To begin with, the Holy Bible that we are
reading today has been a source of great inspiration for millions of people. It
offers guidance on matters of morality, in fact how to live rightly in all
facets of human life. It contains lessons to be learned as can be gleaned in
its history, as well as prayers, hymns, songs, liturgies, and sayings which can
be meditated upon and bring us into intimate relationship with God. The Bible
is traditionally called the word of God. As the apostle Paul said, “All
Scripture is inspired of God and beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for
setting things straight, for disciplining in righteousness that the man of God
maybe fully competent, completely equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy
3:16-17). In the New Testament, you can
find Jesus quotes passages from the Old Scriptures a number of times. In fact in John 5:39 Jesus said, “Search the
scriptures for in them ye think ye have eternal life. And they are they which
testify of me.” I believe, just like sacred texts of other cultures, the Bible
serves as an instrument of God in order for us to live a virtuous and ethical
life and draw closer to Him. Approaching to read the Bible this way, it will
have power to transform our lives. Thus in this viewpoint, regularly reading
the Bible is highly recommended. Psalms and Proverbs for example were once
recommended by the Ascended Masters to be read daily.
On the other hand, it is a fact that many
religious sects have emerged whose different belief systems were originated
from studying and interpreting passages in the Bible. Thus among various
Christian sects there are Catholic, Protestant, Baptist, Jehovah’s Witnesses,
etc. It is obvious however that most of these
sects espouse an exoteric kind of belief. The inner/esoteric teaching that
spouses the concept that God lives within every man and that our goal is to
attain reunion with God like the example demonstrated by Jesus is simply out of
their belief system. We cannot put any blame to them because traditional Christians
have been accustomed to exoteric kind of teachings since the inception of
biblical canon where the inner/esoteric teaching was not emphasized or does not
fully stand out.
It seems that part of the reasons was due
to mistranslations from Hebrew and Aramaic into Greek, then Greek into Latin then
into English (there are versions that are direct translation from Greek into
English) that resulted in the suppression of the inner teaching perhaps consciously
or unconsciously. For example the concept of reincarnation may not even have
come into their mind, thus translation pertaining to this may have been
mistranslated. I have cited one of this in my previous post on Karma and
reincarnation where the word ‘once’ from the passage, “And as it is appointed unto
man ‘once’ to die, after this the final judgment” (Hebrew 9:27) could be a
mistranslation from the Greek word “hapax” which can mean ‘once again’ or ‘once
more’, so that the passage could actually be an allusion to reincarnation.
There was another instance in Mark 1:41 when Jesus was said to have “moved with
compassion” on healing a leper, who beseeched him. But originally, the word was
actually “Jesus was angered” and this was instead translated into ‘moved with
compassion’. This is possibly because the translator would like to portray
Jesus as a Divine man untainted of irritation. Mark Prophet explained that the
passage in Exodus 33:20 where the Lord said, “You cannot see my face, for no
man can see me and live” was originally “You cannot see my face for no man can see
me and live as man”; the phrase ‘as man’ was omitted. Perhaps the translator
does not agree or does not understand that a man will no longer live as man but
as divine being once he sees God.
As a matter of fact there are lots of
English mistranslations in the Bible. It is Evident that this is one of the
reason why there are many Bible versions. The Protestant and Jehova’s Witnesses
for example are using their own versions because they do not agree with the one
being used by the Roman Catholic Church. They do not agree with some Catholic translations.
Among these are the word “Ekklesia” which was translated into “Church” when
according to them it should have been “Congregation”; the word “Hell” should
have been “graveyard” when translated from its original Greek. If you will
google about mistranslations in the Bible, you will find lots of them.
Fortunately enough, there remains a lot of passages
and concepts that tell of the inner teaching, some of which were taken up in my
previous topic on mysticism.
New Testament as Compilation of Independent
Sources/Books
Before I go further, I would like to show a
brief history of the New Testament which I quote from the book “The Christ
Files by John Dickson”. (This book is a good read if you would like to see
evidence of Jesus as a historical person and not just a mythical or fictitious
person as put forth by some mythologists and atheists.) In the section of the
book under the heading, The New Testament as a Compilation of Sources, John
Dickson says:
“The second thing to say is that the New
Testament is not a single source at all; it is a collection of sources. In the
discipline known as ‘theology’ (the study of God’s nature and activity) the
Bible is appropriately treated as one homogeneous source – all ultimately coming
from God. Passages from one biblical writer are placed seamlessly next to
passages from another in order to build up a coherent picture of the divine
character and intentions. Sermons in
church generally use Scripture in the same way. In historical research,
however, the New Testament is analyzed as a compilation of independent
traditions with common convictions about Jesus of Nazareth. Christians need to
remember that, although our sacred documents were composed and circulated in
the first century, they were not brought together into a single volume (the New
Testament) until the fourth century.”
“How and by whom was the final New
Testament collection decided? As the literature of the Christians grew,
churches all around the Mediterranean decided to meet to discuss which texts
were universally regarded as a sacred and authoritative. A series of representative councils was
called, climaxing in the councils of Rome (AD 382) and Carthage in North Africa
(AD 397). The policy of these councils was highly conservative. Basically, they
decided to embrace as Scripture only those documents which had long been
recognized throughout the churches as having been penned by the first
generation of Christian leaders, that is, by those whom Jesus appointed (Mark, Luke, etc). Thus,
these councils culled rather than included, leaving us with the 27 books of the
New Testament. The writings that did not make it into the New Testament
(Didache, Epistle of Barnabas, Shepherd of Hermas and others) are readily
available in English translations today”.
“The important point for now is that the
New Testament is not a single document; it is a compilation of texts that were
composed and circulated independently of each other in the first century. This is historically significant. The
apostle Paul, who wrote numerous documents now in the New Testament, never
knew, for instance, the Gospel of Mark (and Mark never knew Paul’s letters
either). Historians therefore treat his epistles as a source separate from that
of Mark. Again, the Gospel of John was composed independently of the Gospel of
Matthew, so these individual Gospels represent another set of separate sources.
James – the brother of Jesus mentioned earlier – did not know any of these
Gospels (he was martyred before any of them was written), so his letter
constitutes yet another source. I am
sure you get the picture.”
So there you got it from the words of the
historian John Dickson that the books (Matthew to Revelation) in the New
Testament (NT) were originally written independently from each other and were
only brought together into one book - the New Testament - in the fourth
century. There is exception to this
however which Dickson did not readily mention although it is evident in his
explanation that the synoptic Gospels (Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke) could
have depended on one another.
Synoptic Gospels
The Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke are
called synoptic because there are evidences of chunks of passages that are the
same verbatim so that they can be placed side by side with each other. This
reveals that one or two of them were dependent on the other. This is a subject
of debate among the scholars but the most prevailing one is Markan authority.
That is (the writers of) Matthew and Luke copied from (the writer of) Mark
since Mark is considered as the oldest Gospel by most scholars. However, it
cannot be said that Matthew and Luke simply copied from Mark because there are
also evidences of similarity between Matthew and Luke (mostly on sayings) that
are not present in Mark indicating that either they (Matthew and Luke) copy from
each other or they both copied from other source known as “Q” for “Quelle”
which is a German word for Source. This “Q” source however is considered lost. The
existence of Q is the prevailing hypothesis among scholars because it is
evident that Luke and Matthew know each other by their writings. There are
other hypotheses that contest this “Q” hypothesis such as the Farrer hypothesis,
and others that maintain the Matthean authority. Remember however that these are just
hypotheses. Perhaps if there were really a source “Q” that have already been
discovered everything will be settled. Until then, no one can really be sure
what really happened in the composition of the synoptic Gospels simply on the
basis of the present limited evidence at hand.
Missing Autograph Texts of the Four Gospels
Another thing to mention here is that the
four Gospels (Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) have no autograph texts
(no original texts). Most biblical
scholars regarded them as merely copied from earlier sources. Moreover, it is to be noted here that it is
generally accepted that Apostles Matthew, Mark, and Luke were not the authors
of the Gospel that bears their names.
Dates of New Testament Books
Now let us have a look at the dates of
writing of some of these books (sourced from Dickson’s book). The earliest of
the books is the Letters of Paul written AD 48-64. The Epistle of James was
written AD 50-62. The four Gospels were written between AD 60-90 and the
earliest of them is the Gospel of Mark (AD 65-75). The Acts is considered by
most scholars as written by the writer of the Gospel of Luke. If you will look
at the arrangement of the New Testament you will find that the first four books
are the four Gospels followed by Acts then the letters of Paul, and others. To
the general public, this appears that the four Gospels were written first when
in fact the letters of Paul are the earliest writings. This arrangement partly reveals
that the NT is really a compilation of documents.
Based on the above information and history of
the New Testament it is hard not to think of the possibility of tampering the
original Gospels that may include the exclusion of some of the inner life and
teachings of Jesus by the writers. Some of the apologists aver that the reason
why the originals are missing is because of overused, wear and tear, and through
the passage of time those were rendered unusable especially if made of papyri. I
do not totally agree with this idea because there are other older important writings
and documents that have been preserved and discovered like the Dead Sea Scrolls
(discovered in 1947) mostly dated between 150 BC - 70 AD. Though the disappearance of the
originals due to passage of time is plausible, this does not rule out the possibility
of suppression of the originals. I may sound bias on this because the AMT
supports that Jesus went to India to study under the Masters. There are
actually dictations given by the Ascended Masters that mention this account one
of which is in the book, "Memoir of Beloved Jesus and Mother Mary" that I will discuss later.
The Missing Years of Jesus
Turning briefly to
the contents of the four Gospels in the New Testament, we will find the
genealogy of Jesus, his birth in Bethlehem where he was visited by the three
wise men offering gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. The flight of the holy
family to Egypt, then back to Judea after the death of King Herod, then lived
in Nazareth. We see his account that at the age of twelve he was discoursing
with the Priests in the Temple of Jerusalem who marveled at his understanding.
Then in Luke 2:52, it is said “And he grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor
with God and man.” This passage indicates that Jesus began as an ordinary human
being who learns the knowledge of scriptures and pursues spirituality at an
early age. Then afterwards, it immediately jumped to the account of his baptism
by John the Baptist in the Jordan River at the age of thirty. Then follow the
accounts of his temptations by Satan in the desert, his public ministry, performance
of miracles and healing, transfiguration, crucifixion, resurrection, and
ascension.
