Zinovya Vasilyevna Dushkova was born on 19 July 1953, in Congaz, the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic. Her father, Vasily Ivanovich Dushkov (1925–1957), was the chairman of the collective farm “Russia” in Moldova, and her mother, Antonina Ivanovna Dushkova (1927–1980), was a land surveyor who participated in numerous geological expeditions. Their daughter was named in honour of her grandmother, Zinovya Vasilyevna Dushkova (1887–1964), who was of Greek descent. Zinovya’s grandmother’s brother, Vasily Vasilyevich Arnautov (1892–1966), was a biologist and breeder, as well as a colleague of Nikolai Vavilov, the famous botanist and geneticist who committed to ending famine in Russia — and in the world. Vasily Arnautov bred a new variety of potato, “Arnaut,” for which, in 1943, he was awarded the Stalin Prize of 1st degree for achievements in science. In the 1950s, Vasily was also a diplomat and an officer of the USSR Embassy in India.
After her father’s death in 1957, the three-year-old Zinovya lived with her grandmother, a woman of deep faith and extraordinary wisdom and kindness. She knew many poems and prayers — not only in Gagauz, but also in Russian, Greek, and Latin — and she shared them with her small granddaughter. Being Orthodox by birth and upbringing, from the time she was a child Zinovya studied the history of Christianity and the life of saints. It is from her grandmother that Zinovya inherited not only a beautiful Greek name, meaning “wisdom,” but also an extraordinary love for the surrounding world and life, which was constantly increasing, despite loneliness, and helping to overcome all the obstacles appearing on her life path. To help all those in need, to bring as much love and beauty as possible into life — this desire has not left Zinovya in all the subsequent years.
In 1964, following the death of her daughter’s paternal grandmother, Antonina Dushkova took the eleven-year-old Zinovya to the home of the child’s maternal grandparents in the village Bolshoe Yanikovo (Chuvash Republic, Russia), and effectively abandoned her. Starting a poor and hard life among unfamiliar people in the village, Zinovya had to learn the Chuvash language spoken by her local peers. Her life was very lonely; lacking love and support, she immersed herself in books, two of which were to become her life-long, constant advisers and most reliable friends. The first of these was In the World of Wise Thoughts, a collection of the aphorisms and sayings of famous people from ancient times to the twentieth century. The second was The Book of Young Commander, which depicted the tales of great leaders in times of war, such as Alexander Suvorov and Carl von Clausewitz. These books gave Zinovya advice, showing her how to act and how to approach life and win, no matter what. In 1970, after graduating from secondary school in the Chuvash Republic, she returned to her beloved Moldova but was soon to move again — in 1971 to Odessa, Ukraine, and in 1972 to the Far East: first to the port of Nakhodka, and then to Vladivostok in Russia.
The most essential factor in the development of Zinovya Dushkova’s personality was her enormous interest in the history of religions and philosophies, which turned her to the wisdom of great thinkers. In 1986, she joined the History Faculty of Far Eastern State University in Vladivostok. For a long time, Dushkova deeply studied Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam. Along with world religions, she became interested in other philosophical teachings as well — namely, the works of Helena Blavatsky and Helena Roerich. After spending several years immersed in study and personal reflection, she became convinced that the basis of any religion is universal: Love, and only Love. Each doctrine preaches non-violence and kindness, encouraging its members to seek truth and harmony. She realized that every religion is divine, leading to the One Truth.
In 1992, after defending with distinction the thesis National Features of the Psychology of the Japanese, Zinovya Dushkova received her diploma as a historian and a teacher of history and social science. In 1992–1993 she lectured at a law school in Vladivostok. However, she was constantly asking herself the eternal question: “What was I created for, and what is my path in life?”
Finding a resolution to this dilemma took a long time. It was a difficult and painful period; Dushkova almost physically felt the human grief around her. Understanding that human disunity and loneliness require assistance, she sincerely wanted to help. She devoted herself to contemplation and attempted to help others in order to make her dreams of happy humanity a reality. At first she considered becoming a doctor, but quickly realized that this was not her path in life. The sight of blood scared her, and the thought of her patients’ physical discomfort horrified her. At some point, Dushkova realized that she needed to express herself as a writer. Not knowing yet exactly what to write, or how to start — until that moment she had hardly written any letters — she placed a pen and paper by her side and waited for inspiration.
One day, a sentence was suddenly born: “A Teacher was talking with the Fire for a long time, and the Fire told him the parable of a Celestial Warrior.” This sentence moved Dushkova and she recorded it. Soon, she had pulled in other phrases too, and thus was born the story of the White Warrior, tormented and killed by people, whose soul went to Heaven as he watched from above with only one thought: “To come and triumph by Love.” This was the thought that shaped the future life of Zinovya Dushkova and also shaped the composition of her first literary work, The Awakening of the Source.
According to the ancient teachings of the Orient, “When the disciple is ready, the Teacher will appear,” and thus, in the year 1992, the Master came to Zinovya Dushkova, letting her know that she was destined to continue the mission of Helena Blavatsky and Helena Roerich. Three years of intensive training, probation, and preparation followed before her first trip to India. Following the ancient wisdom expressed as “Know thyself, and thou shalt know the whole world,” Dushkova continued searching for the truth, comprehending her inner world and writing The Facets of Light, a volume which invited readers to share and enjoy the process of self-improvement. Furthermore, her experience of teaching at the school equipped her to write the Lessons of Love, Compassion, Knowledge, Wisdom, etc., included in the book 77 Pearls Shining on the Beads of Time. Nowadays, this work is used by teachers in schools across Russia in after-school reading lessons. During the same period, in 1994–1998, Dushkova worked as an inspector in the social protection department of the Association of Law Enforcement Officers.
In 1995, in response to the Call of her heart, Zinovya Dushkova embarked upon her first trip to India — the cradle of Love and Wisdom, and the home-place of ancient teachings and great saints. She set off immediately to the town of Darjeeling. There, at the foot of the sacred Himalayas, in the Buddhist Ghoom Monastery — where Madame Blavatsky in 1882 and Helena Roerich in 1923 met with the Master M. — the path of Zinovya Dushkova began.
The mysterious paths — leading into the heart of the Himalayas and the Blue Mountains, in the vicinity of Mounts Kanchenjunga, Kailash, Everest, and so on — brought Dushkova to the secret Abodes of Light, from where the Call had sounded. Much like a hermit monk, she started poring over the sacred manuscripts that had been preserved in the most hidden corners of Sikkim, Ladakh, and other unexplored places of India. Thus, she gained admittance to the secret Book of Dzyan, the stanzas of which were first revealed by Helena Blavatsky, forming the basis of The Secret Doctrine. A new excerpt from this mysterious manuscript was later published in Dushkova’s The Book of Secret Wisdom.
She went to the estate of Helena Roerich in the Valley of Kullu, where in her study room she began recording the book Brotherhood: The Empyreal Abode, which served as a connecting link between Roerich’s Agni Yoga (also known as the Teaching of Living Ethics) and Dushkova’s future series of The Teaching of the Heart. During the next three years, until the end of 1998, during trips to Egypt, Israel, Japan, and mainly across Russia, Zinovya Dushkova recorded thirteen books of The Teaching of the Heart. This series is her major work, which has called forth a wave of social movement in Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan, centred on the development of culture, science, and education, all of which contribute to the progress and prosperity of society. The Teaching of the Heart has offered assistance to people walking through life by the path of the heart.
