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Shambala is an alluring word that is covered with myths, legends and obscure ideas. It’s a mysterious place where the teachers of humanity dwell and where it’s extremely difficult to get. Some spiritual seekers dedicated their whole lives to searching it, whereas in the today’s age of active transmission and spread of information (judging by internet publications) we have failed to find even a slight intelligible evidence of it. The respected search engine Google offers only bracelets, necklaces or amusements with such name, leading away to material stuff and clearing up no essence at all. Evaluating the level of consumer priorities of the contemporary world community, one comes to conclusion that people take the Shambala myth sceptically, as a fairy tale or legend. Yet, why? As a matter of fact, people who dedicated effort, years and even lives to the search of Shambala were not stupid or worst in their times, quite the contrary. An impression arises that a certain influential earthly force has put an impenetrable information wall in this field as well. In order to bring down the wall at least a little bit and clarify the situation with the “myth”, in this article we shall try to collect and refresh information about the mysterious abode of Bodhisattvas. Hopefully, the information will be useful for many people.
So, what is Shambala, and where is this mystical place situated? Let’s start from the fact that our heated interest in the issue emerged from viewing of the three sensational interviews A Frank Dialogue about the Most Important, The Meaning of Life: Immorality and Unity with Igor Danilov who, we assume, is exactly Rigden Djappo, the Shambala Sovereign. We agree for human consciousness it’s quite difficult to believe it; however the active several-month-long collection of supporting evidence, since the launch of our online project, further more convinces us of such an incredible and bold guess. In September 2015 the world was truly shaken by an extraordinary event the value of which time would eventually appraise: for the first time Bodhisattva of Shambala publicly talked to people about the most important – the meaning of human life, and everyone who desired could touch the priceless wisdom.
Based on pure logic, we first addressed books by Anastasia Novykh, since we assume Rigden Djappo is the prototype of the books main character Sensei. In particular, we refer to the intellectual bestseller – the Sensei of Shambala series. It has turned out these books (the contents of which are available in the Primordial Knowledge section, or which may be freely downloaded from here) contain the most extensive and, we believe, trustworthy information about Shambala. Maybe, it’s because in the books Shambala is mentioned and talked about by the person to whose name the word Shambala is actually attached? Well, after all we leave our readers with the right to decide where there is the truth and where there are mere fantasies.
***
“Shambala? Well, it is kind of an abode located high in the mountains. But it is famous for its group of scientists who live there and have long surpassed the present-day mankind by their spiritual, scientific and technical level.”
“Now I recall,” Nikolai Andreevich said. “I’ve read that, according to a legend, Shambala is an abode of Sages. But what has science to do with that? Do these Sages study something in particular: astronomy or mathematics, or just philosophy?”
“In Shambala they study the most ancient primordial science of Belyao Dzy, meaning the White Lotus science, which includes everything and exact sciences as well. Moreover, this very science is the only source of all sciences, whenever studied by the mankind.”
Nikolai Andreevich distrustfully looked at Sensei.
“What does it mean – “the most ancient” and “the only”? The majority of exact sciences appeared quite recently, well, maybe two or three hundred years ago!”
“You are wrong. All this knowledge was given to people time and again for the development of their civilization, in the ancient times as well. Long time before the history we know there were other human civilizations that achieved a development level much higher than ours now. Some of them were obliterated, some reached the Absolute. However, remnants of their existence are still being found today. Read about strange archaeological findings and relevant researches, and you’ll become certain of that. At that, in the future people will find even more interesting proofs of what happened a long time ago on the globe. A lot is written in ancient literature about the existence of this knowledge. For example, ancient nuclear explosions the results of which scientists now find in the most ancient strata, precise maps of the stellar sky, marked planets which are yet undiscovered, the “vimana” aircrafts, and so forth. That is, such knowledge was given to people before, and it all originated from a single source: the science of Shambala.
“How far is this science ahead of contemporary mankind?” Nikolai Andreevich asked arrogantly, folding his arms on his chest.
“Considerably far ahead,” Sensei replied simply. “Much far than you can imagine. Yet, for you to have a slight notion of that, I will give an example. At the time when people still piously believed that the Earth stood on three whales and the Sun turned around it, the scientists of Shambala already performed science experiments and various tests on the Sun. Contemporary civilization is still very far from that, and it’s not clear whether it will ever reach such a level… Why do you think people at the peak of their power so actively searched for Shambala? For instance, in the period of history of mankind which you know there were such celebrities as Alexander the Great, Napoleon, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, etc. Because according to all ancient legends and myths of different peoples, the entire knowledge of the Universe and cultural heritage of extinct civilizations are concealed in Shambala.”
“I wonder why was it searched for by tyrants only?”
“Not tyrants, but rather people who strove for absolute power over the world. All people in power possess true information, and so they knew and know about the existence of this abode, about the existence of the powerful knowledge concealed in it. They perfectly understand that the real power over the world is concentrated in Shambala, that’s why many people searched and are still searching for it… However, Shambala itself never gave anyone a possibility to conquer the entire world. In a way it has always balanced certain forces. And if a person standing at the peak of enormous power zealously tried to implement one’s dream of domination over the world, he or she simply ceased to exist… Many people in power in the course their activity contacted with representatives of Shambala and fulfilled their “requests”. Everybody endeavoured to help, because it’s simply impossible to give up the temptation to know more than the mankind knows... Moreover, besides public leaders, many ordinary people were in search of the knowledge of Shambala.”
“Does it mean nobody has ever found it?” Kostya asked.
“Not exactly. The paradox is that Shambala has never hidden its existence. It doesn’t interfere actively into people’s affairs unless it concerns something globally important for the whole mankind or for Shambala in particular. But if it’s necessary, its scientific community decides for itself whom it is reasonable to contact with.
“Well, we can assume that. But if this abode of Sages doesn’t hide its existence, why couldn’t people who were at the peak of power find it? After all, they had everything at their disposal: equipment, finance, and human resources!” Nikolai Andreevich was puzzled.
