Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov
Bulgarian philosopher (1900–1986)
Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov (January 31, 1900 - December 25, 1986) was a Bulgarian philosopher, pedagogue, mystic, and esotericist. He was a leading 20th-century teacher of Western Esotericism in Europe,and a disciple of Peter Deunov.
Quotes
edit- When I was meditating, I tried to perceive the universe as an immense symphony ... One day, I felt myself carried away in space, very far away, and suddenly I heard that the whole universe was singing ... no human music can compare to what I heard ... This music is not heard with the physical ears, but with the soul, with spirit ... This experience that I had so early in my life has remained like a seal in my soul and has pushed me to seek harmony always and everywhere.
- The idea of brotherhood for which we are working is still like a newborn child. I speak to the entire universe about this child who wants to grow up, learn to walk, learn. I know all her needs, my constant concern is to ensure its subsistence and its growth, I have no other job, and I have to be so vigilant! This idea of fraternity, it is she and she alone who has the power to make peace reign in the world. I have come among you so that an ideal of fraternal life can be realized here which will serve as an example for the future... to bring a model of collective, fraternal life, where each individual will consciously accept a kind of magnificent servitude in order to access another freedom, truer, deeper, that of his Higher Being.
- Now is the time to live an experience that humans have not yet attempted and that will free them from their illusions, isolation and helplessness. For the work I envision, I want people who are rich in heart and soul. We must no longer be content to talk about love, peace and fraternity, we must live them by learning to meet and make exchanges in areas where the values advocated by society no longer count so much. Come and support my work, lend your strength, give an example of fraternal spirit. You claim to love your country, but what are you doing so that everyone can live there fraternally? You don't yet know how contagious your example could become.
- Sometimes I receive letters from brothers and sisters saying, ‘Oh Master, we would so like to be like you. You are an example for us.’ But I say that you should take the sun as your example, as I do. I look to the sun, and I point toward it to encourage you to go in that direction. Do not stop at me; go right past me to the sun, immerse yourself in its life, its warmth and its light, so that you can become like it. As for me, think of me as being a signpost that shows you the path you should take. So, do not stop at the signpost. When you travel along a road, and you see a sign that says Paris or Frejus, you do not stop there and hug it saying, ‘How I love you, dear signpost. How I love your beautiful lettering, and how well you point out the direction I should take!’ No, you keep traveling until you reach Paris or Frejus.
- Afin de devenir un livre vivant. Éléments d’autobiographie I. Prosveta, 2009, p. 285.
- On the surface it may seem that wars are caused by economic and political questions, but in fact they are caused by our wholesale slaughter of animals. The laws of justice are inexorable, and human beings are going to have to pay with their own blood … We kill animals, but nature is an organic whole, and by killing animals we are, as it were, affecting certain glands in that organism. When this happens, the balance of the organism is disrupted, and it is not surprising that before long war breaks out among men. Yes, human beings have slaughtered millions of animals for their meat, without realizing that on the invisible plane those animals are linked to other human beings, and it is they who will now have to share the fate of the animals. When we slaughter animals we are slaughtering human beings. Everybody agrees that it is time to establish the reign of peace in the world, that there must be no more wars. Yes, but war will go on just as long as we continue to slaughter animals, because by destroying them we are destroying ourselves.
- The Yoga of Nutrition, Editions Prosveta, 2012 ebook edition, pp. 24-25.
Quotes about
edit- In 1923 he enrolled at the University in Sofia: After receiving diplomas in philosophy, psychology, and education, Mikhael continued to frequent the university. Stimulated by curiosity, he moved freely from one faculty to another, exploring the different disciplines, following courses in medicine, chemistry, and physics. He spent so many years at the university that his friends nicknamed him ‘the eternal student’.
- Louise-Marie Frenette, Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov - Vita di un Maestro occidentale; Stella Mattutina Edizioni, 2016, p.143.
- When he entered the conference room, in front of his listeners, there was an indescribable aura around him. Some days he was inhabited by a mysterious presence: perfectly still, his eyes closed, he spoke in a sober and concise manner; at other times he spoke with great force, like a prophet charged with shaking his contemporaries out of their ruts. But most of the time, he spoke like a father talks to his children, most simply. He knew how to laugh frankly with a spontaneity that testified to a deep joie de vivre. On the material level, there is a will that never knows how to act against others. He is a refined soul, filled with a sacred and impersonal love. He is an intelligence recognized by all his listeners as being particularly luminous and penetrating, possessing extraordinary powers of analysis and synthesis. What is more, he thinks what is divine, he feels it and he executes it.
- Everything was linked, coherent in the life of Brother Mikhaël. I could never discover a rift between his collective life, his words and his behavior. He never advised others of something that he himself did not put into practice in the privacy of his existence.
- According to Aivanhov one of the fundamental truths of initiatic science is that in the “subtle” world (the so-called “higher world”) all elements that make up reality, are linked and connected to each other in a specific way. Therefore, the realization of the Kingdom of God on our planet becomes an almost spontaneous and natural reality, if everybody makes efforts to realize this divine Kingdom within themselves, which then could bring about the... Golden Age. In order to describe the best way of how each individual can come closer to this significant ideal, Aivanhov reveals the eternal principles of initiatic science and defines the cosmic laws which reign both in the universe as well as in man; in the macrocosm as well as in the microcosm. At the same time, he also describes the constant exchange between “that which is above and that which is below”. A basis for this method is the conviction that human beings cannot attain the tangible realization of such a high ideal through faith alone, but that they also need knowledge about how ‘reality’ is organized. This knowledge will help to understand how the arrival of the Golden Age remains no longer a utopia, but becomes a certainty.
- Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov, OmraamWiki, 2 February 2019
