* * *

Days went by, moments vanished into air, whilst Max was still oscillating like a pendulum between the material and the spiritual. His rebellious personality still couldn’t find a point of rest. He was rushing about in search of answers to his questions. He stumbled across diverse variants. He called those one by one in question and remained face to face with the same questions all over again. It was becoming his intrinsic state. However, being near Sensei, he felt himself different. He couldn’t explain it, but he felt unusual peace... Sometimes Max was listening to Sensei, but totally did not hear him. He was rather simply fond of their dialogue sounding. Yet, there were moments as well when Ego loosened its bridles, and then Max was not only hearing what Sensei was saying, but also felt his own soul trembling, imbuing his body with an extraordinary joy. Such moments in particular were now emerging from his deep-laid memory. Those were the meeting moments where not words were important, but rather what was happening inside the soul – a certain inner burst during which the love for all existing filled his mind while the animal nature temporarily yielded its positions.

Max was now again distinctly hearing Sensei’s words taking him back to those unforgettable moments of the spent life. That day he and his friend stayed for a supplementary class for the pure sake of chatting with Sensei after training.

In fact, such irregular attendance of supplementary classes began when Max once accidentally stayed longer after common training and heard Sensei’s individual disciples discussing quite an interesting spiritual practice of the Lotus Flower. He was most of all amazed that it wasn’t an ordinary meditation, but it was exactly the practice which had lead Siddhartha Gautama himself to spiritual awakening and had transmuted him into Buddha — the God-like creature. This same practice had been mastered by selected pharaohs of the Ancient Egypt. Reverberations of perfection of this practice were praised in ancient Indian books written in Sanscrit, in treatises by Chinese sages, in the Ancient Greece epos. Max simply couldn’t miss such information. Everything in it was attracting him: antiquity, mysteriousness and, of course, the divine sanctity achieved by those who had mastered this practice. He regarded it as an opportunity to change transform himself, and above all to become an important person in this world.

Max importuned Sensei with questions about this spiritual practice. And, as soon as he had got it, he rushed home happy like a thief over a stolen treasure. During the first three days he diligently exercised and, strangely enough, turned out to be much better in this practice than in other meditation and contemplation techniques taught by Sensei at Oriental fighting classes. Later on, Max diverted his attention towards routine problems of material being, and his eagerness to master the spiritual practice faded away. Soon, the everyday routine engrossed him totally. A usual phase of despondency ensued for Max during which he again started to make futile attempts to grow a “flower” inside him. And, since he achieved no success, he ran to Sensei to “cry on his shoulder” and to look anew for the answers to his inconsolable questions.

— Sensei, what’s my mistake? Seems I’ve done doing everything correctly... In a quiescent state I imagined how I planted a seed in the solar plexus area. Then I started to “nourish” it with the power of Love, I kept to positive thoughts in mind... In the beginning, I even felt a slight vibration in the solar plexus area and visualized that the seed grew through... But after several days, there was nothing... I cannot even feel that primary warmth...

— Correct. When you were doing everything with a feeling of Love, it turned out well. Yet, when you digressed and attempted to practice only with your mind, you had no success. It’s natural. The Lotus Flower is a steady control and a perpetual longing for Love. In order to grow this “flower”, one should always attune oneself to love for God, to love for all existing. Such internal state should be maintained in spite of any fortune reversals. And, I emphasize once again, the “flower” should be nourished not with thoughts, but with a sincere feeling. The whole gist of this spiritual practice is in awakening of the Love feeling with its further strengthening and permanent, I repeat, permanent preservation, right up to a physical sensation appearance in the solar plexus area.

— And why exactly in that area? Generally speaking, are there any explanations for this from a human physiology standpoint? — Max rushed into questioning.

Sensei grinned almost inconspicuously. At that moment, Volodya joined them on the bench. And, since the supplementary class was nearly over, other guys caught up with him as well.

— It may as well be explained from a human physiology standpoint, say at a very rough, primitive level, — Sensei responded.

— Why physiology is a primitive level? — Max asked with his favourite jeer, feeling his person was in the centre of everyone’s attention.

— Oh, primitive – to be sure! — Sensei smiled. — A human being is in fact a pure physics, a set of sheer formulas of energies movement. And the entire human chemistry derives from there. While what I’m trying to explain to you is merely a most primitive layout on fingers of your physiological associations.

— I would listen about this “primitive layout” an extra time with great pleasure, too, — Voloday said in a bass voice. — Although in your performance such “extra time” is never superfluous. I always hear some new addition.

— I think so, too, — Stas, a tall athletic guy, uttered.

His friend Eugene, being in no way inferior to him by his height and dimensions, half-rose from the bench and in jest solemnly shook Stas’s and Volodya’s hands.

— I absolutely agree with you.

— Well, taking into account such collective intention, let’s do it, — Sensei gave up. — Let’s review one of the past lessons. So, all of you imagine what the solar plexus is. — He rested his gaze on Max who nodded in bewilderment having said neither yes nor no. — OK, I see. This plexus otherwise called the celiac plexus constitutes an aggregate of ganglions of various size and shape, conjunct between each other with a numerous connecting branches of manifold length and thickness. The plexus may be quite different by the number of nervous tubes approaching, by the number of ganglions forming it, and by the form of this mighty conglomeration. The solar plexus in its centre more resembles connected apexes of a triangle, while by its external form it most often looks like an uneven circle because nerves radially diverge from the solar plexus extensively to the abdominal cavity organs like rays of sunlight. And, of course, there are plenty of nerve-endings there. The solar plexus belongs to the largest vegetative plexuses. It is even called the “abdominal brain”.

