The verdant Valley of Kashmir has often been described as Paradise upon Earth. Amidst the abundant beauty of nature here, the thoughts of the Kashmiri people have quite naturally always turned to the divinity which underlies all of Creation. In ancient times, Kashmir was known as Sharada Peeth, the Seat of the Goddess of Learning. The Fourth Buddhist Council was held here in the 1st century. The Council was one the greatest meetings of intellectuals and scholars the world had seen and it significantly shaped the future development of Buddhism. Over the centuries, pilgrims and scholars continued to visit this blessed Valley. Some of the gentlest and most sublime philosophies of the world have flourished in Kashmir. It is in this Valley that Mahayana Buddhism was first given major royal patronage, and it is from here that Buddhism travelled northwards to many countries of Asia. It is also in Kashmir that the Vajrayana philosophy of Buddhism was developed to its fulsome height and spread to Tibet and other Asian countries. Kashmir Shaivism, which developed in the Valley, is one of the most subtle and sophisticated religious philosophies of the world. It underlines the oneness of the whole of creation and sees the entire universe as a manifestation of the beauty of the Lord. This philosophy believes that the dual perception of reality is an illusion. The world that we see around us is Shakti, which is a manifestation of the ideal that is Shiva. Shiva and Shakti are one and indivisible.