Zinovia Dushkova
Zinovia Vasilievna Dushkova is a Russian author, poet, philosopher, and historian. Dushkova has written approximately 60 books which have been published in both Russia and Ukraine and translated into seven languages. Dushkova's philosophy is influenced by Blavatsky's Theosophy.
Life
Dushkova was born in the village of Congaz in the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic. Her father, Vasily Ivanovich Dushkov, was the chairman of the collective farm "Russia" in Moldova. Her mother, Antonina Ivanovna Dushkova, was a land surveyor who participated in geological expeditions. Dushkova's father held a senior position, and for this reason, during Soviet times, he was not permitted to baptize his children. But her grandmother secretly brought the newborn child into a church and had her baptized. Since during the rite of baptism there was no one present except a priest and the grandmother, she became Dushkova's godmother and the child was named after her. As Dushkova's parents were absorbed in their work, she spent her entire early childhood with her grandmother. After her father's death in 1957 from fulminant tuberculosis, her grandmother became fully responsible for Dushkova's upbringing. After her grandmother's death in 1964, Dushkova's mother Antonina along with her 11-year-old daughter, moved to the village of Staroye Sheptakhovo in the Chuvash Republic. In 1970, Dushkova returned to Moldova, but then moved to work in Odesa, Ukraine, in 1971; from there, in 1972, she moved to the Russian Far East, where she spent the following 27 years. Dushkova moved to Moscow in 1999.Zinovia Dushkova has two sons: Andrey, graduated Lomonosov Moscow State University, a linguist, and Sergey, graduated Moscow State University of Civil Engineering, a social worker.
Education
Dushkova studied at a secondary school in Cheboksary and at the school located in the village of Bolshoe Yanikovo. In 1986, Dushkova matriculated in the Far Eastern State University in Vladivostok with a specialization in history. Upon graduation, she worked as a teacher of history in a school.Dushkova was promoted to PhD in Philosophy in 2009 with a thesis called, Rol' lichnosti v istorii: istoriosofskiy analiz, at the philosophy department of the Bauman Moscow State Technical University.
Writing career
Zinovia Dushkova lived in monasteries located in the mountains, deserts, and caves of Tibet, Mongolia, Nepal, and India. As a result of her long travels and studies, she wrote nearly 60 books. They have been published in Russia and Ukraine and have been translated into seven languages.Some of them are works of fiction, while she regards others as having been handed down by the "Masters of the Ancient Wisdom", or "Mahatmas", and as being based on the "knowledge of the heart" and "enlightenment". Dushkova claims that these books were written not through mediumship or channeling, but were the result of what she calls the "Fiery Experience", and she explains it as divine inspiration. She says that writing books in this way requires many years of training, which adversely affects one's physical health and demands one's isolation from society.
Influences and the first books
Dushkova had studied the history of Christianity and the lives of Orthodox saints since early childhood. Later, while living in Vladivostok, she started to be interested in other world religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam, and she studied the work of Helena Blavatsky and Helena Roerich. As a historian, she also studied the sacred texts in terms of their moral and ethical teachings.This whole experience inspired her to write her first work of fiction, Probuzhdenie Istoka, in 1992. There followed poetry collections and more fiction: Melodii Dushi, Latyn' nevospetaya, Grani Sveta, Preodolenie, and Epopeya.
In 1995 Dushkova took her first trip to India, during which she wrote the book Bratstvo: Nadzemnaya Obitel'. Work on it began in the study at Helena Roerich's estate in Naggar. According to the author, it is a continuation of the teaching of Agni Yoga and its logical conclusion. It is said that, during that trip, Dushkova also met with Master Morya in the Buddhist Ghoom Monastery, where his meetings with Helena Blavatsky and Helena Roerich had presumably taken place before. Additionally she states that she gained access to the Book of Dzyan, from which she translated a new fragment from the Senzar language and published it in The Book of Secret Wisdom.