“Yes, you’ve listed everything except their hard hearts and greedy thoughts. While the indispensable condition to contact Shambala for people in search of it is their high morality and purity of intentions. Only possessing such qualities, first and foremost, a person may get access to the knowledge of his or her interest.”
***
“They even have sects which such names as Shambala and Belovodye. It’s totally ridiculous! What do they think? Do they hope to fool illiterate crowd, naïve people who don’t have any slightest notion of what Shambala is? Shambala will never establish any sects or religions among people, not to mention collecting donations, arranging lectures or seminars! All that is just activities of people with shady purposes and goals…”
“As far as Shambala is concerned, the paradox is that all world religions use same spiritual grains of knowledge, whereas Shambala is a primary source of it. However, Shambala itself never interferes in human affairs, leaving people with the right of choice. If it ever influences global processes, such influence is indirect, and nothing more… It’s neither a health resort, nor an exhibition hall or a museum. The one who is looking for Shambala has to look inside oneself, address oneself.
For people Shambala means, first of all, pure knowledge which comes from another side of consciousness and opens up to any person who works on oneself, on the purity of one’s thoughts and keeps predominance of agathodemon and Love for God… So, don’t look for it in the external world to be handed on a silver platter with a sham smile by those who use the name of Shambala for their greedy purposes as their another “religion”, only because they are simply “too hungry”. You just need to look inside yourself and identify who you are in fact and why you have come to this world… Shambala has tried to give pure knowledge to people so many times! And what did people do with the knowledge because of their exaggerated egoism and enormous megalomania?” Sensei made a pause and then added more calmly, “Knowledge is not a problem… The problem is with a human being oneself, with the level of one’s spirituality… Shambala can show the way, of course, but it will never push anybody to take it. People choose what they want, they go where they like. And they will get what they have chosen.”
***
“In the East, since ancient times people believed that Shambala’s the main centre of opposition to the Evil and dark forces on Earth, being the primary source of knowledge and tremendous spiritual power. But I would like to notice that, although Shambala possesses all such features, in general it is neutral relative to the human society, giving people pure knowledge and full right to make their own choice between the forces of Good and Evil. Therefore, as a rule, it’s people following the spiritual path who spread the spiritual knowledge of Shambala in the human society and oppose the Evil.
Of course, from time to time human society is attended by Bodhisattvas of Shambala who mostly deal with restoration of the lost spiritual knowledge and true history of development of human civilizations, which has either been lost by people in time, or hidden from the majority of people, or modified by other people for their greedy and power-seeking purposes. Bodhisattvas also give additional information about the world, depending on the level of scientific achievements of civilization. That is, they take a neutral position relative to the human society and as far as possible give pure information to people, without a touch of fantasy, dirt of ages or various human ambitions. Whether to accept such information or not is a personal choice of every human in the society who has become lucky to possess the knowledge of Shambala which is dreamt of by the powers that be of this world. Correspondingly, it’s up to a given person or humanity as a whole whether they will resist the Evil while possessing such information and conduct real Good deeds in this world, or just please their own vanity with this knowledge.”
***
“Seven Bodhisattvas rule Shambala itself. The eighth one is God who rules everything, including Bodhisattvas. The fact that these seven are often mentioned is due to their relevant activities. When a human being evolves spiritually (either within one life or more often through recurrent incarnations) he or she eventually gets, as Buddhists say, on the last step to becoming Buddha. Figuratively speaking, he or she graduates from the earthly life university and tries to defend his or her “diploma” in order to have the right to get to a higher level. At that, the seven Bodhisattvas represent the “certifying commission”.”
“What about Rigden?”
“Rigden is simply the commission chairman, and that’s it. If a person is indeed worthy, they let him or her from this dimension to higher spheres, to hierarchical ranks of “demigods”. If the person is not worthy, they leave him or her for another incarnation.”
“Hierarchical ranks of “demigods”? Sounds like Jacob's ladder in the Bible,” Father John noted.
“Exactly. So, as a matter of fact, a person as a mature spiritual being, like it or not, can enter a higher world only through one “Gate”, through one dimension – Shambala, or whatever people may call it, which is a sort of a crossroads of worlds on the other side.”
“What about the factor of time?” Scorpion wondered.
“Time is subjective and, in principle, material. For Shambala there is neither yesterday nor tomorrow. They always have today. Thus, at any time they can be where they want, whether it’s the past or the future… So, “the Gate to paradise” as religions call it is basically the same and immutable for everyone.”
***
“The One who’s located on the other side. Every person perceives Him differently: someone take Him for the Absolute, someone for the Collective Mind, or Shambala, or God…”
“I wonder whether Shambala and God are same things?” Ruslan asked, thinking about something of his own.
“No. God is God, while Shambala is only one of His creations.”
“Yet, what is Shambala in relation to mankind?” Nikolai Andreevich asked.
“It is simply a source of knowledge. Speaking in modern language, it’s a certain “data bank” the entrance to which exists in the depth of every person’s subconscious.”
“Does this mean one can get into Shambala without leaving one’s room?” Stas was surprised by his guess.
“Absolutely correct…”
***
“Is Shambala also located over the verge, in the timeless space?” Stas asked.
“Yes. That is why there’s neither the past nor the future there in our understanding.”
***
“By the way, does Shambala participate in solving of this problem for the human society?” Father John asked tactfully.
“Shambala?” Sensei got surprised. “What does Shambala have to do with it if the problem totally depends on a personal choice of each human and the humankind as a whole? At that, the right of choice is granted to people by God Himself. Kanduk and his (her) circle can enter a human only when he (she) voluntarily opens a ‘door’ for them, i.e. allows them to come to his (her) mind through domination of negative thoughts therein. Who can prevent people from living inside themselves with domination of agathodemon, Love for God and for all living beings? First and foremost, you are the master of your thoughts, and you are to decide what will prevail in you. By one’s own egocentrism and predominance of animal nature thoughts in one’s mind a human begets such intermediate parasites and suffers because of that oneself.
