We live in a world polluted with lies, deception and confusion, prompting many to seek truth and spiritual guidance. Conformity with the cult of confusion and mystery does not serve us – the truth is of relevance to us all. I have written about these deceptions and challenges in these books.
The term “religio,” meaning relinking with God, the divine, reflects this quest. Teachings from figures such as Jesus, Buddha, and Krsna resonate with billions. Then there are various manmade religious institutions worldwide that claim divine authority, or affiliation with the various teachings.
Having been raised in a Christian household, I became particularly intrigued by Jesus Christ’s life. Notably, 18 years—from age 12 to 30—are missing from modern Christian Bibles. Why is this? What happened during those 18 years? Why are these years overlooked? What did Jesus experience during this time? Given His significant place in history, this mystery merits exploration.
Many books have been written proffering theories about the missing years. Various of these books have asserted that Jesus Christ travelled to India, the Himalayas, Kashmir, Persia, Greece, and other regions preaching and studying ancient scriptures. I do not know if the India hypothesis is true, yet, it appears to be worthy of examination for reasons that should become apparent below.
The intriguing hypothesis that Jesus travelled east, and many other topics regarding the early Christian Jesus movement, are explored in the book Original Christianity – Beyond Institutional Dogma. In the book, I explore the apparent differences between early Christianity and modern-day ‘institutional’ Judeo-Christianity.
As institutional Christianity claims to represent Jesus’s teachings, the mystery of the missing years should matter to Christians worldwide. Yet, my inquiries have often met with hesitance or vague responses. Isn’t it time we uncover the truth behind this enigma?
The writings of Nicolai Notovitch
In relation to these missing years, I note the writings and research of the Russian journalist Nicolai Notovitch, author of a mysterious and provocative book entitled The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ, which was published in 1894, see Endnote [i]. It appears that the controversy about Jesus’ travels in India began in 1894 with the publication of Notovich’s book. Notovitch travelled extensively for many years seeking and researching ancient manuscripts that referred to the life of Jesus. Notovitch asserted that the vaults of the Vatican library contain many ancient texts and scriptures that have not been revealed to the public, including 63 manuscripts from around the times of Jesus Christ and antique documents returned to Rome by Christian missionaries, that refer to the activities of Jesus during these 18 years.
According to author Stephen Rosen, these 63 manuscripts were documents brought to Rome by Christian missionaries preaching in China, Egypt, Arabia, and India. I note that St. Thomas had travelled to India, Persia, and parts of Asia, Stephen Rosen writes:
“…it is confirmed by the Catholic Encyclopaedia that St. Thomas preached in India, and all quarters from the Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea, so it should not be regarded as impossible or ludicrous that Jesus Christ may have done so also. St. Thomas must therefore have learned and spoken various dialects of Pali and Sanskrit… The Roman Catholic Church, in fact, now considers the Cathedral of St. Thomas at Mylapur (a suburb of Madras, India) to be a Basilica, acknowledging the fact that it stands over the tomb of the Apostle. He was buried in India after dying the death of a martyr.” – Stephen Rosen, Author.
18 years of the life of Jesus expunged at the early Church councils? Especially the First Council of Nicea in 325 A.D.
If Novitch’s claim of 63 unreleased manuscripts describing the 18 missing years of Jesus is true, the big question is why have these manuscripts, and the teachings therein, not been revealed to the public.
It appears this subject may be relevant to the original doctrine of Jesus Christ. The book The Jesus Mystery (1980) by Dick and Janet Bock states that “in examining historical records of the early Christian Church, it became evident that early Church councils, especially the First Council of Nicea in 325 A.D., changed many points of [Christian] doctrine… Those missing years [18 years of the life of Jesus Christ] were expunged because they did not coincide with the political needs of a growing Church.”
This information raises the question: Would Jesus Christ endorse the brand of institutional Christianity of the modern church?
[Aside: I am also aware of the hypothesis that a divine personality known as Jesus Christ did not exist; and that the Jesus story has been an extrapolation of similar and more ancient histories of divine avatars that came before. However, this article is presented on the basis that Jesus and His teachings did exist.]
