MOUNT KAILAS
Mt. Kailash considered as one of the ten most beautiful mountains in China and a divine mountain universally by people from all over the world. Its shape is like the pyramids in Egypt with four nearly symmetrical sides. Its glistening snow-covered top makes it the most eye-catching one. Around this sacred mountain, there are five temples in total. All the temples shrouded by mystery and legends.
Mount Kailash surrounded by five monasteries. These are Nyari Monastery, Drirapuk Monastery, Songchu Monastery, Gyangzha Monastery and Thailong Monastery. Nyari is the first site on the Kailash Kora and the last two are located on the inner kora. Each monastery endowed with different legendary stories and decorated by distinctive sculptures, statues, murals, thangkas and other Tibetan cultural objects.
This is supremely sacred site of Hindus, Jains, Buddhists and Ayyavazhi religions and billions of people.
Hindus believe Mt. Kailash to be the abode of Lord Shiva, the destroyer of ignorance and illusion, resides at the summit of this legendary mountain, where he sits in a state of perpetual meditation along with his wife Parvati. They do regard that the peak Mt. Kailash as Shiva's symbolic 'Lingam' and worship Mt Kailash, which is the Sanskrit name for the mountain.
Jains believe it to be the place where Rishaba, the first of the twenty-four Tirthankaras attained liberation. They call this mountain as Meru Parvat or Sumeru or Astapada
Tantric Buddhists believe that Mount Kailash is the home of the Buddha Demchok, who represents supreme bliss.
Bonpos believe the sacred mountain to be the place where the founder of the Bon religion landed when he descended from the sky
Is Mount Kailash is the center of the world?
It has been universal interest on discovering the world hidden, mysterious and unknown wisdom of Mount Kailash. Recent studies of Russians reveal that the Mt. Kailash could be a vast; it is like a human-built pyramid, the centre of an entire complex of smaller pyramids, a hundred in total. This complex, moreover, is the centre of a worldwide system connecting other monuments or sites where paranormal phenomena observed. Goole Maps and NASA pictures reveal that the Mount Kailash is the axis mundi, world axis, center of the world, and the navel of the world. A glimpse at Mount Kailash reveals that it is the centre of the Earth.
Both geography and mythology play roles in the sacred significance of Mount Kailash. This holy mountain rises to an altitude of 6714 meters. It cannot compete with peaks in the nearby Himalayan range, which includes Mount Everest, and its grandeur lies not in height but in its distinct shape – four sheer faces marking the cardinal points of the compass – and its solitary location, free of neighbouring mountains that might dwarf or obscure it.
Vedas mentioned Mount Kailash as cosmic axis and world pillar, center of the world, and world tree. It has other names...Meru, Sumeru, Sushumna, Hemadri, Deva Parvata, Gana Parvata, Rajatadri, and Ratnasanu. Kang Tisé or Kang Rinpoche (the ‘Precious Jewel of Snow’ in Tibetan), Meru (or Sumeru), Swastika Mountain, Mt. Astapada, Mt. Kangrinboge (the Chinese name) - all these names, real or legendary, belong to one of the holiest and most mysterious mountains in the world – Mount Kailash. In religion or mythology, the world center or the connection is between Heaven and Earth. As the celestial pole and geographic pole, it expresses a point of connection between sky and earth where the four compass directions meet.
The idea of the pyramid in this region is not new. It goes back to the timeless Sanskrit epic of the Ramayana. Since then, numerous travellers, especially in the beginning of the 20th century, have expressed the view that Mt. Kailash is too perfect to be a totally natural phenomenon, or at any rate give the appearance of human intervention.
there have been no recorded attempts to climb Mount Kailash due to its near perpendicular wall faces and death-defying weather. Its distinct shape of four sheer faces marking the cardinal points of the compass. The peak is very pointed and looks like a pyramid piercing the sky. It was found that it is an extremely difficult task since the mountain is difficult of access and dangerous.
Several intellectuals tried to discover the world hidden, mysterious and unknown wisdom of Mount Kailash. Many researchers believe that the foot and at the middle level of the mountain has voids. The researchers found the presence of cavities inside the sarcophagus, means "flesh-eating" that serves as a refuge in which a state of deep meditation. Many of these people were ready to believe in the existence of the super-natural in whatever form – higher intelligence, power, or energy. This interest remains strong to this day in many countries, to find this axis mundi, the most powerful place, the highest power, or the hidden intelligence in whatever form it exists, if indeed it does. In 2001, the Chinese gave permission for a Spanish team to climb the peak, but in the face of international disapproval, the Chinese decided to ban all attempts to climb the mountain.
What is the hidden mystery of Mount Kailash?
To get authentic inform calls for a deep research. Several intellectuals tried to discover the world hidden, mysterious and unknown wisdom of Kingdom of Shiva. Many researchers believe that the foot and at the middle level of the mountain has voids. The researchers found the presence of cavities inside the sarcophagus, means "flesh-eating" that serves as a refuge in which a state of deep meditation. This adventure is one that tops many people’s bucket list. Those who want to climb to the top of it, all of a sudden get set to go in the opposite direction. Those who walked up the mountain never returned. In fact, there have been no recorded attempts to climb Mount Kailash due to its near perpendicular wall faces and death-defying weather. Its distinct shape of four sheer faces marking the cardinal points of the compass. The peak is very pointed and looks like a pyramid piercing the sky. It is an extremely difficult task since the mountain is difficult of access and dangerous. This geographic site is like energy vortices that can either uplift physical and mental states or degenerate the clamber.
What does the literature say?
The literature gives specific and at times startling evidence of intimate knowledge of the regions. In the Ramayana and Mahabharata, we find the older four-fold division of the earth according to their orientation to Mt. Meru or to Bharata. In these epics, Mt. Meru is a geographic reality located east of Jambudvipa (the Indian subcontinent). The Mahabharata states that Sakadvipa, Svetadvipa and the Milky Ocean are located to the east of Meru. In the eastern quarter found the location of Sakadvipa in the astrological text Brhat Parasara Horasastra. Mt. Meru equated with the North Pole. All the Puranas that mention Sakadvipa agree that the Milky Ocean surrounds the island/continent. The ethno- geographic and bio-geographic material, largely agrees with the epics.
