Peter Deunov
Peter Konstantinov Deunov (in bulgaro Петър Константинов Дънов, translitteration Petăr Konstantinov Dănov, pronounciation [pɛtɤr kɔnstantinɔv dɤnɔv]), often called the Master by his followers, was a Bulgarian philosopher and spiritual teacher, also known as his spiritual name Beinsa Duno (in bulgaro: Беинса Дуно) from his disciples, in the 1940s more than 40,000 disciples in Bulgaria alone. Peter Deunov was a doctor, philosopher, musician and clairvoyant.
Contents
Biography
Peter Deunov was born in the village of Hadardja (now Nikolaevka in Suvorovo Municipality) near Varna, Bulgaria on July 11, 1864, the third child of Konstantin Dunoffsky and Dobra Atanasova Georgieva. His father was the first Bulgarian teacher in the region before becoming a Bulgarian Orthodox priest. He was one of the first to present the liturgy in Bulgarian, the language of the local people, rather than the traditional sacred language of Church Slavonic (Old Bulgarian).[4]
Deunov attended secondary school in Varna and the American Methodist School of Theology and Science in Svishtov, from which he graduated in 1886. He worked as a primary school teacher for a year before leaving for the United States, where he studied theology at Drew Theological Seminary in Madison, New Jersey, from 1888 to May 1892. After graduating from Drew, in the fall of 1892 he enrolled in the Boston University School of Theology and obtained his degree in June 1893 with a thesis on "The Migration of the Germanic Tribes and Their Christianisation" (published in 2007[5]). He was a regular student at the School of Medicine of Boston University for a year, before returning to Bulgaria in 1895.
Late life
On 4 May 1936, a Democratic Party activist attacked him, beating him severely, causing a cerebral haemorrhage and paralysis. In spite of his illness, he went with his followers to the Seven Lakes of Rila on 14th July 1936, and on 12th August his health was fully restored. On March 22, 1939 he wrote a message to his disciples entitled "The Eternal Covenant of the Spirit." At the beginning of 1944, during the air bombardments over Sofia, he organized the evacuation to the village of Marchaevo (24 km southwest of Sofia) and settled in the home (now museum) of his pupil Temelko Gyorev. He returned to Izgrev on October 19, 1944.
He left his physical body on 27 December 1944, the day before the communist militia arrived to arrest him.
The Teaching of Peter Deunov
He was a master of great charisma, recognised as such by many of his contemporaries. Numerous miracles and wonders are attributed to him.
His basic precepts were: Love that brings Life, Wisdom that gives Light, Truth that gives Freedom.
In the autumn of 1896 he wrote the book "Nauka i vazpitanie" ("Science and Education"). ('Science and Education') in which he analyses the life of man in the drama of the world and speaks of the foundations of the new culture that was to come in the following century.
On 7 March 1897, at the age of thirty-three, he received his spiritual name, 'Beinsa Duno', and decided to found the 'White Brotherhood'.
From 1900 to 1942 he organised annual White Brotherhood councils in August in various places. In 1904 he moved to Sofia. He began to give public sermons in the form of lectures.
Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov, his best-known disciple
The French branch of the White Brotherhood was founded by his disciple Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov.
O. M. Aïvanhov, who met Peter Deunov at the age of seventeen (in 1917, in Varna), and followed him as a disciple, until 1937 (when Peter Deunov himself decided to send him to France, to safeguard and spread his Teaching), said of him:
- «So it was at the request of Master Peter Deunov that I came to France [July 22, 1937] to continue his teaching. Of course, he did not order me to leave, a true Master does not demand obedience and submission from his disciples. It was I who felt that what he was asking of me was for the good, and I accepted».[1]
Songs and compositions
Deunov wrote and composed hundreds of songs and sacred music.
Paneurhythmy
In 1932, he developed Paneurhythmy exercises: a sequence of exercises performed to music, to achieve inner balance and harmonization. This practice promotes the processes of self-perfecting, expanding of the consciousness and attaining of virtues. The circle dance, is a conscious interchange between human beings and the forces of living nature. Each movement is the expression of a thought. The effect should be that the observer picks up from the movements, the thought or the idea they express. The rhythm in the movement of the physical body leads us to one in our spiritual life.[7]
Etymologically, "Pan-Eu-Rhythmy" is derived from three roots:
- Pan - meaning Whole; Universal and Cosmic.
- Eu - meaning True or Supreme; the essential and substantial in the world.
- Rhythmy - meaning correctness in the movements and in every other external expression in life.