The New Testament
is silent on the life of Jesus between 12 and 30 years old. Where was he in the
interim? Some apologists claim that Jesus simply remained in Nazareth and lived
as carpenter like his father Joseph who had taught the trade to him. Or he
probably traveled to nearby countries such as Great Britain, which is the
center of learning and part of the Roman Empire at that time but never in India
to study under the Masters. This is understandable because they adhere to the mainstream
exoteric belief that Jesus is the only begotten Son of God who was sent by God
for the remission of sins and by faith in him mankind will be saved. But if
they will consider with open mind that Jesus is like us who also had a
spiritual path for soul development who seeks to reunite with God just as some
ancient and modern mystics do, they will probably have a second thought of
Jesus’s travel in the Far East such as India. Albeit we can say that Jesus is
much more advanced soul who attained Christhood and with special divine mission
to be the world savior as taught in the Ascended Master Teachings.
According to Mrs.
Elizabeth C. Prophet in her book “The Lost Years of Jesus”, there are passages
in the New Testament indicating that Jesus had been away for a long time in Nazareth
(his hometown) because some of the crowds did not readily recognize Jesus when He came preaching
in their synagogue. The passage in Matthew 13:54-56 reads (NKJV), And when he had come to His own country, He taught
them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said “Where did this
man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is
not his mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas?
And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then this man get all these
things?” Similar passage in Mark 6:1-3 reads, “Then He went out from there and came to His own country, and His
disciples followed Him. And when the Sabbath had come, He began to teach in the
synagogue. And many hearing Him were astonished, saying, ‘Where did this man
get these things? And what wisdom is this which is given to Him, that such
mighty works are performed by his hands! Is
this not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses,
Judas, and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?’ So, they were offended
at Him.” Take note that in Mark, there is the question “Is this not the
Carpenter?” instead of “Is this not the carpenter’s son?”. It is this Mark’s
passage that some of the apologists quote as an evidence that Jesus was a local
carpenter. However, that does not mean
that Jesus had always been a carpenter in Nazareth or nearby towns for 18
years. A more expanded passage is in Luke 4:16-22 (KJV) for it includes part of
what Jesus preached. “And he came to Nazareth, where he had been
brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath
day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the
prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it
was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to
preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to
preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to
set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the
Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat
down. And the eyes of all of them that were in the synagogue were fastened to him.
And he began to say unto them, ‘This day is this scripture fulfilled in your
ears.’ And all bare him witness and
wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said,
Is this not Joseph’s son?”
Clearly, the questionings
in the above passages - especially Is
this not Joseph’s son? Or Is this not the carpenter? And Where did this man get
these things? - indicate that they did
not readily recognize Jesus implying that he had been away for a longer period
of times because the manner of questioning shows they doubt whether it was
Jesus or not. If we will assume that it is this crowd who had been away (so
that they didn’t recognize Jesus) is most irrelevant in the story. The Gospel
writers did not mention specifically why the crowd did not recognize Jesus.
What is puzzling thing here is, after Jesus had read the book of Esaias (Luke
4:22), it is said that All the crowd bare him witness,
and wondered at his gracious words while in Mark 6:1-3 and Matthew 13:57 the crowd in Nazareth were offended at
him. This is direct contradiction. If you continue reading Luke, Jesus
even said, “No Prophet is accepted in his own country”. And when he said
something to indicate that he will not perform more healing and mighty works, Luke 4:28
says “And all they in synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with
wrath”. Jesus was even thrust out of the city and led unto the brow of the hill
that they might cast him down. How can we reconcile these two contradictory
scenes? Could there be mistranslations? Perhaps instead of “All bare him
witness” it could be “Many, Almost everyone, or some bare him witness”; Or instead of “All they
in synagogue …were filled with wrath” it could be “Some or many in the
Synagogue…”. But this is improbable, the
translator could easily had known whether to use “All”, “Many” or “Some”. Besides, the use of these terms from Greek are
distinctly different. It seems that there is something anomalous in these contradictory
passages which I construe to be evidence of deletions or additions and editing
from the original that turned out to be incongruous. Perhaps the phrase “All
bare him witness” was just an addition; and the real reason why the crowd did
not recognize Jesus and why they were offended was deleted. Other marvelous
things that Jesus said may have been deleted as well.
On the other
hand, the same passages are quoted by some apologists like Dr. Ron Rhodes in his
book "Jesus of the New Age Movement" to indicate the exact opposite – that
Jesus simply remained in Nazareth for a long time as a carpenter like His
father Joseph. They interpreted the question ‘Is this not the carpenter? Or Is
this not the carpenter’s son?’ to mean that Jesus has always been a carpenter and they said it born of familiarity with him. How
come? If that is the case, why in the
form of question as if they are in doubt of Jesus. Doesn’t this clearly indicate that
they did not readily recognize Jesus and he must had been away for a long time? What is more possible to indicate that Jesus
had always been there in Nazareth is their quote of Luke 4:16 probably because
of the phrase ‘as his custom was’ to preach in the synagogue. However, this can be interpreted to mean that
that was Jesus’ custom when he was there in Nazareth at a younger age, but it
doesn’t necessarily mean he had always been there ever since. If Jesus had
really been preaching in that synagogue regularly as was his custom, the crowd
must instead be very familiar with him and not be asking such kind of questions
as if they do not know Jesus. To me, it is clear that Mrs. Prophet’s indication
is more plausible.
I believe that Dr. Ron Rhodes also erred when he interpreted that only some were impressed in the graciousness of Jesus' words (without noticing the phrase "All bare him witness") and there were some in the synagogue who were offended, the angriest of which were Jewish leaders. And he goes on to quote their accusations of Jesus for breaking the sabbath, blasphemy, and doing miracles in satan's power which however is another episode and in other location far removed from the episode in question. He also reasoned that these Jewish leaders did not accuse Jesus of teaching and practicing things learned from the East if he had really been from there. This is probably because Dr. Ron Rhodes is not willing to admit that the New Testament could have been tampered with.
I believe that Dr. Ron Rhodes also erred when he interpreted that only some were impressed in the graciousness of Jesus' words (without noticing the phrase "All bare him witness") and there were some in the synagogue who were offended, the angriest of which were Jewish leaders. And he goes on to quote their accusations of Jesus for breaking the sabbath, blasphemy, and doing miracles in satan's power which however is another episode and in other location far removed from the episode in question. He also reasoned that these Jewish leaders did not accuse Jesus of teaching and practicing things learned from the East if he had really been from there. This is probably because Dr. Ron Rhodes is not willing to admit that the New Testament could have been tampered with.
If Jesus had increased
in wisdom and enabled him to do mighty works, where could He learn this from? Undoubtedly,
having achieved Christhood, he could learn them directly from the Holy Spirit
and from his Father – the Mighty I AM Presence. But I never think that Jesus
suddenly became the Christ filled with Holy Ghost at age of thirty after
fasting for forty days and forty nights* in the desert (Matthew 4:2). I am more
inclined to consider that He must had years of preparatory spiritual studies,
practices and disciplines prior to that. And Jesus being an advanced soul and
himself knew that he was to become a Messiah and to be about his Father’s
business (Luke 2:49), will innately be drawn and seek such spiritual wisdom. Furthermore,
His parents to whom Archangel Gabriel revealed that their son will become the
Messiah will innately do all things in their power to nurture Jesus to such
spiritual matters. It is therefore very likely that they are Jesus’s firsthand spiritual
teachers. The Holy family most likely possess an Old Testament scripture where
they learn the word of God. Jesus as we know is well-versed in Old Testament as
He often quote passages from it. Following natural course of study and thirst
for spiritual knowledge, there is likelihood that they just don’t learn it by
themselves. Somehow, they would like to
discuss with or compare what they study from other erudite people or congregation
of their time. Or perhaps truly become a member and participate in their
spiritual teachings and practices. They were definitely not the sects of
Pharisees and Sadducees for we know that Jesus was always in dispute with them.
The Essenes and Theraputae
There is a
Jewish religious sect during that time that is called the Essenes (200 BC – 100 AD). Historian
Josephus, Philosophers Philo of Alexandria, and Pliny the Elder have written to
a great length about the Essene community. They lead an ascetic life, observe
the sabbath and meditate on Torah. They practice a purification ritual on
bathing, fasting and vegetarianism. They are mostly celibates. They consider
their community as the doorway to the Angelic realm. They reside scattered on the fringes of the
city, some in the desert areas. Upon the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in
Qumran in 1947-1956, many scholars believe that the Qumran community who kept
these scrolls are also the Essenes because their Manual of Disciplines (which
is one of the scrolls) is very similar with the Essenes. This is contested by
other scholars however, because the excavated local cemetery revealed some
buried children indicating they are not from Essenes since the latter are
celibates. Josephus, however, mentioned
that there are Essene sects who do not practice celibacy. Aside from the Old
Testament, some scrolls include Greek philosophy and spiritual beliefs which
include reincarnation. Much of the Essene’s spiritual practices and beliefs are
very similar with spiritual community of Pythagoras such as vegetarianism and
reincarnation. There is also a semblance of Zoroastrianism such as the belief in
battle between good and evil. They have
eschatological belief especially the coming of the Teacher of Righteousness, a
Messiah who will usher in a life of Peace. The teacher of Righteousness in the
Essenes’ belief is considered as the Holy Spirit. In short, their belief is one
of esoteric or mystical.
We cannot tell
with certainty if Jesus had become a member of Essenes, but he surely must have
known their teachings simply because it is a Jewish spiritual community within
the locality. In the book “Memoir of Beloved Jesus and Mother Mary”, Mother
Mary dictated through the Messenger Geraldine Innocente that Joseph, the father
of Jesus, was an Essene. If such is the case, it is therefore very likely that
Jesus learned many things about the spiritual beliefs and practices of the
Essenes through his father, if he himself did not become a member. It is likely
that Joseph and Mary became mystics through Essene Practices which enabled them
to communicate with Archangel Gabriel. They too can be considered as highly
developed souls, guided by the Holy Spirit, as they were destined to become the
parents and guardians of a Messiah. In fact, you can read in the Memoir that
prior to their incarnations on earth, Jesus, Mother Mary and Joseph and other
group of souls like the would-be apostles volunteered before the Lords of Karma
and earned merits to embody on earth for such a great milestone in history for
the raising up of mankind.
There is another
mystical Jewish religious group closely resembling the Essenes that is situated
in Alexandria, Egypt during that time called Therapeutae. It will be recalled in
the gospel that after the Birth of Jesus, the Holy Family went to Egypt to escape
from infanticide perpetrated by King Herod and his men. They likely chose to stay
in Egypt because they will find comfort from associating with this Jewish sect.
If indeed Joseph and Mother Mary had association with them, there is no doubt
that Jesus upon growing up would have known their mystical/spiritual beliefs
through his parents. In all practicality, just having located in Egypt means
they will be exposed to Egyptian religious belief which has a semblance of
mysticism. In fact, the Memoir of Mother Mary says it is so; the Holy family
shows close relationship with the Mystery school of Master Serapis Bey in
Luxor, Egypt (The Ascension Temple) because Jesus was initiated there at an
early age.
It is recorded
in history that the Jewish people were exposed to different religious cultures.
They were once exiled to Babylonia during Diaspora (in 597 – 586 BCE) and were conquered
by Greeks and Romans whose religions were paganism which has a semblance of
mysticism. Although their paganism was later corrupted to fit with exoteric
kind of belief so that even the Gods and Goddesses had come to be endowed with negative
human emotions and attributes. The Gods became someone up there who must be
appeased by following certain rules, laws and practices and offerings in order
to gain their favour. Even an Emperor like Julius Ceasar was regarded as God.
The esoteric/mystical kind of belief that the Divine Perfection is within us
that must come into manifestation through soul purification had almost lost and
has come to be embraced only by the few. However, many Jews stayed in their own
religion of monotheistic Judaism, which has come to be exoteric as well, by the
way. Jewish mysticism which according to Kabbalists have been their practices
since the time of Moses or perhaps even the time of Abraham has minority
adherents up to this time. The Essenes
for instance, according to Pliny the Elder, have existed for thousands of
generations, they simply flourished from 2nd century BCE to the 1st
century CE, although still fewer in numbers compared to Pharisees and
Sadducees. There are many modern Essene Community organizations nowadays if you
search the web; some even claim to be originated directly from ancient Essenes.
I doubt this, however, because I believe all the original ancient Essenes
became adherents of the Original Christianity that Mother Mary and Jesus’s
apostles have established in Bethany’s hill as described in the Memoir of Beloved Jesus and Mother Mary
Esoteric Teachings in the Bible
It is evident
that since time immemorial the esoteric kind of religious belief has been in
existence vis-a-vis the exoteric in the context of Jewish history. In
connection with beloved Master Jesus, it is therefore just a question of which
belief system will he be drawn into and embrace in his life. Inherently, he will be drawn to any spiritual
teachings that will make him one with God the Father, but he will use his
wisdom what is to be accepted and not. It will be recalled in my previous post
on “Christian Mysticism” that there are biblical passages that clearly point
out to be esoteric or mystical in nature that even Jesus spoke. It is worth
mentioning those here again. It stands
for itself:
- Know ye not that your body is the Temple of the living God and the Spirit of God lives within you (1 Cor 3:16)
- Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect - Jesus (Matthew 5:48)
- The Kingdom of God is within you – Jesus (Luke 17:21)
- But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raiseth up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you. (Romans 8:11)
- Let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God (Romans 12:2b)
- I have said Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the Most High (Psalm 82:6)
- Is it not written in your Law, “I said, Ye are gods” – Jesus (John 10:34)
- Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus (Philippians 2:5)
- Ye are the Light of the world – Jesus (Matthew 5:14)
- Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we shall be called the Sons of God… (1 John 3:1-3)
- And God said unto Moses, [His name] I AM THAT IAM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. . . . this is my name forever and this is my memorial unto all generations (Exodus 3:13-15)
- The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God. And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ… (Romans 8:16-17)
- If therefore thine eye be single thy whole body shall be full of Light. (Matthew 6:22) (referring to the third-eye chakra or practice of concentration)
- He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (John 7:38) (referring to the solar-plexus if not seat-of-the soul chakra)
- From your Heart issues forth Life (Proverbs 4:23) (referring to heart chakra)
The Book of
Revelation of Lord Jesus given to John the Beloved are all esoteric in nature.
Even parts of Ezekiel and Daniel in the Old Testament have Esoteric inclusions as
well. In addition, there
are still many passages in the New Testament including evidences of belief in
reincarnation that I discussed in “Karma and Reincarnation” in my previous
blog.
The abovementioned
passages quoted directly from the Old and New Testaments clearly show that
those are esoteric in nature and therefore parallels the basic belief of
Hinduism and Buddhism especially the Presence of God within the Heart of man
and that God can communicate and manifest through us. Moreover, we can observe
that Jesus’ teachings on compassion, mercy and forgiveness, turning the other
cheek, and loving one’s enemy are similar with Buddhist’s central teaching on
compassion and loving-kindness. The abovementioned discussions relating to
mysticism evidently shows that Jesus is substantially influenced by esoteric
teachings and most likely had gained this spiritual knowledge through practical
means of studies and experiences that would have taken many years. And when he
had attained Christhood at age thirty, fully filled with Holy Ghost, it was
then that his public ministry, performance of mighty works began and onwards to
the fulfillment of his Divine Mission.
By the way, the Book of Thomas the Contender which is one of the scrolls included in Nag Hammadi Texts that
was discovered in Egypt in 1945 constitutes another evidence of mystical
teachings of Jesus. It mostly speaks of subjugation of fire of human passion by
the Fire of the Holy Spirit. It also mentions of the avoidance to be in
the flesh (allusion to reincarnation). You may want to read it here.
As I have shown
above, I think it is very plain by now that Jesus really taught an esoteric
kind of spiritual teachings and it is very likely that he gained some of those
from the Essenes and Theraputae. How about his coming to the Far east such as
India and Tibet and the possibility of gaining esoteric knowledge from there?
Let’s explore this.
There have been
long heated debates regarding this topic of Jesus in India. The exoteric
mainstream Christianity are mostly the ones who oppose it and the esoteric
adherents are the ones who are in favor with it. I think both parties should
not be too fanatic to defend their sides and criticize the other to the extent
of doing foul play (like false propaganda) just to win the argument or maintain
status quo instead of agreeing to disagree to sincerely find out the
truth. This is because, as I have
discussed in my previous post titled “The Many Paths that Lead to the One”, both
spiritual paths - exoteric and esoteric - can lead to realization of the God
within. However, I believe that the esoteric path is more appropriate and the
way to move forward to the coming Golden Age. It can be the solution to the
age-old conflicts among various religious beliefs. It can in fact lead the way
to world peace and harmony.
Let’s set that aside
for a while and continue our discussion to determine the truth whether Jesus
did go to the Far East or not. I think we should not limit our sources of
information in the New Testament to settle this issue especially if it is
lacking or silent on the matter. For to do so would be bias and unacceptable
from the viewpoint of scientific approach of solving problem. Wouldn’t it be better if the approach is holistic?
There are objective/textual evidences of Jesus’s travel to India from other
sources which I will enumerate later, although it is up to you if you consider
it weak or strong.
Dictations are Accurate
The reason I am
in favor that Jesus went to India is because, as I have mentioned earlier,
there are Dictations through the Messenger that supports this matter. I have my
own reasons why I believe in Dictations. Firstly, it comes from the Holy Spirit;
It is therefore the words of God too. The Messengers are like the Prophets of
God in the Old Testament inspired by the Holy Spirit. And we know that, as
Jesus said, it is the Holy Spirit, the Holy Comforter
sent by the Father that shall teach us all things and bring everything to our
remembrance (John 14:26). The Messengers have been trained for this purpose
way back in their previous incarnations.
The Dictations
are pretty accurate as compared to psychic readings through channelings or
mediumships because the information given through the latter are coming from
the lower beings/entities in the astral plane who are subject to greater
percentage of error, some ( like the malevolent ones) even deliberately gives
false information to deceive mankind; while the Dictations through the
Messengers are coming from the higher realm of Ascended Masters, Angels and even
Elohim and Cosmic Beings whose perfect wisdom we can depend on. And their Dictations are based on Cosmic Law and their God Presence, that is also to say,
they will only deliver messages that are lawful to be delivered. Since the
source is coming from Heavenly realm, the Messengers therefore are of higher
spiritual attainment compared to psychic channelers and mediums. The Dictations
through the Messengers are 100 % accurate if not almost. I am only referring to
the Messengers of the I AM Movement, The Bridge to Freedom, The Summit
Lighthouse, and the Temple of the Presence. And possibly the Heart Center Community.
There are many others who claim to be Messengers of the Great White
Brotherhood, but I think many of them are not true Messengers. Many of them are
simply channeling impostors especially the ones who include personalities from
alien spaceships and some others are having admixtures of psychism.
In my opinion if
there were minor errors in the Dictation, it was because imperfect as they (the
true Messengers) are, they may sometimes analyze and misinterpret the
information that was transmitted through them and say it according to their own
understanding. I think this is possible because as I learned from the community
members, the Messengers are in total awareness and in control during dictations
(unlike the mediums who often are in tranced states); They say that the
Messenger can even stop the Dictations anytime if they want to. But I reckon
that by simply allowing the Ascended Master or Archangel or any other Heavenly
Being overshadowing and dictating through them without analyzing and interpreting,
100 % accuracy can be easily achieved. This
is just my opinion, and this is what my rational thinking tells me; there could
be other explanations. During the time of Mark L. Prophet as Messenger (there
was no internet then so that live Dictation can only be heard by local members
in attendance), Dictation is recorded on tapes. I remember he said that live dictation
is 99 % or so accurate, but he then edits it after transcription so that the
printed materials (called Pearls of Wisdom) being distributed to all members
worldwide is 100% correct. I believe that is true because I figured he knew
precisely during Dictation where he committed a mistake or not.
It was said that
Transmission and reception of Messages can be in many ways. It can be in the
form of letters of living fire running before the Messenger’s inner/third eye
and then reading them aloud. Or it may be listening with their inner ears and
then saying it aloud. Or it may simply be allowing their throat chakra and vocal
chord to become instrument of the Ascended Beings while receiving any form of
transmissions. The latter maybe more accurate, perhaps. I don’t
know the type of transmission/reception of messages does any of the Messengers employed.
