness, as well as the qualities of water, air, andlight. For the same reason I say that every thought, every feeling, andevery action should have four qualities: the quality of breadto satisfy

hunger; the quality of waterto quench thirst; the quality of airtoimprove breathing and the blood circulation; and the quality of lightto illuminate even the most hidden places of the human body, to openyour path, and to liberate you from delusions and contradictions. Everyfood that does not bring the qualities of solid, liquid, air-like, and light-like matter is not good for your health.

Strive for healthy food, as well as for healthy thoughts, feelings,and actions.

Only the Luminous Path of Wisdom leads to the Truth.The true Life is hidden in the Absolute Truth.

Lecture given by the Master Beinsa Douno, August 27, 1943,Izgrev, Sofia.


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The Desired Peace

Peace is needed in the modern world more than any time before.Why? Peace provides conditions for the greatest achievements ofculture. That is why humankind is on its way to secure peace. Thereare more enlightened people today than any time before, who areaware that peace is the first and foremost condition for the normaldevelopment of humankind. For this reason all conscious andadvanced people make efforts today forattaining peace.

In the past times and civilizations the leaders of humankindbelieved that the world can be set right only through war. Many ofthem began to realize the falsity of this concept later on. The spiritualworkers of today are striving for the world peace, so that new

humankind and brotherhood among nations could be born andestablished. These new human beings will be bearers of love among allpeople and nations. As a result all nations will live for one another as ina family: big nations will be the big brothers, and small nationsthelittle ones. They will all have peace and harmony among themselves.This is the Will of God, Who is the Creator of the Universe. You askwhen this time will come. It will come in the near future.

Modern humankind is at the threshold of a new epoch as thesolar system has already entered the realm of the Divine Dawning.When this time comes, there will be no conditions for the existence ofmalevolent people. They will perish one after another and the Earth

will get rid of them.The new conditions that are coming will admit no malice. Insteadthey will bring to its destruction. The darkness will raise its curtainsand go somewhere else. The dark forces will take their capitals and willgo to another place to establish their banks and offices. It is enough toread the Scriptures to get convinced that the new epoch is not faraway. Today all should have a mindful, conscious belief system. Howwill you recognize the coming of the new epoch? In the same way asyou recognize the Sun rising. Do you need to prove to someone thatsunrise comes after theday break? By the time the Dawn of new Lifebreaks, the Sun has already begun to rise. It is said in the Scriptures

that with the beginning of the New epoch on Earth, the Sun will bedarkened and the Moon will not give its lightthen the Son of Man willreveal His Knowledge on Earth.1 We refer the words about darkening ofthe Sun to

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1. See also Mark 13:24-25, But in those days, after that tribulation, the Sun will bedarkened, and the Moon will not give its light; the stars of heaven will fall, and thepowers in the heavens will be shaken.


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the time when people will overcome their concept about thedomination of one nation over another by force. By the Moon will notgive its light we understand coming of the time when religions andbelief systems will stop trying to set the world right.

Therefore, when all nations, religions, and countries leave off

thinking they can set the world right, then the Son of Man will manifestHimself on Earth with His knowledge. Everyone will see Him withoutany need of proof. Why should you prove to someone that the Sun isrising? The sunrise does not need a proof. It is enough for him to lookthrough the window or go outside to be convinced that the Sun is reallyrising.

You should give way to the new heart in you, which is made ofsoft material and not of stone like the present heart. The soft heart iswoven by the material of compassion. Therefore, whoever has amerciful heart is a candidate for the new humankind. The softness ofheart is one of the features characterizing the new human beingthe

one of Love. It is said in the Scriptures, I shall take their hearts ofstone and give them new hearts.2 Thehearts of stone will be used forpaving the streets, while the soft hearts will remain to beat and showthe world the greatness and beauty of the Divine Life. For this dayspecifically the Scripture says that God will impart His Spirit in the softtender hearts of people and allbig and smallwill come to know Him.The human consciousness is gradually awakening in the same way asflower buds burst open in the spring in order to blossom and bear fruit.

The great in peoples life is presented in the awakening of theirconsciousness and removing the difficulties and adversities, theyencounter now. There are thousands of things in life which may disturb

you, but also thousands of things which may please you. Whoevercomprehends the great Divine Laws will be glad to meet a good,intelligent, and learned person; to meet a poet, a writer, a musician, apainter, a farmer, a stone-cutter, and so on. Rejoice when you meetsomeone working for the advancement of humankind. If you do nottruly understand what a certain person represents, you behaveslightingly, and say, This one is a farmer, that one is a stone-cutter.The one who brings forth the abundance of the earth is a farmer; theone who makes use of the qualities of the stones is a stone-cutter. Theone who reveals the noble features in human faces is a true painterand the one who rectifies human errors is a sculptor. Hence every one

who creates something valuable which ennobles, elevates, and bringsjoy to others is in the right place.A mighty power is hidden in the wordof all writers, poets, scientists, and philosophers! The word has a greatpower!

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2. See also Ezekiel 36:26, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you;I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

Once a young man fell in despair and decided to commit suicide.He put a revolver in his pocket and went to a forest in order to fulfill hisintention. However, a young woman had followed him without hisknowledge. At the moment when he was going to kill himself, shecame to him and whispered a word into his ear. When the young manheard this word, he immediately cast the revolver away and said, I amnot going to commit suicide. I will live for myself, my fellowmen, andhumankind. Life is meaningful and it is worth living!

Which is the word the young woman whispered to the youngman? You know this word, no need for me to tell you. There aremoments when only one word is sufficient to relieve someone from hispresent grave situation. It is not necessary to speak a lot to a person.One word will do, if it is Divine. Then what is uttered will come true.God said, Let there be Light!and there was Light. During the sixdays of Creation, God said one Word daily, but as these were Words ofthe Divine language, they hadenormous Power. All said by God cameinto existence. On the seventh day He said nothing as He was at rest.

It is time already for the unification of all people through theirminds, hearts, and goodwill, so that to work together for theintroduction of peace. Allreligious or notshould embrace the idea ofpeace. It is said in the Scriptures, But he who endures to the end shallbe saved,3 or in other words, He who wins the battle for peace, willbe saved.

The religious people of today speak about Love, but do not apply

it. The person of Love can raise and lower his body temperature by thedegrees and at will. Who can oppose someone with a bodytemperature of ten thousand degrees? Such a person will instantlyovercome any obstacles coming into his path. Thus he will set anexample of [manifesting] Divine Love. Wherever he goes all doors willbe open for him. The person of Love can increase at will not only hisbody temperature, but also his inner light, making it a thousand timesbrighter than the solar one. Such light will blind even the mostnumerous and powerful army. People cannot imagine yet a light that isa thousand times brighter than the solar one. One can achieveanything with such light. Whoever has warmth of ten thousand degrees

and light a thousand times brighter than the solar one can open thesafes of all banks, warm all frozen hearts, and remove all obstacles,placed by the human egotism.

Great warmth and light are coming into the world. These areDivine forces, which will warm and enlighten the human hearts andminds. When the warmth and light of Love come into the world, theywill melt and burn out all malevolent, criminal aspects of people, while


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the good and righteous ones will remain; thus it will be clear that onecannot

____________________3. See Mark 13:13.

mess about Love. It is not allowed to play with Love. People of todayare terrified by the idea of being submitted to a temperature of tenthousand degrees. Yet what will be their state, when Christ comes toEarth? Then the temperature will be much higher than ten thousanddegrees. Christ says: Peace I leave with you!4 It implies that Christ isfor peace too. He is for that peace which is based on Love andbrotherhood among all nations, societies, and individuals on the face ofEarth. Manifestations of brotherly and sisterly love at present arenothing else but branches of the future Culture. This love is moreelevated than motherly love. It does not matter how great motherlylove could be, it still contains an element of egotism in it. Take for

example the love of a tigress to its cubs. It is ready out of love for themto kill at any moment any living creature crossing their path. In thissense motherly love represents the roots of life, while brotherly andsisterly loveits branches.

Fruits on the Tree of Life represent Divine Love. They are result ofthe roots of motherly love and the branches of brotherly and sisterlylove.

As a matter of fact, in the future people will eat from the fruits ofDivine Love and attain immortality. These fruits will be bearers of NewLife. Wherever you go in the world, you will meet representatives ofthe new Life. They can be recognized by the soft, pleasant light coming

from their eyes. We call them brothers and sisters of humanity,bearers of the Divine. Christ is one of these new humans. He said, Idid not come to do My will, but the will of the One Who had sent me. Icame to bring peace to the world.5 Before the coming of Christ Jewsfollowed the Law of Moses to the letter. They slaughtered lambs,sheep, and oxen as a sacrificial offer to God. However, their lifechanged completely with the coming of Christ. He destroyed the oldlife in one stroke. The Jews came to the awareness that good thoughts,feelings and deeds represent the true sacrifice.

What is the essence of the new religion? Its first creed states: Ibelieve that the love of my mother and father represents roots of theTree of Great Lifethe Life of Love. The second creed reads: I believethat the love of my sister and brother represents branches of the Treeof Great Lifethe Life of Love. The third creed reads: I believe thatDivine Love represents fruits of the Tree of Great Life. The outcome ofmy mind and heart will be transformed into fruits of Love. Whoevereats from these fruits will attain immortality. Christ said, Whoevereats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life.6 It implies that


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whoever eats from the Tree of Life, in other words, from the motherly-fatherly and brotherly-sisterly love will bear life within.

____________________4. See John 14:27.5. See also John 12:44-50.

6. See John 6:54.Now, becoming aware of the new creed in essence, you should be

brave and daring in applying it. Many people are looking forward tosomething new. The new is in the reconciliation among people. Thenew reconciles all existing contradictions. How could the reconciliationamong people be achieved? It is very simple. Whoever has somethingto take let him forgive the debt of his brother. Whoever has somethingto give let him be ready to pay his debt. When he goes to pay hiscreditor let the latter tell him that he has forgiven him his debt in thename of brotherhood, acknowledging him for his brother. When twopersons fraternize, their debts fall automatically away, their arguments

cease and all misunderstandings disappear. I would like people toargue only about one thing: who will give more in order to help hisbrother. If you notice that your brother is very tired and cannot lift thehoe anymore, you will take it from his hand and do the work instead. Ifyou notice that your brother breaks down under the weight of hisburden, you will take the load from his back, put it on your back andcontinue side by side, speaking friendly to each other. When you meeta brother in the street and realize that he is hungry, as he has nottaken anything to eat for three days, you will invite and treat him wellat your home, feed him well, and invite him to come again. These arebrotherly relationships.

People are waiting today for the second coming of Christ onEarth, so that the world could be set right. No, the world cannot be setright from outside. Christ needs to come from within each and everyone of you. Only in this way will the world be set right. If you placemillions of iron shavings together, they will not unite and become one.However, if you heat them up to a certain temperature, they will meltand fuse with each other, forming one liquid substance. In this case thefire is that inner power, which solders the iron shavings making themform one whole. Therefore, Christ needs to come into the humanhearts and minds as an inner power that will unite them. Love is thisinner power, which brings life to the human souls. People can work andlive in harmony only through Love. Those who do not understand Loveare ready to criticize it.

Now, when I am speaking about Love, I know the extent to whichyou can apply it. In fact, I am aware which things are applicable todayand which are not. For example, modern people are not able to go tothe Sun no matter how much they know about it and about theopportunities to visit it. Why? The physical characteristics of the Sun


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are completely different from those on Earth. There is no way for thehuman beings to go to the Sun in their present body. The averagehuman body of sixty kilograms will weigh millions of kilograms on theSun. How could one move there with such an enormous mass? There isa beautiful life on the Sun, but it is not yet accessible to earthly people.

One can go to the Sun in a mental way, but not in reality. Do you knowanything about the inhabitants of the Sun and their life? Do you knowanything about their language? It is enough for us that we have thepossibility of benefiting from the solar rays. If you want to healyourself, expose your back to the early morning rays. If you want toattain inner peace, expose your back to the setting Sun with your faceturned to the east. Thus, you will feel deep peace within yourself andwill realize that it is not worth to worry about trivial, petty things. Theinhabitants of the Sun live in great abundance, so they do not worryabout anything. Their assignment is to send bounties all over the Solarsystem. They determine the budget of its planets and living beings,

including the entire humankind: all people, nations and countries.When I speak to you about the Sun, I do not want you to take my

word for it. I am not interested in whether you believe me or not. I aminterested only in one thing: whether what I am telling you is one withthe Truth or not. Believe in what God has created. If you believe in Hiscreation of Heaven and Earth with all luminaries and living beings, thenyou will believe in their Creator too. If one believes in these things, oneshould study both Heaven and Earth. You need to examine the Sun,Moon, all stars in the sky as astronomers and scientists do. Peopleneed to find their own inner suns first to be able to understand life onthe Sun. Everyone has a small inner sun in the center of the brain. The

size of this sun is different for each individual, depending on the size ofthe other inner planets. In fact, it is through this inner sun that the soulacquires knowledge. The astronomic Sun and the planets in the sky aresimilar to the inner sun and inner planets in humans: in terms of theirrising, setting, and so on. If ones inner sun ceases to rise, the outerSun also loses its meaning for this person. It is a sign for the existenceof a certain connection between the outer Sun and the inner sun. If thisconnection is interrupted, the person will not possess any inner light.When both the inner sun and outer Sun shine, one has the opportunityto perceive light. If ones inner sun stops shining, the person becomesblind as he is deprived of the conditions to see and perceive the Divine

Knowledge.And so, many are striving for Divine knowledge which purpose is

to teach you value your inner sun, because through it your soul canlearn and develop. If someone says that his soul is in darkness, it is anindication that his inner sun has ceased to shine. As long as the Sunshines, the human being thinks and feels right. If ones inner sunceases to shine, the human mind and heart will both darken with it.That is why in order to avoid darkening of the inner sun, one should


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lead a meaningful life. The malevolent life expressed in negativethoughts, feelings, and deeds causes adversities, which darken onessky where the inner sun shines.

Many peoplewhether learned or ignorantare not aware of thegreat influence of thoughts and feelings on the inner life, and

consequently on the human health. That is why they seek theirhappiness in a unnatural way. They want to become rich, to marry abeautiful woman, to acquire a lot of knowledge, without evensuspecting that in this way they themselves prepare their misfortune.There is nothing wrong in acquiring knowledge, power, beauty, wealth,but one should know how to use them. There is a Turkish saying, It isa blessing to see beautiful things. Indeed, the human strive for beautyand its inspiration is quite natural, but not the attempts forappropriating beauty. Both beauty and ugliness have their place inNature in the same way as light and darkness. Light reigns until theSun shines. When the Sun sets, darkness comes. Yet stars cannot

shine without darkness. Therefore, darkness is necessary, so thatvirtuesthe starsmay be revealed in the human life.

Now, when I am speaking about the Divine in the world, some ofyou become discouraged thinking they cannot attain it. God promisedthe human beings to come and dwell in them, so that they would notbe discouraged. The future kingdom will be established from within,not from without. All Gods plans will be fulfilled through the love ofentire humankind. To achieve this, workers are needed. All people oftoday should work in this aspect and become bearers of the Divineideas, so that when God enters into their suns to be able to revealHimself outwardly. A special mission is assigned to every personto

be a bearer of Divine Love, Wisdom and Light, of Divine Truth andFreedom in a specific, unique way. Only thus one can achieve all hisdesires. All trials, difficulties, and sufferings humankind is goingthrough today will become conditions to come to know God and theGreat in the world. God will be with you in all your ways. Then you willsay: We are happy to live in an epoch when we can experience andcome to know God's Love, when we can become workers in His field.

Rejoice and be happy to attain the ideals of your soul. It is up toyou when you can attain them even today. One Divine day is equal toa thousand years. So, after a thousand years you can attain what youwish today. Conscious work is required of everyone! The Divine is

already on the threshold of your home. Open the doors of your heartsand minds to let the Divine light and warmth in.

Lecture given by the Master Beinsa Douno, August 28, 1938,Izgrev, Sofia.


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The Purpose of Life

Reflection

Human life will complete its development on Earth when people attainperfection. Just at hearing the word perfection some get immediatelydiscouraged. Being perfect is a very high ideal. How will you achieve it?It lies in your attitude. When is a house considered ready and finished?Only when it has been lime washed on the outside and inside, and hasbeen duly cleaned, mopped, and furnished so that people can move inand live in it. In the same way, someone becomes perfect afterattaining Love, Wisdom, Truth; and when possessing Knowledge, Life,and Freedom. Some people think that perfection means the end of

further development. This is not so. In reality, the perfect ones need towork the most. Serving others, they see the level of their advancementand what is still needed.

In the absolute meaning of the word, perfection does not exist onEarth. The perfect one has opened up, but he says as Apostle Paul didthat we only know part of the answer and yet we like to philosophizeupon it.

Perfecting oneself is not a mechanical process. You say, I wantmy eyes to open, I want to become perfect. This is quite possible.However, opening the eyes in its true meaning requires inner work.Jesus said to the woman of Samaria, God is Spirit, and those who

worship Him must worship in Spirit and Truth.1

The meaning of this isto have communion with Godnothing can be attained without thiscommunion. How will an ailing person get well, if he is deprived of air?No matter what you tell him, there is no life without air. You mayencourage him, recommend him books to read and study, yet he willnot achieve anything as long as he is bedridden. His illness willcontinue to trouble him. He says, I am ill, so I am not interested in thefuture. First, he needs to free himself of the illness causing himsuffering. You have all experienced this. While you are suffering fromsome illness, you go through various states every dayand youchange every moment. This applies even for the most advanced. The

inner torment that is endured cannot be explained Even angels areunable to completely free themselves from suffering and from time totime are affected by it. Of course, that refers to the imperfect angels.

____________________1. See John 4:24.


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Christ says, Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Fatherin Heaven is perfect.2 Are humans capable of being perfect as God? Ifleft on their own, they can never be perfect. However, in oneness withGod the human being can attain perfection. The contemporary life ofhumankind is far from it, but one day when people connect with God,

they will become perfect.God has been revealing Himself through humans, but not abidingin them yet. His promise is, I shall abide in you and you will becomeone with Me.3 This implies perfection. Today every person getssometimes disheartened, discouraged. Why? It is because ofunachieved perfection not only by the individual, but also by allhumankind. People are interconnected as one whole. For this reason,they bear their joys and sufferings together. Therefore, one cannotexperience joy alone. The joy of one is related to the joy of all. Ifsomeone in the familyeither mother, father, or child, is ill, can theothers be joyful? They may pretend, but deep inside they will feel

anxious and worried. This is due to the anguish of all humankind.Fallenspirits also turn to people and ask for help, thus bringing greatsufferings to them. Their thoughts are received as by radio and makeyou sad. Will you be calm, if you catch an SOS call from a sinking shipon your internal radio? You are far from the ship, lets say tenkilometers away; but you hear the passengers cries and you cannothelp them. How will you feel then?

People of today are much like those two Americans who faced agrave accident when boating at Niagara Falls. They were drunkand lost control over the boat. The boat hit a rock and smashed topieces. One of the Americans climbed onto the rock pointed at the

two countries: Canada and USA. The second one was swept by thecurrent over the waterfalls. There were people watching him fromthe shores and although they wanted to help him, they did notknow how to do it. They were searching for some way, but wereafraid of drowning themselves which made them indecisive. Thesituation got really terrible. The first American stood on the rockamidst the rumble and roar of the water. He saw his friend beingswept by the waves and being totally helpless. I ask: what havethese two Americans experienced? If you have never been caughtin similar situations, you cannot really imagine the effect of thewaves of Life. If you are far away from the waterfall, it will be easy

for you to speculate. Back to the story, the rescuers finallysucceeded and saved the first American who was on the rock.

____________________2. See Matthew 5:48.


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3. See also 1 John 4:12, If we love one another, God abides in us, and His Love hasbeen perfected in us.

Modern humankind is likewise on the top of a rock. If no rescuerscome, the human race is going to listen to the roar of the waterfallwithout hope for salvation. You ask how the first American was saved.The rescuers threw a cable from the shore to the rock. Then theypulled the person to the shore and saved him.

Do not hold that gloomy picture in your mind. Why? It is becausethe darkness comes whenever one is ill and suffering. The true Life iswhere there is not the least darkness. However, diseases exist both inthe physical and spiritual worlds: the point is to heal yourself withoutany trace of the illness leaving a remnant on you. It is said in theScriptures that whoever stands upright must be careful not to fall.