Now, what happens when a person is doing the Lotus Flower spiritual practice? If we would figuratively project the process of internal energies circulation to human physiology, we’ll get the following picture. When a person purposefully concentrates attention on his or her solar plexus with a feeling, I emphasize – a positive feeling, there appears an irritation of nerve-endings including the Vagus nerve – one of the twelve pairs of cranial nerves, or the so-called wandering nerve. By the way, let me point to the fact that both the right and the left wandering nerves participate in constitution of the solar plexus as its parasympathetic part. Moreover, the plexus includes the largest part of the common rear tube of both wandering nerves. Now, let’s go back to concentration. After the wandering nerve is irritated, signals are transmitted along this nerve to the cerebrum. And there, having passed through distributing ganglions, the signals get to hypothalamus.

— Hypothalamus? — Max roused himself and asked already with an explicit interest: — Isn’t it the one being called the “ancient brain” or the “snake’s brain”?

— Yes, — Sensei confirmed. — There are also other names such as “the primary brain”, “the dinosaur’s brain”, “the reptilian brain” and many more. Hypothalamus is indeed one of the most ancient formations. Yet, even chordates, the most primitive of all vertebrate animals, have a prototype of hypothalamus area. Whereas the human hypothalamus has been brought to perfection, one might say.

— And why is it called the brain of reptiles, dinosaurs, but not the brain of chordates or amphibian’s for example?

— You see, exactly in the time of the most ancient reptiles which were the first truly land vertebrate animals, hypothalamus had to be significantly improved and differentiated in line with adaptation to land existence. Hence, the human variant of hypothalamus became merely a superstructure over the basic design of ancient reptiles’ hypothalamus area. And they differ from each other... let’s say, like the very first electronic calculating machine differs from a modern computer. Same in principle, but completely different abilities...

— Not bad, — the only thing Max thought of to reply, being astonished with what he’d just heard.

— So, let’s return to the human hypothalamus. In order to understand what really happens inside it after the irritation is transmitted there, let’s recall what we know about hypothalamus, as of today at least. Hypothalamus is the superior centre where all data about the internal state of one’s body are accumulated. It is a quasi mediator between the nervous system, the body organs, the tissue liquids, and it’s also, I would add, an energy converter. Receiving nervous impulses from the cerebral cortex, hypothalamus retranslates them into a language comprehensible for the organism liquids.

— And how?

— Well, in those liquids it changes the ratio, the concentration of hormones, ferments, salts etc. By the way, no part of the cerebrum other than the hypothalamus area has such a privilege in supplying blood. Chemical agents coming from blood continually signal about the state of body organs and systems at each moment in time. Putting it more simply, hypothalamus is a good manager who perfectly gets on both with the enterprise owner and the workers, and skillfully disposes of resources being entrusted to him. Therefore, the enterprise operates as a single mechanism. In general, this manager ensures complete homeostasis of the enterprise.

— Homeo... say again, what? — Max quietly asked Eugene to repeat, for the latter was sitting next to him.

Eugene smiled almost unnoticeably and answered quietly and very seriously:

— Musses, of course. Haven’t you ever heard this expression? It’s when an enterprise has not been visited by a tax officer for a long time.

— А-а-аh, — Max drawled meaningly and added in bewilderment: — Yeah, I remember now.

Sensei heard this and smiled:

— Homeostasis is a constancy of the internal environment.

He glanced at Eugene with a slight reproach. The latter made an unruffled face and started to justify himself:

— Why? It’s precisely what I’ve said. When does an enterprise have the internal environment constancy? If a tax officer hasn’t been there for a long time.

Guys burst with laughter, and Sensei waved his hand towards him hopelessly.

— Who is the owner of the organism then? — Max interested, casting sidelong looks at Eugene.

— Epiphysis, — Sensei answered ordinarily as if it went without saying. — Thus, we’ve cleared up that hypothalamus is the main subcortex centre of vegetative provision and control. It takes the most active part in regulating the operation of cardiovascular system, the alimentary tract, the body temperature, the organism’s biochemistry; it also regulates biorhythms, sensations of hunger, appetite, thirst; it influences sexual behaviour and so on. Well, and, of course, hypothalamus coordinates various forms of nervous activity starting from vigil and sleep states, and right up to generation of positive and negative emotions, to organism’s behaviour during adaptation reactions... But I tell this all only for your reference, for you to better understand the following. Now, let’s talk about the essentials. Exactly inside hypothalamus, there are two ancient centres located. Looking at a cranium from above, you can imagine these centres making a certain internal triangle together with the pineal gland, and epiphysis is the apex of this triangle. These centres were called differently in different times, but their essence never changed. One of the version of their names mentioned in ancient manuscripts is “agathodemon” and “kakodemon”. Agathodemon stimulates generation of positive thoughts while kakodemon stimulates generation of negative ones.

— Say again? “Demon”? — Max asked to repeat. — Does it mean “devil” if you translate?

— In translation from Greek “demon” (daimon) means a “deity”, a “spirit”. Yet, later Christianity adopted this word from Greeks and gave it such definition as you’ve mentioned.

— And “kako”? — Max asked again.

— “Kako” is indeed “kako”, — Sensei joked. — The “kako” prefix springs from the Greek “kakos” meaning “bad”.

— Here! I also always referred to multifunctional use of this international word, — Eugene noticed cheerfully.

Guys burst out laughing again.

— Well, if “kako” is “bad”, does “agatho” mean “good” then? — Max verified.

— Just so, it is “good”. By the way, such definition of the positive thoughts centre was known already to ancient Egyptians. And for this reason in Ancient Egypt there appeared a medallion that later became a talisman named “agathodemon” in Greek-Egyptian tradition. It included am image of a snake with lion’s head and seven shining stars (the latter were changed into crowns afterwards).

— So, it looks like Greeks adopted their knowledge from Egyptians? — Volodya asked.

— Yes. And, while Egyptians had at least some of the original knowledge, Greeks adopted and further turned that knowledge into mythology. Thus, in Greek tradition there appeared the agathodemon — a good spirit following a person throughout his or her life. He was considered a mediator between people and gods.

— And, having turned the internal into the external, people have lost the first one, — Volodya commented with a smile, using Sensei’s expression.

— Absolutely.

— So, thoughts originate from hypothalamus? — Max hurried to return to the conversation on the topic of his vivid interest.

— Well, not from a piece of matter as you think, — Sensei responded. — Like I said, it’s only a figurative comparison, a projection of energies onto matter. Thoughts originate not directly from a cerebral substance called hypothalamus. They are being born in the two centres which I’ve been telling about. These centres are certain chakrans of subtle matter which our thoughts consist of. And, should they ablate this cerebral area from one’s brain, such person will end up with certain psychical malfunctions in thinking, perception, memory and so on, but he or she won’t stop generating thoughts.

— Clear.

— These centres are sort of semiconductors between the subtle matter and the nervous system. They receive the nervous system signals transferring them into the subtle matter, and at the same time they can encode information into a signal and send “mental orders” by nervous tracts... I would add something you already know, namely that, upon stimulation of both positive and negative emotions, the activity of parasympathetic section of the nervous system predominates, and one of the most important nerves of that section is just the wandering nerve.

Let’s now go back to the beginning. What is happening when you’re doing the Lotus Flower spiritual practice? When irritation induced by concentration of positive feelings in the solar plexus area goes from the wandering nerve to hypothalamus, the nervous signals, first of all, go through both of these centres. At that, along with greater stimulation of agathodemon, there is also a feebly marked stimulation of kakodemon. When the agathodemon centre is stimulated with such type of energy, more simply the energy of “Love”, a person feels bliss and all-embracing joy.

Now, let’s take Max’s example. Basically, something similar is experienced by nearly all beginners. Should a person loosen his or her attention or fully digress to an animal feeling, there occurs a surge accumulated though parallel stimulation of the kakodemon centre. At first, such process manifests itself in appearance of negative thoughts and agitation of negative emotions. This is followed by doubts arising. And (please, note it particularly!) when you give your power, your attention to such thoughts, as a result of such synthesis you get an irritation of a number of other nervous system centres because of which a person sinks into depression, becomes despondent or aggressive. Later on the process of your attention seizure by negative thoughts further aggravates, and the kakodemon centre is further being stimulated. It turns out to be an exclusive circle. And the person, say, falls into the animal nature’s net again.

— How could one break this exclusive circle? — Max asked.

— That’s the whole point! Human brain is attuned to the animal nature’s frequency from the very birth, although it’s the most primitive program out of all brain’s abilities. The kakodemon centre is stimulated nearly all the time by a person who lives an ordinary life and does not participate in its spiritual nature’s evolution. Therefore, such individual stably possesses such elements as envy, anger, hatred, greediness, cupidity, jealousy, fear, egoism etc. Some have them more expressed, others – less. However, from day to day, such people bite their own tail and suffer of this biting still more. They have extremely rare stimulation of agathodemon, mostly in the form of weak irritations of this centre and for very short periods of time. At that, such surges are subsequently overpowered by the more stimulated centre of kakodemon.

In contrast to the latter, people following the spiritual path purposefully work on the agathodemon centre stimulation. Where does it lead them? Let’s particularly take the Lotus Flower because its circuit inside a human organism is the very result of any spiritual path which leads to, say, one and the same inner Gate. Thus, if a person practices the Lotus Flower correctly, controls his or her emotions, thoughts, power of attention and endeavours to be in the state of Love most of the time or better constantly, localizing this feeling in the solar plexus area, such person is able achieve the following. Permanent irritation and stimulation of the agathodemon centre intensifies its activity, switching on certain mechanisms which deaden a little by-stimulation of the kakodemon centre... Here there’s already pure physics, so I won’t go into details incomprehensible for you. To cut a long story short, figuratively speaking in physiology language again, something similar to total or partial inhibition of the kakodemon area takes place. It results in extrication of an energy sharply intensifying agathodemon’s activity, which in its turn leads to a surge actively stimulating the pineal gland. This gland is also called epiphysis. And the very consequence of epiphysis operation in such new conditions (more simply, the consequence of the wave frequency change) is that a person experiences opening of spiritual vision or the “Third Eye” as they call it in the East. Well, and this in its turn promotes awakening of tremendous powers of the soul. Such person not simply changes internally, but he or she starts to reveal a well of genuine knowledge, the reality of superior worlds...

Sensei lapsed into silence.

— I still don’t understand, — Max repeated shrugging his shoulders, — how can some pineal gland transform a person so profoundly? I may admit this about the central nervous system. But epiphysis?!

