What is Shambhala?
According to the Vishnu Purana, Shambala will be the birthplace of Kalki - the final incarnation of Bhagwan Vishnu. Let us explore further🧵
According to the Vishnu Purana, Shambala will be the birthplace of Kalki - the final incarnation of Bhagwan Vishnu. Let us explore further🧵
The name Shambala has great significance in Hindu and Buddhist texts. Shambhala is originally a Sanskrit word that derives from शम्भुः (śambhu), meaning happiness. Shambala is said to mean a place of tranquility.
Significance for Hindus
According to the Vishnu Purana (4.24), Kalki will be born in the village of village Shambhala. As mentioned in Vishnu Purana, Shambhala is the land that is holding the destiny of mankind, a celestial kingdom, where only the God’s will reigns.
According to the Vishnu Purana (4.24), Kalki will be born in the village of village Shambhala. As mentioned in Vishnu Purana, Shambhala is the land that is holding the destiny of mankind, a celestial kingdom, where only the God’s will reigns.
As per the legend, Shambhala is guarded by holy spirits. Only ones with pure hearts are destined to discover Shambala which is an ideal embodiment of life where there is no disease or materialism. Therein exists an exhilir of immortality derived from the fountain of life.
Bhagwan Kalki will endowed with the 8 superhuman abilities and through his sheer might, he will rid the world of all evil and re-establish righteousness on Earth. The minds of humans surviving the end of Kalyug would be awakened.
They would be the seed of the future human beings who will follow all virtues prevalent in Satya Yug. Eventually, humans would be enlightened again and another golden age of righteousness, truth, and spiritual learning would prosper.
Significance in Buddhism
The Shambhala narrative is found in the Kalachakra tantra, a text of the group of the Anuttarayoga Tantras. These are adaptations of the predated Vishnu Purana. Kalachakra Buddhism was presumably introduced to Tibet during the 11th century.
The Shambhala narrative is found in the Kalachakra tantra, a text of the group of the Anuttarayoga Tantras. These are adaptations of the predated Vishnu Purana. Kalachakra Buddhism was presumably introduced to Tibet during the 11th century.
In the said narrative, a King named Manjuśrīkīrti, born in 159 B.C, ruled over a kingdom with 300,510 followers, some of whom devotedly worshipped the sun. Manjuśrīkīrti expelled 20,000 followers who clung on to Solar Worship rather than shift to Kalchakra Buddhism.
With the passage of time, Manjuśrīkīrti realized those expelled were his wisest & best people. He later asked them to return. Some returned. Those who did not are said to have set up the city of Shambhala.
In order to try to convert those who returned, Manjuśrīkīrti initiated extensive preaching of the Kalachakra teachings. After a lengthy rule, Manjuśrīkīrti abdicated his throne to his son Puṇḍārika in 59 B.C, and died soon afterward, entering the Sambhogakaya of Buddhahood.
The Kalachakra Tantra eventually prophesies that when the world declines into chaos, war and greed, and evil rises, the 25th Kalki King will emerge from Shambhala with a massive army to vanquish Dark Forces and usher in a worldwide Golden Age.
Shambala has been referred by different names in other ideologies. The concept of Shang-Ri-La is a derivative of Shambala. It had piqued the interest of many individuals through the years including that of Adolf Hitler, who sent a search party to discover Shambala but in vain.
While, nobody knows the exact location of Shambala, as per legend, it said to nestled somewhere in the Himalayas at the Indo-Tibet border. The land of Shambala is also mentioned in the 1933 novel Lost Horizon by British author James Hilton.
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