"Each one will apportion for himself, for We see and hear. There is neither day nor night, and the messenger already saddles his steed.
"I send to you My achievement, affirmed by centuries. Keep the key to it clean."
Proclaim this.
19. The Parable about the Asking One.
Dgul Nor was considered most wise. He had the good fortune to find a Teacher who came from the Sacred Subterranean Country but who was bereft of his tongue and his right hand. The pupil, constantly aspiring, asked a question, and the Teacher nodded. The pupil asked two questions and the Teacher nodded twice. Soon the pupil was asking incessant questions, and the Teacher unceasingly nodded. For three years the questions continued and for three years the Teacher nodded.
"Then, in Thy experience, everything is possible?"
And the Teacher not only nodded but bowed to the ground, and, opening his garment at the breast, revealed upon his bosom the image of the Blessed One bestowing with both hands.
Thus was wisdom affirmed and the creation of life exalted.
Verily, in a single sigh we cognize Space. And no word can convey the Infinite, and no thought can comprise the Light.
But at sunrise, facing the sun and receiving the ray into the solar plexus, one can feel the victory over the ocean, because through light one can touch the light of the spirit. But this consciousness is only in that spirit which can say: "I have renounced all in order to receive all." Thus, it is not a denial but an affirmation which has above it the Hand of Buddha.
20. The flights of the subtle body can be of two kinds: either it flows out of the feet and aimlessly wanders, or it passes through the upper nerve centers and flies upon spiritual missions. It is instanta neously transported across oceans, it teaches people, it imbues auras.
It must be said that only extraordinary strivings and resourcefulness impel the subtle body to concentrate the touch upon a physical object; because usually the spirit strives to act on spirit, overlooking the fact that objects can be excellent conductors.
Not only does the astral body act but also the mental body. Of course the astral body also emerges, but We do not value the actions of the astral body. We consider the consciousness of the mental body more important. To sharpen the point of this force is not so simple.
21. Two companions of Our works are joy and vigilance. If people could see the results of their discontent and could understand that slumbering is death, they would avoid the two chief coworkers of darkness. The evil sting of discontent penetrates even into the best places. A dull somnolence may becloud the head of a conqueror.
When you know the solicitude about you would you bum it by discontent, which has split great works and brought down the lightning upon the sender?
Remember, We have no discontented ones. Also no somnolence, with which the dark force besprinkles you.
Is there not ossification hidden in this poisonous effluvia? Slumbering is not Our sister. Those who have approached the Light will not pierce themselves with discontent, and will not turn to stone.
Slumber and such dusty manifestations should be avoided. The manifestation of the Shield should be treasured.
I shall repeat once again, but no more, because the Law forbids repeating to deaf ears.
VII
1. Tell the new ones that the responsibility for thoughts has to be realized. Formerly, one was responsible for action; later the significance of the word was understood; and now it is time to know the conflagration of thought. It is better to learn silence and to purify one's thoughts.
Can the roar of a tiger possibly be worse than treacherous thinking? Not only for its actions but also for its thinking does humanity accumulate a grave karma. Thought inflicts tortures on the spirit, for there is no difference between word and thought.
A fool is he who will take this warning for a threat. There is no threat — We have only examples, and cares. Each one is free to jump into the abyss, but he must be forewarned.
I consider that now there is no need to repeat more about the significance of thought.
Although the time is sordid we had better think about the future.
2. Each one will apportion for himself. From the best plan there can be made a chicken coop.
Apportioning gold and silver is not Our occupation. One has to forget all conditions — then the light is lit. Every joyous loss is an immense gain.
The daring of despair is self-abnegation. But the highest daring does not expect any reward. And despair expects no reward. In Our language despair is the designation of a limit. An achievement is near to this limit. To the house where it abides one can screw an iron bolt.
I am knocking in the rain. Why do people fear only lightning? Sometimes a beggar's bag warrants a greater fear.
3. Cryptogram about Christ:
Night fell. Christ was seated at a threshold.
A scribe approached and asked: "Why dost thou sit in the passageway?"
Christ answered: "Because I. am the threshold of the Spirit. It thou wouldst pass, pass through Me."
Another scribe asked: "Can it be that the Son of David sits at the place for dogs?"
Christ answered: "Verily, thou defames David, My Father."
It became dark, and a third scribe asked:
"Why sitteth thou as if fearful of thy house?"
Christ answered: "I await the night's darkness, to free Me from sight of thee. Verily, let darkness depart into darkness."
Then, rising and pointing to Mount Moriah, whereon stood the Temple, He said: "My Grandfather created the Temple of stone, but He sits under the linen of the tent."
Said the scribe: "Madman, he believes that Solomon still lives."
And they departed in ignorance.
Afterwards Mary came out of the house and, seeing Christ, said: "Teacher, share our evening meal."
