Part 2: How the alleged death of "Jesus Christ" led to Israeli/Palestinian bloodshed.
From Golgatha to Rozabal.
“And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him. And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation. And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow, And said unto them, Why sleep ye? rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.”1
In Part 1, I mentioned that, when I was in the third grade in elementary Catholic school, I asked Sister Mary Bernice, in effect, if those who had not heard of Jesus Christ would still be thrown into hell for “not accepting” Jesus, she answered, “They will burn!” and I burst out crying. Well, another thing that greatly disturbed me were those verses of the Bible, which I reproduced above, that reveal that, despite the fact that Jesus had prayed fervently, in the Garden of Gethsemane, that God save him from death on the cross, those prayers, according to the Bible, went unanswered. (Continue reading below).
This, to my young mind, was yet another example of injustice, supposedly being practiced by God Himself. And if it was not injustice, since God is, as is said in Arabic, Al-Qayuum, i.e., All Powerful, and can do whatever He wishes, then it was certainly an awful thing for Him to allow to happen to someone, Jesus, who had given his entire life for the teaching and preaching of high spiritual ideals, and doing so for God Almighty.
The rationalizations for the forced [by God] murder of Jesus, used by the nuns at Corpus Christi, and embedded in the official written catechism of the Roman Catholic Church, simply did not penetrate to my mind, my heart, or my soul. Nor did I feel any relief whatsoever in being reminded, when running past that gruesome, life-sized crucifix that displayed the equally gruesome, twisted, agonized face of Jesus, on the wall of the second floor landing at Corpus Christi, that I was spiritually good to go because Jesus had been slaughtered for my sins.
When, in 1976, I discovered the theory of the survival of Jesus from the cross, that revived my faith, took me out of atheism, and brought me back to belief in God, spirituality, and religion. For me, it was a great relief to discover that Jesus’s prayers, in the Garden of Gethsemane, had been answered by God.
“And their saying, ‘We did kill the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah;’ whereas they slew him not, nor crucified him, but he was made to appear to them like one crucified2; and those who differ therein are certainly in a state of doubt about it; they have no definite knowledge thereof, but only follow a conjecture; and they did not convert this conjecture into a certainty.”3
Since the Quran, as the reader can see in the above verse, refutes the belief that Jesus was “crucified” (died on the cross), is it possible that Qur’an may have given a clue as to what happened after Jesus survived the crucifixion? Could there be a clue regarding where Jesus went?
“And We made the son of Mary and his mother a Sign, and gave them refuge on an elevated land having meadows and springs of running water.”4
FIRST STOP: Damascus
We saw, in the Introduction section of Part 1, that three days after the crucifixion (See Bible: Luke 24:36-43), Jesus was seen walking, talking, eating and drinking, all, in part, to convince his disciples that he was alive. Now we’ll try to trace Jesus’s steps to Kashmir, India, where he married, had children, lived to be 120 years old, and was buried in the Kan Yar section of Srinagar, Kashmir, India, where, at some time later, a shrine was built over the spot where he was buried, as the theory claims. We saw a picture of that shrine, the Rozabal, earlier in Part 1. But why would Jesus go all the way to India?
“These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go, rather, to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”5
In Part 1, we saw that travel from Canaan (Israel) to India was very ease to do.
Notice that, in the video, Fr. Jérôme Murphy-O'Connor6 says that “The journey east, from Israel, in the first century, was surprisingly easy, by land, or by sea, on the silk route, or the spice route.” Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who wrote the first book, Jesus in India, on the theory of a post-crucifixion life of “Jesus Christ,” thought that the “probable route of Jesus, on whom be peace, during his travels to India,” was mostly by land. On the above map, you see the line drawn from Jerusalem to Srinagar, Kashmir, India.
The first place that Jesus was seen, after the crucifixion, enroute to Kashmir, was in Canaan itself, by his disciples, as is recorded in the Bible7 and as we saw in Part 1. Another place along that route that can be identified as a place where Jesus was seen, after the crucifixion, is mentioned in the Bible itself: Damascus:
“And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, ‘Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?’ And he said, ‘Who art thou, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.’ And he trembling and astonished said, ‘Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?’ And the Lord said unto him, ‘Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. ‘And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus. And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink.”8
These verses, obviously, caste Jesus as a wholly spiritual being, speaking “from heaven.” How are those verses to be taken? The verses are taken literally by a Christian. An atheist, of course, dismisses anything having to do with the supernatural, especially as it relates to religion and spirituality. A person of a non-Christian religion might dismiss the account based on the fact that such an account might be contrary to his or her conception of The Divine, thus would not accept that Jesus was “the Son of God.”
In my case, as you saw in Part 1, I spent 12 years in the Church of Rome, aka, the Catholic Church/Catholic Religion/Catholicism. And my first trauma, in fact, came with Sister Mary Bernice’s consignment, to the everlasting fires of hell, of anyone who had not accepted Jesus, even if they’d never even heard of him. I was far too young to react in the form of a religious debate. Instead, I just burst out crying.
But starting in my sophomore year at Hales Franciscan High School, however, due to the tremendous man-made changes at The Second Vatican Council (Vatican II) that were occurring within my beloved Catholic religion, I was at the point in my life, at age 15, where I was not going to accept doctrines of my religion at face value. If there was an inconsistency, a contradiction, or anything that even appeared to be questionable, then Fr. Angus Vos, my Religion Class teacher, was going to have a hard 50 minutes on his hands. In fact, occasionally, when Fr. Voss would enter the classroom and see me, he would “mumble” to himself, “Mr. Chism is here today. Perhaps I should have called in sick.”
