Sacred places - Shambhala, Belovodye, Tebu. Russian Shambhala Pilgrims to the Valley of the Immortals

Shambhala, like Atlantis, remains a legendary country in people's minds. Research expeditions are still sent to the Himalayas to search for it. An interesting question is: why are myths preserved in our memory for so long and persistently, passed on from generation to generation? Perhaps because of the connection of the legend with the future, with the plot of the general battle between the forces of good and evil, as a result of which the golden era of humanity will supposedly come? Answers to these questions were sought at different times by people completely different in nationality and culture: Buddhist believers, mystics of various schools and directions, adventurers and adventurers, Nazis and Roerich followers.

It’s interesting that the Russian people also had their own Shambhala. This Belovodye is “the kingdom of prosperity and equality, where people do not get sick, and the grain will be born on its own.” Initially it was placed in the Urals. Then in the North, to those places where Surgut later grew up - a city that was started by four people, and now almost 300 thousand live here. In the end, the Old Believers, who set off in the 18th century in search of Belovodye, remained to live on the Altai Lake Akkem at the foot of Belukha.

White North

White color, symbolizing purity, is sacred to Russian people who dreamed of better life and directed their gaze to the North. It was here that, according to bookworms, preachers and simply dreamers, there was a blessed country, comparable only to earthly paradise. It was given different names in folklore: “The Land of Justice and Prosperity”, “The Forbidden Land”, “The Land of White Waters and High Mountains”, “The Land of Light Spirits”, “The Land of Living Fire”. The most famous is the North Russian legend about Belovodye. According to the Mazurin Chronicler, the legendary Russian princes Sloven and Rus, long before Rurik, “possessed northern lands throughout Pomerania: both to the great Ob River and to the mouth of Belovodnaya Voda.” And this water was “white as milk...”. The legends of the northern peoples of the 9th century speak of a sacred temple “on a mountain surrounded by an arm of the sea.” Perhaps the prototype of Belovodye was the temple of the god Yamal on the Yamal Peninsula near the mouth of the Ob. Or Buyan Island, which in ancient times was located on the Eastern Sea, on the site of Eastern Siberia.

Belovodye is called “the ancestral home of Wisdom, universal knowledge and Happiness.” Just like Shambhala, but many researchers incorrectly try to identify them, because a simple comparison of the plot details of the Buddhist myth about clean land and the Christian myth of the Old Believers about a just society somewhere beyond the Urals, shows that there are more differences than coincidences. According to Russian faith, Belovodye - real place on a land where there is no oppression of the boyars, and justice reigns. On the contrary, Shambhala for Buddhists is an invisible land, which became such after initiation into Kalachakra. If they sought to find Belovodye for the sake of a quiet worldly life, then they sought Shambhala for the sake of gaining knowledge and spiritual enlightenment. An important detail: the myth of Belovodye arose almost seven centuries later than the first evidence of Shambhala.

Searching for the land of happiness

In the 17th century, many Orthodox Christians did not accept the reforms of the Russian Metropolitan Nikon and broke away from the Orthodox Church. Old Believer legends and manuscripts speak of the flight of a considerable number of schismatics from the Solovetsky monastery and other places in the Russian state. They even provide specific information about the colonists, saying that they live “in the depths of the Okiyan-sea, in a place called Belovodye, where there are many lakes, and seventy islands, some of them 600 miles long,” etc. True, afterwards the Russian wanderers changed their ideas about the location of the Land of Happiness and looked for it in China, Mongolia and Tibet, right up to a certain “Opon State”.

In 1893, the Old Believers developed a legend about Grand Duke Vladimir the Red Sun, who sent Father Sergius with an embassy to look for Belovodye. This undertaking supposedly took 56 years, but he brought back only stories about the fabulous abode of eternal beauty and truth. And about one of its features: not everyone can get to this country and penetrate, but only a chosen one. Gradually, Russian settlers moved east, and the undiscovered land of blessed Belovodye shifted in the minds of people further and further into undeveloped territories. For example, the “Report to the Government of the Peasant Dementiy Bobylev,” compiled at the beginning of the 19th century, speaks of an ancient belief popular among Old Believers: “Whoever follows in the footsteps of the Tatar conquerors to Mongolia will find the Land of White Waters, presumably Lake Lop Nor - a white lake, covered with a layer of salt, from where the path led to the foothills of Kunlun.”

