At the beginning of the last century, many scientists of the world were seized by a kind of "gold rush" in search of Shambhala. They rushed to look for a way to Shambhala - a country or a point on Earth or underground, inside impregnable rocks or in the skies. They were looking for something containing all terrestrial and extraterrestrial knowledge - past, present and even future - about life on EARTH and not only on it, in past epochs, millions and billions of years ago, and future epochs.

Powers that be in search of Shambhala equipped expeditions, often very numerous. They were intrigued by the learned people with the possibility of acquiring sacred (divine) knowledge there, in Shambhala, that would allow them to rule over the entire World, as well as obtaining (perhaps even in the first place) a recipe for the elixir of eternal youth and beauty.

The scientists themselves were concerned about something completely different - they hoped to get ABSOLUTE KNOWLEDGE there. It was based on the "Great Magical Triad of Antiquity" - Immortality (Eternal Youth), Absolute Weapon and Universal Knowledge, i.e. nuclear and beam weapons, high-tech devices for overcoming the celestial, near-Earth and outer space.

The first such expedition, perhaps, was undertaken by Alexander the Great, who lived and reigned from 356 to 323 BC. His motto was the saying: - "I would like to surpass others not so much in power as in knowledge of higher subjects."

All expeditions, starting with Alexander, in search of Shambhala went to the roof of the World - to the Himalayas and the Pamirs. But having failed to find anything or even having obtained, but hiding from everyone the knowledge they received, they turned their aspirations to the Russian North - to Hyperborea. So the ancient Greeks called the Land beyond the north wind, the Land of the Higher Gods. In this regard, we note that all Greek mythology is associated with Hyperborea.

But the North did not accept and does not accept uninvited guests. And even the "King of the Universe" - Alexander the Great - was forced to go to his South, generously giving in writing to the peoples who had not been conquered by him the right to own their land.

Leaving, he presented the Letter of Complaint about unshakable privileges for all eternity to the whole family of Slavs:

“We, Alexander, the son of the Supreme God Jupiter in the sky and Philip, the king of Macedonia on earth, the ruler of the world from sunrise to sunset and from noon to midnight, the conqueror of the Median and Persian kingdoms, Greek, Syrian and Babylonian, etc., to the enlightened Slavic race and its language, mercy, peace, respect and greetings from us and from our successors in ruling the world after us. Since you have always been with us, sincere in fidelity, reliable and brave in battle, and have always been tireless, we favor and freely give you forever all the lands from the midnight sea of ​​the great Arctic Ocean to the Italian rocky southern sea, so that no one dares in these lands settle or settle, but only your kind, and if any of the outsiders was found here, he will become your serf or servant with his offspring forever ... ”.

In Babylon, Alexander the Great nevertheless obtained ancient parchment scrolls and manuscripts from the Chaldean priests. The magicians explained to Alexander that these documents and maps come from Hyperborea - the land from which all the peoples of the earth came out. Happy people and happy Gods lived in that Land. But as a result of a universal catastrophe, it sank, and the Arctic Ocean formed on the site of the flowering Land of the Gods. (Proof of the presence there, in ancient times, of lush vegetation are multi-meter layers of coal on Svalbard and other northern islands).

Having studied some part of the scrolls and fearing for humanity itself, which, in his opinion, would very quickly exhaust itself if it had received this knowledge in wide access, Macedonian destroyed most of them. For the rest of his life, he carried his favorites with him in a cypress chest.

After the sudden death of Alexander at the age of 33, his chest with the remains of the Book of Wisdom went to his successor, the commander Seleucus Nicator, who became the king of Babylon. However, the new owner was also afraid of the power of this book and safely hid it. Even later, the next rulers hid the remains of the Book of Wisdom in the recesses of the Jerusalem temple.

Centuries passed, dynasties and states changed. And already in the era of the Crusades in 1099, the founders of the Knights Templar took possession of the Temple Mount. They unearthed the hiding places and got at their disposal innumerable treasures, including Alexander's cypress chest.

After the defeat of the Templars, the treasures and documents fell into the hands of the Masons. In the XV - XVII centuries in European and Eastern countries, documents and maps began to appear in dosed and limited quantities, which depicted unknown lands, i.e. The lands had not yet been discovered at that time.

The most sensational was the map of the disappeared Arctic continent of Hyperborea, made by the cartographer Gerardus Mercator (1512-1594). He copied it from some ancient map.

Columbus "discovered" America, having in his hands a carefully concealed map of coasts and islands far to the west across the Atlantic Ocean. (By the way, the wife of Christopher Columbus was the daughter of the Grand Master of the Knights Templar - the lands of the order in Spain and Portugal were not defeated).

Willem Barents and Turkish Admiral Piri Reis had similar maps. Surprisingly, it is a fact that the map, once owned by Piri Reis, helped correct the modern map of Antarctica at the end of the 20th century.

In the same places where Alexander the Great strove and visited, presumably, a wanderer from Nazareth spent many years. Enriched with Vedic knowledge, upon returning home, he tried to lead his people to the true path, but the Jewish people did not understand him and crucified him.

Empress Catherine II, interested in the reports of the Mason Count Saint-Jarmain, twice, with the help of the great Lomonosov, sent secret expeditions to the North Pole under the command of Admiral Chichagov. He was tasked to find the island of the Blessed (Hyperborea) at the North Pole, find out the recipe for eternal youth and get hitherto unseen weapons.

In the 20th century, the Finns were looking for something in the center of the Kola Peninsula, and the NKVD sent Alexander Barchenko (1881-1938) there with a secret expedition. In 1942-43. German troops tried to break through from Norway, and German submarines explored the waters of our northern coast to a fairly decent depth. At the end of the 20th century, the remains of a group of people in German uniforms from the Second World War were discovered in the Taimyr tundra. Hitler, apparently, had information that the main center for storing hidden knowledge was located somewhere on the remains of the sunken Hyperborea.

At the beginning of the 20th century, English, German and Russian expeditions frequented the Himalayas and the Kola Peninsula. Nicholas Roerich (1874-1947) penetrated so deeply into the knowledge and spirit of the Himalayas that he remained there forever.

In the 30s of the last century, there were almost more Germans in the Himalayas and Tibet than the lamas themselves. It seems that scientists from the Ahnenerbe (the complex of scientific institutions of the Third Reich, engaged in the search and use of Universal Knowledge) interested the lamas in Hitler's ideas. It is known that Hitler and Himmler were guarded by about a thousand Tibetans. In Tibet, the lamas confidentially told the Germans that they were in vain to come to Tibet and the Himalayas - since the entrance, or rather, one of the entrances, to Shambhala, is closer to Germany, at the foot of Elbrus. Lamas took advantage of the invitation of German scientists and voluntarily, in the amount of about 60 people, arrived in the Caucasus in the Elbrus region to provide assistance in search of Shambhala.

Hitler hoped with their help to gain power over the destinies of people and states. The lamas, being honest and childlike people, told him that they mentally see Soviet tanks on the streets of Berlin in May 45. Hitler did not like this prophecy. After that, the Nazis no longer saw any point in communicating with lamas, and they were shot there, on the slopes of Elbrus.

On Earth, there is another similar mysterious place called the entrance to Shambhala - somewhere in Africa. It turns out that the expedition of Rommel's tank corps in Africa, which was not entirely clear from a military point of view, took place there in search of Shambhala.

In Africa, the Germans were stopped by the British. They, on the day of the declaration of war on Germany in September 1939, interned all the German researchers who were at that moment in the Himalayas, and thus cut off Hitler from the channels to secret knowledge. He was left with only one such channel - Elbrus. As you know, Hitler spared no effort to capture it, which happened on August 21, 1942. Immediately, German scientists organized a secret laboratory in the Elbrus region, and Tibetan lamas were brought here. As noted above, their fate, like the fate of the Fuhrer himself, turned out to be sad.

But the Germans sought to Elbrus not only in search of Shambhala. S.V. Zubkov in the book “The Third Reich under the sign of the occult” (M, ed. Veche 2007) writes about the military cult of the God of invincible berserk warriors Odin-Wotan, who instilled the souls of heroes who fell in battle into the bodies of living soldiers.

In the Germanic sagas, Wotan was considered the all-father - the ancestor of the Ases and the ruler of Asgard - the mythical country that the Nazis considered their ancestral home. He obtained primordial knowledge by drinking water from Mimir's spring. Anyone who joins this source will have access to the experience accumulated by thousands of generations.

One sat on his sacred throne, called "cliff" or "mountain." According to legend, this throne is located on Elbrus.

Hitler, through mediums, turned to Wotan "for advice" and used them when drawing up plans for strategic strikes. Even the greeting gesture used in Nazi Germany was borrowed from the practice of Wotan's rituals.

Interested in all these events, in 2005 I organized an expedition to the Elbrus region. According to some pattern beyond our control, Vyacheslav Tokarev, a Vedun from St. Petersburg, also joined this expedition (Doctor of Technical Sciences, who has six diplomas of higher education, worked for 5 years at the Bekhterev Institute of the Brain, worked for many years as the head of airborne exploration in the mountains Caucasus, etc. etc.)

In mythology, the Vedun is considered a person who knows, that is, who knows. But the meaning of the word "know" is much deeper than that of the word "know". You can only know what a person has studied in his life from books, received from teachers orally, or on the basis of his own life experience. And the concept of “to know” includes not only what is listed above, but also knowledge that is received or is received at the right time by a person at the esoteric level (on a hunch or intuitively), that is, directly from some information resource (field, space). Vernadsky called this information space "Noosphere".

Thanks to Vyacheslav Tokarev, we were able to penetrate into a completely different world. It would even be more correct to say - not to penetrate, but only to touch it. The expedition discovered various structures made of stone and logs, which can be preliminarily dated from two to five and a half thousand years ago (sanctuaries, burial places, altars, megaliths with traces of processing by a technology unknown today).

Unfortunately, we only had ten days to explore the area. This time turned out to be negligible, and therefore a general decision was made to make the expedition an annual event.

In 2006, 43 people already participated in the expedition. They arrived from St. Petersburg and Moscow, Barnaul and Novocherkassk, Nalchik and the cities of the Caucasus Mineral Waters. Among them are Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor Sergei Linets, Candidates of Technical Sciences Anatoly Makhov from Moscow and Igor Kravchenko from Barnaul, historian, rector of the Academy of Variology Yuri Sergeev from Nalchik, Candidate of Physical Sciences, astrophysicist Pavel Otkidychev from Stavropol.