— The central nervous system holds one of the privileged positions in the organism management system. Nevertheless, the master of all the internal is precisely epiphysis. It’s sort of a superior control organ which exerts its significant influence only when there are really holistic changes going inside a person. Yet, if there are no such changes, epiphysis just “watches”, and from time to time controls and adjusts the overall attuning of cerebral structures, either stirring up or reducing certain processes. But the main thing about epiphysis is that it’s exactly the one to contain informational matrixes, sort of holograms, storing all the information about the individual including that from his previous lives. This is the most secret “safe” of one’s memory, having a “double fireproof bottom” for it is also a charkan. Everything you see, feel, experience during your life, that is all your internal and external, is being recorded in the pineal gland. It is a sort of inner Guard of the Gate, which always knows everything about you including all your secret and manifest desires. By the way, the first Christ’s adherents interpreted this information as a personal page in a book of life kept in God’s hands where everything about a person was being written... And so, if the animal dominates in you, if your thoughts are mostly about constant accumulation of the material, then, no matter how hard you try to externally demonstrate your “angelic” nature, all your efforts will be vain. The Gate may be opened only through the spiritual, through a permanent sincere desire filled with your pure Faith and Love... And what else is interesting. This Guard not simply records person’s intentions and deeds, but it also strengthens what is dominating in thinking. Therefore, if you switch your attention to negative perception, the Guard will support the negative in you, intensifying what you possess. And, should you switch to the good, the Guard will intensify these feelings inside you.

— Is epiphysis as ancient as hypothalamus? — Max wondered.

— Undoubtedly. Epiphysis and the hypothalamus area are the most ancient formations. All vertebrates have epiphysis, though it varies by its organization. For instance, the pineal gland of inferior vertebrates (lizards, amphibians, some species of fish) is represented by a paired organ having intracerebral and surface-located parts.

— Surface-located? — Stas asked again. — How is it?

— Well, it’s s form of the third, so-called parietal eye located straight under skin and skull cover.

— Does it mean a lizard can see through this parietal eye?

— Of course! There is a lens having a form of the upper wall of the eye bleb, a cavity filled with light-refracting substance, and a pigment, — everything as it should be.

— Does it really see directly through its skin? — Max got amazed.

— Yes. The epiphysiar cornea, that is the skin above the parietal eye, is transparent. The higher vertebrates have an unpaired epiphysis. And the human pineal gland, located in the rear part of the third ventricle between the quadruplet bodies, is reallt something unique and peculiar. The human epiphysis, compared to that of other higher vertebrates, was significantly changed due to individual’s duality – material and spiritual. Therefore, epiphysis is not only the master of a human body, but also a gate to the spiritual, more superior world, sort of a portal. So, it is exactly the epiphysis which controls any change in one’s state of consciousness.

— And how does it look, this epiphysis? — Max asked thoughtfully.

— It’s a small rough formation, triangular-oval in shape, somewhat flat from the front to the rear. It looks greyish-pink, though the colour may change depending on the filling of blood-vessels. And its weight is... surely individual for each person. The average is about 0.13 grams. Although completely lost persons have it with a much lighter weight coming down as low as to 0.025 grams. While spiritually evolved people have even 0.43 grams and over. Everybody is different.

— Amazing! It’s so small, but so powerful! — Max was totally wonder-struck.

— You think purely subjectively and measure with habitual material criteria. Yet, considering it objectively, sizes in space essentially play no special part for energetic objects. Let’s take, for example, the “Po” particle. It’s so small that contemporary scientists are still not able to get to it, despite all their advanced technologies. Nevertheless, everything is webbed of its impositions: not only ourselves, but the entire boundless outer Space with all galaxies. So, sizes per se are a relative notion.

— Does epiphysis grow during one’s life?

— It depends... Epiphysis weight constantly grows until a person reaches the age of ten to fourteen years old, i.e. the puberty age. Then there occurs a considerable surge of prana – the vital energy. And, starting from this point, if a person sinks in the material like a pig in a puddle, his or her epiphysis weight nearly doesn’t change. But if a person spiritually evolves — it’s a quite another story... Refer at least to some literature describing events when people including children manifested extraordinary mental abilities upon having an enlarged pineal gland, and you’ll grasp everything yourself.

— But, given this pineal gland is so important in the human organism, why is there no information about it anywhere? — Max articulated with a slight reproof.

— What do you mean – no information?! — Sensei resented. — Have you ever thoroughly looked for it? Surely, not! It’s amazing how people enjoy complaining that there are no references without any endeavour to search those. Remember, Max: who searches will always find, who knocks will get the door opened for him.

People knew about the pineal gland a long time ago, and they knew it exactly as a gland and not like any other formation. Take the ancient India, for instance. Two thousand years before Christ, there was a true golden age of epiphysis studies. Indians were already aware that this gland for a human being was not only the clairvoyance organ and the memory store of all previous soul’s incarnations, but also the main chakran concentrating superior energies... Moreover, this knowledge had been possessed still earlier by the first pharaohs of Ancient Egypt, though in a slightly different interpretation. Ancient China, Tibet inhabitants knew about the pineal gland as well. By the way, in these lands from time immemorial there existed a ritual of the dead high clergyman cremation after which his closest disciples looked for the so-called ringseh. It’s a hard substance more resembling am small amber stone. By its size, disciples judged what spiritual level their Teacher had achieved. It was believed that the larger was ringseh the higher the dead person had been spiritually. Yet, ringseh is nothing else than a cerebral gravel of epiphysis. This gravel still remains one of the biggest mysteries for contemporary scientists, whereas people in ancient Tibet knew it as a place of psychic energy accumulation...

So, the pineal gland was known long ago. However, this organ used to be called differently. In principle, it started to be called pineal from the second century A.D. when Galen, the ancient Roman physician, compared it with a pine-cone. And so it went. In Latin they began calling epiphysis glandula pinealis, by the name of Italian stone pine.

— What about the “epiphysis” name?

— Epiphysis is a Greek name meaning an “adnate”.

— Yeah, it’s easy to get confused with all these nicknames, — Eugene jested.