According to the legend recorded by N. Roerich, the road to Belovodye lies through Altai: “From here you will go between the Irtysh and Argun. If you don't get lost, you'll come to the salt lakes. And you will reach the Bogogorsha Mountains, and from there the road will be even more difficult. Once you master it, you will come to Kokushi. And then take the path, through Ergor itself, to the snowiest country, and beyond the most high mountains will sacred valley. There it is, Belovodye itself... In distant countries, beyond the great lakes, behind the high mountains, there is a sacred place where justice flourishes. There lives the Highest knowledge and the Highest wisdom for the salvation of the entire future of humanity.”

The path to the country of Belovodye is described in the handwritten “Journey of the Monk Mark to the Oponya Kingdom,” where he allegedly discovered 179 Orthodox churches and among them 40 Russian. A detailed story about the journey of the Altai Old Believers to Western China to Lake Lop Nor and further, to the highlands of Kunlun, is given in the novel by P.I. Melnikov "In the forests". The first group of Russians in search of free land set off in 1840, but the largest group of 130 people came to Lop Nor in 1860, where the travelers settled, built a village, and began to plow the land.

Belody, a Russian dream that arose in Altai in the 17th-18th centuries, is assigned to the area of ​​Lake Lop Nor in the south of the Gobi Desert. It is noteworthy that this is one of the most important archaeological areas of the globe, discovered only at the beginning of the 20th century by the Swedish explorer and geographer Sven Hedin. In Taklamakan, the most treacherous and dangerous desert in the world, he and a group of five people then came across the traces of Loulan. A sandstorm exposed the ruins of a city that once stood on an island and was buried 1,500 years ago by drifting sand dunes. Subsequent excavations confirmed the habitation of people here ten thousand years ago, when the climate was more favorable than today. The dry climate and sand turned out to be excellent preservatives. Ancient objects that decompose over time in other places on the globe remain intact here. Interestingly, Loulan, a new contender for the title of Shambhala, is located on the territory of the modern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China, 520 km southeast of Urumqi.

Outstanding researcher of Central Asia P.M. Przhevalsky zealously searched for traces of 130 Old Believers from Altai in the vicinity of Lop Nor. Evidence of the search by Russian Old Believers for Belovodye was also recorded by the pioneers in Central Asia P.K. Kozlov. G.E. Grum-Grzhimailo, V. Rockhall, G. Bonvalot. Information has been preserved about the journey of the brothers Semyon and Khrisanf Bobrov, a group led by Emelyan Zyryanov, a detachment led by a certain Ivan, etc. They were looking for Belovodye, meaning by this a mythical country where the Orthodox faith had been preserved since ancient times in its purity, that is, in a form not affected by the reforms of Patriarch Nikon. And just a free place where you can live in abundance, hide from religious oppression and become inaccessible to the authorities. Many leaders of Old Believer campaigns deep into China previously went to the Lop Nor area for reconnaissance. Therefore, they knew very well that there were no ancient Orthodox cities with “churches, metropolitans and bishops” described in the legend of Belovodye in Chinese lands. What were people hoping for? What “did they abandon in a distant land, what did they look for in a foreign land”?

Mecca for tourists

Today, the descendants of the Old Believers, who set off in the 18th century in search of Belovodye, are called “Kerzhaks”, “masons”, “old people”. They live separately in large villages and are very scrupulous about accepting new members into their midst. For example, in Altai one of such settlements is the regional center of Ust-Koks. And Upper Uimon, located fifteen kilometers from Multa, is about 300 years old. A distinctive feature is the cleanliness of the village and the front gardens and facades of houses painted in bright colors. Previously, Old Believers lived in Russian five-walled huts and wore linen clothes decorated with symbolic patterns. Today their way of life has changed, a large number of brick houses and ordinary European clothes have appeared, but visitors still note the abundance of milk and honey in the villages of the Old Believers, colorful crane wells and well-groomed gardens.

The community of Old Believers that emerged in Altai in the 18th century lived according to its own rules and orders, according to its own unwritten, but strictly observed laws. They were forbidden to drink alcohol or smoke tobacco. Theft and lies were considered the most terrible sins. For serious offenses they were expelled from the community. The families of the Old Believers were large, up to 15-20 people. These were very hardworking and clean people, accustomed to working hard and honestly from childhood.

Today Altai with its Old Believers, the famous snow massif Belukha - highest peak Altai and Siberia (4506 meters) is a kind of Mecca for tourists. It was at the foot of Belukha, in the picturesque Uimon Valley, that N. Roerich sought to obtain a concession for the development of deposits. His “Great Plan” for the creation of a Mongol-Siberian Buddhist state included the construction of a future capital here called Zvenigorod. But his plans did not come true. And the legends he spread about Belovodye and Shambhala became bizarrely mixed up in people’s minds and began to be mistakenly associated with Mount Belukha. The largest influx of pilgrims occurs in August, when, according to followers of Roerich, Mount Belukha “opens” for communication with the Cosmos. The tourist route is called “Belovodye”, from the milky-white Katun River, which originates at the foot of Belukha to Lake Akkem (translated from Altai as “White River”).

Since ancient times, humanity has been searching for the promised land. First, Atlantis, the kingdom of John and other places of power, mystery, mysticism, and new knowledge. In the 19th century, humanity found a new object for search - Shambhala.

The first time they heard about Shambhala in Europe was from the Jesuits in 1627. These monks walked around Asia, telling the inhabitants about Jesus, but they answered that we have a place where the Great Teachers reside - Shambhala and showed the Jesuits towards the north. They searched for the mysterious Shambhala in the Himalayas, the Gobi Desert and the Pamirs, but not in Russia...

The famous explorer of Siberia and author of the wonderful book “The Gloomy River” Vyacheslav Shishkov wrote down many Siberian legends. Here is one of them: “There is such a strange country in the world, it is called Belovodye. And it is sung about it in songs, and it is reflected in fairy tales. She is in Siberia, beyond Siberia or somewhere else. You have to go through the steppes, mountains, the eternal taiga, all towards the sunrise, towards the sun, to set your path, and if happiness was given to you from birth, you will see Belovodye in person. The lands in it are rich, the rains are warm, the sun is fertile, the wheat grows by itself all year round - there is no plowing, no sowing - apples, watermelons, grapes, and in the flowery grass, endlessly, countless herds graze - take it, own it. And this country does not belong to anyone, all the will, all the truth lives in it from time immemorial, this country is outlandish.”

Modern isotericists claim that it is in Belovodye that the entrance to the mysterious Shambhala is located. Altai shamans protect the peace of Shambhala. Because of large quantity tourists, shamans often have to restore the energy level of this zone.

The famous artist, traveler and seeker of Shambhala, Nicholas Roerich, glorified Mount Belukha and its unique surroundings in his works. But the main goal of any trip to the Altai mountains is still considered to be the path of self-determination.

The watchmen talk about an unusual stone in the Yarlu River valley. They called it the Stone of Power because it has the strongest energy and gradually increases in size. The stone has a mystical aura, so shamans perform rituals next to it, and yogis have chosen this place for their meditations. The stone depicts an ancient symbol: a circle, and in its center there are three circles. This design can be seen on some icons of the early Christian period. In N. Roerich’s painting “The Oriflame Madonna” the Holy Virgin holds in her hands a panel with the image of this sign.

But not only Altai attracted seekers of the mysterious Shambhala. In Russia there are many legends and traditions about a certain holy land located in Siberia. This place, like the legendary Kitezh, has remained invisible and inaccessible to the forces of Evil for centuries. There is a legend that the Grand Duke of Kiev Vladimir in 979 sent people towards Asia, led by the monk Sergius, to look for the Kingdom of the White Waters. A few decades later, in 1043, an old man came to Kyiv, claiming that he was the monk Sergius and he managed to fulfill the prince’s order by visiting the Camp of Miracles or, as it was called, the Land of White Waters. He said that all the members of his detachment died on the way, and to reach wonderful country He alone succeeded. The monk said that when he was left alone, he managed to find a guide who brought Sergius to the “white lake”, the color of which was given by the salt that covered all the water. The guide refused to go further, telling the old man about certain “guardians of the snowy peaks” that everyone was afraid of. Sergius had to continue his journey alone. After a few days of travel, two strangers came out to him, speaking a language unknown to the monk. Sergius was taken to a small village and given a job. After some time, he ended up in another settlement where invisible Teachers-Sages lived, who knew everything that was happening not only in the nearest villages, but they knew everything that was happening in the outside world. Sergius said that strict order reigned in the villages, and there was a law according to which only seven representatives of humanity were allowed to visit this place every century. Of these chosen six, after undergoing training in some secret knowledge, must return to the World, and one student remains forever close to the Teachers. In the monastery of the Sages, the chosen one could live as long as he wanted without aging, since the concept of time did not exist in the monastery of the Teachers-Sages.

Since then, legends about the mysterious Belovodye have excited the minds of numerous seekers and pilgrims. It is possible that the influence of Tibetan Shambhala extended to the territory of Russia even despite the long distance and numerous obstacles. Therefore, it is quite possible that Wonderland was located on Russian territory in hard to reach place somewhere on the border of Siberia and mountainous areas Asia. The Sage Teachers of this mystical settlement are considered supreme beings - Mahatmas or Great Souls, and they were revered in Tibet and India. According to Eastern beliefs, Mahatmas possessed mysterious abilities and consisted of those who went through the path of earthly evolution, but for the sake of preserving the Earth, remained on our planet.

It is assumed that at least two of the Russian people in the 20th century visited the mysterious country - Belovodye. These were Nicholas Roerich and his wife Helena Roerich. They managed to reach the legendary Abode of Truth and Light, the mysterious Shambhala. In 1925, Nicholas Roerich conveyed the “Message of the Tibetan Mahatmas” to government officials in Moscow. In the 1930s, the Roerichs returned to India and lived in the foothills of the Himalayas until the end of their lives.

The work of Nicholas Roerich during this period acquired a new, more advanced direction. And his wife became famous for her numerous works in the field of culture and philosophy. Many books, articles and paintings by Nicholas Roerich are associated with Tibet, with the mysterious knowledge of the Teachers of Humanity. And in the new mystical and philosophical teaching of Helena Roerich “Agni Yoga”, she directly points to the connection of their family with the Tibetan Mahatmas.

Many people knew about Tibetan Shambhala, but there was practically no information about Russian Shambhala, located in Belovodye. It turned out that in order to get to the mystical Shambhala there was no need to “go beyond three seas” - the Land of Truth and Light is very close!

One cannot help but recall another super-mysterious place in Rus' when mentioning the mysterious Shambhala. We are talking about Lake Svetloyar ( Nizhny Novgorod region). Experts believe that the lake is of glacial-karst origin. Long ago, as a result of an earthquake, the depth of the lake increased to 25.5 meters. The following definition has been assigned to the lake: “The pearl of the overturned sky in the green frame of the forest.” In the vicinity of this lake, chronomirages are often observed, including reflections of the domes of the temples of the mysterious Kitezh and the sounds of bells ringing.

There are many interesting legends about Svetloyar. The legend of the evil goddess Turk has been passed down since pagan times. The goddess rode on a dashing horse, driving people ahead of her, whom she lashed with a whip for the sins they had committed. But suddenly the ground gave way under her horse and the goddess instantly went underground. And in this place a lake appeared. The second legend dates back to the time of Batu. One of the prisoners could not stand the torture to which the Tatars subjected him and showed them secret paths. But higher powers heard the prayers of the inhabitants of Kitezh and hid the city along with the people at the bottom of a beautiful lake.

And yet, it is not for nothing that researchers consider Lake Svetloyar “Shambhala of Russia”. It was here that a pink-violet UFO was seen flying over the lake in the form of a “falling leaf.” And in 1996, eyewitnesses spoke of two rays emerging from different ends of the lake and forming a luminous cross. Locals We are sure that the lake water has healing properties.

Time is ticking. There will soon be no unexplored places left on the planet. But the great Shambhala will keep its secrets until humanity understands the simple truth: the world will be saved by kindness, love and the desire to create, not destroy. Perhaps only then will the people of the earth be able to see the Great Teachers of Shambhala.

No related links found

For a long time, humanity has been searching for the promised land. First it was Atlantis, the kingdom of John, then other places of power, mystery, mysticism and new knowledge. In the 19th century, he found a new object of his search and thus became Shambhala.

In Europe, they first heard about it from the Jesuits in 1627. These monks went to Asia and told the locals about Jesus. But they said that there was a place where great teachers lived. They called it Shambhala and pointed to the north. And many looked for it in the Himalayas, the Gobi Desert and the Pamirs, but not in Russia... Famous explorer of Siberia and author of the wonderful book “Greek Life” (in the original Ugruum River, noteworthy) Vyacheslav Shishkov recorded many Siberian legends. Here is one of them: “There is such an exotic country in the world, which is called Bearded. She sings about her in songs, telling her in fairy tales. It is located in Siberia, maybe beyond it or somewhere else. You must walk through the steppes, the mountains, the endless taiga, still to the east until the path of the sun, and if you were given the birth of happiness, then you will see the Beloved with your own eyes.

