New Era Community (1926) - 193: 193. The Teacher Milarepa often conversed with animals. Near his retreat bees nested, ants built cities, parrots flew about, and a monkey was accustomed to perch himself in imitation of the Teacher. The Teacher said to the ants "Tillers and builders, no one knows of you, yet you raise up lofty communities." He said to the bees "You gather the honey of knowledge and of the best forms, let no one interrupt your sweet labor." He remarked to a parrot "By your screeching I see that you are preparing yourself to be a judge or a preacher." And he admonished the mischievous monkey "You have destroyed the ant's structure and have stolen another's honey. Perhaps you have decided to become a usurper." New Era Community (1926) - 193: Large and small usurpers, it is needful for you to learn to recognize the curative power of the honey and of the ant's sweat. It would seem that this thought is old enough, yet certain joints of the human consciousness have become so rusty that scores of centuries could not turn them. Brotherhood (1937) - 148: 148. People are vainly seeking new remedies and medicaments without making use of the old ones. Even milk and honey are not sufficiently in use. Whereas, what can be more beneficial than vegetable products reworked through a succeeding evolution? Milk and honey are to be had in infinite variety, and they constitute the best prophylaxis when employed rationally and scientifically. The point is not simply to drink milk and eat honey; first of all, one must consider what kind of milk and what kind of honey. It is right to assume that the best honey will be from places that are replete with curative herbs. It may be understood that bees bring together not mere chance combinations of their extractions. Nature lore about bees has importance in the way of directing attention to the particular quality of the honey. Brotherhood (1937) - 201: 201. The best curative products are often neglected. Milk and honey are considered nutritious products, yet they have been entirely forgotten as regulators of the nervous system. When used in their pure form, they contain the precious primary energy. Precisely this quality in them must be preserved. Whereas, the sterilization of milk and the special processing of honey deprive them of their most valuable property. There remains the nutritive importance, but their basic value disappears. Brotherhood (1937) - 201: The ancient knowledge protected cows as sacred animals, and it wove an attractive legend about bees. But in time people lost the conscious regard for the remedies as first given to them. In the old manuals of healing, each remedy was looked upon from the standpoints of both usefulness and harmfulness. But such valuable substances as milk, honey, and musk carry no injury when they are pure. It is possible to point out many useful remedies in the plant world also, but the majority of them are best in the pure state, when the basic energy inherent in them, over and above so-called vitamins, has not been lost. The juice of carrots or radishes, or of strawberries, is best in the raw, pure state. Hence, it may be understood why the ancient Rishis subsisted on these wholesome products. Brotherhood (1937) - 599: 599. As bees collect honey so you, too, should collect knowledge. It will be asked, What is new in this advice? Its newness is in that one should collect knowledge from everywhere. Until now knowledge had fixed limits, and entire domains of it were kept under prohibition, suspicion, and in neglect. People have not had the courage to overcome prejudices. They have forgotten that a scholar, first of all, must be open to all that exists. There are no forbidden domains for a scholar. He does not belittle any manifestation of nature, for he understands that the cause and effect of each manifestation have a profound significance.
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