The Camp by the Seven Lakes

[Ani]

The Camp by the Seven Lakes

The year was 1929. After the usual excursion to Moussala, the Master took his disciples to other places in the Rila Mountain. The peak was too harsh for some of those who accompanied him in the mountains. That year, the group found a better camping site - the Cirque of the Seven Rila Lakes. On the 21st of August, the Master delivered there his lecture "Absolute purity". The group was sitting by the Fifth Lake. In the magnificent temple of nature, there could be no more appropriate subject than the Creator of that admirable scenery. The Master told them: "If you wish to know God, you must be pure. Each of you must be pure in every way: physically, mentally, and spiritually. It is up to you to retain absolute purity all your life. Life itself, however, is in God's hands. Thank God for everything you have: light, air, water, and bread. What more do you need? To learn!" "You have come to the mountain to learn something. You will study the plants as a botanist does. You will study them as a doctor does so that you may find out their medicinal properties. You will study the minerals as a mineralogist does. If you cannot get to know the outside world, how can you get to know the inner one?"

The next summer, the Rila camp was much more crowded. Tents were pitched by the Second Lake, too. There, the Master opened his Mountain School and delivered many lectures in the open. In the morning, the whole group greeted the rising sun from the Prayer Mount. The songs had a special ring there, and every prayer was an intimate conversation with God.

The Master's words were a revelation, they took them to the world of the Spirit. "We have come to this high place in the mountain where the air is pure to absorb its sacred thoughts. Anyone can absorb them but he must have an open soul. We have come here, to an altitude of 2230 m, to cast off our ordinary thoughts. You must benefit from the clean air, assimilate from it pure Divine thoughts. The air carries the Divine thoughts."

Peter Dunov by the second lake.

This was what the Master told his disciples on the 19th of August 1930 by the fountain near the Second Lake. They had all taken part in the building of that fountain. The water issued from below the rock and flew out of two marble hands. The disciples built for it a white stone trough and called the marble hands "the hands that give" - a symbol of the New that became deeply engraved in the memory of anyone who passed there. The Master's words were carved in the rock: "Brothers and sisters, mothers and father, teachers and disciples, and all of you servants of life, open your hearts for kindness and be like this fountain." There was a large boulder next to it. The Master liked swaying it with his finger, although the boulder weighed more than a ton. How he did it remained a mystery. The disciples witnessed other inexplicable incidents, too. The Master, however, never discussed the powers he commanded. Here on earth, he was "brother of the small".

The disciples built a small hut by the Second Lake where the kitchen was installed. They ate communal meals, sitting in a circle in the large clearing by the lake. For the Master, there was a small wooden table that was always covered with a white tablecloth.

The musicians often gave concerts there. They enjoyed playing the Master's works in an arrangement for more instruments. The Master approved of that; he was glad that the disciples were developing their talents. The music had a special ring in the magnificent concert hall of nature. The camp needed cleaning and tidying. Firewood was gathered from the dwarf pine-covered valley of the First Lake. Communal work was a joy for the disciples. The Master did his share of the chores, too. This work was part of the learning, a practical side of the School. After the daily routine, the evenings were the most pleasant part of the experience. They passed by the fire where parables were told and discussions took place.

The camp by the second lake.

The fountain "The hands that give".

The inscription by the source.

Often the Master and the disciples walked to the other lakes, stopping by each and talking. The Master particularly enjoyed finding small springs of water which abounded in that area and cleaning them up. He also taught the disciples to do so. This symbolic act was something they remembered for the rest of their lives. The Master took every opportunity to build a connection between them and nature with its driving forces.

The Master gave new names to the lakes. He used names from the ancient "Vatan" language spoken by the earliest humans. "You will call the first lake 'Maharzi', meaning 'the big repose'. That is physical life. The second lake you will call 'Elbour', meaning 'the Lord has the power'. The third lake you will call 'Balder-Daru'; this means 'He Who brings all good'. The name of the fourth lake is 'Twins'. The fifth lake's name is 'Mahabour', i.e. 'the great and the powerful'. The sixth lake is 'the Heart'. The seventh lake you will call 'the Head' or 'Shemhaa'. That is the name of Wisdom."

The Master gave names to two more lakes: the Lake of Purity and the Lake of Contemplation. One day, by the Lake of Purity, he demanded the disciples to do the following exercise: "Today we will wash ourselves in the name of the great laws that govern life. Wash your hands, head, and feet in the lake, saying the words: 'In the name of Divine Love, I wash my hands, head, and feet. In the name of Divine Truth, I wash my hands, head, and feet."

Hikers occasionally passed through the camp. Intrigued by the 200 tents by the lake, they often stopped for a talk, and sometimes stayed for days. They sought to talk with the Master.

Their questions were often related to the mystical atmosphere of that place:

"Are there intelligent beings beyond visible nature? Yes, there are. Those are the noetic beings. Have you ever seen the noetic beings? Yes, I can see them all the time. What do they look like? They are clad in light and shine brightly."

Rila - the Sphinx peak.

The Master's tent was pitched high above the lake. From there, he had a beautiful view to the valley and the surrounding peaks. Seventy-two stone steps led from the lake to the tent. It was in the clearing by the tent that the Master usually gave his Sunday talks - usually but not always; lectures were held in many places in the Rila; any beautiful and convenient place could do as a 'lecture hall'.

In 1939, a large group of foreign followers of the New Teaching arrived in the camp. There were French, Finnish, Estonians and Latvians among them. They shared the communal life and eagerly studied Bulgarian. Before leaving, they told the Master: "Since we came to Bulgaria, first to Izgrev and then here to the Rila Mountains, we've been feeling as if we were already in heaven. Here we found out true motherland: the country of love, light and true joy. Master, thank you for this bliss!" Professor Lemonier of the University of Toulouse added his impressions of Rila: "The important lesson that we learned here was the key role of music, songs, and the Paneurhythmy. In the anxiety of our industrial countries, in our artificial and gloomy towns music and the Paneurhythmy are the best means to strengthen the spirit and unite the souls."

The same year, the Rila camp was visited by Pastor Metodi Markov. He was deeply impressed by his meeting with Peter Dunov. "If today we could speak of saintliness, Dunov is a saint. He is also a Magi, in the sense this word has been used in the East, a truly wise man and a profound mystic!" The highly educated Methodist pastor foresaw the future:

"Dunov is yet to be appreciated as a preacher, a pastor, and a priest, as a hiker and as a Bulgarian, as a speaker, a teacher, a theologian and a sociologist; as a psychologist, an ethicist and a philosopher; as a prophet, an organiser, a vegetarian, a teetotaller, a healer, an economist, a financier, a scientist, a believer, a musicologist and a patron of arts. He has been involved in all these activities and has brought them to fruition."

Rila: the Dry Lake and the peaks Irechek and Moussala.

The lake Aleko and the Moussala summit.

The third lake "Balder Dam" - "He, who gives the good things" -with the Haramiata peak.

Rila: the lake Strashnoto.

The summer camps in the Rila Mountains were held till 1942. The Master's Word poured forward in a beautiful language whose images were permanently imprinted on human minds, creating in them favourable conditions for the new and progressive thought of the Age of the Aquarius. The lectures "The beauty of life", "The new culture", "The ascending path", "Eternal renewal" and "ABC of understanding" were engraved in the memory of the mountain. In the words that were said there, the future generations will discover the key to the temple of Living Nature.

Paneurhythmy.

The second lake "Elbour" - "the Lord has the power" -with the camp and the prayer hill.

The "Contemplation lake.