The soil is fertile, the rain is warm, the sun is beneficial, the wheat grows all year round, it does not need to be plowed; apples, melons, grapes and countless flocks in the flowering grass without end. Ber, govt. This country does not belong to anyone, everything will be in it, the whole truth since ancient times. This is an extraordinary country.

Today's esotericists claim that it is in Belovodye that there is an entrance to the mysterious Shambhala. Altai shamans protect her world. Due to the large number of tourists, they often have to restore the energy level of the area.
The outstanding artist and traveler Nicholas Roerich, who was looking for Shambhala, glorified Belukha Mountain and its unique environment in his works. But the main goal of any trip to the Altai Mountains remains a way of self-determination.

Old people talk about an extraordinary stone found in the valley of the Jarli River. They call it the Power Stone because it has very strong energy and is constantly expanding. It has a mystical aura, which is why shamans perform their rituals in the surrounding area and yogis have chosen this as the most suitable place for their meditation. There is an ancient symbol on the stone: a circle and three circles in it. This layout can be seen on some icons of the early Christian period. In the image of Nicholas Roerich, the Oriflamme Madonna holds the Holy Mother of God on a canvas depicting this character.

But Altai was not only looking for seekers of the mysterious Shambhala. In Russia there are many legends and legends about the holy country in Siberia. This place, like the legendary city of Kithe, remained invisible and inaccessible to the forces of Evil for centuries. It is reported that the Grand Duke of Kiev Vladimir sent the 979 to Asia, a group led by a Sergius monk, to find the Kingdom of the White Waters.

After several decades in 1043, an old man came to Kyiv, who claimed that he was the monk Sergius, and that he managed to fulfill the prince’s instructions. He lived in Wonderland or, as they called it, in White Waters. He said that all the members of his group died on the way, and he managed to get to this wonderful country. Once he was alone, he found a guide who led him to the "white lake", the color of which he gave. The guide refused to go further and told him about some “Guardians of the Snowy Peaks” that everyone was afraid of. So Sergi had to go his own way. A few days later, two foreigners spoke to him, speaking of a language he did not know.
They took him to a small settlement and gave him a job. After some time, he entered another village, where invisible Wise Teachers lived, who knew everything that happened not only in the nearest populated areas, but also in what was happening in the outside world. Sergei said that there was a strict order, and there was a law according to which only seven representatives of humanity were allowed to visit this place in each century.

Of these seven of them, six were to return to the world after they had taught some secret knowledge, but one disciple remained with the Master forever. In the Sages of the Sages, this person could live as long as he wanted without aging because the concept of time did not exist here.

Since then, legends of the mysterious Beloved have troubled the minds of many seekers and pilgrims. It is possible that the influence of Tibetan Shambhala spread to the territory of Russia, regardless of the great distance and numerous obstacles. Therefore, it is quite possible that the Land of Wonders was located in Russia, in an inaccessible place somewhere on the border of Siberia and the mountainous regions of Asia.

The wise Masters of this mystical settlement are considered supreme beings, Mahatmas or Great Souls, and are worshiped in Tibet and India. According to the Eastern Faith, they had mysterious powers, and they were actually the ones who went through the evolution of the Earth, but in order to protect the Earth, they remained on our planet.

There is a presumption that at least two Russians remained in the mysterious Beloveda in the 20th century. It was Nicholas Roerich and his wife Elena. They managed to reach the legendary Abode of Truth and Light, the mysterious Shambhala. In 1925, Nicholas Roerich in Moscow handed over the “Message of the Tibetan Mahatsa” to government officials. Thirty years later, the two couple returned to India and lived in the foothills of the Himalayas for the rest of their lives.
Roerich's creation of this period acquired a new, more perfect direction. And his wife became famous for her numerous works in the field of culture and philosophy. Many books, articles and paintings by Nicholas Roerich are associated with Tibet and the mysterious knowledge of the Teachers of humanity. And in the new mystical philosophical teaching of Helena Roerich under the name of Angi Yoga, she points to bringing your family along with the Tibetan mahamas.