But if you find discrepancies on certain
points among the abovementioned Ascended Master Organizations, most of those
did not directly come from the Dictations but rather a personal belief,
opinion, or understanding of the Messenger or sometimes it merely comes from
their followers or members. For instance, the I AM Movement, The Bridge to
Freedom and the Summit Lighthouse have all believed that there will be no more
Messengers after them. And yet, there always is but they don’t give recognition
as a result. The present Anointed
Representatives/Messengers of the Temple of the Presence take a different stance;
they are willing to pass the Office of Messengership to another whom the
Brotherhood will choose. Another example of difference is, the Messenger
Geraldine Innocente of the Bridge to Freedom believed that her Twin Flame is El
Morya; while in The Temple of the Presence, the Twin Flame of El Morya is
Ascended Lady Master Amerissis, the Goddess of Light. Another is the belief
that there are certain negative colors like black, orange, brown and red for
there are no such colors in the heavenly/etheric realm; So, in the I AM
Activity even negroes are considered negative people and thus cannot become
member of their organization. (I don’t know if it is still true today).
However, the Summit Lighthouse and others did not follow this racist belief,
but you wouldn’t find many of them wearing black, orange, brown or red dresses
specially during services. But sometimes they explain that the reason for
wearing negative colors by some Adepts or Masters was to keep themselves
grounded to the earth. Have you read or
listen to Dictations? Dictations are very uplifting, ennobling, and lofty and
you can feel that those are really coming from the Higher Heavenly/Etheric
realm.
Another source
maybe the so-called akashic record which is the impressions and records of all
events (including thought, word, feeling and deed) that has ever transpired in
the planes of matter (in time and space). There are certain individuals who have
developed soul faculties that can access and read this akashic record. For
instance, Levi Dowling who wrote "The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus Christ" claimed
that he has transcribed it from the akashic records. He claimed that it was the
true story of Jesus Christ including the lost eighteen years which includes
Jesus’s travel to India. In my view, the accuracy of reading the akashic record
will depend upon the individual’s level of soul development. The higher his/her
spiritual faculties, the more accurate it becomes. I reckon, this is because
there are parallel universes which make reading the akashic records delicate and difficult. Each of these universes has different version of story although
it may be real on its own. What if he is reading the other parallel universe
and not our own; or what if he unknowingly mixed them up or colored with his
own preconceived notion and imagination. The individual therefore must have a
highly developed soul faculties like the Christ Mind to precisely know what he
is reading. I would therefore say that Dictations through the Messengers of the
Brotherhood of Light are still more accurate. I am not saying that Levi’s book
is not reliable or that he has inferior soul faculties. There could be large elements
of truth in it and it seems that it is of higher vibration. I simply say that
Dictations are more likely accurate than reading akashic records.
Feasibility of Jesus’ travel to the Far East
If we will
explore some of the backdrop settings of the feasibility of Jesus travelled to
India, we will find that those are compliant. We will learn for example that
the silk road stretching from China to India all the way to Egypt were already
well-travelled during that time for there were Jewish and Indian merchants that
goes back and forth along this road. (It even dates far back that time as it is
known historically that even Alexander the Great tried to conquer India around
320 BC.) If trade relations and migration of people have come about between
countries, exchanges of culture will inevitably come. Jesus must had known and
had been attracted to India’s culture specially their spiritual wisdom. After all,
Essene’s spiritual knowledge and practices bears similarity with that of Hindus’s
and Jesus would surely want to know more. If Jesus would go there, he can
befriend one of these merchants and join in their caravan.
Lord Maitreya and The Great Divine Director
In one of the
Summit Lighthouse books, the “Studies of Human Aura”, you can find in the
introductory pages that Jesus’s Teacher was Lord Maitreya. For those who don’t
know yet, Lord Maitreya was incarnated in ancient India and was considered one
of the manifestations of Lord Krishna. In Ascended Masters Teachings, He holds
the office of the Cosmic Christ and Planetary Buddha. We can learn from Buddhist literatures that
Gautama Buddha (500 BC) told his disciples that he, himself is not the first
Buddha, that there have been other Buddhas before him. And he predicted that
one greater than him called Bodhisattva Maitreya is coming again in the future.
The meaning of the name Maitreya, by the way, is Loving-Kindness which is derived
from Sanskrit word Maitri or Metta in Pali. This Buddhist’s eschatological
belief of the coming again of a future Buddha Maitreya has no certain time
period. Most Buddhists believe that it is a long distant millennial age, and so
they are still waiting for the coming of Maitreya. Some modern group in USA today
even claimed that Maitreya had already come through the person of Benjamin
Crème who evidently is an impostor according to the Summit Lighthouse. There
were some Buddhists in the past who believed that the coming of Maitreya would
be 500 years after Gautama, which coincided with the coming of Jesus. Indeed, the
Ascended Master Teachings through TSL tell us that the second coming of
Maitreya had already occurred through the coming of Jesus 2000 years ago since Lord
Maitreya is Jesus’s Guru. And many Buddhists were not aware of this. But there
were reports that the Buddhists were divided into Mahayana and Threrevada where
the Mahayana Buddhists believed that Jesus was Lord Maitreya come again while
the Therevadists did not.
It should be clearly
understood here that Lord Maitreya is no longer in embodiment during the time
of Jesus. We may then wonder how Master Maitreya and Jesus communicates. What will normally come to mind is that the
Guru–Chela relationship between Lord Maitreya and Jesus was by way of spiritual
communications or thru telepathic messages; Or perhaps when Jesus was in his
finer bodies in spiritual world (soul travel) while his body is at sleep or
rest; But it could also be that Jesus’s third eye is already opened so that
Lord Maitreya can appear before him physically and then converse with him, although
only Jesus could see him and the lay people couldn’t. I recall one of the
Dictation by Ascended Master Lanello (Mark Prophet) through the Messenger
Elizabeth Prophet wherein he said that he is in the room physically; and that
those whose third eye is open can see him. He explained further that being in
the physical doesn’t necessarily mean visible to the naked eye. Another way although extra-ordinarily is, it
can be that Lord Maiteya materializes himself in flesh and blood so that Jesus
can see him with his naked eye. This can be done by the Ascended Ones as
special dispensation from the Karmic Board on a very very rare occasion. This was
the case with Ascended Master Saint Germain when he materialized himself and
became the Wonderman of Europe. This also happened to Paramahansa Yogananda
when his Guru Sri Yukteswar who had already passed on appeared before him in
flesh and blood and answered his many queries about life hereafter. Any of the
abovementioned means of mystical contact could have happened between Lord Maitreya
and Jesus. Jesus having this mystical ability
demonstrated his advanced spiritual attainment even at an early age, perhaps in
his teenage years. According to Memoir of Mother Mary, these mystical communications
had happened even before Jesus travelled to India. Only after the passing of
Saint Joseph that Jesus set to go to the Far East.
In my understanding,
Lord Maitreya contacted Jesus instead of Jesus sought Lord Maitreya, because as
the esoteric saying goes, “When the Pupil is ready the Master appears”. This is
often the case in Guru-Chela relationships even lately as in the case of the Messengers
of the Brotherhood of Light whereby they were contacted by the Ascended
Masters. I believe Lord Maitreya sent
Jesus to India because he has a special calling to play in this region that
will form part of his overall Divine Mission. We would learn from the Memoir
that Jesus sat at the feet of the Great Divine Director whose etheric retreat
is in the Cave of Light in the Himalayas in India. The Great Divine Director
gave him the mantras “I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE” and “I AM THE
ASCENSION IN THE LIGHT”. And therein reveals the entire purpose of Jesus’s
Divine Mission.
Again, for the
purpose of clarification, according to Ascended Master Teaching the Great Divine Director is a
Cosmic Being, the Manu of the incoming seventh root race, and a Member of the
Great Karmic Board. He came to be called the Great Divine Director because of
his devotion to the Flame of God as the Law of unerring Direction. Students of
AMT who seek to know their Divine Plan/Mission in life often call to the Great
Divine Director. He ascended a long time ago during the period
of the Fourth Root Race where the Fall of Man (symbolized by fall of Adam and
Eve) occurred; and he served in the capacity of the Messenger at that time who
refused to go the downward spiral of imperfection that many people took. Again,
since the Great Divine Director is no longer in embodiment, it is implied that
the Teacher whom Jesus met was not the Great Divine Director himself but his
Representative or one of his manifestations.
Or it can be as in the cases between Maitreya and Jesus that I mentioned
above. That’s all I know about the account of Jesus in India according to AMT. Perhaps
there are other detailed accounts from other sources that I don’t know yet.
But if Jesus
spent his life in India for many years, we can imagine him meditating, and
giving his mantras daily, doing other
spiritual disciplines such as fasting and pranayama (breathing exercises), etc.
He must had learned Hindu languages and formed his own Ashram (spiritual
congregation) where he was the Guru. And all the while doing his sacred service
to life to earn a living. He must have traveled across the region meeting
other Masters. He must have adopted the Indian culture including the clothes
they wear. It is even likely that Jesus upon arriving his hometown was wearing
Indian clothes. In one online discussion in Quora, an Indian participant even
claim that Jesus’s coat without seam woven from top throughout that was casted
lots by the guards after the crucifixion came from India. Somehow, I thought
that could be true.
It can be noted
that In India, there are millions of Gods and Goddesses. To have an Avatar as
their Guru exhibiting certain siddhis (powers) and virtues is just ordinary to
them. As this is the case, Isha or Jesus or whatever name he was called in
India is just ordinary to them and therefore it is very seldom to find Indian
historians documenting the life of an Avatar such as Jesus.
In AMT, Lord
Maitreya is known as the Great Initiator as well. In fact, the 40-days fasting* of
Jesus in the Judean desert where he was tempted by Satan prior to his ministry
was an initiation under Lord Maitreya. As
we know from the gospel, Jesus passed the test and was filled with Holy Ghost.
Then the rest is the unfolding and fulfillment of his Divine Mission.
