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Internment in Varna


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Internment in Varna

During the war, Peter Dunov continued to deliver his Sunday lectures in Opalchenska St. The atmosphere was tense, the authorities were suspicious. An opinion Dunov expressed against Bulgaria's involvement in World War I was interpreted as criticism to Radoslavov's cabinet and he could no longer stay in Sofia. He was accused of not paying a fee for reading lectures, the mayor banned his public activities and issued an order for his "internment. The Master's last lecture before his departure from Sofia was entitled "Can the Blind?". It was based on line 39 of Chapter 6 of Luke's Gospel: "Can the blind lead the blind?" In that lecture, the Master said: "Human thought must be freed of delusions in which people are caught like mice in traps. Man is allowed to fool neither himself nor others. Every moment, he is watched Dy God and is responsible for each of his actions." All his life Dunov felt that he was "watched by God". He was not a mouse that could be trapped. His thought was free, he fooled neither himself nor others, and he was prepared to take responsibility for the sake of Truth. His last words to his disciples were: "I wish that your eyes may open next year so that you may see me better. May your eyes and ears open so that you can see and hear well, so that you may know right from wrong, and so that you may put everything in its proper place in your minds and hearts." After this lecture, delivered in Sofia on the 10th of June 1917, he left for Varna. Later, to illustrate the action of the karmic law, he said about that incident: "A year ago I was fined 25 leva for preaching without asking the authorities for permission. My lawyer suggested that we sue them. No, said I, we'll pay. Because of these 25 leva, Bulgaria had to pay two million and a half. A coincidence, you might say. Alright, it may be a coincidence but if we try once more, the same coincidence will happen. Then I was interned, illegally and unjustly." From August 1917 to June 1918 Peter Dunov lived in Varna, on the last floor of the Hotel London.

"In 1917, while I was in Varna, I had in my hotel a closet where I kept coal. One day two blackbirds, male and female, flew in. I took them up to my room because the winter was freezing, blizzards raged, and it was very cold in the closet. I thought: I will pay for them as much as I have to. In the morning, I took a bucket of grain, I lit the brazier, and I sat by it to keep warm. The male blackbird was frightened, he went to the window, while the female came to the brazier, perched on my knee, then flew to the window. Then she came back to the brazier, perched on my shoulder, and went back to the window. Finally, she flew back to me and settled on my hand. I am asking you, how would you interpret that? Why did she perch first on my knee, then on my shoulder and finally on my arm? The male was saying to her: "You deal with this guy; me, I know men well!" She looked sadly at me while I was watching her, then flew to the window and spoke: "Mister, you are very kind, you made a fire for us, you gave us water and grain, but now please open the window so that we may go about our business." I answered in her language: "The weather is now bad out there; there is a storm. As soon as it becomes warmer, I will gladly open the window for you to go." She went to the male, said something to him, and then they went quiet. In the evening they slept calmly. This was the only bird that has ever trusted me completely."

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Peter Dunov.

Mihail Ivanov, later known as Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov.

In Varna, Peter Dunov maintained a voluminous correspondence. He helped all who were in need of advice and spiritual support. He had many visitors. Disciples and friends from all over the country went to Varna to meet with him and strengthen their spirits.

This was the time of Dunov's meeting with Mihail Ivanov, a young man from Varna who later founded a branch of the White Brotherhood in France, and created his own esoteric teaching on the basis of the Master's New Teaching. Peter Dunov spent much time with that young and enthusiastic disciple who was burning with desire to comprehend the secrets of life. In Dunov, the future Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov found a spiritual Master. In 1957, he told his own disciples in France: "The most remarkable about the Master Peter Dunov was the spiritual life he radiated, illuminating and filling us with rays of light." "The atmosphere created by a person who is totally devoted to spiritual life is something alive, a world full of pure beings."

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In Varna, Peter Dunov often went for a walk on the beach. He would greet the rising sun and spend a long time gazing at the sky which has always been to him a scene of profound spiritual life. He visited his father, living like a hermit in the small St. Archangel Michael church. He communicated with the Spirit. He wrote letters offering advice and instructions: "Be faithful to the Truth in the Living Word which is Christ! My greetings to all those who walk in the right path of Christ, the path of new life. Acquire the divine Knowledge and keep it in your hearts. I wish you to become wise and perfect in our Lord." He expected the wise to choose their path: with Christ's teaching towards a new life, or with dissenters towards spiritual death.

Indeed, his admonition was called for. No sooner had he left Sofia that a candidate appeared for his fame. Of his own initiative, Doncho Popov decided to continue the lectures in the Master's style. A circle was immediately formed around him. Many of the disciples had forgotten the Master's warning in his last lecture: "when a blind leads a blind, no progress may be expected" Self-appointed "mediums" put down the instructions of presumably benevolent spirits. At first, all went well but gradually the spirits' demands became increasingly obscure and unacceptable. They "advised," the "mediums" to eat the wrong foods, cut their hair and wear eccentric clothes.

A year later, the internment was over and Peter Dunov returned to Sofia. He delivered his first lecture on the 30th of June 1918. It was entitled "Bring him hither", and was based on the Gospel of Luke 19: 30: "He who practices the Truth will prevail. If you serve God with spirit and truth, you will be welcomed by few. Much abuse, grief, and insult will you suffer but at the end, you will prevail!" "I once expressed my opinion and I was punished for it but I am prepared to voice it again. The truth cannot be fooled!" These words summed up the year in Varna. The result was a victory over a human power that had attempted to confine the Spirit of Truth.

The Master continued to deliver his lectures in Opalchenska St. Doncho Popov's group attended them but continued their separate activity as well. They even invited the Master to one of their meetings. He did not reject the invitation. His presence, however, rejected the spirits: not a single one appeared. Upon leaving, the Master commented jokingly: "It seems the spirits are busy with their own affairs and will not come."

After that incident, quite a few of Doncho Popov's followers quit the group but others paid a high price for their naivete and blindness. As a result of the bad eating habits imposed by the spirits, two of the group's members lost their lives. Before long, the same happened with Doncho Popov. "Knowledge and Truth are acquired through great effort, search and mental strain. They are not handed on a platter," Peter Dunov commented on the results of Popov's experiment.

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