Many knew about Tibetan Shambhala, but in Belovodye there was no information about Russian. It turned out that there is no need to “go to the three seas” to get the mystical Shambhala, because the Land of Truth and Light is just beyond the rumble!

Speaking about the mysterious Shambhala, one cannot ignore one extremely mysterious place in Russia. We are talking about Lake Svetloyar (Nizhny Novgorod region). Experts consider the lake to be glacial karst. Long ago, the depth of the lake rose to twenty-five feet after an earthquake. A lake is defined as follows:

"Pearls fall from the sky, equipped with a green forest frame." In the vicinity of this lake, chronomiráže are often observed (chrono = time, amazement, images of cities, events or phenomena that are actually far from the place of observation or took place in the past, but there are also individual descriptions of chronographs that were images of the future; acknowledges.) , including the domes of Kitezh's mysterious reflections and the ringing of bells.

There are many interesting legends about Svetloyar. The story of the angry goddess of Turkey dates back to the times of the pagans. She rode on her horse and drove in the people, who were whipping themselves for the sins they had committed. But suddenly the ground fell under her horse, and the goddess immediately disappeared. And a lake was built here. Another legend dates back to the Khan period Batu (grandson of Genghis Khan), One of the prisoners could not resist the torture, which the Tatars exposed and showed them secret ways. But higher powers heard the prayers of the inhabitants of Kitiza and hid the city and people at the bottom of a beautiful lake.
And yet, in no case do researchers consider this lake to be “Russian Shambhala”. It was here that they saw the pink and purple colors of the UFO flying over the lake and moving like a “falling leaf.” In 1996, witnesses spoke of two beams that emanated from opposite ends of the lake to create a shiny cross. Local residents are convinced that the lake water has healing properties.

Time works. Soon there will be no unexplored places on the planet. But the great Shambhala will protect its secrets until humanity understands the simple truth: the world will be saved by goodness, love and the desire to create, and not destroy. Maybe then people will be able to see Grandmaster Shambhala.

Dream of goodness

Now let's summarize some results. From all that has been said, it becomes clear that the legends about Shambhala are an interweaving of completely earthly, real ideas (for example, about the same “oases” among mountain peaks) with fantastic stories that have emerged from the depths of Eastern mythologies. In Shambhala there is supposedly a “medicine of truth”, by taking which a person cleanses the soul of lies and henceforth speaks only the truth. Feeling the approach of old age, the inhabitants of Shambhala fast for a while, then drink a wonderful drink from the spring of eternal youth and become young again. Tibetan rumor tells about the “eagle stones” of Shambhala, which correct vision, can emit heat and cold, illuminate and plunge the surroundings into darkness.
Perhaps, after all, let us once again remember the ancient aphorism that has already become banal: that the new is the well-forgotten old. Children of the 20th century, who have acquired fantastic technology, sometimes speak with a fair amount of condescension about their distant ancestors, considering them primitive creatures with stone axes in their hands. Meanwhile, these “primitives” created literary and philosophical masterpieces that amaze our contemporary with the depth of penetration into the mysteries of existence. Here is a fragment of one of the cosmogonic hymns of the Rig Veda:

“Then there was neither the existing nor the non-existent;
there was no air
space, no sky above it.
What was in motion? Where? Under whose cover?
What were the waters
impenetrable, deep?
There was neither death nor immortality then.
There was no difference between night and day."

The ideas of the authors of this hymn about the formation of the universe fit into our views today. Meanwhile, the brilliant creators of the Rig Veda, who so “modernly” expound the origin of the universe, lived, as some vedologists claim, in the fifth or even sixth millennium BC. As for the lamas initiated into the secret of Shambhala, to this day they talk in detail about the geological disasters that in ancient times destroyed the now unknown continents in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans...

How this information was preserved and how true it is is unknown. But such a memory of “deeds of bygone days” serves primarily as a warning against new cataclysms in the future. And what could be worse than the cataclysm that threatens our world with the accumulation of stockpiles of deadly thermonuclear weapons?! Thus, the symbolism of Shambhala is quite modern in this sense.

Let's merge together the myths and legends about Shambhala - and we get that their main essence is the dream of delivering humanity from the nightmare of superstitions, social injustice and violence, the dream of the great fate prepared for “reasonable man” on our Earth, of goodness and the eradication of the greatest evil that civilizations have ever known - wars. Ultimately, the dream is to preserve for ourselves and for our descendants the wonderful blue planet on which we live.
But for us, people of the 20th century, such a dream has ceased to be an unattainable ideal; it is a task that requires an immediate solution.

