The Secret of Shambhala: In Search of the Eleventh Insight by James Redfield Page A

and looked at me deeply. “Have you decided whether to answer this call?”
    “I wouldn’t know how to proceed,” I said.
    “The legends will guide you. They say that the time for Shambhala to be known will be recognized because many people will
     begin to understand how those in Shambhala live, the truth behind the prayer-energy. Prayer is not a power that is realized
     only when we sit down and decide to pray in a particular situation. Prayer works at these times, of course, but prayer is
     also working at other times.”
    “You’re talking about a constant prayer-field?”
    “Yes. Everything we expect, good or bad, conscious or unconscious, we are helping to bring into being. Our prayer is an energy
     or power that emanates out from us in all directions. In most people, who think in ordinary ways, this power is very weak
     and contradictory. But in others, who seem to achieve a lot in life, and who are very creative and successful, this field
     of energy is strong, although it is still usually unconscious. Most of those in this group have a strong field because they
     grew up in an environment where they learned to expect success and more or less take it for granted. They had strong role
     models whom they emulated. But the legends say that soon all people will learn about this power and understand that our ability
     to use this energy can be strengthened and extended.
    “I have told you this to explain how to answer the call of Shambhala. To find this holy place, you must systematically extend
     your energy until you emanate enough creative strength to go there. The procedure for doing this is set forth in the legends
     and involves three important steps. There is also a fourth step, but it is known in its completeness only to those in Shambhala.
     That is why finding Shambhala is so difficult. Even if one successfully extends one’s energy though the first three steps,
     one must have help in order to actually find the way to Shambhala. The dakini must open the gateway.”
    “You called the dakini spiritual beings. Do you mean souls that are in the afterlife who are acting as guides for us?”
    “No, the dakini are other beings who act to awaken and guard humans. They are not and never were human.”
    “And they are the same as angels?”
    The Lama smiled. “They are what they are. One reality. Each religion has a different name for them, just as each religion
     has a different way of describing God and how humans should live. But in every religion the experience of God, the energy
     of love, is exactly the same. Each religion has its own history of this relationship and way of speaking about it, but there
     is only one divine source. It is the same with angels.”
    “So you aren’t strictly Buddhist?”
    “Our sect and the legends we hold have their roots in Buddhism, but we stand for the synthesis of all religions. We believe
     each has its truth that must be incorporated with all the others. It is possible to do this without losing the sovereignty
     or basic truth of one’s own traditional way. I would also call myself a Christian, for instance, and a Jew or a Muslim. We
     believe those in Shambhala also work for an integration of all religious truth. They work for this in the same spirit that
     the Dalai Lama makes the Kalachakra initiations known to anyone who has a sincere heart.”
    I just looked at him, trying to take it all in.
    “Don’t try to understand everything now,” the Lama said. “Just know that the integration of all religious truth is important
     if the force of prayer-energy is to grow large enough to resolve the dangers posed by those who fear. Also remember that the
     dakini are real.”
    “What makes them act to help us?” I asked.
    The Lama took a deep breath, thinking deeply. The question seemed to be a point of frustration for him.
    “I have worked my whole life to understand this question,” he said finally, “but I must admit that I do not know. I think
     that it is