The Kingdom of God and His Righteousness

There is one thing you have to learn, my dear brothers and sisters, and that is not to be in a hurry. Instead of waiting impatiently for these few minutes of meditation to end, you must learn to remain in silence for longer and longer. I have often told you that the thing that causes your brain to seize up and prevents the full flowering of your spiritual faculties is this deplorable habit you have of always being in a hurry. Of course, I do not deny that rapidity, activity, and dynamic energy are very desirable qualities, but you must not concentrate on them to the exclusion of others which, on the contrary, have to be developed through patience and greater inwardness and receptivity. When you achieve this inner state of peace and harmony, you will sense that forces, powers, and entities are beginning to work within you, and what they accomplish is so prodigious that most of it cannot be seen or understood; it surpasses all imagination. Of course, this reality has many different degrees, but even if what you experience is no more than the first, the lowest degree, you can already sense that an unknown, inner force is beginning to forge something within you, and if only for a few minutes, you rise above the commotion and worries that restrict you and enter into that 'secret place' that Jesus talks about.

It is important to understand these two aspects within every human being: the mortal being, who is subject to so many limitations, and the immortal, eternal being, who is free of all limitations. One of these aspects has to retreat and diminish so that the other may grow and flourish. This is exactly what St. John the Baptist said with reference to Jesus: 'He must increase but I must decrease.' Yes, these words are symbolic. When you are here in the Brotherhood, you must detach yourselves from the habits of your everyday life. What is all the hurry about? You have not got to go and type letters in an office, or collect taxes, or plead a case in court, so why not tell yourselves that for a little while at least you are finally going to come face to face with eternity, with the sun, with nature, with a multitude of luminous beings—face to face with yourself. Those who manage to change their attitude will, at last, feel divine forces awakening and dwelling within them in order to transform them.

Many people have told me, 'I want to concentrate, I want to pray, but I can never do it.' They do not see that they fail because they set about it the wrong way; they are too tense. They keep thinking that they have not got much time because they have so many other things to do. In these conditions concentration is impossible. There is an obstacle in their unconscious or subconscious mind, some element in their habits, that prevents them from meditating, and it is worth looking into this and trying to analyse it. I know that they will object that it is life that dictates the situation, that when you have to work and provide for others you cannot waste time. Yet if they could get into the habit of not being in a hurry—if only for half an hour or an hour a day—they would soon see that everything would go ten times, a hundred times better once they got back to work.

There is a time and a place for everything. While you meditate you must not think of anything else; there will always be time to take care of other things afterwards. But what usually happens is this: while you are here listening to a lecture or praying and meditating, in reality you are somewhere else. And when you are somewhere else, instead of concentrating on what you are doing you think, 'I should be meditating or praying.' This is why nothing really works. It is not while you are preparing a meal, washing the dishes, or driving the car that you should be thinking about meditating. You must be present at what you are doing at each moment, for there is a right time for everything. Otherwise, there will never be time for anything; your mind will always be somewhere else. How true this is. When you are here you are still at home—or goodness knows where—and when you are somewhere else, you are here. Finally, you are never wholly anywhere, and that is very bad.

How many bad habits still need to be corrected. Yes, very, very bad habits. The first thing you have to learn in our teaching is just this, to correct your bad habits. Once you have done this you can go much further and much faster. You will say that now that I have explained it, you understand. Perhaps, but I think that without any explanations at all, simply by sitting in silence, you would have understood better still. Believe me, if you were not always so engrossed elsewhere, you would understand a million times more from that silence than from my explanations.

Words are not really so important. It is because you have not managed to establish close contact with heaven that you need words. The day you truly know how to meditate and contemplate the splendours of heaven, I shall continue to speak to you, but in silence. Already, during our moments of silence, I continually talk to you, but what I tell you is of a different nature; it belongs to a different dimension. Does this astonish you? Even during the night I continue to speak to you. In fact, this is why you sometimes experience a sudden illumination; it comes from something you have heard during the night several months or even years before, and it is beginning at last to filter through into your brain.

You will perhaps ask, 'But why does it all take so long? It is very discouraging.' It does take a long time, that is true. It is the same for everybody. A great deal of patient, persevering work is necessary before human beings finally begin to understand. But think how many billions of years it takes for stones to become plants; how many millions of years it takes for plants to become animals; and how many millions more for animals to become human beings. Of course, as you go up the scale from one kingdom of nature to the next, the tempo increases. Stones need a stupendous amount of time; plants need a little less; animals need less still—and even less time is needed for human beings to become superhumans or angels. This is because, with each step upwards, the potential is greater. But even so, even if human beings evolve more rapidly, it still takes them hundreds of thousands of years to reach the level of evolution of the angels.

There, that was just a few remarks about the attitude you should have while you are here. It is always one's attitude that needs to be improved. A few minutes ago I mentioned the 'secret place' that Jesus spoke about. This is a magnificent and very profound symbol, and it was certainly known long before Jesus. Every initiate knows that one has to enter this place in order to pray, for if your prayer does not come from there, heaven cannot hear it. Why not? Well, it is as though you were out in the street and you wanted to talk to a friend in another town: you can only do so by going into a telephone booth and dialling his number, and then the telephone will put you in touch with your friend. If you like, you can stay in the street and shout and scream for all you are worth, but your friend will not hear you. Similarly, if you want heaven to hear you, you must go into that secret place that Jesus talked about, for it is equipped with a 'telephone' by means of which you can communicate with the higher worlds. Then there is another similarity: when you go into a telephone booth in a busy street, you close the door because you need silence in order to hear and be heard. This secret place must also be quiet; no inner work can take place in the midst of noise.

It is important to understand that you have this secret, silent place within you and that you must go in and shut the door firmly behind you. To shut the door means to shut out all other thoughts and desires, otherwise they will interfere with your communication with heaven and you will not get an answer. It is only if you are in this secret chamber that your call can go through correctly, that you can hear and be heard, that you can ask heaven for something and get an answer. If heaven's answer does not come through clearly, it is because you have forgotten to close the door. The secret place, therefore, is linked to the idea of silence, of secrecy. You must not let anyone else hear what you say, how you say it, or to whom you say it. Naturally, you cannot always be sure that someone will not see that you are praying, but the less obvious it is the better. The Gospels speak of the Pharisee who prayed ostentatiously in the Temple, and this is a good example of the exact opposite of the secret place.

You could say that this secret place is the heart, the silence of the heart. If you are still unable to attain true silence it means that you have not succeeded in reaching this room. There are so many 'rooms' in man, and very few human beings have ever discovered which of them is the one that loves silence. Most people stray into other rooms and try to pray in them, but as those rooms are not equipped with the proper instruments, heaven cannot hear their thoughts and prayers. If you want your prayer to be heard, you have to respect certain conditions.

Why, for example, did the initiates of the past teach people to join their hands when they prayed? The gesture is symbolic. True prayer is a joining of the two principles, heart and intellect. If your heart is alone in what it asks for and your intellect refuses to join in, your prayer will not be heard. If you want your prayer to be heard, it must come from both heart and intellect, from both thought and feelings; that is, from the masculine and feminine principles. We have all seen innumerable paintings that show people—even children—with their hands joined in prayer, but people have never understood the profound significance of this gesture. I am not saying that you must necessarily join your hands physically when you pray, for it is not the physical gesture that counts; it is the inner attitude that is important. It is the soul and the spirit, the heart and the intellect that have to be joined, for this is the union that gives prayer its power and enables you to project something truly potent. You give and receive at the same time; you are both active and receptive.

Christians still have a great many misconceptions about prayer. They imagine that what counts are the words they use. No, words often fall short of the mark; they never manage to get up to heaven. A person may recite words, but he is not really praying if nothing vibrates within him. Of course, as I have often told you, it is important for the realization of your prayer to put it into words. Yes, but your words will be effective only if your desire and your thought are already powerful on the spiritual plane. Then your words will act as a signature which releases the higher forces and sets them in motion.

If you want to awaken sentiments of love for God in yourself, for instance, you can do so simply through the strength of your desire. In this case words are unnecessary, because feelings are a purely psychic reality. If you want to obtain something on the physical, material plane, on the other hand, the spoken word is necessary, but even so, it is the intensity of your thoughts and feelings that is the essence of prayer. Without that intensity, you could recite words for hours on end, but you would not get any results; your prayer would not be answered. As a matter of fact, it is possible to feel whether a prayer has been heard or not. There are days when you experience such a sense of strength and fulfilment that you know that heaven has heard you at last. This does not mean that you will see immediate results on the physical plane. No, the realization will not be immediate, but your prayer has been heard, your request has been noted. And that is what counts: to know that your prayer has been heard.

Everything depends on the intensity of your prayer, therefore, and this intensity is linked to the ability to disengage your thoughts and feelings from every preoccupation that is foreign to your prayer. This is why you have to learn to leave everything else to one side and immerse yourself in intense spiritual work. Only on this condition will heaven answer your prayer.

But I know what you are thinking. You are wondering whether I, who teach you these things, receive what I ask for in my prayers. Yes, I get what I ask for because my requests are more unlike yours than you could possibly imagine. My requests are always granted. Perhaps you are also wondering why, since heaven always gives me what I ask for, I do not ask for a lot of money, for instance. I will tell you: because it is not worth asking for. What are a few billion dollars? If I shared them out among you, none of you would get very much. No, no, you cannot begin to imagine what I ask for. And, as I say, my requests are always granted. I am always astonished to see the kind of requests human beings pester heaven with. How can they waste their time on such nonsense? I assure you, it really is a waste of time—and all for what? The day I saw that there was only one booth in heaven without a queue of people waiting in front of it, I decided that that was the place for me. Nobody else wants to hand in their requests at that booth, so that is where you will find me every day. More and more often, in fact.

Now it is up to you to discover what I ask for. In any case, I can tell you that it is neither houses, nor money, nor worldly glory, nor a wife and children. This is why my prayer is always heard. Yes, always, without exception. Since what I ask for is not for myself, I receive it at once. If you ask for something for yourself, you will be told, 'You will have to wait. We have to study your file. Where are you from? What is your father's name? Do you think you deserve what you are asking for?' and so on and so forth; there is no end to the questions. Whereas I am given what I ask for immediately. You will say, 'But you possess no more now than you have ever had.' Exactly, because possessions are not what I ask for. And I am not going to tell you what I do ask for; all that takes place in my 'secret chamber'. It is none of your business. It is my secret.
You must never tell anyone what you ask for, but if your request is the same as mine, it too will be granted immediately, because it is no longer a question of knowing whether you deserve it or not; it is not a question of merit or superiority. The only consideration is the nature of your request. Even if it were made by a child or a drunkard, it would be granted. You will say, 'But does this mean that all our prayers are granted?' Yes, if your prayer is sincere, intense, and disinterested, it will be granted, but it will be granted progressively. It is an ongoing process which expands and develops with time, for you are asking for something that cannot be achieved in a day. So the seed is sown and begins to grow; the ultimate fulfilment of your prayer is already assured, but it takes time for it to be complete. It takes time for a seed to reach the stature of a tree, but as soon as it germinates and begins to grow, it means that your prayer is answered. If you ask for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, you cannot expect it to materialize the same day. The kingdom of God is a gigantic tree; it is impossible for it to reach its full stature all at once. But it is planted. The seed is planted, and the tree is growing. 'But I cannot see it.' you complain. No, if you are short-sighted, of course you cannot expect to see it. But I can see it, and I assure you, it is growing.

When I say that my prayers are always answered, it is not because I think that I am such an exalted being that the whole of heaven is at my elbow, ready and waiting to serve me. Not at all. As I have already said, if your prayer is the same as mine, whoever you may be, it will be granted immediately, because there is a special reception desk, a special department in heaven, to deal with requests of this kind. And as God himself has decreed that those who ask for such things shall be given what they ask for, nobody questions you about who you are or where you come from. They do not even ask the permission of the Twenty-four Elders before granting your request, for this kind of thing is no longer within the jurisdiction of the Twenty-four Elders. It has to be referred to a higher authority, one that is very close to God; and this authority is love. The Twenty-four Elders are the Lords of destiny, and their mission is to apply the laws of justice. But a prayer for the establishment of the kingdom of God does not come within their jurisdiction; it is beyond the reach of the laws of karma, the laws of justice. There is no cause for astonishment in this. If you are capable of making such a request, it means that you have risen above the regions ruled by the laws of karma and that they have no more power over you.

There you are then, the one prayer that is so sublime that heaven is always ready to grant it is the prayer for the establishment of the kingdom of God. 'Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,' said Jesus, and not only will the kingdom of God come, but in addition, 'all these things shall be added to you.' Yes, if you are generous enough to ask for nothing for yourself, you will be given something more; you will be given all you need. Since you are not thinking of your own interest, others will think of it for you. Not only will your prayer for the collectivity, for the whole of humanity be granted, but you yourself will not be forgotten. This is the law decreed by God himself. The more people there are in the world who ask for this, the better it will be; the kingdom of God will come all the sooner and all the more effectively. What else can I say? Ask for the coming of the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

You will say, 'All right, so this is what you ask for, the kingdom of God, and you say that your prayer is always granted, but there is no sign of it.' Well, that is where you are wrong. I think that my prayer is answered, and if you do not think so too, it is because you do not know how these things work. The kingdom of God cannot be established on the physical plane until it exists on the intellectual plane, on the plane of thought. From there it has to descend to the heart, the level of feelings, and finally to the level of actions. This is the path that has to be followed before the kingdom of God can become a tangible reality. First and foremost, it has to reign in our ideas, our thoughts, and it is on that level that I can already see it. It is beginning. We are not the only ones who think and feel as we do; thousands of people in the world—many more than you imagine—share our ideas and desires. The kingdom of God is already finding its way into the minds and hearts, and even into the behaviour, the way of life, of many; for the kingdom of God is an attitude, a state of consciousness, and a way of living and working.

Of course, the kingdom of God has not yet come for the whole of humanity, but it will, for it is contagious. This is what Jesus was saying in the parable about the leaven in the dough. Alchemists say that if all the oceans of the world were molten metal they would need only a few grams of the powder they call the philosophers' stone to turn it all into gold. Yes, because there are rules, apparently, for increasing the power of that powder. But human beings too can be a leaven in the mass. If we are truly a spiritual leaven, the whole of humanity will be influenced simply by our presence, by contact with us. It depends on the intensity of our light, the intensity of our love, and the strength of the life we live. But in order to achieve this, of course, we need a teaching, a system, and methods. This is the crux of the matter: we must learn to live a new life with a new understanding based on and nourished by a new, intense love. In this new life everything becomes easier; everything can be brought into harmony, and we can become a beneficial, constructive factor for the whole of humanity.

There, I shall now wish you all a very good morning... and remember, never be in a hurry when you are here. It is not worth coming here if you are always tense and restless. Before coming here, organize your affairs so as not to be in a hurry. In this way you will get a great deal more out of your stay and will be the happiest of men and women.

Sevres, April 24, 1963

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