Early Life and Youth (1900–1936)

• • • Birth and Origins: Born on January 31, 1900, in the village of Serbtzi, near Varna, Bulgaria, into a poor family.
    • Early Hardships: His village was destroyed in 1907, and his father died in 1908, leaving the family in deep poverty.
    • Spiritual Awakening: At age 15 (in 1915), he experienced his first major spiritual illumination, describing hearing the “music of the spheres”.
    • Meeting Peter Deunov: In the winter of 1917, at age 17, he met the Bulgarian spiritual master Peter Deunov (Beinsa Douno), an encounter that shaped the rest of his life.
    • Education: Between 1923 and 1935, he studied in Sofia, earning a degree in psychology and attending courses across multiple university faculties, later working as a college principal. 

Arrival in France and Wartime Trials (1937–1950)

• • • Move to France: In July 1937, Deunov sent him to France to introduce and establish his spiritual teachings.
    • Early Lectures: In January 1938, he delivered his first public lecture at the Sorbonne in Paris on the theme of “the second birth”.
    • Founding the Brotherhood: He formally registered the French association La Fraternité Blanche Universelle (Universal White Brotherhood) in January 1948, patterned after Deunov’s movement.
    • Imprisonment: Amidst post-war political and social tensions and false accusations, he was imprisoned from 1948 to 1950, a period he later viewed as an inner trial. He was subsequently exonerated. 

Travels, India, and the Title of Master (1959–1986)

• • • Trip to India: In 1959, he traveled to India, where he met the saint Neem Karoli Baba (Neem Karoli Babaji), who referred to him as a “French Sadhu”.
    • The Name Omraam: While meditating in India, three sages approached him and uttered the sacred mantra-syllables Om and Ram (rendered as Omraam), representing the Absolute and the fire element. Upon returning to France, his disciples began calling him “Master”.
    • Global Teaching: Over nearly 50 years, he delivered roughly 4,500 to 5,000 free public and private lectures, recorded first in shorthand and later on audio and video. He established major retreat and study centers, notably the Bonfin near Fréjus in southern France and Izgrev in Sofia, Bulgaria, while traveling to Switzerland, Canada, the United States, and the UK.
    • Core Philosophy: His teachings focus on personal transformation, universal brotherhood, the “yoga of the sun”, the “yoga of nutrition”, and living in harmony with nature and divine principles.
    • Death: He received French citizenship shortly before his death on December 25, 1986, in Fréjus, France. 

Autobiography Volumes 1 & 2 – the Spiritual Formation of a Modern, Western Master