{"id":40225,"date":"2016-12-15T14:05:57","date_gmt":"2016-12-15T12:05:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vaklush.bg\/biography\/"},"modified":"2025-11-17T13:14:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T11:14:09","slug":"biography","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/vaklush.bg\/en\/biography\/","title":{"rendered":"Biography"},"content":{"rendered":"

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ background_color=”#FCFCFC” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row column_structure=”2_3,1_3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”2_3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ header_font=”RopaSansPro-Light||||||||” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n

Vaklush Tolev<\/h1>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/vaklush.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/19990801-04_StudenecF7_25-copy-e1483604049414.jpg” align_tablet=”center” align_phone=”center” align_last_edited=”on|desktop” disabled_on=”|on|on” _builder_version=”4.16″ always_center_on_mobile=”on” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]Vaklush Tolev is a theologian, public figure, sage, and spiritual Teacher \u2014 author of works on religious-philosophical and cultural-historical themes.<\/p>\n

He was born on January 7, 1923 \u2014 on the day of Christ\u2019s Nativity according to the calendar of the time \u2014 in the village of Popovitsa, near Plovdiv. As a child, he showed an unusual spiritual awareness: he asked to begin school early and, at the age of 14, gave his first public speech in the local church on the topic: \u201cDoes God Exist?\u201d<\/p>\n

In his youth, he was an active anti-communist and patriot. In high school, he led a Christian-philosophical society where lectures and debates were held on religious and philosophical topics. He also became a member of the Legionary movement, which arose as a reaction to the injustices of the Treaty of Neuilly and sought to ideologically oppose the advancing communist doctrine.<\/p>\n

He enrolled in Law at Sofia University, but after September 9, 1944, was expelled for ideological reasons. He was brought before the “People\u2019s Court” for his beliefs and for holding the rank of officer in the royal Bulgarian army. There, he declared: \u201cAs long as I live, I will fight with all my strength for the complete destruction of communist ideology.\u201d For this defiance, he was sentenced to life imprisonment \u2014 totalitarian regimes preferred to break such people as a warning, rather than simply eliminate them. He was sent to the Belene labor camp and subsequently passed through nearly all the prisons in the country, where he earned the nickname \u201cthe irredeemable one.\u201d<\/p>\n

At age 28, in the Kardzhali prison, he experienced a spiritual awakening, later describing it as: \u201cIt is no exaggeration to say you feel like you could hold the Earth in your hand.\u201d He found ways to study various languages and began writing poetry, dramas, and philosophical essays. He was released after the 1956 amnesty for political prisoners. In his words, he emerged from the \u201csmall prison\u201d into the \u201clarge one.\u201d He did not leave with bitterness or a thirst for revenge, but with ideas such as \u201cThere is no suffering \u2014 there is development\u201d and \u201cThere is no evil \u2014 there is unevolved good.\u201d<\/p>\n

While still imprisoned in Varna, Vaklush Tolev revised the Christian prayer \u201cOur Father,\u201d proposing the line: \u201cDeliver us from the evil one, so that we do not fall into temptation\u201d \u2014 instead of \u201cLead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.\u201d In this way, he removed the suggestion that God tempts man. He later found theological support for this correction in the Epistle of James 1:13: \u201cLet no one say when he is tempted, \u2018I am tempted by God\u2019; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.\u201d He sent a letter on this matter to the head of the Holy Synod, Patriarch Kiril, but received no response.<\/p>\n

After his release, he frequently clashed with the repressive apparatus of the State Security. He was monitored, detained repeatedly, and had difficulty keeping a job for more than a few months. Nevertheless, he managed to enroll in the Theological Academy in Sofia and graduated in just 18 months. He later worked as a librarian at the Plovdiv Metropolis, where he organized a remarkable exhibition of valuable icons from across the diocese \u2014 unprecedented for its time.<\/p>\n

After the democratic changes of November 10, 1989, Vaklush Tolev was invited by democratic forces to run for parliament, but he declined, saying he had a conscious spiritual mission. \u201cThe problem is not in democracy but in freedom. And freedom is not a matter of measurement, but of endurance!\u201d he later said.<\/p>\n