— But the most interesting thing is that, the further people were moving away from the ancient knowledge, and the more intensively the orthodox medicine was developing, the faster they lost the true information about functions of this gland. During a long time, epiphysis used to be considered a rudiment at all, though some keen minds succeeded to get to the truth anyway. For example, Rene Descartes who lived at the beginning of seventeenth century. An outstanding person! No wonder that his intellect and aspiration for self-perfection allowed him to be a philosopher, a mathematician, a physicist and a science methodologist at the same time. Hence, he also expressed an opinion that a human soul had its site in a small pineal gland located in the cerebrum centre. Say, he was close to the truth and almost got to it... Furthermore, already then Descartes had pointed to an existing functional link between the pineal gland and the visual system which was proved much later.

— Do you think people will ever succeed to prove the epiphysis connection with the soul scientifically? — Max asked distrustfully.

— Quite possible. Epiphysis is currently being studied intensively, although only on a chemistry level. But its leading role in the human organism is already recognized as of the most important link in the neurohumoral system and a neuroendocrine organ. Nobody doubts anymore that epiphysis is the main mediator between the external and internal environment of the organism, securing vital functions regulation of all organs and systems subject to living conditions, i.e. alternations of day and night, seasons, temperature, humidity, activity of the Earth electromagnetic field, ionizing radiation level and so on. It is known that the pineal gland is the very one to exert significant influence on behaviour, particularly on research behaviour, ability to learn, memory, locomotive and convulsive activity, sexual and aggressive behaviour. Scientists have discovered not only the pineal gland interaction with the hypothalamus-hypophysis-adrenal complex, but also an existence of an epithalamus-epiphysis system as a parallel backup mechanism in emergency situations. They are studying the epiphysis innervation with upper jugular vertebras, i.e. with sympathetic nerves. There are attempts to study its connection with the parasympathetic system. The pineal gland influence upon immunity, upon neuroendocrine glands is noted... Owing to the latest scientific achievements, people now have access to information on the histostructure, the chemical composition, on some epiphysial hormones and hormonoids. The pineal gland frequency characteristics are being studied...

However, it’s only the beginning of this mysterious organ exploration. Everything discovered until today is a mere mote on a water surface. People don’t even know yet that this water is an ocean, not to say about the knowledge on a quality of this ocean itself. And the future medicine will surely reveal the secret of epiphysis, if such future ever comes, of course. Basically, it’s not very complicated. Suffice it to learn to read information from its holograms. But, should the human science have time to get to this, the world would turn over.

— To which side?

— It all depends on people. While currently people rummage in exploring the material world and coarse energies, the mechanisms of managing those, then, after having decoded epiphysis structure and information on its holograms, people will be able to learn operating subtle energies as well...

— Yeah... Most probably, I won’t live till those enlightened centuries, — Max joked.

— Why would you wait till then? — Sensei responded, matching his tone. — Who wants, can always find this knowledge inside oneself, and at any time, not being dependant on the overall level of human enlightenment. What people are now trying to do jointly by means of their science, to put it mildly, is a mere attempt to reach the left ear with the right hand. It’s little complicated, yet so entertaining... The ancients knew a shorter way — through their internal. After all, the whole point is not about reaching the ear, but rather about comprehending what this organ is like and how to use it.

For an individual, it’s always more important to get through his or her internal than to observe the external in confusion. For, if someone else works on self-improvement and achieves certain spiritual levels, there is no benefit to you out of this. Because everyone must work independently on his or her own inner field in order to gain a valuable fruit for oneself.

And there always have been plenty of instruments to cultivate one’s spiritual. Chose whatever you like. But, using any of such instruments, a person anyhow always arrived at one and the same outcome — the stimulation of epiphysis through growing the power of Love and surmounting one’s animal nature (the ancient dragon), i.e. hypothalamus. It is the rule which exactly had been reflected in the very first, original spiritual practice of the Lotus Flower included in Belyao Dzy science adjusted for people at certain point of time. And everything built up on later is only various complicated combinations of this practice which one way or another lead to the initial core.

— Well, it’s clear in particular, — Max nodded because it seemed to him that Sensei was explaining more to him than to the others. — Yet, in the largest accounts... nothing’s clear. How could the Lotus become a foundation for everything, if there are so many diverse ways in the world? In my mind, for example, the Lotus Flower is more associated with Buddhism. But there is Christianity, Islam and, I know, Krishnaism. And, while here we have a dynamic meditation as you call it, there they have prayers, some verbal drumming into the subconscious. It’s a completely different impact on one’s organism!

— Well, you know... The primary impact is different, — Sensei uttered. — However, these are only various ways of getting rid of negative thoughts, of one’s animal nature. But the subsequent way of soul awakening is identical for everybody.

Let’s take Christianity, the Orthodoxy for example. In its spiritual practice, to achieve the sanctity state they use an ancient inward prayer called in Christianity “the incessant prayer”, “the sensible prayer” or “the hearty prayer”, but it’s more famous as “the Prayer of Jesus”. It consists of just several words: “Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, have mercy upon me”. Or a short version: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me”. What this prayer basically does is that a person, continually repeating it with “the mouth, then the mind and then the heart”, gradually plunges into the same state as achieved in the Lotus Flower. Many people achieved the soul awakening with the help of this prayer.

The prayer is very powerful and efficient. It’s described in detail in the ancient book of “the Good Nature”. This book for people who are clever and versed in spiritual sacraments is the second important after the Gospel. There are advises and instructions of twenty-five monks describing practices under this prayer. And, though they all were recognized as “saints”, only few of them had really achieved sanctity having perceived the inward prayer sacrament. These old men described the three keys of this prayer: frequent repetition of Christ’s name and addressing to him, attention to the prayer or, more simply, full concentration on it without any other thoughts, and, finally, immersion in oneself which churchmen considered a great sacrament of this prayer and called “mind joining the heart”.

