Customer Reviews

The Lost Years of Jesus: Documentary Evidence of Jesus' 17-Year Journey to the East

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Elizabeth Clare Prophet presents the original sources for the belief that Jesus spent time in Asia studying the wisdom of the East. She summarizes the evidence in a well-written Introduction, then gives you long excerpts from the writings of Nicholas Notovitch who traveled to the Himis monastery in 1887 and saw a manuscript that the Lamas told him was the story of "Saint Issa." Notovitch went on to publish a book, The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ. One of the lamas translated the portions of the manuscript dealing with Issa for Notovitch as he was recovering from a broken leg at the monestery.

Notovitch's book created a sensation, but a skeptical public was generally not convinced. Some years later, another man went to Himis to try to verify Notovitch's claims, but reported that the chief Lama denied ever receiving Notovitch and denied that such a manuscript existed. This might seem like proof that Notovitch made it all up, but later travelers were to again hear about the manuscript and even see it.

The lamas who live in the mountain-top monasteries that dot the Himalayas offer hospitality to visitors, but are often wary about what they will reveal. They have apparently found that Westerners often come to plunder their ancient treasures, so they may not tell every visitor about the existence of something like a manuscript about Jesus, especially if they don't trust the visitor.

Two very credible witnesses were to confirm the tale of the manuscript about "Saint Issa." One was an Indian, Swami Abhedenanda, who visited the monastery in 1922. He not only confirmed that such a manuscript existed, he received a translation of it that is almost identical to the one published earlier by Notovitch. And in the late 1920s, Nicholas Roerich began the long trek through India and Tibet that resulted in the breathtaking paintings he made of this region. Roerich was an artist of the highest talent, a skilled archeologist and linguist, and a diplomat who worked for world peace. His son George, who went with him, was also an archeologist and linguist and spoke the Tibetan language. Wherever the Roerich expedition went, they heard stories of Saint Issa. And in 1937, Elizabeth Caspari made a trip to Tibet and was shown manuscripts and the lama who showed them said "These books say your Jesus was here."

I wondered how these travelers could be sure that Saint Issa and Jesus were one and the same, but in reading the Notovitch and Abhedenanda translations, it is clear that this is the story of Jesus, but with some variations. This Jesus praises women and urges men to treat them as equals. This Jesus affirms reincarnation. These original sources are fascinating reading. Interestingly, the story begins with Moses and the Jews and speaks of Issa as coming to bring the Jews back to a knowledge of God they once had. Issa leaves as a teen-ager for India because his parents are seeking a wife for him, according to the Jewish custom. Issa wants to learn from spiritual masters rather than settle into the life of a householder. He returns to his homeland at age 29.

These manuscripts, verified by credible witnesses, are quite convincing. They clearly are old, but could they be simply stories invented by early missionaries in the years when Christianity was taking hold in the Roman empire? Or were these the writings of someone who witnessed the visit of Issa? Is there evidence that Jesus' teachings have an Eastern flavor? I can't answer all the questions that pop into my head, thinking about what I've read in this book. But it has aroused my interest in learning more about this Jesus of the East.

This book provides interesting details of the unknown life of Jesus. History written by western scholars and historians is always more popular than the history written by eastern philosophers, scholars and historians. This book is mostly based on the findings of the Russian, Nicolas Notovitch, who found ancient scrpits in tibetian monastries which had references to Christ. The preachings of Christ are mostly based on the sacred Hindu book "The Bhagavat Gita", and the preachings of Buddha. Now it makes real sense to me when I read that Christ was in India and had been to the Kumbha mela and Kashi and became a master of the advanced form or yoga namely Kundalini. An interesting book if you really care about what Christ did in THOSE 17 YEARS...........

My friend is a Buddhist and I was always surprized at how closely his religion is to Christianity. Now my friend is starting to go to church! Well, I wanted to know more about Jesus life and the historic events that became the backdrop to the writing of the Bible. So I stumbled on this book and couldn't stop reading it. The book is about an adventure writer who stumbled on the writings of Buddhist monestary that mentions Jesus and what he did during that time. Keep in mind that this is not along the lines of the Book of Morman (which talks about Jesus visiting natives in South America, just after the crusifiction, and then adds to the Bible to so call clarify what the Bible was really meaning to say, and then becomes part of a new Christian religion) or anything similar, the writings are historical in nature. The Buddhists are keen to keeping good records of the past and thier beliefs and spiritual leaders. After this adventure writer publish the book he was discredited. Prophet does a good job to show that two other writers went out and saw the writings as well. I'm impressed with Prophet's writing style and good research on the subject. However, because of this book I went out and purchased the Prophet's "Lost Teaching of Jesus" books: 1,2,3,and 4. Then I see that she is part of the New Age movement. She gets into the familiar spirits realm by talking to the so called Assended Masters, which are the spiritual leaders that have died and are now trying to help us to a higher level of spiritualness. See the Wikipedia article on her which does a good job of mentioning that she has been accused of running a cult and promoting doomsday beliefs.
However, the Lost Years of Jesus is not really about her or her new age beliefs but rather the historical writings of the Buddhists concerning Jesus. As a serious Christian I did not see the writings to conflict with what the Bible said about Jesus--and believe me, that is what I was looking for. Here is just something to think about; while I believe that Jesus did go to India and Tibet to study with various spiritual leaders, he did not come back to the holyland and say "aum..."(He did not embrace Buddhism). Prepare for more historical information about Jesus to come out during Jesus's lost years time period in the near future by other historians. Every Christian should be interested in this.

