Mind - Spirit April 2007
The Ringing Cedars: Hope for the World
by Leonid Sharashkin
Ten years ago my mother gave me a book. She urged me to read it, promising it would change my life. I glanced at the cover featuring an attractive blonde and a simple title—Anastasia—a popular girl's name in Russia. My mother could not clearly explain what it was about; she only said it was a required read in her yoga class. The book couldn't be found in bookstores and was only available from one warehouse in Moscow. She spent two hours there in a line of people who came for this particular book. Many were buying entire boxes to give Anastasia to relatives and friends, and the print shop ran round-the-clock to try to keep up with the demand. Weird, I thought, but don't tell me I'm supposed to read a novel for women. Not wanting to argue, I thanked my mother, took the book, put it on the shelf and forgot about it.
I got married, moved to the US and did not see my parents for years. In 2000 my wife went to Moscow for a visit and came back beaming with delight. My mother had gifted her a book. She read it and it shattered her inner world. She wanted me to read it too, and took out of her suitcase the same book my mom had given me back then! By now there were two more volumes by the same author, and I "absolutely had" to read them. I sighed and reluctantly started reading.
Two days later I finished the third volume and sat on the balcony gazing at the clouds, recovering from shock. Anastasia, by Vladimir Megre, along with his Ringing Cedars Series, turned out to be the most powerful material I ever laid my hands on. And I am not alone in thinking so. With no advertisement other than word of mouth, these books have sold over 10 million copies in Russia and have been translated into 20 languages, making Megre one of Russia's most widely read authors. Inspired by the messages, thousands of people are now planting trees, changing their lifestyle and, in search for a spiritual reconnection with the earth, are relocating to eco-villages sprouting all over Russia and beyond.
Like thousands of people who read Anastasia, I quit my job. I went back to my home country, changed my lifestyle and moved from the city to a budding eco-village to build my own home and plant my own potatoes. I changed my career and became a forester and a woodcarver.
In 2004, after meeting the author, I borrowed $20,000 to commission a top-rate English translation of Anastasia. Although advertising was out of the question, before the first small print-run was made I sold over one thousand copies on preorders from my Web site. Now that the first five books of the Ringing Cedars Series are available in English, they are provoking the same wonderful response their Russian originals did.
These mind-stirring books read like a fascinating novel, yet present spiritual insights of incredible depth, simplicity and practicality. They address issues in which all of our ways of living and thinking are involved. Spanning dozens of subjects from child-rearing to gardening, adventure to the meaning of life, sexuality to religion, they reassert the limitless creative potential in each of us, and present an incredibly beautiful and equally practicable vision of humanity's spiritual connection to nature that helps us understand ourselves and heal our Earth.
In one of his readings Edgar Cayce discerned a dawning spiritual revolution that would come from Russia and become a "hope for the world". Having witnessed the changes in people who read the Ringing Cedars Series, I believe their powerful message of love, light and awareness, and their power to transform the world might just be such a global spiritual revolution.
Leonid Sharashkin is writing his doctoral dissertation on Russia's permaculture movement, and is editor of the Ringing Cedars Series. He travels internationally, speaking about spiritual permaculture. After receiving a Master's degree in Natural Resources Management, he spent two years as Program Manager at the World Wildlife Fund in Moscow. Anastastia and The Ringing Cedars Series are available from www.ringingcedars.com. Leonid Sharashkin will speak at the Earth Transformation Conference, May 11-13 (Big Island, Hawaii). Phone 808/323-3400 or visit www.earthtransformation.com for information.