Part 9: Jesus Died in Kashmir at age 120
Inside the Rozabal Shrine (VIDEO)
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8
The above verse says that Yeshuwah Ben Maryam (called, in Islam, Isa Ibn Maryam, i.e., Jesus, son of Mary), and his mother, were given “refuge” in a land of meadows and springs. The Valley of Kashmir is known, world-wide, for its fabulously rich and absolutely heavenly green valleys, springs, and mountains. Note that the word “refuge” is used. Refuge from what? From who? Refuge from Rome; from the rebellious Jewish Rabbis that had riled up the Jewish populace against Jesus to such an extent that crowds of them demanded, from Pilate, that Jesus be crucified.
On a personal note, as I’ve written in prior Substack articles, I was raised, for 12 years, within the Roman Catholic religion. My first eight years were spent at Corpus Christi Grammar School, at 49th & South Park (now called King Drive), in Chicago. All of the teachers there were pre-1960s, pre-Vatican II nuns.1 (Do not ignore footnotes in this article).
My parents were not particularly religious. Back then, there existed the perception that a “Catholic education” was superior to the education provided by the public school system, and that’s why they put my brother and I in the Catholic school system. I eventually decided to be baptized, even though the very idea of someone, 2,000 years ago, being murdered for my sins was disturbing.
But the Catholic religion as a whole—its moral teachings; its soulful, never-changing rituals that instilled a strong sense of stability and continuity in one’s life; its emphasis on service; it’s focus on the ultimate goal of each human being—to live a life on earth that earns one eternal life, with God, in Heaven—were all, for me, vital to my very existence.
But, the idea of the “vicarious atonment” for the sins of humanity, via the murder of Jesus Christ, was an idea that I simply ignored. As I’ve explained in prior Substack articles, it was in the third grade, at Corpus Christi, that a nun sealed (though I didn’t know it at the time) my internal rejection of the idea of someone being tortured and murdered for my sins.
In the third grade, in Religion class, I’d raised my hand, after the nun had said that, “Anyone who does not accept the Lord Jesus Christ will burn in hell forever.” I asked, politely and sincerely, “Sister, but what about people who live on islands, who never heard of Jesus?” She answered, “They will burn in hell forever!!!” I burst out crying. But, I happily continued my deep belief in, and practice of, Catholicism.
I don’t want to burden the reader, since I’ve previously, in prior Substack articles, talked, in detail, about my gradual evolution from Catholicism to Islam, and then to the Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam, the Islamic community whose founder, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, introduced, through his book, Masih Hindustan Mein (The Messiah in India) the tradition, in India, that Jesus had survived the crucifixion, traveled to Kashmir, and died a natural death at age 120. Other Indian traditions give different life spans for Jesus. Some say he passed away at age 80; others say at age 100.
Well, one point of this article, among other things, is to share with the reader the profound happiness that I experienced when I discovered that Jesus had escaped death on the cross, and travelled to Kashmnir with three people:
Mother Mary, his mom.
His aunt, who was also named Mary.
Mary Magdalene, who appears to have been his woman, as indicated in the apochraphal Gospel of Philip, which records:
“The companion of the Savior is Mary of Magdala. The Savior loved her more than all the disciples, and he kissed her often on her mouth. The other disciples said to him, ‘Why do you love her more than all of us?’ The Savior answered and said to them, ‘Why do I not love you like her? If a blind person and one who can see are both in darkness, they are the same. When the light comes, one who can see will see the light, and the blind person2 will stay in darkness.’” (Gospel of Philip, 63.32-64.5)
To Christians, of course, to claim that Jesus is dead and buried, under the earth, in the Kan Yar section of Srinagar, the capital city of Kashmir, India, is the very height of blasphemy. And were I living during the Middle Ages, I might have been burned to death, at the stake, on orders from the Pope, as punishment for claiming that Jesus Christ is dead and buried in Kashmir, not alive, sitting at the “right hand” of God.
But to me, when I learned that Jesus had survived the crucifixion and went on to live a successful life, in India, continuing his ministry there, marrying, having children, living a normal life and dying a natural death, that knowledge erased the angst that I had carried with me, ever since I’d first been taught that Jesus was murdered for my sins. The story of Jesus in Kashmir is IMMENSELY satisfying!!. He was a Prophet of God whom God saved from death on the cross.
Below is a video of the inside of the Rozabal Shrine, the shrine dedicated to Yuz Asaf, i.e., Jesus Christ, which sits atop of the ground beneath which he is buried. It is an excellent video, but not as excellent as the one I wanted to load, but cannot find online. The one that I want to load is on a video cassette. If I find a way to convert that video casette to a .mp4 file, I will replace the below video with the one that I really want to use. The one that I want to use includes an individual who is explaining, line by line, the words on a plaque, inside the Rozabal, that a spiritual teacher wrote.