Reality and legend

The legend of Shambhala, Belovodye, White Island, about the mysterious promised land, full of miracles, has been living and not dying in the vastness of Asia for many centuries. It attracted the unflagging attention of Russian travelers and scientists. N. M. Przhevalsky wrote in one of his works: “Another very interesting story we heard... was a prediction about Shambhalyn... the promised land of the Buddhists... The above-mentioned country is an island lying somewhere far away in the North Sea. There is a lot of gold in it, the bread will be born of extraordinary size, there are no poor people at all.”
The famous Russian artist, prominent scientist and traveler N.K. Roerich, during his Central Asian expedition, which lasted from 1923 to 1928, collected a lot of material about this mysterious country. Having carefully analyzed it, he came to the conclusion about the typological commonality of the legends about Belovodye, Shambhala, and the White Island. The various names of the country mentioned in the legends only indicate the diversity and vastness of the regions in which this legend was spread: India, Tibet, Altai... Doctor of Historical Sciences N. N. Pokrovsky, in a report he read in 1976, reported that archaeographic expeditions conducted by the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences, recorded the legend of Belovodye in Eastern Kazakhstan, as well as in the valleys of the upper Yenisei. In this regard, Academician A.P. Okladnikov drew attention to the legend about the land of “bearded people”, widespread in eastern Siberia. Such a wide geography of the legend puts it on a par with the legend of the flood, the reality of which has been confirmed by archaeological research.

It is definitely impossible to consider the legend of Shambhala, or Belovodye. It is extremely multi-layered, which indicates its considerable age. At the dawn of what historical era did it appear? This is difficult to answer. We only know, as S. Bulantsev correctly reports, that there are mentions of it in pre-Buddhist sources in Tibet. There are many variants of this legend; there are a significant number of details of a very different nature associated with it. But the main outline can be found in any variant.
N.K. Roerich revealed in the legend of Shambhala one of its most ancient layers, associated with the era of migration of peoples. The scientist was prompted to this idea by numerous legends about underground passages and caves into which entire tribes and peoples supposedly went and disappeared forever. Thus, the reserved country turned into an underground kingdom, where these tribes and peoples rushed. “Every entrance to the cave,” wrote N.K. Roerich in this regard, “suggests that someone has already entered there. Every stream—especially underground streams—invites fantasies of underground passages.” Continuing his thought, Roerich notes: “The people define these problems much more simply: for them, everything that disappeared went underground.”

The movement of nomadic peoples in distant times, their disappearances from the places of initial settlement, their sudden appearances in unexpected areas fed folk fantasy and clothed the real facts of the past in legendary form.

The legend of Belovodye, in my opinion, is a later layer of the main legend. Several centuries ago, the Old Believer movement began in Russia.

AND ancient legend about the reserved land of happiness and justice received new life. Russian peasants escaping persecution official church and feudal tyranny, they dreamed of a country where their troubles and suffering would end and where they would peacefully engage in agricultural work. They went to remote areas of Siberia and began to settle in Altai. The legend of the protected country continued to live among the Old Believers two centuries later. It acquired new details, real and fantastic, and carried within itself a charge of some strange effectiveness. People tirelessly sought to find a wonderful country. They set out on a difficult, unknown path alone, in groups, and sometimes in entire “societies.” The largest Russian travelers N.M. Przhevalsky and P.K. Kozlov followed these movements with close attention. “The best results,” wrote Przhevalsky, “led to inquiries regarding the long stay of the Russian Old Believers on Lop Nor. People who saw with their own eyes the aliens who came to this wilderness of Asia, probably to look for the promised land of Belovodye, told us about them.” Kozlov, during his expedition to Mongolia and Kam in 18S9, talked with the Old Believer Rakhmanov, who himself went to Lop Nor in search of Belovodye.

Travels in search of Belovodye, stories about the wonders of the protected country are reflected even in Russian fiction. Korolenko, Melnikov-Pechersky, Shishkov on the pages of their works captured the stories of wanderers who awakened the imagination of more than one generation of Russian peasants. “But we still got to Belovodye. There is a deep lake there, and a big one, just like some kind of sea, and that lake is called Loponsky and the Belovodye River flows into it from the west. On that lake large islands there are, and Russian people of the old faith live on those islands,” says one of the heroes of Melnikov-Pechersky’s novel “In the Woods.” Russian Old Believers called Belovodye many places where, as it seemed to them, the Promised Land began.