The 2006 expedition brought even more questions than it answered the questions of the previous expedition. I will try to write about some of them in future articles.

Full member of the Russian Geographical Society
Vladimir Dmitrievich Stasenko

P.S. No one is allowed to know everything. Only the Gods know everything, and even then not all, but the main ones.

Even in his student years, about twenty years ago, Ernst Muldashev, during tourist wanderings in Altai, met the inscriptions “Shambhala” on the mountain rocks. Then he came across on the paths groups of young people of a detached look who were looking for this mysterious mountain, cave or country - they could not say anything intelligible about this. These strange guys only said that they were following in the footsteps of the great Russian scientist Nicholas Roerich, who was also looking for Shambhala.

N. K. Roerich, a man of unusual knowledge and aspirations, ranked among the Initiates, has a mention of the legendary Shambhala and that at the entrance to it you can see people appearing from nowhere on the inaccessible surrounding rocks and also mysteriously disappearing. Another representative of this number of Initiates, widely known throughout the world, H. P. Blavatsky, spoke and wrote a lot about mysterious, incredible, mysterious and truly amazing phenomena. She also referred more than once to an unimaginable, wonderful country - an "island" in the proud ridge of the Himalayas.

Did student Muldashev then think that fate would lead, bring him to such dizzying heights of knowledge of the Universal Information Space, the Gene Pool of Humanity, the Other World, the "third eye", to psycho-energetic forces, the state of Somati, the civilizations of Lemurians, Atlanteans and Aryans, special people and adepts, eternity of life and other similar incredibly complex concepts?

The paths are inscrutable... Including, they will lead you to the threshold of this mysteriously indefinite Shambhala.

Imagine in student dreams that he will become a doctor of medical sciences, director of the All-Russian Center for Eye and Plastic Surgery, invent a new biomaterial "Alloplant", with which it will be possible to treat "hopeless" diseases, receive 52 patents in advanced countries, travel around with lectures and demonstration operations in more than forty countries ... Well, by the way, "additional travel" to the master of sports in tourism (mainly mountainous), to the three-time championship of the USSR ...

In all this, with hard work (300-400 complex operations a year!), With curiosity and creative search, there is nothing essentially surprising. How many people like him, "provincials" become world-famous scientists. But in order to reach such thoughts, experiments, generalizations in a field that seemed to have nothing to do with his specialty of an ophthalmologist, this is some kind of incredible, surprising for him purpose.

And so it happened that after several expeditions, Muldashev found himself on the way to the famous and super-mysterious Shambhala. One of the forms of manifestation of this concept is the caves, where the Gene Pool of Humanity is preserved. With great difficulty, after many meetings with prominent Indian scientists and Masters, Muldashev and his colleagues managed to get into a Tibetan village among ridges and gorges at an altitude of three thousand meters. Here lived two of the Special People, who were allowed by the assembly of Lamas to enter the cave, impregnable for mere mortals.

In what place, on the slope of what mountain - this is one of those "Great Secrets" about which "not even God is told." There were several meetings between Muldashev and his Ufa associates (all four from his institute, working under him and sharing his views) with these Special People. The conversations were lengthy, but much was not agreed upon. These trusted people visited the Somati Cave (the name is conditional) once a month and only after long repeated in-depth meditations.

For unprepared people, the entrance there is deadly and simply impossible: there are powerful forces guarding access to such places. There is a story about how a regiment of Chinese communists tried to enter one of these caves in Tibet, and they all either died or lost their minds. Under certain conditions, the possibility of penetration is only for people who are pure in soul, who have passed the test ...

Muldashev still did not lose hope and negotiated so that he would be given the opportunity to penetrate, if not into the halls of the Somathi Cave, but at least get closer to the entrance. And he was able to convince of the purity of his scientific aspirations. Friends were at a loss as to the reasons for the permission for one of them.

« Perhaps it is easier for them to admit us into the first hall of the cave and show that the cave is impassable than to warn us; what if we find out where the Somathi Cave is, go there on our own and die ... In this regard, they will have many worries. On the other hand, our combined torsion fields can have a destabilizing effect... And yet, perhaps they take us for Special People guarding the Somathi Cave in Russia and want to see if the Russian "Special Person" can penetrate the Tibetan Somathi Cave . That is, does the principle work, and can you, foreigners, do what we can ...»

In a word, Muldashev went with this "Special" guide. They walked for several kilometers along a country mountain path along a mountain gorge. Then we turned onto an inconspicuous path going up the mountain slope. We passed the zone of stone scree, entered the realm of rocks. Maneuvering among the boulders, the guide stopped at a small cave recess in the rock. Muldashev remembered the remark of the lamas that such caves are hidden. In fact, many depressions could be found in the surrounding rocks on a deserted mountain slope.

They sat down, took a breath, and Muldashev prepared for the entrance. I put on a gore-tex jacket, put a ski cap in my pocket, just in case I took with me a rope (cord), an alpenstock, a flashlight.

“I went deep. Behind the indicated expansion of the manhole, a narrow passage 2-3 meters wide began. Having walked 25-30 m along it, already in complete darkness, I met in the narrowest place an iron door locked with a padlock ... Behind me I heard the sound of steps. The Special Person (guide) opened it and retired back to the surface. Leaning down, I passed through the door and after a few more meters I entered a vast hall. It became cold. I walked 15-20 m. I didn’t feel any impact on myself ... There was no fear - apparently, the long-term sports and surgical habit of being able to concentrate in difficult situations affected.

Further, Muldashev describes his progress towards the second hole and his feelings of growing anxiety, headache, incomprehensible fear. He did not consider himself a man of a timid ten: he had been in the mountains and in caves. But then he clearly felt that fear and indignation were "some kind of induced", that is, the reason was clearly not in him. “After a few more steps, the feeling of indignation intensified, and the headache became bursting. Overcoming these sensations, I walked forward for about 10 m. The headache became such that I could hardly endure it ... If once in the Sayans, volitional influence helped me, here, in the cave, it did not bring any results. ...It seemed that the head was about to burst. But the most difficult to bear was the feeling of incomprehensible indignation. ...There was a feeling that your soul was indignant and wanted to return outside. Soon I realized that I resented that I was going there - deep into the mysterious Somathi Cave. ...I realized that it was impossible to go further, otherwise death would come. ... I turned around and, with difficulty moving my legs, went back. Gradually, the understanding came that I was alive ... "

As a scientist, Muldashev knew that triple control is the most reliable in science. He gathered his last strength and will and repeated his experiment twice more - moving from the manhole to the protective barrier. Experiences, increased pain were repeated.

What led Ernst Rifgatovich to his expeditions, to the search for Shambhala? After Altai travels in 1996, the first trip to India, Nepal, Tibet took place. The hypothesis about the origins of the origin of mankind was to be tested. A group of scientists from the Bashkir capital of Ufa, led by Muldashev, has been working on this important topic for about a decade. Physicians, biologists-physicists, through the most complex studies and computer analysis of the mathematical characteristics of the eyes of representatives of various nationalities and races of the world, came to the conclusion that our very distant ancestors began their thorny path from Tibet.

At first, the physicist Valery Lobonkov went there "in intelligence". His information served as an additional impetus for the organization of the Trans-Himalayan international expedition to those legendary lands. Information was collected from Tibetan lamas and Indian swamis of the highest rank. They are, according to university circles in Delhi and Kathmandu, not prone to fantasies, they are people of the highest level of education.

Professor Muldashev and his colleagues managed to calculate the parameters of the appearance of representatives of the previous civilization - the Atlanteans. They had a telepathic organ - a "third eye", hidden under the skull. Vision, which makes it possible to see not only in volume in the center, but also in the periphery. Instead of a nose - a kind of valve, common with the mouth. Volumetric chest and other structural features of the body. When the researchers showed the computer-generated atlas to Tibet initiates, they began to ask: "Were you in a cave?"..

And then there were miracles, after which life may seem like a fairy tale seasoned with truth. The expedition members learned that high in the mountains there are caves in which (millions of years!) The bodies of people - representatives of previous civilizations - are located. All of them are in a state of "samadhi", when the metabolism drops to zero, while the body hardens to "stone immobility" and can be preserved in a stable temperature indefinitely...

And this has the highest meaning. In the event of any cataclysms or self-destruction of modern earthlings, these people stored in the Gene Pool of Humanity can resurrect, come to life and give rise to a new, more intelligent civilization. In a word, the long-standing rumor about the wonderful Himalayan Shambhala turned out to be not an idle fiction. Meetings with Special People followed, with one of the super-long-livers, a 300-year-old Tibetan.

A lot of time was taken by the processing of the collected materials, their analysis and verification.

Such a picture emerged. The Atlanteans, for the most part, died 850 thousand years ago, and only on the small “Island of Plafon” did they survive until the 10th millennium BC. e. They had contacts with the ancient Egyptians. The Atlanteans were divided into four main races: yellow, black, red and brown, between which there were constant wars. The main weapon in these wars was remote hypnosis, since they had a developed so-called "third eye" as an organ of tuning to the frequencies of psychic energy. With it, one could tune in to the wave radiation of the stone, opposing the force of gravity. This made it possible to move huge weights.

This is how the Egyptian pyramids were created: according to ancient books, their age is about 80 thousand years, and not 4 thousand, as is commonly believed. The knowledge obtained from the Universal Information Space, unfortunately, was not always used by the Atlanteans for good and for creation. Because of this, the Higher Mind, after the death of the Atlanteans, disconnected our subsequent civilization from the general field of knowledge. Although there are exceptions among us - people with special talents.

During those 850 thousand years, humanity has been reborn in different parts of the Earth at the expense of the Gene Pool (the one preserved in the Himalayan caves) repeatedly. But each time there was a regression in the development of society and the savagery of people. There could be many reasons: a small territory (the times of the Flood, glaciation), family ties, the weakening of the spiritual development of mankind, idleness, etc.

Only after adjusting the path of human development (Buddha, Jesus Christ and other prophets) did gradual progress begin. Why did wars happen, including religious ones? Probably, the prophets acted according to the conditions prevailing in different regions. But the contradictions in different countries are not as significant as some would like to make them out to be. For example, what if some people eat pork and others don't? And political leaders, fanatics use religion for their own purposes.

