I especially recommend
this essay:
A NEW ECUMENISM BASED UPON
REEXAMINATION OF THE "LOST YEARS" EVIDENCE
James W. Deardorff
Oregon State University
September, 1994
Updated September, 2003
PRECIS
The "lost years" evidence due to Notovitch in 1894 of Jesus being in India during his youth, along with its debunkings, are reexamined and the latter are found not to have been scholarly in any sense. Later evidence fully confirming Notovitch's find is presented. The implications that Jesus taught reincarnation and karma, not resurrection, are summarized and found entirely plausible. The ramifications this has for ecumenism with respect to the Eastern religions cannot be overstated, though for Christianity they remain unacceptable.
Let us be clear, then. Those who
accuse Notovich, Roerich,
et al, of presenting
evidence, testimony and research that is
unscholarly as concerning the Lost Years of Jesus ...
well, frankly, those - the accusers - are the unscholarly ones.
And yet, it is the
favorite tactic of those who appoint themselves to
defend the status quo. Notice that the above paper of James Deardorff argues for
`A New ECUMENISM,' and not
- the abandoning of a faith. It argues that there is actually
more in common between Christianity, and the Eastern Teachings, than
less. It suggests that Jesus
did have a reason for traveling to the East, just as the `
Lost Years of Jesus,' by Notovich (and other works by Roerich,
et al) suggests.
Nor does it hypothesize that Jesus was
ignorant of the Eastern Wisdom, or God's Wisdom, prior to his travels. Anyone who bothers to actually READ these works, and essays, will find that Jesus' travels
are put into a greater context, and have
everything to do with
fulfilling God's Purpose.
In short, the Christian message, of
Brotherly Love, Forgiveness, and the returning of kindness for unkindness, is
strengthened by a willingness to consider that Jesus traveled Eastward (after having visited Egypt,
and God knows where else) ... in order to serve God
elsewhere than just in Palestine.
Even a
short excerpt from
Nicholas Roerich's journals should demonstrate this,
to all but the most narrow-minded of individuals:
... He passed his time in several ancient cities of India such as Benares. All loved him because Issa dwelt in peace with Vaishas and Shudras whom he instructed and helped. But the Brahmins and Kshatriyas told him that Brahma forbade those to approach who were created out of his womb and feet. The Vaishas were allowed to listen to the Vedas only on holidays and the Shudras were forbidden not only to be present at the reading of the Vedas, but could not even look at them.
Issa said that man had filled the temples with his abominations. In order to pay homage to metals and stones, man sacrificed his fellows in whom dwells a spark of the Supreme Spirit. Man demeans those who labor by the sweat of their brows, in order to gain the good will of the sluggard who sits at the lavishly set board. But they who deprive their brothers of the common blessing shall be themselves stripped of it.
Vaishas and Shudras were struck with astonishment and asked what they could perform. Issa bade them "Worship not the idols. Do not consider yourself first. Do not humiliate your neighbor. Help the poor. Sustain the feeble. Do evil to no one. Do not covet that which you do not possess and which is possessed by others."
Many, learning of such words, decided to kill Issa. But Issa, forewarned, departed from this place by night. Afterward, Issa went into Nepal and into the Himalayan mountains ....
Issa taught that men should not strive to behold the Eternal Spirit with one's own eyes but to feel it with the heart, and to become a pure and worthy soul....
"Not only shall you not make human offerings, but you must not slaughter animals, because all is given for the use of man. Do not steal the goods of others, because that would be usurpation from your near one. Do not cheat, that you may in turn not be cheated ....
"Beware, ye, who divert men from the true path and who fill the people with superstitions and prejudices, who blind the vision of the seeing ones, and who preach subservience to material things. "...