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In this second episode of Nectar of Peace podcast, we will touch on the question of the proper way of living—namely, living a truly natural life. A life as it was originally given to us, which we all have the right and capability to live.
This time, teacher Novo reminds us how far we’ve distanced ourselves from such a life and invites us to awakening and to return to what is naturally ours, and for which we all, consciously or unconsciously, crave.
What you’ll hear in this episode:
Importance of discovering what truly matters in life
The importance of proper rest and the key to balance
Natural phases of life
Einstein and Peter Deunov
Health and natural immunity
My name is Mitja Žibert, and I’ll be your host on this podcast, which serves as an invitation to personal and spiritual growth.
Sources:
· Novo: Lectures and Q&A archive
If this episode resonated with you, consider sharing it with friends or loved ones — you might just help someone on their path.
Episode transcription
Welcome to the second episode of the Nectar of Peace Podcast, which is dedicated to sharing universal truths and wisdom taught by humanity’s greatest teachers and sages.
My name is Mitja Žibert, and I’ll be joining you in discovering these invaluable teachings that, if we choose to follow them, lead us to a life filled with the nectar of peace—which is what we all seek and need. So, let’s see where we can discover and embrace it today.
If the previous episode was more practical, with clearly laid-out steps that we all can follow, today’s episode will be of a more general nature, but still important. But, not to worry, there will also be a slight practical suggestion, which will serve as an orientation to determine whether we are living our life in the right direction. In today’s episode, we will touch on the question of the proper way of living—namely, living a truly natural life. A life as it was originally given to us, which we all have the right and capability to live.
The insight into this more general picture of such a life, as well as the practical tip, will again be given by teacher Novo. Not only will it serve as a reminder of how much we’ve distanced ourselves from such a life, but mainly as an invitation to start awakening and with that, to return to what is naturally ours, and for which we all, consciously or unconsciously, crave.
Teachings
Therefore, it’s best to start … start with waking up … and with that Novo says:
“It is important for a modern human to recognize their own discontent, which originates from the fast-paced, dynamic way of living, and a lack of awareness about where that leads them.
The first thing to realize, therefore, is where their way of living is leading them. Because from that arises an important discovery of everything one doesn’t need, but is yet unaware of that. For example, if one has secured financial means for a normal living, it is necessary to reduce ambitions in this direction. One must know that money is part of external means, which play just a small part of life, and is definitely not something crucial … just a small part. In the same way a house is also just a means, and plays a small part of life. Meaning, it is not all about the house. If for example you don’t have a house, you find an apartment ... for it serves the same function.
Money can indeed buy us everything that can be bought. But regardless of how much we’re used to money, we still cannot spend our whole day only with and around money. It doesn’t work like that.
There is something more important … and that is the right attitude toward life. That is what is missing or is not properly understood … the right way of living. And that way means that when you are engaged with something, your awareness must be present, and you must be relaxed.
If a person, throughout their day, lacks relaxation, lacks presence in what they are doing, they don’t really live their life, and they destroy themselves. In other words, the absence of such proper way of living is destroying humans, and doesn’t offer anything beneficial. Over time (possibly even in a short time), certain bodily functions will fail or slow down. One’s brain, heart, and other key organs will get damaged, and that will bring one to an even worse condition.
If, however, a human lives with relaxation, is aware of what and how much they are working, and takes necessary rest when tired, then the entire inner experience changes and one becomes content with oneself. And this self-contentment, without the frantic wandering, is a clear indicator that one is living life in the right way. For when you live in the right way, you are content with yourself as well as life itself. In such a state, you don’t feel aversion, you don’t question why things are the way they are … life becomes contentment, joy, happiness … and with that, health is also restored. In this way, and with such an attitude toward life, all vital organs function healthily in the long term.”
And the aforementioned awareness during our engagement with work is exactly what enables us to dedicate the required time and space for the other, equally important side of work … which is rest. The issue is that, if we work with a lack of presence and unawareness, or if, for various reasons, we push ourselves over the limit when tiredness begins, we lose balance in the body as well as in the mind. To maintain this important balance, even while we work, Novo lays out the following:
“In the moment when we recognize excessive effort or first signs of tiredness, we stop … and calm down. For, if we stop only after a longer period of effort and tiredness, we will need a longer rest. But, if we recognize it and take it into account earlier, this will result in a shorter period of needed rest. If however, we recognize this at the very start, meaning at the moment when tiredness first appears, for which an exceptionally delicate sensitivity must be developed, we will need only a small amount of time for rest.