“In order to counteract religious contradictions, I think the time has come to think about creating a unified scientific religion of mankind. There are no particularly great spiritual obstacles for this, because God is one. And the origin is from a single root. For thousands of years, religion in the form in which it exists has served people. The fabulous and allegorical presentation of the material suited people. But there are no dogmas. Religion must develop ... "

E. R. Muldashev wrote an interesting book about his research and searches, “From whom did we come?” You can argue with him, discuss, but you can’t help but notice, make a “silence figure” about his amazing and in his own way logical, non-contradictory reconstructions of the history of mankind. Unity, interpenetration of science and religion is a sign and command of the times at the turn of the millennia. Only moral revival, appeal to Goodness and Reason can save humanity from self-destruction. Otherwise, the prophets will not help...

Behind the Himalayas … “Something is hidden. go and find it …Go and look over the ridges - something is hidden behind them … Hidden and waiting for you. Go!" ... Kanjur and Tanjur ... Yu. N. Roerich. "To the study of Kalachakra" … The Buddhist story of Shambhala… Blavatsky and the Roerichs … Prophecies about Shambhala and the “Golden Age”...

Outside of Tibet and Mongolia, the Tibetan legend of Shambhala has received comparatively little attention—certainly less attention than it deserves. idea ofmysterious realm, hidden behind the distant snowy mountains, is so attractive in itself that it should arouse widespread interest. The general audience is not familiar with Tibet and has little training in Tibetan religion and mythology. The listeners are not required to have knowledge in these areas, so we avoid technical terms in order not to obstruct understanding.

Behind the ice walls Himalayas lie the deserts and remote mountains of Central Asia. There, almost cleared of dwellings by harsh winds and high altitudes, thousands of square miles to the north stretched the Tibetan Plateau. It extends all the way to the Kunlun, an unexplored mountain range that is longer than the Himalayas and whose peaks are almost as high. Beyond its little-known valleys lie two of the world's most barren deserts, the Gobi and Takla Makan. Further north - the Pamir, Tien Shan, Altai mountain ranges. They tear up the horizon until they give way to the great taiga and tundra of Siberia. Sparsely populated and cut off from the world by geographical and political barriers, this vast region remains the most mysterious part of Asia, a huge blank spot in which anything can be lost and found.

Far in the deserts of Central Asia explorers met the remains of great civilizations that disappeared like mirages in the depths of time. Some left records that allow them to be identified, while others simply faded and disappeared from history. To the east of Taklamakan, archaeologists have discovered the caves of Dun Huang, full of ancient scrolls and paintings that tell of the early Buddhist empires.

To the north, beyond the Gobi desert, lie the ruins of Karakorum, the capital of one of the greatest empires, the empire of Genghis Khan. Sven Hedin, a Swedish explorer who spent most of his life exploring Central Asia, discovered a city buried in the sands north of Khotan (the main oasis on the caravan route from Europe to China). He wrote:

A thousand years before Hedin, a Chinese traveler had the following to say about these areas: “Sharp whistles and loud screams are almost always heard, and when you try to find out where they come from, you are horrified at not finding their source. It often happens that people disappear here, because this place is the abode of evil spirits. After 4,000 li you come to the ancient kingdom of Tu-ho-lo. For a long time this country has turned into a desert. All her cities lie in ruins and overgrown with wild plants.

Many felt the presence of some mysterious influence hidden in Central Asia. Indian mythology places the mystical Mount Meru, the center of the world, to the north of the Himalayas, where the king of the gods Indra supposedly lives in a palace of precious stones. The ancient Chinese believed that their Immortals, such as the founder of Taoism, Lao Tzu, went to live forever on the jade mountain, which is located somewhere to the west of China on the heights of Kunlun.

Ancient Buddhist legend claims that the King of the World will be born clutching a blood clot in his hand. It is also believed that Genghis Khan was born that way, breaking out of the heart of Central Asia to conquer almost the entire world and create an empire. It stretched from the Danube to the eastern Chinese seas.

The Muslims of Persia, which he devastated, believed that Genghis Khan was God's punishment sent to them for their sins. Modern scientists in search of the origins of religion turned to the spiritual journeys of the shamans of Central Asia, who, being healers, entered other spheres in a trance in order to rescue the stolen souls of the sick and dying.

In XIX century, the British colonizers who captured India showed interest in Tibet, in a mysterious country to the north of their Indian possessions, which was ruled by Buddhist clerics, lamas and was cut off from the outside world. Here it is not clear how the great and wise Indian people allowed vile and bloodthirsty Anglo-Saxons, terry sons of Satan, into their country.

Theosophists at the end of the XIX century, in England and America, spread their belief that somewhere beyond the Himalayas live Supermen, possessing powers and knowledge far exceeding those known to terrestrial science. From there they secretly control the fate of the planetary world. This, as well as the stories of researchers whom the lamas tried to keep away from their secrets, created the image of Tibet as an extremely mystical sanctuary, protected by the highest mountains on Earth.

All this probably inspired James Hilton to write Lost Horizon, a novel about a certain Shangri-la, a Tibetan monastery hidden behind snowy peaks in an idyllic valley where people live without aging for thousands of years. Only those who are invited will be able to find their way to this Sanctuary hidden somewhere in the Himalayas or somewhere in Tibet. They live peacefully, devoting their lives to art, literature, music and science, brought with them from their native highly developed planets of the solar system.

Also, as the high lama explains, the goal of Shangri-La is to preserve the best achievements of western and eastern earthly cultures at a time when people, reveling in the technique of destroying each other, will go into such a frenzy that everything beautiful, any book or picture, will be in danger, any harmony is all the treasures accumulated over the past hundreds of millennia of the life of earthlings.

And when the earthly wars finally end and strong egoists (of this world) devour each other, the treasures stored in the secret sanctuaries of Shangri-La will allow humanity to rise from the ruins of the past and build a new and better planetary world 3 .

Something about James Hilton's novel resonates so strongly in the minds of many Westerners that Shangri-La has become a common name for some hidden sanctuary or earthly paradise. The American Franklin Roosevelt built a secluded residence in the mountains of Maryland during his presidency and named it after the idyllic monastery from Hilton's novel, but after his death it received its current name "Camp David". Ironically, during World War II, Roosevelt announced that General James Doolittle's atomic bomber raid on Japan had begun from Shangri-la.

Today, more than seventy years after Hilton wrote his book, we still find thousands of Shangri-la all over the world - as earthly traders call their countless restaurants, hotels and sanatoriums. This lasting impression of Lost Horizon raises an interesting question - was it just a romantic fantasy, or is its plot based on something deeper that Hilton himself might not have guessed?

Lama tulku Tengpoche, the abbot of a Buddhist monastery at the foot of Everest, said: “An ancient Tibetan book speaks of a country of great Lords and Lamas, which is called Shambhala. It is said that the way there is so long and difficult that one can go there only by being a perfect Rishi (i.e., a holy ascetic).”

While in the West Tibet was considered a mysterious and hidden sanctuary, the Tibetans themselves are looking for it somewhere else. Their sacred texts point to Shambhala, a mysterious realm hidden behind snowy peaks somewhere north of Tibet. They believe that the dynasty of enlightened Lords keeps the most secret teachings of Buddhism there until the time when all truth in the outside world is lost due to wars and the lust for power and vulgar gain. Then, according to the ancient prophecies, future Lord of Shambhala will emerge from there with a great army to defeat the forces of evil and establish the Golden Age. Under His enlightened rule, the earth will finally be a place of peace and abundance. She will be filled with the jewels of Wisdom and Compassion.

The most ancient Texts add that to Shambhala, to the Spiritual Center of the planet, he leads a long inner journey through the deserts and mountains of his soul.

Anyone who, having overcome numerous difficulties and obstacles on the spiritual Path, can reach this remote Sanctuary, will find there a secret that will allow him to master space-time and free himself from their bonds.

By the way, the texts of the prophecies warn that people can get into Shambhala only those who are called and has the necessary spiritual training, and curious adventurers will find only blinding sandstorms, empty mountains, or even death.

The earliest references to Shambhala are found in the sacred books of Tibetan Buddhism Kanjur and Tanjur, which number more than three hundred volumes. These works, known as the Tibetan Canon, are to Tibetans what the Hebrew Bible is to Westerners. They include sayings of the Buddha and comments on them by later saints and scholars. The books themselves consist of long, narrow pages of thick paper (many of them decorated with gold and silver letters) wrapped in silk and bound between two wooden planks.

The oldest volumes concerning Shambhala were written in Tibetan tens of centuries ago, as translations of works from Sanskrit, the sacred language of India. They believe that the originals of these books are kept in Shambhala for many thousands of years before they appeared at the beginning of a new era in India.

Since then, many poets, yogis, and scholars from Tibet and Mongolia have compiled additional works on this secret Realm, many of which are now lost or forgotten. But the great secrets of Shambhala were never trusted to paper- they were transmitted from the Teacher to the initiated disciple only orally.

The Lamas say that without these oral Teachings, many texts, which are written in vague symbolic language, cannot be understood correctly. In addition to this, the lay people know many folk stories about Shambhala - some of them about the coming wars and the Golden Age, and others about the seekers of Truth who went there and the treasures with which they returned. A few artists created paintings depicting Lords of Fire and their mysterious realm surrounded by giant snowy mountains.

Most of the Tibetan-Himalayan lamas are not certain about the location of this Kingdom, and they have different opinions about where it could be - from Northern Tibet to the North Pole.

Eastern myths record much more details about Shambhala itself and sometimes give a remarkably clear and detailed picture 4 . According to their descriptions, She is surrounded by a huge ring of snow-capped mountains, sparkling with ice, which do not allow those who are not worthy to enter. Some lamas believe that these peaks are permanently hidden in fog, others say that they are visible, but so far away that few managed to get close enough to see them.

The ancient Texts imply that one can cross the ring of the highest Mountains only by flying over them, but the lamas indicate that this can only be done with the help of spiritual forces. Anyone who tries to fly over them by plane or use other material means, death awaits on the other side.

To emphasize the need for spiritual forces to overcome the mountains, one of the paintings depicts a group of travelers going to Shambhala along a rainbow.

