Yogananda and Jesus in India
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Yogananda Blows His Horn about Jesus in India
The fellow who blows his horn the loudest is likely in the biggest fog. [American]
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| At this site lots of good evidence is found. |
SRF's founding guru, Paramahansa Yogananda (1893-1952), blows his horn about the idea that Jesus spent many formative years in India, made visits there to the wise men who had followed a "wandering star", and speaks of hidden records that are unavailable to the public, and scholars too. Good proof of this bundle of Yogananda claims is missing. What then?
There are those who think the evidence that Jesus was in India, is Yogananda's dubious claims that he was there. But do yourself the favour of studying the evidence. Where facts are not found, it helps long-range soundness to refrain from believing, as the duped may become stupid in turn - outsmarted and mentally cramped for example. The antidote is watchful, evenhanded and rational inquiry, which includes great skills in handling information. It is fit in Buddhism and science, and good for rational development.
There are about eighteen years in the life of Jesus that the Bible does not tell of at all. That leaves room for fantasy and speculation. Claims are many. Legend-mongers have sent the young man Jesus to Egypt, to Britain, and to India, Persia and Tibet. Such modern Jesus legends have gained quite a readership. But the bible does not say that Jesus had been in India. And the Jewish leaders never accused Him of teaching anything learned in the East either.
It is possible that Jesus went to India during this time, as there were trade routes, but is it likely? There is no historic proof to show Jesus came to India. Such portrayal could create confusion, even though many gilded claims do not make one proof. For example, Paramahansa Yogananda (1893-1952) teaches with embarrassing documentation that Jesus spent fifteen years in India and Tibet. We look into the matter:
It is said that when he [Jesus] reached the age of fifteen, his family sought to arrange a marriage for him, as was the custom; but he chose to leave home, and went to India and Tibet, where he passed fifteen years with the masters. I have told you this before. You will recall that there were three Wise Men from the East who came to visit Jesus at his birth. He returned their visit during those years for which the Bible gives no record of his activities. Then he returned to Jerusalem. [Yogananda, in Dr 258-59]
"It is said" - by whom? How reliable is a mere teller of tales? Further, the Bible does not say there were three wise men or where they came from. Moreover, there is no mention in the Bible of such a return visit that Yogananda speaks of. Also, the teachings of Jesus do not give any particular evidence of influence from outside the Jewish faith.
In another talk Yogananda says:
The Wise Men recognized and honored the infant Christ for the great soul and divine incarnation that he was. During the unknown period of his life Jesus repaid their visit.
Even in the name and title of Jesus we find Sanskrit words with a corresponding sound and meaning. The words Jesus and Isa (pronounced "Isha") are substantially the same. Is, Isa, and Iswara all refer to the Lord, or Supreme Being . . .
The title "Christ" is also found in India - it was perhaps given to Jesus there - in the word "Krishna," which sometimes I purposely spell "Christna" to show the correlation. "Christ" and "Krishna" are titles signifying divinity . . .
- says Yogananda. [Ak 284-86]
There is no evidence of the records that Yogananda speaks of. And note his wild "name game claims". Word similarities are no proofs in this charade. "Christna" is just a home-made device by Yogananda. The root meanings of 'Christ' (a Greek translation of Messiah, "the oil-anointed one") is different from 'Krishna' (which is Sanskrit for dark brown or blue) - and so on. Slugger demagoguery is not all right, and not valuable at all.
❖ There is simple no generally accepted evidence around that Jesus spent eighteen years in India and Tibet. In such a case it is better to refrain from blind belief about it than to submit to clown authority.
From The Yoga of Jesus by Yogananda.
In The Yoga of Jesus [Yj] we find "a very strong tradition in India, authoritatively know amongs high metaphysicians in tales well told and written in ancient manuscripts, that the wise men of the East . . . were, in fact, great sages of India . . . he reciprocated their visit." [Yj 11]
Now ask for evidence for Yogananda's claims. There is none. Note how he props up his tale-telling by "authoritatively known", "high metaphysicians", "great sages", and such means. One of Yogananda's durable errors in America was going for impressing audiences without sticking to tenable evidence, and her is an example.
"Hidden away in a Tibetan monastery priceless records lie [Yj 12]."
Did they and do they? And where is the evidence? Talk does not solve the problem involved.
"India is the [unnatural] mother of religion." [Yj 12, 13]
It is all right to be patriotic if you are not a fool for it, all right if sticking to the facts and not getting swollen. But a country is not exactly a mother. And why not say "The mind is the mother of religion", or Africa, the continent where humankind seems to have originated? Or the planet, galaxy, or whole wide universe? In the guru's case, because it did not suit the boasting of India.
❖ Stick to rational handling instead of getting caught by what looks like fool's play.
From Yogananda's The Second Coming of Christ
Yogananda's claims in The Yoga of Jesus contains extracted parts of Yogananda's two-volumed The Second Coming of Christ. In it we are told in a note that "India's spiritual influence extended not only west, but east." Strictly speaking, it was not India who extended far and wide, but Buddhism. Hinduism too expanded as far as Java.
The publishers also cite a professor Singhal who claims that ancient American cultures were of Asian origin, and that this is seen from the monuments, hieroglyphs, and institutions of America. "The traces of Hindu-Buddhist influence in Mexico . . . correspond in kind precisely to those cultural elements which were introduced by Buddhist monks and Hindu priests in Southeast Asia," Dr Singhal thinks.
COMMENT. Buddhism spread throughout central Asia and East Asia. The said connection to ancient American culture is embraced by Dr. Gauri Mahulikar in his Effects of Ramayana on Various Cultures and Civilizations, but I find substantial evidence to be meagre if it is there at all. [Link].
There have also been efforts to support a thesis that the Chinese discovered and explored the western United States hundreds of years before Norsemen came to its eastern parts around 1000 AD - during a dim period when Buddhism influence was growing in China.
The publishers also take into account the Dead Sea Scrolls, citing the Reverend Dr. Charles F. Potter who says Gnosticism had come to the Jews from the East, from India and Persia and Babylon, that Gnosticism was Egyptian Christianity, and that the first parts of the Gospel of John are Gnostic. [Sy 83n-84n]
COMMENT. Speaking of Gnosticism, "it now seems clear that traces of Gnostic systems can be discerned some centuries before the Christian Era. [Wikipedia]" Predating Jesus Christ, Gnosticism existed in the Mediterranean and Middle East in the Second and Third Centuries. There was a Syrian-Egyptian school of Gnosticism and a Persian gnostic school. The Hebrew Kabbalists took many core Gnostic ideas and used them to reinterpret earlier Jewish sources according to this new foreign influence.
But I have not found any Indian influences mentioned in other sources. The Britannica informs that Gnosticism drew from and influenced in turn many traditional religions. It was diverse as to theology, ethics, and ritual, and thus defies strict classification. "The origins of the Gnostic world view have been sought by scholars in the dualism of Iranian religion, the allegorical Idealism of the Middle Platonic philosophers, and the apocalypticism of certain Jewish mystics. There are analogies also with Egyptian and Mesopotamian thought." Thus, the proposed Indian influences in Gnosticism that SRF cherishes, is not mainstream at all.
In conclusion, it appears that the SRF editors have chosen to quote persons with a definitive bias, propping up Yogananda's sayings on this and that, citing a lot when convenient, but without being fully in harmony with mainstream science in the fields in question, and without furnishing ample and good evidence. It may mount up to a prop-up kind of biased plot, I feel. I think we get a truer presentation of Gnosticism in the two encyclopedias Wikipedia and Britannica, for one thing.
❖ A fit informational presentation is not greatly biased, and does not have the bottom attitude of defending Yogananda views without considering evidence and materials that go against it.
The Unknown Life
Now, what do you prefer, having someone pinch your nose or to be misguided? In any case you should know how to defend yourself for your own thriving. Against being misguided by imposing figures that become authority figures in cults and the like, we must learn to "believe not, but make sure". Asking for top-notch evidence is a fine way towards making sure. For the lack of these few mental self-defence stands, many succumb to tall tales and demagoguery.
We will look into the evidence that Jesus was in India from his puberty until about three years before the crucifixion. What proper and fit evidence do we have? None.
The source of the rumour that Jesus went to India is a book by the Russian Nicolas Notovitch, who in his time was exposed as a fraud. He published The Unknown Life of Christ, which is said to be a travelogue of a trip through India, into Kashmir, eventually reaching Ladakh in Tibet. At Ladakh a lama allegedly informs him that Jesus, under the name Issa, is known to some Tibetan Buddhists. Notovitch goes on to tell that an ancient manuscript was read to him about Issa-Jesus going to India to study the Vedas and Buddhism. Jesus stirred up a caste war and had to leave India. he left and preached against Zoroastrianism in Persia - all according to Notovich.