But for Shambala such parasitizing creatures are of no interest. Kanduks don’t break the energy balance; human souls remain intact and just go to another incarnation. Therefore for Shambala these evil creatures are as uninteresting as a flea on a neighbour’s dog for a busy city resident,” Sensei said and looked at Father John with a smile. “Bodhisattvas can only inform people about such ‘untidiness’, but nobody will solve this problem for people. If they want they can cope with it themselves. If not, they will continue to live with those evil creatures further. Let me repeat it once again: every person’s life is based on his (her) own choice, and everyone must solve their problems by themselves…”
***
“There is plenty of such interweaving of legends about the WorldMountain with legends about Shambala. And it’s totally understandable. For people who don’t know much about neither Shambala nor the cosmic MountMeru, located ‘somewhere there’ nobody knows where, all these concepts would surely merge into one and the same legend. Though in fact there is a big difference between them. Shambala is located between the real eternal world of God and the temporarily existing material Universe. It’s an abode of Bodhisattvas...
***
“...Indeed, Shambala concentrates very serious knowledge; it’s a keeper of the Grail between the times of the global choice. Archons know very well that it’s the only force against which they are absolutely powerless, that is why they do everything possible to slander Shambala in people’s opinion. And although Shambala is neutral towards the human society, since the society development is up to people’s own choice, in some rare exceptional cases it renders spiritual help to people, though such help is rather indirect. Shambala brings truth and knowledge to the world of people. But the choice is left with people. It’s like the light. If people want to see the light, they not only perceive its purity, but transmit it to other people. And with each new flash of light there becomes less darkness in the world. If a human sees the light but quenches it, the darkness extends its area. Everyone who has taken in the light becomes its bearer. And only one’s personal choice determines how much light will be there around him or her and in general in the whole world.”
***
“There are plenty of things we can learn from the ancients, not to mention Altaians. Altai and Mongolia are the closest to Shambala by their location...”
***
“...Shambala preserves plenty of diverse examples of establishment of such an ideal society, where the spiritual nature manifested in progressive knowledge became a prevailing factor of progress, whereas the animal nature power with its destructive stimuli was brought to nought.”
***
“On the threshold of Shambala there is a specially trained person who carries out decisions taken by the council of Bodhisattvas. If you remember once I told you Shambala would never allow anyone to capture the entire world or use spiritual knowledge to harm the mankind. Thus, such Master implements relevant decisions without even leaving his cell. For this purpose it is enough for him to be in a special state of consciousness and to wave the “Petal of Lotus”, that is a special ritual sword somewhat similar to a short Turkish sabre. By the way, the name of the Art of the Punishing Sword of Shambala appeared exactly because of that sword.
Evidences of the Master’s activity may occasionally be found in modern world. Mysterious cases of some deaths still remain a secret not only for pathologists. For instance, in the process of autopsy it is discovered that one’s heart is cut precisely into halves as if a sharp object was used for doing it, but the skin and nearby organs are not injured. Or there were "inexplicable" cases when in the presence of numerous guards a body was cut into pieces as though from a sword, while clothes were intact. Hence, it doesn't matter how thoroughly a guilty person is protected with the help of newest advanced technologies or a whole army – he can't evade the punishment anyway. This is the original cause of all tyrants’ fear before Shambala. Therefore all of them have always searched and continue searching for contact with it because they know, no matter how powerful and authoritative they are, they are powerless before Shambala.”
***
The information space contains too few definitions of what the Shambala stamp means and how it is supposed to look. Moreover, we’ve noticed distortions in people’s understanding: many sceptics associate “the sun containing a triangle with an eye inside” sign with Masonic occult symbols. In our opinion, the Sensei of Shambala (Book IV) can fully satisfy the interest of a person who seeks answers to the questions where lies and substitutions originate from and who has been behind distortions of and juggling with genuine historical facts over entire millennia.
Nonetheless, we do have certain discoveries: there is a Shambala stamp image gallery on the Observer Blog. As we can see, this sign used to be rather widespread, being depicted on facades of cult buildings, iconostases, coins, medals, gravestones, etc. At that, let’s again address the books by A. Novykh, where there are some mentions of the sign:
***
“The sun containing a triangle with an eye inside? ... It’s the Shambala stamp.”
“The Shambala stamp?” Eugene and Volodya asked almost in chorus.
“With Slavs?” Max uttered perplexedly.
“Why are you so surprised?” Sensei shrugged his shoulders. “The Slavs are a nation distinguished long before their emergence and formation. In Slavs, a tremendous spiritual potential is concealed, capable of changing the whole world. Therefore, they are marked, say, with a Shambala sign from their very birth. By the way, this sign may be found in nearly every church. Some Russian tsars were crowned under this sign.”
“Impossible!” Max exclaimed in astonishment.
“Go ahead and refer to the official history. Even the last Russian tsar Nikolas II was crowned under the Shambala stamp. And it was considered the greatest Honour...
***
“Look! There is the Shambala stamp in the iconostasis centre,” he pointed to the triangle with an eye inside it, surrounded with sunbeams. “Why is it here?”
“It’s a special place,” Sensei responded as quietly. “Furthermore, in these caves the relics of Bodhisattva Agapit are kept...” (the relics of Saint Agapit are kept in the Church of Presentation of the Most Holy Mother of God in the Temple in Kiev Pechersk Lavra; see photo below)
***
“...Russia will be reborn, and there will be Slavs’ unification which will later be named the great. For it is said: “when the sun rises above Russia’s head for the second time, the Slavonic spirit will gain power and start radiating in its purity and unity among nations”. And I think soon you’ll be personally watching how… Someone who has gained power will ascend the Russian throne. And the whole world will see him making his oath to the Slavic nation under the Shambala stamp.” (Birds and a Stone)
(On the internet we have discovered the following image. To all appearances, the above words were said long before the first inauguration of the Russian President.)