Buddhist myth about Shambhala:

Inside the ring of snow-capped mountains, around the center of the kingdom, there is a ring of even higher mountains. Rivers and smaller mountain ranges divide the area between the two rings into eight districts arranged like petals around the center of a flower. The texts usually describe Shambhala as an eight-petalled lotus surrounded by a necklace of snowy mountains. This image has a symbolic meaning related to the deeper meaning of this oriental myth. Each of these eight regions in turn contains twelve principalities, thus making ninety-six princes, or lesser kings, loyal to the Lord of Shambhala. These small kingdoms abound in cities with golden pagodas set amidst gardens full of rich meadows and flowering trees of all kinds.

The snowy mountains surrounding the central part of the lotus are turned into ice and shine with crystal light.

Within this inner ring of peaks lies Kalapa, the capital of Shambhala. To the east and west of the city are two beautiful lakes in the form of a crescent and a flawed moon, filled with precious stones. Above the fragrant flowers floating in their waters, waterfowl glide. South of Kalapa is a beautiful sandalwood park called Malaya (cool grove). Here the first Lord of Shambhala built a huge mandala, a mystical circle that embodies the essence of the secret teachings stored in this kingdom and symbolizes the transcendental unity of the Cosmic Mind and the Universe. To the north rise ten stone mountains with sanctuaries and images of important saints and deities.

The jeweled palace of the Lord of Shambhala, located in the center of Shambhala, shines so that at night it becomes as bright as day, and the Moon looks like only a faint spot in the sky. The roofs of the palace pagoda shine with pure gold, and pearls and diamonds hang from the cornices. The outer walls are decorated with carved coral bas-reliefs depicting dancing goddesses. The doorways are framed with emeralds and sapphires, and over the windows of diamonds and lapis lazuli are gold awnings. From the inside, the palace is supported by columns of coral, pearls and striped agate. The interiors are decorated with carpets and fine brocade cushions. Different types of crystals inserted into the floors and ceilings allow you to control the temperature in the rooms, supplying cold or heat.

In the center of the palace is the golden throne of the king, supported by eight carved lions and inlaid with the rarest precious stones. The fragrance of sandalwood incense spreads everywhere for many miles from it. As long as the king remains on this throne of wisdom and power, all his desires allow him to fulfill the magic stone given to him by the serpent deities who guard the hidden treasures. Ministers, generals and countless other subordinates surround him, ready to obey his every command. Horses, elephants and vehicles of all kinds, including an aircraft made of stone, are also at his service. In addition to this, the pantries of his palace contain treasures of gold and precious stones beyond imagination. From the Tibetan point of view, the Lord of Shambhala has all the power and all the wealth that befits the Emperor of the Universe.

The inhabitants of the kingdom live in peace and harmony, free from hunger and disease. They never suffer crop failure, and their food is healthy and nutritious. They are all healthy, handsome, and wear turbans and elegant robes of white cloth. They speak the sacred language of Sanskrit. Everyone has great wealth in the form of gold and precious stones, but they do not need them. The laws of Shambhala are mild and fair - there are no physical punishments in the form of beatings or imprisonment. According to Lama Garje Khamtrul Rinpoche, “There is not even a sign of non-virtue or evil in this country. The words "war" and "enmity" are unknown. Happiness and joy there can compete with those possessed by the gods.

In fact, the Tibetans borrowed the Sanskrit word "Shambhala" to convey the concept of "source of happiness" 6 . But this does not mean that Shambhala is simply a paradise of lifeless bliss, as it may appear from our description. There are other similar places in Tibetan mythology. If a person performs good deeds and accumulates enough merit, he will be born in the heavenly world of the gods, where he will receive everything that he desired on earth - youth, beauty, wealth, power and sensual pleasures. However, there is one “but” - after centuries of divine life in bliss, his supply of merit will be exhausted.

According to Buddhism, good deeds, even those done out of compassion, are not enough - a person must also acquire the wisdom that will allow him to awaken to the true nature of reality and know himself as he really is. When this happens, he will transcend all suffering and reach nirvana, the ultimate goal beyond heaven and hell. Having thus attained enlightenment, he will become a Buddha, awakened, no longer subject to the vicissitudes of life and death.

Although many Tibetans consider Shambhala to be the heaven where the gods live, most lamas consider it to be a pure land, a special paradise reserved for those who are on their way to nirvana. According to the texts, this realm provides the conditions in which progress on the path to enlightenment can be made most possible. Anyone who reaches Shambhala or is born there can no longer fall into a lower state of existence and will reach nirvana either in this life or very soon after it. Lamas add that Shambhala is the only pure land that exists on Earth. Someone asked the Dalai Lama that it must be just an immaterial or imaginary paradise for the mind, he immediately replied, “Definitely not. Shambhala exists in this world.”

Because of their focus on attaining enlightenment, the inhabitants of Shambhala dedicate much of their time to the study and practice of the higher wisdom known to Tibetan Buddhism as the Kalachakra*, or "wheel of time."

Kalachakra is the most complex and secret of the Tibetan teachings. . Lamas reveal its inner essence only to initiates and add that even among the initiates who are outside of Shambhala, very few will be able to understand the deep symbolism of his texts and meditations. Dalai Lama, who gives many initiations, considers Kalachakra one of the most effective and fastest methods for achieving enlightenment - of course, if it is practiced correctly and with proper motivation.

Kalachakra, more than any other form of Tibetan mysticism, is concerned with finding eternity in the passing moment and indestructible in the midst of destruction.

As a result, Kalachakra practitioners seek the perfect state of nirvana right here, among the imperfections of the world. Instead of renouncing worldly activities for the sake of monastic or hermitic asceticism, enlightened people are more likely to use everything, even entertainment and the luxury of family life, as a means of achieving enlightenment. They try to free themselves from illusion through the very things that bind others to it.

It is believed that due to their positive attitude towards the material world, the inhabitants of Shambhala have created advanced science and technology, which they put at the service of spiritual goals. The origin of Tibetan medical treatises describing human anatomy and psychology, sophisticated theories, diagnostic methods, and methods of treating and preventing such serious diseases as smallpox, is attributed to this kingdom. Other Kalachakra texts from Shambhala gave the Tibetans their system of astronomy and astrology, as well as one of the calendars they still use today.

According to the legends and descriptions of the royal palace in Calapa, special windows in the roof are the lenses of powerful telescopes that make it possible to discover life on other planets and even in other solar systems. At the king Shambhala there is a glass mirror in which he can see whatever he wants from miles away. Lamas familiar with modern technology describe this mirror as something like a television screen, allowing you to observe events in the outside world. Descriptions of "stone horses with the speed of the wind" suggest the technology of manufacturing aircraft from metal. Other texts describe the technique of transmuting one chemical into another, and ways to harness natural energies such as wind power. It is believed that each area of ​​the kingdom is specialized in some area of ​​knowledge, such as psychology or philosophy 7 .

The study of these sciences helps to the inhabitants of Shambhala to master the highest science of all, the science of the mind, or the science of meditation, which is the heart of the Kalachakra. By its practice they achieve direct awareness and mastery of their mind and body; these abilities allow them to also heal various ailments.

As a side effect, they gain extraordinary powers, such as the ability to read other people's minds, see the future, or move at great speeds. These psychic forces protect the inhabitants of Shambhala from aggressors- if someone tries to attack them, they will simply materialize replicas of his weapons and turn them against him or simply turn invisible.

The main goal of mastery mind control- this is self-knowledge in order to achieve enlightenment and gain Wisdom, which is necessary in order to help others achieve Nirvana, i.e. achievement of the set High Goal.

The people of Shambhala are not immortal, but they live long as long as it takes to fulfill lofty Tasks, and leave knowing that they will be born again in the conditions necessary for the improvement of mankind. They are not fully enlightened either, but they have some human flaws and illusions, but they are much less than the people of the outside world. They all strive to achieve enlightenment and raise their children in the same spirit. Thus, Shambhala society closest to the ideal that can only be achieved in this earthly world.

On the other side, Teachers of Light are considered enlightened, and the Tibetans believe that each of them is the incarnation of some famous Bodhisattva, that is, a person who has reached the threshold of Nirvana and no longer needs births, but chooses birth to help lead other earthlings to enlightenment. Since the Bodhisattvas are directly in front of the full state of the Buddha, then all the Teachers are the embodiments of various spiritual powers, such as compassion and wisdom. Thus, They have the ability to give the blessings and insights needed to understand and practice the most advanced Kalachakra teachings. Tibetans believe that their highest lamas are also bodhisattvas and that one of them, namely the Panchen Lama, was the ruler of Shambhala in a past life and will be born again as its future ruler in order to destroy the forces of evil and bring the Golden Age to this planet.

The Kalachakra texts give us a detailed but sometimes mythical history of the Lords of Shambhala, which, according to some Western scholars, may be based on real facts. Since little attention is paid to what happened before the arrival of Buddhism in Tibet around the year 500, these texts say almost nothing about the origin of Shambhala. The few lamas who have mentioned this have said that Shambhala has existed since the beginning of the world, but very little is known about its early history. They believed that it had Masters and a religion that made it a better place than any other, but added that that religion was not Buddhism.

The Buddhist story of Shambhala begins with life Buddha Siddhartha Gautama. According to the canonical description, after many lifetimes of preparation, he was born as a prince in a kingdom located on the border of modern India and Nepal.

Hearing a prophecy that his son would become a great spiritual Master if he saw signs of illness, old age and death, the king, who wanted his son to become the emperor of the whole world, imprisoned him in the luxury of a palace and forbade him to even mention such things.

When Siddhartha grew up and learned all the joys of life, including marriage and fatherhood, he began to feel uneasy and slipped out of the palace. The gods, wanting to remind him of his destiny, appeared before him in the form of a sick cripple, a frail old man, a decaying corpse, and a wandering monk.

Struck by the realization that he too would have to fall ill, grow old and die, the prince could no longer enjoy the temporary pleasures of life and, following the example of a monk, left his family in search of nirvana, a state beyond all change and suffering.

After several years of experiencing all kinds of mystical practices, self-torture and asceticism, He realized that these extremes can only lead to starvation.

One day, after taking some milk from a girl, He sat under a tree and looked deep into His own mind to find that which had eluded Him for so long. Realizing that Siddhartha is on the verge of enlightenment, Mara, the god of illusion and darkness, sent sensual girls to seduce Him, and when this did not help, he sent frightening armies of demons to turn Him away from the highest Goal. But Siddhartha remained steadfast. When the dawn came, He attained enlightenment and found the cause of all suffering and the remedy for it.

