Over 70 years ago, Prof. Roerich wrote about Sikkim: "This blessed country, full of reminiscences of the illumined leaders of religions, leaves an impression of great calmness. Here lived Padmasambhava, the founder of the Nyingma sect. Atisha, who proclaimed the teaching of Kalachakra, crossed this country on his way to Tibet. Here, in the caves, dwelt many ascetics, filling space with their powerful thoughts. It is a whole snowy realm, altering its outlines with every variation of light! Verily, it is inexhaustible in impressions and unceasingly evocative. Nowhere else on earth are expressed two entirely different worlds. Here is the earthly world, with its rich vegetation, brilliant butterflies, pheasants, leopards, panthers, monkeys, snakes, and the innumerable other animals that inhabit the evergreen jungles of Sikkim. And above the clouds, in unexpected heights, shines the snowy kingdom, which has nothing in common with the busy ant-hill of the jungles." And his words ...