Peter Deunov: Encyclopedia - Peter Deunov

Peter Deunov

Image:PeterDeunov.jpg

The Master Peter Deunov (July 11, 1864 - December 27, 1944) also known by his spiritual name Beinsa Douno is a Teacher of Esoteric Christianity who established a school of the Universal White Brotherhood in Bulgaria.

Peter Deunov was born in Bulgaria in the village Hadarcha near the city of Varna on 11 July 1864. He was a descendant of two families who were in the forefront of the revival of the Bulgarian nation and culture. His father, Konstantin, a Bulgarian Orthodox priest of singular devotion and vision, was also the first Bulgarian teacher in the region.

In 1883 Peter Deunov completed high school and enrolled in the newly opened department of the American Methodist School in the city of Svishtov. After completing the five-year course, he worked for a year as a teacher in the village Hotantsa near Rousse.

In August 1888 Peter Deunov left for the US and enrolled in the preparatory course in theology at Drew seminary, Madison, NJ. From 1890 he studied theology at the Theology School of the Boston University and after graduating in 1893 took a one-year course in the Boston University School of Medicine. He made a remarkable impression on those who knew him.

After returning to Bulgaria in 1895, Peter Deunov was offered the position of a Methodist pastor in the city of Yambol. This offer was withdrawn after he put a condition to serve without remuneration.

The years of 1895-1900 were spent in solitude, reflection and contemplation, prayer and spiritual pursuits. In March 1898, in the village of Tetovo near Rousse, Peter Deunov had a mystical experience.

For several years Peter Deunov travelled throughout Bulgaria, giving talks and doing phrenological research. He thus met with a wide circle of people. Among them were his first three disciples, who until then had belonged to different branches of Christianity – Todor Stoimenov (Eastern Orthodox), Dr. Mirkovich (a Catholic) and Penyu Kirov (a Protestant). After a long correspondence all of them met in Varna during 19-23 July 1900. This was the first of the Annual Convention of what later became a spiritual society (brotherhood). The consequent Conventions took place in August and continue to this day in the Rila mountains near the Seven Sacred Lakes.

After a while Peter Deunov settled in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, and began giving lectures there. In 1914 he gave his first public lecture "Behold, the Man!" (Ecce Homo), published later in the series “Power and life” (Sila i Zhivot). From then on, Peter Deunov gave regular Sunday lectures which were based on a Biblical passage being elaborated and explained in the most profound ways. In 1921 the “Izgrev” (Sunrise) was established. It was a place at the then outskirts of Sofia where Peter Deunov and his disciples at first went in the mornings to meet the sunrise, and later established a small spiritual community together with a lecture Hall. Many other followers started building nearby and the place became centre of the life of the new community. Here Peter Deunov concentrated his work. In 1922 he started two new streams of additional specialized lectures and from 1930 began the “morning talks”, delivered Sunday mornings before dawn. The scope that these lectures encompassed was immense: the Master gave freely from his incredible store of knowledge – music, geometry, astrology, philosophy, esoteric science, just to name a few. Everything was given in a colloquial, approachable style, that hides underneath it the greatest depth.

From 1932 to 1944 the Paneurhythmy exercises were developed – these were a sequence of exercises performed to music, with the purpose of harmonizing and balancing the man internally. It is now practiced worldwide because of its remarkable life-enhancing qualities.

In the process of his work, Peter Deunov became popular as the Master Peter Deunov, later simply called "the Master" by his disciples, showing the deeply felt respect for his teaching. The name Beinsa Douno is a spiritual name that the Master used for the first time in the 1930s. This is the name left by him and he did not want to disclose anything more about his spiritual identity.

During the last few years of World War II, the Master remained in the house of a disciple called Temelko, giving talks and meeting people there.

The Master Peter Deunov left the earthly life on 27 December 1944.

Overall, the Master gave more than 4000 lectures in the period between 1914 and 1944, as well as recorded talks, private conversations and early letters. All these works testify to a monumental task that was achieved by one of humanity's greatest spiritual Teachers of esoteric Christianity.

Peter Deunov - Methods left by the Master Beinsa Douno

Lectures: The main principles of the Master Beinsa Douno’s teachings are Love, Wisdom, Truth, Justice and Virtue. These foundational principles permeate all his lectures, whose themes encompass such an enormous breadth, that it would be impossible to list them here. But in the lectures, the Master gave numerous methods for living a spiritual and morally elevated life.

Paneurhythmy: Paneurhythmy is a sacred dance, where movements, music and text are used to harmonize and balance the man internally.

Music: Music took a special place in the Master Beinsa Douno’s work. Himself a brilliant violin player, he made spiritual exercises after Biblical or his own texts to be performed as songs.

Prayers: The Master Beinsa Douno points to the Prayer as the main method of the disciple, helping to remain continually awake and in touch with the Spiritual Worlds. Special among his prayers is the “Good Prayer” given in 1900 – it is considered second only to the Lord’s Prayer.

Basics of Health: The Master Beinsa Douno taught his disciples many physical and breathing exercises for the purpose of remaining healthy and vital. He also promoted vegetarianism.

Peter Deunov - Quotes

• The whole world bows to me, but I bow to the Master Peter Deunov of Bulgaria. -Albert Einstein, French Public Radio

Peter Deunov - Bibliography

• "Beinsa Douno: Paneurhythmy - Music, Ideas, Movements (step by step description)", Bialo Bratstvo Publishers, Sofia, 2004
• Kraleva, Milka, "The Master Peter Deunov", Kibea, 2001

Categories: 1864 births | 1944 deaths | Bulgarian people | Bulgarian philosophers | Christian philosophers | Esoteric Christianity

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Peter Deunov", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki