Command of Rigden Djapo Though Roerich's spiritual quest imbues his paintings and writing, it's also likely that his impulse for "penetration" came from politics. Recently opened archives suggest he was an activist spy of shifting alliances, primarily for Russia who hoped to create a Russian led sphere of inner Asian Buddhists. (Among other entangling positions, Roerich maintained Shambhala was in Mongolia which would have made Rigden Jyepo subject to the Czar.)