In accordance with the three fold structure of the universe (the Earthly, the Celestial and the Divine worlds), the highest Divine world consists of majestic spiritual summits, which we could call ‘spiritual Himalayas’, reaching the 'celestial sky' - the foot of the Throne of God. At the centre of these spiritual Himalayas stands a magnificent bright summit. This is the mythological Sacred Mountain. Each world religion names the central Divine summit differently but the essence is one and the same: it is the spiritual centre of the Universe, the peak of a very high state of consciousness from which we can contemplate the genesis and the wholeness of Creation.
In the Hindu tradition the spiritual centre of the Universe is represented by Mount Kailas - a magnificent summit in the Himalayas with an altitude of more than 22,000 ft. The Buddhist tradition calls the Sacred Mountain Mount Meru which again is a symbol of the highest point in the spiritual Universe from where the whole of Creation can be contemplated. In the Hebrew tradition Mount Zion symbolises the spiritual core of the Universe, while the Middle Pillar in the Kabbalistic Tree fulfils the function of the vertical axis of Creation. In Christianity the great visions of St. John about the New Jerusalem, the Throne of God, and the reality of the New Heaven and the New Earth were received 'on the top of a very high mountain' (Revelation 21:10). In the Islamic tradition the Sacred Mountain is called the Mountain of Truth and refers to the highest state of consciousness which grasps the essence of Creation.
One of the brightest examples of a Sacred Mountain on Earth is the legendary Mount Kailas, or Mount Meru, in the Himalayas.
Mount Kailas North Face (Western Tibet)
Kailas is known as Meru in the Mahabharata. Here it rises 5,000 feet straight up in a frozen monolith behind the ridge of the guardian peak of Jambayang, just like a huge Shiva Linga on the way to Khampo Sanglam La. Of all the views of the mountain, this is the most awe-inspiring. No man has ever set foot on its 22,028-foot summit except, say Tibetans, for the Buddhist monk Milarepa, who magically flew to the top.
In the Buddhist and Hindu traditions Mount Meru is surrounded by great mystery and sacredness. It is related not only to the secrets of the vertical structure of the Universe, but to the cosmological structure of the human being as a micro-model of Creation:
To Hindus and Buddhists alike Kailas is the centre of the universe. It is called Meru or Sumeru, according to the oldest Sanskrit tradition, and is regarded to be not only the physical but the metaphysical centre of the world. And as our psycho-physical organism is a microcosmic replica of the universe, Meru is represented by the spinal cord in our nervous system; and just as the various centres (Skt.: chakra) of consciousness are supported by and connected with the spinal cord (Skt: meru-danda), from which they branch out like many-petalled lotus-blossoms, in the same way Mount Meru forms the axis of the various planes of supramundane worlds. And as the psycho-physical microcosm of man is crowned by the highest centre of consciousness, the thousand petalled lotus of the mind (Skt.: sahasrara chakra), so Meru or Kailas is surmounted by the invisible temple of the highest transcendental powers, which to each devotee appear in the form that symbolises to him the highest reality. Thus to Hindus Kailas is the seat of Shiva, while to Buddhists it represents a gigantic Mandala of Dhyani-Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, as described in the famous Demchog Tantra: the 'Mandala of Highest Bliss'.
(Lama Anagarika Govinda,The Way of the White Clouds, Rider, 1984, pp. 198-199)
The Buddhist Mandala, with four Dhyani-Buddhas emanating from the four mythological directions of the Universe, is a basis for meditation. It provides gateways to the Buddhist heavenly world of subtle forms, the Buddhist paradise. In this Mandala each one of the four Buddhas of contemplation (Vajrasattva, Ratnasambhava, Amitabha and Amoghasiddhi) has his own mythological characteristics - direction, colour, posture, gesture, element, function and female counterpart. They serve as meditative keys to particular spiritual realities in the Buddhist Universe. In other words, the Buddhas of contemplation are anthropomorphic images of spiritual qualities and energies of the higher levels of Being. By meditating on the images of the four Dhyani-Buddhas we can enter into the world of subtle heavenly forms - the blissful world of colour rays of light, sacred sounds, illuminated thought-forms and the primordial unity of matter. Thus, the Buddhist Mandala provides the foundation for spiritual practice and psychic transformation.