I would like to
mention that part of the mission of Jesus to come into embodiment is for the
judgement of the fallen ones. It will be recalled in my previous post that most
Pharisees and Sadducees who constantly attack Jesus were fallen ones or their
minions. They, being aware that Jesus is the Son of God, yet continued to
attack and put him to death, had surely accelerated their final judgment or
second death. Thus, Jesus’s sacrifices
and crucifixion not only had borne the world karma for the salvation of mankind
but had also paved the way for the judgment of fallen ones in embodiment. Jesus
being the Christ surely had engulfed the world with his Light (including the
elemental life) thus accelerating the transmutation and holding back of the
forces of darkness. Even in this age if there is intensification of the Light
through prayers, decrees, meditation and reformations of many people, there
will be judgment of evil ones who refuse to conform with the Divine Light. I remember that there also mention in one Dictation that there
would come a time when those people who keep doing their wayward ways would
lose the cycle of opportunity to reincarnate and they will have to wait for one
million years before they will reincarnate again to mend their ways, perhaps in
other systems of worlds.
In the Memoir,
it is stated that Jesus and Mother Mary returned to Eqypt and stayed there for
three years undergoing spiritual training on the suppression of breath prior to
Jesus’s ministry in Judea. However, it is not clear when exactly that happened.
It seems to me that Jesus went back home from India then went to Egypt with
Mother Mary for three years, then travelled back again to India. I believe this
is implied in the story because it is also stated in the Memoir that shortly
after coming back from India, Jesus began his ministry. This is plausible
because the age between 12 to 30 years old means a lengthy 18 years of
unaccounted for history of Jesus. There is enough period of time to travel to
the Far East and spend his life there
for many years, return to his hometown then visit Egypt with Mother Mary to
undergo training for three years, come back to India to continue further his ascetic
spiritual life, then finally return to Judea at age thirty to fulfill his
Divine Mission. It is very likely that within those 18 years Jesus must have
found time to go back to his hometown, reunite with his family and then return
to India.
The practice of
the suppression of breath according to Mother Mary’s Memoir will make the body
for all intent and purposes, dead. And then after some time will come back to
life again. I suppose this practice was done by Jesus indicating that it is
perfectly lawful to use the sacred fire breath of the Holy Spirit to perform
the miraculous works of God. That fire breath means the very air we breathe can
be charged by the Light of God. Even in the performance of Healing Jesus
employs the use of physical medium such as clay mixed with his saliva that he
put into the eyes of the blind man that enabled him to see (John 9:6-7 and Mark
8:23-25). Jesus did this practice of suppression of breath publicly on the
cross while Mother Mary was holding the Immaculate Concept for him all along
through the entombment of his body for three days till the victory of his
resurrection. I surfed the internet on related practices by the yogis and I
found some of them (http://www.mysteriouspeople.com/suspended_animation.htm)
explaining that during the practice, the
body not only has no breathing but also has no heartbeat; the brain area
however generates some heat indicating that it is active. Some Yogis
demonstrating this feat were able to last for many days buried deeply
underground. This practice of suppression of breath will enable the soul to
experience the spiritual world and the memories intact upon awakening much like
the near-death experiences of some people today. Jesus, as told in the New
Testament (1Peter 3:18-20), ministered unto the dead for three days while his body was in the
tomb. This account would tell us that
the Christ is both Lord of the living and the dead. This practice of
suppression of breath, however, should be done under the guidance of a Guru or
Master and only for the advanced chela on the path. It should not be done for
the purpose of public display or proof. As mentioned in the website article,
many were unsuccessful on their attempt to demonstrate such feat. We should
therefore not imitate Jesus in this regard. Besides, I doubt if there still
exists today a genuine spiritual Master in embodiment administering this extra
ordinary spiritual practice and initiation.
Mother Mary
tells us that Jesus passed through the stages where he used the flames of
transfiguration, resurrection and ascension to his victory in the Light. She
states that Jesus remained for forty days in his resurrected body and appears
to them almost every day in their community that they established on Bethany’s
hill. Then he ascended gloriously before the eyes of around 500 men. He
continued to appear and communicate to Mother Mary and John the beloved after
his ascension for thirty more years in a manner not unlike the dictations that
the Ascended Masters are doing through the messengers in this modern era. I
encourage you to read the Memoir of Beloved Jesus and Mother Mary. There are more
accounts there of the childhood of Jesus and experiences of Mother Mary that is
a great revelation and enlightening to us.
You will find in
the Memoir that Mother Mary was the first leader of the Christian congregation
that they established in the Bethany’s Hill after the Ascension of Jesus; It
was not Apostle Peter. You will admire how Mother Mary acts as a Mother of them
all. How she handles sometimes the bickering among the Apostles and disciples.
Peter exhibits a character of being impatient and hot-tempered. He complained
about Mary Magdalene and to John who wrote down the Revelation; He had argument
with Saint Paul, He complained about the two Indians in their community who
meditates and wanted to feel the vibration of Master Jesus. And Mother Mary was
always patient enough and wisely solves the situations. It was stated in the
Memoir that Mother Mary, Peter, James and John originally wrote down the life of Jesus in the Gospel which remain hidden to this day. I presume they included
the esoteric teachings of Jesus as well as Jesus’ coming to India part of which
I have mentioned above. Some esoteric teachings of Jesus can also be found in
the Book of Thomas, which is one of the scrolls found in Nag Hammadi texts.
Let us turn now to some objective/textual evidences of Jesus’ travel to the Far East.
The Unknown Life of Saint Issa by Nicolas Notovitch
The Throne of Solomon in Kashmir
Inscriptions of sayings of Jesus in Fatehpur Sikri
From Self-Realization Fellowship
Nathanamavali Sutra
The following is a quote from the book, “The Fifth Gospel” by Dr Fida Hassnain.
From Ahmadiyya Muslim
Ikmal-Ud-Din
Acts of Yesu the Savior
JESUS SAID “IT IS FINISHED”
SUMMARY
* Just to give some words of precaution: that we shouldn't imitate this fasting of Jesus for 40 days. We don't know exactly how Jesus fasted. We know from medical science that our body could only last for three to seven days without water and around 21 days without food and could even be shorter depending upon the bodily and environmental conditions. Take note that Muslims eat meals just before dawn and after sunset when they fast during the observance of Ramadan which lasts for twenty-nine to thirty days.
If there were
portions of esoteric life and teachings of Jesus that are missing in the New Testament,
who deleted it? Whoever he is or whoever they are, it should come from inside
the Church because the original documents must have come from them, and if
there were editing and deletions that follows, it is to suit their purpose and
for their own usage. We have already
learned how the New Testament came to be. It was simply a compilation from
various independent Christian documents (some contradicting each other, some
has esoteric tones) that were circulating in the first to second century; and
the Christian churches simply decided to establish a canonical document (New
Testament) by selecting the universally acceptable ones. Since what they did
was just a compilation, we cannot point an accusing finger to the representative
councils who accomplished this initiative. Because that means deletions and editing
have come about prior to that. That also means that the circulating Christian
documents especially the ones that made it to the New Testament (like the four
Gospels) had already been edited. (although there were evidences of subsequent
editing as can be seen from the discovery of the oldest New Testament, the
Codex Sinaiticus). As mentioned earlier, it is generally accepted by the
scholars that the four Gospels have no original texts; they were just copied
from earlier texts. If the four Gospels were written between 60-90 AD, we can
conclude that the editing of the original occurred just about this period.
Who then do you
think he was? Given the above period, it is most likely that it was Apostle Peter
who started it, probably together with his close associates and the Bishop who
succeeded him. We know from the Memoir of beloved Mother Mary, that Mother Mary
and John the beloved wrote down the original life of Jesus. Certainly, there
should only be a few copies or just a copy of this original text because what
we found circulated and passed down to the present generation are the various
copies of the edited ones; the original text must have been suppressed.
After the
passing and ascension of Mother Mary, Apostle Peter must have assumed
leadership of the Church because anyway, Jesus had asked him to feed his sheep
(John 21:16-17). It was during his leadership that the editing of the original text
began. In Ascended Master Teachings, it is well known that Apostle Peter did
not pass his test/initiation. He possibly turned the true esoteric teachings
into exoteric ones. To effectively realize this, he must remove anything
associated with Jesus in India and Hinduism as well as Buddhism. He probably
would like to set Jesus up as the only one true God to compete with Roman pagan
Gods at that time. It is no wonder that there were Gnostic Christians who claim
to be the original Christianity that was taught by Jesus for they were
dissatisfied with the exoteric path perpetrated by Peter. The Bishops who succeeded Peter must have
followed what Peter initiated. But as we know, some early Church Fathers adhered
to the esoteric path, examples of them are Basilides, Saint Clement of
Alexandria, Saint Gregory of Nyssa, Origen of Alexandria and Pope Vigilius who
believed in reincarnation. Then we also learned that Roman Emperor Constantine suddenly
converted into Orthodox Christianity. He found the concept of Orthodox
Christianity to be useful to gain control of the masses. According to Lanello,
Constantine is already a Machiavelian even before Machiaveli was born. It was
during his reign that Paganism in Rome died out. Then the rest is recorded history.
Why this
happened is in accordance with Cosmic Law. I presume the Law permitted it
because majority of mankind was not ready for the narrower esoteric path. Many
of them could not accept the idea that God is within them and that God can
manifest through them. We therefore should not point our blame solely to Peter,
early Church Fathers, Constantine and subsequent Roman emperors. Exoteric path
anyway can be a means to come close to the Holy Spirit and God Presence within as
exemplified by many Saints such as Padre Pio Alba, St. Francis of Assisi, St
Therese of Lisieux, as well as persons from other Christian denominations like
Imee Semple Mcpherson. Their devotion to Jesus Christ can be similar to Hindu
practices known as Bhakti Yoga, which is devotion to one of their Deities or Gurus.
These Deities can help and guide them to reunite with God Presence.
By the way,
according to AMT, St Peter was re-embodied as Helena Perovna Blavatsky, the
principal founder of the Theosophical Society. She was contacted by the
Mahatmas such as El Morya and Kuthumi and others. She once again like the old Peter,
did not pass the test later in that capacity as Messenger. But she has reincarnated
in the present life and now beginning to progress and pass the initiations of
the spiritual path.
Let us turn now to some objective/textual evidences of Jesus’ travel to the Far East.
There is a book "When Jesus lived in India" by Alan Jacob where you can find these evidences. I
find his explanation very clear and informative. He somewhat gives balanced
view and he left to the readers to decide whether Jesus came to India or not.