''The Teaching of the Heart'' and other works
The most significant work by Dushkova is The Teaching of the Heart, consisting of a series of books which were written while she traveled across India, Russia, Egypt, Israel, and Japan. The series was begun at Helena Roerich's estate in Kalimpong in October 1997 and its books were later written in places such as the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth, Magdala, Mount Carmel, the Kremlin in Moscow, and Vladivostok.Other books by Dushkova include Ognennaya Bibliya, Evangelie ot Sofii – Sily i Premudrosti Bozhiey, and Taynaya Doktrina Lyubvi. She also wrote books intended for children and youth: Skazki dlya Messii, Skazki kotorye rastut vmeste s nami, 77 ''Zhemchuzhin siyayushchikh na chetkakh Vremeni, and Kniga Pritchey.
Since 2004, Dushkova has ceased to meet with her readers in Russia and Ukraine, having bidden them farewell at the last meeting held in Moscow on 24 March, and has focused on trips abroad.
From 2004 to 2016, Dushkova worked on the Dialogi'' trilogy in which she discusses the inner organization of Shambhala. The first two volumes were published in Russian in 2012, and the third in 2017.
Teachings and ideas
According to the 12-year research by Lyudmila Grigoryeva, the Head of the Department of Religious Studies of Astafyev Krasnoyarsk State Pedagogical University, and Tatyana Simanzhenkova, the teaching of Zinovia Dushkova, being the continuation of the Theosophical tradition and occult-mystical in its nature, develops this religious orientation and devises new worldviews of the social and cosmic evolution of humanity in the transitional period. This teaching develops one of the fundamental ideas of the Roerichs' doctrine, outlined in the book Heart of the Agni Yoga series, considering it the most important in the modern social and cultural situation.The study showed that, among a wide variety of teachings in modern Russia and Ukraine, The Teaching of the Heart is distinguished by its ethical and humanistic orientation, an unusual way of thinking, and a vivid form of exposition.
Primary role of the heart
Dushkova identifies the primary role of the heart in the spiritual development of individuals. All of her books have in common the idea of cultivating the qualities of the heart, such as love, compassion, mercy, forgiveness, and gratitude, which, according to the author, contribute to the spiritual and moral formation of the individual. Her first published book Bratstvo: Nadzemnaya Obitel' formulates this basic idea of the teaching by saying: "Go by the way of the Heart." She believes that "one religion" for modern humanity must be love, and therefore Dushkova's main appeal throughout her books is to "open the heart".Unity of all religions
The central postulate of the teaching is the idea that there is one divine source of all religions. This idea is presented by Dushkova as a combination of two world religions in three images of the one deity: "The time of Maitreya, Buddha, and Christ has come; at their essence, they are One. Three times are merging, erasing the borders between them. The Past has intersected with the Future at point of the Present. The Great Buddha of the North appeared in the Image of Maitreya, bearing the features of the Resurrected Christ." This syncretic idea is developed in all other Dushkova's writings, as well.Hierarchy of the heart
Continuing the Theosophical tradition, Christ, according to the teaching, is one of the "cosmic hierarchs", who incarnate themselves on the Earth in order to help humanity. Dushkova develops Agni YogaJust as in Agni Yoga, the Great White Brotherhood in The Teaching of the Heart directs the evolution of humanity, preserving society from regression and decay. Essentially the brotherhood in Dushkova's teaching is the organizing and uniting principle which gives an impulse of high evolutionary frequency that maintains the stability of the social system and establishes the conditions for further improvement.
Fiery baptism
As in the Eastern tradition, Dushkova's teaching speaks of the one energy of the Cosmos, Nature, and human beings and relies on the Theosophical version of Cosmogenesis, in which the Absolute is seen as the primary fiery energy that during evolution turns into spirit and matter. According to the teaching, there are certain historical periods during which this energy, or "spatial fire", is intensified in order to influence the evolution of humanity, bringing matter into a more subtle state; Dushkova calls such periods "fiery baptism".The Teaching of the Heart says it is through the human heart that the evolutionary wave of these transformative fiery energies will pass at the end of the "great cycle", which coincides with present times. Therefore, according to Dushkova, the primary focus of attention should be shifted to the heart, because it is the "main transmuter" of these energies.