The ‘Jesus travelled to India and Kashmir’ hypothesis in more detail
The book Vedic Archaeology and Assorted Essays (1991) by Stephen Rosen references the writings of Nicolai Notovitch. as a basis for the assertion that Jesus travelled to India, studied the ancient Vedic scriptures, and spent many years preaching the word of God. According to Rosen, by 1887, Notovitch had arrived to Kashmir [a region currently claimed by both India and Pakistan], where he had heard of a Buddhist convent in Leh, the capital of Ladakh. There he was told of an ancient document that was about the life of Saint Issa.
I note that the Latin spelling of Jesus is “Iesus”, in Arabic it is “Issa”. “Isa” is a classical Arabic name, which is the name given to Jesus in the Quran and other Islamic texts. Note also that “Isa” is the Sanskrit root for the word “Isvara”, a Vedic word for God literally meaning “the Supreme Controller”.
According to ancient manuscripts found by Notovitch in Kashmir, Jesus spent six years in India studying the ancient Vedic scriptures in Benares, Jagannath Puri, and in other cities in the state of Orissa; and he preached that there is only one God.
The manuscript found in Kashmir is referred to as evidence of Jesus’ travels, and copies of the manuscript apparently existed in several of the monasteries in the country. Notovitch asserted that Jesus left home and travelled to the holy places in India, the Himalayas, and then to Egypt and Greece, returning to the region of Judea and Palestine when He was twenty-nine. According to Rosen:
“In Rome, Notovitch displayed his version of the Issa manuscript before a cardinal who was close to the Pope. “What would be the good of publishing this” the nervous prelate offered. “You will make a crowd of enemies. If it be a question of money that interests you…” Notovitch did not take the bribe. He published the book instead. As time passed, Notovitch was to find that the Vatican library contained sixty-three manuscripts which refer to the Issa story – antique documents which were brought to Rome by Christian missionaries preaching in China, Egypt, Arabia, and India. “No wonder that Church official acted funny”, Notovitch is said to have realised, “the Issa story is not something new to them!”
According to Rosen, Notovitch’s writings were corroborated by Swami Abhedananda in 1922. Abhedananda had been skeptical of Notovitch’s writings and went to the monastery for himself to have the manuscript read to him and translated into his native Bengali. In addition, Rosen recounts, that in 1925, distinguished philosopher and scientist, Nicholas Roerich, came upon the Isa manuscript on his travels. His son, George, was proficient in Pali, the language in which the manuscript was written, was travelling with him and they recorded it in their dairy. Roerich later wrote about how widespread the story of Jesus was in the regions in which Roerich had travelled, including Punjab, Kashmir, Ladakh, Karakorum, Mongolia, Central Gobi, and Tibet.
“As the Son of God… as the Messiah, the perfect teacher, Jesus was pointing the way. For those us in search of the Absolute Truth, Jesus pointed East.” – Stephen Rosen, Author.
Rosen also asserts that Jesus not only studied the ancient Vedic texts during his travels, but even castigated those Vedic priests that had distorted the original Vedic teachings for their own benefit; just as he later castigated the Jewish Pharisees in Judea. Rosen claims that Jesus became a religious reformer preaching the essence of the Vedas – that “Love of God was for every man, woman and child”. Rosen states: “when he [Jesus] returned to the West. There the [Jewish] Pharisees were teaching a legalistic religion. Jesus reminded them of the spirit behind the law… Every human being, Jesus taught, should worship God, according to his capacity and work. This concept is decidedly Vedic… but all were equal in the eyes of God.”
What is my own opinion of Notovitch’s claim and Rosen’s summary? It appears to me quite possible that Jesus travelled extensively and taught the pure essence of God’s teachings wherever he travelled to. The theory ‘fits’ with my research and analysis of the life and original teachings of Jesus Christ, and would explain aspects of modern-day Christian institutional doctrine that appear to me to be anomalies. That is to say, there appear to be some differences between original Christianity as taught by Jesus Christ, and the modern-day teachings of the major Judeo-Christian institutional churches. In this book, I explore these apparent differences.
If the above assertions about the travels of Jesus have even partial basis in fact then clearly the Vatican authorities have distorted or withheld a significant part of the story of Jesus Christ. In which case one can validly ask would Jesus Christ endorse modern-day institutional Christianity as taught today by the Roman Vatican church?
[Aside: I have also met non-institutional Christians that claim that Jesus even travelled to Europe and as far west as Ireland. They claim that Europe was steeped in the original Christianity of Jesus long before the Roman legions brought (or enforced) their brand of Christianity via the Crusades throughout Europe and beyond. A proponent of this hypothesis claimed to me that Ireland was steeped in God-consciousness and original Christianity centuries before St. Patrick, as we are told, “introduced” the Roman brand of Christianity. He claims that Patrick arrived with 6,000 soldiers paid for by Rome; and that “the forces of the Roman Empire never came to Ireland” narrative is simply fake history].
Modern Christian theology teaches that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, and only by His sacrifice can we be saved. However, there is also a contention that, after his persecution at the hands of the Jewish Pharisees in his homeland, Jesus returned to Kashmir in India and died there. According to the Kashmir hypothesis, Issa’s tomb is also allegedly in India.
Author Stephen Rosen has described that in 1960 Pope John XXIII “openly declared that it was through Christ’s blood that man was saved and that his death was inessential for this purpose”. So, it is confirmed that the possibility that Jesus survived the crucifixion, returned to India, and died there, does not necessarily contradict modern Christian dogma.
The book Jesus Died in India by Faber-Kaiser is a substantial account of this hypothesis and is supported by very early Arabic texts. The book describes an old crypt in in Shrinagar, the capital of Kashmir, where for generations the local community has believed Jesus Christ is buried.
Why were the Gnostic teachings of Jesus discarded by the institutional church?
For over 1700 years institutional Christianity has made a wide variety of attempts to discredit the early Christian Gnostics. Whatever the truth about the Gnostics, it appears to me there has been a ‘muddying of the waters’ over the centuries in relation to what were the actual teachings of the Gnostics. Surely, analysis should focus on what Jesus actually said, and, thus, it appears to me the institutional church has ‘thrown the baby out with the bathwater’ so to speak. My research and experience indicate there are kernels of divine truth with Gnosticism; and that Jesus’ description of the “Christ within” is direct evidence of His internal divine connection with God the Father.
In the Gospel of Thomas, Thomas’s Jesus is a dispenser of wisdom, not the crucified and resurrected Jesus. Jesus describes that the kingdom of God is inside each of us:
“The kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will become known, and you will realize that it is you who are the sons of the living father. But if you will not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty and it is you who are that poverty.” – The words of Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas.
“The kingdom of God is within you” – Luke 17.20.
Do the dogmatic assertions of the institutional middlemen complicate the pursuit of genuine connection? The institutional church claims that the Gospel of Thomas is a fake and that it was written between one and two centuries after the apostle Thomas’s death. Yet, this seems hypocritical to me as much of the teachings of the institutional church were written or formulated two or three hundred years after the disappearance of Jesus; and additional ‘adjustments’ to Christian teachings were made even later via “church councils”.
Were bona-fide gnostic teachings of Jesus intentionally discarded and omitted from the modern Bible by the political powers of the institutional church? What is the real reason the Christian Gnostics were edged out of mainstream institutional Christianity? Gnosticism was labelled as heresy by “the institutional church” in the early centuries after Jesus, thus, people were not permitted or taught to seek or develop a personal connection with Jesus or God. Rather were only permitted to, or expected to, listen to the self-appointed institutional authorities, and the institutionally appointed middlemen (priests). Indeed, we find that the Nag Hammadi Gnostic texts present a Jesus at extreme odds with the one that is presented to us by the modern institutional church. It appears to me that the modern biblical Jesus presented by the institutional church has little in common with the Gnostic Jesus.
It is not surprising to me that the early Christian Gnostics were labelled as heretics by the proponents of the institutional church as my research indicates the real and original Jesus movement was a noninstitutional system and had the advantage that it could not be misused by ambitious people seeking power and prestige.
This was the original ‘ecclesia’ of Jesus – ecclesia meaning “gathering of free devotees of Christ” not “church”. The early ‘ecclesia’ in the first centuries after Jesus was based around what Jesus called the “spirit of truth”. These self-purifying circles were immune to infiltration and ambition. Those forces seeking institutional power over the centuries became frustrated by this, and in their desire to control the masses they had to destroy it and replace it with another system. Eventually, they mostly did so, as evidenced by the rulings of the Church Council of 325 AD. In effect, what has transpired is an institutionalised monopolisation of the name of Jesus, a monopoly that has been dominant in the 1700 years that have elapsed since then.
Similarities between Christian Gnosticism and aspects of Vedic Vaishnavism?
In my analysis, there are aspects of the Gnostic teachings of Jesus Christ that have a similarity with, or could have been derived from aspects of the teachings of ancient Vedic Vaishnavism. I describe these similarities in detail in this book. Vaishnavism is a huge subject matter, yet, the essence of these teachings is love of God, and self-realisation as an eternal soul. If Jesus did travel to the East and study the Vedic scriptures as asserted by the above authors, to me this decision does not seem incongruent with Jesus’ own divine teachings that have been described as Gnosticism.
The Christian gnostic scriptures describe a relationship with ‘the Christ within’; and, I note that, the ancient Vedic scriptures describe a connection or relationship with the ‘param-atma’ (the Topmost Soul, God), a spark of God within. Gilles Quispel notes that for Valentinus, a Gnostic teacher of the second century, Christ is “the Paraclete from the Unknown who reveals…the discovery of the Self — the divine spark within you.” Note that the Vedas are not an institutional religion in the modern sense, “Veda” simply means “knowledge” (translated from the Indo-European language Sanskrit). The Bhagavad Gita states 15.15:
“I am seated in everyone’s heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge, and forgetfulness. By all the Vedas, I am to be known. Indeed, I am the compiler of Vedanta, and I am the knower of the Vedas.” – Bhagavad Gita 15.15.
“The Vedanta and the Sankhya hold the key to the laws of mind and thought process which are co-related to the Quantum Field, i.e. the operation and distribution of particles at atomic and molecular levels.” – Professor Brain David Josephson (1940 – ) Welsh physicist, the youngest Nobel Laureate.
The Gnostic concept of an inner knowing is real, for all authentic knowledge, inspiration, creativity, and higher qualities come from God, given to us by the grace of God. It is only by being conscious of God and connecting with God, the true Father and benefactor to us all, that we can make real progress. The Vedic explanation is similar, yet more detailed. This is a large subject that is detailed in my book Godless Fake Science and the extended version.
[Aside: The Vedic scriptures were written in the ancient Indo-European language Sanskrit, and although often associated with India, my research indicates the Vedic knowledge was utilised in very ancient God-conscious civilisations worldwide. In essence, we have been presented with a false or incomplete historical timeline. For more information on my research of the real timeline of human history see also the book Godless Fake Science.]
Does the Roman Vatican reflect the true teachings of Jesus?
A conscious person, a spirit soul, does not need to be a member of a ‘manmade religious institution’ to worship God. Yet, notice in the following example how the current Pope in the Vatican attempts to ensure all Christians accept the authority of the Roman Vatican, and discard the gnostic teachings of Jesus involving developing a personal relationship with the divine. The Pope said in a recent public address:
“There are those who believe you can have a personal, direct and immediate relationship with Jesus Christ outside the communion and mediation of the church. These temptations are dangerous and harmful.”
The bogus implication is that the only way to get to heaven or the kingdom of God is through the structures of the self-appointed middle-men of the Roman Catholic Vatican. Indeed, the church doctrine is replete with the dogma that in order to get closer to God you must adhere to the authority and teachings of the ‘institutional’ church; any other path, or personal connection with Jesus or God is deemed heresy – you have to go through the institutional middlemen. Is this really what Jesus taught?
Bear in mind that Jesus had established Himself as a revolutionary opposed to the Roman and the Jewish pharisee establishment. Is there more to the story? Roman Crusades and mass book burnings take place centuries later in Europe? What were they burning? Various authors assert that centuries after His disappearance the ‘Empire’ hijacked the name of Jesus name for political/military purposes, could this be true?
There are two types of people in this world, the Godly and the demoniac. Are some of the demons hiding behind a seemingly divine mantle? What better place for demons to hide and control a misinformed populace?
My analysis indicates that the Roman Empire cornered the market on Jesus (by force) 1700 years ago; but that Europe (pre-Roman conquest) was a God-conscious Europe in which the original Jesus movement/original Christianity was thriving. The military crusades of the institutional Judeo-Roman church of the Roman Empire established the Roman church as an institution of vast power and control. This was often fear-based, and backed by the might of military crusades and book burnings throughout ancient Europe, the middle-east and beyond.
“Roman Christianity” became the ‘only restaurant allowed in town’. Thus, people were not permitted or taught to develop a personal connection with Jesus or God, rather to listen to the self-appointed middle-men, the institutionally appointed priests. This was not the joyful connection with God, that Jesus spoke about in assembly with others ‘in spirit of Christ’.
“You have to disentangle Jesus from what you heard at church to find the truth he said would set you free.” – Jim Palmer.
Is it true that Jesus authorised the ‘institutional authority’ of the church?
The Bible verse Matthew 16:18 appears to be an important fulcrum. The institutional church uses this quote as a basis for their authority. However, close examination of the original Greek shows that Matthew 16:18 has been mistranslated in a misleading way. The devil is the spirit of deception. My analysis indicates Jesus did not call for, or grant authority to, an institutional power structure. It appears the claimed authority is based on mistranslated scriptures. I explore the subject in detail in the above book Original Christianity – Beyond Institutional Dogma. For example, ‘ecclesia’ means ‘assembly of free citizens or devotees’ not ‘an institutional church with a leader’ as the institutional authorities have claimed.
The authority and institutional power structure of the church are often based upon this verse. The institutional Vatican church claimed its authority as final arbiter via this verse. It is a passage which is often used as a sort of proof text to underpin the authority of Church leadership. Also, it is significant that this is the first occurrence of the word ‘ecclesia’ (interpreted as ‘church’) in the New Testament (the only passage but one, Matthew (18:17)), in which it is found in the whole cycle of Jesus Christ’s recorded teaching! Its use was significant.
It appears to me Christ is eternal, and each of us is an eternal soul, whereas all manmade institutions are temporary, and often wrapped in the legal fiction terminology of a corporation. Real religion is not a pulpit of false position and prestige, real religion involves a personal relationship and connection with God; and with His ‘original’ teachings, which are for the ultimate benefit of us all.
By taking shelter of God we may begin to awaken from the ludicrous modern illusion, the endless smoke and mirrors created by the power-grabbers on the material plane. At the time of the death of the body, the eternal soul lives on and our next destination will be based on our spiritual qualifications, not the material ones. At the time of passing on we cannot bring even a one-dollar coin with us.
Additional questions regarding early Christianity
The modern-day Bible used by the main Christian institutions contains various scriptural truths and divine wisdom. However, there are also many questions to be answered:
Why are so many of the early Christian texts omitted from the modern Bible?
Why are there differences between early Christianity and modern-day Judeo-Christianity?
Are original scriptures mistranslated in the modern Bible?
Is Matthew 16:18 really evidence that Jesus authorised the institution of the church?
Why are many Catholics upset with the current Pope’s modern outlook?
Why is reincarnation described in early Christian doctrine, but not in the modern teachings?
In the book Original Christianity – Beyond Institutional Dogma I attempt to find answers via analysis of ancient scriptures and historical books that appear to be censored from the mainstream narrative. The insights will be welcomed by all who seek ancient truths within their own spiritual tradition.
“Look and you will find it – what is unsought will go undetected.” – Sophocles.
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[i] Source: Vedic Archeology and Assorted Essays by Stephen Rosen, describes the research and travels of Nicolia Notovitch in India and his subsequent writings.
