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Chapter Four:
The Destiny

After the story with Hamilcar, Pythagoras became revered for his art as a healer. The noble Persians began to seek his help.

One day, one of the Persian commanders, surrounded by several armed soldiers, approached the place where captive priests were resting on a halt, among whom were Pythagoras and Hamilcar.

Hamilcar watched with some trepidation, ready to step in and defend Pythagoras, when soldiers surrounded him.

“Do not worry, I am not in danger,” Pythagoras assured him.

Beside the Persian nobleman who came to Pythagoras, one of his slaves was standing and holding a cage with a falcon.

The Persian had started talking:

“Look, Greek! I shot this falcon a long time ago and wanted to train it so it could hunt for me. But its wounded wing still did not heal. They say you are a great healer? So show me your skills! Or can you not cure the bird? If it does not heal, then we have to roast it on a spit, as it will be worth nothing!”

Pythagoras opened the cage.

“Be careful, Greek! That thing pecks painfully, sticking its claws, ready to escape whenever possible! And then we will have to catch it throughout the entire desert,” the Persian laughed.

But the falcon came over trustfully onto the hand of Pythagoras. Pythagoras stroked the falcon tenderly and said something to it in Greek… After a few movements of the healing hand, the bird spread its wings confidently and soared into the air.

The healed falcon was hovering against the background of the sun in the sky, like giving thanks to his savior!

“What have you done?! Why did you let it go?!”

“It is not of any worth — causing evil to anyone! Every life is sacred! In Egypt, Horus the falcon is a symbol of the Deity, who is the controller of lives and destinies of all beings! The release of this little winged resident of the desert you can consider as great luck! Involuntarily saving this bird’s life can improve your destiny! You would have been seriously injured in the upcoming battle and spent the rest of your days languishing in captivity. But you have the opportunity now to avoid this fate!

“Did you ask me to heal the bird? I did it! Moreover, I have almost saved you from the miserable fate of a slave. If you will understand me now, then you will be only slightly injured in the upcoming battle, but you will escape captivity!

“You can thank me for salvation or curse me for the loss of the falcon. It will be your choice and this choice will change your life as well.

“The state of hate or gratitude, and any other state and thoughts of the person are very important in formation of his own destiny in the near and distant future!”

The Persian was so surprised by the event that he did not even have any desire to be angry:

“Can you see the future? Such a small thing like a bird in a cage is capable of affecting my life?”

“The future is easy to see. In fact, people create their own destiny right now! And whoever knows the Laws, by which everything develops, can estimate the opportunities for future development of a person’s life as easily as you can calculate your gold coins, adding or subtracting them.

“Of course, in order to see the destinies, the good knowledge of the past of each soul is required. But whoever sees not only the body, but also the soul, can easily recognize its past and its quality, and opportunities in the present. That means he can easily foresee the future! The falcon — it was a sort of sign sent by the Divine Power which warned you of a threatening misfortune!”

“Were you also sent by this Force to explain this sign to me?”

“Can you see it? Your understanding has extended: you said it yourself!”

“Which gods do you worship, Greek, that give you such abilities?”

“People call the Divine Power by different names. They usually worship certain symbols of this Force, but without understanding Whom exactly they worship. They pray about the fulfilment of their own desires, about a harvest, rain, family happiness, love, success, military victory… There are many names of ‘gods’ that people are serving in the temples of different countries. Nations differ not only in languages, but every human tribe is searching for ways to connect people to that Force Which controls everything. They are searching for this Force through certain images, which they have named the gods of harvest, sky, fire, Earth, Sun, or various human characteristics — from love to hate… And ‘mediators’, priests, have gained great profit for themselves from the humiliating worship of those people. It is happening almost everywhere on Earth now.

“Although Primordial Divine Consciousness is called by different names, His Power does not change.

“Even though people worship false ‘gods’, Divine Power does not stop manifesting Its Laws.”

… This time Pythagoras spoke not only for the Persian. He understood that for Hamilcar, his words were much more understandable and important.

But the events and circumstances also allowed this Persian to hear what Hamilcar needed to know the most. And other people who were listening to the conversation could learn a bit from this too…

Pythagoras continued:

“The Laws remain eternal by which everything exists in the Universe!

“The principles of Harmony and Love lie at the foundation of everything.

“If the person does not break the Laws of Harmony, Justice and Kindness, then he will soon be able to recognize how Divine Power controls the destinies and events.”

“It is not seen in the world of what you call harmony and justice!” said the Persian, mockingly. “We have conquered half of the world! And you desire that winners do not enjoy the fruits of their victories?”

“You, ‘the winners’ will inevitably get the fruits! They won’t be as sweet and beautiful as they seem to you now!…

“I warned you because you are smart and can comprehend what I am saying!”

“In your opinion, what should I do now to avoid misfortunes?”

“The main thing that you’ve got to understand: the earthly life in the body is not eternal! Earthly riches and power will inevitably end with the life of the body! All the accumulated earthly riches can be suddenly lost by man! The life in the body can be interrupted at any time — and then comes what people call death!

