402. But you proceed along the path

because you are aflame with service.

I send you a manifestation of strength because your path is long,

And many are the stones near strange gates.

Yet you have already seen the color of My Ray,

And, going with Me, you have already mastered the Luminaries.

Unity is a great force.

403. When the great path has been designated,

One must carefully avoid deviations.

404. Each one by himself, each in his own way;

Yet all of one spirit in the endeavor not to spill the chalice.

Remember, friends, how we alter place and time in life.

If one labors for humanity, one must change places,

Because oppressive is the breathing of the people.

405. Your book will give joy to many,

Yet even the printer will bring some pain;

For annoyances are countless.

406. Visions are only a detail;

The world is not built by telephone.

407. To see the fire of harmonious hearts,

carrying out the task of the Creator,

is a wonderful realization.

408. Precious is the flame of the heart.

Ebb and flow guide the orbit of the Earth.

The same drop functions in both phenomena.

Worst of all is stagnant water,

Because it holds decomposition and serves not as a manifestation of energy.

409 One need not expend energy twice where the blow has been prepared.

It is not ordained to describe the Brotherhood.

How can the blind describe an apple blossom

or the height of a tower?

Where the heart has been reduced to ashes,

There the harp strings are broken.

410. Wherein wilt thou affirm the measure of thy works?

If thy deeds be useful to the world, then is their measure great.

Wherein wilt thou affirm the quality of thy works?

If thy deeds benefit humanity, then is their essence good.

411. Know how to understand repose between actions.

In this respite lies the accumulation of force.

412. Fear not, for what has been well planned will endure.

413. Speak not evil and do not curse.

For the hail of curses falls painfully

upon the head of him who spouts it.

Learn to defend My Name and My Works against traitors.

For you will meet with many opportunities to put an end to slander.

This is a time for action, and Our Trust is with you

414. One must forgive people their failure to understand.

Good people are often guilty of faulty judgment.

It is essential to be lenient with beginner's mistakes.

415. Avoid places where anger and disunity are displayed.

Beclouded is the people's imagination.

Learn to pass above the hands which drag one downward.

Seated in a boat, one-thinks not about the house-key.

416. What is let slip by will not return.

The night thinks in the night's own way.

417. I give to you the Teaching, karmic messages, indications.

The Teaching is intended for the whole world, for all beings.

The more broadly you comprehend,

the more truly it is yours.

Karmic communications are sent because of care and love for you.

We issue forewarnings, and We enable you to meet

the wave of karma with knowledge.

Therefore, be not surprised it signs about karma

are not always clear to you.

The indications are always understandable,

And they must be carried out without delay.

418. I wish to name your sickness —

it is called occult fever, a manifestation

with which We are well acquainted.

It is increased by fatigue and by changes in the organism.

One must carefully go through this period.

During the battle I covered you with a dense aura.

This is similar to chloroform; afterwards you must rest.

419. Now proceed like elephants,

Knowing that Rays of care and love are above you.

Remember all that is good, and scorn obstacles.

Indeed, you are' right in cognizing the avalanche of

signs which I am sending for the first time and in haste.

And if in the battle you receive scars,

heal them carefully and be not disheartened, you warriors of Light.

420. Already you begin to fly about the world in thought.

Already you begin to vanquish the oceans' span.

Already you know the joy of creating.

Already you sing the ecstasy of making life beautiful.

Already much has been accomplished.

My friends! Why not resolve to pass your whole life as heroes?

And if I say, "You may rest awhile,"

This means that I know, for I guard you.

I said it.

421. Let those who do not know fill space

with outcries and supplications for help.

Those who have reached understanding can assist events.

Do we trouble the long-awaited visitor with personal wishes?

We hasten to open the gates so that the desired one may come in.

Often the hand is outstretched,

But the blind try to reject it.

Therefore, to suppress the conception of children is worse than murder.

Also, it is not right to pile up a complex of one's own wishes.

Before the coming of the guest it is better to ventilate the house, and in quiet,

repeating a prayer, to direct one's eyes to beauty.

Not necessary are countless speculations and designations —

The spirit proceeds freely.

Earth's burden must be lifted.

Layers of effluvia enwrap every cradle.

Blessed is the mother who draws open the curtain

to let in the light, and who offers the first blossom.

In quiet, in beauty, and with a smile,

Await those new ones seeking entry into the world.

422. Help in spirit is the most powerful.

423. As blossoms grow cognitions

and the solutions to the questions of Being.

Prior to a new understanding,

the heart especially aches;

But in a pure place this pain will turn into knowledge.

Fatigue will By away, and the spirit's findings

will rise from the seed like ears of grain.

Beyond the astral are spheres of knowledge

of easy communication with the planes of evolution.