Rig Veda 3.23.4 states Mount Meru is the central region. The entire Cosmos divided into seven concentric island continents surrounded by oceans. It comprise of Jambudvipa, Plaksadvipa, Salmalidvipa, Kusadvipa, Krouncadvipa, Sakadvipa, and Pushkaradvipa. They separated by the seven encircling oceans, each double the size of the preceding one. These seven intermediate oceans consist of salt-water, sugarcane juice, wine, ghee, curd, milk, and water respectively. Jambudvipa divided into four vast regions shaped like four petals of a lotus with Mount Meru being located at the center like a pericarp. On the summit of Mount Meru or Sumeru, is the vast city of Lord Brahma, known as Brahmapuri. Surrounding Brahmapuri are eight cities - the one of Lord Indra and of seven other Devas. On the four sides of the great Mount Meru are four mountains--Mandara, Merumandara, Suparsva, and Kumuda--which are like its belts. The length and height of these mountains calculated to be 80,000 miles.
Rig Veda 3.23.4 also states that east of Sumeru (Mt. Meru) is the ocean of milk, in which there is a white city on a white island where the Lord Shiva can be seen sitting with his consort Parvati.
Rig Veda 9.63.5 mentioned Lord Shiva as Yogic Indra and father of Maruts is the supreme deity, son of Aditi. His home situated on Mount Meru in the heaven. The area around this great mountain is the source of four life-giving rivers; the Indus, Brahmaputra, Sutlej and Karnali, which is a major tributary of India’s sacred Ganges, begin here. Four great rivers go around the world. These are divisions of Ganges River. These are Alakananda its Sothern branch, Sita to east, which identified with Yellow River of China, the Chakshu to the west, identified with the Oxus River of Central Asia, and the Bhadra to north, identified with Ob River of Siberia. These are main rivers of Tibetan plateau in four directions. The Meru region or Ilavrita marked by four great lakes.
To enhance the symbolic mysticism of the mountain as a sacred place, two lakes situated at the base of the mountain. The higher lake Manasarovar (one of the highest freshwater lakes in the world), is the sacred lake, and is round like the sun. It related to the lake Manas in the Kashmir. The lower lake Rakhast Tal (one of the highest salt-water lakes) is the devil’s lake and has the shape of the crescent moon. These two lakes represent solar and lunar forces, good and negative energies respectively. Most importantly, the lake below Mount Kailash is the origin of the Sutlej, which flow to the south and west and eventually into the Indus. It was the largest tributary of the Vedic River Sarswati and its smaller branches rising from Ambala hills in north India.
If we examine the region of Mount Kailash, we find that all the main rivers of north India originated nearby. Indus is the main river of western India; the Brahmaputra is the main river of east that starts to the west and east of Kailash less than hundred and fifty miles from each other. They flow in the opposite directions and then south and enter at the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal over fifteen hundred miles apart. The Ganges and Yamuna also arise from the mountains south of Kailash. Ghaghara, which identified with Vedic Sarayu.
These Vedic Rivers are the primary rivers of Himalayas and cantered in the Kailash- Manasarovar region. There is so much to learn from the Kingdom of Shiva.
Kailash is a rather small member of the Himalayas. The name of this stupendous range stems from Himavat, the father of Lord Shiva's bride, Parvati.
Mt. Kailash is most bewitching! Its beauty is over powering and from a spiritual point of view, it possesses a subtle magnetic vibration of a supremely high order. Mt. Kailash is the abode of Shiva and Parvati, along with Devas, Ganas, Yakshas, Yogis, Siddha Purushas and Gandharvas. Mention of the Mt. Kailash Yatra made in the Ramayana, Mahabharata, and Skanda Purana etc…. Kalidasa has mentioned about this holy Yatra in his Meghaduta. In the book ‘Yoga, Enlightenment and Perfection’ describing the thrilling spiritual experiences of Jagadguru Sri Abhinava Vidyatheertha Maha Swami - 35th Shankaracharya of Sri Sringeri Sharada Peetham, the Swamiji himself has stated that the night he took Sanyasam at his thirteenth year, he had a dream. “I found myself on the amazingly scenic summit of a tall, Ice clad Mountain... Though the mountain was icy I felt no cold. In front of me, I saw a huge crystal Shiva Linga... suddenly there was a great flash of light and from the Linga Lord Shiva manifested. The lord had one face and two arms”. The hill referred in this dream is of course Kailash and the crystal Linga refers to the crystal mount, which is again Mt. Kailash. He liberated while alive. Very few get to even hear of such a state and after hearing about it a much smaller fraction can comprehend it. To understand such a mindset requires a dimensional change in the manner of attitudes.
The kingdom of Shiva possesses a subtle magnetic vibration of a supremely high order. It is a mountain of solid gold shining as brilliantly as fire. It is of 21,778 feet high. It is square with four sides larger at the top than at the bottom. It surrounded by these eight mountains. On the southern side of Mount Meru are two mountains named Kailash and Karavira, which extend east and west for 144,000 miles, and on the northern side, extending for the same distance east and west, are two mountains named Trisrnga and Makara. The width and height of all these mountains is 16,000 miles. On the eastern side of Mount Meru are Jathara and Devacuta, which extend to the north and south for 144,000 miles. Similarly, on the western side two mountains are Pavana and Pariyatra, which also extend north and south for the same distance.
Kila+ Asa is Kailash. Kila is really and Asa is seat, hope, desire, space, and region. Kailash is a particular form of temple, mountain peak in Himalaya. It also means “crystal,” the 'Treasure or Saint of Snow Mountain' and is a “precious jewel of snows.” The kingdom of Shiva is an entire complex of smaller pyramids, a hundred in total. This world pillar is mysterious mountains in the world, all earthly forces of power and greed forever sealed, and knowledge kept hidden. The universe is made of many such worlds.
Its four sides are made of four different precious substances: the south of lapis-lazuli, the west of ruby, the north of gold and the east of crystal and the southern side of Mount Meru is blue, this explains why the seas around and the sky above us are blue. The shine of the blue lapis-lazuli reflects on the marine waters in front. Each of Mount Kailash's faces reflects different moods. The southern face fully covered with snow It reflects majesty or splendour. The shadow cast by the rocky outcrops on it draws a huge swastika, the seat of all power.
An aura of compassion and benevolence is enveloping on the western face. The northern face is stark, forbidding, and daunting, whiles the eastern, only visible from a long way off, and is mysterious and distant. Upon hitting the surface, it reflects and appears in the space above. So rather than there being something blue above us, the space appears blue because of the reflection of the lapis-lazuli. Similarly, the oceans and the sky are respectively red, yellow, and white in the West, North, and East directions of Mount Meru.