In principle, it’s a religious, longer way to the pure knowledge that is to awakening in the Lotus Flower, to opening of the soul. Yet, in Christianity, for beginners and not for people who already follow this prayer, there are certain religious rules applied. The beginners are forbidden to practice it without proper guidance, i.e. without a living instructor. This rule is reasoned in such a way that, without an instructor, people uttering this prayer might “suddenly get under grip of uncontrollable mental states”.

Whereas, in fact, there’s nothing terrible there because a beginner simply practices an ordinary auto-training, self-disciplining oneself, passes the very first meditation steps, learns to concentrate his or her attention on the prayer, removing all outside thoughts and gradually increasing the time of prayer performance. Thus, these stages when a beginner utters the prayer “with mouth and then with mind” is a plain hammering of it into the subconscious in order to facilitate fighting against one’s animal nature through concentration on the very prayer and thereby achieving “the purity of intentions”.

Many people start performing this inward prayer either over a fear of “hell torments” or because of personal self-interest for the future. Although the saint men whom the prayer had really lead to opening of their own inner soul temple, warned that “fearing hell torments was the way of a slave, and desiring a reward in the Kingdom was the way of a mercenary”, — saying the latter words, Sensei glanced at Max with such an unusual, penetrating look that a shiver went up and down Max’s spine. – “Whereas God wants people to go to him along a filial path, i.e. to behave honestly out of love and eagerness for Him and to enjoy the salutary joining with Him in their souls and hearts”. God may be perceived only through internal pure Love. In St. John’s chapter 4, verse 18 it is mentioned: “In love there is no fear, yet perfect love banishes fear for in fear there’s tormenting; who fears is imperfect in love”. As St. Gregory the Sinaite wrote in his instructions to the Good Nature, in part 1, on page, — Sensei softly closed his eyes, recalling, — on page 119, about the Prayer of Jesus: “Love this one prayer and strive to acquire it in your heart, keep your mind not dreamy. Don’t be afraid of anything with it; for the One Who said: dare, I am, don’t fear, — is with us Himself”. “Who will be in Me, and I will be in him, will create a great fruit”, — as stated in the New Testament, in St. John’s chapter 15, verse 5.

Thus, the first two stages of the prayer “with mouth and mind” are only a prelude, while the greatest sacrament, in churchmen’s opinion, is when “mind joins the heart”, when “the name of Jesus Christ, descending to the depth of one’s heart, will subdue the pernicious serpent and revive the soul”, when “mind puts the prayer into heart, and the heart begins to utter it”. This is actually the transfer from the verbal to the sensual, more simply — the meditation beginning. For meditation is nothing, but working at the sensual level without any words.

A versed person reading the Good Nature, rejecting all religious rubbish, will understand the core of this way, and his or her eye will find the necessary. For instance, Simeon the New Theologian, describing the methods of “joining the heart” in Word 68 of the Good Nature, wrote: “You should obey the three things above all: unconcern with anything, even with blessed, and not only with unblessed and vain, or in other words – disregard of everything, pure conscience in everything so as it would not condemn itself of anything, and complete impartiality so as your intention would not tend to anything”. This is the first-rate basis for opening one’s soul.

In the Good Nature, there can be found description of different ways how people who had perceived the inward prayer sacrament achieved the stage of “mind joining the heart”.

— Why different? — Max wondered.

— Well, each person is special in his or her own way, each one, say, has his or her own step length... Thus, some concentrated on their heart, trying to mentally imagine how the prayer was being uttered with each heart beat. Others exercised in breathing, on the inhale pronouncing: “Lord Jesus Christ”, and on the exhale — “have mercy upon me!”, again concentrating these words on the heart. Still others practiced self-contemplation. For example, St, Gregory the Sinaite mentions the following: “...bring mind from your head down to your heart and hold it there, and from there appeal with your mind and heart jointly: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me!” Hold your breath as well so as to breathe without impudence for it disperses your thoughts. If you see thoughts appearing, don’t heed them even if they are simple and kind, not only empty and impure”. Or, for instance, in the second part of the Good Nature Nikiphoros the Monk recommends, in case one fails in such inward breathing, “... to force oneself to yell this only prayer inside instead of any other words (thoughts). Patiently remain in such deed for just some time, and an entrance to the heart will open for you through this without any doubt as we have perceived from our own experience”.

It’s splendid, of course. However, they were concentrating on the heart. Therefore, those who practiced the inward prayer soon started feeling pain in this body organ. And many fell into this dangerous trap. What do I mean? Heart is a muscle, an organism engine, the soul was never inside it. Heart should work autonomously. And concentrating on this organ is a tremendous risk. What kind of risk? If a person has even slightest doubts during such concentration, if he performs this prayer as an idle experiment, not changing his inner life holistically, not having made a firm decision to follow his soul, i.e. not awakening the genuine faith in God inside himself, but simply playing with it by whim of his good mood, he can easily get a nice heart attack. Nonetheless, truly spiritual people possessing steady faith, sincere, pure love for God, successfully passed even such stage, although it wasn’t painless for the heart, until they got deep inside their soul, to the solar plexus area. They felt as if their mind was descending there. And exactly from there they started to fell warmth spreading from chest all over the body and causing pleasant sensations. As saints wrote, “a light flares up which embraces you from inside with the fire of God’s Love”. More simply, the solar plexus chakran started to work, and such person felt a vibration coming out of the chest, a warm wave carrying those words from the soul depth: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me”. The person felt the God’s Love emanation inside and amplified this Love with subsequent concentration on it. “Blessed are those pure in heart for they will view God”. According Pheolipth’s the Metropolitan dicta written in part two of the Good Nature: “Having secluded externally, dare to get further inside the most internal watchtower of the soul which is the house of Christ where there’s always peace, joy and silence. Christ, the mental sun, emanates these gifts like some rays out of Him and gives them like a recompense to the soul which accepts Him with faith and good nature”.