He, however, suggested that if readers were not convinced that Jesus came to
India, they will have to take the other option that Jesus learned his esoteric
trainings from Essenes and Theraputae.
Another good
source is the article by Dr. James Deardoff, "A New Ecumenism basd upon Re-examination of the 'Lost Years' Evidence" where he refutes some authors who
object about the travel of Jesus in India.
Another which is
probably more complete is the Ishanathayoga website, although it seems that the
author simply accepts every purported evidence presented from various sources. The
author seems to tell that accepting the story of Jesus in India does not affect
his Christian faith and may likewise holds true to other Christians as well.
The Unknown Life of Saint Issa by Nicolas Notovitch
This book was first
published in French in 1894 by Nicolas Notovich, a Russian writer and journalist.
For over a century, this has been a subject of debate and still going as we can
see online. Early on, it had been considered a hoax by critics and had since been
banned by American government from publishing in America. But it was
republished in 1926 probably because the publisher was not convinced of the
charges of hoax against the book and perhaps in order to make more business
income as well. It will take a long
discussion to cover all the details of what had transpired in the past in
relation to exchanges of accusations that probably led to the banning of the
book. I discussed it in a separate blog Here. Suffice it to say that
many modern prominent writers defended the said book including Elizabeth C.
Prophet, Dr. James Deardoff that I mentioned above, and many other book authors
and filmmakers. Of course, there are also many theologians and authors who
maintain that the book is a hoax or a forgery. The book by Nicolas Notovitch is
available online from project
Gutenberg. Its content resembles the account on the life of Jesus as recorded
in the Gospels, but it includes an account where he went to the Far East
particularly India and studied under the Masters. But he also became a great
expositor and opposed the tradition of caste system in India. He then returned to Galilee at the age of
thirty and began his ministry. The documents contain striking deviations from
the Gospels as there is an absence of Jesus’s working of miracles; and the real
culprit into the crucifixion of Jesus is Pontius Pilate instead of the
Pharisees and Sadducees.
It is to be
expected here that the document will not be accurate because it is said that
the writer might simply be an Indian merchant who knew Jesus and decided to
write about his life as he personally knows it, this is as explained by Dr
James Deardoff in his article. It is said that there was an original copy in
Marbour Lhasa written in Pali, and there was also a copy in Himis monastery in
Ladakh, translated into Tibetan language. The problem here is, the said copies
disappeared. How it disappeared, or whether there is really such document, or
it simply was kept hidden is anyone’s conjectures and biases. However, there were
many respected and well-known eyewitnesses who visited the Himis monastery
prior to its purported disappearance. Among them were Swami Abhedananda, a Hindu
monk who was a disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, who with the help of the Lama
translated the said same manuscript; Nicholas Roerich, a Russian painter,
philosopher and theosophist; Elizabeth Caspari, a founder of Montessori School
system and her friend Mrs. Gasque. There were other visitors like Edward F.
Noack who has been told by the monk that there is such manuscript in their
monastery.
The abovementioned
findings were all criticized by some theologians and apologists which are
written in their books namely “Strange New Gospels” by Edgar J. Goodspeed,
“Strange Tales about Jesus” by Per Beskow and “Legitimating New Religions” by
James R. Lewis. In my view, these are all satisfactorily rebutted by Dr. James
Deardoff in his article, “A New Ecumenism based upon Reexamination of the ‘Lost
Years’ Evidence” including his Critique of Chapter 3 in the book by James R.
Lewis concerning Jesus in India.
In addition, I
would like to explain about the case of Madam Caspari and her friend Mrs Gasque,
who had apparently been shown the said manuscript scrolls by the monk in Himis
monastery in 1939. Upon showing the scrolls the monk said to them “This book
says your Jesus was here”. Madam Caspari took a photo of the monk holding the
scroll. Some critics say that Jesus could not had been in the Monastery because
the said monastery was only built around 8th century. However,
nowhere in the book by Notovitch says specifically that Jesus visited the
Monastery; what it says there is that Jesus visited the mountainous region of
Nepal and Himalayas and learned of the teachings of Gautama Buddha. This I
believe is what the monk was trying to say, when he said, “This book says your
Jesus was here.” He could not be referring to the Himis monastery for He most
likely knew that it was built only in 8th century. To me, I would
rather consider the encounter of Madam Caspari with the monk to be Providential
and this had motivated Mrs. Elizabet Prophet, the former Messenger of the Great White Brotherhood (Brotherhood of Light),
to write a book and revisit “The Lost Years of Jesus”. Madam Caspari told Mrs. Prophet about her
experience in the Himis monastery when she became a member of the Summit
Lighthouse.
Since the said
original manuscript was lost, I would say that the strength of this book by
Nicolas Notovitch rests on the many eyewitnesses who visited the Himis
monastery in Ladakh.
The Throne of Solomon in Kashmir
A Muslim
historian of Kashmir, Mulla Nadiri, in 1413 mentioned about a Monument in stone
in Kashmir: The Throne of Solomon, bearing four inscriptions, the last two of
which says: “At this time Yuz Asaf (name of Jesus in Islam) proclaimed his
prophethood. Year fifty and four [in the reign of King Gopadatta]” and “He is
Jesus, prophet of the Children of Israel.” (translated in English from Persian
script) However, the inscriptions were mutilated following the conquest of
Kashmir by the Sikhs in 1819. (Tarikh-i- Kashmir, History of Kashmir by Mulla
Nadiri, 1420 CE)
Inscriptions of sayings of Jesus in Fatehpur Sikri
If you will tour
India and visit the old city of Fatehpur Sikri, listed as UNESCO World Heritage
Site, you will see stupendous architectural buildings built by Akbar the Great In
the sixteenth century. One of the pieces
of architecture that stands out is Buland Darwaza, the “Gate of Magnificence”.
Therein you will find inscriptions of the sayings of Jesus advising his
followers not to consider this world as their permanent home. http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Fatehpur_Sikri
The exact
English translation of the inscription that I got from "Jesus the Prophet" by
William Dalrymple is:
“Jesus, son of
Mary (on whom be peace) said: The world is a bridge, pass over it, but build no
houses upon it. He who hopes for a day, may hope for eternity; but the World
endures but an hour. Spend it in prayer, for the rest is unseen.”
Another
translation can be taken from the blog of
Swami Nirmalanda Giri, Unknown Life of Jesus Christ :
“Jesus (peace be
upon him) has said, “The world is a bridge. Pass over it, but do not settle
down on it! He who hopes for an hour may hope for eternity! The world is but an
hour: spend it in devotion, for the rest is of no worth.”
“Jesus (peace be
upon him) has said, “The world is a proud house, take this as a warning and do
not build on it!”"
These adorable sayings
of Jesus are nowhere to be found in the New Testament and even in other non-canonical
sources. This being so, Nirmalanda Giri indicated that Jesus had lived in India
and His memory and words remained alive there. However, anyone can contest that
the sayings might have just been attributed incorrectly to Jesus. Or perhaps a
Sufi Saint Salim Chishti has received it directly from Jesus during
contemplation. In fact, Akbar the Great built the city of Fatehpur Sikri almost
solely in reverence to this Sufi Saint. We can therefore say that maybe the
inscription is the actual saying of Jesus when he lived in India passed down to
later generations, or maybe not.
From Self-Realization Fellowship
It is known in
the SRF circles that Jesus lived in India because Paramahansa Yogananda, their
Guru, had often said it to them. According to Yogananda, the three wise men
from the East who came to honor the child Jesus in Bethlehem were actually
Gurus in the lineage of SRF Gurus namely Babaji, Lahiri Mahasaya, and Sri
Yukteswar. He even said that Jesus in
his youth paid a return visit to the wise men to study under them. I got this information
from the blog of Swami Kriyananda, "The Missingg Years of Jesus" It is most likely that Yogananda got it
from his Guru Sri Yukteswar and the latter got it from Lahiri Masaya and then
from Babaji. I have confidence in this respected lineage of Gurus because
Babaji is a well-known Avatar even in Ascended Masters Teaching. The oral
tradition that Jesus lived in India as mentioned by Dr. Deardoff might have
come from them.
In corroboration
to this, one of Yogananda’s disciple Sri Daya Mata interviewed the
Shankaracharya of Puri, His Holiness Sri Bharati Krishna Tirtha in India in
1959 and asked him about Jesus spending part of his life in India as her Guru Paramhansa
Yogananda had often said. He replied, “That is true. I have studied ancient
records in the Puri Jagannath Temple archives confirming these facts. He was
known as “Isha” and during part of his time in India he stayed in the Jagannath
Temple. When he returned to his part of the world, he expounded the teachings
that are known today as Christianity.” This is further explained by Dr. James
Deardoff in his article, "A New Ecumenism based upon Re-examination of the Lost Year's Evidence" This information too will be based on trust to Shankaracharya’s statement. If there
is really a copy of the said ancient records, this needs to be explored.
Nathanamavali Sutra
The following is a quote from the book, “The Fifth Gospel” by Dr Fida Hassnain.
“An ancient
Hindu Sutra known as Natha-Namavali, which is preserved among the Natha Yogis,
has given a different version of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, whom they
name as Isha Natha. Isha Natha came to India at the age of fourteen. After
this, he returned to his own country and began his preaching. Soon however, his
brutish and materialistic countrymen conspired against him and had him
crucified. After the crucifixion, or perhaps even before it, Isha Natha entered
Samadhi, or a profound trance, by means of yoga. Seeing him thus, the Jews
presumed he was dead and buried him in a tomb. At that very moment, however,
one of his gurus, or teachers, the Great Chetan Natha, happened to be in
profound meditation, in the lower reaches of the Himalayas, and he saw in a
vision the tortures which Isha Natha was undergoing. He therefore made his body
lighter than air and passed over to the land of Israel. The day of his arrival
was marked with thunder and lightning, for the gods were angry with the Jews
and the whole world trembled. When Chetan Natha arrived, he took the body of
Isha Natha from the tomb and woke him from his samadhi, and later led him off
to the sacred land of the Aryans. Isha Natha then established an Ashram in the
lower regions of the Himalayas, and he established the cult of the Lingam and
Yoni there.”
The problem here
is no copy of this Nathanamavali Sutra has ever been shown to the public.