At first, He decided to keep the Knowledge revealed by Him to Himself, thinking that it was too subtle to be understood by others, but the Gods of Fire and Light convinced Him that it should be taught to all capable and willing

Buddhists in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia believe that He spent the rest of His life openly preaching and that all of His teachings are recorded in the oldest Buddhist scriptures known as the Pali Canon. However, the Tibetans say that the wisdom revealed by the Buddha was indeed too complex for the general public, and that the deeper and mystical aspects of it were taught only to those who were spiritually advanced enough to use it.

He did this in a divine body, which most people are unable to perceive, and then these teachings were not written down in the Pali Canon, but were transmitted only orally. Much later they were recorded. According to the Dalai Lama, these sermons, which occupy a large part of the Tibetan Canon, were given in a spiritual dimension that is not accessible to the ordinary senses, but is just as real as the everyday world that we usually see.

Before his death and final transition to Peace Supreme Buddha assumed the form of the deity Kalachakra and gave the highest of his mystical teachings to the great assembly of sages and gods in South India.

According to the Tibetan texts, a thousand years after the death of the Buddha, the Kalachakra was still hidden. During this period, Buddhism spread from India to Central Asia and China. By the time he reached Tibet (about VII - VIII century), it already included the gods and beliefs of other religions and tended to highly sophisticated forms of mysticism. According to Western scholars, Kalachakra, which first (historically recognized) appeared later, in X century, represents the most extreme example of the development of Buddhism in this direction. Whether or not it really originated earlier, this teaching certainly demonstrates the influence of the later development of Buddhism in India and Central Asia.

The myth of Shambhala was also known in the West. At the end of the Middle Ages, many Catholic missionaries went to China and Tibet from Europe to convert non-Christians to Christianity. Two of them, Juan Cabral and Esteban Casella, were looking for a way from India through Tibet to "Katay", i.e. China, and heard about Shambhala, which they called "Xembala". In 1627, thinking it was just another name for China, they went to Tibet in search of a route to Shambhala. When they reached Tashilhunpo, the seat of the Panchen Lamas and the main monastery of lamas interested in the mystical realm, they realized their mistake and returned to India. Their letters are notable for being the first mention of Shambhala in the West 14 .

Two hundred years later, another Catholic missionary, Abbot Gyuk, made a trip through Tibet and heard something similar to a distorted version of the prophecy about Shambhala. According to this version, the followers of the Panchen Lama form a society known as "kelans". They believe that one day their leader will reincarnate to the north of Tibet, in the country between Altai and Tien Shan, most likely in Shambhala. When this happens, the Chinese will take over Tibet, and Buddhism will disappear to remain only in the hearts of the Kelans. Then the Panchen Lama will call them all to him, and those who died will come back to life again. And having a huge army of Kelans under his command, he will defeat the Chinese, become the world ruler and spread Buddhism all over the world 15 .

Since James Hilton used the book of Abbot Huck as his main source of information about Tibet, this version of the Shambhala prophecy may well have inspired him to write The Lost Horizon. In any case, he used Gyuk and other Catholic missionaries as models for Shangri-la's high lama, a Capuchin monk named Father Perrault. In his novel, Father Perrault settles in a hidden valley and decides to convert its inhabitants, but as a result he gradually converts himself until he becomes indistinguishable from a Buddhist lama. Much the same thing happened to some of the missionaries whose reports Hilton read. For example, one of them, Father Desideri, entered a monastery in Lhasa to study and refute the teachings of Tibetan Buddhism, but became so interested in these studies and was imbued with such respect for the practitioners of this religion that he could not engage in missionary work. In the end, he wrote: "I am ashamed that I have such a hard heart that I did not honor my teacher as this people honors their leader" 16 .

The first Western scholar to write seriously about Shambhala was a Hungarian researcher Choma de Quereshi. In 1819, he left Hungary with a backpack to look for the homeland of his people's ancestors, believing that it must be somewhere in Central Asia. After a long journey on foot through the Middle East to India, he reached Tibet and spent the rest of his life studying the Tibetan language and literature. Although he never found the ancestral home of the Hungarians, he discovered texts about Kalachakra and Shambhala and came to the conclusion that this famous kingdom was located north of the Syr Darya, which flows in Central Asia.

Nearly a century later, two other scholars, Berthold Laufer and Albert Grünwedel, published German translations of two Tibetan travel guides to Shambhala. They and the works of Choma de Queresha aroused some interest in the West in this kingdom, mainly in a narrow circle of Orientalists 17 .

Shambhala attracted the attention of a wide audience thanks to the teachings of the Theosophists. In the second half XIX century Russian woman H. P. Blavatsky founded the Theosophical Society, a worldwide spiritual movement that first introduced the Western religions to the West, especially Buddhism. She claimed to receive telepathic and written messages from Great Spiritual Teachers of the planet living somewhere beyond the Himalayas. Many of Her followers believed that the Highest of these Teachers, the Lord of the World, was in Shambhala, in an invisible fiery oasis in the Gobi Desert. According to their views Shambhala is the spiritual center of the world and the original source of the secret doctrines of Theosophy.

Among the many important figures influenced by Cosmic Theosophy was Russian artist Nicholas Roerich, the greatest philosopher and public figure.

Exploring Tibetan mythology, Roerich showed great interest in Shambhala and led a scientific expedition through Central Asia to find traces of the hidden kingdom. Shambhala was for him the main symbol that connected the prophecies and the goals of the search for all religious traditions. Many of his poetic articles on the subject, including Shambhala, may also have given Hilton his Shangri-la idea.

In any case, Roerich's great interest in Eastern philosophy inspired him to creation of the Roerich Pact, a document that obligated earthly nations to respect and preserve cultural and scientific values. A special symbol was to be placed on museums, cathedrals and other cultural monuments so that during the war they would not be bombed or destroyed. At a ceremony at the White House in the presence of Franklin Delano Roosevelt The pact was signed by representatives of twenty one country; he was also supported by many other world leaders and prominent figures such as Albert Einstein.

The connection between Shambhala and the Roerich Pact is evident from the following speech, read on Third International Congress of the Banner of Peace Roerich (1933):

“The East said that when the Banner of Shambhala surrounds the whole world, then the New Dawn will truly follow. Having borrowed this legend from Asia, let's decide that the Banner of Peace will cover the whole world, carrying the word of Light and anticipating the New Morning of human brotherhood.

AT Prophecies about Shambhala, by the way, that the conditions of life in the outside world will become worse and worse. People will turn away from religion and truth, become violent and seek power for power's sake. Dishonesty, cunning and greed will prevail, and the ideology of gross materialism will spread across the Earth. Having crushed all their opponents, the materialist barbarians will begin to fight among themselves until an evil king appears who will unite them and subjugate the whole world to his power.

When this tyrant decides there is nothing left to conquer, the fog will lift to reveal the snowy mountains of the Himalayas. Enraged by the discovery that he does not yet rule the whole world, he will attack Shambhala with a huge army armed with all kinds of terrible weapons. Then the thirty-second lord of Shambhala will send many fighters of Light against him. And in a great battle, the evil king of the barbarians and his army will be defeated. Many will make tremendous progress in spiritual development.

The whole world will become a continuation of the pure land of Shambhala.

Since the Golden Age has not yet come, the only way to know it now is to travel to Shambhala and find it there. Many guidebooks have been written for this purpose in Tibet, but their directions are cryptic and difficult to follow. The journey described in them passes through a country filled with a curious mixture of realistic and fantastic features - the traveler first finds himself in mountains inhabited by gods and demons, then with the help of magical powers he crosses vast deserts and flies over a river whose water turns a person into stone. Yet several landmarks along the way seem to correspond to real places like Kashmir and the Tarim River in western China. In addition, the traveler must perform bizarre rituals, practice strange forms of meditation, and endure superhuman hardships. All this makes one wonder: is the trip to Shambhala pure fantasy, or is there some kind of reality in it?

The Eastern mystical view of the world is fundamentally different from the Western scientific view. A lama once remarked to me, “You know, it’s just a shame that American astronauts spent so much time and money going to the moon to find only rocks like the ones you see here. They never once saw what was really there - lunar beings.

When in the thirties an expedition of climbers climbed one sacred peak of India, on the top of which, according to beliefs, there was a golden temple, and they told one of the Indian saints that they did not see any temple there, he answered them, smiling: “You probably they just didn't want to see him."

An old Tibetan legend tells of a young man who went in search of Shambhala. After overcoming many mountains, he entered the cave of an old hermit, who asked him: "Where are you going through these snowy deserts?" “I strive to find Shambhala,” the young man answered. "Then you don't have to go so far," said the hermit, "the Kingdom of Shambhala is in your own heart."

Nicholas Roerich was declared the spiritual leader of mankind, the Antichrist, the head of the Comintern, a Soviet spy, the head of world Freemasonry, and even the reincarnation of one of the Buddhist deities. Roerich himself compared himself to a lone bear, emphasizing at the same time that it was with a bear, and not with a wolf. Answer the question: who was this person really? — impossible. This turned out to be beyond the power of even Roerich's biographers: interpretations of individual episodes of his life, including his origin, sometimes completely exclude each other.

crops

Nicholas Roerich was the first in the family who made an attempt to justify a promising surname: she, of Scandinavian origin, means "rich in fame." Nikolai's father, Konstantin Fedorovich Roerich, belonged to a Swedish family that lived on the territory of today's Latvia. He served in St. Petersburg as a notary of the district court and was by no means a simple layman: a member of the Imperial Free Economic Society, he was ashamed of the serfdom of the Russian peasantry and took part in the preparation of a reform to free them. So the undisguised social temperament, however, of a completely different direction, Nicholas Roerich, apparently, inherited from his father. Nikolai's mother, Maria Vasilievna Korkunova-Kalashnikova, belonged to the merchant class.

