In his multidimensional paper on the work of preeminent and world-renowned Mongolist and historian Dr. Shagdargen Bira, Dr. Lokesh Chandra quotes Goethe:

He whose vision cannot cover
History’s three thousand years
Must in outer darkness hover.

His linking of Dr. Bira and this passage from Goethe underscores a crucial reality: the Human Being requires a psychological orientation that can comprise the full accounting of his identity.  In this great accounting, the soul is confirmed and substantiated.  And robbed of historical legacy, the soul falls into peril and must be rescued by the servants of the Infinite, the visionary historians.  Those who, like Dr. Bira, have shouldered this task deserve to be honored in our daily actions, which increase in dignity and compassion as a result of the awareness that they awaken.

It is interesting to note that in Goethe’s time, history was regarded in the West as a tale that indeed could be told within the mental parameters of 3000 years.   Now, collective self-knowledge has expanded considerably.  Now, we take for granted an historical awareness that comprises a much greater span.  The majestic pan-Mongolian region reverberates with the powerful energies accumulated over a span of time which, while subject to scientific revisions, invites us to consider a history of unprecedented depth.  It is said that the Buddha Tonpa Shenrap Miwoche left his native Shambhala to share knowledge with the outside world, founding the Zhangzhung Civilization and the Bon religion, the precursor of modern Buddhism.  It is said that this took place some 18,000 years ago.  I am not sure if anyone can say with certainty the exact age of Shambhala itself, nevertheless, it persists as the region’s most formidable historical reference and recollection, as well as its most powerful “projection”.  Its historical reality confirms the living principles that will recreate an era of peace.

Shambhala was and will be.  And serious Shambhala researchers have the intuitive power to understand that their work unravels and confirms ancient realities even as it promotes an actualization of the eternal truths that are revealed in the process.  The world cries out for Shambhala.  We strive to reconnect with cosmic truths in an effort to overcome the lethal divisions that exist between us and our natural world, and even within ourselves.  We seek a clarity and a path that will lead us back to original source of wisdom. 

Human forgeries, in the form of ideologies, have been used to consolidate psychological control of populations. Those already awakening to Shambhala consciousness are increasingly able to spot these forgeries, these destructive unrealities that have been imposed on the collective consciousness by the agents of oligarchy. 

The way to conceptualize Shambhala is to imagine the ability to detect living truths behind the screens of untruths and then to reach through the screen of falsehood and take hold of the living cosmic reality.  When one makes a practice of this, the result will be Shambhala–a constantly developing state of goodwill and the alignment of fortunes.  Shambhala is the natural result of the lively adherence to cosmic truths which do not vary but are nevertheless infinitely flexible.  And so, whoever we are, we can feel the immediate empowerment to do the right thing. And so, the study of Shambhala eventually brings about its realization: a truly pro-human society!

Shambhala is the living, factual manifestation of the Divine principle of development.  Our every thought, wish, desire, instinct, breath and understanding develops.  In our inward lives, we sometimes strive toward and sometimes resist develoment.  But there is no denying that it is a fundamental force inherent in creation.  And, just as we must strive for harmony, we must indeed honor this natural principle, to expand our understanding and insight.  This is true in our inner lives, our relations with one another and in our social context.  It is nowhere untrue.  We strive to know more and live more feelingly.  In this way, we promulgate a spirit of holistic development.  In our awareness of environmental considerations, our respect for the feelings of one another and our humble wish to make the most of creation’s gifts, we cannot fail to develop in extraordinary ways.  It is a future we needn’t fear.  We must, in fact, resist the propaganda of fear as we spiritually, and in every way, prepare for the future.  Achieving balance between Earth and Sky, the Human Being progresses joyfully, energized by gratitude and the desire to contribute.

What do I currently understand about Shambhala?  That it is about tuning with one another.  When we become attuned to our environment and most especially with ourselves and other human beings we resonate with powerful cosmic truths.  The harmonies we create are also powerful: when tune to one another, as is the practice in a good choir, the energy we create is vibrationally superior, more engaging, with a greatly enhanced power of projection.  A well-tuned choir can fill an enormous chasm with very soft singing because the well-tuned intervals create a host of overtones that then carry the sound almost effortlessly.  The overtones produced by well-tuned musical intervals have sometimes been referred to as “visitors” because these are tones that seem to appear out of nowhere: there is no voice in the choir that sings the ghostly note you can hear quite distinctly, yet this overtone is the mathematically predictable phenomenon inherent in all matter in the Universe.  These visitors enchant, aid, mystify and ultimately enthrall, but they are absolute emanations of an intelligent universe that have strict mathematical value. 