I ask why they did not save both Americans, but only one ofthem. You say that God can save us all, if He wants to. That is true.God wants the salvation of all, but not all can be saved. The secondAmerican was so drunk, that the rescuers could not help him. TheAmerican who was on the rock was more sober and held on until hegot help from the shore. Sometimes people get so intoxicated that noone can save them from misfortune. They wander here and thereblindly. One day someone disappears and cannot be found. What hashappened? You will say: he has passed to the World beyond. We knowwhere he isburied in the ground. His relatives and friends say thoughthat he has gone to Heaven. It means that the visible person (thephysical body) is in the ground, while the invisible one is in Heaven.

You say, I do not want to live. Why? It is because you do notunderstand the Laws of Life. The outcome is determined by people

themselves. One should not be forced, but live by a natural impulseand free will. That is the Will of God. That one is saved who absolutelyobserves Gods Will. Therefore, whoever has a profound inner desirefor salvation can only succeed. Every mindful human desire is anexpression of Gods Will. God manifests Himself through our desires,and the One Who awakens the desires in us is God.

I have told you many things today, which you need to apply likethe one who makes use of becoming literate. Otherwise, if afterlearning how to read and write, you give up further studies, that willhold up your development. Continue to read and write. You mustcommunicate with your mother, your father, and your friends too. But

may I not continue without this?, you ask. No, it is not possible. Whenyou can read and write masterfully, you will also lead a meaningful life.Beautiful handwriting implies that you lead a pure, beautiful life, whichreflects the written content. Therefore, what we write is the content ofour lives. All beautiful things we insert are saved in our inner archives.Whatever is written on Earth follows its author. Whatever you putdown, create, and do remains with you. No one can deprive you of yourcreations and achievements. Whatever you learn from others is helpful


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for your development. But only what you have achieved by yourself istruly important for you and makes you strong. Only in this way doesone becomes perfect and free.

Many people ask me various questions, but I do not alwaysanswer them. Why should we trust God and love Him?, you ask. I will

not answer you. Why? It is because the trust and love for God is in thenatural flow of things and does not need speaking out. When you loveGod, you will study. I love my teacher, but I do not want to study, astudent says. This cannot be. You cannot love your teacher withoutstudying. If you love him, you will study his subject with love. Learningcannot be replaced by love. Love is love, but you should study. I lovethis person. If you love this person, you should study. Love andlearning go hand in hand. True, when you love, you can learn; if you donot love, you cannot learn. Learning is not possible without love whichleads to my conclusion: whoever does not study does not love.

And so, Love for God is a great power for achieving perfection. It

is actually impossible to describe what Love is and what perfection is.Can you take a picture of the entire Earth? This is as possible as thedescription of Love and perfection. If you can photograph the onehemisphere of Earth, the other one will be missing. However, there areBeings of such an expanded consciousness that they can embrace theentire Earth. They see it simultaneously from all sides and evenpenetrate into its core. Is this possible? It is for the perfect one, but notfor the imperfect one.

A young man was walking to a country wedding. On the route itstarted raining heavily. To avoid getting wet he stripped himself naked.When he was about to enter the village, he dressed in the nearby

forest and continued his way. People in the village asked him how hecould remain dry in the heavy rain. He replied, I walked very fast, sofast that the rain did not reach me. In reality, he had found a smartsolution to this problem. But he hid the truth not to admit that hewalked naked. It is curious how he got the idea to take off his clothesand prevent them of getting wet. Adam also became aware of beingnaked, but only after his wrongdoing. Therefore, one needs knowledgeto avoid wrongdoings in the same way as the young man protectedhimself from the rain.

What do people of today need? Growth and development. This isthe ideal of the human soul. Perfection of the human being comes

through spiritual growth and development. All who followed the path ofthe high ideal became perfect. Christ came to Earth to fulfill Hismission. Thus he attained true perfection. The one who wants tobecome perfect should fulfill the mission which God has assigned tohim. We have the example of Christ for a sublime service. Christ saidto His disciples, I have food to eat of which you do not know.4 What isthis food? Doing


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____________________4. See John 4:32.

Gods Will. Everyone should have such a powerful idea, serving as afocal point for his spiritual world and keeping his life in balance. Such asublime idea will really empower the human being. It is a foundation

and fortress for the human life. It makes one strong and unshakable.Without holding such an idea one sways in life as a ship rocked by thewaves and causing seasickness. A medication against seasickness wasrecently invented in Italy. Modern people should not sway any more.

Now I introduce to you the path walked by the perfect ones. Youwill walk the same pathfacing many contradictions which you shouldignore. When you read about the life of Christ, Job, the prophets yousee examples and ideas of how to move forward. Why did Christsuffer? Why did Job suffer? Whatever questions you ask, the answer isone: suffering is inevitable. You may say that the devil makes anexception. The devil suffers too. He also walks the path of suffering.Someone has broken his leg. Still, he needs to move forward. You say,But he cannot walk. When his leg gets better, he will continue on hisway. The important thing is the correction of ones errors. Someonesays, I do not feel well, I am nervous, I was born like that. Rejoicethat you were born that way. How would you live, if you had nonerves? The distinguishing feature between humans and animals is thenervous system. I am neurasthenic. There is nothing better than this.I have become very sensitive. But that is what makes you human. Ithink a lot. That is even better. Where will all this end? It is not yourconcernbecause God is the beginning, you are the end. When youunite with God, this will be the end. It is just the beginning now.Therefore, the human being should take the last place, in other words,the end. Everyone should be the end, or the Omega, while God is theAlpha, or the beginning of things. You say, But I do not want to be atthe rear. The best thing is to be at the rear, or to be the tail. The tail isthat directs the movement of the fish. The propeller is that drives theship and it is at the back. Hence, the humankind is the end of things,and the human being is what puts the Divine Ideas into action.

Apply this: serve God in Spirit and Truth and be perfect. You ask,Can we be perfect? It is up to you. Where there is a beginning andend, there is perfection too. Where there is neither beginning nor end,perfection cannot be expected either. Since God has sent a soul to theEarth, it is capable of becoming perfect. When you become perfect,you will enter the World of Ascended souls. Your Advanced Brotherswill recognize you as perfect there. If you do not become perfect, youwill need to study for a long time on Earth. You will descend to Earth,and ascend to Heaven until you finally finish your development. TheWheel of Incarnation will turn and turn until you attain perfection. Onlythrough perfection you will free yourself from this Wheel. In other


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words, you will incarnate and be physically born until the day of yourperfection. The person who is tightly attached to Earth will need toincarnate many times until he finally begins to desire perfection.

Christ says, But the hour is coming, and now is, when the trueworshippers will worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth; for the Father

is seeking such to worship Him.5

And now, I would like you to reflectall day long upon the idea of serving God in Spirit and in Truth.