Nicholas Roerich received his first education at the private Karl May Gymnasium, an institution famous for treating students as equals. There is evidence that already at the age of 7 he could not be torn off paper and paints, and he also began to compose - in the sense of writing - as a child. His stories "Olga's revenge for the death of Igor", "Igor's campaign" were published in the journals "Nature and hunting", "Russian hunter". Nicholas also had a special hobby: archaeological excavations. The boy was attracted to them by the archaeologist Lev Ivanovsky, who often visited the Roerichs' estate - Izvara. There were many mounds in the vicinity of Izvara, and 14-year-old Kolya unearthed several silver and gold coins of the 10th-11th centuries with his own hands. The father insisted that Nikolai, as the most capable of the three sons, continue the family business and inherit the notary's office, while Roerich himself dreamed of becoming an artist. The way the young man resolved this dispute reveals a very important trait of his character: the ability to negotiate and find a compromise. In 1893, Roerich became a student of the Imperial Academy of Arts and at the same time entered the law faculty of St. Petersburg University. The load on him was colossal, but he turned out to be a real workhorse: he was hardy, strong, tireless. In the morning he painted in the workshop of Arkhip Ivanovich Kuindzhi, then he ran to lectures at the university, in the evenings he was engaged in self-education. The restless Roerich came up with the idea to organize a self-education circle among friends, where young people studied Slavic and Old Russian art, Western philosophy, ancient literature, poetry, history, and religious studies. Already a student, Roerich had ambitious plans - to study the history and religion of the Persians and present all this in a scientific work.

However, one should not imagine the young Roerich as a scientist cracker. He was ambitious, expressive and touchy. Emotional entries in the diary fully reflect this: “The sketch is completely ruined. Nothing good will come of it. Oh, they will delete, I feel, they will delete! How will my friends look at me? Lord, do not allow this shame!”

Shame, as you know, did not happen. On the contrary: the artist Roerich made a rapidly rapid take-off. He not only successfully graduated from the Academy of Arts, but was also noticed by the masters: at the graduation exhibition, P.M. Tretyakov chose Roerich's painting The Messenger for his museum. Roerich wrote a lot, and his paintings were lucky: they were really noticed, they were constantly exhibited at the Academy of Arts, and in the World of Art, and in the Union of Russian Artists, and then abroad. From 1904 to 1908, at the Milan International Exhibition, he was awarded an honorary diploma, then he was elected a member of the National Academy in Reims and a member of the Autumn Salon in Paris. "Prince's Hunt", "Vladimir's Campaign to Korsun", "Ancient Life", "Reserved Places"... The list of his early works is huge. “Young and early,” the envious hissed after Roerich. Many considered him a bad artist, but a noble careerist. Be that as it may, at the age of 30 Roerich was appointed director of the school of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, and in 1909 he was elevated to full membership of the Imperial Academy of Arts, and he began to sign his letters "Academician Roerich."

Main meeting

A plainly dressed young man in a battered jacket, the most ordinary cap and high hunting boots sat modestly in a corner of the living room of the Novgorod estate of Pavel Putyatin. The owner was not at home, and Roerich was waiting for him. Putyatin's niece, the young beauty Elena Shaposhnikova, invited the young man to the table. All evening he could not tear his enthusiastic gaze from her, although he tried to hide it. However, Elena was used to the fact that her beauty was stunning. Tall, with black almond-shaped eyes and lush light brown hair, Elena attracted with extraordinary femininity and softness, showing through her whole appearance - in the expression of her eyes, voice, smile. Elena Ivanovna was the daughter of a famous St. Petersburg architect, as well as the great-great-granddaughter of the Russian commander Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov. Like Roerich, she had Scandinavian roots. Elena Ivanovna's great-grandfather served as mayor of Riga and at one time presented Peter the Great with Monomakh's cap, who happened to be in the city. The emperor was satisfied and offered the donor Russian citizenship and a new surname - Shaposhnikov, with a hint of a gift.

From the very first meeting, Roerich guessed something significant in Elena Ivanovna, she also guessed something equally significant in him. As Elena Ivanovna wrote, "mutual love decided everything." However, Shaposhnikova's relatives were against their union: Roerich seemed to them not well-born enough. However, from early youth, Elena decided for herself that she would certainly marry a person with significant talent - a musician, artist, writer. She has already managed to refuse many suitors, including those with a large fortune, which led her relatives to complete bewilderment.

In her diaries, Elena Ivanovna writes that on the eve of the official proposal from Roerich, she saw two prophetic dreams in which the late father entered her room and said: “Lalya, marry Roerich.” The young people got married on October 28, 1901 in the church of the Academy of Arts.

Roerich from the very beginning made great demands on their union and hoped to find in Elena, whom he also called the Other, not just a traditional wife, but an assistant in everything. Actually, the true story of the “secret Roerich” began from the meeting with her.

Orientation - East

Roerich's fascination with the East did not come from "out of nowhere", as is sometimes said. In this sense, he was not even original: he did not run counter to his time, did not go ahead of him, but, on the contrary, was in full accordance with his spirit. At the turn of the century, Russia experienced a fascination with India and everything oriental. In 1890-1891, the heir to the throne, the future Emperor Nicholas II, accompanied by the orientalist Prince E.E. Ukhtomsky visited many cities of India and brought back a huge collection of objects of Buddhist worship. In 1893, a special exhibition was held in the halls of the Winter Palace. The 19-year-old Nicholas Roerich was breathtaking from the statuettes of buddhas, small images of stupas, rosaries; with impatient fingers he leafed through a huge colorful catalog describing all the items on display. From them emanated a secret.

Among other things, at the beginning of the century, Russia managed to get directly acquainted with Indian philosophy. The Proclamation of Ramakrishna, the books of his disciple Vivekananda, the Upanishads, and the Bhagavad Gita were translated and published. Indian metaphysical doctrines, their view of the cosmic and historical cycles captured Roerich, as they captured many. Tibet and Tibetan miracle workers were especially attractive. Just a few books about the culture and history of Tibet appeared, the works of Ukhtomsky, Potanin, Przhevalsky.

By 1914, the date of the construction of the first Buddhist temple in St. Petersburg, Nicholas Roerich's interest in the East was formed so clearly that he joined the construction assistance committee and closely communicated with the envoy of the 13th Dalai Lama, Khambo Agovan Lobsan Dorchzhiev. In the paintings and essays of Roerich, India began to appear more and more often.

He was extremely interested in the question of the common roots of Russia and Asia. He suspected a commonality between Russia and Asia in everything: in art, beliefs, mentality. Back in 1895, Roerich wrote in his diary: “I am very curious whether there were two influences on Russian art - Byzantine and Western, or was it also directly Eastern? Here and there I find vague indications of this. This connection has already been pointed out by many, to recall at least the Slavophiles, who especially emphasize the eastern character of the Russian Empire - Kireevsky, Aksakov, Leontiev.

In addition to Eastern philosophy, Russia, following the West, was fascinated by the occult. Roerich was no exception in this. And the French sealant and magician Dr. Papus literally stuck to the Russian court at that time, organizing the lodge of the Cross and the Star in St. Petersburg. It included, oddly enough, Nicholas II and his wife, the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, the Grand Dukes and many other high-ranking dignitaries. Among artists, occultism and séances have also become a very popular pastime. The Roerichs were especially enthusiastic: friends Benois, Grabar, Diaghilev, von Traubenberg often gathered in their apartment on Galernaya to participate in the famous "table-rolling".

Once, the famous medium Janek, invited to the northern capital by the imperial couple, "performed" at the Roerichs'. By the way, many scientists did not shy away from seances, the psychiatrist Bekhterev, who studied hypnosis, became a frequent guest of the Roerichs. It was Bekhterev who was one of the first to notice the mediumistic abilities of Helena Roerich. And yet, in this hobby, the Roerichs differed from everyone else: they saw in the occult not just a fashionable pastime and an extravagant means to dispel boredom. When one of his friends, for example, the artists Grabar or Benois, allowed himself to speak disparagingly “about calling the spirits”, the usually restrained Roerich was stained with indignation.

“This is a serious spiritual phenomenon that needs to be sorted out,” he said, frowning his brows. "Understand" was his favorite word. Friends hid a smile. Meanwhile, around 1909, a certain event happened that determined the future life of the Roerich family: according to Elena Ivanovna, she had a vision - waking up from a dream, she saw a tall figure of a man with an unusually beautiful, radiant face and decided that this was the first mystical meeting with teacher.

One can treat this evidence in different ways: for rationalists, this is out of the question. However, it is known, for example, that Giordano Bruno was a mystic, Newton - first of all an alchemist, and then a physicist, and Einstein - a deeply religious person. And there are many such examples. As for Roerich, he, apparently, really did not doubt that all his actions, his cultural and research activities were subordinated to some kind of Higher service.

Interference on the way

The Roerichs knew that their path lay to the East. Their destiny is Asia. There they hoped to find answers to their innermost questions, of those that are called "eternal". There, Roerich was supposed to "meet the teachers with his own eyes", there he had to confirm his guesses about the cultural and spiritual ties between Russia and the East. But the path to the region, where the truth was hidden for Roerich, was not easy. The first obstacle on the road was History

The outbreak of the February Revolution found the Roerichs in Karelia in a rented wooden house in Serdobol, standing in the middle of a pine forest. Roerich with his wife and two sons, Yuri and Svyatoslav, had to move here from dank, damp St. Petersburg because of his illness: pneumonia, threatening severe complications. Things were so bad that he even made a will. From the directorship of the school of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts had to be abandoned. But Roerich writes here too: “Eternal Riders”, “Cloud Messenger”, “Message to Fyodor Tyron”

At the same time, in November 1917, the People's Commissar for National Policy Joseph Stalin, arriving in Helsingfors (now Helsinki) for the congress of the Social Democrats, delivered an impassioned speech about the national self-determination of nations and their right to complete secession. The Land of Suomi does not hesitate and hurries to implement the proclaimed right as soon as possible. After the civil war, Finland demanded the annexation of Karelia and the entire Kola Peninsula. After that, relations between Finland and Soviet Russia were broken, and the border was locked up with all locks. The Roerichs had to take off their feet.

At first, Roerich's attitude to the upheaval that took place in his homeland was typical of an intellectual. In October 1917, he writes in the article “Unity”: “Where does the revolt against knowledge and the desire for equality out of misery, out of ignorance come from? Whence the expulsion of freedom and its replacement by tyranny? Why are your leaders stupid and of poor quality?”

The Roerich family took a difficult route to London. They were not going to stay there for a long time, hoping only to get visas to India, a colony of the British crown. There was no more homeland, there was nowhere to return.

