An Oral Tradition

Mikhaël Aïvanhov studied for 20 years under the Bulgarian Spiritual Master Peter Deunov. Anticipating the start of the second world war in 1937, Peter Deunov asked his disciple to take the teaching to France to avoid the threat of communism. Their teaching was oral, in the Parampara tradition of the Vedic culture and religions like Hinduism, Sikhism, Janism and Buddhism. In these traditions, teaching is passed down orally from generation to generation, through an uninterrupted succession of Masters and disciples.

Mikhaël Aïvanhov gave his first lecture at the Sorbonne in Paris in 1938, in French, a new language he had learned during the preceding six months. It was the first of over 5,000 lectures, presenting the eternal principles reflected in all the major philosophies and world religions in a unified and contemporary form. His lectures were spontaneous (without notes), based on a topic presented to him at the start of the meeting.

Extracts from these lectures have now been published in nearly 100 books which have been translated into 35 languages.

A truly luminous being, he spent time with many of the great Spiritual Masters in the East, including the Indian sadhus Neem Karoli Babaji, Ananda Mayi Ma and Nityananda Maharaj who accepted him as one of their own and he was given the name Omraam. On his return, his disciples in France were amazed by his transformation and spontaneously called him Master.

The Eternal Wisdom

Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov referred to his teaching  as Initiatic Science, the “eternal wisdom” expressed through various religions, each adapted to the spirit of a particular time, people, and level of spiritual evolution. This sacred knowledge of the visible and invisible worlds has taken different forms throughout the centuries.

In his words, ‘Initiatic Science is the ancient Science of the Spirit, of which our mainstream scientists know very little. But they are beginning to put out feelers towards it and they are beginning to understand – and the science that lies before them, waiting to be discovered, is the Initiatic Science that certain privileged people have known for centuries.’

Cabbalah and Sephirotic Tree

The Sephirotic Tree has been used for centuries to describe the structure of the Universe

The Master believed that the ancient teaching contained in the Cabbalah and explained in the Sephirotic Tree provide the most useful way of understanding the structure of the universe and the hierarchy of invisible beings. He covered these topics in many lectures which have been included in a number of posts on this website.

They can be found by searching for the words ‘Cabbalah’ or ‘Sephirotic’.

 

Initiatic Science, adapted for our time

The Master’s Teaching on Initiatic Science is based on a deep knowledge of the human being and his or her place in the universe, with an emphasis on the intuition of the heart and simplicity, over superficial intellectual knowledge. Aware of the demands of working on oneself, he never stopped encouraging his disciples, inciting them to continue along the spiritual path leading to inner unity. What mattered to him was what has been lived and experienced personally. He liked to say in this regard that:

“We can only know all aspects of an orange by tasting it, not by analysing it.”

His Teaching is universal, and the many methods he gave are increasingly relevant to the problems posed by the conditions of modern life. His constant preoccupation was always to be useful, to help people find in themselves the forces placed there by the Creator and so be able to participate in the realization of a united global family, where each person is a citizen of the universe, a son or daughter of the same cosmic principle. In this way, the Teaching invites all human beings throughout the whole world, regardless of skin colour, nationality, religion or race, to achieve a life of dignity, for the good of all and of each individual.

Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov described the emergence of a new consciousness as being like the image of the sun, which distributes its light, warmth and life to all beings. A central theme found in his Teaching is the desire to help us rediscover our own spiritual dimension while, at the same time, fulfilling our role in the world.

The SynoSphere

The SynoSphere provides a synopsis of the 12 major themes of the Master’s teaching in the form of a sphere. The themes match the first books in the Complete Works collection which were supervised by the Master. We present a mini-series of posts on a theme each month, featuring extracts from the related books.

The SynoSphere presents the teaching as a structured framework for understanding today’s world, and proposing an alternative paradigm for the new millennium, with the ultimate promise of unity and peace in the world, health and happiness for mankind, and respect for nature and planet earth.

Learning more

The Where to Start page has links to videos and excerpts of the books listed below. The postsBooks and On-line Study courses cover each of the themes shown in the SynoSphere. Here is a mapping of the twelve themes in the SynoSphere to suggested books in the Izvor and Compete Works collections.

Teaching Centres

Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov also gave lectures in Switzerland, Canada, the United States, India, Sweden and Norway. He established centres (Initiatic Schools) in several countries which welcomed hundreds of people interested in his Teaching and in the fraternal life it offered. He provided a clear understanding of the human structure with its different bodies and its two natures – the higher (or, in his terminology, ‘individuality’) and the lower (or ‘personality’) – knowledge of which, he said, is the key for resolving all life’s problems.

A New Dawn: Society and Politics in the Light of Initiatic Science

In this book, the Master describes the coming Age of Aquarius, and the coming of the Golden Age.

Complete Works Volume 25.

‘Man was built by Cosmic Intelligence in such a way that he can fulfil himself and attain his full stature only by maintaining ties with a higher world from which he receives light and strength. When human beings rely exclusively on their own limited intellect they deprive themselves of true understanding, and it is this lack that is the cause of all their disastrous mistakes. When men are motivated only by a lust for material possessions and power and act in total disregard for the plans of Cosmic Intelligence, they stir up layers of the physical and psychic atmosphere and arouse formidable forces whose fury is turned against them.

The Age of Aquarius will soon be upon us and the tremendous upheavals accompanying it will oblige human beings to understand the reality of the invisible world and the laws that govern it. But the beauty, splendour and harmony of the new life that will emerge from these upheavals will be beyond anything imagined by man. All those who have been secretly working for the coming of the Kingdom of God throughout the world will join forces and work together, and the bastions of ignorance, materialism and despotism will crumble and collapse. This I tell you. And it will be: nothing can prevent the coming of the new era, the new Golden Age.’