Zinovia Dushkova

Zinovia Vasilievna Dushkova (, ; born 19 July 1953) 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 (currently the Republic of Moldova). Her father, Vasily Ivanovich Dushkov (1925–1957), was the chairman of the collective farm "Russia" in Moldova. But her grandmother secretly brought the newborn child into a church and had her baptized. 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 (born 1972), graduated Lomonosov Moscow State University, a linguist, and Sergey (born 1979), graduated Moscow State University of Civil Engineering, a social worker. In 1986, Dushkova matriculated in the Far Eastern State University in Vladivostok with a specialization in history.

Dushkova was promoted to PhD in Philosophy in 2009 with a thesis called, Rol' lichnosti v istorii: istoriosofskiy analiz ("The Role of Personality in History: A Historiosophical Analysis"), at the philosophy department of the Bauman Moscow State Technical University.

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. 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.

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. The first two volumes were published in Russian in 2012, and the third in 2017. 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. This syncretic idea is developed in all other Dushkova's writings, as well. In August 2001, in Kemerovo, participants of this movement created Zvezda Vostoka ("Star of the East"), an interregional public organization for supporting science, culture, and art. It aimed "to unite all who advocate moral values, who contribute to the evolutionary development of society through cooperation in the domains of science, economics, education, and culture." Religious scholars regarded this organization as one of the three largest centers of Roerichism in Russia and Ukraine. According to these recommendations, "The book is a significant phenomenon in the contemporary literary process, and in terms of the purity of its moral lessons it is comparable to The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry." Pankaj Malviya used Skazki dlya Messii in the process of teaching students at the Department of Russian Language of Punjab University in Chandigarh, India. The Japanese researcher of Russian fairy tales, Professor Yoshikazu Nakamura, included Skazki dlya Messii in a course for students of Russian language and literature at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo. Patriarchate representatives at a 2004 Novosibirsk conference once again testified to the "antichristian and destructive nature" of various New Age teachings, including those of Helena Blavatsky, Helena Roerich, and Zinovia Dushkova.

However, among the followers of the Roerichs' teachings, the publication of Bratstvo: Nadzemnaya Obitel''' in 1997 Then the Council of the Siberian Roerich Society, which itself was the former branch of ICR, denounced Dushkova as a "false teacher". In response to these accusations, Dushkova's supporters quoted Helena Roerich's letters in which Roerich herself predicted the appearance of "Agni Yoga in new conditions" at the very end of the 20th century.

Exhibitions In 2003, an exhibition entitled "Geography of Travels" was organized, at which 60 photographs as well as the author's videos were presented. They had been made during Dushkova's travels to places that are regarded as holy in countries such as Egypt, Israel, India, Italy, China, Mongolia, Tibet, France, and Japan. The exhibition was first displayed in Moscow, and then in other cities in Russia, Ukraine, and France. The exhibition featured drawings based on Skazki dlya Messii by children from different cities in Russia and France. In 2017, The Call of the Heart, the first book of The Teaching of the Heart series, was awarded a silver medal by the Nautilus Book Awards in the United States.

Bibliography in English Zinovia Dushkova has written approximately 60 books in Russian. The following have been published in English:

The Book of Secret Wisdom (Radiant Books, 2015), Parables from Shambhala (Radiant Books, 2016), The Teaching of the Heart Series:The Call of the Heart (Radiant Books, 2016), The Illumination of the Heart (Radiant Books, 2016), The Heart of the Community (Radiant Books, 2017), The Heart of Infinity (Radiant Books, 2017), The Fiery Hierarchy (Radiant Books, 2017), The Fiery Heart (Radiant Books, 2018), The World of Fire (Radiant Books, 2018), The Prayer of the Heart (Radiant Books, 2018), Brotherhood (Radiant Books, 2019), The Sun of Love (Radiant Books, 2019), The Joy of the Heart (Radiant Books, 2020), The Rainbow of Fire (Radiant Books, 2020), The Fruit of Love (Radiant Books, 2020), The Secret Book of Dzyan (Radiant Books, 2018), The Ascending Goddess'' (Radiant Books, 2020),