"Christ answered: "The gift of the heart glows in the darkness."
4. Cryptogram about Christ:
A member of the Sanhedrim asked Christ "Wouldst thou come to us it we should call
thee?"
Christ answered: "Better had I go to the cemetery, for there there is no lie."
The member of the Sanhedrim continued:
"Why dost thou not acknowledge us when even thy father was married by one of our members?"
"Wait until your house crumbles, then shall We come."
"Wherefore shalt thou come, to destroy or to build?"
"Neither for destruction nor erection but for purification, because I shall not return to the old hearth."
"Then dost thou not respect thy forefathers?"
"New cups are given for the feast. Respecting a grandfather, one need not drink out of his cup."
5. Parables of Buddha:
A shepherd beheld a man seated in meditation beneath a tree. Seating himself beside the man, he tried in emulation of him also to think. He began to count his sheep and mentally to figure out the profit from the sale of the wool. Both sat silent.
Finally the shepherd said: "Lord, of what art thou thinking?"
"Of God," answered the man.
The shepherd asked: "Dost thou know of what I was thinking?"
"Also of God."
"Thou art mistaken. I thought of the profit from the sale of my wool."
"Verily, also of God. My God has nothing to barter, but thy God must first go to the market. Perhaps on the way He may meet a robber who will help Him to return to this tree." Thus spoke Gotama: "Go to the bazaar. Think faster in order to return quicker!"
On a ship traveled a trader of monkeys. In his leisure he taught the monkeys to imitate the sailors spreading their sails. A storm arose and the sailors hastened to lower the sails. The monkeys, knowing only how to spread them, followed the sailors and hoisted the sails again. The ship was lost because the teacher had foreseen only fair weather.
Thus spoke Buddha, the Restorer of the Lotus of Life.
6. You will ask why I speak against magic when I Myself am pointing out the cementing of the space, the significance of the influence of a circle, and other conditions which remind one of magic. But the difference is that magic seeks a substitute for life while We teach to ameliorate the existence by taking advantage of the possibilities of life itself.
7. It is well to point out: "Read again, and better, the old Decrees." I teach the new when the old has been put into practice. I teach the useful when the indicated and cognized cooperation has been accepted and entered into.
The best tinning takes place when the fire does not burn the ware. Success may be tinned only when its shell has been completed in spirit.
The hammer is working and the chains are clanking, and grey people continue to find pleasure in the cup of lechery. They do not know that th6 hands of the clock have moved imperceptibly and that tomorrow the doors will be closed to their ingenious amusements. My gatekeeper will tell them: "At dawn there was erected an altar to the Lord of Wisdom." And the grey ones will depart.
Stem and inflexible stand My guards. One cannot compare the steel of their helmets with the gold of the grey ones.
8. Separation precedes a meeting and a meeting precedes a separation. Therefore it is wiser to rejoice at separation.
A commandment to all warriors: When one leaves the ranks the others must proceed in the same direction. When the banner is flying the warriors do not desert. When the bonfires are ablaze the warriors do not push each other and try to take another's place. When the signal is given for a night march the warriors do not complain but march cautiously.
Before each manifestation you noticed a moment of seeming emptiness or cosmic silence. From small to great this moment is proportional. It is comprehensible that the physical world is very much on guard when letting through a spiritual discharge. Therefore, it is a difficult task to lead the physical world out of its inertia.
9. Our goal is not to be Teachers, but Co-Workers. But for this there is needed a firm realization that through mutuality absolutely everything will be brought to useful fruition. When signs of such allegiance are evident, then the mastery of the physical world is at hand.
In earthly churches people invoke Christ and wonder at His silence; whilst you perceive how one can resurrect Him amidst earthly life, without putting on a sackcloth and disturbing the space with discontent. Thus are the great Designs forged.
10. As different seas have different waves, so the space gravity must be held secure by various means. Not through contents alone, but through application, much can be strengthened.
11. The most terrible statement is: "We have already attained." The Teacher Himself will never pronounce this destructive formula. We know the Plan, and We are tirelessly conceiving new details.
12. Why do I sense the mountain spirit? The Teacher is sending His Shield.
The Teacher wants to see you erecting a mountain.
The Teacher is yearning to see you disconcerted by nothing.
The Teacher feels how courageous you have to be to proceed.
The Teacher will point out when a grave danger is to be encountered.
The Teacher advises to keep courage ready.
The Teacher will help to conquer the evil hand.
The Teacher repeats not purposelessly the long-familiar thoughts.
The Teacher looks ahead.
The Teacher enjoins you to keep the spirit invincible.
The Teacher wishes to dispel fear.
The Teacher wants to make your judgment calm.
The Teacher restrains you from grievances.
The Teacher advises to plan bold projects as before.
The Teacher is concerned about your health.
The Teacher sends you forth.