The legend about ascension into heaven has a scientific basis.

424. At present you encounter four types of people:

The first is fighting under Our Shield;

The second fights without protection

yet already is terminating the stream of karma;

The third raves wildly, blinded by the dark veil of its fate;

The fourth comprises the-enemies of the Light.

The first will understand your call.

The second will quiver with expectancy.

The third will stupidly turn the head away.

And the fourth will answer you arrow for arrow.

Therefore, do not reiterate the Teaching.

Each word falls on due ground,

And the destined will be received.

Likewise, do not reject nor deny.

Each judgment is already a manifest action.

What is the sense of denying a fire

when it is already ablaze?

Yet cover the fire and its force will disappear.

Likewise, in contradiction of opinions you gain nothing;

But cover the negative judgment with Our Teaching,

And the entire city of the enemy will be covered

by the cupola of Our Brotherhood, for this dome contains all.

I give you a shelter,

I give you strength,

I give you a path of beauty.

I have spoken.

425. The testing of people is unending.

Tests must be repeated until a design

is fixed in the brain.

It is easier to write on the forehead with the hand.

Truth is better than illusion.

Lofty is the Truth of the Coming World.

426. In order that My new disciples be able

to assimilate My covenant, what has been given

before must be sternly repeated.

Yet each stone cast at you raises your tower.

427. Only time condenses knowledge.

428. In the sacred evening of the Greatest Holy Day,

In the Name of the Universal Symbol, I say to you:

You have been admitted to the task of building the New World.

I say to you: Strengthen your eyes,

that you be not blinded when I reveal a glimpse of the brim of the veil of the Future.

If anxiety arises in you, uplift the shield of devotion;

For by it you will be saved.

And repeat the Covenants — I say to you — repeat.

I have decreed.

I feel that you can understand.

I am speaking about serious matters.

I can raise My Hand for the elect.

I will uplift a shield.

Denarius, child of curse, obstruct not the path of Light!

Denarius, belittle not a pure manifestation.

Regard not the clouds —

Life is joyful for him who has wings.

My Smile will watch over you.

429. The victory of loyalty is assured.

Looking afar you will see the near at hand.

430. I teach you to display Our Triumph

to alien and to petty hearts.

I hold above you, in purity, a wondrous cross.

431. The Teacher sees in a mirror a picture of all your movements.

The manifestation of fatigue surrounds you like smoke.

Yet above your shoulders rays of resolution

pierce the cloud of weariness.

The heads are adorned with rays of silver.

Alien auras crowd at your feet like abutments of a bridge.

The ascension of courage forces alien auras downward with purple arrows.

The blue flame of the heart smites the smoke of weariness.

The labor goes on, and high aloft are the rays' ends.

432. I myself read your thoughts each day.

The Teacher verifies the creativeness of beloved disciples.

And when fatigue closes not the lips,

Discourse flows like a Himalayan stream.

433. The stagnant pool will not swallow up pure thoughts.

Far-reaching compassion stands guard,

But love must be sent.

Fortitude will carry you through,

And the self-sacrificing achievements of the spirit

will be transformed into the fragrance of freesias.

The Wonders of the Teacher will grow.

Amidst the garden of love grow illuminations of the spirit.

Tire Me today; burden Me more,

laying on the weight of the world

Yet will I increase My strength.

Yet will I increase the strength of My daughter,

for she goes into My garden.

Dost thou hear? The burden will blossom as roses,

And the grass will be arrayed with the morning rainbow.

Therefore, tire Me.

When I go into the beautiful garden, I fear no burden.

I ponder, I ponder, I ponder.

434. From the fir tree you can learn;

It is the same in winter and summer.

435. Some will come and say, "We know."

You should reply, "Good! Since you know, return to your home."

Some will come yet more aggressively and say,

"We know who stands behind you."

Say to them, "Good! It you know, you will not speak thus."

Some will come to play dice on the steps

of the Temple, and will cast lots about you.

Say to them, "Pass on, people, lest lightning strike you here."

But here comes one who says to you, "I do not know,

And here I have brought all my possessions with me.

What shall I do with them?"

Say to him, "Cross the threshold. We will find a place

for you at the long table; for if you do not know,

then you shall know."

Therefore, again I say:

Weary Me, lade Me with all the burdens of the world.

I shall not tire, I shall not succumb to fatigue;

For I do not know what fatigue is — I scorn it.

And I ask you to burden Me,

for not otherwise is the garden of beauty reached.

I have spoken.

436. Smile at each belittlement; it is the true sign of a miracle.

437. Seek light for a manifestation of darkness.

The pure will display understanding of the Shield,

for God is with Us!

Through His eternal manifestations

drops of the Sacred World penetrate.

Consider that the treasure of the drops

and the sparks of consciousness

will connect Heaven and Earth as a new bridge.

