Immortality has been quite an intriguing subject for the human beings all over the world. While this unattainable desire is still beyond the basic level of understanding of us human beings, we have never failed to try out the various means by, which this miraculous and life-changing achievement could be achieved. It has always been proposed by experts in religious matters, especially, those, who are scholars of Dharma religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism that immortality, whether it is physical or spiritual, can solely be achieved by those holy men, who have sacrificed everything materialistic in their quest to find out the spiritual truth about the creation and the existence of this world as well as the various forms of life on it. Our holy texts, scripts as well as mythological tales consisting of the various legends and folklores have always told us that it requires extreme level of God consciousness and spiritual consciousness to elevate ourselves to that reality, where we will be able to achieve both spiritual and physical immortality and spend our lives bathing in God consciousness and spirituality. Though researchers and scientists have made several attempts at the discovery of this mystical land to find out the real truth behind this place and the secret to achieve this unachievable feat of attaining spiritual and physical immortality, they have not been able to find out any definite solution to their query yet.

However, it is believed by both the followers of Hinduism and Buddhism that there really exists a mythological and mystical land hidden among the Himalayan Mountains of the Kingdom of Tibet that now falls under the Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China. This place is believed to be the abode of every ‘Siddhapurush’ or enlightened souls, who have spent their life attaining higher and higher levels of God consciousness and spiritual consciousness. Fortunately or unfortunately, this location is still beyond the prying eyes of the humans and not even the most modern of the technologies have been able to discover its location till now. The story of immortality attached to it as well as the mystical nature of this place makes it get called as the Heaven on Earth that is hidden from the access of every living soul.

The Legend of the Mystical Land

Gyanganj is taken to be an ancient mountainous region that is now located in the present day autonomous region of the kingdom of Tibet that falls under the jurisdiction of the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The reference to this place has been made in several ancient texts of Buddhism that have referred to this place as the mysterious and mystical abode of the ‘Bodhisattvas’ or the spiritually enlightened people. Another reference to the place had been made by the British novelist James Hilton in his novel ‘The Lost World’ that was published in the year 1933. James Hilton referred in his novel that this place is somewhere in between the Kunlun mountain range in Tibet. However, he too failed to provide any exact location and description of the place. He presumed that the mysterious place would be somewhere in the western end of the Kunlun mountain range in Tibet. Since then and owing to the other mysteries attached to it, this place has become synonymous to an utopia in the Himalayan region that is an everlasting land of happiness hidden from the approach and access of human beings. The novel further highlights the fact that those, who live there are partially immortal as their ages are probably some thousand years that is beyond the normal span of life for any living being, especially human beings, and the process of aging takes place very slowly for the dwellers of those mythical land. However, the description of Hilton is considered to be wrong by researchers as the description provided by him in the novel was inspired by his visit to the Hunza Valley in the Gilgit and Baltistan border in the country of Pakistan. He further claimed that he was inspired to write this novel after reading the travelogue of the two French padres, Evariste Regis Huc and Joseph Gabet. The description of the land could be traced in the Tibetan text materials that mention seven hidden places on the Earth or seven hidden places that could be located at a higher plane of existence. This is referred to as ‘Nghe-Beyul Khembalung’. The ‘beyul’ or the hidden lands were believed by the Buddhists to be established by the Buddhist monk Padmasambhava in the 9^th century for Buddhist monks to practice their spiritual affairs without disturbance amid an idyllic and tranquil natural setting.

The Mystery of Mysteries

The land is believed to be an important ancient kingdom of spirituality that finds several references in several texts of Buddhism. However, the exact location of Gyanganj could not be identified as it is thought to be camouflaged in such a way that no ordinary mortal will ever be able to spot it with his naked eyes. For someone to reach there, it is mandatory to have a higher level of spiritual knowledge that is not quite easy to achieve. This place also finds its name being mentioned in the widely revered texts related to Hinduism such as the ‘Ramayana’ and the ‘Mahabharata’. This place has been referred to as ‘Shambhala’ or ‘Siddhashrama’ in those widely revered texts of Hinduism.

The Various Claimants with Their Claims

Several claims have been made by several countries regarding the presence of this mythical land within their borders. Whereas some people believe that this place is probably located in some inaccessible region of Nepal, some believe that the place could be in the states of Uttarakhand or Himachal Pradesh in the country of India. Since the Chinese government has control over the region of Tibet or Xinjiang, they decided to undertake several satellite researches to find out the exact location of the place but failed in their every attempt. The erstwhile President of the United States of America (USA), Franklin Roosevelt, decided to dig out the exact location of the place but failed to do so every time he attempted to do it. He was inspired by the concept of Shangri-La enough o rename the US Navy Aircraft Career and his vacation home as ‘Shangri-La’.

Thus, this place will remain a mysterious and mystical land forever that will forever stir the hearts of spiritualists and travelers alike. Gyanganj is a symbol of the earnest desire of human beings to be on a quest for achieving spiritual wisdom. Despite its true nature, Gyanganj will remain a ray of hope and inspiration for those, who dream of a better world.