Shambhala or Shambala

The name means Basis of Joy and may derive from a very ancient oral tradition. Shambo is one of Shiva's epithets. Since Shambala is actually the name of a fabulous land, or beyul, in the Himalayas, to avoid confusion, in this article the spelling without the "h" designates the place.

The Hindu Puranas say that at the end of Kali Yuga, the Kalki avatar (horse-headed form of Vishnu) will be born in the best of the brahmin families of Shambala in order to annihilate the evil-doers of earth. Here, Shambala is described as hidden in the interior of the planet.

Details of the realm of Shambala are described in the Kalchakra legend in which a Hidden Kingdom somewhere in the Himalayas exists ruled by a king in concert with a wisdom-holder. There, enlightened and accomplished beings preserve ancient knowledge and guide the progress of humankind.

The Kalachakra Tantra (Wheel of Time Tradition) belongs to the highest class of Buddhist tantras and, until the initiations given with some regularity by HH the 14th Dalai Lama, it was relatively unknown in the West. He promotes it in the cause of World Peace, for it is said the Buddha prophesised that those who receive the Kalachakra empowerment would take rebirth in its mandala.

The Tantra relates how the bodhisattva Vajrapani manifested as Suchandra, ruler of the land of Shambala and requested Buddha Sakyamuni to teach concerning the nature of time. On the full-moon day of the third month, at the stupa of Dhanyakataka in South India, before an assembly of innumerable buddhas, bodhisattvas, dakas and dakinis, gods, nagas, and yakshas along with human disciples, he appeared as the deity called Kalchakra and transmitted a complete cosmological system.

On his return to Shambala, the king constructed a three-dimensional model of the mandala of Kalachakra, and absorbed himself in that practice. He also transmitted the teaching to all inhabitants of his kingdom. There, the teachings were preserved but remained hidden from the rest of the world until 1,000 years had passed.

Shambala is said to be somewhere north of Kashmir. It is in the form of an eight-ringed, eight-petaled lotus where each region is enclosed by a boundary of mountains. In the center of it is Kalapa, the capital of the kingdom of Agharta. The city is surrounded by shimmering crystalline mountains, and the king's palace is composed of gold, coral, diamonds and other precious gems.

South of Kalapa is Sandalwood Park, twelve yojanas across (just like the town.) To its east is Lesser Manasa Lake, also twelve yojanas across, and to the west is White Lotus Lake, of the same extent. In the midst of the Park is the great Kalachakra Mandala built by King Suchandra that has the gods and goddesses made out of the five jewels. It is square, four hundred hastas across.

The technology of Shambala is highly advanced. The windows of the palace function as powerful lenses that serve as telescopes high-powered enough for studying life on other worlds. For hundreds of years, the inhabitants have been using aircraft and subways. This advancement is not limited to the mere material, for the inhabitants have been able to develop powers of clairvoyance, swift long-distance travel on foot, and also the ability to materialize and disappear at will.

The belief in the existence of Shambala has been reinforced by reports of unusual occurrences in the Himalayan region where it is thought to be. In the early 1900s The Statesman carried a report by a British army officer of a very tall, lightly clad man with long hair who, when he noticed the major, leaped down a vertical slope and disappeared. Tibetans back at the encampment showed no surprise at the major's account, but simply explained that he had seen one of the guards of the sacred land.

The prophecy of Shambala states that there will be 32 kings who will each reign for 100 years. As those reigns are accomplished, conditions outside the Kingdom will deteriorate. Men become more warlike in their pursuit of power for its own sake, and the accompanying ideology of materialism will spread over the whole earth. When the materialists are united under a single evil king and think there is nothing left to conquer, the mists will lift to reveal the icy mountains of Shambala.

Barbarians will attack Shambala with a huge army equipped with terrible weapons. Then the 32nd king of Shambala, Rudrachakrin (Iron Wheel Master) or, according to another tradition, Kalki, will lead his mighty forces with their supra-mundane weapons against the invaders. In a last great battle, the evil king and his followers will be destroyed.