Shambhala, which in Sanskrit means “place
of peace, of tranquillity,” is thought of in Tibet as
a community where perfect and semi-perfect beings live and are
guiding the evolution of humanity. Shambhala is considered to
be the source of the Kalachakra, which is the highest and most
mysterious branch of Tibetan mysticism.
Legends say that only the pure of heart can live in Shambhala,
enjoying perfect ease and happiness and never knowing suffering,
want or old age. Love and wisdom reign and injustice is unknown.
The inhabitants are long-lived, wear beautiful and perfect bodies
and possess supernatural powers; their spiritual knowledge is
deep, their technological level highly advanced, their laws
mild and their study of the arts and sciences covers the full
spectrum of cultural achievement, but on a far higher level
than anything the outside world has attained.
By definition Shambhala is hidden.
Of the numerous explorers and seekers of spiritual wisdom
who attempt to locate Shambhala, none can pinpoint its
physical location on a map, although all say it exists
in the mountainous regions of Eurasia.
Tibetan lamas spend a great deal of their lives in spiritual
development before attempting the journey to Shambhala.
The lama’s reference to the barbarians “who
will take over the world” is directly connected
to the prophecy of Shambhala. This prophecy tells of
the gradual deterioration of mankind as the ideology
of materialism spreads over the earth. As the cultures
of the East and West collide, the myth of Shambhala
rises out of the mists of time.
The idea of a hidden world beneath the surface of the
planet is a very ancient one indeed. There are innumerable
folk tales and oral traditions found throughout many
countries. The early European travelers to Tibet consistently
told the same tale of a hidden spiritual centre of power.
Adventurers recounted fantastic tales of a hidden kingdom
near Tibet. This special place is known by numerous
local and regional names. These early travelers knew
it as Agharta (sometimes spelt Agharti, Asgartha or
Agarttha), although it is now commonly known as Shambhala.
Taking the legend in its most basic
form, Agharta is said to be a mysterious underground
kingdom situated somewhere beneath Asia and linked to
the other continents of the world by a gigantic network
of tunnels. These passageways, partly natural formations
and partly the handiwork of the race which created the
subterranean nation, provide a means of communication
between all points, and have done so since time immemorial.
According to the legend, vast lengths of the tunnels
still exist today; the rest have been destroyed by cataclysms.
The first Westerner to popularise the legend of Agharta
was a gifted French writer named Joseph-Alexandre Saint-Yves
(1842-1910). Saint-Yves was a self-educated occultist
and political philosopher who promoted in his books
the establishment of a form of government called ‘Synarchy’.
In his quest for universal understanding, he decided
in 1885 to take lessons in Sanskrit, the classical and
philosophical language of India. He learnt far more
than he expected.
Saint-Yves soon discovered his training enabled him
to receive telepathic messages from the Dalai Lama in
Tibet, as well as make astral journeys to Agharta. The
detailed reports of what he found there became the crowning
volume of his series of politico-hermetic “Missions”:
Mission des Souverains, Mission des Ouvriers, Mission
de Juifs, and finally Mission de l’Inde (The Mission
of India)
According to Saint-Yves, the “mages of Agharta”
had to descend into the infernal regions below them
in order to work at bringing the earth’s chaos
and negative energy to an end. “Each of these
sages,” Saint-Yves wrote, “accomplishes
his work in solitude, far from any light, under the
cities, under deserts, under plains or under mountains.”
Agharta also enjoys the benefits of a technology advanced
far beyond our own.
To Saint-Yves, these superior beings were the true authors
of Synarchy, and for thousands of years Agharta had
“radiated” Synarchy to the rest of the world,
which in modern times has chosen foolishly to ignore
it. When the world adopts Synarchical government the
time will be ripe for Agharta to reveal itself.
Until the start of the twentieth century, the legend
of Agharta remained very much a legend. Stories of Agharta
had widely spread in Europe since the publication of
Saint-Yves’s books, but evidence to support the
claims remained as elusive as ever.
It would be
easy to dismiss Agharta/Shambhala as pure fantasy, were
it not for a very credible explorer who searched for,
found and returned to tell us something about his experiences
The Eastern mystical view of the world can be quite different
from the Western scientific view of it. It maybe that
the guidebooks to Shambhala are describing a landscape
transformed by the visions of a yogi taking the journey
there: Where we would see a mountaintop gleaming with
snow, he would see a golden temple with a shining god.
In that case, we might be able to travel the same path,
but with a different view of reality.
To find Shambhala,.you need not travel far, the kingdom
of Shambhala is in your own heart…