Wikipedia tells about the abode of Bodhisattvas quite superficially. Nothing actually gets clearer from such mention, on the contrary it leads astray: 
“In Tibetan Buddhist and Hindu traditions Shambhala (also spelled Shambala or Shambhallah) is a mythical kingdom. It is mentioned in various ancient texts, including Kalacakra Tantra and the ancient Zhangzhung texts of western Tibet. The Bon scriptures speak of a closely related land called Tagzig Olmo Lung Ring. Hindu texts such as Vishnu Purana mention the village Shambhala as the birthplace of Kalki, the final incarnation of Vishnu who will usher in a new Golden Age (Satya Yuga). Whatever its historical basis is, Shambhala gradually came to be seen as a Buddhist pure land, a fabulous kingdom whose reality is visionary or spiritual as much as physical or geographic. It was in this form that the Shambhala myth reached Western Europe and the Americas, where it influenced non-Buddhist as well as Buddhist spiritual seekers – and, to some extent, popular culture in general.”
Theosophy: The Theosophical Society co-founder Helena Blavatsky who claimed to be in contact with a Great White Lodge of Himalayan Adepts, mentioned Shambala in several places, but without giving it especially great emphasis. Later esoteric writers further emphasized and elaborated on the concept of a hidden land inhabited by a hidden mystic brotherhood whose members labour for the good of humanity. Alice A. Bailey claims Shamballa (her spelling) is an extra-dimensional or spiritual reality on the ether plane, a spiritual centre where the governing deity of Earth dwells as the highest Avatar of the Planetary Logos of Earth, and is said to be an expression of the Will of God.
Mahabharata
Shambhala is a mythical village (settlement), the only mention of which is contained in Book 3 Aranya Parva of the Mahabharata, in Section 188 Conversations of 
Markandeya:
“And commissioned by Time, a Brahmana of the name of Kalki will take his birth. And he will glorify Vishnu and possess great energy, great intelligence, and great prowess. And he will take his birth in a town of the name of Sambhala in an auspicious Brahmana family. And vehicles and weapons, and warriors and arms, and coats of mail will be at his disposal as soon as he will think of them. And he will be the king of kings, and ever victorious with the strength of virtue. And he will restore order and peace in this world crowded with creatures and contradictory in its course. And that blazing Brahmana of mighty intellect, having appeared, will destroy all things. And he will be the Destroyer of all, and will inaugurate a new Yuga. And surrounded by the Brahmanas, that Brahmana will exterminate all the mlecchas wherever those low and despicable.”
Later on some schools of Buddhism adopted, supplemented and adjusted the prophetic narration of sage Markandeya to Buddhist philosophy. Sambhala turned into Shambhala – no more an ordinary settlement, but a miraculous land ruled by King Suchandra. Shambhala location was moved from Vedic Brahmana India to Tibet, i.e. the region where there were no varna-caste system unrecognized by Buddhism. According to original texts, Sambhala (Shambhala) is situated in the region where ancient Vedic traditions are observed and the pious society is headed by priests Brahmans. Hence, it may be assumed the settlement is located in the Vedic Seven-River area that is historically and traditionally connected with Brahmanism emergence and spread.
Now, let’s refer to two definitions of Shambala on Academic Dictionaries and Encyclopaedias website:
SHAMBALA: in Buddhism and a number of mystical teachings it’s a legendary land situated to the north of Tarim river (Amu Darya, Syr Darya) or in the great mountain ranges of Asia. It was first mentioned in 10th century AD texts. Shambala kings who ruled and rule there according to Shakyamuni’s teaching (legend says there are 32 such kings) are summoned to protect Shambala until the great battle of its forces against the hordes of evil. As a result of such confrontation a new age should emerge – the age of Buddha Maitreya. In theosophy Shambala is an abode of the Great Teachers of humanity. In the 20th century numerous attempts were made (e.g. by Roerich family) to find Shambala in the Himalayas, Pamirs and adjacent places. In some meditation schools the state of visiting Shambala or residing in it is identical to a special state of consciousness that may be achieved through certain meditation techniques.
SHAMBALA is a metaphysical centre of the world and the abode of the world king. Shambala remains an enigmatic land the inhabitants of which know the laws of the nature and humanity management for which reason they are respectfully called the Teachers. According to legends, Shambala is situated in Tibet regions difficult of access. Nonetheless, the entrance to Shambala may be found from anywhere owing to the Teachers. It remains the object searched for by everyone who’s susceptible to the passion of exploring the unknown and discovering the laws of nature – starting from plain adventurers up to talented scientists and representatives of secret services of world nations. Among the most famous Shambala searches were Nicholas Roerich’s expeditions across Asia, when scientific research interweaved with activities of Soviet intelligence agents and British colonial governments that endeavoured to retain control not so much over the mysterious lands, but rather over the territories owned by Great Britain. Thus, Shambala also turned into a symbol of fight for the global supremacy.
Source: Shambala News. Voronezh, 1998; N. Roerich. About the Eternal… M., 1991; Encyclopaedia of Symbols, Signs and Emblems. M., 1999; N. Gobolubov
Secret Societies of the 20th Century. St. Petersburg, 1997.
In V. Demin’s article entitled SHAMBALA: the Northern Source of Universal Wisdom, published in the weekly edition Literary Russia in 1999 (No. 33), there’s a following interesting description:
“All Initiates in all ages without exception emphasized: Shambala is not a material but solely spiritual reality that accumulates the entire millennia-old wisdom of humanity, and not just humanity. In this sense Shambala may indeed represent a certain information and energy structure associated with the human society history and prehistory, yet existing independently of the human society. In principle, every human being can awake and develop abilities in oneself which make it possible to detect calls of the World Shambala – the information and energy “sea” spread far and wide. Hence, Shambala may well be interpreted as one of sacral centres of concentration of the Universal Knowledge evenly distributed in various geographic points of the planet that are geologically adapted to reception of information coming from the Earth’s biosphere, as well as from the near and remote outer Space.
