Mount Meru is the mythical mountain north of the Himalayas. Swarga, the heaven of Indra, is found in this peak, and which contains the “cities” of the greatest gods and the abodes of various devas. Hindu mythology describes it as being in the navel or center of the earth.

According to Helena P. BLAVATSKY, occult teachings place it in the very center of the North Pole, pointing it out as the site of the first continent on our earth, after the solidification of the globe. Its counterpart is pātāla, the nether region, which is supposed to be in the South. Buddhist tradition says that to become a “perfect One,” the Sakdāgamin [once returner] initiate will have to descend into Pātāla, after which he may hope to become an Anāgāmin, “one who will be reborn no more” (CW VII:276).

See SHAMBALLA.

P.S.H./V.H.C.

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