In 1999 Dushkova moved to Moscow, where she continued to work on publishing and writing her new books: The Star of Shulamith, The Sacred Katriosophia, A Treatise on Cosmic Love, The Fiery Bible, The Secret Doctrine of Love, and others. Travelling to different countries, visiting sacred and remote places of our planet, and braving the most dangerous paths through mountains and deserts have become the integral parts of her life. However, to follow in the footsteps of the Great Teachers of Humanity and to visit the ancient sanctuaries of the Earth is not a mere curiosity. To embrace the unembraceable, having gathered treasures of human thought and creativity, was needed only to tell people once again: “Love!” Only the human heart burning with the love for the world is capable of transforming life, making it happier, purer, and lighter.
Alongside her rich, creative life, between 2000 and 2003, Zinovya Dushkova worked as a research officer at the Moscow office of the company Torshnteh — a laboratory for studying torsion fields at the International Institute for Theoretical and Applied Physics of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences under the direction of Anatoly Akimov.
From 2003 to 2005 she was editor-in-chief of Star of the East, an interregional organization supporting science, culture, and art. Dushkova continued to participate actively in international programmes aimed at improving cultural relations. She also appeared on live radio shows on The Voice of Russia, which broadcasted in India and Mongolia, eliciting a broad response from listeners.
In 2003 a photographic exhibition, “Geography of Travels,” was held in Moscow, showcasing the many places visited by Zinovya Dushkova. The display brought together precious aspects of human culture from different epochs and peoples. Dedicated to China, Egypt, France, India, Italy, Japan, Mongolia, and Tibet, it told stories of the most revered places, which are regarded as the sacred energy centres of the planet, being enveloped with numerous legends and mysteries. Later, the exhibition was shown in other cities in Russia, as well as in Ukraine, France, and India.
In the same period, Zinovya Dushkova published several books for children. Among these was Fairy Tales for the Saviour, which was awarded prizes and commendations for its contribution to spiritual education. These philosophical tales, already published in five languages, proved especially helpful for problem children and their teachers in orphanages and juvenile detention centres across Russia and Ukraine. Healthy development of the personality is enhanced by the kindness and love contained in these stories.
Between 2003 and 2006, three of Dushkova’s books were published in France: La Bible de Feu, L’Évangile de Sophie la Force et la Sagesse de Dieu, and Le Beau Soleil et autres contes. This connection allowed the author frequent trips to France in order to participate in book fairs and encounters with readers. The education department of Beauvais arranged a number of meetings for the author with pupils of all ages, as well as educators, teachers, and psychologists, all of whom noted the positive changes in children who studied fairy tales. Presentations of the author’s books took place in Paris and other cities in France.
In 2007, Zinovya Dushkova established her own publishing house in Moscow — Dushkova Publishing, LLC — with the aim of publishing books that conveyed the ideas of Goodness, Light, and Love as the principal force and laws that fuel the Universe.
Within the next years, Dushkova focused on scientific activity. In 2008 she was accepted as a candidate for a Doctor of Philosophy degree at the philosophy department of the Bauman Moscow State Technical University. In 2009, having defended the thesis The Role of Personality in History: A Historiosophical Analysis, she received her Ph.D. in Philosophy. Since 2008, as a fellow of the European Academy of Natural Sciences and the European Scientific Society (both based in Hanover, Germany), Dr. Dushkova has conducted research in the ecology of consciousness, presenting conference papers in Germany, Russia, and Ukraine.
In 2012, Volume I of a three-volume work entitled Dialogues was published. It was written very far and high in the mountains during 2004–2005; it was not permitted to be published until the right time came, seven years after it was written. This book, for the first time in the history of humanity and the planet, tells of the mysterious White Island, known as Shambhala, its organization and inner life, and the secret laboratories and research conducted there, as well as of the Great Lord of Shambhala. Volume II, written and published in 2012, talks about subterranean layers that are the natural habitat of reptilian creatures — the Inner Kingdom below the crust of the Earth, which was mentioned in The Mahatma Letters. And currently Dr. Zinovya Dushkova is working on Volume III, which is to be published in the year 2017 in Russian.