— I haven’t quite understood about the heart, — Max said. — How those spiritually advanced could avoid heart attacks? If they also concentrated attention on the heart, why did their solar plexus snap into action?

— Because, if a person opens with Love for God, the God’s Love will safeguard him or her, no matter which way he or she is going. The main thing is aspiration on the way. In such case, sooner or later the searcher will arrive at the needed result. At bottom, if a person is steadfast in one’s spiritual zeal and does not assume any doubts even in thinking, everything works just like it should.

Max looked at Sensei with the same lack of understanding.

— Well, what else I can say to explain to you... If you are not lazy to refer to human neurophysiology, you’ll see that heart is connected with the solar plexus through innervation.

— Well, and...

— The Power of Love is certain energy. Pure concentration of it even on one’s heart will localize this power in the solar plexus one way or another.

— А-а-аh, — Max drawled affectedly. — Now it’s clear.

— God be praised! — Sensei said in a similar tone, jokingly wiping “sweat” from his brow.

Guys around smiled.

— At the beginning, you mentioned the prayer was ancient, — Volodya reminded, wishing to continue the topic.

— Yes. It traces its roots back to extreme antiquity. It used to be called the “Prayer of soul”, and concentration took place exactly on the centre “between chest and belly”, i.e. on the solar plexus. In general, it’s a certain adaptation of the Lotus Flower. The inward prayer may be found in crypto-knowledge of any serious religion.

— Why is it called “the Prayer of Jesus” in Christianity? Did Jesus give it to his disciples? — Max asked.

— Well, say, for himself and his personal disciples Jesus used the pure knowledge including the Lotus Flower as the simplest and most effective method of taming one’s animal nature, for such work was conducted on a sensual level. For clever people he gave the inward prayer as the most acceptable, habitual form of spiritual practice. Certainly, the latter method involves a little detour through verbality and the subconscious, but the result is still entrance to the sensual level. And, for everybody else who had the animal nature prevailing, Jesus framed the knowledge in a form of parables with a double clue which fitted minds of both laymen and versed people. Everyone could discover his or her inner treasures with that clue.

After Jesus, the inward prayer became the key one for the leading group of his true progenies. And the apostles conveyed it to their disciples already with Jesus’s name in it because, even to present day, His name as of the son of God arouses absolute trust in many people which’s very important. For, once all doubts are rejected, the spiritual way passage becomes much easier. Thus, the prayer started to be called “the Prayer of Jesus”, and also “the hearty prayer”, for Jesus often used the word “hearty” in a meaning of “emotional” as it was in those times. And, by the way, in the beginning the prayer was conveyed correctly, just as Jesus had taught — with the subsequent concentration on the solar plexus area. Through this prayer, numerous people among the first Christ’s followers freed themselves from material shackles.

However, after certain time there appeared such individuals among Christians who, having got some smattering of the Teaching, tried to organize their own cult by means of that knowledge, to establish their own significance in masses, using Christ’s name as a cover. Humans almost always remain humans... Exactly with such ignoramuses the genuine knowledge hiding started, and the inward prayer was further performed with concentration on the heart. Yet, some true Christ’s followers still managed to preserve the pure knowledge for their offspring. They called their secret “the great secret” between themselves.

— Is there a reference to the inward prayer in the Bible?

— There are references in certain passages. You see, the Bible was developed from selective records, moreover under the control of emperor Constantine. What was preserved there are mostly parables and oblique hint at this inward prayer.

— Can you give an example? — Max didn’t abate.

— An example is Jesus’s parable about the tax collector. It’s narrated in the Gospel according to St. Luke, chapter 18, verses 10 through 14. It tells about two men coming to a church to pray. One was a Pharisee, another was a tax collector. “The Pharisee stood and prayed as follows: God! Thank You that I’m not like other people, robbers, offenders, adulterers or like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, give away a tenth share of everything I acquire. Meanwhile, the tax collector, standing some distance away, didn’t even dare to look up to heaven, but was beating his chest, saying: ‘God, have mercy on me, the sinner that I am!’ I tell you that this one went back home more acquitted than the first one, because any man glorifying himself will be lowered while a man belittling himself will rise”.

Of course, these are not precise Jesus’s words, something was added, something omitted, but the overall sense is remained correct. For majority of people in this parable Jesus tried to disclose elementary notions on the human nature... For an animal cannot be told what spiritual is in its pure form. It would be same as explaining a blind from birth who has spent his entire life in desert sands what the beauty of an autumn forest is like at sunset. Therefore, one has to use associative comparisons and images. As for spiritual people, they understand each other without any words. It’s a completely different level of perception.

— In this parable the “sinner” is mentioned as usual, — Eugene noticed. — Oh, priests are so fond of this prejudice!

— They are fond of it because it’s their daily bread. Imputing depravity to a person standing on spiritual way, they hammer a guilt complex into his or her subconscious. And such complex is like “a stone fastened to feet” on the way... Yet, on the way to God there should not be any doubts, everything is rejected, only pure Love remains. If a person becomes truly free inside, rejecting everything except Love, Love for God, all shackles simply vanish for they are nothing, but an illusion. Such person is aware that his or her body is only a vehicle which goes where his or her genuine self, i.e. the soul, wants to.

— So, does it mean that a person performing the inward prayer also balances spiritual and material natures inside himself at first? — Max said thoughtfully.

— Yes, he just needs more time for this way.

— And, for a person performing the inward prayer, would those stages of “mouth” and “mind” be in particular the general battle, the personal Armageddon you’ve told about? — Max asked, endeavouring to clarify something for himself.