The manifested Love of Spirit, the manifested Wisdom of Spirit,and the manifested Truth of Spirit bring the full and abundant Life ofGod, the One Eternal God of Life.

Morning lecture by the Master Beinsa Douno, April 30, 1933,Sofia, Izgrev.

____________________5. See John 4:23.


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The Human Ideal

The earthly life has three important subjects to consider. As we liveon Earth, the first and foremost is to understand the human beings, ifwe want to understand their lifestyle.

The second important subject, which we need to understand arethe angels. Translated in a common language they represent thehuman mind and thoughts. When we say angel, we usually have inmind a Luminous Being. However, we will translate angel with thewords luminous thought.

God is the third subject, which is most important andmisunderstood by the humankind. This word translated in aunderstandable language represents the Love that brings Life and

eternity to the human soul. For this reason it is written in theScriptures, God is Love.1 Therefore, the ideal of the human being isto understand oneself, to understand the angels, or in other words theluminous and pure thoughts, and lastly to understand Godor Love. Ifone has understanding of these three subjects, that one will be able tocreate a positive philosophy of Life.

People of today suffer from misunderstanding and ignorance howto put things together. If one cannot arrange things as they werecreated by Nature and God, that one will come into a biginner conflict.It is like you set a fire inside your house, but not in the fireplace, whereits proper place is, but somewhere on the floor. What will happen then?

The entire house will catch fire and will burn, and you will burn with ittoo. In this respect, the human feelings correspond to a fire. If peopleknow how and where to direct what they feel, it will bring them thegreatest blessings in life. And vice versa, if they do not know, it willcause them the greatest sufferings and sorrows. Right thinking isneeded to guide the human feelings in the right direction. That is whythe thoughts and feelings are of the greatest and paramountimportance for the human being. As for the angels, there is nothingmore sublime than puritypure feelings and pure thoughts. In theDivine World nothing is greater than Love. Therefore, thoughts andfeelings are most important in the human world, Purity is most

important in the Angelic World, and Lovein the Divine World.

____________________1. See also 1 John 4:16, And we have known and believed the Love that God has forus. God is Love, and he who abides in Love abides in God, and God in him.


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I say, no matter how important these things are, modern peoplehave not understood them yet, and they are still requiring proofs aboutthe existence of God. If this issue is to be proven, it loses its sense.Each attempt to prove Gods existence represents a mechanicalprocess. Does it make sense for someone to prove to me whether I live

or not? I already know it. Does it make sense for someone to prove tome whether I think or not? I know it already too. Proving to me that Ihave life, that I have thought is quite useless. I live, I think, I feel, soany external proof is needless. The thought should be studied as asubstantial condition. If a chemist wants to perform a chemicalreaction resulting in a certain compound, he should know theproperties of the elements and the laws that govern them. If he takesinto consideration all this, the reaction and the combination of theelements will go correctly. Otherwise the chemist may cause a bigexplosion and create a calamity.

In this respect Life represents a chemical compound consisting of

many elements. If a person knows how to combine the elements of hislife, how to combine the thoughts and feelings, that person will be ableto produce properly a chemical compound, in other words, to create ameaningful harmonious life. And vice versa, if a person combinesinwardly a desire with a thought that are both not natural, in otherwords, from the combination of a human with an animal desire, anexplosive compound will be formed, which might cause an explosion.Consequently, a person has not come yet to the rank of the truehuman being. The true human being is to be revealed from now on.People of today cannot fully control themselves and still have manyanimal-based manifestations. All crimes today, from the smallest to the

biggest, are committed under the effect of the bestial elements inhuman lower nature.

Now, by man or human being I refer to the total of all virtues.Whoever lacks some of these virtues has a bigger or smallerpredominance of the lower nature within oneself. When I speak aboutthe lower or animal nature in the human being, I have in mind featuresfrom any of the animals: tigers, bears, wolves, foxes, the variousherbivores, insects, and so on. What is their life like? Life of mutualdestructionthey eat and swallow each other. However, there is oneexception among the birdsthe pigeons. Most of the pigeon speciesare pure vegetarians and feed only on grains. Meanwhile, the

nightingale that is an excellent singer is carnivorousit eats tens andhundreds of insects daily. The nightingale is content of its situationespecially when it can catch more insects. Yet, the little flies it feeds ondo not think so.

People of today boast of their religion, science, and art. I ask:what is this religion that cannot teach them to love one another? Whatis this science, which cannot offer them a way of living a meaningfullife. What is this science, which cannot give the Laws of human


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thought, neither can it explain the reasons for the existence of goodand evil? What are these social sciences and social order which cannotguide people in their life program fulfillment? The life of people hasbecome meaningless, because neither religion nor science were ableto give the rules needed for the human development. In reality, the

Earth is covered by monuments mostly of dead people. Great Beingslike Christ visited the Earth. For two thousand years Christ has beenamong people and He is still with them.

You ask, What is the purpose of suffering? There is a greatpurpose in suffering. Sufferers are heroes and become true humanbeings, while non-sufferers remain ordinary people and nothing greatis expected from them. Great people go through big trials. Christendured great sufferings, thus He left the world a Sublime sacred Ideathat will never perish. His Idea did not pass away, neither did Christ. Hewas subjected to a great trial: to be crucified and placed in a tomb, andon the third day He resurrected. The existence of Christianity so far is

due to the fact that Christ is still living among people and will liveforever. If however, some disharmony comes upamong Christians, thereason is that many of those who consider themselves Christians donot believe that Christ has risen from the dead. They are assumed tobe believers, but in reality they are not. So, they are in the situation ofthose who are regarded as humans without being true human beingsyet. Indeed, you often meet people calling each other with the namesof some animals. For instance, one person says to another, You are awolf, fox, bear, tiger, and so on. When people want to express thatsomeone is foolish they say, He is just a sheep. Many think that thesheep is a foolish animal, but this is not so. When I studied the

structure and shape of its head, I found out that it is one of theintelligent mammals based on the measurements and scientific data.Those who study the physiognomy of animals will find out that inregard of intelligence the elephant comes right after the human being,followed by the sheep. One may ask however, where the true humanbeing is in reality.