But it was not so easy to get a visa to India: Russian emigrants did not have a Nansen passport. Nevertheless, Roerich did not give up. For months he knocked on the thresholds of bureaucratic institutions, persuaded, insisted, wrote petitions, enlisted the support of famous people. In the English capital, he met old friends - Diaghilev, Stravinsky, Nijinsky and made new ones, the poet Rabindranath Tagore was especially dear to him.

Elena Ivanovna, packing her things, walked around concentrated and excited. And suddenly, the unexpected. At the last minute it turned out that for various reasons the money expected for the trip would not come. Therefore, Roerich accepted the offer of the director of the Chicago Art Institute, Robert Harshe, to conduct an exhibition tour in America and earn the necessary funds for the trip. His paintings traveled for three years in 29 cities of America, his lectures gathered a large number of listeners. Many said that Roerich never expresses what he really thinks, that he hides something to himself. To others, he seemed completely insincere. But both those and others recognized him as an associate of the art world.

And Roerich had his own fixed idea: having survived first the First World War, and then the Russian Revolution and being indignant at how rational beings can behave like “madmen who have lost their human appearance”, Roerich came to his formula for the salvation of mankind (however, already before him expressed by his compatriot) - “beauty will save the world”, and art should become the instrument of this beauty. “Art will unite humanity, art is one and indivisible. It has many branches, but one root." In America, Roerich's indefatigable social temperament again manifested itself: he organized the Institute of United Arts in Chicago, an association of artists with a characteristic name - "Flaming Heart". And in 1922, again through his efforts, the International Cultural Center "The Crown of the World" appeared, where scientists and artists from different countries could work.

December 1923. In the small principality of Sikkim, not far from the city of Darjeeling on the slopes of the eastern Himalayas, the Roerichs reverently examined the house of Talai Pho Brang, famous for the fact that, according to legend, one of the spiritual leaders in Tibetan history, the 5th Dalai Lama, stayed here. kept plucking excitedly at his wedge-shaped beard. In the movements, in the eyes - the impatience of the boy: he got into the country of his dreams, the crane is no longer in the sky, he is almost in his hand. Soon, the excited spouses hurriedly headed for a small temple, hidden in dark greenery off the side of the road. Here, according to them, the most important event in their lives took place - they "met face to face with the Teachers." And this meeting, apparently, was planned for a long time.

There is evidence that already in America, the Roerichs established contact with the Buddhist communities of India and became lamas of a high spiritual rank. It is possible that theosophists helped them in this - while still in London, the Roerichs became members of the once founded H.P. Blavatsky, and now headed by Annie Besant Theosophical Society. In a word, they were really expected in the Buddhist temple. Roerich reports sparingly about this decisive meeting, but makes it clear that the upcoming expedition to Central Asia, for which he finally managed to raise money, was fully consistent with the wishes and orders of the Teachers, or Mahatmas, as they were called in India. Buddhist lamas, most likely of Tibetan origin, were not indifferent to the Roerichs' campaign, and they made a curious and unexpected correction to it: “We were talking about the upcoming Central Asian expedition,” Roerich writes. “Russia, according to the plan of the Mahatmas, was the most important stage in the route.”

Most likely, the idea to move through the territory of the Soviet Union was not originally included in Roerich's plan; it is also possible that Roerich was surprised. In addition, this created formal problems: in Soviet Russia, he, being an emigrant, was not a welcome guest. But in the East, the order of the Teacher is the law, and Roerich was a zealous and devoted student, so he will try to do everything that was in his power.

The first Central Asian scientific expedition of Nicholas Roerich, organized with the help and funding of the Americans and held under the American flag, finally became a reality. The basis of the expedition was the Roerichs, their son Yuri, who graduated from the Indo-Iranian Department of Oriental Languages ​​at the University of London (later he would become one of the most respected Orientalists of his time), Dr. Konstantin Nikolayevich Ryabinin, who studied Tibetan medicine for many years, an Oriental enthusiast, Colonel Nikolai Viktorovich Kordashevsky, and a handful of other like-minded people who are ready and able to engage in research in various fields: geodesy, archeology, soil science ... As we moved deeper into Asia, the composition of the expedition constantly changed, locals joined - Indians, Mongols, Buryats - someone left, someone came. Only the backbone remained unchanged - the Roerich family.

In 1924, by the time the journey began, Nicholas Roerich had already turned 50 years old. So, we moved through India along the ancient route towards the border with the USSR: from Srinagar to Leh, then through Maulbek, Lamayur, Bazga, Saspul passed to Khotan and Kashgar. They explored the most important monuments of art, visited monasteries, listened to legends and traditions, made sketches of the area, made plans, collected mineralogical and botanical collections. In Khotan, during a forced stay, Roerich created a series of paintings "Maitreya".

Already by this stage of the journey, a large amount of research material had been accumulated. And here are the first conclusions after the most careful observations: “Everything that happens in the metapsychic institute of Paris, the experiments of Notzing and Richet on ectoplasm, the experiments of Baradyuk on photographing physical radiations, the work of Kotik on the exteriorization of sensitivity and Bekhterev’s attempts to transmit thoughts at a distance - all this is familiar to India, only not as an unlikely innovation, but as long-known laws.

On May 29, 1926, three Roerichs, accompanied by two Tibetans, crossed the Soviet border near Lake Zaisan.

On June 13 of the same year, the Roerichs are unexpectedly seen in Moscow…. There are rumors about the artist that he "sold out to the Bolsheviks", especially since he visited the houses of high-ranking Soviet officials: Sverdlov, Chicherin, Lunacharsky, Kamenev. Former acquaintances, from those who remained in Soviet Russia, are at a loss: what did he forget here? His former attitude towards the Bolsheviks as "fiends" is well known. To all perplexed questions, Roerich calmly replied that he needed to obtain permission from the authorities to continue the expedition on the territory of the Soviet Altai Mountains.

In fact, Roerich came to Moscow not only for permission to visit Altai, but with an important embassy: he brought two strange documents - “welcome letters to the Soviet authorities” and a small box with sacred earth from those places where Shakyamuni Buddha came from. Who were these messages from? From Teachers. “We are sending earth to the grave of our brother Mahatma Lenin,” one of the letters said. "Accept our greetings."

These amazing letters lay in the archives for 40 years, but were eventually published. The first epistle enumerates the ideological aspects of communism, to a certain extent close to the spiritual setting of Buddhism. But most importantly, on the basis of this connection, Roerich's teachers managed to inspire the artist with a new attitude towards communism, explaining that this was not a step towards barbarism and tyranny, but, on the contrary, towards a higher consciousness and a more advanced stage of evolution. And Roerich, in the end, accepted this new position. And this changed attitude of Roerich towards the Soviets subsequently alienated many from him.

In the second message of the Mahatmas, they turned to more pressing and practical matters. They reported that they were ready for negotiations with the Soviet Union on the liberation of India, occupied by England, as well as Tibet, where the British also behaved in a businesslike manner, practically strangling the local government: the spiritual leader of Tibet, the Tashi Lama, was forced to flee the country because of pro-English minded secular authorities.

People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Chicherin immediately reported about Roerich and the documents he brought to the Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks V.M. Molotov, enclosing a translation of both letters. For the Soviet state, the opportunity to get new allies in Tibet was very tempting, since this would indirectly contribute to the solution of the complex political issue of Mongolia joining the USSR. Mongolia has always remained a Buddhist country, and the Tibetan hierarchs have traditionally enjoyed almost unlimited support here. It was about the vast territory of the former Great Mongolia, which subsequently partially remained with China, and partially actually became part of the USSR. So, Chicherin asked the party leaders not to interfere with the plans of Roerich, this "half-Buddhist, half-communist." Guided by this fact, some of his biographers conclude that in this way he was recruited into Soviet intelligence. However, there are no serious grounds for such assertions. Roerich fulfilled his intermediary mission, conveyed messages and moved on his way to Altai and beyond. In 1926, the Plenipotentiary Representative of the USSR in Mongolia P.N. Nikiforov wrote to the Soviet government: “A famous artist, traveler N.K. Roerich, who is heading to Tibet in August. This Roerich persistently raises the question of the need to return the Tashi Lama to Tibet, citing theological justifications. Yes, Roerich achieved this, being sure that the spiritual leader of Tibet should live in his own country, because otherwise the spiritual potential of Tibet could be shaken. Nikiforov himself, who suspected that Roerich was “working for someone,” but it is not known, however, for whom, emphasized the “theological justifications” that were in the first and main place, unknown to the official. Here is the key to Roerich's intervention in politics - "theological justifications." Such people are not fit to be spies on their own, although they are often used as pawns in someone else's political game.

Tibetan secrets

Roerich's expedition, once again reunited with the former participants and recruited new ones, finally took a sacred course - to Tibet. It has always been a territory closed to foreigners, but the Roerichs were by no means the first Russian travelers to visit here. In 1879 and in 1883 N.M. Przhevalsky organized two expeditions to Tibet, covering 8 thousand kilometers. A little later, his path was repeated by G.Ts. Tsybikov and N. Ya. Bichurin. Undoubtedly, Roerich was familiar with the maps, books and descriptions left by them. And, of course, he was aware of all the difficulties of the upcoming path.

It was 1926. Slowly and difficultly, at a snail's pace, Roerich's expedition moved through Altai, Barnaul, Novosibirsk, Irkutsk, Ulan-Ude, Ulan Bator. Until now, it was possible to travel by car, in some places right on virgin soil. What just did not have to overcome: flooding, sandstorms, stones falling from the mountains. In August 1927, Roerich's caravan moved across the Tibetan plateau towards Nagcha. There was no more talking about cars. The men rode on horseback, while Elena Ivanovna was carried in a sedan chair.

Around were swampy plains, overgrown with thorny grass, lakes and "dead mountains", reminiscent of a cemetery. Below are deep, echoing gorges in which an icy wind howls. The horses slipped and stumbled among the bumps. The height increased, reaching more than 4.5 thousand meters. It was difficult to breathe. Every now and then someone fell off a horse, once Yuri Roerich fell like that. Father and Dr. Ryabinin rushed to him, he lay all white with a barely perceptible pulse. They brought him back with difficulty.

Two days away from the fortress of Nagchu, a forced stop was arranged.

Roerich had documents that allowed him to move straight to Lhasa, but at the border point, the Tibetans, sternly looking at the travelers moving under the American flag, declared that “the documents were incorrect” and they could no longer go on.