That is also the secret to work situations when a manager pushes you to overwork … to pause immediately at every instance when you recognize the slightest sign of tiredness or excessive effort … it may be a second, two or three, and then you resume working. This will appear as if you are continuously working, but in reality you are also continuously resting, just in really small intervals. This is why some people appear as if they are constantly working, yet never seem to get tired. All they do, is they catch the very beginning of tiredness and immediately and every single time stop for a brief rest. And then they can work for long periods of time without tiring themselves. If, however, in the same situation you work with tiredness already in progress and then take a rest for a half an hour, that rest will be noticed by others, and some managers may not like it.”
Herein lies the answer and important guidance to all who are looking for a way out of the modern burnout phenomenon and the workplace pressure. But, if you’re already in this serious state of excessive exhaustion, don’t expect that the next time you feel tired, a short break will be enough. First, you must make up for all the past deficits in rest. And that is necessary! The sooner you pay attention to this, and the sooner you give yourself the much-needed rest—meaning calmness and relaxation—the sooner you will be able to enjoy the previously mentioned harmony between work and rest.
People in general don’t give enough importance to balance or harmony and are overburdened with other people and unimportant things. It is hard to find a person, who is materially rich and at the same time completely relaxed, content, healthy, and at peace — at peace even when entering old age. Novo beautifully touches on this with the following:
“A modern person must therefore learn not to overwork or overburden themselves, not to dwell on the things they can not attend to in this moment, to know that in life everything material, whatever it may be; food, clothing, money … is needed only in small quantities, and plays a minor part of life, even though people today consider these things as most important … but that is not so. Because when you give these things such an important meaning, you will find yourself entering a state of discontent, restlessness, agitation, and chaos. And that will make life appear as difficult, while in reality life is not difficult or hard … it is easy, always and everywhere.
This is what needs to be discovered! Few people have come to this discovery and knowledge, but those who did are continually content with everything and never with anything discontent. They feel at home everywhere they go, and everywhere their life is the same. They always feel secure and live the way they want to, regardless of where on Earth they live.
But, that needs to be experienced. Take for example children … wherever you take them, they always play. And that experience holds true for all, meaning, life is the same for all, old and young. Being young, one cannot say that the older person doesn’t know anything. That wouldn’t be true, because if you abstain from wrongdoing in life, the adulthood will not prevent you from having what children have. All it does is make you more experienced, richer, stronger, and more mature. That is what adulthood brings.
It is true that we cannot avoid naturally given periods of life, namely childhood, youth, adulthood, and old age. These cannot be stopped, but that doesn’t mean that childhood is the best part of life. Then youth, adulthood, and lastly the old age, as the worst and the hardest. This is not so.
Quite the contrary … life remains pleasant in childhood, as in youth and adulthood, but it gets even better with old age. It truly is beautiful to be a child, for life is organized in such a way that others take care of us. As a teen, you have greater awareness, and part of the responsibility a child didn’t have, you take onto yourself. And with that, since you are able to take some of the responsibility, realistically, in relation to a child, you become more joyous. Then maturity comes. And that is an even better period of life, because maturity means you have everything. And by “everything,” it is meant that you are now able to wholly take care of yourself, not depending on others—not your father or mother, not society or the state, not colleagues or friends … no one. This is what maturity means, and that brings even greater joy. So, childhood is a small joy, youth is a bit bigger, and adulthood is an even greater joy.
And after adulthood comes old age.”
Here I need to make a note, since Novo refers to the word “old” as something that means a star, something that shines. In his language, the word “old” literally translates to the word “star.” And from this, he playfully uses the translation for the word star, meaning old, as something that shines. That is why he says that:
“Not many people know the meaning behind the word ‘old’ (or ‘star’) … it means that in your old age you must shine like a star and not feel dissatisfied. And a star is something that continuously shines. In adulthood, you can’t be constantly happy, since you are faced with situations that require effort, and you need to attend to things. But in old age, such a need for activity is no longer necessary. All that is left is that you continuously shine … and that is a period of the greatest joy.
This is how we should develop through life … this means to truly live life. And going through life in this way, there is also no fear of death, for you recognize death merely as a dream, not as something to fear because it is unknown. All it is is just a sweet dream.
What I have exposed here also holds true for some people today, but they are exceptionally rare. Not many know this. But those who do have incomparably higher intelligence than any current civilization. Even the so-called great minds, revered by these civilizations, like, for example, Einstein and Tesla, didn’t come to know the true goal of life. They also sought out such people, because one thing they did realize is that life without permanent, continuous contentment and joy is a missed life.”
Here I want to add one interesting, but also beneficial, story from Einstein’s life, a story that is generally quite unknown.