At the foot of the mountain at about 15, 000 feet is Lake Manasarovar, a fifteen-mile-wide circle of deep blue, which is the feminine complement to the male symbol that is the mountain. Kailash and Mansarovar Yatra by Helicopter designed to all the pious pilgrims who cross-oceans and continents in order to have a glimpse of the abode of Lord Shiva in a short time and a bit easy way. Yet, Kailash visited by no more than a few thousand pilgrims each year. This curious fact explained by the mountain's remote location in far western Tibet. No planes, trains or buses journey anywhere near the region and even with rugged over-land vehicles the journey still requires weeks of difficult, often dangerous travel. The weather, always cold, can be unexpectedly treacherous and pilgrims must carry all the supplies they will need for the entire journey.
Only the enlightened mind, free from the passions can claim the Kailash as it is not possible with physical body. The person who destroyed the ignorance and illusion can reach Kailash within the mind, the Manas as the source of soul and takes a dip in the Manasarovar as the consciousness. Just as the physical mountain, Kailash considered as the center of the known world, so Shiva is the center of the Self. Reaching calls for complete surrender of all the mental passions. To understand such a mindset requires a dimensional change in the manner of attitudes.
The kingdom of Shiva is the abode of Shiva and Parvati and their children and constant companion of Nandiswara and Sevita Sivani along with Devas, Ganas, Yaksha, Yogis, Siddha Purusha and Gandharvas.
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MOUNT KAILASH – THE ABODE OF SHIVA
Sadhguru: My experience and understanding of Kailash is something that I can never articulate. For me it’s so big that I am willing to die for it. That’s all I can say. When the first Jain Thirthankar came here to Mount Kailash, his name was Rishabdev, he came here with a mission. He had heard much about it. So he thought he will grab all this knowledge and go out and do something with it. He was a being who was open and receptive to the whole process. After being touched by Kailash, instead of taking the knowledge and going and doing something, he decided to merge with the mountain. He became a part of it. No being who has tasted it to some depth will be spared that temptation. When you are in touch with it, you begin to think, “This is it, why not?” Everything else – all the petty goals that we have set for ourselves to do this and that – become meaningless. This is not a death wish. When the opportunity to become immortal is thrown at you, there is temptation. When the possibility of becoming a part of such a grand affair is opened, it becomes a temptation hard to resist.
Mount Kailash is a tremendous spiritual library. The Buddhists consider Kailash as the axis of the existence. In the whole area from the Far-east Asian countries to the Indian sub-continent to the Central-Asian countries, and even in spaces as far as the Middle East, Kailash has been held as a very sacred space for centuries. That awareness has dropped in the last one or two centuries because there is no active culture to keep it up, but even today there are small groups of people who are very much aware of this.
Starting from Shiva himself, many great beings chose to deposit and preserve their work in Kailash. Rishabadev, the saints of the Bon religion, two of the greatest Buddhist teachers, Agastyamuni, the Nayanmars, – all of them chose Kailash Parvat.
In the Hindu way of life, people say Kailash is the Abode of Shiva. In the yogic culture we do not see Shiva as a God. We see him as a man who was the first yogi or the Adiyogi. And he was the Adi Guru or the first guru. He was the first one to transmit the yogic science to his first seven disciples, who came to be known as the Saptarishis. Shiva is the greatest mystic that we have known. So when we say “Abode of Shiva,” it does not mean that if you dig in the rocks or look up in the clouds somewhere you will find him. It is because everything that he knew has been deposited in Mount Kailash in a certain energy form. He chose this peak as a scaffolding for his knowing. The knowledge and the capability that Shiva was, all that is very alive and accessible at Kailash.
So, starting from Shiva himself, many great beings chose to deposit and preserve their work in Kailash. Rishabadev, the saints of the Bon religion, two of the greatest Buddhist teachers, Agastyamuni, the Nayanmars, – all of them chose Kailash Parvat as a place to preserve their work. Unfortunately, for most mystics on the planet, if they get to share one or two percent of their work with people around them, they are very fortunate. Most of them don’t even get to do that. So they always chose to deposit their work in some space that is not too frequented by human beings, but at the same time it’s accessible for those who wish to go. Kailash is such a place. It is not totally inaccessible but it’s hard enough to discourage a lot of people. There are many places like this in India.
There have been many places where mystics deposited their work, but Kailash has been the place.
Unfortunately, preparing people to receive what is known by a certain opening up of your own perception, doesn’t happen frequently enough. Whatever work you do with people around you constantly gets limited because of social restrictions to start with, and then by individual problems that people have – psychological and physiological limitations and karmic bondages. It is rare to be able to prepare one or two people who will be able to receive everything that you know. Very few masters have ever been that fortunate. The rest have to work around people and around the social norms and limitations. So, not even a small percentage of what they know gets actually transmitted or shared. They find rocks very receptive. There have been many places where mystics deposited their work, but Kailash has been the place. In terms of the volume and the variety that has been deposited in Kailash, it is the place.
The very idea behind a pilgrimage is fundamentally to subdue the sense of who you are. The idea of a trek or a mountaineering feat is always towards a sense of achievement to make yourself bigger than who you are, but the idea of a pilgrimage is to subdue yourself. It is to become nothing in the process of just walking and climbing and subjecting yourself to various arduous processes of nature. So these places of pilgrimage in the ancient past were always located in such places where a person has to go through a certain amount of physical, mental, and every kind of hardship to get there, so that in the process he becomes less than who he thinks he is right now. Today things have been made much comfortable. We are flying up and then driving down and just walking a little bit…
The fundamental idea of pilgrimage becomes much more relevant to modern societies than it was to the ancient ones. This pilgrimage in terms of the destination, probably is the greatest that one can make.
Physically we are much weaker human beings than what we used to be a thousand years ago. It is not an evolutionary thing. It is something social which has happened to us because somewhere we do not know how to make use of the comforts and conveniences that man’s ingenuity has brought into our lives. We have not used the comforts and conveniences of human ingenuity in the direction of our wellbeing. We have used it to make ourselves weaker, more difficult with ourselves and with the surroundings in which we exist. The planet or what the planet has to offer to us is becoming more difficult to human beings simply because of the comforts and conveniences that have been offered. So the fundamental idea of pilgrimage becomes much more relevant to modern societies than it was to the ancient ones. This pilgrimage in terms of the destination, probably is the greatest that one can make.
