Shambhala refers to a mystical kingdom in both Hindu and Buddhist mythology, where the most sacred spiritual teachings are preserved. It is said to exist on both the spiritual and physical planes.
When humanity succumbs to greed, materialism, and war, a force for good will rise in the east from a mystical land and defeat evil. Although numerous mystics and explorers have failed to locate the mythical land of Shamballa, we hope that it will materialize in humanity’s time of need, as decreed in ancient texts.
The Vishnu Purana, from the early 4th century AD, mentions Shambhala as the birthplace of the Kalki, the final incarnation or avatar of Vishnu. Shamballa is also mentioned in the Kalachakra Tantra, as well as in ancient Tibetan texts, the Zhangzhung.
Where is Shamballa?
Although the current Dalai Lama claims that Shambhala is not a physical place, its location is speculated to be in the north, perhaps near Mount Kailash in Tibet, in Kashmir, in the highest regions of the Himalayas, in the Sutlej Valley in Punjab, or more generally in the mountainous regions of Eurasia.
The levels of Shambhala
The tantra or Kalachakra texts are a collection of material from Buddhist literature containing advanced spiritual and esoteric teachings. Kalachakra means wheel of time or cycles of time, and the Kalachakra teachings refer to an external, internal, and alternate cycle, referring to spiritual cycles. Everything mentioned in the teachings occurs on the three levels, including Shamballa.
Physical level
The outer level of Shambhala is the physical place in the North where the teachings were kept and took place. The outer cycles deal with both astronomy and the kaliyuga (the last stage the world will go through) and a war to overcome destructive forces. Shambhala is said to be the origin of those who will defeat the invaders. Sources say that Shamballa is a pure realm, although contained within the domain of humans.
It is believed to be a physical place, but no one who has attempted to reach it has succeeded. On an inner level, Shamballa represents the heart chakra. It refers to the cycles of breathing and the movement of energy through the body. The heart chakra is the most important chakra, according to sources.
Alternative Level
The alternative level deals with the degree of spiritual practice, specifically in Buddhism. Internal and external forces are driven by karma. The texts cite that when people become confused about reality, they develop negative emotions such as greed, anger, and jealousy and become increasingly selfish. They accumulate karma through the way they treat others, and this becomes a cycle, both internal (with illness in the body) and external (in the world), throwing the world out of balance.
The winds of karma drive these internal and external cycles, and the practice of Buddhism aims to overcome these winds or energies of karma. The way to create peace begins as an internal process that then manifests externally as well, according to the ancient texts.
Level of union
The last level of Shamballa is the ability to bring the three levels together in the heart chakra and dissolve them, bringing forth the state of clear light mind. The clear and luminous mind is said to be the ultimate representation of Shamballa.
In Buddhist literature
The Kalachakra Tantra tells of an ancient king named Kalki, who united the castes. Kalki, whose name means “the unifier,” predicted that there would be an invasion and realized that he needed to prepare his people. He lived in a kingdom where many religions were practiced, including Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam.
According to sources, the area may have been in the vicinity of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Kashmir. The king warned the people of their impending destruction if they were unable to unite against the destructive forces. To unify them, Kalki performed a spiritual ritual called initiation or empowerment, turning all his people into a family of Vajra brothers and sisters. However, since the invasion was not destined to arrive for another 25 generations, spiritual teachings flourished within the unified group.
Twenty-five kings would follow Kalki until the time of the predicted war with the dark forces, which, according to sources, is yet to come. Then, when the gradual degradation and deterioration of humanity has led to ubiquitous materialism, a king will rise from Shambhalla to defeat evil and usher in a new golden age of peace in the world.
The Search for Shambhala
Many explorers searched for the mythical Shambhala, but none brought home proof of its existence. In 1833, the Hungarian scholar Csoma de Körös was the first to introduce the concept of Shamballa to the European community. He also compiled the first Tibetan-English dictionary. In 1856, the great theosophist and occultist Madame Blavatsky ventured to India with little information available about the mystical kingdom.
She tried to explain the teachings she learned during her years in India to Europeans in terms they could understand. Since the study of the occult was very popular at the time, she used that as the basis for her explanations.
The European concept of Shamballa began to form two schools of thought. The first emphasized Shamballa as a spiritual paradise. The second view was more destructive, focusing on the forces that defeated the invaders trying to destroy spiritual growth. Blavatsky was one of the proponents of the first view.
She connected Shamballa with the four types of births in Buddhism: from the womb, from an egg, from heat and moisture, and by some kind of emanation. She eventually linked Shambhala to the mystical island of Lemuria and Atlantis. Although knowledge of the illusory Shambhala reached the whole world through explorers and mystics before and after Blavatsky, the mythological realm still remained hidden from human eyes.
Shambhala and UFOs
Some may wish to connect the mythical land with other realms and other worlds. In Kongka La, one of the possible locations of Shambhala, there have been many reports of UFO sightings. In the 1920s, Russian explorer and theosophist Nikolai Roerich, in his search for Shamballa, allegedly saw a UFO while camping near the Altai Mountains, between Mongolia and Tibet.
UFOs had not even been heard of at that time, but he described it as something… large and bright reflecting the sun, like a huge oval moving at high speed. Crossing our camp, this thing changed direction from south to southwest, and we watched it disappear into the intense blue sky. We even had time to grab our field glasses and clearly saw the oval shape with the shiny surface, one side of which was bright from the sun.