— No, — Sensei answered. — It is only a preparation fire. The general battle for a person following the spiritual way will take place when an earnest internal work starts, when the person will reject all conventions and will truly cultivate inner Love, will go straight ahead to God in spite of everything. In plain words, it will take place when he or she approaches the Gate and steps on the single bridge or path (whatever you may call it) leading thereto. In principle, all people achieving a certain level of spiritual maturity have to pass this main ultimate leg regardless of the exact way they have taken to reach it. In the highest accounts, all these manifold ways are merely different methods of searching that sole path which leads to the Gate.

— Yet, how would you know whether you’ve found that path or you’ve gone in circle to a primeval forest again? — Max expressed his doubt.

— Don’t worry. Anyone having stepped on that path will feel everything. Moreover, he or she will then be followed with signs.

— Signs?

— Well, yes, certain indexes in a spiritual guide-book.

— Could you, please, tell more on this subject?

— I do may tell you more... I shall omit all those external signs which a person begins to see and to understand owing to amplification of his or her intuitive perception, and shall tell only about the principal inner sign which appears when such person steps on that bridge or path, i.e. when he or she enters the final battle with his or her animal nature for the soul supremacy in a given body. This sign appears in a form of head of an ancient reptile, serpent or dragon. But most often people start seeing as if an open-hood cobra is gazing at them. Its gaze is not aggressive, but serene. It looks eye to eye, most likely even at one’s nasal bridge. At that, a person sees its image in front of oneself both with closed and open eyes. At this leg of spiritual way it appears intermittently in front of one’s face even in everyday life. Sometimes it seems to people that they start having some haunting hallucinations. A snake shows up or crawls by now here, now there. Such visions are normal for those crossing the bridge.

Each person surely has his or her own reptile image. It partly connected with one’s inner imagination, with currently possessed versions from associative memory. And one’s attitude towards that reptile’s appearance is also different. If a person has grown up in a region where a snake’s worshiped as a sacred animal, he or she will react more or less tranquilly. Whereas another one in whom a fear has been instilled from childhood will naturally feel dread and disgust as the first reaction. Yet, however that may be, when a person overcomes his or her illusions including fear, when he or she completely abandons negative and becomes aware of the truth, exactly then he or she realizes that the Serpent is only the First Guard. The latter is necessary because any further advancement is possible only under observation, for at this leg of spiritual way some more mighty energies come into force...

— How mighty? — Max wondered.

— Well, judge for yourself. A person having passed the First Guard acquires such abilities thanks to which he or she can govern not only natural elements, but people’s destinies as well...

— Yeah, not bad, — Max said in surprise.

— And so, when a person completes, say, crossing the bridge, i.e. wins the final battle, the personal Armageddon, having chained up his or her animal nature, then the Serpent disappears. The person spiritually becomes much more sublime and purer... To put it bluntly, this whole process is just a stage of operation of the hypothalamus centres which we’ve spoken of, up to full or partial inhibition of the negative thoughts centre — the kakodemon. By the way, such process in ancient yoga was associated with awakening of a dormant serpent and its ascent along one’s spine up to the “Milfoil” chakran which is an epiphysis projection.

— And what’s next? — Max was excited with curiosity.

— Next?! — Sensei grinned. — Try to pass at least the way described. Out of all people walking the spiritual paths, only a few reach the bridge, not to mention the Gate. Although it’s the most primitive and elementary in the true spiritual work... And then... Then there starts a path of the chosen ones, connected with epiphysis opening. On this path, there appears another, more superior sign — the Eye, or the All-seeing Eye as they also call it. In the East, this sign is named the All-seeing Eye of the East. In Ancient Egypt it was called the Eye of Horus. And its very first, most ancient name was the Eye of Phaeton Goddess. Only some individuals have walked along such path out of entire humanity having ever lived on our planet... Hence, for the time being you don’t need to know about it. Your mere task is to reach the Gate. Basically, the Lotus Flower brings to this level in particular. And then there begin totally different meditations with new goals and tasks... But, as a matter of fact, people don’t need this information. That’s the path of Boddhisatvas...

— So, the “Flower” is sort of a stage in acquiring the inner Freedom, — Max resumed for himself.

— Absolutely. People who have passed the final leg of spiritual way up to the Gate understand each other without words when they meet. They meet as brothers, although they may belong to utterly different religious organizations. Why? Because they become free inside and understand that they serve one and the same God, no matter how people call Him. It’s just that each of them serves in his or her own way. And such understanding is beyond words...

A person being in God is absolutely free from any prejudices. Finding God inside oneself, he or she per se finds the genuine self, finds the eternal happiness which is incomparable to any terrestrial pleasures. And such person would never exchange an hour, a minute, even a second of this blissful state of living in God for decades of youth, health, material pleasures and delights, even if a power over the entire world would belong to him or her. Because for him or her it would be same as exchanging, for instance, tea-drinking in a warm, cosy house with the closest, dearest person for hanging on a stake amid a square when you’re being beaten, tortured or cauterized with red-hot iron. This is how different it is for the knowing people.

A human being without God in heart is like an exile. Such person spends nearly all life in idle mirages, in bitter and sweet illusions which come to an end anyway, no matter how he or she wants to retain them. And it’s impossible to prolong this unreal life of one’s matter even for a second. Many people ask themselves a question: “What do I live for?” Do we really live for the purpose of stuffing our stomachs, making children, purchasing and wielding?! These all are only dust in an instant. And what’s next?..

The books by Anastasia Novykh:

http://books.allatra.org/en

E-mail: center@allatra.org

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Website: www.allatra.org