Church authorities who would like to investigate and get a copy of this sutra will
have to go to the Vindhyachal mountains in India where some group of the Natha
Yogis are, according to Dr. Hassnain. But
Swami Nirmalanda Giri mentioned in his blog
that it is in the Aravalli mountains, not Vindhyachal. And investigators and
researchers will still have to find the exact location in those mountains where
the community of said Natha Yogis are.
One thing I
cannot believe in the above quote is that it does away with the bodily
Ascension of Jesus. Many adherents of this Christ in India such as the
Ahmadiyya Movement claim that after the resurrection of Jesus, he returned to
India and died there of old age. The tomb in Rozabal, Srinagar could be the
tomb of Jesus according to them, which has now become a tourist destination. Perhaps,
adherents of this does not believe in physical ascension and therefore consider
the ascension of Jesus simply addition in the New Testament. Probably, they have
not known of previous manifestations of physical ascension that are recorded in
the Old Testament such as that of Enoch and Prophet Elijah. We can find it in
Genesis 5:24 which says, “And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God
took him.” And it is also mentioned in Hebrews 11:5, “By Faith Enoch was
translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God has
translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he
pleased God.” And Prophet Elijah as we know in 2King11 was taken up by a
whirlwind into heaven. Probably, no record of physical ascension can be found
in Hindu and Islamic Scriptures; it can only be found in Judeo-Christian faith.
Simply because such is the case doesn’t mean physical ascension isn’t true. From
a different viewpoint, we can assume that physical ascensions could have
occurred to many avatars from different religious cultures, those were simply
not known and not recorded.
(Some devoted
adherents of Hinduism would like to claim that everything about religion comes
from India or influenced by it. To claim it so is like claiming that God cannot
reveal direct knowledge to devotees or believers from another race or
nationality. Knowledge of Kabbalah for example is obviously native to Jewish
mysticism in my opinion. Even the western mystical beliefs on reincarnation like
the Orphic religion, Greek Philosophy of Socrates, Plato and Pythagoras might
have originated from their ancient past or through divine inspiration. In fact,
we first heard of ancient civilization of Atlantis that sunk beneath the ocean
from Plato, which is unheard of from Hindu texts. And many ancient
civilizations we know today from recorded history were survivors from that
disastrous event as they knew beforehand what’s going to occur. This is
depicted allegorically as the flood of Noah in the Old Testament.)
From Ahmadiyya Muslim
In Islam as
well, most of the Muslims do not consider Jesus as a Son of God nor an
incarnation of God. He is simply a Messenger of God or a Prophet in the same
line with Moses, Abraham and Mohammed, although they honour Jesus as the
penultimate Prophet. Most Muslims also believe in the Ascension of Jesus as
well as his second coming. However, there is a Muslim sect, the Ahmadiyya
Movement, that does not believe in the Ascension of Jesus. This sect is founded
by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in 1889. He claimed
to be the promised Mahdi (Guided one) and the Messiah that was to come towards
the end times as expected by many Muslims who will bring about the final triumph
of Islam by peaceful means. He also claimed that the second coming of Christ is
fulfilled in his person. Since they do not believe that Jesus ascended to
Heaven, they therefore believe that Jesus survived the crucifixion, lived many
more years, and then died a natural death somewhere. They identified that burial
place of Jesus in Srinagar, Kashmir, India.
In passing, let
me give first a brief discourse as to why most Muslims do not believe that
Jesus is the Son of God nor an incarnation of God. Firstly, we know that Islam
is monotheistic religion (same as Judaism). To have another God aside from
Allah will make them polytheistic. And this belief is embodied in the Holy
Quran which they consider as the words of God much like the Holy Bible by the
Christians. We know that Archangel Gabriel dictated the words in Holy Quran to
Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon Him). But of course, this is also subject to
interpretation. To cite some passages stating that only Allah is God, here is
Holy Quran 2:2, “I am Allah, the Best
Knower; Allah, there is no God but He, the Ever-living, the Self-subsisting, by
Whom all subsist…” And the following Chapters clearly say that Jesus is not
the Son of God: Holy Quran 9:30-31 “The
Jews call ‘Uzair a son of Allah, and the Christians call Christ the son of
Allah. They take their priests and their anchorites to be their Lords in
derogation of Allah, and (they take as their Lord) Christ the son of Mary; yet
they were commanded to worship but one Allah: there is no God but He. Praise
and Glory to Him: (Far is He) from having the partners they associate (with
Him).”; And Holy Quran 4:171 says “O People of the Book!
Commit no excesses in your religion: Nor say of Allah aught but the truth.
Christ Jesus son of Mary was (no more than) a messenger of Allah, and His word,
which He bestowed on Mary, and spirit proceeding from Him: so believe in Allah
and His messengers. Say not “Trinity”: desist: it will be better for you: for
Allah is one Allah: Glory be to Him: (far exalted is He) above having a son. To
Him belong all things in the heavens and on earth.” In Holy Quran 19:92, it says “For it is not
consonant with the majesty of (Allah) Most Gracious that He should beget a
son.”; Holy Quran 5:15 says, “In blasphemy indeed are those that say that Allah
is Christ the son of Mary”. And there is a Chapter showing that Jesus never
said that he or his Mother Mary are Gods in 5:116, “Allah will say: “O Jesus the son of Mary! Didst thou say unto men,
worship me and my mother as gods in derogation of Allah? “He will say: Glory to
Thee! Never could I say what I had no right (to say). Had I said such a thing,
thou wouldst indeed have known it. Thou knowest what is in my heart…” The above chapters surely have made the
Muslims believe that Jesus is not the son of God and that God cannot have a
partner; nor Mother Mary is God. Thus, making Islam monotheistic and will
therefore not be approving the polytheistic religions like Hinduism and
Buddhism. Furthermore, since the above chapters in the Holy Quran is contrary
to what is in the New Testament, they do not believe that the Holy Bible is in
its original form, it is rather altered. They don’t believe that God can beget
a Son, an incarnation of God. To them, there is no Mother God, no Father God,
no Son of God. It is contrary to their belief that the there is only One God.
In my view, the
above Chapters in the Holy Quran are correct in one sense if we will take the
terms “Son of God” and “Mother of God” literally, i.e., the persons Jesus and
Mother Mary are Gods. I think what
Archangel Gabriel wanted to convey to Muhammad and his would-be followers is
that the outer persona of Jesus, which is considered as the only begotten Son
of God by the Roman Catholic Church can never be, nor the person of Mother Mary
to be God, who is also being worshipped by the Roman Catholics. It is the belief
on the exclusivity of Jesus and Mother Mary as Gods (attributed to their
persons instead of God within), as well as the anchorites in Church to be
partners with Allah that is not acceptable to Archangel Gabriel.
However, if they
will consider its metaphorical meaning that we are all sons and daughters of
God (like Jesus) as sometimes mentioned elsewhere in the New Testament, that we
are considered as such because we are all born out of God created in His image
and likeness; that maybe agreeable to our Muslim brothers and sisters
especially the adherents of Islamic mysticism. The only begotten Son of God is
the Christ that manifested in Jesus which is also within every one of us, thus
we can all be called sons and daughters of God. Also, if our Muslim brothers
and sisters will but consider that Mother Mary was a Virgin in the sense that
she had a Virgin consciousness whence the Holy Spirit abides, and henceforth
she represents the exemplary model of Motherhood, that may also be acceptable. For
that matter, the term Mother of God can be taken to simply mean the Mother
principle or aspect of God signifying that God has both Father and Mother
principle. I hope this explanation will be enlightening to Muslims and
Christians alike.
Continuing,
another book aside from Holy Quran that the Muslims deeply depend on is the Hadith
where the sayings of Mohammed are narrated. Among these sayings that the
Ahmadiyya Movement relies on is that Jesus survived the crucifixion and lived
to about the age of 125 years. This being so, the more they will not believe in
the bodily Ascension of Jesus as I have mentioned earlier. However, I need to quote
here that the Hadith were evaluated and gathered into large collections only during
the 8th and 9th centuries, which is generations after the
death of Muhammad. It is divided into inner and outer layers. The well-known,
widely accepted “hadith” make the narrow inner layer, with “ahadith” becoming
less reliable and accepted with each layer stretching outward.(Wikipedia) The
aforesaid statement that Jesus lived to about 125 years old is part of the
ahadith, the outer layers, although Mirza Ghulam Ahmad mentioned in his book that
it is reliable.
In the book, "Jesus in India" by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, he recounted that after the survival from
crucifixion, Jesus travelled to India and settled at Kashmir, where he lived
and died. He said that Jesus went to India to find and preach to the ten lost
tribes of Israel which was in Kashmir. This is supported with evidence that the
people of Kashmir are of Hebrew origin noting the similarities of names, features,
etc. It may be true that most of the
Kashmir people were descendants of Hebrew, but I will not consider them as ten
lost tribes of Israel. They maybe Essene sects or Nazoreans who simply settled
there in Kashmir during Diaspora because they find their esoteric beliefs and
practices to be in harmony with Hinduism. Considering that their sect was a
minority and perhaps being jeered in their own country, the more they would look
for a place where their religious practices would be in accord with. But they
cannot be considered lost simply because they settled to a faraway land; they
can go back and forth to Israel anytime they want to during that time.
In Ascended Masters
Teaching, the ‘ten lost tribes of Israel’ has figurative meaning. It means they
are the Israelites who veer away from the true spiritual/mystical path of
Israel who believe in the name of God I AM THAT I AM as revealed to Moses.
These ancient Israelites are now reincarnated scattered across the nations on
earth. From this perspective, the ten lost tribes can be considered in this
modern age as the people in all nations who are not aware that the eternal God
Presence is within every man, woman, and child on this planet.
I think Mirza
Ghulam Ahmad erred in identifying the tomb in Rozabal, Kashmir as that of
Jesus. Prior to his claim, the said tomb was relatively unknown. It was just a
tomb for a certain Sage known as Yuzasaf alongside another Muslim Holy man, Mir
Sayyid Naseeruddin. Probably, one reason that prompted Ahmad to conclude that Yuzasaf
was Jesus is the east-west direction of the tomb which is consistent with
Jewish tradition. In my opinion, this tradition is only practiced right after
death where the head of the deceased was placed (by his relatives or friends) to
the west and the feet to the east. It is not necessarily the direction of the tomb
because the Jewish cemeteries in Israel have graves of different directions. Another
is the presence of the feet carvings next to the sarcophagous, that have
appearance of wounds as if pierced by the nail. These feet carvings are
definitely later sculptures served to indicate that it could be similar to
Jesus’ footprints, although the stone slab could be 2,000 years old according
to Dr. Fida Hassnain. I could not find
any source as to whoever carved it. These circumstances among other things,
along with Mirza Ghulam Ahmad’s belief of Jesus’s survival from crucifixion and
evidence of Jewish settlement in Kashmir led him to believe that the said tomb
in Srinagar was that of Jesus. I never think that it was by divine revelation
to him.
