What truth is there in the theory that Jesus Christ spent his formative years in Kashmir? B V John investigates
In her book The Lost Years of Jesus, Elizabeth Clare Prophet, an American spiritual teacher, writes that Jesus came to India at the age of 14 and left when he was 28. Jesus was said to have studied Hindu and Buddhist teachings and to have become a proponent spiritual leader in India. She has stated that for people seeking spiritual growth it is important to “understand what Jesus was doing during the formative period of his life.”
In the book, Elizabeth Clare backs the theory of a Russian journalist, Nicholas Notovitch, who published his work in 1894 giving evidence of a visit by Jesus to India. According to Notovitch, he had been to the Lamasery in Hemis where he was shown books and scrolls on the life of Jesus indicating that he spent 16 years in India. Investigations by many scholars revealed that what was written by Notovitch was a thread-bare hoax now known as Hemis Hoax.
It should be mentioned here that after the birth of Jesus three wise men from the East had gone all the way to Bethlehem to worship the baby Jesus.
According to the Bible, Jesus had come to earth with an explicit assignment, and his birth, life and death were already foretold by prophets hundreds of years before his birth, His active ministry was to commence at the age of 30 (as was the Jewish custom) and what he said to his mother at the wedding at Cana that his time had not yet come, proves that he was in Israel before the age of 30.
There wasn’t much of importance to write about from his 12th to 30th year (or 14th to 28th year), during which period he was obedient to his parents, and “Jesus grew both in body and in wisdom, gaining favor with God and men” (Luke 2:52).
After the Feast of Passover at Jerusalem, the missing Jesus, aged 12, was found by parents on the third day, The boy was sitting with the Jewish teachers in the temple, and all who heard him were amazed at his intelligent answers, So, itis baseless and prejudicial to contend that he had to come all the way from Israel to India to acquire mystic powers through contact with Indian rishis. If Indian rishis could acquire mystic powers for themselves, why couldn’t this divine child?
To say that Jesus had come to India is to imply that he lied. Jesus, who had told his disciples everything concerning his life, who even said to them, “There are many rooms in my Father’s house, and I am going to prepare a place for you. I would not tell you this if it were not so” could not have withheld the fact that he had been to India to acquire mystic powers.
Besides, the four evangelists had an intimate knowledge of the life of Jesus, and there is no reason why all should unanimously withhold or suppress the fact of his coming to India. While history has recorded the visit of Chinese pilgrim, Fa Hien to India, no authentic record could be traced of his visit and stay in India.
Another German writer, Dr Faber Kaiser made great efforts in his book Jesus Died in Kashmir to claim that Jesus did not die on the cross, but with the assistance of friends fled to Kashmir where he died at an old age.
In fact there have been many claims from sceptics that Roman soldiers were bribed to administer a sedative to Jesus while on the cross and that he was taken to the cave tomb where he was brought back to life. Such claims were given a paralyzing blow by the well-known British rationalist Strauss by his assertion, “It is impossible that a being who was stolen half-dead out of the sepulcher, weak and ill, wanting medical treatment, bandaging, could have given to the disciples the impression that he was a conqueror of death and the grave, the Prince of Life, an impression that lay at the bottom of their future ministry. Such resuscitation could only have weakened the impression which he had made upon them in life and in death”.
Jesus himself told his disciples about his death and resurrection. It was only after witnessing the tragic death of Jesus and the earthquake and other phenomena that ensued that the terrified centurion and the soldier declared, “He really was the son of God”. If Jesus were at the mercy of some people in being smuggled, treated and nurtured back to life, what has one to say about the raising of Lazarus and Jairus’ daughter from death?
Is it to be assumed that a healthy Lazarus was hidden by the supporters of Jesus in a grave, wrapped in grave-clothes and when Jesus shouted at Lazarus to come out, he came out feigning that he was out of sleep or death? Lazarus continued living after he was raised to life from death, and as his existence proclaimed the divinity of Christ, the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus,
Was the bringing of Jairus daughter back to life to a farce to claim divinity? Historical facts cannot be denied, and denial of history is ignorance. Hence, it is illogical and incorrect to argue that Jesus, who could bring a dead, decomposed and stinking man back to life, and again a dead girl to life, could not do anything for himself.
By experiments, many experts have studied and verified the wound in the side of. Jesus, inflicted by the spear of a soldier It was agreed that the spear pierced the chest between the 5th and 6th ribs at an angle of 29 degrees, and therefore, the spear should have penetrated the heart, shedding blood from the right aorta and water from pericardial sac. This proved beyond: doubts that Christ did die on the cross.
The Roman historian Tacitus had written, “Christus, the founder of that name put to death as a criminal by Pontius Pi Procuratory of Judea.
Dr Faber Kaiser also claimed in his book that the person buried in the Yus Asaf tomb in Srinagar was none other than Jesus Christ. To investigate such claims a West German expedition visited Kashmir and the members were thoroughly disappointed with their find, as they did not come the tomb of Jesus of the Bible in Kashmir, but saw the tomb of Yus Asaf, an Egyptian envoy at the court of Zaimulabdin, as mentioned by Dr G.M.Suffi in his book History of Kashmir.
Indian Express
Article extracted from this publication >> May 24, 1991