Had there been no other documents relating to the figure known as “Jesus Christ,” or “Isa” or “Yuz Asaf,” mentioned in various non-Christian accounts, even from Hindu scriptures, written in Sanskrit [I’ll offer a picture of the original Sanskrit text, transliteration, and English translation, that mention a post-crucifixion Jesus], such as the Bhavishya Maha Purana, which mention such a figure as appearing only as a mere mortal, then, believe me, I could find plenty of other things to do with my life, rather than concerning myself with a “post-crucifixion life” of someone named Jesus Christ. I could go out of my back door, walk across the alley, enter a garage where some non-religious, regular guys are playing a loud game of Bid Whis, and join in (even louder).
In short, obviously, I do not believe that the encounter the Bible claims that Saul had with Jesus was an encounter of him speaking to Saul “from heaven.” We’ll get into it. So, so far, we’ve covered two occurrences of the appearance of Jesus, post-crucifixion:
To his disciples, no voice from heaven involved; no “light from heaven” shining all around it. Jesus appeared to his Disciples as a flesh and bone human being. When, to Jesus’s eyes, his Disciples clearly were aghast that he was alive, he told them to “Feel me and see that I am flesh and bones, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have.” He then told them to touch him. He then told them that he was hungry, and wanted something to eat. They gave him some fish and a honeycomb. And he ate. I see nothing supernatural at all about that encounter.
He “appeared” to Saul, but as a voice “from Heaven,” and a blinding light.
THE SAVIOR-GOD MOTIF
One wonders [I’m no religious scholar] whether the Biblical account was a manufactured account to align with what some claim were savior-god motifs that had existed all over the planet, long before Jesus, and were characterized by from a few to more of the following identifiers of the savior-god:
Their mothers were virgins
They were born in a cave or in a stable
They worked for the salvation of humanity
They were called Saviors, Mediators, Healers
They were tempted by evil powers [Jesus was tempted by the devil]
They made a descent into hell
After being slain they arose from the dead and ascended into heaven
They founded religious institutions
They were commemorated by Eucharistic rites
Many of these savior-gods were believed to make a second coming to the world.
Is this true? In all honesty, I do not know. For me, personally, the “Christ Myth Theory” is just one more bit of possible circumstantial evidence that, together with a wealth of other bits of evidence, must be examined in order to uncover who Jesus really was, whether real or myth. Part of my purpose for writing this four-part article is to get you, the reader, interested to study this issue for yourselves.
The first individual to write about a pre-Jesus, global wide, savior-god motif was a man named Kersey Graves (1813-1883). In 1875 he wrote a book entitled The World’s Sixteen Crucified Saviors [Amazon.com]. I’m not very fond of Wikipedia in a growing number of topics, unfortunately, but, aside from obtaining the book itself you can read about the book, as well as criticism of it, at this Wikipedia page.
One aspect of this study that I find fascinating is that the Jesus-in-India theory, if true, helps confirm the existence of Jesus as a real historical figure, whereas the Christ Myth Theory seeks to caste the Biblical figure, and story, of Jesus as just the latest version of an ancient savior-god motif that has existed all over the planet, as well as the Christ Myth Theory’s belief that all such saviors did not actually exist, but were myths. There is a verse of the Bible, the violation of which, as Jesus-in-India proponents claim, caused the artificial creation of Jesus as a savior-god by the Apostle Paul.
“These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”9
Some writers speculate that Paul, in his anxiousness to spread the teachings of Jesus, purposely violated Jesus’ instructions to not preach amongst the Gentiles by doing just that. They also speculate that Paul, in order to attract those Gentiles that had been practicing Mithraism, caste Jesus as the latest, updated (like software) savior-god that must be accepted. Thus, Paul created a new religion, Christianity, but with a teaching that people were already familiar with. Well, let’s move on and examine more possible evidence of a post-crucifixion life of Jesus, including his alleged travels to India
NEXT STOP: Nisibis (Nusaybain)
The following is taken from my book, Saving the Savior: Did Christ Survive the Crucifixion?
“The next place we find mention of Jesus is in the city of Nisibis (Nasibain, today called Nusaybin, which is on the Turkish side of the border to Syria). Nisibis lies on the Silk Road route from Syria to Mosul and beyond. Aside from the Biblical account in Acts 9, which clearly records the presence of Jesus in Damascus, Syria, there is an account in the book, Rauza-tus-Safa, the full title of which is, Rauza-tus-Safa fi Sirat-ul-Ambia wal Muluk wal Khulafa, i.e., The Gardens of Purity concerning the biography of the Prophets and Kings and Caliphs). This is a famous, seven-volume book, written by Mir Muhammad bin Khawand. The travels of Jesus are dealt with in the section entitled, ‘Migration of Jesus from Jerusalem and The Journey of Jesus to Nasibain (Nisibis).’ Regarding Jesus, it says,
Elsewhere10,
NEXT STOP: Persia
From Saving the Savior:
“The next place we find mention of Jesus is in Iranian [Persian] tradition. One Iranian book that is said to mention the presence of Jesus in Persia is the book Ahalian-i-Paras, by Agha Mustafa [See Nazir Ahmad’s book, Jesus in Heaven on Earth, p. 387]. As of the first edition of my book I had not, as yet, come across a copy of this Persian work. I advise the reader, though, to continue checking at The Tomb of Jesus Christ website, as I am always looking for such works. Should I find it, it will be posted on the Ancient Documents page, in the original language.”
NEXT STOP: Herat, Afghanistan
From Saving the Savior:
“The next Record of Jesus is in the city of Herat in Afghanistan, 1,050 miles from Nasibain. The fact that Jesus traveled to Herat is supported by the long-standing tradition of a group of people near Herat who call themselves The Followers of Jesus. The Followers of Jesus exist to this day and are headed by a man who is the latest in a long line of successors through sixty generations since, they claim, Jesus Christ himself came to them and taught them almost 2000 years ago. I will examine their claims in the next chapter.”
