II, ii. 1. Be unafraid to examine your brother's armor. In fingering carefully all links of the coat of mail one recognizes weak points. Then one may timely offer: "Brother, in the Teacher's Name, examine your coat of mail and finish its tempering, otherwise it is better to fight without armor at all!" Examine weapons before each battle; cruel the lot of one who holds a hilt only. Remember, simplicity possesses the power of attraction. This magnet corresponds to the unfolding step. Horned thinking permits not birds to sing, but My march is only in song. 2. They will ask, "What kind of heaven is yours?" Answer, "One of toil and engagement." Thusly are born invincibility and beauty. Fear nothing, for though flowers are multiform, by the Word you shall proceed orderly. Notice how Our field is overgrown. You shall add areas of fresh endeavor and blot out mountains of former pride. As I said, it is better with ragamuffins than with hypocrites. Become accustomed to perceiving spirit-fire of eye. Today let us remember the heaven of toil and engagement. 3. Together with co-measurement must be understood necessity. In the testing one's quality is measured and thusly given unto him. 4. Foremost are promptness and firmness of the hand in striking the spiritual chord. Not for reward or by fear does the disciple go forward but because of realization of cosmic beauty. Devadatta could not distinguish the life of necessity: this obscurity impeded his way. 5. A spirited steed with the end of his hoof feels on which place to step next. So is felt orderly mobility, co-measurement and necessity. 6. Let us send seven servants to the market to bring grapes. What do I see? The first lost the money. The second exchanged it for intoxicant wine. The third hid it. The fourth didn't notice that the grapes were unripe. The fifth, testing them, crushed the cluster. The sixth chose wisely but scattered them thru carelessness. The seventh brought a ripe branch and found leaves to adorn it. You know how a ship rushes forward on a wave. Verily, one should nurture not the hearing but the spirit. 7. A ray can shine in thru a window. 8. The qualities of being invisible and silent are often saving. The positions of trust and secret-keeping are honorable. Aspiration helps spiritual growth. 9. To each of the summoned I give signs, but these must be accepted. 10. Spiritual uplift is bestowed. Above Our tents shine rays of valor. Our joy is to be singed with flaming truth. Our way is triply lengthened in action. Teacher, Teacher, Teacher walks holding the arrow of command. Never the placid surface water for Me, though I send the messenger dove, I descend as the Eagle! Prepare yourselves! 12. My Command is that you understand the importance of what is happening. 14. It is correct not to speak of love but to show it in action. It is correct to abolish assurances of devotion and not to utter superfluous words. Verily, the current time is one of overcoming, taking each stone adroitly. Aim arrows skillfully. Fatigue and irritation can deprive one of an urgent message. One must know how to reach Us over and beyond sensations. 16. How did We cross deserts, avoid black arrows, bestride untamed steeds, sleep under a traitor's tent, better Our lot while facing the fire of the desert's feathergrass, conquer the stones of the torrent, find the way in night's darkness, comprehend obscure wishes, discover the path of life? Verily, by vigilant spirit. Every moment We are ready to give the bread of life to him choosing this path of vigilant spirit. To My Ray respond beings who clothe themselves in the protective purple of valor. 17. Know how difficult it is to reach the hearts of people. Of hostile currents We make use. A command to My warriors is not spoken twice. Let us not be daunted if at first glance the possibilities appear too scattered. Grass does not grow instantaneously. 19. A great warrior achieved one of his greatest victories by setting fire to the steppes behind his own troops and giving a thousand horses to his prisoners for their escape. In terror they rushed to his enemy and spread fear there. On their heels came his hordes seeing no other way out. Quicker than flames they trampled down the foe. A short-sighted leader sets the fire behind enemy forces, the wise one kindles it behind his own. 20. The master sees new possibilities, and the fire of the steppe chases riders in one direction. 21. If Earth were deprived of flowers, half of its vitality would disappear. Just as import is snow; like beacons of salvation stand the snowy peaks.

III, iii. 1. As the scope of the work grows, floors and ceilings begin to crack. Where is achievement, where is the desire to pass over all walls? 2. Let's imagine the Earth laden with wireless stations. Only a few of them will be of very high tension, these directing the life of the planet. Exactly so are spirits of high intensity who have fully charged their accumulators in past incarnations. Their characteristic is a firm conviction of the indissolubility of the inner, whence is born the concept of higher freedom. To the station of higher tension is adjoined a network of smaller stations receiving its continuous waves. Thereby a spirit of higher tension nourishes its surroundings. Achievement is not renunciation, it is containment and activity. Containment emphasizes conscious understanding. How does the Great Mother renounce worlds? In containing the great pattern of unfoldment, wherein nothing hinders spiritual evolution. Luminous attainment generates positivity, so achievement is made progressive. The wave of unified energy carries forth those in its current, as heroes in a boat. We are striving only amid joy. 3. Strive into unfoldment, bypass the sooty present. 4. It is terrible to see how few respond to the call without evasive excuse and complaint. At the hour of summoning men forget all they have received. 5. The best interchange is most direct; leave off emphasis on the go-between of money. Be not dispeased except with self. Let not others do what one can do oneself and so abolish the thralldom of servants. Say not twice what needs be said once. Retread not the same path, for even a stone threshold wears away. Swim not where one must fly. Turn not back where one ought to hasten. Distort not mouth in ill-speech where silence serves. When the steel of achievement is necessary, bedeck not yourself. Not fist but hammer drives the nail. Be not bounded by fence but by thoughtfires. Not bow but arrow reaches the mark. Not by my God but by thine. 6. Think how best to adorn each place, thus more surely one protects from rubbish. Consider how much better than the old must each new thing be, thus one affirms the ladder of ascent. Think how beautiful the unfolding, thus one learns to look forward. Reflect how small the Earth is, thus one improves perspective of relationships. Consider how beautiful the sun veiled within the Earth-sphere, so one is restrained from irritation. Think how white the doves in the sun's radiance, so strengthen hope. Recall the blue of sky unto eternity. Consider how black darkness is. Ponder in courage the concept divine, thereby aligning. Consider the joy of imbuing the planetary crust with spiritual awareness. Consider being the focalpoint of ancient stellar radiations. Think of Our Hand guiding vigilantly, and so prolong the thread of life. 7. When someone bars your way, step aside in silence if you know your path. If your path is broad, at the striking of departure-hour find good words for those remaining. Going to rest, set your thoughts in order. 8. "It is better to shudder at the torments of the past than to be in doubt of the future. It is better to judge in the morning and forgive in the evening. It is better to think by day and fly by night." From the Chinese book The Pearl of Dreams. 9. As photography will never replace creativity, so too physical apparatus can never substitute for spirituality. 10. Place daily a pearl into the necklace of the World Mother. Light is the best bridge twixt visible and invisible. 11. Say to all who hope to be with Us that they should keep their thoughts pure. Achievement is born of pure thoughts. Chaotic thinking begets small insects and cuts off the best paths. Vermin of body cause a man to be shunned. How much more repellent is vermin of spirit! When thinking resembles in content a drop of stagnant water, there is no possibility to reveal the image of unfoldment. 15. Seldom do We choose the water routes. The element of water is in opposition to the magnetism of mountains. Arrows of lightning pierce waters without accrual of results. We strive to insulate each current. The crime of speculation has to be persecuted relentlessly, as the Earth is sick from speculation. A paroxysm of evolution is needed to root out this infection.