The Teacher has warned enough.
13. Learning about sacrifice, you receive power. Success follows sacrifice. His Teaching is firmly grounded because it is based on sacrifice. Success is nothing else but the counterstroke of sacrifice. The success can be in advance of the sacrifice, as a loan, but inexorable is the fate of the debtor. If today one can pay with little, within a year the payment due will increase. Before the year elapses the debtor becomes stooped with his burden.
I shall illustrate with a parable:
A man who had withheld the confession of a crime sat in prison. At home he had left riches which had come to him unexpectedly. The noise of every step outside suggested to him a pardon. He sent couriers to deliver the riches to the judge. But a simple confession would have treed him and preserved his wealth.
It is easier (or a man to sit in prison than to pronounce the saving confession. When the judge is about to free one he must hear the redeeming "yes" — the desire to give up.
14. About the circles of keen sight and hearing.
The first circle concerns the near ones and future events. The second is confined to current matters and to the near future. The third embraces the past which concerns the near ones. The fourth encompasses past events. The fifth is within the limits of the contemporary world. The sixth reveals the future of the world currents. The seventh contains all signs.
One can be strong in the first circle without being able to grasp the next one. Therefore, it is better to develop the seventh circle, because all manifestations are accessible to it but without personal gravitative influence — without limitation by the personal, narrower, sphere. It is better when, following a personal sign, one can receive signs about coming events of nations, or glimpses of a cosmic order.
One must know that amidst spirituality the realization of beauty lives but rarely. A sound understanding of beauty is the rarest quality, and will be valued by the Lords above many things.
It is better to approach the great with difficulty than to master the small with ease.
By a series of historical examples We will show the path of evolution.
15. In ancient cults there was a period called "the condition of opened treasures," when the priestess was already abiding on the eighth floor, entrance to which was prohibited, and the stairs were covered with the skins of leopards in order that no sound might penetrate. This state of "opened treasures" was so reverenced that the violation of the repose was punished as a religious offense.
Everything inharmonious is especially harmful; therefore, a thunderclap is less dangerous than the scream of a newborn. This simple truth was never written down. It is absolutely impossible theoretically to draw a demarcation line of harmony, because the tonality of the accord of spirituality is an individual one.
The ancients knew that the "treasures" are unrepeatable, and took measures against accidents. During the opening of the treasures the Elder of the Temple observed which of a gamut of sounds had the greatest effect. Each sound was accompanied by a definite color — thus were the conditions for each case determined.
16. A smile of determination is the best guide. One must acknowledge the goal and devote oneself to the plan of the Teacher.
Every personal desire is harmful, but striving toward achievement is required. Desire is not an achievement. Achievement is the realization of necessity. Desire can grow; a desire can be renounced or modified. The torrent is rushing on not because of its own desire, but because of an inevitability born of necessity.
The spirit knows where is the impulse of desire and where the rock of necessity. I see the torrent of truth rushing on, and nothing can impede its course.
How often a Name of the Lords pronounced with faith helps to create the bridge of succor!
We see much that is far from beautiful. When working with humanity one has to wash one's hands often.
When you feel weary do not always ascribe it to yourself, but remember the waves of world reaction.
Only through consciousness of utter urgency will you swim across.
The pattern of work of the dark ones is first to sow disbelief, then to saturate it with desires, then to inflate these into crimes and reap a double harvest.
Ponder upon how to be more intelligible to humanity.
Besides the sacred language We have a language of silence. The condemned language of refusal and negation tears the hem of the garment.
17. Turning to the right, be ready to go to the left; nearing the shore, be ready to sail again; because every Command is for the good and for acceleration. In tense stillness hold your breath, for steps may resound.
Better a few annoyances but then the approach of the events. Better a short fatigue but then the near approach to the Teacher. Better wearisome journeys but then the approach to the Teacher. Better a sinking into dust but then the purification of the spirit. Better the rejection of conventional measures but then the obtainment of Light. Better grief about a Ray but then the Light of Christ. Better to give to others but then the lofty ecstasy of the spirit. Better to subordinate the spirit to the Command but then to reach the Teacher Himself. Verily, know how to guard and preserve.
When you feel a wondrous fairy tale, then does your spirit speak the truth. And when you draw the line of future life. Our Mirror shines. And when you count the parts of the world. Our Banner flutters. And when you look into the distance with an eagle eye, the light knocks at My Tower.
Thus, when you think about possession in common, or about the healing of humanity. We feel wings.
Expel small thoughts, they are stilling to Us.
18. In a card game you may receive the best cards but it is up to you to make the best use of them.
I am speaking about the pictures of the future. In conformity with quality of auras, these pictures are real and extend in a definite direction.
True, ill will can push the traveler into a different direction, and then he will see signs of a different nature.