Now, is Notovich a reliable controversial source in this? Hardly:
- The orientalist Max Müller sent a letter to the monastery where Notovitch had claimed to have made the discovery, and they disavowed any knowledge of such a manuscript. The head of the Hemis community at Ladakh even signed a document that denounced Notovitch as an outright liar.
- No authentic Hindu or Buddhist text from that period references Jesus or any of the events described in Notovitch.
- Jesus is placed by Notovich in circumstances or settings that plainly were not there. For one thing, Tibetans were not converted to Buddhism till about one thousand years later.
- For a manuscript about Jesus in India to be convincing, it would have to have at least the same quality as the New Testament scrolls, and be written close to the events they report on. For the lack of such a document, is it wise to base one's faith on something that has as little evidential support as Notovich's?
- The name Issa is Islamic for Jesus, and as such was not used before the 700s CE.
It remains quite clear that Notovitch's Unknown Life of Jesus was a hoax.
❖ To study all the most weighty evidence before you conclude in a matter, reveals proficiency, which is needed for handling life too.
A little more
Bastant claims that Jesus travelled through India in his youth has appeared in many books and websites. The story took off after the Russian scholar and Orientalist Nicolai Notovich in 1894 published a book where he claimed to have discovered monastery texts showing that Jesus had travelled through India and Tibet during his teens and early twenties. This view has recently been taken up by the German Holger Kersten in Jesus Lived in India [which I don't consider worth reading. Many "if's" don't make proofs].
In 1887 Notovich came to Kashmir during one of several journeys to the Orient. At the Zoji-la pass Notovich was a guest in a Buddhist monastery, where a monk told him of the bhodisattva saint called "Issa", who died and was buried in a tomb in Kashmir itself.
However, the monastery Jesus is alleged to have studied at in India was not built until the 1500s, and there is no independent evidence confirming the story.
Maybe Notovitch's Unknown Life of Jesus was fictional: Intimidated by a refutation by the highly esteemed F. Max Müller, Notovich backed down and changed his story, he began to back-pedal.
Not only Max Muller, but also J. Archibald Douglas, and Edgar J. Goodspeed have all refuted the legend. Below are details.
❖ Tales and legends that are repeated in a culture, may or may not have a historical basis, but the tales themselves offer little proof. They need to be substantiated. And this pertains to the said tomb of Jesus in Kashmir too. As long as good documentation or evidence is lacking, duck! (Keep the guru-founded folly faith to yourself, that is).
F. Max Müller
In October 1894 the great Orientalist Max Müller, editor of the epoch-making Sacred Books of the East, published a refutation of Notovitch in The Nineteenth Century, a scholarly review. He shared a letter (June 29, 1894) from an English woman who had visited Leh in Ladakh, including the Hemis lamasery, where she checked out Notovitch's story. She reported that, according to the abbot, "There is not a single word of truth in the whole story! There has been no Russian here. No one has been taken into the Seminary for the past fifty years with a broken leg! There is no life of Christ there at all!" [Goodspeed, p. 11].
Among other things Muller also questioned the great liberty Notovitch took in editing and arranging the alleged verses. Muller said this is something no reputable scholar would have done.
J. Archibald Douglas
J. Archibald Douglas, Professor at Government College in Agra, India, took a
three-month vacation from the college and retraced Notovitch's steps at the Himis monastery.
He published an account of his journey in
When asked if he was aware of any book in any Buddhist monastery in Tibet pertaining to the life of Issa, he said: "I have never heard of [a manuscript] which mentions the name of Issa, and it is my firm and honest belief that none such exists. I have inquired of our
principal Lamas in other monasteries of Tibet, and they are not acquainted with any books or
manuscripts which mention the name of Issa." When portions of Notovitch's book were read to
the lama, he responded, "Lies, lies, lies, nothing but lies!"
The interview was written down and witnessed by the lama, Douglas, and the
interpreter, and on June 3, 1895, was stamped with the official seal of the lama.
However, several people have gone to Hemis, where several monks purportedly have confirmed that the documents alleged by Notovich existed. Such takes are far from official, though, compared to the attested or verified ones.
But the stories have surfaced again in New
Age circles, and gurus too have taught that he did visit -
Did Jesus visit Tibet? Well, as said above, it is possible, assertions are many, but there is little significant evidence that has come down to us.
"Anything is possible, but what is probable?" - F.C.
