The Lost Years of Jesus (Part Three)
In 1894, fourteen years before the American preacher Levi Dowling published his account of “The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ“, a Russian doctor and former Cossack officer by the name of Nicolas Notovitch startled the world with a publication of his own. It was called “The Unknown Life of Christ”.
Notovitch had travelled extensively throughout Afghanistan, India and Tibet. During one of his journeys to the arid, rocky landscape of Ladakh (Western Tibet), he visited the Buddhist Lamasery of Hemis located on the outskirts of Leh, the capital city of Ladakh.
It was while he was visiting this monastery that he had an accident and broke his leg. This unfortunate injury had the unexpected benefit of allowing Notovitch to stay on at the monastery as a guest of the resident Lamas while he was recovering from his accident.
It was while he was convalescing at Hemis that Notovitch learned about the existence of ancient records concerning the life of Jesus. He later claimed that he had been shown two volumes of an ancient manuscript, written in Tibetan script, that referred to “The Life of Saint Issa“.
Notovitch persuaded the Chief Lama to read this manuscript to him, and through an interpreter, was able to record in his travel journal over two hundred verses that were contained in the manuscript, which the monk claimed had been translated from the original “Pali” (ancient Buddhist) script.
The verses that Notovitch later compiled into a book, referred to a man whom the Tibetans called “Issa” (pronounced “Isha”). It is worth remembering that Jesus spoke Aramaic, and that his Hebrew name was “Yeshua”.
According to Notovitch, these ancient Tibetan scrolls described the life of “Issa” (Jesus) from the time of his birth up to the time of his death. They told the story of his departure from Jerusalem at the age of thirteen, and his travels across Asia to Benares (then called Kashi).
During the years that Jesus (Issa) spent living in India and Tibet, he was both a student and a teacher. He studied at the feet of the Brahmin “Rishis”, learning the Hindu Vedas, and in turn passed on his wisdom to all those who turned to him for guidance, regardless of their caste.
Not surprisingly, when Nicolas Notovitch returned to the West and published the book that was based on the notes contained in his travel journal, his work was rejected by the Church. He himself was attcked as a charlatan and a fraud, and was ridiculed as an imposter.
Chief amongst his critics was the German orientalist Max Muller, a famous scholar and author of such popular works as the 50 volume set entitled “Sacred Books of the East”. Muller challenged the existence of these documents, and wrote to the Head of the Hemis Monastery himself.
In reply, the Head of the Monastery not only claimed that he was unaware of the existence of any manuscript dealing with the life of a man called “Issa”, but he even signed a document that denounced Notovitch as an outright liar. Critics of the book were thereby reassured that his entire publication was a fake.
There was, however, one small problem. One of Notovitch’s most forthright critics was an Indian skeptic by the name of Swami Ahbedananda. The Swami, who was a close friend of Max Muller, was so adamant that this manuscript did not exist that he travelled to the Monastery of Hemis himself in 1922, determined to expose Notovitch as a fraud.
Upon arrival at Hemis, Swami Ahbedananda was granted the freedom to conduct his own investigation. To his amazement, he found that a manuscript detailing the life of “Issa” did in fact exist, and consisted of 224 verses. Swami Ahbedananda later published a Bengali translation of these verses, and they proved to be virtually identical to the text published earlier by Notovitch.
Swami Ahbedananda left the Monastery at Hemis convinced of the existence of the manuscript, and of the authenticity of the legend of “Issa”, and the details of his life in Ladakh prior to his return to the land of his birth at the age of twenty-nine.
The validity of the Tibetan manuscript detailing the life of “Issa” was finally confirmed beyond doubt by another Russian traveller in 1925. The renowned painter and oriental philosopher Nicholas Roerich visited Hemis Lamasery and saw for himself this legendary document.
Roerich and his wife Helena had embarked on an extensive expedition throughout India and surrounding countries, researching their spiritual traditions. In August 1925 they arrived in Leh, where they stayed for about a month. It was during this period that Roerich heard rumors about secret documents concerning the life of “Issa” (Jesus) that were said to be stored at the nearby Tibetan monastery at Hemis. He subsequently travelled to the monastery and was succcessful in seeing them for himself.
In 1926 Roerich published notes of his travels under the title Himalaya. In this publication he made specific mention of the fact that the Christ document had been left to decay in the ‘darkest place’, and that the Lamas based at Hemis displayed little interest in the manuscript. As he wrote:
“Regarding the manuscripts of Christ – first there was complete denial. Of course denial comes first from the circle of missionaries. Then slowly, little by little, are creeping fragmentary reticent details, difficult to obtain. Finally it appears – that about the manuscripts, the old people of Ladak have heard and know.
“And such documents as manuscripts about Christ and the Book of Chamballa lie in the ‘darkest’ place. And the figure of the lama – the compiler of the book – stands like an idol in some sort of fantastic headgear. And how many other relics have perished in dusty corners? For the tantrik-lamas have no interest in them.”