After viewing the video below, you will see a lot of references to video documentaries that you can view, as well as books that you can read, and from which you can obtain much further information about Jesus’s survival from crucifixion, and his post-crucifixion life in Kashmir.
Last, before viewing the video, contemplate these words, from the Bible, that record the prayers that Jesus prayed, in the Garden of Gethsemane, that God save him from death on the cross. When I was a Catholic, the fact that Jesus’s prayers were ignored by his “Father,” God, were extremely disturbing to me. What father who had unlimited power, would ignore his own son’s plea for help, and choose torture and death for him?
A couple of points of clarification, before the video. Firstly, in the East, Jesus was known by a number of names: Yuz Asaf, Yusu, Isa (his name as mentioned in Qur’an).
There are two graves associated with the Rozabal. One is the grave of Jesus. The other is the grave of Syed Nasiruddin Kanyari, who was a Muslim who became deeply enamored with the memory of Jesus, known as a Prophet, as handed down, through the ages, in Kashmir. Syed Nasiruddin’s grave is located south of the grave of Jesus.
It is important to note that Jesus’s real sarcophogas is underground, beneath the Rozabal. The sarcophagus that one sees that is inside the Rozabal, on the ground level, is not the actual sarcophagus of Jesus. It is just there to memorialize him. It is said that, at one time, ages ago, there was a small aperture on the ground, outside of the Rozabal, very near one of the outer walls of the Rozabal, where one could look through and see the actual underground sarcophagus that houses the body of Jesus.
A particularly fascinating and important feature of the underground sarcophagus: It faces the direction that Jews bury their dead. Hindus burn their dead. Jesus was a Jew.
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 researchers, 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.
The reason I emphasize “pre-1960s, pre-Vatican II” is because, in my opinion—and the opinion of many ex-Catholics of my era—it was the changes made at The Second Vatican Council (Vatican II) that marked the beginning of the end of the Roman Catholic Church. Those changes rapidly led to a Catholic religion virtually devoid of what, yes, was once a religion of very, very deep spirituality.
Unless you were living as a practicing pre-1960s Catholic, you cannot imagine the reality of the spiritual essence and power of Catholicism. And this, I must add, despite horrid historical decisions made by the Papacy, such as its endorsement of slavery by Pope Nicholas V, in his two Papal Bulls, Dum Diversas and Romanus Pontifex.
Of course, it would be natural for someone to claim that a religion whose “leader” endorsed slavery could not contain anything spiritually nurturing. Welcome to planet earth. The human entity has proven to be exceedingly capable of f*cking up anything. It’s actually quite amazing. Makes one wonder why God gave human beings free will. Maybe, one day, the bunny rabbits will have their turn to run this earth.
Step-by-mistaken step, the Catholic Religion bent to the winds of accomodation, attempting to adjust itself to the rapidly growing forms of “bida” (Islamic concept of the human ability to create dangerous innovations) that the non-Catholic, non-religious, non-spiritual secular world was developing. In short order, all kinds of bida were being introduced:
Rock bands were playing in the Church, displacing the spiritually satisfying, deeply soulful Latin Gregorian Chant. This was one of the biggest mistakes that Vatican II spawned. The Gregorian Chant was one of various elements of Catholicism that combined to create the spiritual continuity that humans need. What a grave mistake!!
Sacred symbolism was discarded, such as the ritual of the priest, during certain parts of the Holy Mass, appropriately turning his back to the congregation, signalling his stature as “shepherd” of the congregation, as Jesus was the Shepherd, for humanity, leading humanity to the Promise of Eternal Life with God, in Heaven.
Priests were dancing. It might have been okay…if they could dance. Oy vey. 🥴 And the ones that could dance appeared to have forgotten what the word “modesty” meant. Or maybe they were just remembering the Biblical verse, “Be fruitful and multiply.” Get on down, Padre!!
I see two things that Jesus was trying to get across to his male disciples. The first one is kind of me joking around (perhaps blasphemously). But the second one was probably his much deeper and truer meaning:
He was saying, “I can’t believe this!! You dudes are actually asking me WHY I love this WOMAN more than I love you MEN??!! I’m here to teach spirituality, not biology!!!”
Well, on a much more serious note, I believe that Jesus was clearly speaking about the spiritual ELEVATION of Mary of Magdala (Mary Magdelene) OVER the rest of the disciples. Prior to the Ministry of Jesus, both his male disciples and Mary Magdelene were in a form of spiritual darkness. But when Jesus appeared to them, The Magdalene saw Jesus’s Light to such a high degree that it was as if the other disciples were still in darkness as compared to her. And that is why he expressed much more love for Mary Magdalene than the rest of his disciples: She was more spiritually in tune than they were.