During Einstein’s lifetime, there was a great and enlightened teacher living and working in Bulgaria, and his name was Peter Deunov. Einstein is said to have become one of his—how should I say this—followers, students … anyway, prior to meeting Deunov, it was known that Einstein did not believe in God, that he was an atheist. But upon seeing with what completeness and precision, depth and clarity, a person who had never written a single sentence in the scientific fields Einstein was expert in, could present and clarify to him even the most complex phenomena in the fields of astronomy, physics, and others, Einstein said “so, now that you have conceptualized and clarified all the questions that were burdening me my whole life, and now that all these are clear, I can say, that although I didn’t believe in God until now, I now believe 100 percent. I saw and met God.”
After meeting Peter Deunov, Einstein is said to have come to see God in him, as Deunov was able to lay out with full clarity all that Einstein had pursued his whole career.
Herein lies a demonstration of the greatness of a human who really knows how to live life in the right way. And until we fully realize this for our own life, it remains crucial that we turn in the direction that leads to it.
Now back to Novo, who continues with the following:
“Humans must therefore turn in this direction. With that, their health will also be restored by itself. That is to say, health has the capacity to fully preserve its own immunity. External means like medicine, food, massage, and similar methods are only means of temporary help. And until we reach a state where the body preserves its immunity by itself, we can never be fully or completely healthy … regardless of what medicine, healthy food, or other we use … it simply can’t happen.
Just look at children … by themselves, they are completely healthy. They don’t give much thought to whether they ate today or not … for when they play, they don’t budge from it. When they immerse themselves in the game, a thought of food doesn’t cross their minds, for the game itself feeds them.”
One interesting remark here … Novo tends to be extremely strict when it comes to discussions about the right and natural upbringing of children, especially emphasizing the importance of protecting children's pristine consciousness as well as intelligence … which exist in the purest and most perfect form in each child that is born. Unfortunately, due to a lack of consciousness and proper knowledge among the people around them, this is often destroyed during their upbringing.
And when great teachers refer to children as an example of purity, innocence, intelligence, and the most refined senses and feelings, they, of course, refer to children who were allowed such natural and correct development throughout their childhood and youth. Today, such cases are, of course, rare, regardless of the best intentions of parents, caretakers, and others. When a person loses most of their awareness, intelligence, and purity, it is inevitable that they will err in their relationship with themselves as well as others … and raising children is no exception to this. This, of course, is transmitted from generation to generation … which makes the awakening of each and every one of us even more important.
Novo has shared a lot of knowledge about how to properly raise children to protect their purity. Therefore, if this topic interests you, I will definitely share these teachings in future episodes.
By preventing children from going through the natural development and growth, we cause negative consequences, which are then expressed in a restless mind, unstable emotions, and damaged physical health. Therefore, a part of our journey to awakening also means a gradual return to our health — that is, the natural balance in our body. And on that, Novo concludes that …
“… it is of great importance to retain our own immunity throughout childhood, youth, adulthood, as well as old age. Immunity itself never leaves a human being, but a person loses it through the wrong way of living. If you live properly, your body will always give you protection and immunity and will take care of its health. Health is never destroyed from the outside, but it gets destroyed due to the loss of its own immunity, which is a consequence of improper living.
If, however, we turn in the direction of the right way of living mentioned earlier, we will realize what life really means. And the sooner you realize it, the better. Most importantly, you should do this before you bring yourself to a situation where you’ve already damaged yourself too much or made yourself dependent on others.
Making a shift in this direction, towards the right way of living therefore represents a gradual awakening for each individual.”
Conclusion
There! If you’ve managed to stay awake during the episode, that is good and can represent a small step on the path to full awakening. And that is my earnest wish for all. As Novo likes to emphasize: “It doesn’t matter how far the goal is or where we are on the path to it. What matters is that we don’t stop. What matters is that we constantly move towards the goal. Because, regardless of how many steps will be required, we can only reach the goal by taking each of these steps. And that is a guarantee of certainty that we will arrive.”
As this episode comes to an end, take with you the awareness about the importance of relaxation and lightness. And if these are not felt, remember that there is a part in your current activity, or in your attitude towards it, that calls for a change, for a recalibration in the direction that leads back to balance … step by step.
With today’s episode being more of a hint and encouragement towards a proper way of living, we will, in the next episode, look at this more thoroughly as we venture into the so-called life of Dharma. If you found this episode interesting and useful, I invite you to leave a comment and like it, or even better, to share it with others so that it may hopefully help them.
And if you haven’t yet subscribed to receive notifications about new episode releases, I invite you to do so as well.
And with that, and in the spirit of the nectar of peace, I send you a wish for peace.
Originally posted on June 30th, 2025
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