When we integrate the totality of all spiritual worlds, symbolized and personified by the four Dhyani-Buddhas, in a single act of illumination, we become able to ascend into the highest Buddhist world - the world without forms - and to merge with the primordial Buddha emanating from the centre of the Mandala. Then we grasp the wholeness of the Universe emerging from the Great Void. The mystical place from where we can contemplate these mysteries is the top of Mount Meru. From there we can observe the whole Universe as 'a gigantic Mandala of Dhyani-Buddhas and Bodhisattvas'. At this mystical point in our consciousness, we become able to hold simultaneously, in perfect balance and harmony, all complementary polarities personified by the different Dhyani-Buddhas and all universal typological structures of Creation symbolized by the mythological characteristics of the Mandala. Based on this enlightenment, we can even go beyond the world without forms and dissolve into the Great Void in a state of nirvana (without losing the sense of Being).
Just as we can climb the physical Mount Kailas in the Himalayas from different sides and different paths, in a similar way we can ascend to the top of the Sacred Mountain, the centre of the spiritual Universe, through the different paths traced by the world religions. The mystical centre of the Universe and the totality of Creation are always one and the same, but the path towards it and the panorama of the spiritual worlds revealed on the path can be quite different. This is why the Sacred Mountain has many different names and the vertical structure of the Universe is seen from different perspectives.
Thus the journey to the top of the Sacred Mountain is a journey to the centre of spiritual Universe and represents the Axis of all of Creation. This is why the pilgrimage to Mount Kailas is a journey towards all-embracing cosmic consciousness. In this regard the great Buddhist Initiate Lama Anagarika Govinda compares the two sacred lakes, Manasarovar and Rakastal, at the Southern foot of Kailas with the reservoirs of the two streams of psychic energy - 'solar and lunar energy, conscious and subconscious forces, the principles of light and darkness, male and female energies, action and contemplation, emptiness and form'.
(Lama Anagarika Govinda,The Way of the White Clouds,Rider, London, 1984, p. 202.)
To describe the profound symbolism of the lakes, Govinda gives the following amazing interpretation:
According to Hindu tradition it was Brahma himself who created Manasarovar and the divine Jambu tree which - though invisible to human eyes - grows in its centre. For this reason our world was called 'Jambudvipa' by the ancients; and it is said that due to the fruits of this divine tree the waters of Manasarovar are turned into a life-giving elixir. The Tree of Life in the Lake of Supreme Consciousness - what a profound symbolism, and how reminiscent of the Tree of Knowledge in the biblical story of the Paradise! Certainly there is no place on earth more exalted and worthy to be identified with it than the Kailas-Manasarovar region, which the Tibetans call 'the navel of Jambudvipa (our human world), the centre of all countries, the roof of the earth, the land of jewels and gold, the source of the four great rivers, dominated by the crystal pagoda of Kailas and adorned by the magic turquoise disk of Manasarovar.
So when the pilgrims start their circumambulation of Mount Kailas,
...their mental faculties seem to be heightened, their awareness and spiritual sensitivity infinitely increased, their consciousness reaching out into a new dimension, so that many of them see wonderful visions and hear strange voices and fall into trance-like states, in which all their former obstructions and difficulties disappear like in a flash of light that suddenly lights up what was hidden hitherto. It is as if their individual consciousness, which obscured or distorted their views or their conception of the world were receding and giving place to an all-embracing cosmic consciousness.
(Lama Anagarika Govinda, The Way of the White Clouds, Rider, London, p. 201 – 202, 204).
Among the other Sacred Mountains on Earth we could mention Kilimanjaro (in Africa), Machu Picchu (in Latin America), Uluru (in Australia), Fujiyama (in Japan) and Mont Blanc (in Europe). Of course, one of them is the Sacred Mountain Rila in Bulgaria, which is the oldest Spiritual University on Earth.