Bhagwan Shiv Shankar, the destroyer of ignorance and illusion, resides in the great mountain, Kailash (कैलाश पर्वत), where he sits in a state of perpetual meditation along with Shakti Mata, Parvati. He is the beginning and creator of Yog therefore the ultimate renunciate ascetic, he is god of all common beings, yet he is also the divine master of siddh yogis, sadhus, demi-gods and rakshas.
The word “Manasarovara” originates from Sanskrit language, which is a combination of the words “Manas” “sarovara” manas meaning mind andsarovara meaning lake. According to the Vedic Hindu Dharma, the lake was first created in the mind of the Lord Brahma after which it manifested on Earth.
God cannot be seen or met with limited senses that we all are born with. DuringGeeta Updesh, Bhagwan Krishn gave divya drishti and power to Arjun as he cannot see, hear Bhagwan Krishn’s Virat Roop and updesh with material senses of humans.
The mysteries and happenings occurring around Mount Kailash cannot be easily explained with limited resources we all have in the human form. We need to gain siddhi practicing celibacy, penance, austerity and piousness for several decades – staying away from this material world where instead we bond with family, colleagues, money and greed.
All these happenings do prove one thing that Bhagwan Shiv Shankar is protecting the world and guiding mother earth (Shakti Maa, Parvati) for the protection and security of human lives.
Russians did deep research on Mount Kailash (originally spelt as कैलाश पर्वत), abode of Bhawan Shiv, and proved that the mountain is indeed axis and nodal point of this world.
One of the ideas the Russians have put forward is that Mt. Kailas could be a vast, human-built pyramid, the centre of an entire complex of smaller pyramids, a hundred in total. This complex, moreover, might be the centre of a world–wide system connecting other monuments or sites where mysteries and unexplained phenomena have been observed.
The idea of the pyramid in this region is not new. It goes back to the timeless Sanskrit epic of the Ramayana.
Sita Mata was abducted by Lankan King Raavan, no one knew where Sita Maa was kept so a huge search exercise was planned with the Sugreev and VanarSena (team of chosen beings, monkeys, who were intellectually, physically and mentally far superior from humans of that time, they took rebirth to be a part ofleela for avatar of Bhagwan Vishnu to annihilate adharmis/anti-Vedic beings) . The exercise also helped Vanars gain new knowledge about various places in Bharat. The search begins and three mountain peaks of the Himalayas are mentioned, the Kala, Sudarshana and the Devasakha. Across these peaks, Sugreev informs the Vanars, is a vast expanse of barren plain land, crossing which they shall see Mount Kailash.
According to Ramayan, the vast expanse of land are the plains of Tibet, and the location of Mount Kailash is geographically correct. There are two ‘Kailash’ peaks in Tibet in today’s maps, but a quick search on Google Maps by looking up ‘Kailash, Burang, Ngari, China’, will pop up the right Mount Kailash. Those who are familiar with Mt. Kailash will recognize the peak and will be able to identify the grooves which are cut horizontally across (popularly referred to as the ‘jata’ of Bhagwan Shiv). An oblong reservoir (or the ‘yoni’) just below the peak, and Lake Mansarover (Mapam Yumco) down at level ground below are also easily identifiable. A look on the zoomed satellite image of the Mt, Kailash at Ngari, Tibet will revel some unique well known features of Mt. Kailash.
Sugreeva then mentions the mansion of Kubera built on Mt. Kailasha constructed by the celestial architect Vishwakarma.
Sugreev instructs the ‘vanaras’ to move ahead. He gives them three more mountain peak landmarks. He mentions Mount Krauncha with a highly impassable tunnel. Like Shiva bought down the Ganges on to Bharat Varsha (earth) from the heavens (Himalayas), his son or his ‘junior’ Skanda is credited with having chiseled a tunnel through Mt. Krauncha. One of the best known ancient tunnels in China is the Guolinag Tunnel in the Taihang Mountains. Up until 1972 only an ancient path chiseled through the rocks of this mountain linked the villages in the area to the outside world. Here is an image of the ancient path of Guolinag which was improved in 1972, not by the government, but once again by the locals. It took them five years to complete the task.
The Mount Krauncha reference given in Ramayan is one of the peaks in the Taihang Range which indicates that the tunnel is very ancient. The path is clearly mentioned in Ramayan: From Kailash (in the Himalayas) to Krauncha (in the Taihang Range), there are many other mountain peaks – namely the ‘treeless’ Mt. Kaama and the ‘abode of birds’, Mt. Maanasa, – that the ‘vanaras’ will see.
The history in Ramayan is referring to these two; Tuanjie as Kaama and Taibai as Maanasa. Sugreev instructs Vanars to scour all these mountains thoroughly in search for Sita Mata. These are the mountains of the Qinling Range which falls between the Himalayas and the Taihang Mountains as the ‘vanaras’ move in the north-east direction from Kailash. The two highest peaks, and therefore most visible, in this chain are the Tuanjie and the Taibai.
Then Sugreev mentions another peak called Mt. Mainaaka, which is identified by ‘a massive mansion built by demon architect by the name Maya’. Just as the ‘Ram-Setu’ of Ramayan (oldest bridge ever known to mankind) lies exactly in the spot mentioned in the Ramayana, and the Gympie Pyramid of Queensland (Australia) referred in Ramayan as ‘a peak like structure built by the celestial architect Vishwakarma’, Similarly, the ‘Mansion of Maya’ is also located on the same place as referred in China, it is another pre-historical megalithic structure built by ‘celestial beings’ of Ramayan. The maximum number of ancient pyramids of China, whose existence until recently was completely denied, lie in the Shaanxi Province. The chinese govt tried hard to hide these facts but when they failed to decipher their existence, Vedic structure and purpose, they admitted them to be very ancient. The largest one of them, the Xi’an is only 184 Km from the Taibai peak, well on the path of the ‘Vanaras’ mentioned in the Ramayana.
In the entire Himalayan range, from the parts of Bharat (India) to Tibet and parts of China, there lies range of ancient Pyramids (like Mt. Mainakaa is in Shaanxi province). These huge mountain peaks or pyramids are protected by mother of all peaks – Mount Kailash, an abode of Bhagwan Shiv.
Sugreev informs Vanars that the next landmark, after crossing over a vast province, would be a large lake by the name ‘Vaikhana”. Travelling North of China, crossing the Mongolian province or plateau, one would arrive at the eastern tip of Lake Baikal in Siberia. Its should be noted that ‘Vaikhana’ is also known as ‘Baikaal’ lake of Siberia.