Today all people want to be healthy, happy, fulfilling all theirdesires, and so on. All this can be achieved. How? By acquiring ahealthy body, kind heart, bright mind, and all virtues. Without theseattributes people are exposed to suffering. In this respect sufferingsare exceptions in life. Why? It is because they should be understood

and applied well. That is why suffering increases the faith of wisepeople, while for the foolish they are the greatest misfortune that canbefall on them in life. In the modern peoples conception one is born todie. What is the meaning of death? It is meaningful only if onetransitions after death to a better life than the earthly one. The deathof a righteous person has meaning. However, the death of a wrongdoeris quite senseless. In the same way, there is sense for a flower or fruittree to blossom, but what is the meaning of a bomb to burst open and


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explode? It is useful to start a fire in the fireplace and cook a meal withit, but to start it in the middle of the house and set all on firesuch afire is senseless. Building temples for worshippers and schools forchildren makes sense, but is there any sense in making bombs andgrenades with which people kill each other? And after all this you say

that God should set the world right! As soon as God created humansand inscribed the Laws in their hearts to live by them, He had alreadyset the world right. Even if people live thousands of years more, theywill still divide themselves into learned and uneducated, rich and poor,religious and non-believers. In reality, if they examine themselvescarefully, they will see that all of them are alike. Both the religious andnon-believer serve for money. It is not bad that their service is formoney. But striving for money, people focus on being well-dressed andliving luxuriously, and so they forget their true purpose on Earth. Whenpeople want to have nice clothes, they should strive to be dressedbeautifully from within as well. Everyone can put on a beautiful

luminous inner garment. Luminous thoughts and noble feelings areones inner garments and no matter where this one goes, people say,Behold a true human being! Such a person brings the Divine Blessingto any home he visits: he heals the ill, comforts the sorrowful, andnourishes the hungry.

Now, what is the most important at sunrise? The Sun itself, inother words, its light. What is the most important in respect to theSun? The sunlight and warmth that inspire luminous thoughts andnoble feelings in the human being. However, this same warmth andlight awake inferior feelings, instincts, and wishes in the wolf. Behindthe solar light and warmth there stands a Great Mighty Hand which is

invisible to people. You ask, Where is this Hand? It can be seen asmuch as you can see the true human being. What you see externallyand call human being is only an expression of certain thoughts,feelings, and actions. The human being is not that which dies. Thenegative thoughts, feelings and deeds are what passes away in thehuman being. Sometimes they die, sometimes they are uprooted like atree.

I say: as you are now in the process of creating your life, it isimportant for you to live with luminous thoughts and feelings, withnoble and rightful actions. If you do not follow all this, you will causeyour misfortune yourselves. Creating the human life can be compared

to the construction of a ship. How is a ship built? For its goodperformance all technical rules and laws of modern science must beput in action. Only in this way can the ship withstand all storms andgales that can occur in the sea. If all these technological rules and lawsare not observed, the ship with all passengers will be exposed to greatdangers.

In the same way, people of today are in the world as in a stormyseaand if their ship is not well built, they will be exposed to great


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dangers. If their shipthe bodyand their thoughts and feelings arenotsolid and stable, they could meet with great disasters. That is whythe reasons for a shipwreck should be searched not only in the shipperformance, but also in its designers and constructors.

In the future when people reach a higher level of development,

they will act according to all rules and methods of the new Teaching inorder to create well-organized bodies for themselves that are capableof receiving the Sublime Divine thoughts and feelings.

As it is necessary to follow certain rules and laws for the humanbody creation, the same should be done during the election ofministers and Parliament members of a country. These are to be themost intelligent, selfless and virtuous people of the nation. Only thenwe could speak about a great country. However, the present situationof the countries is a token for misinterpretation of life.

Many think that they have come to Earth to spend somehowtheir lives and then to depart. That is a wolf-like way of thinking. The

wolf tries to come close to a livestock enclosure in order to steal asheep and eat it, and that is all he aims. If someone has the samethinking, what is the difference between such a person and a wolf?Moreover, after eating a sheep, the wolf could be chased and shot.

But when someone kills from ten to twenty people in thebattlefield, he is immediately rewarded and pronounced a hero. Soafterward this person boasts with his killing without batting an eyelid.Killing and destroying is a crime, not a science. Creating and buildingthat is a science.

I say, modern people should think and live rightlyas Godrequires of them. Rightly means living as brothers and sisters. Besides,

it is not necessary for all people to have the same external featuresand same beliefs. Consider, for instance, the little child and matureperson. They differ in appearance, but have something in common ashuman beings. The young will eventually get oldand the old could alsorejuvenate. The alchemists have done many experiments in thisdirection. An old person can be placed in a special chemical deviceretort and after passing through certain processes he would emergeentirely rejuvenated. One could become young not only by alchemy,but also by his thought. Many European scientists support the theorythat a human being can rejuvenate and revive his lifeby his thought.The sublime thought creates a pleasant atmosphere which attracts

what is pleasant and beautiful in the living Nature and makes onecapable of receiving it. Without sublime thought, one does not knowhow to interact with the Sentient Nature and as a result encountersmany problems and misfortunes. Due to this some people have a badbehaviorit is a sign that they are bad only by their will and action,but not in their essence.


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You often meet people who will not do even what is for their owngood because of their inner disposition, and the so-called malevolentwill.

The task of modern culture is to study the manifestations ofhuman thoughts and determine the notion of human being. The

human being is a combination of virtues, but not of crimes. When onefeels some negativity rising up from within, it is a sign that one hascome to certain negative traits inherited from many generations.Therefore, even today one should make many efforts to remove thenegative inherited features and some animal-like manifestations untilcoming to the state of a true human being.

And so, when one comes to reveal the conscious, mindfulprinciple, that one will be strong and free of all negative and inferiormanifestations from within. If a righteous person lives in a mountain,for instance, the weather will be as he wants: if he wants snowit willsnow; if he wants rain or sunshinethe weather will respond

accordingly. However, when a wrongdoer lives in the mountain, theweather will not follow his wishes, but will be as nature dictatesso,the wrongdoer needs to comply with weather and not vise versa.

Many people when hiking in the mountains are afraid of rainbecause they think that they may catch a cold/, afraid of catching acold. You should know that the July rain in the mountains is a greatblessingsuch a bath is equal to a hundred regular baths. Each dropof rain in July is imbued with electro-magnetic forces.

Now, remember the following thought: the human being is thegreatest masterpiece of creation on Earth. Rejoice that you bear thename human being! Strive to live up to this name! One needs to be

good; to think, feel, and act rightly! And then say to yourself, everyoneof you, My life should not bring harm to others. If I want happiness formyself, I want happiness for others too. My thought should be likeGods thought!

Now, I wish to all of you: be wise, good-hearted, happy, and mayyour desires come true. May you become new people from now on!

Lecture by the Master Beinsa Douno, held on July 12, 1931.


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Only the Luminous Way of Wisdom leads to Truth.Truth holds Life within.

Scholars, and especially those occupied with geometry, deal withgeometrical figures and bodies. Meanwhile, ordinary and uneducatedpeople do the same, only that they are not able to give definitions tothese figures. For instance, who, whether learned or ignorant, is notfamiliar with the circle? Does not a farmers threshing field represent acircle?