Being affirmed in illuminations of the sparks,

Let us find a smile.

But mastery is confirmed by realization of victory over self.

Conquering self, the victor will rise.

Therefore, sound the trumpet of victory far and wide;

For God is with Us.

438. A miracle rests better on a cleansed stomach.

Love of the world fits better in a clean brain.

Disdain eating just as you do quarrels.

439. By a single word have evil empires been created.

Will then the Lord's Creation delay

When all the Heavenly Forces have risen?

By decree of the Highest,

Rays penetrate the sphere of the sun.

Waves of the ocean of planets

veil the current of the luminaries.

Ominous and beautiful is the time!

440. A new banner requires new people.

441. He who had arrived ignorant will have been

seated at the table and will be already filled with knowledge.

All is saturated with signs and approaches.

If you wish to commission a passer-by

to carry a message to a neighbor's house,

You say to him, "Friend, give our friends this message."

And often afterward you do not even recognize this messenger.

So, in life, look at what has been brought to you

without being troubled by the appearance of the bearer;

Especially when everything around is filled with signs.

Verily, fortunate are you who know the indication

of approaches and the ordained dates.

Therefore, wait and be joyful.

442. To be a fugitive for a long time is not pleasant.

Dearly do we pay for self-love.

443. Wherefore consider Us as a volcano of passion,

When the freesia is Our favorite flower?

Leave to the enemy the crimson ardor;

More close to Us are the diamonds of the peaks.

Already you see his stratagems.

Ah, how he toils! How can he be convinced

that his building is no more than a prison?

And prisoners are constantly dreaming of escape.

What joy is there in dragging prisoners after oneself?

However, in this argument he is of a different opinion

The obvious Alberichs have accepted his teaching.

444. Indispensable is sacrifice, and the flame of the

offering is like ozone.

Even savages use the holocaust as a crude symbol of the act of offering.

445. In the Name of Eternal Movement,

In the Name of the One Force,

I repeat!

As the roots of the trees become solidly fixed in the earth,

Your knowledge becomes rooted only in time.

Therefore, know the date,

So as not to seize before the appointed time.

That which is seized prematurely and that grasped

belatedly are alike in conclusion and significance.

446. Verily, I say: Even crumbs are useful in Great Service;

One can collect a bowlful of the common work

from yesterday's loaves —

The gift of My Spiritual Instruction.

Your sole defense is in My Name;

Other defenses are of no avail.

It is better to understand this in time.

I have summoned to the construction, and the hands

of My most beloved shield-bearers I have extended.

I have revealed the pathway.

Let the Guiding and Safeguarding Hand be always remembered.

447. Go forward courageously.

448. Wisely We will turn everything for the good.

449. I will assemble the daughters.

Let them help lay out the beautiful garden.

Let them fill the garden to overflowing with new blossoms.

I perceive that one can expect a rapid sprouting of the life of the New World.

450. A world manifestation appears in the miracle of a renewal of life.

My Hand is amidst each day's events.

Happiness it is to view the miracles standing guard like shields.

Sternly do I confirm My Words.

451. He finds the sooner who knows how to conceal.

One can quiet a wave only by a timely pouring of oil.

452. When a maiden strives evenings and nights

to bring good to the world —

When she dreams about the ineffably beautiful

and lofty — is this remote from life?

If these dreams be beautiful,

will not the response to them also be beautiful?

Why seek changes of life?

Why break up the old if a single breath reveals to us a new wondrous region?

Thou hast been terrified before the prison door;

It seemed to thee impossible that the iron door

could be opened.

Yet here I give thee the key.

Learn to turn it just as many times as indicated;

No more and no less than is necessary.

Is the achievement remote?

Wild beasts are not necessary;

Nor are tribunals and warriors —

Achievement is close at hand!

Thou hast brandished the staff, calling the world to battle.

Here comes the world to thee — sharpen the staff.

Useless are false oaths and wrestlings of spirit;

Sacredly canst thou utter the vow of Truth.

Thou who canst see, to thee I give —

Add a drop of My task in the draught,

And dip into the wine of knowledge

the bread of achievement,

Giving nourishment to those who approach.

Joyously ascend the new step of time.

* * * * *

Let us conclude the first book.

New ones will manifest themselves in action.

They will reveal the shield of Beauty,

And, full of love, will open the doors to those who knock.

The earth will sink beneath the feet of the blind,

And the deaf will be destroyed.

I am sending a living spring,

To bathe thine eyes and ears.

And the Miracle will be manifested,

And a Bridge of Beauty will lead on to a new way.

I said it.

They will ask thee how to traverse life.

Answer: Like crossing an abyss upon a taut string —

Beautifully, carefully, and fleetly.