In the meantime, a harsh winter came with fierce icy winds, which even the locals could hardly endure. Money and medicines were running out. Several participants in the campaign have already died: the Tibetan Champa, one Mongolian lama, then the Kharcha lama. The Buryat lamas rebelled against Roerich demanding that they be released. But Roerich showed unheard of stubbornness, demanded from the local authorities a pass to Lhasa and waited endlessly patiently. It is clear that behind such resilience was hidden not just the conscientiousness of the research scientist. There was a certain super-task, for the sake of which Roerich exposed himself and his closest people to danger. This super task bore the name of Shambhala.

In Buddhist mythology, this is the country of King Suchandra, the symbolic center of the world, surrounded by eight snowy mountains resembling a lotus flower. According to the legends, in Shambhala there are the most favorable conditions for the realization of the Buddhist path, and “wisdom centers” open for those who come there. There were a great many so-called guides to Shambhala. Its geographical position was always indicated in different ways and very vaguely: "to the north of India", "beyond the ocean", "beyond the snowy mountains of Tibet". In his advance to Tibet, Roerich found out in monasteries and among learned lamas how to find the way to this reserved country. Of course, it was impossible to obtain any specific information. Conscientious lamas hinted to the stranger that Shambhala is an exclusively spiritual concept and is located in the inner world, and not in the outer one. There were other lamas who wanted to swindle gold, skins, fabrics and all kinds of gifts from wealthy Westerners. Those mysterious and meaningful hints made it clear that they knew the way to Shambhala and vaguely pointed upwards - into the impenetrable mountain jungle of Tibet. Roerich writes: “We know the reality of earthly Shambhala. We know the stories of one Buryat lama, how he was escorted through a very narrow secret passage. We know how another visitor saw a caravan of highlanders carrying salt from the lakes located on the very border of Shambhala. The earthly Shambhala is connected with the heavenly one, And it is in this place that the two worlds unite.” Blessed is he who believes

Despite all the efforts of the Roerichs, they were not allowed into Lhasa, and they failed to find Shambhala, at least located within the geographic limits of the earth. British intelligence, which considered Roerich a Soviet spy, competently did their job and blocked the expedition's further path. The caravan, which had stayed in the parking lot for several months, from the autumn of 1927 to the spring of 1928 in inhuman conditions, had to turn back to India.

Second try

Roerich returned to New York with his son Yuri in the early summer of 1929. They were received with honors. On June 19, New York City Mayor James Walker hosted a grand reception in honor of the Roerichs. The hall was decorated with flags of all nations and could not accommodate everyone: politicians, businessmen, teachers of the School of Arts, students. Speeches were made to Roerich, epithets “the greatest scientist”, “the largest explorer of Asia”, “progressive artist” were heard from all sides. Soon Roerich was received by the President of the United States, Herbert Hoover.

On October 17, 1929, the Roerich Museum was solemnly opened in New York. Now it was placed in a 29-story skyscraper. On the ground floor there is the museum itself with more than a thousand paintings by the artist, above are the Roerich institutions for the unification of art from all over the world, and even higher are the apartments of the employees.

Melancholy rarely attacked such an energetic and always active person as Nicholas Roerich was. However, the more he was praised for "earthly affairs", the more he believed that he still had not achieved the innermost goal of his life. Roerich was not going to stay in America and reap the fruits of success, especially since Elena Ivanovna remained in India, in the Kullu Valley, where the Roerichs bought an estate. He returned to America, in fact, all with the same goal as many years ago: to get money and permission for a new expedition to Asia. It wasn't there

Only in 1931, almost 2 years after returning to the United States, did he finally get the opportunity to see his wife. For more than a year, despite all his connections, he was unable to obtain a visa to India: the same all-powerful British intelligence, still fearful of the influence of this “semi-communist” on their colony, where riots had already begun, were plotting intrigues. The case with Roerich's visa reached the proportions of an international scandal, so Nikolai Konstantinovich had to appeal to the intercession of the Queen of England and the Pope.

The new dwelling of the Roerichs was located in the Kullu valley, the cradle of cultural monuments of two thousand years ago, like the entire northern Punjab. A large, stone, two-story house perched picturesquely on a spur of a mountain range. From the balcony there was a wonderful view of the valley, the source of the river Beas and the snowy peaks of the mountains. In the neighboring building, located a little higher, the Himalayan Institute of Scientific Research, long conceived by Roerich, was finally opened, called "Urusvati", which means "light of the morning star". The Institute was formally headed by Yuri Nikolayevich Roerich. The younger son of the Roerichs, Svyatoslav Nikolaevich, an artist, like his father, also lived with his parents in Kullu. Dozens of scientific organizations in Europe, Asia and America were attracted to cooperation in the institute, the backbone of which was a handful of like-minded people on the spot. Processed the results of the first Central Asian expedition, collected new data. In particular, the famous Soviet geneticist and academician Vavilov received seeds from here for his rarest botanical collection.

However, Roerich was eager for a new journey to Asia. It seems that he did not lose hope of finding his Shambhala. Eventually, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Henry Wallace helped fund the second expedition and offered to organize it formally to collect drought-resistant herbs that are abundant in Central Asia and prevent soil erosion. Roerich set out in 1935, starting his advance from Manchuria to the Gobi desert. On April 15, among the sands of the Gobi, the "Banner of Peace" hoisted over the expeditionary camp. On this day, President Roosevelt and all members of the Pan American Union signed the Roerich Pact, which he had conceived before the revolution in St. Petersburg. The idea of ​​the pact was that the participating states undertake to protect cultural property in wartime. Roerich's mood during the second trip to Asia was not too optimistic. And yet he hoped that he would be able to continue his research in the protected areas of India, but - again a misfire: the Americans curtailed his expedition and ordered him to return quickly. Having learned this news, Roerich moved away from the parking lot and with bitter annoyance discharged a revolver into the air, he was choked with disappointment. He was 61 years old, far from being young, and he clearly had a presentiment that this was his last campaign.

Meanwhile, very remarkable events were unfolding in the United States: while Roerich was in Manchuria, his former patron and student, businessman Louis Horch, began a pre-planned ruin of the Roerich Museum in New York. In one night, he took out almost all the paintings, changed the locks, ordered the lease of a giant skyscraper. Thanks to the efforts of the same Horsh, Roerich became interested in the tax police, who were going to rip off a huge sum from him for the expedition.

At the last crossroads

Roerich never returned to America. From 1936 until his death, he spent without a break in India at his estate in Kullu. Thinking over the successes, and most importantly, the failures of his life, he realized that the eternal delay, the inability to catch the crane, which was already almost in his hand - all this was his apprenticeship, hardening of the spirit. As always, Roerich worked hard; As usual, he got up at 5 o'clock in the morning and went to the office to canvases and paints, and wrote in the evenings. Disturbing thoughts distracted me from my work - the Second World War was going on. India, this country of the spirit, was also shaking as if in a fever from political passions. The Indians tried to overthrow the dominance of England, proclamations “British get out of India!” hung everywhere. The British resisted fiercely and responded with arrests and massacres of the recalcitrant.

In May 1942, an agitated Yuri Nikolayevich brought a telegram to his father from the Maharaja of the Principality of Indore. They offered Roerich to mediate in the negotiations between India and England on the independence of the Indian state. Roerich's position turned out to be very delicate - he himself was a guest in this country and lived here in fact on bird's rights. The British have repeatedly hinted that if he leaves India, he will not return here again. If Roerich comes out on the side of the Indians, and they will be defeated once again - and then what?

Nevertheless, the Indian revolution won. And immediately, independent India began to be sharpened by civil strife among the Hindus and Muslims, which threatened to take on the scope of a civil war. In the house of the Roerichs, located not far from Kashmir, shots were clearly heard. In the Shah Manzil Museum in the city of Hyderabad, Muslims staged a pogrom, which led to a fire. As a result, 11 paintings by Roerich and his son Svyatoslav burned down. By 1947, Roerich's decision to return to his homeland, to Russia, was finally strengthened. Still, the house is there, and the rest of the world has remained a foreign land. He writes to friends: “So, to a new field. Full of love for the Great Russian People. But he failed to implement these plans - on December 13, 1947, Nicholas Roerich died.

After the death of Nicholas Roerich, his wife Elena Ivanovna petitioned the Soviet consulate to allow her and her two sons to return to their homeland. But the request was not granted. Elena Ivanovna died in India on October 5, 1955. Only the eldest son of the Roerichs, the famous orientalist Yuri Nikolayevich Roerich, managed to return to the USSR.

Different interpretations of one biography

Andrei Kuraev, theological writer, deacon

“The turn of the 19th and 20th centuries was marked by a fireworks display of the most diverse utopias… There were theurgical utopias and technist utopias, cosmic utopias and Nazi utopias… And the Roerich family did not stand aside. They also created their own Utopia. They dreamed of a "new world". In this world, everything will be different, new - not only philosophy and ethics, not only methods of meditation and prayer. Society must become new, power must become new. The fact that Theosophy is a religious doctrine does not mean that it does not have political ideals and aspirations. Theosophy strives for its theocracy. Hence the correspondence between E. Roerich and the wife of President Roosevelt, and the message of the Mahatmas to the leaders of the Soviet Union. Helena Roerich's letters mention the coming "state system, marked by the monism of a religious cult." “The time is approaching when those who are at the head of the countries will begin to support all educational creations on a state scale.” The time of the Leaders is coming. Where will they come from? The ignorant majority, who have not accepted the wisdom of the "secret doctrine", will certainly not be able to choose the right leaders. Well, they will come to power in a different way. “The leaders of the future will not be appointed by the irresponsible masses, but by the hierarchy of Light and Knowledge. “No one appoints a hierarch. The teacher will be the natural leader. One can rejoice that Lenin is recognized as such a teacher” (Obshchina, 215).

“... Back in 1900, Nikolai Konstantinovich, as if embarrassed by his origin, somewhat ironically wrote to his bride” about what kind of origin he was. “Meanwhile, a very important event took place in France: Roerich managed to prove his noble origin and even barony. The question of his own noble origin had long tormented Nikolai Konstantinovich, especially since his wife was of a princely family, the great-niece of M.I. Golenishchev-Kutuzov. Further, the author of the book cites in confirmation excerpts from the memoirs of Prince Shcherbatov, who compared N.K. Roerich with Tartuffe.

Andrey Vsevolzhsky