Baur.
http://www.westarinstitute.org/Periodicals/4R_Articles/Tibet/tibet.html
In Self-Realization Fellowship circles they think that what Yogananda and SRF teach about Jesus going to India, is true, and some also say that the book "The Life of Issa" is a true story, which it is not. By way of example, the book tells there were Buddhist monasteries in Ladak at the time of Jesus, but there were not. Enjoy this sample for the hoax book of Notovich:
And in the monastery he abode, and taught; and then he sought the common people in the marts of trade; and there he taught. (Notovich, Chapter 36, v. 11 and 12)
There was also no Buddhism in Ladakh, since Ladakh was a part of the empire of Zhang Zhung, and its religion was Bon."
The first Buddhist monastery in Tibet, Leh, was built in 637-647 AD.
Yogananda did not disprove Notovich's story, which was disproved even when Notovich was alive . . . He seems too biased in the matter, and definitely keen on allying Jesus with gurus, as that was his mission, or job, among Americans.
❖ Note the Ladakh Buddhist temples in the story. They did not exist at the time of Jesus, after all.
"While the injured man was recovering, the h[e]ad Lama asked him what he wanted. He said: "Read to me the papyrus scrolls!" From these sacred scrolls, he secured conclusive evidence that Jesus . . . conferred with the Masters on Yoga and great problems of human upliftment, living with them at the Monastery; but at the age of fifteen, it is said, they tried to get Him married, so he fled. I don't blame him." - Paramahansa Yogananda
"Jesus Christ gave His secret message in India, first of all. If you love Jesus, you
must have some consideration for the Orientals . . . We should not be proud of being Americans". - Paramahansa Yogananda
"Hidden away in a Monastery of Tibet, priceless records lie." - Paramahansa
Yogananda
There are Tibetan treasures about Mantrayanic meditation and aligned tantra practices, but the hoax of Notovich should not be counted among them.
❖ When an authority figure like the guru of Self-Realization Fellowship vouches for a hoax, alas for many followers!
Yogananda recounts made-up stories, presenting them as true. Such doings are not good enough. How wrong can it be when his fellowship adds to the misery by an attitude that comes to the fore in a recently notarised letter, that they find no fault with his guidelines and that his wisdom flawless? Their doings are worse than foolish; they are shameful.
Yogananda definitely vouches for a hoax book of Notovitch, and draws on it. One should not, for the sake of fairness.
❖ Yogananda - monastic leaders of his cult regrettably claim his guidelines are infallible. That makes matters much worse. Groggy ones are easily mislead. And you cannot afford to be made groggy, can you?
Weighing evidence is rather easy, once you get to know how. Try to deal with each and every issue as evenhandedly as you are up to.
First, assemble the points that you find worth considering, and try to be fair when you choose them. Include both pros and cons. Formulate each of the points as an assertive statement.
Consider what proof you have gathered. Keep proof-gathering open-ended; you may include more later. Master the common, initial mental scanning of sources. Go for sources where authors have great credentials. They are often found among doctors, Ph.D.s, and professors. Their works are published in reputable books and journals, for example university publishers. There are lots of others. See what critics have said about the books too. The "good guys" seek to be unbiased, gather relevant and valid information, and may also (try to) keep it interesting.
Go toward the key sources if that is possible, and discern among them. That is helpful too, in some circumstances, if you can afford it.
Mark your points on a Likert scale (by a set of responses, for example five). It is far better than the emotionally meagre "yes or no" alternatives. Have at least five alternative ways of responding, and number them. You may help the weighing by looking at the palm of your hand and think "5 for thumb up", "4 for the index finger", "3 for the middle finger", and so on.
Note that "3" (middle finger) is what is called AHEM, HUM, OF TWO MINDS, NEUTRAL, UNSETTLED, AMBIVALENT TOO PERHAPS, and that the forefinger (index finger) means "YES", and the thumb means "OH YES, INDEED!" (a strong affirmative response).
Here is an example. Form the statements so that the "yes" side is consistently either of pros or cons in any of them; such structuring makes the weighing easier. By studying the information available to you where you are, you may then set up weighing lists too.
These five points are thus responded to and handled better than than simple "no" or "yes" or grogginess or wincing from the problems.
I think I get about 22 points, but not (5 x 5 = 25) points. Whether I keep such judgement (evaluation) to myself or speak of it, is my own business, through freedom of thought and so on. If I have settled on a conclusion, I may remain open to forthcoming evidence that goes against what I have settled on so far.
If I get 20 points, I am affirmative - in this case I think it is a fraud and a hoax, but I don't swear it is. I do not have to conclude things in public, but I tend towards debunking Yogananda's claims in this matter.
