"Stop!" whispered my old Mongol guide, as we were one day crossingthe plain near Tzagan Luk. "Stop!"He slipped from his camel which lay down without his bidding. TheMongol raised his hands in prayer before his face and began torepeat the sacred phrase: "Om! Mani padme Hung!" The otherMongols immediately stopped their camels and began to pray.
"What has happened?" I thought, as I gazed round over the tendergreen grass, up to the cloudless sky and out toward the dreamy softrays of the evening sun.
The Mongols prayed for some time, whispered among themselves and,after tightening up the packs on the camels, moved on.
"Did you see," asked the Mongol, "how our camels moved their earsin fear? How the herd of horses on the plain stood fixed inattention and how the herds of sheep and cattle lay crouched closeto the ground? Did you notice that the birds did not fly, themarmots did not run and the dogs did not bark? The air trembledsoftly and bore from afar the music of a song which penetrated tothe hearts of men, animals and birds alike. Earth and sky ceasedbreathing. The wind did not blow and the sun did not move. Atsuch a moment the wolf that is stealing up on the sheep arrests hisstealthy crawl; the frightened herd of antelopes suddenly checksits wild course; the knife of the shepherd cutting the sheep'sthroat falls from his hand; the rapacious ermine ceases to stalkthe unsuspecting salga. All living beings in fear areinvoluntarily thrown into prayer and waiting for their fate. So itwas just now. Thus it has always been whenever the King of theWorld in his subterranean palace prays and searches out the destinyof all peoples on the earth."In this wise the old Mongol, a simple, coarse shepherd and hunter,spoke to me.
Mongolia with her nude and terrible mountains, her limitlessplains, covered with the widely strewn bones of the forefathers,gave birth to Mystery. Her people, frightened by the stormypassions of Nature or lulled by her deathlike peace, feel hermystery. Her "Red" and "Yellow Lamas" preserve and poetize hermystery. The Pontiffs of Lhasa and Urga know and possess hermystery.
On my journey into Central Asia I came to know for the first timeabout "the Mystery of Mysteries," which I can call by no othername. At the outset I did not pay much attention to it and did notattach to it such importance as I afterwards realized belonged toit, when I had analyzed and connoted many sporadic, hazy and oftencontroversial bits of evidence.
The old people on the shore of the River Amyl related to me anancient legend to the effect that a certain Mongolian tribe intheir escape from the demands of Jenghiz Khan hid themselves in asubterranean country. Afterwards a Soyot from near the Lake ofNogan Kul showed me the smoking gate that serves as the entrance tothe "Kingdom of Agharti." Through this gate a hunter formerlyentered into the Kingdom and, after his return, began to relatewhat he had seen there. The Lamas cut out his tongue in order toprevent him from telling about the Mystery of Mysteries. When hearrived at old age, he came back to the entrance of this cave anddisappeared into the subterranean kingdom, the memory of which hadornamented and lightened his nomad heart.
I received more realistic information about this from Hutuktu JelybDjamsrap in Narabanchi Kure. He told me the story of the semi-realistic arrival of the powerful King of the World from thesubterranean kingdom, of his appearance, of his miracles and of hisprophecies; and only then did I begin to understand that in thatlegend, hypnosis or mass vision, whichever it may be, is hidden notonly mystery but a realistic and powerful force capable ofinfluencing the course of the political life of Asia. From thatmoment I began making some investigations.
The favorite Gelong Lama of Prince Chultun Beyli and the Princehimself gave me an account of the subterranean kingdom.
"Everything in the world," said the Gelong, "is constantly in astate of change and transition--peoples science, religions, lawsand customs. How many great empires and brilliant cultures haveperished! And that alone which remains unchanged is Evil, the toolof Bad Spirits. More than sixty thousand years ago a Holymandisappeared with a whole tribe of people under the ground and neverappeared again on the surface of the earth. Many people, however,have since visited this kingdom, Sakkia Mouni, Undur Gheghen,Paspa, Khan Baber and others. No one knows where this place is.
One says Afghanistan, others India. All the people there areprotected against Evil and crimes do not exist within its bournes.
Science has there developed calmly and nothing is threatened withdestruction. The subterranean people have reached the highestknowledge. Now it is a large kingdom, millions of men with theKing of the World as their ruler. He knows all the forces of theworld and reads all the souls of humankind and the great book oftheir destiny. Invisibly he rules eight hundred million men on thesurface of the earth and they will accomplish his every order."Prince Chultun Beyli added: "This kingdom is Agharti. It extendsthroughout all the subterranean passages of the whole world. Iheard a learned Lama of China relating to Bogdo Khan that all thesubterranean caves of America are inhabited by the ancient pe............