From sister Rayna Kanazireva: “One day of 1922, the famous lawyer from Stara Zagora Iv. Zhelqzkov Slivkov came to me and asked me: “Miss, you are one of the followers of Petar Deunov, am I right?” Yes – I said. He said: “I know him well, we were students together in America. He was much younger, but as Bulgarians we held conversations every day.” I was really interested of his words: “Please, mister Zhelyazkov, tell me move about his youth, what was your impression about him?” “My impression – he said – isn’t something good.” Surprised, I opened my eyes wide and asked excited: “But why, please, tell me something more specific about him – youth mistakes, behavior?” Nothing as that, Miss. He was quiet, modest, at peace, strong in the teaching, but I do not like him for the following reason: he was eloquent, had a gift for speaking and when he started talking, all students went quiet to listen to him with attention and respect. And do you know what such an orator means in America, 40 years ago? That means, he could be a millionaire, a billionaire, but he was poor. He also played the violin amazingly. Do you know what that meant in America? It meant that he could be one of the richest people, yet he was poor, he played for free. Often we went out together as students, getting deep into the woods. The students loved Deunov and when these walks occurred, they often gathered around him, when we were resting we did the same too. He then started talking about the beauty and vastness of the Universe, the glory of God. “Look – he was saying – the night sky – what ancient wisdom, what harmony, what divine knowledge! Look at these wells, these flowers around us! Who supports this beauty, this love? We were listening in silence, almost forgetting about ourselves, carried away in a beautiful world. He was speaking fluent English. Sometimes he imperceptibly separated from our group and after he didn’t appear for a while, we went looking for him. Often we found him far away, sitting and looking at the vastness of the horizon, or with eyes closed, meditating on some thought. We often saw him kneeling, with hands put for prayer and this way traveling somewhere far, he didn’t even feel our presence when we got close to him. And when somebody touched him gently, he reacted as if he just woke up out of a beautiful dream.” When the lawyer said this, I couldn’t resist and started crying. He then asked me curiously why I am crying and I answered trough my tears: “Thank you, mister Zhelyazkov, that is how I would like my Master to be! There are many millionaires and billionaires around the world, but like him there is no one. That is why we admire him so much and love him so much.” The lawyer shook his shoulders in perplexity, but deep inside he was happy of the effect, his memories had on me.”
From the book “The extraordinary life of the Master Petar Deunov”, Vlad Pashov