Sugreev further added that the other (Western) end of Lake Vaikhana, is a river by the name Shailoda, and if the ‘vanaras’ were to follow its path northward, across many miles ‘they would reach the Northern Ocean’. This is indeed true. Shailoda has been identified as the present day Angara. River ‘Angara’ flows from the western tip of lake Baikaal and after many miles falls into the Kara Sea of North Arctic Ocean.
The name Kara has a Sanskrit origin which means tribute or ray of a celestial body. Ancient Indian texts refer to Siberia as Uttara-Kuru. ‘Uttara’ means ‘North’, ‘Kuru’ is the name of the Indian tribe that had traveled north. ‘Kara’, the name of the Sea into which the Angara River falls, is also known to be a distorted form of the ancient Sanskrit name ‘Kuru’. It is also said that ‘Kara’ Sea gets its name from the ‘Kara’ river which falls into it. ‘Kara’ here therefore also refer to the Sanskrit ‘krishna’ (कृष्ण) or ‘kala’ (काल) meaning ‘black.
Russians claim that all the mountains shaped in pyramid forms are actually built by super natural humans who were technologically advanced again seconding the details given in Ramayan that celestial beings did built these places.
Before dwelling into details of Russian scientists let us see what Vedas say. According to Vedas, there was definite purpose for each creation across the globe; mountains, trees, hills, lake, rivers, Ganges; each of these divine elements were bought or created by Vedic Gods for some purpose.
The Axis Mundi, the centre of the universe, the navel of the world, the world pillar, Kang Tisé or Kang Rinpoche (the ‘Precious Jewel of Snow’ in Tibetan), Meru (or Sumeru), Swastika Mountain, Mt. Astapada, Mt. Kangrinboge (the Chinese name) – all these names, belong to one of the most holiest and mysterious mountains in the world – Mount Kailash (कैलाश पर्वत).
Both geography and history play roles in the sacred significance of Mount Kailash. This holy mountain rises to an altitude of 6666 meters. It is called mother of all mountains though in terms of peaks in the nearby Himalayan range, which includes Mount Everest, its grandeur lies not in height but in its distinct shape – four sheer faces marking the cardinal points of the compass – and its solitary location, free of neighboring mountains that might dwarf or obscure it. Mount Kailash (कैलाश पर्वत) is regarded as the earthly and eternal manifestation of the Hindus’ Mount Meru, or Sumeru, the spiritual center of the universe, the axis mundi in Buddhist and Jain as well as Hindu cosmology. The area around this great mountain is the source of four life-giving rivers; the Indus, Brahmaputra, Surlej and Karnali, which is a major tributary of India’s sacred Ganges, begin here. To further enhance the symbolic authority of the mountain as a sacred place, two lakes are situated at the base of the mountain. The higher lake Manasarovar (one of the highest freshwater lakes in the world), is the sacred lake, and is round like the sun. The lower lake Rakshas Tal (one of the highest salt-water lakes) is the devil’s lake and has the shape of the crescent moon. The two lakes represent solar and lunar forces, good and negative energies respectively. Lake Manasarovar remains calm irrespective of the weather conditions whereas Rakshas Tal stays constantly stormy.
The most ancient scriptures of the world; Vedas, Purans, Shiv Puran and other Upnishads clearly inform to the human race that Mount Kailash (कैलाश पर्वत) is abode of Lord Shiva. To Tibetan Buddhists, who devised their own religion following Buddha, a Vedic Hindu by birth, Kailash is the abode of the tantric meditational deity Demchog. Hindus see Kailash as the throne of the great god Shiva, being ancient faith, this is considered more authoritative than other religions. Jains who follow Jainism which emerged from Hinduism, also revere Kailash, for them, one of their most significant deities received enlightenment here. Buddhist, Hindu and Jain pilgrims from the world over go to this holy mountain to circumambulate. Climbing Mount Kailas is forbidden (Tibetan monks claims that the only person to have ever been atop the sacred mountain is Milarepa, a 11th century Tibetan Buddhist Yogi). Here it can be seen that all religions that emerged from Hinduism are following ritual and rites of respecting same mountains and hills that Hindus revere as Vedic entities created by Gods.
Long before Buddhism took root in Tibet in the 7th century Kailas was venerated by the adherents of the Bön (or Bnpos or Bönpos), the indigenous, religion of the region who maintained that the mystic region around Mt. Kailas and the Nine-Story Swastika Mountain was the seat of all power. When viewed from the south face, a swastika can indeed be seen. According to Bön accounts, while the circumambulation is made (anticlockwise, whereas followers of the other religion walk in the clockwise direction) 18 powerful and enlightened teachers will appear in this eon including Tnpa Shenrab, the most powerful of them, the founder of the Bön religion. He is said to have been born in the mythical land of Olmo Lung Ring, whose location remains something of a mystery. The land is traditionally described as dominated by Mount Yungdrung Gu-tzeg (edifice of nine swastikas), which many identify as Mount Kailas.
Legends of a mythic land were spread throughout the centuries and became of interest to philosophers, adventurers, theologists and even… political leaders! It received many names: Shambhala, Shangri-La, etc., and many locations have been suggested: the Tibet plateau, the Gobi desert, the Altai, but the Mount Kailas range is most frequently named. Like many westerners, Frank Scassellatii was impressed by the divine ambiance of Mount Kailash range and wrote below which best describes the curious mixture of past and present, mysticism and reality:
There Lies a World Hidden,
Mysterious, unknown, and forbidden.
Where dwell entities with technologies
beyond our comprehension,
And knowledge kept hidden from us, in this
other dimension.
Will the truth ever be revealed?
Earthly forces of power and greed forever
sealed,
Forbidden knowledge for warfare to wield.
When humankind understands,
To use the knowledge acquired from these
strange lands. For the benefit of humankind,
Then entrance into their world we will find.
The interest has been universal. Tsar Nikolai Romanov had some connection with Tibet through the monk Badmaev, who was himself closely associated with a highly placed Tibetan, the lama Agvan Dordzhiyev, tutor and confidant of the 13th Dalai Lama. Dordzhiyev equated Russia with the coming Kingdom of Shambhala anticipated in the Kalachakra texts of Tibetan Buddhism. The lama opened the first Buddhist temple in Europe, in St. Petersburg, significantly dedicated to Kalachakra teaching. One of the Russian artists who worked on the St.Petersburg temple was Nicholas Roerich, who had been introduced by Dordzhiyev to the legend of Shambhala and to eastern thought. George Gurdjieff, another mystic who had some impact on Western thought, knew Prince Ukhtomsky, Badmaev, and Dordzhiyev. Gurdjieff was accused by the British of being a Russian spy in Central Asia, a pupil of the mysterious Tibetans. Even Marx had contacts with Tibetan lamas as did Lenin who met some of them in Switzerland.