This is exactly the spiritual Shambala which cannot be seen with physical eyes or touched with physical hands. At that, at any time it can nourish or satiate everyone who deserves this owing to his or her pious life, righteous thoughts and good deeds with millennia-old wisdom of humanity (and not just humanity).”
In the text Shambhala the Shining (part of the Heart of Asia by N. Roerich) we read the following:
“In the Temple of Gum monastery, not far from the Nepalese frontier, instead of the usual central figure of Buddha, you see a huge image of the Buddha Maitreya, the coming Saviour and Ruler of Humanity. The Lord Maitreya is seated on his throne; his legs are no longer crossed as usual, but are already set on the ground. This is a sign that the time of His Coming is near and that the Ruler is already preparing to descend from his throne. This monastery was built about twenty years ago by a learned Mongolian lama, who came from distant Mongolia to Tibet. Crossing the Himalayas and Sikkim, where the Red Sect of Padma Sambhava is the official religion, he came to erect this new monastery and to proclaim the approaching advent of the Lord Maitreya. In 1924, a learned lama, a faithful disciple of the founder of the monastery, who had shared with him the profound Teaching and many prophecies for the future, told us before the impressive image:
“Verily, the time of the great advent is nearing. According to our prophecies, the era of Shambhala has already begun. Rigden Jyepo, the Ruler of Shambhala, is already preparing his unconquerable army for the last fight. All his assistants and officers are already incarnating.”
Shortly after, the lama-artist, Lariva, was seated on a rug in the white gallery of our home, outlining the complicated composition on the white surface of the specially prepared fabric. In the middle was the Mighty Ruler of Shambhala in the glory of His majestic abode. Below wages a terrific battle, in which the enemies of the righteous Ruler are destroyed. In dedication, the banner is adorned by the following inscription: “To the Illustrious Rigden, King of Northern Shambhala.”
In 1924, Alexandra David-Neel, who had been in Tibet, wrote several articles about the traditions of Gessar Khan, whose legendary personality stands besides Rigden Jyepo, Ruler of Shambhala, and has many links with him. She brought back the ancient prophecies about Gessar Khan, of how he gathers his faithful warriors and goes to purge Lhasa of its nefarious elements.
The many misconceptions about the geographical location of Shambhala have natural reasons. In all books on Shambhala, as well as in all the narrated legends about it, its location is described in most symbolic language, almost undecipherable to the uninitiate.”
Jurga Ivanauskaitė’s reflections in her article A Journey to Shambala are quite interesting as well:
“I don’t know whether SHAMBALA is a blessed space here on the Earth, or in some parallel world, or somewhere on a remote star, in another galaxy, or inside ourselves... SHAMBALA. Perhaps, it’s just another name associated with the Great Void that our unhealthy mind plunged into the chaos of forms is incapable of grasping: maybe, it’s even neither a name, nor a word, nor a sound, but an expression of Silence which echoes the drone of Eternity, undetectable for our ears; the Silence that comes over at full moon like a silver wave, glides through the Himalayas, carries away and allures: to Shambala, to Shamlaba, to SHAMBALA...
For a certain while I’ve been scrupulously collecting everything that may be heard of Shambala, but its image turns further more intangible and obscurer as I accumulate the rare knowledge of it. I know that the names of Shambala and its capital city Kalapa were first mentioned in Indian ancient scriptures – Puranas and Mahabharata. In 1627 the West discovered the legend of the Earthly Paradise hidden in the Himalayas from two Jesuit missionaries, João Cabral and Estêvão Cacella, who endeavoured to spread Christ’s teaching in Bhutan. It’s difficult to say whether any Portuguese or Spanish expeditions were sent to look for Shambala, but about two centuries later, in 1820 the geographic atlas that appeared in Tibet moved this blissful land… to Europe. The author of Tibetan Global Geography asserted that the discoverer of America Christopher Columbus had been born in Genoa “located in the Kingdom of Shambala”. In comments he also added that Shambala’s other name was Castile, whereas its capital city Kalapa was Madrid.
Numerous secret Tibetan texts are dedicated to journeys to Shambala, and nearly all the texts state this kingdom should be looked for to the north of the Diamond Throne, i.e. Bodh Gaya where Buddha Shakyamuni achieved Enlightenment. Some authors even indicated approximate mileage to the capital of Shambala Kalapa. This was used by the teacher of Dalai Lama XIII Agwan Dorzhiyev whom many considered a Russian spy in Lhasa and who tried to prove that at a 3,000 mile distance to the northwest of Bodh Gaya there was Moscow or St. Petersburg, while the Romanov dynasty were true Kalkis – rulers of Shambala. In the early 20th century the Chinese stated quite the contrary that Russians and the English were the so-called “mlecchas” – barbarians, atheists and devil’s servants with whom the warriors of Shambala had been fighting from time immemorial.
Lev Gumilyov assumed that Shambala was Syria of the Seleucid dynasty times; Kőrösi Csoma Sándor recommended searching for it along the stream of Syr Darya River, while Roerichs believed the ShiningLand was in the Himalayas, though they were aware of the Belovodye legend widespread in Russia.
In western people’s consciousness Shambala’s often associated with Tibet, or at least there is certainty that Tibetans have secret and very close relations with it. Inhabitants of the “Land of Snows” indeed assert they have adopted from Shambala their calendar and astrology system, as well as the knowledge of medicine and some subtleties of religious music, art and architecture. For Tibetans Shambala is still much more than a mere mirage weaved of fantasy and longing for the Truth, as Utopia Island or the Sun City used to be for Europeans. It’s neither Paradise nor the Promised Land, but still today Tibetans pray for being reborn in Shambala after death. We won’t find Shambala on the world map where there are no more blank spots remaining, therefore you should hardly hope to reach it by means of a compass, proper accoutrements and a guide who knows the Himalayas like the back of his hand... Nonetheless, Shambala is not a fiction, but reality, for all lamas in Tibet can unanimously confirm that what we call “reality”, considering ourselves sensible people, is in fact the greatest fiction.
