Bulgarian Fellowship of Light
Peter Deunov's Life and Contribution to the World Spiritual Heritage
Sep 5, 2009
Today, many people all over the world consider Peter Deunov to be one of the greatest spiritual teachers of the 20th century and an embodiment of the esoteric Christianity. But on July 11, 1864 nobody could imagine that in later years Deunov, the newborn baby-son of the famous Orthodox Christian priest Konstantin Deunovski, would choose a rather different religious path. Instead of treading in the steps of his father, Deunov went to the Theology Department of the American Methodist School in the town of Svishtov.
The young Deunov had dreamed of becoming a Protestant preacher and in 1888 he arrived in the United States where he enrolled at the Methodist Seminary in Madison, New Jersey. Four years later, Deunov took up theology at the Boston University, where he also attended lectures on medicine and obtained a degree certificate and permission for medical practice.
Peter Deunov Became the Master Beinsa Douno
Deunov got back to Bulgaria in 1895. His brilliant education provided him perfect opportunities for career advancement but he preferred to stay at home in peace and seclusion.
During that period of privacy, which had been proceeding for two or three years, Deunov had an experience, which he described as the Spirit of God descending upon him. He emerged from this experience, not as Deunov, but as the Master Beinsa Douno. Soon after, he organized the Fellowship of Light Society.
The first three disciples who joined the Fellowship of Light Society were a Catholic, a Protestant and an Orthodox Christian. Douno traveled round Bulgaria and within a short time, the fellowship drew in dozens of followers.
Love, Wisdom and Truth - the Cardinal Principles of the New Teaching
The number of the Douno’s disciples soon grew to thousands and the new philosophy had spread from Bulgaria to Western Europe, Russia, the United States, Canada and Japan. What people liked most was its cardinal principles of divine love, divine wisdom and divine truth. Deunov preached goodness; every person had to be good in their thoughts and their deeds, guided first and foremost by nobleness of mind.
In 1914, he started a series of Sunday sermons, titled “Power and Life,” which marked a new cosmic cycle known as the Age of Aquarius. “The entire solar system has entered a new sphere of the Spirit. The Earth has been in a decline until now. It now embarks its Ascension… From now on we need to connect our minds and hearts with those of all people on the Earth, because Salvation lies within our common prayers,“ the Master proclaimed at the dawn of the New Age.
Paneurhythmy - a System of Meditative Exercises
The Master had been fond of music and of his violin which he had called “my fiancee.” Douno advised his diciples to “Sing! No matter what happens to you, sing!" So, in the early 1930s, Douno devised a system of exercises for concentration and meditation and called it Paneurhythmy – supreme cosmic rhythm. The paneurhythmic dances, which had been usually performed at Seven Rila Lakes from March 22 until September 22, put man and nature in perfect harmony.
Beinsa Douno departed from the Earth in the early morning of December 27, 1944. Now, sixty-five years later, his teaching still attracts thousands of people from around the world and each year many arrive in Bulgaria to pay homage to their Master.
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