“Lama, Tell me about Shambala!”
“You people of the West know nothing of Shambala and wish to know nothing. You’re probably asking from mere curiosity and utter that sacred word in vain.”
“Lama, I’m not asking in vain about Shambala. Everywhere people know that sublime symbol by different names. Our scholars are searching for any scrap of knowledge about that wondrous place.”
<…>
The lama studies us carefully and then speaks:
“Shambala the Great is far away, beyond the ocean. It’s a mighty heavenly kingdom. It has nothing in common with our earth. So why are you earthly people interested in it? Only in certain places, in the Far North, can the shining rays of Shambala be discerned.”
“Lama, we know the greatness of Shambala. We know the reality of that ineffable place. But we also know the reality of earthly Shambala. We know how certain high lamas went to Shambala and how they saw ordinary physical objects on their way. We know the story of one Buryat lama and how he was led there through a very narrow secret passage. We know that another visitor saw a caravan of mountain men taking salt from a lake right on the border of Shambala. What’s more, we ourselves saw a white border post, one of the three posts of Shambala. So don’t tell me only of the heavenly Shambala but tell me of the earthly one too, for you, like I, know that the earthly Shambala is joined to the heavenly one. And that the two worlds are united at this very place.”
N. Roerich. “Shambala the Resplendent”. 1928