“Could there be a more accurate indication of where Shambala must be looked for?!” Samdhong Rinpoche asks, adding that for a person who has discovered this mystical land inside oneself external Shambala also becomes a real place of bliss that exists on the Earth here and now.”
Now let’s cite extracts from an extensive article by Dr. Alexander Berzin Mistaken Foreign Myths about Shambhala, published on the Study Buddhism website:
“Many foreign myths have grown around the legend of Shambhala found in the Kalachakra literature. Some were spread to win military or political support, such as the identification of Russia, Mongolia, or Japan as Shambhala. Others appeared within occult movements and mixed Buddhist ideas with concepts from other systems of belief. Several even spawned expeditions to find the fabled land.
Two camps arose among the occult versions. One side regarded Shambhala as a utopian paradise whose people will save the world. The British novelist, James Hilton, fits into this camp. His 1933 work, Lost Horizon, describes Shangrila as a spiritual paradise found in an inaccessible, hidden valley in Tibet. Shangrila is undoubtedly a romantic corruption of Shambhala. The other side depicted Shambhala as a land of malevolent power. Several postwar accounts of the connection between Nazism and the Occult present this interpretation. It is important not to confuse either of these distortions with Buddhism itself. Let us trace the phenomenon…”
In his article Shambala Land in Legend and History Lev Gumilyov writes the following:
“The legend of Shambala land located in Tibet does exist and became particularly widespread in the 15th century which was a very hard time for Tibet. Yet, Shambala is portrayed not as a country of violence, but as an abode of grace, and it is placed somewhere in the northwest just like Thomas More’s Utopia or Plato’s Atlantis. At that, in one of the legend versions there is a prophecy of Shambala’s future war against heretics, which is a sort of description of the apocalyptic end of the world and emergence of everlasting bliss, but again not of triumph of the darkness and violence. Just like any other legend, the Shambala concept has its real base...”
Helena Blavatsky (1831-1891) referred to Shambala in her theosophical works as well.
The first English translation of Vishnu Purana made by Horace Hayman Wallace appeared in 1864, i.e. three years before Blavatsky’s expected trip to Tibet, and so she described Shambala in the context of Hindu ideas represented in the said epic. Thus, Shambala turned into a village in which the future Messiah Kalki Avatar was to emerge. According to Blavatsky: “Kalki is Vishnu, the Messiah on a white horse in Brahmans’ tradition, Buddha Maitreya in Buddhism, Sosiosh in Parsee tradition (note: Parsees are followers of Mazdaiam who live in India or Pakistan), Jesus in Christianity.” She also mentioned that Shankaracharya who had founded Advaita Vedanta in the early 9th century “still lived among the Shambala Brotherhood, behind the Himalayas.”
In another extract she wrote that, when Lemuria had plunged into the deep water, a part of its inhabitants moved to Atlantis; and after Atlantis had got flooded all people who had survived migrated to the holy island of Shambala in the GobiDesert.
The fact that Blavatsky placed Shambala in the GobiDesert isn’t accidental, since Mongols, Buryats in Siberia and Kalmyks in the lower Volga region were devoted adherents of Tibetan Buddhism, particularly the Kalachakra teachings. For centuries Mongols believed that Mongolia was the northern land of Shambala, and Blavatsky was certainly aware of Buryat and Kalmyk beliefs.
Dorzhiyev’s statement that Russia’s Shambala
Russia was among others involved in the first attempts to use the Shambala legend for political purposes. Agwan Dorzhiyev (1854-1938) was a Buryat monk who studied in Lhasa and became an assistant and philosophy dispute teacher of the 13th Dalai Lama. According to Albert Grünwedel, German researcher of Central Asia and author of Der Weg nach Shambhala (The Way to Shambhala, 1915), Dorzhiyev considered the Romanovs to be descendants of Shambala sovereigns.
Mongolia, Japan and Shambala
Another attempt to use the Shambala legend for political purposes took place in Mongolia. Sukhe Batur established a temporary communist government in Buryatia and led the Mongolian army against Ungern. Batur inspired his officers and soldiers by promising them that fighting for liberation of Mongolia they would be reborn as Shambala warriors. After the seizure of Inner Mongolia in 1937 Japan started using the Shambala legend to gain its own political benefits. To ensure Mongols’ loyalty the Japanese carried out a propaganda campaign proclaiming that Japan was Shambala.
In his 1922 book Beasts, Men and Gods Ferdinand Ossendowski (1876-1945), Polish scientist who lived most of his life in Russia, described his travels around Outer Mongolia during Ungern-Sternberg’s military campaigns. Ossendowski wrote that some Mongolian lamas had told him about Agarty – the underground kingdom located in Mongolia and ruled by the “King of the World”. In the future when materialism destroys the world a terrible war will break out. At such time Agarty inhabitants will come out to the surface and help to stop violence.
For the first time the word Agarty (Agharta, Asgartha, Agarthi, Agardhi) appeared in the French novel Les Fils de Dieu (Sons of God) written in 1873 by Louis Jacolliot. Another French writer Joseph-Alexandre Saint-Yves d’Alveidre added popularity to the Agarty legend, having mentioned it in his 1886 novel Mission de l’Inde en Europe (The Mission of India in Europe). He describes Agarty as an underground kingdom where a university is located, representing a secret knowledge depository. Initially situated in Ayodhya (India), it then moved to a secret place under the Himalayas in the 18th century BC. Its king, Mahatma, guards the secrets of his kingdom and never discloses them, for this secret knowledge might let Antichrist’s forces create a mighty weapon. Once the forces of evil are obliterated, Mahatmas will disclose their secrets for humanity’s benefit.