What were these people interested in and what attracted them to Tibet? The beauty of the mountains or the mysticism? The desire to find the remains of lost civilizations or the desire to learn how to acquire extreme power so as to govern the world?
Not only contacts with lamas, but even expeditions were organised in this area. What, for example, brought about the odd juxtaposition of Tibetan lamas and German SS officers on the eve of World War II? The search for lost remnants of an imagined Aryan race hidden somewhere on the Tibetan plateau? Or some other reason? It is known that Nazi leaders such as Heinrich Himmler believed that Tibet might harbour the last of the original Aryan tribes, the legendary forefathers of what was considered the German race whose Aryan leaders were supposed to possess supernatural powers that the Nazis thought they could use to conquer the world. Ideas about an Aryan or master race began to appear in the popular media in the late nineteenth century.
In the 1890s, E. B. Lytton, a Rosicrucian, wrote a best-selling novel around the idea of a cosmic energy (particularly strong in the female s*x), which he calledVril Later he wrote of a Vril society, consisting of a race of super-beings that would emerge from their underground hiding places to rule the world. The Vril Society claimed to have links to Tibetan masters, apparently drawing on the ideas of Madame Blavatsky, the theosophist, who supported the existence of super-beings in a mystic land which she described in such well-known works as the Secret Doctrine. She claimed to be in telepathic contact with spiritual masters in Tibet and confirmed that she was receiving this information from them. Failing to show any ancient text proof or technological supportings or correct base, most of the intellectuals branded the secret doctrine theories as a form of propaganda based on misnomered self-belief. Most of the theories are built up either using concoctions of Vedic texts or simply reversing them shows that these people did believed in Vedas but have no courage to admit them in their non-Vedic society.
Nikolai Roerich went to the region of Tibet where he spent several years. Depending on the source, the reasons for his mission vary, from purely botanic studies in the region of the Gobi desert on behalf of the US Government to political and spiritual. He may have been inspired by Kalachakra teaching and legends of Shambhala while working at the painting of St.Petersburg temple, described above. His painting “The Path to Kailas” can be seen in the New York museum dedicated to his work. He devoted many years to the search for this mystic land.
Many of these people were ready to believe in the existence of the super-natural in whatever form – higher intelligence, power, or energy. This interest remains strong to this day in many countries, to find this axis mundi, the most powerful place, the highest power, or the hidden intelligence in whatever form it exists, if indeed it does.
Nor should one ignore recent Russian studies of Tibet and the Kailas range in particular, the results of which, if true, could radically alter our thinking on the growth of civilizations. One of the ideas the Russians have put forward is that Mt. Kailas could be a vast, human-built pyramid, the centre of an entire complex of smaller pyramids, a hundred in total. This complex, moreover, might be the centre of a world–wide system connecting other monuments or sites where paranormal phenomena (mysteries which cannot be solved by human beings) have been observed.
As per UN Special, the pyramidal complex are also proposed by the Russians in modern times. Though the idea of the pyramid in this region is not new. It goes back to the timeless Sanskrit epic of the Ramayan. Since then, numerous travellers, especially in the beginning of the 20th century, have expressed the view that Mount Kailash (कैलाश पर्वत) is too perfect to be a totally natural phenomenon, or at any rate give the appearance of human intervention.
For example:
In shape it (Mount Kailas) resembles a vast cathedral (the scientific concept of Idol worship emerged from Hinduism)… the sides of the mountain are perpendicular and fall sheer for hundreds of feet, the strata horizontal, the layers of stone varying slightly in colour, and the dividing lines showing up clear and distinct…… which give to the entire mountain the appearance of having been built by giant hands, of huge blocks of reddish stone. (G.C. Rawling, The Great Plateau, London, 1905).
Vedic Scientists believed that it is actually the Sahasra Chakra in our body, which is center of Supreme Consciousness (Shiva). When Kundalini reaches there She meets Shiva. The Physical counterpart is Mount Kailash, where the energy of Shiva is centered in material earth. According to Hindu texts, Bhagwan Shiv resides at the summit of the Kailash. Using indepth knowledge of Vedas, the research done by Robert is shown in representational pictorial form.
However, it is only fair to add that the Russian claims to have discovered in the Mount Kailash (कैलाश पर्वत) or Mt. Kailas area the highest ever human-built pyramids were denied three years later by Chinese scientists in the official Chinese Press, it is the same press which denied all the mysteries around Mount Kailash (कैलाश पर्वत) because they had no specific answers. Of human construction or not, Mt. Kailas is one of the most mysterious, secret and at the same time one of the most holy and sacred mountains of Asia, if not of the world) the circumambulation of which has for many centuries or possibly many millennia remained a vital pilgrimage, symbolising the life’s stages of death, purification and rebirth. Buddhists and Jains refer to the circumambulation as khora, Hindus as parikrama even most anti-Vedic people do tawaf in Kaaba following same Vedic ritual. A single circumambulation equals one turn of the Wheel of Life and will wipe away the sins of one’s life, twelve circumambulations will purify one’s karma for all past and future lives, enlightenment is attained after 108. Even one khora presents an extremely difficult task since the mountain is difficult of access and dangerous
Dangers or not, some of us may dream of discovering for ourselves what there is to be seen on this mountain. Pending this adventure, Wolf Scott decided to speak to some of the few people who have circumambulated the mountain and recorded their personal experiences, to ask for their records and to interview them. January-August 2004, UNSpecial (thanks to Mr. Wolf Scott, former Deputy Director of UNRIS)
Tibetan international scientific expedition of 2003-2004 (University of Munich, headed by Professor K. Figelman, Nobel laureate) got sensational results: there is global, planetary system of the pyramids! Spotted an undeniable connection between the complex Tibetan pyramids with other buildings of antiquity — the Egyptian and Mexican pyramids, giants of Easter Island, Lebanon Baalbek and Stonehenge in England … The height of the main pyramid of Tibet — Mount Kailash — is just 6666 meters. Distance from Kailasa to the North Pole is 6666 kilometers, the distance from Stonehenge to Kailash is also the same 6666 kilometers, and in the end, is 6666 kilometers from Stonehenge to the middle of the Bermuda Triangle!