He began delivering public lectures across the country and taught a course on the History of Religions at the universities in Plovdiv and Sofia for several years. He founded his own spiritual School called \u201cThe Way of Wisdom.\u201d His lectures were published in the periodical Nur \u2014 meaning Imperishable Light. He also published several books:
\n\t\u2022\tHistory and Theory of the Religions (3 volumes, reprinted three times)
\n\t\u2022\tThe Spiritual Gifts of Bulgaria (2 volumes, on the history of Bulgarian spirituality)
\n\t\u2022\tThe Seven Rays of Evolution \u2014 a new vision of esoteric knowledge
\n\t\u2022\tThe Testament Without Covenant
\n\t\u2022\tthe poetry collection Scattered Pearls, and others.<\/p>\n

In his lectures, Vaklush Tolev interpreted the achievements of world culture through his own lens. His original reading of the history and theory of religions rests on several fundamental ideas that he developed into an independent Teaching called The Way of Wisdom.<\/p>\n

At the heart of his teaching lies the insight that within the human being is embedded a vast potential \u2014 one that must be awakened and applied. This potential \u2014 known in different cultures as Breath, Kundalini, Orenda, Spirit, and so on \u2014 has gradually unfolded throughout human evolution, largely thanks to spiritual teachings and religions. He placed these in a hierarchical order he called the Doctrine of the Spiritual Waves: Creation, Mythology, Righteousness, Love, Wisdom, Truth, and Freedom. Following the Righteousness of Moses and Buddha, and the Love of Christ, Vaklush Tolev proclaimed the Fifth Spiritual Wave \u2014 the Wave of Wisdom.<\/p>\n

He defined his teaching as neither a science nor a new religion. Wisdom \u2014 which he described as the intuition and reflex for truth \u2014 combines the achievements of both intellect and heart. He believed that God and evolution are not in contradiction. While the concept of God is culturally shaped and changes over time, God does exist \u2014 within the human being. This is the cornerstone of his teaching: that man is a god in evolution. Thus, not bloodline nor even spiritual kinship is essential \u2014 as he put it, humans are sabozhnik<\/a>, because each carries the Breath of God.<\/p>\n

On August 28, 1993, in Varna, on the 50th anniversary of the death of Tsar Boris III the Unifier, Vaklush Tolev announced the idea of building a House-Sanctuary and establishing August 28 as a Day of the Immortal Bulgarians. \u201cThe Bulgarian soul contains an inherent but under-applied optimism \u2014 which is why we celebrate more often those who died for liberation than we do the idea of history itself.\u201d Each of the 13 historical figures included is, he said, a model of spiritual ideals for building the future \u2014 including Khan Asparuh, Tsar Boris I, Vasil Levski, Paisiy Hilendarski, Baba Tonka, and others. A location for the future Sanctuary was chosen in the lands of the city of Veliki Preslav.<\/p>\n

On December 9, 1998, on the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Vaklush Tolev initiated an official proposal to the UN Human Rights Commission \u2014 to include protection of the human soul in the Charter of Human Rights<\/a>. He proposed the removal of the punishment of anathema (curse) from religious constitutions, and of the word \u2018enemy\u2019 as a category in social relations. The motivation stated:
\n\u201cAnathema is a religious punishment \u2014 the gravest personal blow, which destroys human spirituality. The term \u2018enemy\u2019 is saturated with the same destructive energy. \u2018Enemy\u2019 is a stigma on the individual soul \u2014 a social curse! Moreover, both \u2018anathema\u2019 and \u2018enemy\u2019 have become ideologies fueling social, religious, and military conflicts that disturb the lives and historical paths of nations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vaklush Tolev completed his earthly path on November 27, 2013, at the age of 90. During his life, he often emphasized that biography was not important to him \u2014 only the inner essence. \u201cFacts are the undertakers of truth,\u201d he would say. How would he have wanted to be remembered? Perhaps through this epitaph-like verse from his poetry collection \u201cScattered Pearls\u201d:<\/p>\n

Then let my gravestone,
\nwhere the traveller may pause to read,
\nbe left unmarked \u2014 for flame and spirit
\nwere my path, and all I came to be.<\/span>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/vaklush.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/19990801-04_StudenecF7_25-copy-e1483604049414.jpg” align_tablet=”center” align_phone=”center” align_last_edited=”on|desktop” disabled_on=”on||” _builder_version=”4.16″ always_center_on_mobile=”on” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n

More materials<\/h2>\n