If I get 15 points - five middle fingers in average - I am unsettled, and should not conclude in any way, for the sake of my own mental health. The lesson of keeping issues in suspense, unsettled, is ofter underrated. It is much valuable. It is better than being made a victim of odd beliefs also. And bear in mind: The burden of proof is on the one who claims a thing - the dead Yogananda and his publishing fellowship in this case.
If you get 10 or 5 points, you may dislike rational handling. Try to relax and think twice to improve on your future. Be sincere with yourself and the data, as "Sincerity will save you," said Yogananda. "Honesty will save you" is another pretty-looking saying, but learn to take care and handle things well also.
I have tried to show how to make up your own mind about a book. Add your points and divide by five (in this case), to see your average. If you get more than 20 points, on the whole you affirm that in your judgement the book is not reliable.
Also, take a deeper look into the scores that deviate much for that average, and see if there is anything you can do in such matters, or if it is called for. Maybe it is not.
The next step is to compare your sincere, personal evaluation with such as Yogananda's assertions on top of the Notovich book and other poorly substantiated or wholly undocumented claims. Note what his documentation is, and be just. Unlike a lama and various experts, he does not debunk the Notovich book. Nor does he comment on the unhistorical, untrue Buddhist monasteries in the book. Nor is he alarmed that Notovich changed his story. Instead Yogananda makes use of it to support dangerous claims - dangerous because they are so very inadequately substantiated, and his publishing fellowship wants others to belive his teachings are gospel truth, if not above it. But the Notovich book and claims based on it are hardly good evidence among scholars.
What else goes into it when a guru that is claimed to be an avatar (divine incarnation) and the like, states that his good source of information is his intuition? Intuition may be right or wrong - it shows up if you check the intuitions. For example, much of Yogananda's claimed, intuitive understanding of the Rubaiyat looks clownish and more than suspect. The evidence that he "swims in dangerous and deep water" about his claims there, is in the little collection just referred to.
Don't find Yogananda's outpoourings reliable; they are foolery propped up by claimed avatar status and hailings in a cult. If your sincere evaluation differs from this or his, remember he says somewhere, "Sincerity will save you". You don't really have to believe every detrimental thing he maintains through fear and what "cloister combattants" would have you believe -
❖ Reclaim your rationality if the guru or his cult has violated it, since much is at stake for your future fare if you renounce it far and wide.
Ak: Yogananda, Paramahansa. Man's Eternal Quest. New ed. Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship, 1986.
Sy: Yogananda, Paramahansa. The Second Coming of Christ: The Resurrection of the Christ Within You. 2 Vols. 1st ed. Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship, 2004.
Yj: Yogananda, Paramahansa. The Yoga of Jesus: Understanding the Hidden Teachings of the Gospels. Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship, 2007.
Edgar J. Goodspeed
The credibility of The Life of Saint Issa by Notovich was damaged by
Douglas's investigation. Yet Notovitch's book was printed again in 1926 by an American
publisher. And it was discredited once again by Goodspeed's book of 1931.Later
http://www.spinninglobe.net/jesusinindia.htm
http://www.sol.com.au/kor/7_01.htm
http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/cri/cri-jrnl/web/crj0057b.html
Buddhist Monasteries that Were Not There
At last he reached the pass, and in the Ladak city, Leh, he was received with favour
by the monks, the merchants, and the men of low estate.
A Tibetan historian informs, however:
Buddhism did not take hold in Tibet until the reign of Srong Tsen Gampo, middle of
the seventh century. There was no Buddhist temple in Lhasa when Jesus was alive.
Buffalo Sayings
These are Paramahansa Yogananda Quotations and Extracts, Alas
"It has been definitely proven that Jesus was connected with the High Initiates and
the Masters of India. In the "Unknown Life of Christ," by Nicholas Notovitch, - the Russian
author tells how he went to Tibet, hoping to study Tibetan literature . . . a strange
miracle happened. Just when he was returning fruitlessly to India, he fell from a cliff and
broke his leg -" Paramahansa Yogananda
"The sacred scrolls further revealed that as Jesus Christ was visited by the
Wise-Men of the East, so He paid them a return visit to Tibet, and conferred with the Great
Masters. Jesus then went to India to commune with the Masters there; and after preaching the
Message in India, he went to Asia Minor." - Paramahansa Yogananda
These quotations are from Yogananda's lecture "Oriental Christ", delivered at his Mt.
Washington Center and published in East-West March-April, 1930 Vol. 4-4, later also in the collection Man's Eternal Quest [Ak]
Conclusion: Yogananda Draws on a Hoax
1
2. Learn to weigh the evidence
The book as a source
Empowerment
Literature
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