Perhaps this is the source of their enchantment: they remind us of cosmic reality, they connect to us something so fundamental that it creates the sense of a ghostly encounter.  All good singers create the beauty of their sound through the cultivation of attractive overtones within the single voice.  Bringing this awareness to the choral setting allows for some rather stunning musical experiences.  It is not a matter of opinion.  It is a matter of fact.  Well-tuned intervals generate cosmic truths and move us on a cellular level. 

So it is with Shambhala.  People argue uselessly about whether Shambhala has physical reality or whether it is a state of mind or a myth like the Holy Grail.  I believe that it is all of these in a resoundingly emphatic and absolute way.  Reality itself is all of these!  And Shambhala can only happen in reality!  People need food, medicine, education, a free and uncoercive civic life.  Every aspect of life is sacred, together with the sacred principle of development.  Shambhala clears away obfuscation and does do joyously! 

Shambhala resolves the tensions between the individual and the collective.  It does so, through ceaseless and attentive tuning, joyous vigiliance.  A good choir consists of very thoughtful asked interesting people.  They must organize themselves internally to able to produce the results described above.  Therefore, the physical manifestation of a mathematically predictable event–the blissful experience of hearing well-tuned choral music–begins in the inner psychic realm of each singer.  So it is with Shambhala.  Once created, the physical overtones–the visitors–exist as reality.  Similarly, when we become  attuned to one another in society, Shambhala exists and is verifiable by direct experience.  This is the message that the original and current keepers of Shambhala wish to impart.  We can exercise the prerogative at any moment to bring ourselves more in tune with one another and with cosmic truths, which are ultimately one.  The effect we produce will be measurably more powerful, more meaningful and more effective.  And it will seem to be achieved with less effort.  On a personal level, this state is analogous to “being in flow”.   On the level of society, this is Shambhala.  It is always a measurable objective reality in which compassionate beings react and create in harmony with one another and with cosmic principles!  That is, when Shambhala is achieved, it manifests startling objective results.  It affects every aspect of human existence.  There is no aspect that is not transformed by this merging of conceptual dualities.  The physical world and the spirit world become one.  The physical needs, the intellectual cravings, the cultural manifestations as well as administrative necessities are equally sacred in Shambhala.  No aspect of life, and no person, is left out of the equation in Shambhala.  And its verifiability is as calculable as that of good musicianship.  Indeed, these vibrational intervals resound at every level of being. 

Shambhala is about harmony with one another and with the principles that gave rise to everything that exists.  It will someday be shown that emotions can be described mathematically.  Far from being a reduction of life to prosaic terms, it will makes us gasp in astonishment at the beauty of the universe with its creative principles and infinite potential for invention.  We must remember that harmony is not a static state.  It is not frozen or even pristine.  It is always developing at every energetic level!  A good singer does not simply hold a note.  The note must develop–it has a life, it must express that life!  It contributes something and so it has a beginning, a middle and an end!  The journey of a single note joins to the melody and ultimately contributes to the entire elaboration of ceaselessly changing and developing elements.  And so, development provides this essential directional it from which the sources of harmony draw their personal strength. 

Shambhala is the verifiable result of cosmic harmony which begins in consciousness and carries into objective reality.  And its effect is to unify reality and consciousness in such an way as to give us the experience of unity consciousness.  And, in this context, unity consciousness does not refer to the individual practices of isolated individuals, but to the real world, the one that is shared and sustained by all of us.  It is this world that is objectively made whole and devoid of delusion and unnecessary suffering.  This is Shambhala.  It is physically real.  It is a state of mind.  It has an historical and geographical basis, but its mythic aspect is a map not merely of the past but of all time.  Shambhala operates in all things.  It can be actualized by listening.  By caring.  By organizing.  By innovating.  Good singers do all of these things.  And for a meaningful moment, Shambhala is created in sound.

This is my current understanding.  I am very fortunate to be able to develop this understanding in conjunction with Mongolia’s top Shambhala researchers, experts and spiritual connectors.  The rigors ahead are the stuff of discovery.  It is usually this way in Mongolia: miracles are always being discovered by challenging obstructions and seeking the path of spirit.  One can breathe it in, see it reflected in the eyes of a friend.  One cannot doubt Shambhala.  Once we connect with it, tune ourselves and allow the development infinite melody, we will, in an sense, be reintroduced to the world.  It will be a world thriving and compassionate.