The following continues with the subject of The Followers of Jesus. The next quote is from pages 216-217 of Saving the Savior, and is taken from O.M. Burke’s book, Among the Dervishes.11
Continuing from Saving the Savior:
“The quote clearly states that Jesus Christ taught in Afghanistan and attracted a following of people, the descendants of whom refer to themselves as The Followers of Issa. But, does this place him in Afghanistan after the event of the crucifixion? The next quote is from page 217-219 of Saving the Savior, and is taken from O.M. Burke’s book, Among the Dervishes.12
“The reader will note that the Followers of Jesus claim that Jesus taught a message quite similar to the Gnostic one we studied earlier, as well as the message contained in the documents discovered by Nicholas Notovitch amongst the Buddhists. Baptism, the Holy Ghost, and the Kingdom of God were three stages of illumination. This idea is contrary to the current Christian doctrine that places Jesus as the intermediary between human beings and perfect knowledge of God. Is it simply ‘coincidental’ that three different groups of people, living in different parts of the world—the Gnostic Christians, the Followers of Jesus in Afghanistan, and the Buddhists of Tibet—shared an understanding of the teachings of Jesus Christ that was exactly the same, and yet totally at variance with what is now called ‘Christianity?’”
NEXT STOP: Murree, Pakistan
We quickly recall, from the following verse, that Qur’an records that Jesus and his mother would be given a land of meadows and springs.
“And We made the son of Mary and his mother a Sign, and gave them refuge on an elevated land having meadows and springs of running water.”
What an incredibly beautiful resting place!! If you look at the map on the left, you’ll see that Srinagar, where the tomb of Jesus is located, is a little bit northeast of Murree. Mary passed away before reaching Srinagar.
NEXT STOP: Taxila (aka, Takshashila or Takṣaśilā (तक्षशिला)
At this point in our journey from Jerusalem to Srinagar, I realized that we’d have to employ the services of Lieutenant Colombo.
Establishing that Jesus was at Taxila is made by very strong, virtually irrefutable inference that involve three characters:
Thomas, one of the Disciples of Jesus
Gondophares, founder of the Indo-Parthian Kingdom
Abbanes (Abdagases), the son of Gad, who was a brother of Gondophares
It is important to note that, in ancient times, Taxila, though identified, on a modern map as being part of India, that was not the case in ancient times. Taxila was part of an empire called Parthia. On the west, Parthia bordered Arabia and on the east it bordered India, i.e., the parts of India then that were called Mathura and Sakas.
Gondophares belonged to a line of local princes who ruled a part of Parthia, sort of like a Governor. But Gondophares decided that he wanted his own empire. So, he broke away from Parthia and formed the Indo-Parthian Kingdom, ruling from 19 AD to 46 AD. See the area, in the above map, that I’ve outlined in yellow.
Now, an apocryphal work entitled the Acta Thomae claims that Jesus and his Disciple, and twin brother, Thomas, was at a wedding in Taxila, 49 years (49 CE) after the crucifixion, a claim that Church officialdom denies, obviously, and that’s why the Acta Thomae was deemed “heretical.” According to Church doctrine, Jesus would have long ago died on the cross.
See Taxila (Takṣaśilā) on the below map, outlined in yellow.
“The Indo-Parthian Kingdom was a Parthian kingdom founded by Gondophares, and active from 19 CE to c. 226 CE. At their zenith, they ruled an area covering parts of eastern Iran, various parts of Afghanistan and the northwest regions of the Indian subcontinent (most of modern Pakistan and parts of northwestern India)” (Wikipedia).
Now, although the Acta Thomae does not explicitly state that the wedding was held in Taxila, I’ll show what I believe is virtually indisputable evidence that the wedding must have been held at, or very near to Taxila. Taxila, as is revealed at Wikipedia, as I’ll show below, was the seat of the King.
Now, the person getting married at the wedding that Jesus and Thomas, in the Acta Thomae, are said to have attended was a man named Abbanes, also called Abdagases. Abdagases was the son of Gondophares’s brother, Gad, which means that Abdagases was part of the royalty. As such, there is no way that Abdagases’s wedding would not have been held in or near Taxila, which was the capital of the Indo-Parthian empire:
“His empire was vast, but was only a loose framework, which fragmented soon after his death. His capital was the Gandharan city of Taxila.[20] Taxila is located in Punjab to the west of the present Islamabad.” (Wikipedia)
This places Jesus at a wedding in Taxila, the capital of the Indo-Parthian Empire, ruled by Gondophares. In compliance with Jesus’s command to go out and preach his message (Matthew 10:5-6), Thomas traveled to India, taking a sea route and landing in a port called Sandruk Mahosa. That account is recorded in the Acta Thomae (The Acts of Thomas, an apostle of Jesus). Thomas traveled throughout India, spreading the word of Jesus. To this day, local tradition in India supports the accounts located in the Acta Thomae.
As Khwaja Nazir Ahmadi said in Jesus in Heaven on Earth:
“The life of Thomas as given in the Acta Thomae begins by telling us that at the division of the field of work amongst the Apostles, Parthia fell to the lot of Thomas and he had to work in that part of India which was within the Parthian Empire.”13
The Acta Thomae shows that Jesus was at a marriage ceremony in Taxila, India (now in Pakistan) along with Thomas, in the year 49 CE, years after the crucifixion. This account verifies St. Irenaeus’s observations (more on that later), recorded in Against Heresies, that Jesus was seen alive in Asia long after the events of the cross, though Against Heresies was declared heretical in the year 495 CE by a decree of Gelasius.
In the following Acta Thomae account, the bridegroom saw whom he thought was Thomas talking to his new bride, but it was not Thomas. Both Thomas and Jesus attended this wedding, and one of them was often mistaken for the other:
“11 And the king desired the groomsmen to depart out of the bride-chamber; and when all were gone out and the doors were shut, the bridegroom lifted up the curtain of the bride-chamber to fetch the bride unto him. And he saw the Lord Jesus bearing the likeness of Judas Thomas and speaking with the bride; even of him that but now had blessed them and gone out from them, the apostle; and he saith unto him: Wentest thou not out in the sight of all? How then art thou found here? But the Lord said to him: I am not Judas which is also called Thomas but I am his brother.”14
Was Thomas the twin brother of Jesus? From Wikipedia:
“Thomas the Apostle (Greek: Θωμᾶς; Syriac ܬܐܘܡܐ, Tʾōmā, meaning "the twin"),[a] also known as Didymus (Greek: Δίδυμος Didymos, meaning "twin"), was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament.” (Wikipedia)
Further:
“In the Book of Thomas the Contender, part of the Nag Hammadi library, he is alleged to be a twin to Jesus.”
Again, from Wikipedia:
“The Nag Hammadi copy of the Gospel of Thomas begins: "These are the secret sayings that the living Jesus spoke and Didymus, Judas Thomas, recorded." Early Syrian traditions also relate the apostle's full name as Judas Thomas.[c]”
We will get into Irenaeus later.
NEXT STOP: Srinagar
The above quote, by Sir Francis Younghusband, is from his book, Kashmir.15
“After him his son Raja Akh (whose name was Ach) came to the throne. He ruled for sixty years. It is said that he founded the village (of) Ahabaal in Kothar district. After him his son, Gopananda, took (the reigns of) Government and ruled the country under the name of Gopadatta. (During his reign) many temples were (built) and on top of Mount Solomon the dome (of the temple) became cracked. He deputed one of his ministers named Sulaiman who had come from Persia to repair it. Hindus objected that he (the Minister) was an infedel of (and belong to) another religion. During this time Hazrat Yuz Asaf having come (marfu: elevated) from (Bait-ul-Muqaddas) the Holy Land to this holy valley (Wadi-i-Aqdas) proclaimed his prophethood. He devoted himself, day and night, in (prayers to) God, and having attained the heights of piety and virtue, he declared himself to be a Messenger (of God) for the people of Kashmir. He invited people (to his religion). Because the people of the valley had faith in this Prophet, Raj Gopadatta referred the objection of Hindus to him (for a decision). It was because of this Prophet’s orders that Sulaiman, whom Hindus called Sandeman, completed (the repairs of) the dome (Year) Fifty and four. Further, on one of the stones of the (flankwalls encasing the) stairs he (Sulaiman) inscribed: In these times Yuz Asaf proclaimed his prophethood (Dar een waqt Yuz Asaf da’ wa-i-paighambari mikunad) and on the other stone of the stairs he inscribed that he (Yuz Asaf) was Yusu, Prophet of the Children of Israel (Aishan Yusu Paighambar-i-Bani Israel ast).
“I have seen in a book of Hindus that this prophet was really Hazrat Isa (Jesus), Ruh-Allah (The Spirit of God), on whom be peace (and salutations), and had also assumed the name Yuz Asaf. The (real) knowledge is with God. He spent his life in this (valley). After his departure (death) he was laid to rest in Mohalla Anzmarah. It is also said that lights (anwar) of prophethood used to emanate from the tomb (Rauza) of this Prophet. Raja Gopadatta having ruled for sixty years and two months died…”
The above picture is of a page of Mulla Nadri’s, the first Muslim historian of Kashmir, book, Tarikh-i-Kashmir. That picture is on page 393 of Khwaja Nazir Ahmad’s book, Jesus in Heaven on Earth. The above translation can be found on pages 401 to 402.
Notice that Mullah Nadri said, “I have seen in a book of Hindus that this prophet was really Hazrat Isa (Jesus)…” The book that Mullah Nadri was referring to is the Bhavishya Maha Purana:
There is a somewhat fascinating, and definitely strange story behind my obtaining the above. Firstly, I wanted to get hold of my own copy of the Bhavishya Maha Purana, having gotten a bit tired of using secondary sources, tertiary, etc., sources. So, I searched online to see if I could find a publisher who might publish and sell the Bhavishya Maha Purana.
I found Rector Press Intelligence. I carefully searched its pages and found this page. I cursored down carefully and found “Purana Go!” I clicked that link, then performed a search (Ctrl-F) on Bhavis until I found the following:
“BHAVISYA MAHAPURANAM, 3 vols. (In Sanskrit. Introd. in English). Nag Sharan Singh. set. $ 90.00”
I purchased all three volumes, not knowing a single word of Sanskrit. Well, at the time I was working for an entrepreneur, Daniel Cheifetz. That day, I had brought all three volumes to work, because after work I was going to take them to a translator who worked out of his home for a couple of universities.
Well, I was sitting in my office doing my work. Daniel’s son, Gabriel Cheifetz, who was a specialist in computer networking, came downstairs to get something from my office. He saw my Sanskrit volumes, picked one of them up and started paging through it.
He goes, “What on earth are you doing with this?” I explained that I was working on a project and would be taking the volumes to be translated. He very matter-of-factly said, “I’ll translate it for you.” I go, “What?! I mean…What are you talking about?” He goes, “I majored in Sanskrit in college.” I go, “WHO on EARTH would decide to major in Sanskrit?!!” He goes, “Well…I don’t know. I just thought I’d like it.”
Well, his father was filthy rich, although I don’t think that had anything to do with it, because Gabe worked his ass off in his computer business. He was smart as a whip, so I guess, from his perspective, it didn’t matter what he majored in. He knew he wanted to deal in computers, and that’s what he’d be living and breathing anyway, no matter what else he did.
I showed him the English translation of the Bhavishya, which I’d obtained from Khwaja Nazir Ahmad’s book, and that’s all he needed. He went through the Bhavishya. I already had the English translation, so Gabe, once he found the Sanskrit, performed the transliteration that you see in the above picture, on the right. THANK GOD for computer geeks (who majored in Sanskrit!!) Well, here is the English translation of the Hindu book, the Bhavishya Maha Purana, that Mullah Nadri was referring to in his Tarikh-i-Kashmir:
“The Sakas came to Aryadesh (India) after crossing the Indus and some (came) through other routes in the Himalayas, and started plundering the place. After some time some of them left and took back (with them) their booty. Some time after Raja Shalewahin succeeded to the thrown. He in a very short time defeated the Sakas, Chinese, Tartars, Walhiks (Bokharis), Kamrups (Parthians) and Khurasanis and punished them. Then he put the maleech (infidels) and Aryas in separate countries. The maleech were kept up to (beyond) the Indus river and the Aryas on this side (of the river). One day he went to a country in the Himalayas. There (while in that country) he saw (what appeared to be) a Raja of Sakas at Wien, who was fair of colour and wore white clothes. He (Shalewahin) asked (him) who he was. His reply was that he was Yusashaphat (Yuz Asaf), and had been born of a woman, and (on Shalewahin being surprised) he said that he spoke the truth and he had to purify the religion. The Raja asked him what his religion was. He replied: ‘O Raja! When truth had disappeared and there was no limit (to the evil practices) in the maleech country, I appeared there and through my work the guilty and the wicked suffered, and I also suffered at their hands.” The Raja asked him (again) what his religion was. He replied: “It is (to establish) love, truth and purity of heart and for this I am called Isa Masih.’ The Raja returned after making his obeisance to him…”
It says that Shalewahin “went to a country in the Himalayas.” What country could that have been. One belief about Jesus is that he went to Ladak.
Some say that, after he left Jerusalem, he took a more northerly route than the one suggested in Mirza Ghulam Ahmad’s map that you saw at the top of this article. Either that or Jesus visited that country from Srinagar as part of his mission to spread his word. The distance from Srinagar, in Kashmir, and Leh, in Ladak, is 260 miles.
We’ll now examine the input of a Russian traveler, Nicholas Notovitch. I deal with his input in the chapter of my book entitled, The Man who won’t go away.
Notovitch wrote a book entitled The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ, originally published in 1894, in France, translated from the French by Alexina Loranger. You can find that book all over the place on The Internet. You can read a little bit about his history in my book as well as a ton of other sources that you can find online, so I’ll skip his history, except as it relates to his discoveries about Jesus. From Saving the Savior:
“During the latter part of the 1870s, Notovitch decided to embark on an “extended journey through the Orient.” He explained the purpose of his journey as follows:
“The first object of this journey was to study the customs and habits of the inhabitants of India amid their own surroundings, as well as the grand, mysterious archaeology and the colossal, majestic nature of the country. Wandering without any settled course from one locality to another, I at last came to the mountainous Afghanistan, whence I reached India through the picturesque passes of Bolan and Guernai. I then followed the Indus to Rawal-Pindi, traveled through the Punjab—the country of five rivers—visited the golden temple of Amritsar, the tomb of Randjid Singh, King of the Punjab, near Lahore, and proceeded toward Kashmir, the ‘vale of eternal happiness.’ There I began my peregrinations as fancy or curiosity guided or dictated until I reached the Ladak, where I intended to make a somewhat lengthy stay before returning to Russia through Eastern Turkestan and Karakorum.”16
From Saving the Savior:
“In my view, Notovitch’s explanations regarding his purpose for embarking upon this trip are extremely important. It demonstrates that he had no preconceived notions about the issue of Jesus in India. He was simply engaged in traveling and exploration in an attempt to study various cultures, ‘mysterious archaeology’ and the natural environment of India.
“Notovitch was not out to promote any particular religious belief, one way or the other. He was absolutely oblivious to the fact that he would one day become one of the most notorious (in the view of some orthodox Christians) figures of the 20th century—a man now referenced in every Jesus-in-India study in print, whether Islamic, Buddhist, or New Age, and a target of Christian propagandists.
“Finally reaching India in 1887, Notovitch visited the famous Golden Temple at Amritsar, eventually moving on to Ladak. He went to Kargil where he began a horseback trek on his way to Leh, the capital of Ladak. At a place called Mulbek near the wakha River, he decided to visit two monasteries, one of which was Buddhist, located above a hill. There he met a Lama, and the two conversed about religion. At one point in the conversation, the monk stated:
“‘We also respect the one whom you recognize as Son of the one God, only we do not regard him as such, but as the excellent being, the chosen one from among all. Buddha did indeed incarnate himself with his intelligence in the sacred person of Issa [Jesus], who without aid of fire or sword, went forth to propagate our great and true religion through the entire world…Issa is a great prophet, one of the first after the twenty-two Buddhas.’”17
It is very interesting, and very significant, that Jesus is referred to as “Isa” in Buddhist documents, as “Isa” in the scripture of Islam, the Qu’ran, and as “Isa” in the Hindu scripture, the Bhavishya Maha Purana. The Lamas told Notovitch that the life of Jesus had been recorded in Buddhist manuscripts. Continuing from Saving the Savior:
“Notovitch, of course, inquired of the Lama concerning these writings. The Lama told him that these documents were located in the Lhasa archives in Tibet. The Lama told him that there were other larger monasteries possessing copies of these accounts of the life of Jesus in India. After hearing the Lama’s explanations, Notovitch decided to delay his return to Europe so that he could see some of these documents for himself. Intent on assuring that he would encounter no obstacles in his determination to view these documents, Notovitch explained:
“‘That I might not arouse the suspicions of the authorities in regard to the object of my visit to the convent, and raise no obstacles to a subsequent journey to Thibet [Tibet]—as a Russian—on my return to Leh I announced my immediate departure for India, and again left the capital of Ladak.’”18
Continuing with Saving the Savior:
“While riding his horse near Hemis Monastery, Notovitch suffered a terrible fall from his horse and broke his right leg, and he was forced to remain under the care of the Buddhist monks at Hemis until his leg healed. After requesting to see the manuscripts concerning Jesus in India, the monks brought to his bedside two books with loose, yellowed leaves. During the next two days one of the monks read these documents to Notovitch while an interpreter translated and Notovitch took notes. Here I provide a few excerpts from these texts:
“‘It was then that Issa clandestinely left his father’s house, went out of Jerusalem, and, in company with merchants, traveled toward Sindh, that he might perfect himself in the divine word and study the laws of the great Buddhas. In the course of his fourteenth year, young Issa, blessed by God, journeyed beyond the Sindh and settled among the Aryas in the beloved country of God. The fame of his name spread along the Northern Sindh. When he passed through the country of the five rivers an the Radjipoutan, the worshippers of the God Djaine begged him to remain in their midst.
“But he left the misguided admirers of Djaine and visited Juggernaut, in the province of Orsis, where the remains of Viassa-Krichna rest, and where he received a joyous welcome from the white priests of Brahma.
“They taught him to read and understand the Vedas, to heal by prayer, to teach and explain the Holy Scripture, to cast out evil spirits from the body of man and give him back human semblance. He spent six years in Juggarnaut, Rajegriha, Benares, and the other holy cities; all loved him, for Issa lived in peace with the Vaisyas and the Soudras, to whom he taught the Holy Scripture.
“But the Brahmans and the Kshatriyas declared that the Great Para-Brahma forbade them to approach those whom he had created from his entrails and from his feet—that the Visyas were authorized to listen only to the reading of the Vedas, and that never save on the feast days.
“That the Soudras were not only forbidden to attend the reading of the Vedas, but to gaze upon them even, for their condition was to perpetually serve and act as slaves as the Brahmans, the Kshatriyas, and even to the Vaisyqs. ‘Death alone can free them from servitude,’ said Para-Brahma. ‘Leave them therefore, and worship with us the gods who will show their anger against you if you disobey them.’
“But Issa would not heed them; and going to the Soudras, preached against the Brahmans and the Kshatriyas. He strongly denounced the men who robbed their fellow-beings of their rights as men saying, ‘God the Father establishes no difference between his children who are equally dear to him.
“‘The wrath of God shall soon be let loose on man, for he has forgotten his Creator and filled his temples with abominations, and he adores a host of creatures which God has subordinated to him. For, to be pleasing to stones and metals, he sacrifices human beings to whom dwells a part of the spirit of the Most High.
“‘For he humiliates them that labor by the sweat of their brow to gain the favor of an idler who is seated at a sumptuously spread table. They that deprive their brothers of divine happiness shall themselves be deprived of it, and the Brahmans and the Kshatriyas shall become the Soudras with whom the Eternal shall dwell eternally.
“‘For on the day of the Last Judgment, the Soudras and the Vaisyas shall be forgiven because of their ignorance, while God shall visit his wrath on them that have arrogated his rights.’
“The Vaisyas and the Soudras were struck with admiration, and demanded of Isssa how they should pray to secure their happiness. ‘Do not worship idols, for they do not hear you; do not listen to the Vedas, where the truth is perverted; do not believe yourself first of all things, and do not humiliate your neighbor. Help the poor, assist the weak, harm no one, do not covet what you have not and what you see in the possession of others.”19
Continuing with Saving the Savior:
“The passages go on to say that Jesus was forced to leave the area after he was warned that the priests had become furious over his teachings of absolute equality for the lower castes. So he left Juggarnaut in the night, traveled and took refuge in the Gothamide country, learned the Pali language, and dedicated himself to a deep study of Buddhist scriptures. After awhile, Jesus traveled back towards his birthplace. All along the way, in whatever country he entered, he defended the rights of the oppressed and quarreled with the priestly class. In Persia, he became such a nuisance that the Persian Zoroastrian priests got hold of him one evening and expelled him, hoping that wild beasts would eat him.”
As a rather religious side note: By the way, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, in his book Jesus in India, believed that Jesus went to India only after his crucifixion. His reasoning was that no “child” could have made such an arduous trip by himself. Well, though I accept the claims of Hazrat Ahmad, I disagree that Jesus could not have made that trip.
One reason I believe that he made a trip to India, and studied there for a long while before returning to Canaan, is that when he began his ministry in Canaan, the people, especially the priests, were baffled by both his teachings, as well as the authority with which he spoke. Where had he gotten it from? The following verses of the Bible demonstrate that Jesus was teaching something very different than what the priests and Bani Israel (the Children of Israel, i.e., the Jews) were used to hearing:
“And they were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes.”20
You can find tables comparing the teachings of Buddha to the teachings of Jesus, and they were often identical. Here is a short example:
Ahmadi Muslims would say it was direct revelation from God. Personally, I cannot see that there would have been a single thing contradictory about his learning about Buddhism. I, personally, feel that his religious and spiritual base was Buddhism, which he learned while in the east, in India and Ladak. Ahmadiyyat teachings that it was not Buddhism that impacted Jesus, but the reverse, and that Jesus’s teachings crept into the teachings of Buddhism. I believe that Jesus was a Buddhist, having accepted Buddha as a Prophet.
I believe that, as he got older, he began to receive more and more direct Revelation from God. Prophet Muhammad was a good man all of his life, long before he received direct Revelation from God, and his pre-Revelation life reflected a much higher spirituality than what existed around him. Where did he get it from? Again, I see no contradiction in Jesus having gone to India, accepted Buddhism, then grew in spirituality and, finally, began to receive direct Revelation from God. Okay, that’s enough religion. Let’s get back to the manuscripts that were being read to Notovitch by one of the monks at Hemis.
Jesus finally made his way back home to Canaan. He was 29 when he arrived, and, having been gone so long, no one knew who he was:
“And the learned men then said: ‘Who art thou, and from what country hast thou come into our own? We had never heard of thee, and do not even know thy name.’
“‘I am an Israelite,’ responded Isa, ‘and on the very day of my birth, I saw the walls of Jerusalem, and I heard the weeping of my brothers reduced to slavery, and the moans of my sisters carried away by pagans into captivity.
“‘And my soul was painfully grieved when I saw that my brothers had forgotten the true God; while yet a child, I left my father’s house to go among other nations. But hearing that my brothers were enduring still greater tortures, I returned to the land in which my parents dwelt, that I might recall to my brothers the faith of their ancestors, which teaches us patience in this world that we may obtain perfect and sublime happiness on High.”
“And the learned old men asked him this question: ‘It is claimed that you deny the laws of Mossa [Moses] and teach the people to desert the temple of God.’
“And Issa said: ‘We cannot demolish what has been given by our Heavenly Father and what has been destroyed by sinners; but I have recommended the purification of all stain from the heart, for that is the veritable temple of God.
“‘As to the law of Mossa, I have striven to reestablish them in the heart of men; and I say to you that you are in ignorance of their true meaning, for it is not vengeance, but forgiveness that they teach; but the sense of these laws have been perverted.”21
Well, unfortunately, I have to force myself to end this Part 2 of this four-part series. What I have written in this four-part series does not scratch the surface. But my intent, in part, was to whet your appetite. I have included, below, the same list of sources, both textual and video, that I listed in Part 1, so that the reader can continue study of this subject of the historical Jesus, who was a man and, as I believe, a Prophet, not God; not a god; and not the “Son” or the “son” of God.
I’d promised, earlier, that I would talk about St. Irenaeus, but, to be flat-out honest, I’m exhausted. To read about St. Irenaeus’s observations that Jesus was seen alive near the age of 100, read the chapter of my book, Saving the Savior: Did Christ Survive the Crucifixion, that is entitled, “They seek him here, They seek him there…” That chapter runs from page 35 to page 45. Sorry that I’m pooped out.
Also, as I made crystal clear from jump street—and I have no problem whatsoever repeating this—my opinion is that the death of the alleged god-man known as “Jesus Christ” is one of the biggest, if not the biggest spiritual mistake in human history. All kinds of atrocities have been committed in the name of “the Lord Jesus Christ.” This four-part series began with a focus on how the teachings of the death of the man-god, Jesus, caused all Jews, for perpetuity, to be blamed, by Christians, for Jesus’s death. That blame had real, tangible, murderous results for the Jews.
It’s quite easy to criticize any religion. But when we have 795 years of the recorded history of the persecution of the Jews, a persecution that was “justified” by the claim of the murder of a god-man—a murder that never took place—having been committed not only by some Jews in Canaan, 2000 years ago, but by every single Jew for perpetuity, as the doctrines of Christianity taught, that has demonstrated, before our very eyes, the immense danger that a false belief can generate. We saw how this Christian doctrine that taught that “the Jews killed Christ!!” created a siege mentality amongst the Jewish people, due in large part to their persecution by the Church of Rome for 795 years.
And do not believe that the persecution of the Jews by Christianity was limited to Catholicism. Oh, no! Anyone my age or older, in America, can remember how Jews were called “Christ killers” by Protestants. And, amongst the Protestants, their greatest fear was that their daughter would marry a Jew. This was common knowledge.
By the way, this is not, as I’m sure I made clear in Part 1, a waving of the flag of Israel. Israel has presented itself to the entire world, and for many decades, as an apartheid state, absolutely no different than was South Africa, before that system was finally destroyed by the activity of human beings all over the world, including boycott. I say no more on that.
My article, I am 100% certain, will not be liked by a whole lot of people. Catholics, and Christians in general, will hate my guts because I hold that their god is dead and buried, under the earth, under a shrine built in his memory, called The Rozabal (see Part 1 to see a picture of it). Jews will hate my guts because “I didn’t blame Hamas!!”
Well, lemme tell you what I hate. I hate how religion has been used to persecute and murder people, such as the burning of people at the stake that the Church of Rome also engaged in. I hate the belief, by a mere 9.3 million people, in Israel, that “God” gave them the right to commit genocide because 9.3 million people are “The Chosen People of God,” who God gave the land of Israel to, despite how the people there ACT. I hate that Muslims will—and without hesitation— issue “fatwas of kufr,” i.e, decrees of disbelief, declaring that someone who is a Muslim, suddenly isn’t a Muslim anymore, as Ayatollah Khomeini did with Salman Rushdie, forcing Salman’s wife to leave him, lest she be “committing fornication,” since it’s been “declared” by some priest that Salman was “no longer a Muslim.” Wanna have a hate contest?
As long as we still have free speech, I felt I’d take advantage of that while we still can. And I ask others to do the same.
Another appeal to the State of Israel: Enough. More and more I’m hearing the words “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing.” Look to your own past—to that guy with the funny [not so funny] mustache—and wake up.
Work with the world to help the Palestinians have their own State. You are gaining enemies all over the planet. If, as you say, God Himself gave you The Land, why the hell do you need the United States of America to send, or so it seems, damn near every warship we got? Stop playing nasty games.
Let your children grow up without your mothers having to ask their children, “So, Benjamin, what branch of the IDF will you join when you’re grown,” as the young girl in this video fears that she’ll have to do when she has children. And about this young girl: If the tears (which she struggled, “successfully” to hold back) of this young girl mean nothing to Israel and to our blood-thirsty neocon BASTARDS and ASSHOLES in the United States, who are now salivating over the spilled blood of children (of WHATEVER “side”), then it probably won’t be long until we all are erased as another world civilization that has rotted out and ended.
I once had a friend, Herman Cromwell Gilbert, the owner of a small publishing house called Path Press, which was located right in the heart of downtown Chicago. I worked at Sherwood Conservatory of Music at the time, and on my lunch break I would visit Gil and we’d debate religion. He was an atheist. I was (am) a Muslim.
It was always a very friendly debate in his office, sometimes peppered with laughter, and (of course) colorful language. One day we had finished our daily debate. Gil stood up, stretched, and said the following:
“Well, I won’t say that religion has no efficacy. I just question whether or not human beings are deserving of religion.” I left his office, and as I walked back to Sherwood down “the Magnificent Mile,” i.e., Michigan Avenue, I made a pact with myself to never debate with Gil again. With that last remark he’d made, he’d left me speechless. And to this very day, I just question whether human beings are deserving of religion.
DOCUMENTARIES
Jesus in India (Produced by Paul Davids)
Jesus in Kashmir (Documentary produced by the Indian government)
Did Jesus Die (Produced by BBC-Four)
The Hidden Story of Jesus (Produced and directed by David Batty. Presented by Dr. Robert Beckford)
Jesus in India (Paul Wallis)
Jesus in India (A presentation by Edward T. Martin)
BOOKS
Jesus Lived in India - 264 p. (Holger Kersten)
Jesus Died in Kashmir - 184 p.(Andreas Faber-Kaiser)
Jesus in Heaven on Earth - 471 p. (Khwaja Nazir Ahmad)
Jesus in India - 315 p. (Dr. James Deardorff)
Jesus in India - 160 p. (Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad
NOTE: This is the first book published on the theory of a post-crucifixion life of Jesus. Although the book is partially tied to the author’s personal claim to be “The Promised Messiah & Mahdi,” this book is must reading. It was first published in the Urdu language, in 1908, under the title, Masih Hindustan Mein, i.e, Messiah in India)
Saving the Savior - 408 p. (Abubakr Salahuddin)
The Tomb of Jesus - 60 p. (Sufi Mutiur Rahman Bengalee)
The Lost Years of Jesus - 432 p. (Elizabeth Clare Prophet)
NOTE: This books examines the theory that Jesus spent those “lost years” of his life that are not accounted for in the Bible in “the Orient.” Some researches, such as Ms. Prophet, believe that Jesus, between the ages of 13 and 29, went to India only before the crucifixion, some believe only after the crucifixion, and some believe both before and after the crucifixion. Ms. Prophet says that Jesus traveled to India, Nepal, Ladakh, and Tibet.
Bible: Luke 22: 39-46
He appeared to be dead. Recall, from Part 1, the quote from the document, The Crucifixion by an Eye Witness: "These spices and salves had great healing powers, and were used by our Essene Brethren who knew the rules of medical science for the restoration to consciousness of those in a state of death-like fainting.31
Al-Qur’an Al-Karim (The Noble Qur’an), aka, The Holy Qur’an, Suratul Nisa, Iyyat 158 (Chapter Nisa, verse 158)
Ibid., Suratul Mu’minun, Iyyat 51 (Chapter Mu’minun, verse 51_
Bible: Matthew 10:5-6
Now deceased, Fr. O’Connor was an Irish Dominican priest and a member of the L'Ecole Biblique Jerusalem, founded in 1890, a French academic establishment in Jerusalem specializing in archaeology and Biblical exegesis.
Bible: Luke 24:39
Bible: Acts 9:1-9
Bible: Matthew 10:5-6
Mir Muhammad Khawand Shah Ibn-i-Muhammad, Rauza-tus-Safa fi Sirat-ul-Ambia wal Muluk wal Khulafa trans. “Gardens of Purity concerning the biography of the Prophets and Kings and Caliphs.” (Bombay, 1852, originally written in 1417), Vol 1: 132-133.
O.M. Burke, Among the Dervishes (New York: E.P. Dutton and Co. 1973), p. 12
Ibid, pp. 107-109
Nazir Ahmad, Jesus in Heaven on Earth (Columbus: Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha’at Islam Lahore Inc., 1998, Originally published in 1950), p. 368
St. Irenaeus, ‘Against Heresies’, The Gnostic Society Library, Oxford, England, Clarendon Press, 1924, http://gnosis.org/library/actthom.htm (accessed 10 November 2023)
Sir Francis Younghusband, Kashmir (London: A&C Black Ltd., 1909). p. 112
Nicholas Notovitch, The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ, (Joshua Tree: Tree of Life Publications, 1980; Originally published in 1894 in France. Translated from the French by Alexina Loranger), p. 10
Ibid, pp. 20-21
Ibid, p. 10
Ibid, pp. 34-35
Bible: Mark 1:22
Opcit., pp 39-40