However, it is not so important to be acquainted with the

properties of the circle as a figure, as it is to know how to apply it.Many have knowledge about coal and its origin, but this knowledge isworthless if they cannot use it as fuel. Many are familiar with theproperties of water, but it will be much better if they can transform theaquatic energy into electricity and light. The more transformations aparticular type of energy undergoes, the better it gets for humans. Forexample, we benefit from sunshine due to the transformation of solarenergy into light. You may say that sunlight comes directly, withoutbeing transformed from its source which is a celestial body. Go to theSun to see what it is in reality and then make your comments. In fact,the light, which we receive by our eyes does not come from the

physical Sun which we see. Really and truly, the physical Sun emitscertain energy which is transformed several times until it is perceivedas light. The light is produced by the higher consciousness, so behindthe physical sun, there is another Sun, emitting the Eternal andUnfailing Light. In reality, that is the Light, which is true and genuine asit never changes or fails. In this sense we call real that which is ever-lasting. How real are human feelings, beliefs, and decisions? Forexample, today you are cheerful, the next day you are sorrowful.Which is real: your joy or your sorrow? Today you believe that there isa God, the next day you do not think so. Which of your two views istrue? Today you decide to take an exam, the next day you change your

mind. Which of these two intentions are you going to fulfill? Reality iseverywhere and nowhere. Reality is neither sustained nor denied.Whoever has good sight and sees well will recognize the Sun. But theSun cannot be recognized by those who cannot see, which is quitenormal. The blind people do not acknowledge the Sun, because theycannot see it and no relation is formed to it. Reality becomesknowledgeable by its manifestations. If it does not reveal itself to us, itwill remain unknown. What idea could we have of the Sun, if it does


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not reveal itself to us? We see the Sun as a physical body and as aresult, we perceive its light and warmth. That is why we say that theSun is real for us. Thus we call real anything that we can feel, think,and speak about.It is unusual for someone to accept something whichis only thinkable as real. Not that it is unusual, but people are simply

not aware that thoughts create forms in the same way as feelings andactions do. Forms can be physical as well as mental and emotionalcorresponding to the respective worlds and distinguished by theirdifferent density of matter. Physical forms are the densest, emotionalare less dense, and mental are the least dense. To a clairvoyant themental and emotional forms are as real as the physical ones. To a seer,life is uninterrupted and wholesome in all its forms and manifestations.But to those who do not see clearly, life seems to be interrupted andconsists, as they say, of different phases or ages, which have no pointsof contact. They will tell you that what was in youth was quite differentfrom adulthood, and disparate from old age. Actually, life is wholesome

and uninterrupted. As a child you depend on your mothers care, as agrown-up you separate from your parents, and finally, when youbecome an adult, you live entirely on your own. However, these aredifferent phases of one process that is in progress. As long as the appleis green, it is on the branch of the apple tree; but after ripening, it fallson the ground and will eventually become food for some person, for abird, or for an animal. If a maidens soft, caressing hands take it fromthe ground, the apple will be happy. But when it goes among the girlsstrong, hard teeth, the apple will wonder at the change: how it ispossible for someone with such soft hands to have such hard teeth atone and the same time. As spiritual students, you are required to

obtain a clear idea of how all is arranged, and you should apply yourknowledge and abilities as methods for self-improvement. With thisconsideration, you should not be puzzled why a girl may have softhands, but hard teethjust put every single thing in its place.

When someone is in prison, sentenced to death, his youngersister needs to go to the ruler (pashain Turkish) who has passed thesentence and appeal for her brothers liberation. Which method isadvisable in this case: the soft hands or the hard teeth? Definitely thesoft hands are better. If the young woman wants to appeal for herbrothers life, she should be wise enough to apply the softest andkindest attitude toward the person in charge. If the ruler appreciates

her kind and tender approach, he may pardon her brother. But if thesister uses the other methodthe method of hard teeth, instead ofattaining a pardon for her brother, she will quicken his death. So it ismuch better to apply a soft and tender approach toward someone whohas a heart of stone. In conclusion, the above forces are equal, butacting in opposite directions. What will happen to a body, which isexposed to the effect of two equal, but opposite forces: the heart ofstone and the kind attitude? The answer is that this body will remain


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immobile. In other words, the young womans brother will remain aliveand healthy as the sentence will not be applied to him.

Every young woman who succeeds to release her brother fromprison is beautiful and wise; in other words, she has knowledge andpower to apply her methods. Beauty represents Truth in the human

being. The ruler cannot withstand the young womans knowledge,power, and Truth; that is why he yields. The woman touches softly hisheart of stone and as a result, he discharges her brother. No one canresist Truth. Love is where Truth is. Where Love reigns, there therelationships are as they should be. Where there is Love, the exchangebetween two beings is genuine and harmonious: they both give andboth receive. When one gives, the other pays in return. The first, forexample, is a merchant who offers high quality goods; the other is abuyer who pays for the purchases regularly and generously. The rolesthen switch: the first buys and the second sells. Therefore, to be ableto maintain good relationships, you should pay off your old bills and

correct your past mistakes. The old is like a thorn in your foot. It issmall, but nevertheless, you need a needle to pick it out. You need togather your courage and probe with the needle until the torn isremoved. If you do not do this, you need to wait for about ten days sothat the thorn may soften and go out by itself. Regardless of which wayyou prefer: with or without the needle, the thorn must come out.People of today are afraid to strike their inner balance. For example,someone has a negative opinion of his neighbor, but he is afraid to findout why. It is awful to keep negative thoughts about anyone in yourmind. Moreover, you should consider the objectivity of your opinion: isit based on real facts or not? If the untrue views accumulate in your

consciousness, they are going to bring you adversity and suffering.Negative thoughts will make you nervous and indisposed. To avoidnegative thinking, you should make efforts toward your self-improvement, and learn from experience.

How do you understand the words self-improvement? It meansunassisted nourishment. On the path of self-improvement you need totry many ways in order to find out the method which is appropriate foryou. This way you will work out right feelings and thoughts, which willcreate your own experience. Thoughts, which are attained throughpersonal experience, are genuinely precious. For example, you realizethat to become a scientist one must apply persistence and diligence; to

become a singer, one needs a properly developed larynx, love forsinging, and a good teacher. To be truly beautiful, one must be intouch with lovely images and inspiring people. To become smart, oneneeds to be in connection with the thoughts of Sublime Beings. Toattain Great Love, one needs to come into communion with God.Divine Love is received through the crown chakra at the upper part ofthe head. On the other hand, physical love passes through the backside of the head. In general, each brain center is related to certain


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forces of Nature. When you know this, you should be careful to avoidunconscious touching of the different parts and centers on your head.If you act on some center needlessly, you can cause yourself greatharm. But if you treata given spot on your head with knowledge whennecessary, you can improve your health. This knowledge can be used

for self-improvement. As spiritual students, you need to consider thesacredness of your body. Each time you treat it, you should remember,that it is a part of the Great Cosmos. Therefore, it is through your bodythat you have a relationship with the Cosmos. That is why everydisharmony caused somewhere in your body introduces a discord inthe entire Cosmos. For this reason, it is better sometimes not to touchcertain body centers, because unintentionally you could produce awhole explosion in yourself. Only the initiated know when and how totreat their body centers properly. The control of body language willhelp you to avoid such unconscious inner explosions. So, it is good toavoid any unaware and chaotic movements and to strive for conscious

and thoughtful ones. In this respect, self-improvement is achievedthrough conscious living. Self-improvement implies to make yourmovements conscious and give way to your inner wisdom.

