The Lost Years of Jesus: Documentary Evidence of Jesus'… (2024)

Jesus lived in India for 17 years studying Hinduism and Buddhism

Canonical Gospels record the history of Jesus until he was 12 and then start again at the age of 30, but the intervening 18 years of his youth is unaccounted for. There is only one reference to Jesus' whereabouts; Luke 2.52 says; "And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man." This doesn't really say where he increased his wisdom and knowledge to preach the glory of God. According to the history recorded by Hindu and Buddhist scholars (summarized by Notovitch in 244 verses in 14 chapters), Saint Issa (Jesus) joined a merchant caravan and arrived in Juggernaut (Puri), India where the Hindu scholars received him with open arms and taught him Sanskrit, the Vedas and the Vedic practices (Chapter 4, versus 12-14, and chapter 5, verse 4), including healing the sick and performing exorcisms (taught from Atharvaveda.) Issa spent considerable amount of time studying the metaphysical thoughts of Buddhism, and later teaching at Juggernaut, Rajagriha, Benares and other holy cities of India. His teachings stressed for equality among all men and worked for the emancipation of the poor and downtrodden. In his later years, he went to preach in the Himalayan country of Nepal, and finally returned to Palestine at the age of 29 (chapter 9, verse 1). Issa's teachings and raise to prominence among Jewish brethren is described in chapter 9-12. The story of crucifixion of Issa is described in chapter 13 and verse 14.1 of Notovitch's summary. Apostle John begins his gospel, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." These are the very words of Vedas; "Parajapatir via idam asit, Tasya vag dvitya asit, Vag vai Paramam Brahma." Translation; in the beginning was Brahman with whom was Vak (Word), and the Word is Brahman. This clearly reflects the influence of Jesus' Vedic knowledge on his disciples.

Buddhist monks of Tibet obtained the recorded the history of Issa from India via Nepal (chapter 4, versus 11-13). The original was in Pali, the language of Buddhists which was then translated into Tibetan. The history was documented 2000 years ago and copies of these documents were found in Himis monastery in Ladakh. In 1889 Nicolas Notovitch, a Russian historian studied and summarized them at Himis. Later in 1929, Swami Abhedananda of the Ramakrishna Order reviewed and verified the authenticity of the apocrypha by personally studying them at Himis monastery. Later Nicholas Roerich and Elisabeth Caspari confirmed the existence of these documents during their visits to the Buddhist monastery at Himis.

The documents at Himis contained 244 verses that were arranged in 14 chapters that describe the life and acts of saint Issa in India. The author summarize this at the end of chapter 2, page 212. According to these verses, Issa traveled to India to study the Vedas and Buddhist scriptures. The book also contains several pictures of the picturesque Himalayan Mountains taken by historian Notovitch and other visitors, and a historical map showing the journey of Issa to India and Nepal

I am very surprised that I even read this book but I'm glad that I did. A workmate handed me this book after we had a conversation about whether Jesus existed or not. I am even surprised that I am writing about this! I grew up in a Methodist household in the Deep South and have been so worn out with the whole Jesus thing. I usually shut down when someone mentions the name.

I've been practicing yoga for the past 7 years; and I've practiced Buddhist meditation for the past 5 years and attended quite a few dharma talks. During my studies of the Yoga Sutras and Buddhist texts, I naturally started to draw the parallel between Jesus' later teachings and these Far East spiritual philosophies.

Prophet outlines the different discoverers of the Pali and Tibetan ancient texts on Jesus (or Issa) in the Far East. She has three different translations of the text in her book. The voice of the book is that of a detective...so intentions, motives, questions are posed to go deeper into the topic. That provides a decently inquisitive voice, but the book lags a bit in spite of the author's zealous tone.

I gave this book 2 stars because I finished the book thinking -- so now what -- and feeling like some questions are unanswered. Why is this information so stubbornly refuted in the US and the West? If it is true, what do we do with this information? And, what does this information really mean?

These Pali versus reveal that Jesus was a healer and an embodiment of healing light. He urged humanity to honor women. He urged humanity to come into union with the Supreme - or the Great Spirit - or the Source - or whatever you wish to call it. He taught that this yoking, union, or connection is available to anyone who seeks it. It's interesting that those who are not getting this type of knowledge (which I believe is suppressed) from Judaism or Christianity are seeking these answers in yoga and Buddhism...

Lastly, even though the Far East has accounts of Jesus (Issa), I still believe Jesus is a mythological character. It does not surprise me that information such as that recorded in Pali, spread all over Eurasia on the Silk Route. I believe it was the story that spread, not the actual person.

Christianity is largely based on Egyptian mythology. It could be that the Far East encountered these teachings (Issa) and integrated them, evolved them, or rejected them (as the Pali scrolls note...that is, if it is true that they really exit).

Overall, interesting -- however, I was anxious to get through it and be done with it.

There are Buddhist records in Ladakh in the Himalayas which refer to “Saint Issa”. The question becomes is this Saint Issa the same person as Jesus, and does travelling to India and Tibet explain the so-called lost years of Jesus — the missing 17 years on his resume?

The material is interesting and the premise is attractive. Certainly the very early Christian church incorporated elements such as reincarnation that closely echoed Hinduism. Also, there are lots of pictures!

This book explores the explorers who followed the traces of Saint Issa. However, this author engages in puffery, in order to blow up an interesting premise into something the size of a book.

3 NON-ORTHODOX ‘LIVES OF JESUS’ PUBLISHED BY THE CHURCH UNIVERSAL & TRIUMPHANT

The opening chapter of this 1984 book states, “Orthodox position [about Jesus’ life]: Rose from the dead on the third day. Taught disciples forth days. Then disappeared from their sight in ‘a cloud.’ Ascended into heaven and sat on the right hand of God. Contradicted by second-century tradition that he spent many years on earth after resurrection. Church Father Irenaeus asserts he lived at least ten to twenty years after crucifixion… view supported by third-century Gnostic text Pistis Sophia: ‘It came to pass, when Jesus had risen from the dead that he passed eleven years discoursing with his disciples and instructing them.’” (Pg. 4-5)

It continues, “No record of his existence made during his life. If made, did not survive. Nothing he may have written survived either. No record of what he looked like: height, weight, color or hair of eyes. No distinguishing marks. Few details about his childhood. Little information about his family and home life. May have moved to Memphis, Egypt, shortly after his birth and lived there with his family three years. Legends from the Isles say his great-uncle Joseph of Arimathea took him into Glastonbury as a youth. May have studied there. Most puzzling of all: aside from Glastonbury traditions and apocryphal writings, no record of any kind about where he was or what he was doing from age twelve to thirty---a period called ‘the lost years of Jesus.’ Generally thought to have been in Palestine, in or about Nazareth, during that time, occupied as a carpenter. Facts to support this hypothesis: none.” (Pg. 6)

It goes on, “Scholars are now virtually in agreement that Jesus did in fact exist, but because of a scarcity of historical information no biography of his life, in the modern sense of the word, can be drawn. The earliest writings about Jesus fall into two categories: Christian and non-Christian. The non-Christian records, written by Josephus, Pliny the Younger, Tacitus, and Suetonius about sixty to ninety years after the crucifixion, are so brief that they do little more than help establish his historicity. The Gospels, probably written between A.D. 60 and 100, are the principal source of information about Jesus. Although of immense historical value, scholars contend they were never intended to be biographies… we do not necessarily have the writings of the Evangelists and the apostles in their original, unedited form.” (Pg. 8)

It adds, “With the exception of a few papyrus fragments from the second century, the earliest known manuscripts of the Gospels are from the fourth century. Furthermore, the Gospels were in a fluid state … until they were standardized in about the middle of the fourth century. As a result, we have no way of telling whether we have received the Gospels intact or to what we have received the Gospels intact or to what degree they have been edited, interpolated, subjected to scribal errors, or otherwise altered to meet the needs of orthodoxy as the Church struggled to curb so-called heresies, such as Gnosticism. The discoveries of a Gnostic library at Nag Hammadi, Egypt … in 1945 and a fragment of a ‘Secret Gospel’ of Mark in the Judean desert… by Morton Smith in 1958 strongly suggest that early Christians possessed a larger, markedly more diverse body of writings and traditions on the life and teachings of Jesus than appears in what has been handed down to us as the New Testament… Scholars believe that Jesus was a carpenter. Joseph was a carpenter, and at that time it was customary for a boy to carry on his father’s occupation... But there is no definitive proof that Jesus was a carpenter. In fact, Origen objected to the entire notion on the grounds that ‘Jesus himself is not described as a carpenter anywhere in the gospels accepted by the churches.’” (Pg. 8-9)

It continues, “Apocryphal writings say that while Jesus was growing up in Egypt and Palestine, he performed many healings and other miracles… After these extraordinary events, Jesus’ life is cloaked in obscurity until the start of his mission… The Gospel of Luke has only one transitional verse: ‘And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.’” (Pg. 10-11) “Why didn’t anyone make a more complete record of Jesus’ life?... New Testament scholar James M. Robinson… believes that the first generation of Jesus’ followers certainly knew what Jesus looked like, as well as a lot of other personal information, but did not record it because they were interested in his teaching, not his personal traits.” (Pg. 11-12)

It adds, “Throughout this quest, scholars have focused on Jesus’ ministry and ignored the lost years… The traditional position taken by Christian theologians and scholars is that Jesus was in Nazareth or nearby during the lost years and that nothing was written about that period of his life because he did nothing noteworthy to report. In 1894, a Russian journalist, published a book … ‘The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ’---which challenged that point of view. Notovitch claimed that while traveling in Ladakh (Little Tibet) late in 1887, he found a copy of an ancient Buddhist manuscript which explicitly said where Jesus was during the lost years---India.” (Pg. 13) It continues, “The biography of Issa [Jesus] according to Notovitch, was composed of isolated verses which were untitled and scattered out of sequence throughout the text. [He] grouped the verses and put them in order, and then published the document several years later along with his account of its discovery.” (Pg. 17-18) It adds, “[This book] was an immediate success… The book was controversial to say the least… critics … questioned whether Notovitch had gone to Ladakh at all.” (Pg. 22-23) “The credibility of [the book] was seriously damaged and the book became harder to find.” (Pg. 39)

Swami Abhedananda---a close acquaintance… of Max Müller… claimed not only to have seen the document but to have verified… Notovitch’s story.” (Pg. 44) “Abhedananda recorded the events of this journey in the book, ‘In Kashmir and Tibet.’ … there is little doubt as to its message concerning the matter of Notovitch and his alleged find. The text unambiguously recounts the essentials of the Russian author’s tale…” (Pg. 49-50) “There are a few discrepancies between Notovitch’s and Abhedananda’s version of the text, probably due to the fact that both have gone through numerous translations… Abhedananda added a few details that are absent from the Russian’s account.”(Pg. 51-52)

They report, “More evidence was needed, and more evidence was forthcoming---this time from the able pen of Nicolas Roerich, a remarkable man who wrote extensively about Saint Issa’s travels in the East.” (Pg. 53) They go on, “Roerich’s writings do about everything that can be done to establish the existence and authenticity of one or more documents or one or more documents that describe Jesus’ sojourn in the East…. Although there is no question that Roerich was familiar with Notovitch’s work, his sources of the legend were his own.” (Pg. 60) They acknowledge, “when Notovitch’s ‘Unknown Life of Jesus Christ’ was republished in 1926, the noted theologian Edgar J. Goodspeed wrote a critique of it in his book, ‘Strange New Gospels.” (Pg. 65)

They summarize, “In order to provide a few clues for your investigation and to assist you in drawing your own conclusions, we present to you herewith the work of Nicholas Notovitch, ‘The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ,’ including ‘The Life of Saint Issa’… [plus] Swami Abhedananda’s ‘In Kashmir and Tibet’… [and] the reports and writings about Saint Issa collected in Nicholas Roerich’s book… and finally the testimony of Elisabeth Caspari on her chance discovery of the texts with supporting photographs that she and her husband took on their pilgrimage.” (Pg. 73)

This book will interest those interested in ‘alternative,’ non-orthodox portrayals of the life of Jesus.

An enjoyable overview of research supporting the possible journey of Jesus (Yeshua, Issa) to Tibet, Nepal, and India during what is referred to as "the lost years" or between the ages 13-29. Fundamentalists, Evangelicals, and Orthodox believers reject this notion all together without perhaps exploring the legitimacy of the texts. I could speculate on the root of that rejection, but why bother. I enjoyed this book and appreciate the research that went into it. I especially enjoyed Issa's reflection on women and the value they bring to the world. A much different take than the biblical canon.

It is hard to know how much of the information in this book is factual. Regardless, the book opens up fascinating questions about the middle of Jesus's life and offers equally fascinating answers. As a searcher, myself, I found the book intriguing and plausible. I am not a Christian, per se, but I am a devoted follower of the teachings of the Man called Christ. Whether you are a devout christian or an outsider, this is an absorbing book.