E'composta da tre parti distinte:
- I 28 Movimenti
- I raggi del Sole
- Il Pentagramma
Rays of the Sun is a sacred dance created by Peter Deunov and accompanied by music he composed himself. The movements of the dance represent the rhythm of life by symbolising the flow of energy from the centre of the sun to the centre of the earth and back to the sun.
The circulation of energies in the "Rays of the Sun" - The Wheel of Life (*)
«Rays of the Sun" is a dance accompanied by music. It is the representation in movement of the rhythm of life, the circulation of two energies: electrical energy and magnetic energy. These energies come from the centre of the sun and pass through the centre of the earth and then return to the sun.
During the dance, the circulation of the sun's rays takes place through the movements of the human body which are identical to the movement of the solar energies. These energies start from the sun and move towards the earth. Thus the movements made by the couples (the rays) coming from the centre of the circle go to the periphery and from the periphery return to the centre. This is the circulation of the electromagnetic energies of the sun. In the progression of the dance, the couples also describe a circle in imitation of the Earth rotating around the Sun.
Traditionally, in Bulgaria, when the music is slower, the melody is sung with the following words: Mother, you have given birth to beautiful human beings. May I become wise! May I think well! May I love well! This is life in heaven.
(Words by Peter Deunov)
The fast rhythms put us in touch with Mother Earth, and the slow rhythms with the Father Sun. Thus is the play of polarity of energies between the sun and the earth."[2]
Musical arrangement here is for an instrumental group of two violins and two cellos.
Gymnastic exercises
Deunov also taught a series of gymnastic exercises, as well as many other methods, formulas and prayers for the Spiritual development of Man and human societies.
About Peter Deunov
According to Pavel Birukov, Lev Tolstoy's biographer, before his death (1910) the great Russian thinker and writer left Iasna Poliana with the desire to leave for Bulgaria to meet Peter Deunov.
Pope John XXIII, when he was still Cardinal Giuseppe Roncalli, met Deunov as the Vatican's ambassador to Bulgaria, before the Second World War, and said of him: 'In the present age the greatest living philosopher on Earth is Peter Deunov'.
In connection with the death of Albert Einstein, the French National Radio broadcast a programme with some of his speeches; in one of them the great scientist says: "The whole world bows before me, but I bow before Master Peter Deunov of Bulgaria".
According to the memoirs of Boyan Boev - Peter Deunov's secretary and disciple - in a discussion with him in Munich in 1910, Rudolf Steiner said to him: "A great mission is destined for the Slavic world. It, and particularly Bulgaria, will contribute much to the spiritual upliftment of humanity. Go back to Bulgaria, there is a powerful movement there at the head of which there is a great spiritual enlightened one."
Jiddu Krishnamurti, the leader of the Theosophical Movement, rejects the idea of being declared Maitreya and Christ, and says in front of those present at the World Theosophical Congress in Holland that "the Master of the world is in Bulgaria."
Onisaburo Deguchi, the leader of the Japanese spiritual movement Oomoto, says: "I am a sage, the Master is in Bulgaria".
- “Everything exists through Love. He who knows Love speaks of the greatness of God.” (Peter Deunov)
External links
- Peter Deunov Wikipedia
- Peter Deunov AnthroWiki
- Paneurhythmy Wikipedia
- First 28 Movimentens Paneurhythmy
- Video Tutorials
- Gymnastic exercises from Master Peter Deunov: first and second part
Related items
- Beinsa Douno - The original film (1944); Cameraman: Zhorzh Kyossev (1913-1978) [Music: Christoph Willibald Gluck - Orpheus And Eurydice, Dance Of The Blessed Spirit]
- Peter Deunov in a video-documentary made aproximately in 1940
- Photos and Videos of Peter Deunov
- Beinsa Douno photos (made by Zhorzh Kyosev, Vasko Iskrenov, Penyo Ganev and more)
- Along the Path of Light - Master Beinsa Douno - Documentary (PART 1)
- Along the Path of Light - Master Beinsa Douno - Documentary (PART 2)
- Peter Deunov - Musique Instrumentale - Stavaï Deuchté - Lève-toi ma Fille!
Notes
- ↑ O. M. Aïvanhov, Autobiographical Reflections, t. I : A living book, Prosveta, 2009, p. 166.
- ↑ Explanations translated from Bulgarian by Viola Jordanoff Bowman.
Reader's note: the writing of this entry is temporary and limited to only a starting point, since the topic is examined by Omraam Mikhael Aïvanhov in the contest of thousands of conferences he held between 1938 and 1985. The researcher will find important aspects of further interest by reading or listening directly to his lectures, published by the publisher Prosveta, the sole and exclusive owner of the rights to his work. Therefore, this article does not fully and comprehensively describe Aïvanhov's thought on the subject matter.
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