Roerich, Shambala and AgniYoga
Nicholas Roerich (1874-1947), Russian artist and passionate follower of theosophy, was a member of the commission on Buddhist temple construction in St. Petersburg, where stained-glass windows were made by his design. His wife Helena Roerich translated Blavatsky’s The Secret Doctrine into Russian. Between 1925 and 1928 Nicholas Roerich headed an expedition from India through Tibet to Outer Mongolia and Altai Mountains in Siberia, to the north of East Turkestan. His implied goal was to study plants, ethnology and languages, as well as to paint. However, his major genuine goal was to search for Shambala.
According to some theosophical sources, Roerich’s supposed mission was to return Chintamani to Shambala (Sanskrit: chintamani – a jewel that implements desires), as entrusted to him by the League of Nations. His group was sure that Shambala was in the Altai region. Even Roerich’s modern followers nowadays, just like their teacher in his time, are confident that Altai Mountains represent a great spiritual centre somehow connected with Shambala.
Quite possibly, Roerich was partly inspired to search for Shambala by Grunwedel’s The Way to Shambala that contained The Guidebook to Shambhala written in the mid 18th century by the 3rd Panchen Lama (1738-1780). Panchen Lama however explained it’s impossible to travel to Shambala by movement in space only. In order to reach that fairyland it’s necessary to perform plenty of spiritual practices. In other words, a journey to Shambala is nothing else but an internal spiritual search. Yet, such explanation hardly prevented courageous travellers such as Roerichs from attempts to reach Shambala on foot or on horseback.
Eventually Roerichs claimed Shambala was the source of all Hindu teachings. They also called its rulers “the Sovereigns of Fire who will fight with the Sovereigns of Darkness”. For Roerich, Shambala was first and foremost a place where peace and tranquillity reigned. In his Shambhala: In Search of the New Era (1930) Roerich described Shambala as a holy city located to the north of India. Its ruler propagates Buddha Maitreya’s teachings for the sake of universal peace. Every tradition describes Shambala as per its own understanding, and even the Holy Grail legend is one of the Shambala legend versions. Among those who received messages “from the Brotherhood of the Mystic Spiritual Abode in the heart of Asia” there were Constantine the Great, Genghis Khan, and Prester John. Roerich even introduced the term of “Shambhala warriors”, using it to designate the “Brothers of Humanity” who’d bring peace and harmony from Shambala.
In Shambhala: In Search of the New Era Roerich further hinted at likeness between Shambala and Thule – a land hidden at the North Pole, which inspired the Germans to search for it as we’ll see below. He also referred to a link between Shambala and the underground city of Agarty to which one could get via an underground tunnel under the Himalayas. Its inhabitants are to come out in the “times of purification”. In her Letters (1935-1936) Helena Roerich indicated that Sent Yves d’Alveydr identified Shambala with Agarty by mistake, saying these were two different places.
Security Commissar Gleb Bokiy and writer Barchenko
In his book Red Shambhala: Magic, Prophecy, and Geopolitics in the Heart of Asia, the University of Memphis Professor Andrei Znamenski tells how Bokiy abandoned active political activity after the Kronstadt sailor rebellion of 1921 and especially after Lenin’s death, having taken interest in mysticism. Influenced by his friend, Petrograd writer Alexander Barchenko, Bokiy became interested in Buddhism and the Shambala legend and endeavoured to place these ideas at the service of communism.
Steiner, anthroposophy and Shambala
In contrast to Blavatsky’s and Roerich’s views of Shambala as of a good land that will help to establish peace on the planet, those who adhere to an alternative position lay stress on aspects of the legend that relate to the Apocalypse. They mostly associate Shambala with destructive forces of revival which are to destroy conventional old-fashioned views and establish a new world order. At that, the destructive power of Shambala is ultimately good. Such ideas originate from theosophy. Probably, Steiner was unaware of the historical context and metaphorical meaning of the Shambala legend. Hence, for several decades he and some other thinkers regarded Shambala as the abode of spiritual power from where the reform of Christianity will emerge. Steiner particularly emphasized Buddha Maitreya and Shambala as the real sources of the future Christian reform.
Alice Bailey
In her books Initiations, Human and Solar (1922), Letters on Occult Meditation (1922), A Treatise on Cosmic Fire (1925), and A Treatise on White Magic (1934) Alice Bailey describes “the power of Shambhala” in detail, understanding it as imperceptible energy of divine will. Although the energy’s destructive, in essence it is impersonal and neutral. When wrongly used, it can become a source of evil. However, if this energy’s perceived as divine will, the initiates may transform it into absolute “Good”.
Referring to Roerichs’ views, Bailey designates Shambala as a “place of cosmic fire” being a purifying power. Yet, instead of presenting it as a good power of Agni she follows Steiner’s line and associates it with Lucifer. Therefore, she refers to Shambala as to the source of destructive energy serving to eliminate degraded forms of various teachings and to establish the “purified” New Era”.
In Shambala, the Hierarchy headed by Buddha Maitreya protects this “Power” and at due time initiates mature ones into the “Mysteries of the Ages, into the “Plan”. Somebody may wonder whether such Bailey’s ideas inspired creators of the Star Wars where the image of the “Power” appears as of the energy which may be used for both evil and good purposes and which is protected by the brotherhood of Jedi Knights.
Maurice Doreal and his Brotherhood of the White Temple
Bailey’s ideas gave rise to numerous occult societies and movements with further more esoteric ideas of Shambala. One of such examples is the Brotherhood of the WhiteTemple founded in 1930 by American spiritualist Maurice Doreal (1902-1963). In his book Maitreya, Lord of the World Doreal wrote that Shambala’s a majestic white temple in Tibet, located at the depth of 75 miles under the Himalayas. The entrance to the temple is under the ground and represents a portal through which a path to the other universe opens. The author stated Shambala had two sections. In its southern section adepts and great gurus live, while the northern section is a land where the avatar and world teacher Maitreya resides. In the future Maitreya will come to this world with Shambala warriors – “messengers of the light of the Aquarian Age” – in order to overcome the dark forces of evil.