1. The height of the pious Mount Kailash is 6666 meters. It is axis of the mother earth and maintains the atmosphere of the world which keeps all living beings alive. The mother of all mountains is the concentration of the four major rivers of India, Tibet and Nepal: the Indus, Karnali, Sutlej, Brahmaputra.
2. The second anomaly which is unsolved around mountain Kailash are two lakes — Manasarovar knows as God Lake and Rakshas Tal known as Devil Lake. They are located next to each other divided with a thin isthmus of the mountains, as if to show the difference between Good and Bad.
3. Manasarovar is a lively and clean water fresh lake revered by Hindus since thousands of years before any other religious people. Tibetans also revere the lake located at 4560 above sea level as sacred. From it you can take water for drinking and bathing. Interesting it kept scientists very much baffled because in any weather, Manasarovar remained calm, letting humans reap benefits of the holy water.
4. Based on the same locations and atmosphere, Raksas Tal (Dead Lake or Lake Demon) is salt lake created just beside Fresh Water Lake Mansarovar. The Salt lake is constantly stormy, regardless of weather conditions; which is shocking for geologists since it is located in the same place. No one wants to come near to the Lake even touching the water of the lake is prohibited, not to mention the fact that no one dares to swim on the dead lake, Raksas Tal. Scientists the world over are unable to decipher the peculiar difference between two lakes.
5. The unsolved natural riddle of pious Mount Kailash is that time travels too fast which is not seen any where in any place in the world — the rapid aging of those who are near it.
Quicker growth of hairs, nails perplexes people – 12 hours spent near it is equivalent to two weeks in normal conditions.
6. Though no one dares to climb the abode of Divine Gods who come here to respect Lord Shiva and Parvati Mata. The mountain mysteriously changes the target installation to those who approach very closely to it, and those who want to climb it, all of a sudden get set to go in the opposite direction. Despite numerous attempts to defy Hindu Vedic texts, expert expeditioners failed to climb the summit of Mount Kailash. Lord Shiva himself does not want climbers to face the wrath of attempting to climb the mountain. That is the reason, the position of tracks are changed. The divine intervention is not to cause any problem to the innocent humans who are naive and ingenuous. Because in their insanity, these climbers are disrespecting the mountain since they are not following the sacred practice of elevating consciousness to meet Lord Shiva and Divine Gods. Only enhancing consciousness level while following Vedic principles can make one eligible to meet Hindu Gods. No materialistic equipments, technology can make the expedition a success. Mount Kailash (कैलाश पर्वत) is mother of the world of mountains and axis of the earth.
7. Very interestingly intriguing is the geographical position of Mount Kailash Range which controls mysterious mountains of Easter Island, which are located exactly on the opposite side of the globe. Easter Island is known to be very famous for many unsolved mysteries: gigantic stone idols and wooden planks.
Scientists who study the mountain and its secrets, and those who could see firsthand the Kailash as the one claiming that it has a pyramidal shape, assert that the mountain, like all known pyramids, strictly oriented to the cardinal points.
1. Many researchers believe that the foot and at the middle level of the mountain has voids. This assumption give grounds for scientists, geologists and climbers to consider: Mount Kailash — it’s unnatural, ancient structure raised the unknown to someone unknown.
2. Another unfathomable mystery of Mount Kailash is its geographical position in relation to other ancient monuments and the Earth’s poles. For some unexplainable reason for all of us; the distance from Stonehenge to Kailash is also the exactly 6666 kilometers.
The distance from the Mount Kailash to the north pole is 6666 Km, and to the South Pole is exactly twice the distance to North Pole. The mother of all Mountains, Mount Kailash is located in sync with all major monuments of the world.
3. The Distance between various monuments are:
Kailash to North pole – 6666 Km;
Kailash to Stonehenge – 6666 Km;
Egyptian pyramids to North pole – 6666 Km;
Stonehenge to Devil’s tower – 6666 Km;
Stonehenge to Bermuda triangle – 6666 Km;
Bermuda triangle to Easter island – 6666 Km;
Easter island to Tazumal – 6666 Km
4. One of the most “mysterious” secret of Mount Kailash is at its adjacent, the sarcophagus Nanda. Having completed a number of studies, the researchers found the presence of cavities inside the sarcophagus. Ancient Chinese legends say that the sarcophagus serves as a refuge in which a state of deep meditation (somatic) are all great teachers, Bhagwan Krishna, Jesus, Buddha, Confucius, Zoroaster, and other Hindu sages sent to the world for its existence. The purpose of their centuries-long stay — as they say – the preservation and restoration of the human gene pool in the event of the death of civilization. All great sages meditate Lord Shiva in the mountain range of Mount Kailash.
5. Above all secrets, according to all religions and Hindu Dharma that revere the mountain, setting foot on its slopes is a dire sin. It is claimed that many people who ventured to defy the warning have died in the process so Mount Kailash has never been climbed & climbing Mount Kailas is stricly forbidden.
It is a popular belief that the stairways on Mount Kailash lead to heaven.
History of holy places around Mount Kailash range were spread throughout many centuries, has attracted millions of Hindu devotees, other religious people and also became of interest to philosophers, adventurers, theologists scetist and even… political leaders! It received many names: Shambhala, Shangri-La, etc.
Mt. Kailash is as mysteric as its size. A great mass of rock soaring to over 22,000 feet, Mt. Kailash has the unique distinction of being the world’s most venerated holy place at the same time that it is the least visited. The supremely sacred site of Hindu dharma and 3 other religions and billions of people, Kailash is seen by no more than a few thousand pilgrims each year. This curious fact is explained by the mountain’s remote location in far western Tibet. No planes, trains or buses journey anywhere near the region and even with rugged over-land vehicles the journey still requires weeks of difficult, often dangerous travel. The weather, always cold, can be unexpectedly treacherous and pilgrims must carry all the supplies they will need for the entire journey.
The landscape around the mountain is rugged and dry but crossed by crystalline blue streams and other bodies of water. Near the sacred mountain is the source of the Indus, Sutlej and Bramaputra rivers and on its south side are two freshwater lakes, the easternmost of which is the highly sacred Lake Manasarowar (Mapam). With an altitude of 14,950 feet, Mansarovar is the highest body of fresh water in the world. The other lake, Rakshastal, also has legendary significance. According to Vedic Hindu texts, Shiva, the god of destruction and regeneration, resides at the summit of a legendary mountain named Kailasa. Mount Kailasa is regarded in many sects of Hinduism as Paradise, the ultimate destination of souls and the spiritual center of the world. According to a beautiful description in the Puranas, Mount Kailash’s four faces are made of crystal, ruby, gold, and lapis lazuli; it is the pillar of the world; rises 84,000 leagues high; is the center of the world mandala; and is located at the heart of six mountain ranges symbolizing a lotus. From it flow four rivers, which stretch to the four quarters of the world and divide the world into four regions.