Just a repetition and mostly a travelogue and about Satya Sai Baba. Nicholas Notovich's work was repeated by many, many and many more in their own style. The fact remains that Jesus was in India from age 12-29 and came back to his ideal place to live his rest of life after crucifixion, and died at or around the age of 85. Hindus know more about his life than the christians around the world and many books written about his life in India ( in English, Urdu, Hindi, Pali,etc).

As a Christian person, I've often asked myself, "Why does the New Testament skip so much of Jesus' life?" Here's one possible answer to this question. Every Christian should read it, to help them decide for themselves...

The author has obviously done thorough and respectable research work. Together with the gnostic writings, which have recently been discovered through archaeology, this text helps us understand Jesus and his teachings more fully than ever before!

I enjoyed "The Lost years of Jesus" as a non-Christian - at the intellectual level. Unfortunately Elizabeth Prophet is up against the far morer convincing "The Autobiography of Jesus of Nazareth and the Missing Years" by Richard G. Patton. Patton's novel works at deeper levels than the intellect and is ultimately more satisfying. Both books carry extraordinary parallels of original information but appear to be aimed at different markets. Patton's more revelatory novel is aimed at us viewing Jesus as the HUMAN being discovering his Divinity through extensive training. Prophet's book assumes a recognised Divinity from birth. Personally I like to be taken by an author along a path of discovery, so preferred Patton's "The Autobiography....". If you want to see the divine being against a background of Religion, Prophet's book is the book for you. I very much enjoyed "The Lost years of Jesus" but ultimately prefer an autobiography.

"Lost Years" appeals to the scholar, one-time skeptic, and the believer that I am. Prophet skillfully outlines the path followed by the student/avatar Jesus on his way to attaining the fullness of his Christhood. Comprehensive and entertaining to boot. Reads like a mystery novel.

This book provides interesting details of the unknown life of Jesus. History written by western scholars and historians is always more popular than the history written by eastern philosophers, scholars and historians. This book is mostly based on the findings of the Russian, Nicolas Notovitch, who found ancient scrpits in tibetian monastries which had references to Christ. The preachings of Christ are mostly based on the sacred Hindu book "The Bhagavat Gita", and the preachings of Buddha. Now it makes real sense to me when I read that Christ was in India and had been to the Kumbha mela and Kashi and became a master of the advanced form or yoga namely Kundalini. An interesting book if you really care about what Christ did in THOSE 17 YEARS...........

This book is published by Church Universal and Triumphant, also known as Summit Lighthouse. The extensive foreword is written by their leader, Elizabeth Clare Prophet. The rest of the book contains documents purportedly proving that Jesus spent his "lost years" (from age 13 to age 30) in India, Tibet and Persia, studying Hinduism and Buddhism. The foremost of these documents is Nicolas Notovitch's well-known "Life of St. Issa", first published in 1894. The book also contains three other texts supposedly confirming Notovitch's discoveries, by Abhenanda, Nicolas Roerich and Elizabeth Caspari. The Russian journalist Notovitch claimed to have discovered startling new stories about Jesus when visiting a Buddhist monastery at Himis, in the Ladakh area of Kashmir in India, close to the Tibetan border.

Virtually all scholars reject these documents, and believe that Jesus never set his foot outside Palestine and its environs. In my opinion, they have good reasons for doing so. For starters, nobody have seen the original manuscripts of these remarkable documents, only the translations made by Notovitch and his backers. There are also various discrepancies between the various accounts. In a foreword to "Life of St. Issa", Notovitch says that he did *not* translate a single manuscript. Rather, the monks at Himis showed him scattered passages about Jesus in several different ancient manuscripts, which Notovitch then re-arranged into a suitable, Gospel-like narrative. Tacitly at least, Notovitch is admitting that he was to some extent using his own creative imagination. This makes "Life of St. Issa" a paraphrase at best, a forgery at worst, even if we accept that the monks did show him some documents. However, both Abhenanda and Caspari claim to have seen a *single* manuscript with the Issa story in it, and Abhenanda even claims to have translated it. (What Roerich is claiming is frankly a bit unclear.)

A curious aspect of the documents, if one takes the trouble to read them, is that Jesus is said to have criticized both Hindus, Jains and Zoroastrians, and he doesn't sound very Buddhist either. Indeed, Jesus sounds like a 19th century liberal Protestant, which makes you wonder what exactly he is supposed to have picked up in India and Tibet in the first place? Notovitch's document can be read as a liberal Western criticism of barbaric India and Persia, rather than "proof" for Hindu-Buddhist influences on Jesus.

Another thing that strikes an out-sider as somewhat suspicious is that all people who confirmed Notovitch's story had *religious* reasons for doing so. Abhenanda was a disciple of the great Vivekananda, the founder of the Ramakrishna Mission. Nicolas Roerich was a Theosophist, and eventually founded a Theosophical off-shot of his own, Agni Yoga. And Caspari was a member of Mazdaznan, a nominally Zoroastrian but actually Theosophical group. In and of itself, the religious convictions of a person doesn't disqualify him or her as a serious witness, but when only people with a vested interest claims to have seen otherwise unaccesible documents (or was it just one document?), one is bound to suspect something. A cover-up? Wishful thinking? A little bit of both?

Be that as it may, I nevertheless recommend this book for students of comparative religion and others interested in these issues. It's the only collection of all pertinent writings on the subject (from the "pro" side) I'm aware of. Therefore I give it five stars, despite the questionable contents of the documents it reprints.

If you have an open mind and wish to know about the missing years of Jesus, this is the book for you. There is so much information given that any Christian religion will deny to the death. They will even go as far as calling it evil. It is sad that so many will condemn the information in the book and the author for presenting it. It is time the world religions open their eyes to the truth. Jesus wasn't as limited as the Christian religions want us to believe!!!