Haushofer, the Thule Society and Nazi Germany
After the World War II, in her assessments of Nazi politics Alice Bailey asserted that Hitler had seized “the power of Shambhala” and used it for evil purposes as a “tool of evil forces” in their fight against the “Energy of Light”.
In some post-war studies on Nazism and occultism there were statements similar to those of Bailey regarding Hitler’s connection with “the power of Shambala”. In particular it was mentioned that Nazis sent expeditions to Tibet to get support of Shambala and Agarty for implementation of their principal military plan. Bailey however mentioned only Shambala in this respect and said nothing about Agarty. The aforesaid studies, quite the contrary, stated Nazi expeditions were rejected by Shambala sovereigns, whereas Agarty representatives agreed to provide support and came to Germany along with the Nazis. Moreover, authors of the studies expressed confidence that Nazi decision to send expeditions to Tibet for the occult support was based on their belief in doctrines of Karl Haushofer and the Thule Society. Haushofer was the founder of the Vril Society which was closely connected with Thule and substantially influenced formation of Hitler’s occult views.
Thereupon we cannot disregard Yuri Kanygin’s much-talked-about book Way of the Aryans released in the 1990s.It’s a great surprise that such outrageous madman ravings may be so popular, for we can hardly find many people who have never heard at least something about this opus. Judge for yourselves: the author took the entire information for his book from a Tibetan old man whom he called his guru and who gave incredible baloney to the inexperienced and naïve Soviet guy, having played on the banal national pride (by the way, this is exactly the basis of the book popularity and a vivid example of how people are weak for the idea of their national selectness and exceptionality). Here’s how the guru describes himself:
“… I became a high-rank servant in the lamaist sect Bon Po (the Yellow Hats) and I can say this is a black, unrighteous sect where I wallowed in satanism. But my intellect kept working. The worm that penetrated the teenage soul was doing its job… At the age of 24 I became the sect hierarch and got the title of lama.”
Now let’s cite a dubious fragment about Shambala as provided by the allegedly former lama to unsuspecting readers:
“… The main point of spiritual confrontation lies in the history of nations, as personified by Agarty and Shambala. These are places where the spiritual (heavenly) world is combined with the material (earthly). But such combinations in Agarty and Shambala are opposite to each other… Shambala’s symbol is the Tower of Babel which is the sign of human pride that decided to pester the Lord Himself. Satan was the manager of the Tower of Babel construction. Shambala is exactly a substitution of a human being and nature for God, ultimately of Satan for God. Extracts from texts delivered to Roerichs by black Mahatmas of Shambala: “Ideal slobber must be replaced with perfect mind – this is what we, Mahatmas of Shambala, experienced materialists, say…”
Numerous speculations associated with the name of Shambala emerged over the last century, although interestingly enough in the last decade mass media gave almost no signals on the subject, which indicates decline of public interest in it. We may subjectively link this to both the impetuous development of consumer thinking in contemporary people, determining their material priorities, and the shadow politics of the leading world information agencies that deliberately fill the information space with diverse entertainment images leading our civilization away from what’s the most important. It was totally otherwise in the 20th century when the search for Shambala was in the focus of attention of the leaders of the most powerful countries, such as Hitler and Stalin. Whereas nowadays in the society’s opinion Shambala is associated with a sort of an insoluble riddle geographically located or rather lost in Tibet as the place most difficult of access on the planet. True, from time to time journalist expeditions are sent there for the purpose of first and foremost increasing mass media product sales, but they hardly ever look for the truth, therefore no positive results may be expected of such expeditions in principle.
Another question that is worth attention is who has persuaded people that Shambala is situated in Tibet. Are we looking for something we don’t know of, in the place located nowhere? Human consciousness always gets captivated by mysteriousness. Being aware of such feature, creators of the “Tibetan Shambala” myth apparently direct Shambala seekers to the unexplored Celestial with some hidden purpose.
At that, we view it appropriate to post several typical Shambala videos in this article, which rather obscure the issue than provide any trustworthy facts. Such videos plunge human consciousness into further more impenetrable thickets of inventions, moving the essence beyond any visible reach. Consequently, today one who seeks God would rather go to a church where there’s no God at all instead of paying attention to enigmatic and inaccessible Bodhisattvas from the transcendental Tibetan fairy tale about the undiscovered “valley of prosperity”. Well, another purpose of posting the videos is to stir up the Shambala subject which we believe should be elucidated much more often and comprehensively.
This is certainly far from being a complete set of materials on the subject. The article will be supplemented from time to time as new information appears. “You won’t believe unless you see”: it’s a well-known feature of consciousness, and it will probably doubt what’s written herein. Yet, how can one see what is beyond capabilities of the human eyesight? Since for centuries there have been so many talks and rumours in the society, we have all grounds to assume that the Shambala myth is reality, though it’s as incomprehensible for ordinary human perception as ultrasound for the human ear (pardon us for such a hardly appropriate analogy). At that, one thing is clear: the path of human spiritual evolution and transformation is directly connected with the Shambala name, and despite the oblivion and diminished interest in this filed among our contemporaries we still believe in their awakening. The books about Sensei contain plenty of unravelled mysteries, though they are written in a plain and intelligible language. We still have much to discover and realize in the study of the Primordial Knowledge brought by supreme Bodhisattva Rigden Djappo to the human society, and we truly hope we’ll do this with Shambala’s real help.
Now, let’s draw an intermediate conclusion based on available assumptions:
This article is regularly updated!
Prepared by Julia Matveyeva (Russia) and Dato Gomarteli (Ukraine-Georgia)
Shambala. A myth or reality?
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Marina M. 21.10.2016 14:00 Reply ↵
There is a very nice video about Shambhala, made on the basis of the Primordial Knowledge: