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Foreword by Konstantinos*

Rejoice, readers! Today you will learn more about the deeds and Teachings of Great Pythagoras!

Two and a half thousand years separate the time of His Incarnation on the Earth from the days of the present. He was known throughout the ancient world as a great philosopher, mathematician, and as the creator of a spiritual School. He contributed to many areas of knowledge and created a unique School for the development of human souls.

Not many fragments of His writings and of the legends about His life, which were retold and copied in the old days by many, reached your contemporaries.

The biographies of Pythagoras compiled by Porphyry or by Diogenes Laertius, as well by their followers, are not perfect… They collected facts, rumors, legends, and conjectures written by people that did not know Pythagoras personally…

Only the “Golden Verses of Pythagoras”, saved by Lysias [5], came to us in their purest form.

… Yes, the legends about Pythagoras started arising already during His lifetime. His simple life became surrounded by an aura of mystery… Many revered Him as Apollo that appeared on the Earth again.

… Pythagoras was born on the island of Samos in the Aegean Sea. Before He was born, His parents had visited the temple of Apollo at Delphi and received there the prophecy that they would have a son “Who will bring benefit to all people in all times”.

… Pythagoras himself did not say much about His childhood. He only told His disciples that from an early age He loved to learn. He also emphasized the importance of the aspiration for knowledge and for the cognition of the Truth, since this is the main motive force for the soul on the Path of self-perfection!

At first Pythagoras studied with many educated people of that time: Hermodamas, Pherecydes of Syros, and Anaximander.

He mentioned that the initiations received by Him in His youth from Orphics were important for His spiritual development. From Orphics, He acquired the knowledge of the laws of true ethics, including the ethics of nutrition. He also got to know about the huge possibilities that the harmony of art has to influence a soul and about the Creator-Ruler of the whole universe, not divided into separate cults of “gods”.

Afterwards, Pythagoras traveled a lot throughout different countries. His strength of the soul, His charm, His aspiration for the Truth, and His purity were so great that the spiritual Masters easily let Him know the secrets usually carefully concealed from the foreigners.

He received initiations from many spiritual traditions, including Egyptian; He studied, among other places, in Memphis and Heliopolis, and even was ordained as a priest there.

Yet Pythagoras surpassed all His teachers since beyond the borders of particular religious traditions, He saw One Divine Source and was able to cognize It.

Then He found himself in Persia, which ruled over many nations at that time. Philosophers, healers, foretellers, and magicians were gathered in the court of Persia… The rulers of different countries acted in this way at that time, and the ruler of the Persians tried to outdo them all in this…

No matter to what country Pythagoras came — He enriched His experience with the wisdom of those nations.

Later on Pythagoras created His own School in the Greek city of Crouton in southern Italy. And this School glorified His name for centuries!

He united the wisdom that was accumulated by humanity up until that time with the Divine Knowledge received by Him personally into a coherent system that covered all areas of life and allowed many people, who acquainted themselves with His Teachings, to come closer to the Perfection.

In His School, there was knowledge of different levels so that everyone could try to master that level for which he or she was prepared. There were youths who studied the basics of mathematics and music and, on the other hand, those who received great initiations mastering the highest Divine states of the soul. All this was divided in harmonious steps of growth: from a pure person, righteous in actions, emotions, and thoughts — to the Divine Person!

Religion, science, and art harmoniously combined with one another in that School. Students were able to obtain diversified knowledge of medicine, astronomy, geometry, music, architecture and sculpture. But the most important was the knowledge about the development of the soul, while all the rest just helped to carry out this task.

The ability to admire and enjoy the beautiful was natural to the Greek culture of that time. This was reflected in the reverence for philosophers, who showed the beauty of thought, in admiring the beauty of a human body, for example, during sport competitions, dances, or in sculptures. Greeks also admired the beauty of words in verses of poets and the harmony in the creations of musicians.

In this atmosphere, Pythagoras explained to people the laws of harmony and beauty, taught how to delight — through attunement — in their contemplation, and helped them to see their connection with the Divine Laws of aspiration for the Whole and for the Mergence with the Creator.

Pythagoras also taught about the law of reincarnation in the development of souls. He spoke about numerous births through which every soul has to pass on its path to the Perfection. The eternal and sad existence in hades* does not await a soul after the death of its body, but a new birth on the Earth does. A soul will be born again in a new body to continue its development.

Besides, Pythagoras taught about the Great Central Fire — the Sun of God, Which is one of the Manifestations of the Creator, Who is the Origin of the entire Creation and the One Who controls all the processes in the universe!

Pythagoras did not recognize slave labor and preached freedom and the inadmissibility of use of violence of one man against another and of man against the world of nature.

He also explained that the sacrifices of animals, which were a part of the traditional beliefs and practices of many temples at that time, were unpleasant to God.

He explained why people should follow a vegetarian diet. He himself and His disciples were strict vegetarians.

Pythagoras always made an indelible impression on people. His movements were smooth and calm. His speech was unhurried and full of strength. He was unruffled even when His life or His work was in danger. No situation could ever affect His state of harmony since He was One with the Higher Harmony, Which cannot be affected by the worldly problems.

His speeches inspired a lot of people! He seemingly did the impossible, by uniting the higher spiritual truths and the fundamentals, which were accessible and understandable for everyone, into the consistent Teachings.

On the initial stages of education, students were taught ethical purity. Pythagoras explained to them the laws of the relationships between people, between man and nature, and between man and God.

The School was created by Him in a way that people of different stages of growth could find opportunities for their further development. Thus some developed their intellect through mathematical knowledge and logic, others tried to master the principles of harmony in music, painting, dance, poetry…

Pythagoras also applied the ethical laws to the organization of the state, emphasizing the importance of this for the formation of worthy citizens. His influence on politicians and rulers was enormous… Most of His proposals were put into practice.

He didn’t dedicate His life to a utopia: an unrealizable dream of creating a beautiful structure of society. But He created a real model for a harmonious life in His School.

For the higher stages of education, in the School of Pythagoras there was a very careful selection of students. There existed a long trial period, from one to several years. During this time, candidates studied the ethical principles and the general knowledge about the structure of the universe. In public speeches, i.e. open to all interested people, Pythagoras himself, at first, and then His disciples, spoke at length about this.

Afterwards, the candidates for the next stages of education had to pass through an entrance interview. This was a serious examination conducted in order to understand how the student had learned the basics…

The peculiarity of the School was the fact that both men and women were admitted to it. At that time women could receive only an education at home or at a temple. But in the School of Pythagoras, they had an opportunity to study alongside men.

Matrimonial unions between students were not prohibited in the School.

Pythagoras declared coarse sexual desires to be vices, but subtle tender sex relations between two people who loved each other He called blessed by God. Pythagoras himself was married and had children. His wife and children were His disciples.

Students in the School were divided into groups according to the consecutive stages. Thus, there existed the listeners and the cognizers.

The listeners were those imbibing the knowledge and learning to put the ethical rules and philosophy of the Pythagoreans into practice in daily life and in creative work. At that stage they mastered, among other things, the inner silence. Out of psychoenergetical exercises, they were only taught the simple practices that allowed them to control their emotional spheres and cleanse the body’s energies. They also mastered those initial techniques that allowed them to open their spiritual hearts and feel the Light and Love of God. Many of those students then continued their activities outside the School, bringing a new outlook to the lives of the people around them.

The cognizers were on the next principal stage where the serious meditations of the level of Buddhi Yoga were studied. There were much less of those students. This knowledge was considered esoteric, i.e., secret and accessible only to those deserving it.

There was also a third very small group of disciples Who were called the Shining Ones. They were called so because They achieved the Mergence with the Divine Consciousness and could now shine with themselves: emit the Light of God and give the Divine Knowledge to others, taking It from the Original Source. They were very few. They helped the Teacher to conduct classes and created new communities of the Pythagorean brotherhood.

… Purity of souls often stirs up hatred in those who do not want to transform themselves to become better. Among the rejected candidates was a man who began to hate Pythagoras and then embittered and led those who set fire to the building of the School and killed Pythagoras and many of His disciples…

This event forced the remaining embodied Pythagoreans to become more cautious, by trying to be unnoticeable among strangers. The direct training became available only to a very few. Yet the light of this knowledge continued to help seekers for centuries.

There were legends that Pythagoras did not die then and escaped. They arose because afterwards Pythagoras recreated His material form several times before His remaining incarnate disciples to support them and to help them not lose courage in those severe circumstances.

… Pythagoras and His closest disciples usually did not write down the knowledge about the highest levels of the development, but if they did, they wrote it with the help of secret symbols. Those who had already risen up to the appropriate heights could easily perceive meditations and instructions from the Master without His bodily presence — directly from consciousness to consciousness.

Thus He taught those who were not near His body. And then — after His disincarnation — He did the same with many generations of His followers.

Even today He continues helping incarnate people.

So harken! And learn directly what Pythagoras, as the Divine Consciousness, teaches!