“The unknown posthumous world scares ignorant people. That is why sacrifices and other rituals were invented to quench this fear and supposedly to appease the ‘gods’…

“But the rituals and ceremonies don’t change anything! And bloody sacrifices only aggravate the darkness, where souls can enter!… The posthumous life of man will not be great if his wives, horses, servants are killed and buried with him!

“Whatever everyone personally deserves, that will inevitably meet him on the other side of this threshold, after leaving the body!

“Only acts of kindness and justice will improve one’s own destiny! Who does not show anger, hatred and violence, that person frees himself from this in the afterlife!

“Posthumous existence does not burden those who spent their whole earthly life in kind emotions!”

“How can I thank you, Sage, for your lesson?”

“First and foremost — by its acceptance!”

“And what about the whole caravan of slaves and valuables which I am obliged to protect? Isn’t here a reason for which I can also become a slave in the future?”

“You are right and this is also! But there are some current circumstances in your life which depend on you and some of them you cannot change.

“With regard to the current situation, you can stop the violence and cruelty toward prisoners that are placed under your command. This is in your power!

“Also, I would like to have the possibility to move freely within the limits of this camp and to heal the prisoners, as well as to teach my disciple this healing art.”

“Well, Greek, I will try to ask this permission for you!”

… The Persian left, accompanied by his guards who didn’t understand anything from this conversation, but then they told everybody how the Greek priest had spoken the bird language, then had cured this bird and let him go…

Hamilcar and Pythagoras continued the conversation.

Hamilcar asked:

“All my life I observed how the strong people prevail over the weak ones, and by doing that they obtain wellbeing for themselves. Hence, is the power nevertheless necessary for life and it brings success?”

“In the case when the power of the person is directed to virtuous objectives, it helps to successfully approach the Perfection! But if it is not…

“Yes, in life often those who are stronger prevail over those who are weaker. This is similar to how the predators overcome their prey.

“But if the lion’s violence over its prey comes naturally for the beast, the violence of some people over others makes the second much worse than predatory animals!

“After all, the lion does not kill its victim because of its anger, but only with the purpose to get something for food, which will allow it to survive. Humanity has fallen down so low that people kill others for the sake of acquisition of wealth and the imaginary power over the earthly expanse which cannot belong to the kings, no matter how much they are boasting over the conquered lands!

“Yes, the one who is purposeful possesses the power, and can ‘triumph’ over the weak people… And it seems like a fair wind of fate carries him from one achievement to another… But if the purposes of man belongs to a world of darkness, then those ‘successes’ are imaginary! They only aggravate the severity and the pain that he will receive as a ‘reward’! Such ‘victories’ sometimes are worse than defeat for future destiny!

“A lot of terrible and devastating wars still must happen on Earth in order to make the people understand how great it is to live in peace!

“To live in peace and harmony with oneself, without having the internal destructive contradictions between thoughts, desires and emotions, finding peace and integrity — it is possible for a certain person, no matter what the circumstances surrounding him! But the whole human community can appreciate the advantages of living in harmonious communal development, not in the enmity and violence of some communities over others! You and I, we aim to carry this knowledge to other people!

“You can see clearly now in the ruined Egypt which has come to its end, the harm of violence of one country over another, of one nation over another.

“And King Cambyses who now dared to assign the title of pharaoh to himself will get something that he was ‘conquering’ all his life very soon: an extremely inglorious death and a terrible posthumous existence where he, in particular, will see all his mistakes…

“And the word pharaoh in fact means the House of God! The only one worthy to wear this title, who united in Himself the Divine Trinity:

“joined the Infinite Power of United Creator in His Universal House,

“became a manifestation of His Creative Fire,

“made His body as an instrument for the manifestation of the Divine Spirit, the United Will of the Whole!

“Cambyses will soon die a non-heroic death, and he will not even have time to enjoy his looted wealth and the power over huge conquered territories.

“And such a fate befalls all tyrants and the invaders who are blinded by the lust of power, who believe that they will be able to obtain satisfaction from the possession of wealth which they did not create, and the power over countries which they conquered. Their vast empires always start to fall apart from the inside, like a tree, rotten in the core. And then, just a gust of wind is enough to make this tree to fall.

“In the same way, the aging body will perish if this person has failed to create the peace and harmony in oneself…

“Thus the countries and even whole civilizations perish…

“Indeed, those people who are under the leadership of tyrants for a war campaign, they also dream to own those things which they will conquer and those people whom they want to make slaves!

“Strongly visible is the decay of souls of invaders, when we observe after the conflagration of war those unfortunate people who lost all they had possessed, and now they are pulled as slaves into foreign lands!

“And then, the empires and governors, who wanted to rule by ignoring the Laws of Harmony of the Whole, perish.

“How important it is to understand that in reality everyone possesses only that which he manifests himself!

“Once the Gods told me:

‘That is actually yours — which you can take with you after the death of your body. All the rest does not belong to you. Having all the rest, it is an illusion!

‘Only the experience which was absorbed by the soul, only the love, purity, and wisdom that the soul became, actually has real value! This integral wealth that can be saved and accumulated from one life to another! These are the qualities that should transform into the Divine Qualities!

‘And then, the soul becomes Flame of Love and acquires the right to merge with the Creative Power of the Whole!’”