Kailash is sacred to other religions which emerged from Vedic dharma, Hinduism. The Jains call the mountain Astapada and believe it to be the place where Rishaba, the first of the twenty-four Tirthankaras attained liberation. Followers of Bon, Tibet’s pre-Buddhist, shamanistic religion, call the mountain Tise and believe it to be the seat of the Sky Goddess Sipaimen. Additionally, Bon myths regard Tise as the sight of a legendary 12th century battle of sorcery between the Buddhist sage Milarepa and the Bon shaman Naro Bon-chung. Milarepa’s defeat of the shaman displaced Bon as the primary religion of Tibet, firmly establishing Buddhism in its place. While the Buddha is believed to have magically visited Kailash in the 5th century BC, the religion of Buddhism only entered Tibet, via Nepal and India, in the 7th century AD. Tibetan Buddhists call the mountain Kang Rimpoche, the ‘Precious One of Glacial Snow’, and regard it as the dwelling place of Demchog (also known as Chakrasamvara) and his consort, Dorje Phagmo. Three hills rising near Kang Rimpoche are believed to be the homes of the the Bodhisatvas Manjushri, Vajrapani, and Avalokiteshvara.
Pilgrims to Kailash, after the difficult journey getting there, are then confronted with the equally arduous task of circumambulating the sacred peak. This walking around the mountain (clockwise for the Buddhists, counter-clockwise for Bon adherents) is known as a Kora, or Parikrama, and normally takes three days. In hopes of gaining extra merit or psychic powers however, some pilgrims will vary the tempo of their movement. A hardy few, practicing a secret breathing technique known as Lung-gom, will power themselves around the mountain in only one day. Others will take two to three weeks for the Kora by making full body prostrations the entire way. It is believed that a pilgrim who completes 108 journeys around the mountain is assured enlightenment. Most pilgrims to Kailash will also take a short plunge in the nearby, highly sacred (and very cold) Lake Manosaravar. The word ‘manas’ means mind or consciousness; the name Manosaravar means Lake of Consciousness and Enlightenment. Adjacent to Manosaravar is Rakas Tal or Rakshas, the Lake of Demons. Pilgrimage to this great sacred mountain and these two magical lakes is a life changing experience and an opportunity to view some of the most magical scenery on the entire planet. No pilgrims climb Mt. Kailash; all four religions believe it would be a serious act of sacrilege to set foot on its slopes. Legend has it that the only person to have reached the summit is the Buddhist champion Milarepa (who flew to the top in the 12th century) and that all others who have ventured to defy the warning have died in the process.The mountain is located in a particularly remote and inhospitable area of the Tibetan Himalayas. Only those in the best health are able to undertake the journey even to the starting point of the circumambulation, let alone walk 52 km in a single day. A few modern amenities, such as benches, resting places and refreshment kiosks, exist to aid the pilgrims in their devotions.
Bhagwan Shiv is formless and in form. Shiv is present everywhere. Shiv is in manifestation and before Manifestation. Shiv is Beginning and End. Shiv has no Beginning and no End.
The Axis Mundi, the centre of the universe, the navel of the world, the world pillar, Kang Tisé or Kang Rinpoche (the ‘Precious Jewel of Snow’ in Tibetan), Meru (or Sumeru), Swastika Mountain, Mt. Astapada, Mt. Kangrinboge (the Chinese name) - all these names, real or legendary, belong to one of the holiest and most mysterious mountains in the world – Mount Kailas.
Both geography and mythology play roles in the sacred significance of Mount Kailas. This holy mountain rises to an altitude of 6714 meters. It cannot compete with peaks in the nearby Himalayan range, which includes Mount Everest, and its grandeur lies not in height but in its distinct shape – four sheer faces marking the cardinal points of the compass – and its solitary location, free of neighboring mountains that might dwarf or obscure it. Mt. Kailas is regarded as the earthly manifestation of the Hindus’ mythic Mount Meru, or Sumeru, the spiritual center of the universe, the axis mundi in Buddhist and Jain as well as Hindu cosmology. The area around this great mountain is the source of four life-giving rivers; the Indus, Brahmaputra, Surlej and Karnali, which is a major tributary of India’s sacred Ganges, begin here. To further enhance the symbolic mysticism of the mountain as a sacred place, two lakes are situated at the base of the mountain. The higher lake Manasarovar (one of the highest freshwater lakes in the world), is the sacred lake, and is round like the sun. The lower lake Rakhast Tal (one of the highest salt-water lakes) is the devil’s lake and has the shape of the crescent moon. The two lakes represent solar and lunar forces, good and negative energies respectively.
To Tibetan Buddhists, Kailas is the abode of the tantric meditational deity Demchog. Hindus see Kailas as the throne of the great god Shiva, one of their most significant deities. Jains revere Kailas as the site at which their first prophet received enlightenment. Buddhist, Hindu and Jain pilgrims from the world over go to this holy mountain to circumambulate. Climbing Mount Kailas is forbidden (the only person to have ever been atop the sacred mountain is Milarepa, a 11th century Tibetan Buddhist yogi).
Long before Buddhism took root in Tibet in the 7th century Kailas was venerated by the adherents of the Bön (or Bnpos or Bönpos), the indigenous, religion of the region who maintained that the mystic region around Mt. Kailas and the Nine-Story Swastika Mountain was the seat of all power. When viewed from the south face, a swastika can indeed be seen. According to Bön accounts, while the circumambulation is made (anticlockwise, whereas followers of the other religion walk in the clockwise direction) 18 powerful and enlightened teachers will appear in this eon including Tnpa Shenrab, the most powerful of them, the founder of the Bön religion. He is said to have been born in the mythical land of Olmo Lung Ring, whose location remains something of a mystery. The land is traditionally described as dominated by Mount Yungdrung Gu-tzeg (edifice of nine swastikas), which many identify as Mount Kailas.
Legends of a mythic land were spread throughout the centuries and became of interest to philosophers, adventurers, theologists and even… political leaders! It received many names: Shambhala, Shangri-La, etc., and many locations have been suggested: the Tibet plateau, the Gobi desert, the Altai, but the Mount Kailas range is most frequently named. The poem by Frank Scassellatii below best describes the curious mixture of past and present, mysticism and reality.