Therefore, when receiving the pictures of the future it is very important to remember under what condition of spirit they are given. To the ray is given the corresponding possibility; otherwise justice would be violated. One should also understand dates similarly.
For cosmic dates manifested "vessels" are chosen, and they carry a chain of coworkers. Therefore, the substitution of coworkers takes place according to the request of the chosen ones.
If We notice the lameness of a coworker. We still do not replace him without the expressed desire of the elders. But if the spirit of the chosen ones recognizes a treason toward the work, then let them address Us, saying, "Thou, Our Sponsor, Who have given pledge, replace the coworker." This will mean that a link of the chain will be unlocked, and the consciousness of the chosen ones will be freed from the effects of the aura of the departing one. But the departing one takes upon himself his own fate, for everyone is tree to build his own house.
We can summon. We can reveal pictures showing the expedient direction, but the application of Our Call is left to the free will.
Only devotion and understanding of the wisdom of the Plan insure the reality of the pictures of the future.
From the mountains distant vistas are seen, but the desire to crawl into a hole can only be deplored.
In times long past a debtor was cast into a pit called gehenna. Why crawl there of one's own free will? Thus, let us conclude about the vitality of dates and the mirrors of the future.
I wish to see everyone at his place and with greater understanding of achievement without expectation of personal gains. Is it possible to call a warrior who enters into the battle full of expectation of reward a hero?
Ages ago the Teacher Mohammed had to promise to the warriors of Islam raptures in Paradise. Will I have to promise the glitter of rubies? One must proceed without expectation; otherwise, deplorable is the waste of the time of eternal evolution.
19. Now let us conclude the law of co-measurement.
The builder must know how much load the pillars of the house can carry. From non-co-measurement results destruction, blasphemy, lie, treason, and many other ugly manifestations.
Can a building endure wherein to a flea are attributed the qualities of a giant; wherein a poker is sought more than the Lord; wherein the whirlwind is being compared to a mosquito's flight?
The condition of the Brotherhood is full co-measurement of thought and expression — this is the bulwark of the truth of beauty. To go through life with neither reticence nor exaggeration is easy. We sharply observe Our coworkers, for they should express themselves in conformity with the true meaning. Only thus can different beings cooperate.
The best judgment will be founded upon beauty. It is ugly to say, "I shall put the giant into a little box," or, "The eagle soars like a hen."
How often are the best apparati destroyed by non-co-measurement, which, with a little attentiveness, is easy to avoid.
20. Reading the suggested books, you will find sparks. Place into one receptacle the fragments of reverence to Maitreya. Thus, over the face of the Earth I Myself have laid the chips of the One Stone. A new miracle will bring the nations together. Our Ray will expel doubt.
The bonds of achievement are similar to results of the work in a laboratory. The hand does not shake while measuring the experimental liquid, because the researcher knows that a spilled drop can blow up the house. Only faith and courage uphold the hand of the experimenter.
VIII
I. The Ray of Christ is just as scientific as the ray of the sun, but to the crowds the simple finding of an object is itself a miracle. Is the change of races a miracle? Is the coming of the Teacher a miracle? Is the appearance of Christ a miracle? Does one prophesy a miracle centuries ahead? A miracle violates harmony, whereas cosmic events only affirm evolution.
Dreams and visions also are not miracles but a thread of life; that is, knowledge of what is impending, revealed to such an extent as not to infringe upon karma. If people could without prejudice accept dreams and consciousness, the path could be improved.
The manifestation of new images is often distortedly reflected. The mirror either expands or contracts, as when a surface undulates from an unusual pressure.
One must cautiously consider the so-called nightmares; their meaning may be significant.
2. What I will say now is very important. The canon, "By thy God," is the higher, and this canon is the basis of the New World. Formerly one said: "And my spirit rejoiceth in God, my Savior." Now you will say: "And my spirit rejoiceth in God, thy Savior."
Solemnly do I say that therein is salvation. "Long live thy God!" So you will say to everyone; and, exchanging Gods, you will walk to the One.
There where one might otherwise sink one can tread softly, if without negation. There where one could suffocate one can pass, by pronouncing "Thy God." There where matter is revered one can pass only by elevating the earthly matter into the Cosmos. Essentially, one should not have any attachment to Earth.
Why is there a legend about the descent of Christ into hell? The Teacher addressed the lower strata of the astral world, saying: "Why, by cherishing earthly thoughts, bind oneself eternally to Earth?" And many revolted in spirit and rose higher.
Thus, find the God of each one and exalt Him. One can understand it in mind, but it is more important that it be accepted in the smile of the spirit. When the most difficult becomes easy, like the flight of birds, then the stones themselves unite into a Dome, and Christ the Mason will appear to each one.
3. Synthesis of spirituality is the rarest gift; it alone kindles the light of the world. Nothing can be compared to the light of the world. The light burns, but its ray is being sought.