Lets say you are observing a young woman making somemovements under an apple tree. If she bends down and thenstraightens up without doing any useful work, you will say that hermovements are not conscious and meaningful. But if with eachmovement, she picks apples and places them in a basket, hermovements are conscious and they are also approved by the appletree. Even when the young woman eats some of the apples, the appletree does not regret it. The apples would be sorry only if the woman

eats them with the seeds, as they are bearing new life. The applesexpect their seeds to be sown and to grow up again. Goodrelationships with plants and animals are a sign for good relationshipsalso with people and God. Only in this way are favorable conditionscreated for the manifestation and further development of the good thatis invested in human beings.

As soldiers exercise physically to become stronger, so everyperson should exercise in doing good. Exercises and efforts are neededfor the development of each body center and personal ability. A personmay have one or another physical make-up, but by conscious work andself-improvement, the negative features and planetary aspects can be

overcome, while the positive ones are strengthened. The crabapplecan be grafted in such a way as to bear good fruit. Similarly, themindful person can be grafted with what is good and valuable. Manysay that their living conditions are bad; that they cannot manifest theirgoodness, and so on. These are only mental beliefs typical for anignorant person. Whoever is knowledgeable is also responsible to keepon working, practicing, applying, and gradually improving the self. It isnot easy, but neither it is impossible. Through intensive conscious


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practice you can overcome your weaknesses and strengthen yourinnate good. It is hard to tame an elephant, but it is not impossible.Things can get scary when it gets angry. When this happens, thetrainer pushes the elephant to the ground and rolls it over a few times.Getting up, the elephant will become as meek as a lamb. Sentient

Nature treats humans in the same way. While someone is standingupright on his legs, he is brave and decisive. But when he is thrown onthe ground and rolled over and over, he gets tamed and humbled.Thus Life serves Nature. When someone is headstrong and stubborn,Life pushes him down on the ground and rolls him over few times.When this person gets up, he has already learned a lesson and hewould probably think before getting angry again. Thus, Nature appliesthe same methods to stubborn, headstrong, and unruly people as toanimals. Even the most vicious dog can be tamed, if caught and twirledaround and around by its tail. However, Sentient Nature can apply onpeople some other methods as well. She can display her own advanced

methods to them and leave them toself-improve. Those who apply hermethods will have good results.There are specific methods for thedevelopment of any living speciesfishes, birds, mammals, and so on.Similarly, there are specific methods of education and self-improvement for everyoneeither learned or ignorant. As a whole, ifsomeone wants to apply proper methods of self-improvement, heneeds to apply the methods of sages and saints, who have drawn theirknowledge from Sentient Nature. Observe their life and see theirroutines: how they go to bed and get up, how they wash themselvesand dress, how they pray and work. By improving yourself you canchange your old ways of living and enter a new life, where things are

set right. Someone gets angry and thinks that the appropriate way tochange oneself and others is by showing power and control. In fact,nothing can be achieved through anger and violence. There is only onekind of anger that could be helpful: only if and when it comes from thePower of the Divine Source. If the Divine is not taking part in youractions, you will easily fail. A man was walking through the forest whena big bear appeared in the distance. He took a thick stick and saidangrily, May it dare come to me! However,the bear was approachingslowly and calmly toward him. When he saw this, he threw the stickaside and quickly climbed the nearby tree. What did he do with hisanger?First he did get angry with the bear and took a stick to stand

against it, but then he quickly changed his mind and backed up.Certainly, you have some reason to be cross and angry with a bearcoming toward you, but if you decide to fight it, you should complywith your decision. Therefore, if you have a certain thought, which youcan use against evil, do not throw it aside, but make use of it. Becauseif you throw it aside, it shows that you are a weak person. Alwayssustain the view that what is invested in you is meaningful, that Life ismeaningful, and that you can use the methods of Nature for your self-


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improvement. The shortage of true knowledge should not bother you,but if you do not work to acquire itthat is what cannot be excused. Allpeople suffer, because they do not utilize the conditions they have.You may say, But we make errors. It is not an excuse either. If youhave errors, you need to correct them. The Scriptures say that you will

give account for every empty word.1

Every empty word is a debt whichyou must pay together with interest.If you have collected a debt in themorning, review your accounts during the day, and arrange everythingso that when the night comes, it will find you with paid debts, withoutany due interest. The unpaid debts are nothing else but the karma thateveryone is afraid of. That one who does not pay his debts will fallunder Karmic Law, or in other words, under unfavorable limitingconditions. Under these conditions he will complain of his destiny, getdiscouraged, and will not be able to develop properly.

As students of the Sublime Life, you need to exclude the worddiscouragement. You should know that even under the most difficult

circumstances you can evolve spiritually. The human being ischangeable in body, yet steadfast and stable in spirit. Give priority tothe Spirit in you in order to avoid mistakes. Ceasing to transgress, thewrongdoer extends his life. Vice versa, if a righteous person begins totransgress, his life is shortened.Do not think that you are kings sonswho have come to Earth for pleasure. You all need to work foryourselves and for your fellowmen. Work is one of the importantmethods for self-improvement. If you do not work willingly, you will beordered to do it, but then you will get different results. True workimplies working out of Love and without any force. If you work in thisway, you will rejoice at the results achieved. If someone works without

Love, the results will be a disaster. Whoever studies with Love rejoicesin success. Only such a person can become learned.

Apply Love as a method for your self-improvement and you candevelop even the smallest of gifts imparted to you. Love excludes anykind of discouragement. No matter how many times you may fall down,you will stand up again. No matter that you have lost your property oryour health, you can gain it anew. The person of Love does not loseanything. A person can lose something temporarily, but then he isgoing to regain it. There are only gains and achievements in Love.

As spiritual students, hold an optimistic view of life. Whateverbefalls you, accept it with joy. Address your difficulties consciously to

be able to discover precious gifts hidden in them. Every trial andsorrow will bring you certain blessings. Use the blessings, which joysand sorrows bring to your life. See the manifestations of Great DivineLove, Wisdom, and Truth in all that is. This is the right method to applyfor your self-improvement.


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____________________1. See also Ephesians 5:6, Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because ofsuch things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient.

Only Revealed Divine Love, Wisdom, and Truth will bring full and

abundant life.

Lecture held by the Master Beinsa Douno to the Youth EsotericClass, February 6, 1931, Sofia, Izgrev.


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Biographic Information of the Master Beinsa Douno

Dates and Events

1864: Peter Konstantinov Deunov was born on the 11th of July (29th of June by the Julian calendarSaint Peters day) in the village ofHadurcha (present day Nikolaevka), near the Black Sea in the districtof Varna. He was the third child in the family of the Orthodox priestKonstantin Deun

methods for self improvement together

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