Golf & The Halls of Shambala

Did you watch The Masters? It was the golf tournament on last weekend. Sunday’s round was full of moments with the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat, especially for Rory McIlroy. He was playing to win Golf’s Grand Slam. He almost lost—he bogeyed the last hole, lost his lead, and had to play a sudden-death playoff. Thank goodness he won!

Part 1 – The Commercial Hooks:  But that’s not why I’m writing about the Masters. It was all because of a commercial that hooked me three ways on Sunday. The first hook, the song, The Halls of Shambala. I remembered it from 1973. I was a freshman in junior high, middle school today.

The second hook, kids! Kids playing golf, putting the ball in the hole, or rolling it by. The third, the reason for the ad from Bank of America, they’re sponsoring a year of golf for kids across the country. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if someone who learns golf thanks to them, becomes the Master’s Champion in another ten to twenty years? This was the perfect commercial!
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​Sorry, I googled, but I couldn’t find a screenshot that lets you click on the commercial. Bank of America already pulled it down. But I can share this link: bank of america commercial for halls of shambala - Search Results | Facebook

It takes you to the screenshot above, and it plays Halls of Shambala by Three Dog Night. If you scroll down, the comments are more about the song than the tournament. I guess their fans were thrilled to hear it on national TV again. 
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As for this screenshot, I looked for young golfers who were as cute as the kids in the commercial. I went through like ten pages on Pixabay, and these were the best images I could find. Sorry ☹

  

                                                                                    Part 2 – A Song Is Born: ​​

​Halls of Shambala was written by musician, singer, and songwriter Daniel Moore. Two different artists recorded and released their own version of Moore’s song within a week of each other.
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The lyrics were written about Shambhala, a kingdom that existed only in myth, but it was written about in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism. The kingdom is supposed to be hidden somewhere near the Himalayas, either within its peaks or just beyond them.
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But Daniel Moore’s song version was about a mystic temple in Peru. Its name, the temple of the White Lodge. Daniel found it in Alice Bailey’s 1934 book, A Treatise on White Magic.
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                                                         Resource Link: Shambala (song) - Wikipedia
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Part 3 – First Out; Reached #31: B.W. Stevenson released his version first, probably at the end of May or beginning of June. It was a minute shorter and had a country pop rock sound to it. Stevenson’s version reached #66 on the US Pop Singles chart and #31 on the Adult Contemporary chart. Sorry, I couldn’t find a photo of B.W.

                                                         Resource Link: Shambala (song) - Wikipedia
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Part 4 – Last Out, But Hit #3: The version you heard from the golf commercial, that was Three Dog Night. They released Shambala early in June, and it stayed on the American top 40 chart from June until the end of August. AND, it hit #3 on both the Pop Singles and Adult Contemporary charts. Where does Second ever beat First?! In the Halls of Shambala.

Fun fact, this is the first song Three Dog Night released as a single. They added it later to their ninth album, Cyan. You’ll also find it on their anthology and compilation records.

Meet the boys in the band from 1972. Back row, from left to right: Joe Schermie, Floyd Sneed, Michael Allsup, and Jimmy Greenspan.

The front row, left to right are the founding members: Danny Hutton, Cory Wells, and Chuck Negron. Between 1969 and 1975, Three Dog Night scored 21 Billboard Top 30 hits. Three of them – #1s.

                Resource Links:  - Shambala (song) - Wikipedia    and - Three Dog Night - Wikipedia

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Part 5 – Welcome to Shambala:​ This was the only screenshot I could find. It’s from the story of Kalki’s birth place. Kalki is the final incarnation of the god  Vishnu. His arrival signals the beginning of a new Golden Age. If you’d like to check it out, click here: Shambhala - The Birth Place of Kalki

My link said Shambhala comes from a Sanskrit word. It means ‘place of peace or place of silence.’ Legends say only people with pure hearts live there. That it’s a place where love and wisdom reign. Where there’s no suffering, want, or old age. It sounds like Heaven to me.
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Some say Shambhala has a thousand names. Hindus call it Aryavartha, the Land of the Worthy Ones. The Chinese name is Hsi Tien, the Western Paradise of Hsi Wang Mu. Russian Old Believers call it Belovoyde, and across Asia it’s known by its Sanskrit name – Shambhala, Shamballa, or Shangri-la. Whatever its name, it’s where I want to go.