Reality and legend walked side by side, often unnoticeably replacing each other. And therefore reality was similar to the legend, and the legend to reality. This relationship between legend and reality was keenly noticed by N.K. Roerich: “In these protected and preserved legends you can recognize the reality of the past. In every spark of folklore there is a drop of Truth, embellished or distorted.”

So far, unfortunately, a number of information related to the legend of Shambhala cannot be satisfactorily deciphered, such as data about the contact of Shambhala with space civilizations and legends about sunken continents and lost cultures.

S. Bulantsev’s essay, written on the basis of numerous sources, gives us reason to assert that in the legend of Shambhala, along with fantastic moments, there are real or reflections of such. But the reader should have a natural question: did the mysterious country of Shambhala, Belovodye, and Tebu really exist or not?

A number of rare features of the legend itself and its unusual historical fate force us to take it seriously and continue to study it. There is nothing easier than denial or a tendentious selection of evidence to refute this or that legend that came to us from antiquity. It is much more difficult to comprehend these legends, analyze them, reveal their time layer and be able to see the reality behind them. Only such a path can be fruitful.

L. Shaposhnikova, Candidate of Historical Sciences, laureate of the Jawaharlal Nehru Prize

"Site VokrugSveta.ru (VokrugSveta.ru)

Mezmay - unique place, attracting to itself. People from all over Russia come here forever. Some people feel cosmic energy here, because it’s not for nothing that psychics come here, calling Mezmay an “anomalous zone” and even “Russian Shambhala.” Others are fascinated beautiful nature, creative people find inspiration here. Dozens of interesting things pass through Mezmay tourist routes. I'll tell you about one of them.

Mezmay is translated from Adyghe as “forest of wild apples.” Initially founded as a village of lumberjacks and gold miners. Currently it is a mountain tourist village in the Absheron region Krasnodar region. Once upon a time there was a narrow-gauge railway connecting the village with the rest of the world. Now the operating section of the narrow-gauge railway remains in the neighboring village of Guamka. Until recently, there was a bad road leading to Mezmay, but now the asphalt has been paved to the end and it has become easier to arrive. The village is located 180 km from Krasnodar.

Despite the fact that many tourists from all over Russia constantly come to Mezmay, people still don’t come here regular bus. They say that Kamaz only drives once a day, and even then not every day. Therefore, the easiest way to get here is by your car.

In the vicinity of Mezmay there is a very interesting Mount Matuk, the story will be about her. Its height is almost 2000 m and is located only 14 km from the village. The good thing is that the road leading here is well-trodden and wide, and you can even climb the mountain in a good SUV. But we are not jeepers, so we walked to the top. Climbing the mountain is difficult for one day, so we took two days. On the first day we settled in Ivanova Polyana, where there is a spring and beautiful views, also ran to Mount Zaudu, but there is nothing to do there in the summer, because... The panorama cannot be seen from the tall grass; it is better to do this in May.

Matuk is part of the Lagonaki Range and borders the Caucasian Nature Reserve, so you don’t need to buy a ticket to the reserve, and there are no checkpoints. At the very top they saw a herd of horses and a shepherd, but it is possible that rangers could walk here and collect payment.

2. The road to Mount Matuk is not difficult, even children can handle it, but you need to understand that a 14 km hike up the mountain is equal to 28 km on a regular flat road.

3. There are many mountain flowers at the top of the mountain. There are almost no trees, just endless green meadows.

4. Picture from Windows.

5.

6.

7.

8. From Ivanova Polyana to Mount Matuk it’s a 8 km walk, actually we got there quickly. The first peak we saw, Mount Nagoy-Chuk (2467 m), is already in the reserve.

9. This is what the Lagonaki ridge on which our mountain is located looks like.

10.

11. We were there at the end of July, the weather was fine.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18. These rocks are called "Two-story".

19.

20. From Mount Matuk there are beautiful panoramas of the Lago-Naki plateau, you can see the mountains Oshten, Pshekha-Su, Nagoy-Chuk, the Tsitsa River gorge and others.

21.

22.

23. From here you can clearly see Mount Oshten (2800 m).

24.

25.

26.

27.

28.

29.