Nicholas Roerich asks Lama about the Kalachakra and the Kuthumpas

Nicholas Roerich asks a Lama:

“. . . Lama, have you met Azaras (i.e., Sk. ācāryas) and Kuthumpas? (…)”

“(…) Many of our people during their lives have encountered the Azaras and Kuthumpas and the snow people who serve them. Only recently have the Azaras ceased to be seen in cities. They are all gathered in the mountains. Very tall, with long hair and beards, they appear outwardly like Hindus (…) The Kuthumpas are no longer seen now. Previously they appeared quite openly in the Tsang district and at Manasarowar, when the pilgrims went to holy Kailàsa. Even the snow people are rarely seen now. The ordinary person, in his ignorance, mistakes them for apparitions. There are profound reasons why, just now, the Great Ones do not appear so openly. My old teacher told me much of the wisdom of the Azaras. We know several places where these Great Ones dwelt, but for the moment these places are deserted. Some great reason, great mystery!”

“Lama, then it is true that the Ashrams have been moved from the vicinity of Shigatse?”

“This mystery must not be uttered. I already said that the Azaras may no longer be found in Tsang. (…) The great Azaras [or ācāryas] who know the Teachings of India, know the origin of Kalachakra. They know vast things which, when they will be revealed to help humanity, will completely regenerate life! (…) This Teaching of Kalachakra, this utilization of the primary energy, has been called the Teaching of Fire. The Hindu people know the great Agni – ancient teaching though it be, it shall be the new teaching for the New Era. (…) One of your priests once asked me, ‘Are not the Kabala and Shambhala parts of the one teaching?’ He asked, ‘Is not the great Moses an initiate of the same teaching and a follower of its very laws?’ We may assert one thing only — Each teaching of truth, each teaching of the high principle of life, issues from the one source (…) Many Buddhist images upon the rocks find their origins in teachings which long antedated the Blessed One. Yet they also symbolize the same high Essence (…)” (Nicholas Roerich, Shambhala (1930), pp. 16-17; 28-29.)

This same high Essence is a central belief in ancient philosophy. From the ākāśa, the eternal FIRE buried in the human heart, the secret of the “spark” links man with its undifferentiated eternal nature and power. 

The Kuthumpas (disciples of Koot-hoomi) existed, based mainly near Lahaul and Ladakh in the Trans-Himalayan region of the Karakoram. There was a website a few years ago, no longer to be found, of Kuthumpa medicine healers.