My first
impression with Ahmadiyya Movement was they are adherents of esoteric/ mystical
path of Islam similar to Sufi mysticism because they had a leader, Mirza Ghulam
Ahmad, who claimed to be a Messiah and a Prophet that was to come towards the
end times. To claim such a thing is
indicative that he can communicate with the Holy Spirit or Archangels or
receive divine revelation which is a factor to be considered a mystic. But
apparently, I learned through this research that his Movement is the same
exoteric path similar with mainstream Christianity. To me, one thing that is a
clear mistake on their part is to claim the final triumph of Islam in this
world through their organization, although their method by true peaceful means
is commendable. This surely does not speak of mystical path that acknowledges
the unity of all religions. It is a
mistake to think that the Infinite God will favour only one religion when in
truth all true religions come from Him. I believe Islam is the last and final religion
on earth established by a Prophet. To me, that is the meaning of “the Seal of
the Prophets” ascribed to Prophet Muhammad in Holy Quran. It doesn’t mean there will be no more
Prophets or Messengers. It marks the completion of all religions on earth. There
will be no more religion after that. If ever there was a new Prophet, he would
have founded not a new religion but simply a sect under one of the religions or
mixture of religions. For example, Sikhism founded by Guru Nanak is a mixture
of Hinduism and Islam. The Ascended
Master Activities obviously have synthesis of religions. But it is far more
than that. It is spearheading an Activity that has never been seen for hundreds
of thousands of years as mentioned by the Anointed Representative Monroe
Shearer in one of his discourses during the recent Freedom Conference 2019.
One of the
Muslim practices that I admire greatly is their regular prayers five times a
day. Even in the workplace, it is admirable to see them stop working for a
while and pray in one corner when it is time to do so. It is helpful to imitate
that practice even in our own way as it can give us a brief rest and spiritual
recharge. Another is their observance of Ramadan where one has the opportunity
to fast and pray and meditate on the scripture for many days.
Ikmal-Ud-Din
Ikmal-Ud-Din is
a book by a Muslim scholar who died in Khorasan in 962 AD. He mentioned part of
travel of Yuz Asaf to Kashmir and accurately described his death. He also
mentioned about his parable similar in the parable of the sower and the seeds
by Jesus. Thus, linking him to Jesus. I leave you to read the website of the Tomb of Jesus . It will be hard to confirm the authenticity of this book. The
said source is from Iran: Syed-us-Sanad Press, 1782, P. 357. Such a book is
surely just a copy of the original because the original must have been written
before 962 AD. And I wonder if the original is still extant if there was really
such.
It is to be
noted here that there is record of known community of St Thomas Christians in
Kerala located in Southern India as early as first century. If Jesus, and Thomas as his disciple, have
both come to India (Jesus in Kashmir and Thomas in Kerala), there must also be
a known established congregation by Jesus (Yuz Asaf) in Kashmir perhaps more
popular and more thriving than Kerala. If Jesus had formed his spiritual
congregation in Israel, he could also form one in Kashmir. But there is no record of anything like that
and Thomas did not mention anything of it. Isn’t this puzzling?
It is therefore
likely that the said Yuz Asaf was just a keen Jewish devotee of Jesus who
probably came to Kashmir for he knew of the Jewish settlement there. He must
have spent his life there devoted to the teachings of Jesus.
Acts of Yesu the Savior
There are some
authors like that of the Ishanathayoga who believe in the Ascension of Jesus,
but he descended to earth once again, materialized his body, spent part of his
life in India and same as above, died of old age in Kashmir. One of their
sources of textual evidence is the Acts of Yesu the Savior said to be written
down in 1st c. CE by Siphor after the slaying of Apostle Thomas in
India. It is said that Jesus dictated the texts to Siphor and the latter recorded
it by his own hand. The text is written down in Kharoshti, an ancient Pakistani
Language. You can read from therein that even Mary Magdalene, who became the
close disciple of Jesus was an Indian. The
contents of the text maybe noteworthy and helpful to the spiritual path. (The life
and background of Siphor can be found in the apocryphal Acts of Thomas). However,
the problem with this text is there is no mention how and where this was
discovered, unlike the Nag Hammadi texts where the details of their discoveries
are well-known. If you surf the
internet, the only source you can find it available is in the Wayism website (Never you can find it in Wikipedia nor in Brittanica.) It is part of their so-called Wayism Eastern
Bible. It is mentioned therein that Wayism is very ancient as they rest on the
admixture wisdom and practices of Buddhism, Daoism, and Hinduism. But the group
itself is obviously recent modern organization. It invites us to live a purposeful, meaningful
spiritual lifestyle. Their website is very helpful and provide good sources of
information pertaining to esoteric teachings. Assuming the Acts of Yesu were
true and is entirely of their own findings (which is very unlikely), I am sure
that the purported dictation to Siphor is not in the same manner as the Dictation
given by the Ascended Masters to their Messengers today. It is far from it.
There is no mention, however, that Jesus died in India in this text.
JESUS SAID “IT IS FINISHED”
I am more
inclined to agree that Jesus, after his Ascension, occasionally appeared to his
disciples particularly Apostle Thomas as described in the Acts of Thomas, and
also as mentioned in the Memoir of Mother Mary; but He did not live a normal
life again on earth till he died of old age. Initially, I was tempted to
entertain this concept because the implication to his divine mission could be
far-reaching. This is because if we consider that Jesus descended again to
earth after his ascension and died of old age, that means he absorbed further
the world karma in his body. He could had been just like Ascended Saint Germain,
the Wonderman of Europe who appeared on earth with immortal body and then returned
to heaven after the completion of dispensation. But instead, in the
abovementioned hypothetical case Jesus lived on earth again, absorbed the world
karma further in his body that caused him to die of old age. But then I
realized later that this could not be so. Because I remember a Dictation of
beloved El Morya through the Summit Light House, wherein he said that sometimes
he almost had temptation of descending to earth from his ascended state to live
normally among us - the students of the Ascended Masters - just to assist in
our spiritual path; but then he said later that he was just joking. Besides, we
will remember that Jesus declared on the Cross that “It is Finished”,
signaling the completion of his mission. And even before his crucifixion while
praying in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus affirmed this when he said, “Father, I
have glorified thee on the earth; I have finished the work which thou gavest me
to do” (John 17:4). In addition, what the final goal of Ascension will be for if
you will just come back again to earth to live a normal earthly life. Moreover,
according to AMT, the Ascension process (physical or at etheric plane) has a
tremendous effect on the upliftment of mankind at inner levels. Therefore, Jesus’s
transfiguration, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension are adequate for holding
the balance of world karma.
SUMMARY
There is no
doubt that Jesus had taken the mystical/esoteric spiritual path. This is plainly
evident in numerous verses found in the New Testament as well as in a number of
apocryphal books found in Nag Hammadi Texts like the Book of Thomas. As such,
it is very likely that He was influenced by the Jewish mystical teachings of Essenes
and Theraputae. It is also very likely
that Jesus had been away from Nazareth for a long time as indicated in Matthew
13:54-56, Mark 6:1-3, and Luke 4:16-22. His purpose to leave Nazareth must be something
very important to him and we cannot think of anything but for the furtherance
and perfection of his spirituality in relation with his Divine Mission to hold
the balance of the world karma and become the World teacher and Savior. Since the silk road are already
well-travelled, and merchants from India frequently come to the middle east,
India’s culture and religion must had already spread and known by the Jewish
people. Jesus must had known the
prolific esoteric/mystical disciplines from the Far east and motivated him to
travel there. However, there is no hard evidence to support this. We only have
patches of circumstantial evidences. At
best, we can only point to “The Life of Saint Issa” by Nicolas Notovitch where
there is a detailed narration of the Life of Jesus in the Far East and there
were eyewitnesses of the original manuscripts and even second translations as written
down by Swami Abhedananda.
As such is the
case, we need to refer to sources other than the objective/textual evidences. To
me, what will be more reliable is the source that is coming directly from the Spiritual/Etheric
realm. As Jesus has said, “It is the Holy Spirit, the Holy Comforter sent by
the Father that shall teach us all things and bring everything to our
remembrance” (John 14:26). I believe this is fulfilled through the Dictations
of the Ascended Masters given through the Messengers of the Brotherhood of
Light.
The Ascended
Masters revealed through Dictations that Jesus lived in India. I think this
shows that the Brotherhood of Light is letting the public and the world knows
that the esoteric teachings is now turning to become the normal spiritual path
for the many. This is also to proclaim the truth that Jesus is not an exception
but an example to follow - that we can also become the Christ and reunite with
our God Presence like Him. This spiritual concept is now common and being
accepted by the many. I believe followers of Ascended Master Teachings number
by the millions and it will continue to increase. We also now know that there
are millions of practitioners of yoga and meditation from the Buddhist and
Hindu tradition which has already spread throughout the world. There are now many spiritual leaders and
authors of spirituality books, as well as researchers all over the world
teaching and guiding seekers in group meditations. There is the initiative by
Tony Cronin and Jaqui Fiper through “The Portal” book and their “Stillness
Project” eyeing one billion practitioners of daily Meditation. It says that Meditation
is now spreading in the Middle East as well and they intimate that meditation could
be the answer to a better planet. We will notice that even Christian beliefs
are progressing along this path. Truly,
these are sound indication that the wind of the Holy Spirit is flowing in the
direction of the esoteric path into the coming Golden Age.
* Just to give some words of precaution: that we shouldn't imitate this fasting of Jesus for 40 days. We don't know exactly how Jesus fasted. We know from medical science that our body could only last for three to seven days without water and around 21 days without food and could even be shorter depending upon the bodily and environmental conditions. Take note that Muslims eat meals just before dawn and after sunset when they fast during the observance of Ramadan which lasts for twenty-nine to thirty days.