Why India?

As I wrote before, much new evidence has come out to support Christ’s “lost years” were actually spent in India, where according to scrolls discovered there, Jesus (known there as Master Issa) went to study the Vedas and learn the ancient science of God-realization.

Even if you accept this as fact, as I clearly do, you may be wondering why India? What is so special about India or the Vedas?

Well….

It is pretty well accepted by historians, religious scholars and other people who have lots of initials after their names, that India is the mother of religion. (Try not to think about the current India with its caste system, poverty and other problems. Try to think of a lush, peaceful country, thousands of years ago with a LOT less people.) Here are just a few quotes some PhD and professorial type people about India as the mother of religion:

“The old saying: ex oriente lux (‘From the East, light’), is not platitude, for civilizations torch, especially the core sacred tradition of perennial wisdom, has been handed down from the eastern hemisphere… The Middle-Eastern creations of Judaism and Christianity, which largely have given our civilization its present shape, were influenced by ideas stemming from countries further east, especially India.” [1]

The scriptures of India are know as “the oldest extant philosophy and psychology of our race.”[2]

“India’s past is so ancient and has been so influential in the rise of civilization and religion… the mother of religion, the world’s earliest spiritual teachings of the Vedic tradition contains the most sublime and allembracing of philosophies.”[3] 

One of my yogi teachers has shared some interesting insights on why India, and its subcontinents has been the source of so much wisdom. He points out that all of the earth’s mountain ranges go north-south, except the Himalayas. When an ice age comes, as they frequently have in earth’s long history, ice moves down or up from the poles and covers the earth. Most of the mountain ranges on earth make a nice little slide for the ice. But the Himalayas provide a barrier, and have protected India and the Indian subcontinents from experiencing ice ages.

This is important because ice ages create a lot of problems for humans. Ice makes food stop growing, which means people have to start eating meat, and it is just a fact that eating blood sends a message to your nervous system that you are in survival mode now. It also means they had to hunt. And they may be hunted themselves. These ages that required pure survival instinct affected the evolving brain of humans.

However, the human was not put on earth merely to survive, like animals. Our purpose on this earth is spiritual development. Have you ever thought about it? Animals walk within minutes. A baby snake knows its mother for zero amount of time after it is born. The mother lays the egg and then leaves. The baby snake is on its own from birth--and it doesn't cry about it. Humans couldn’t be more different—especially in the care and nurturing our young require. This difference, too, is meant for our spiritual development.

Therefore, because of its lucky geographical situation, India and its subcontinents were the only place that was uninterrupted by ice, and where humans were able to continue doing what they were meant to do—develop spiritually. If this true, then it makes sense that the oldest scriptures and sacred technology like kundalini/kriya yoga would originate there.

As a child I was interested in Christ’s early life, but as you know, the records are sparse. The story of Jesus teaching in the temple at 12 years old seemed to sum it all up--he must have known everything already by then and then he just bided his time till he was 30 when he could be taken more seriously as an adult and begin his ministry. But later I realized that this was not true. In the D&C we learn that Christ was not born with a fullness of knowledge. He had to learn and grow… Here is the exact scripture I am thinking of (D&C 93)

 

 11 And I, John, bear record that I beheld his glory, as the glory of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, even the Spirit of truth, which came and dwelt in the flesh, and dwelt among us.

 12 And I, John, saw that he received not of the fulness at the first, but received grace for grace;

 13 And he received not of the fulness at first, but continued from grace to grace, until he received a fulness;

 14 And thus he was called the Son of God, because he received not of the fulness at the first.

 15 And I, John, bear record, and lo, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Ghost descended upon him in the form of a dove, and sat upon him, and there came a voice out of heaven saying: This is my beloved Son.

 16 And I, John, bear record that he received a fulness of the glory of the Father;

 17 And he received all power, both in heaven and on earth, and the glory of the Father was with him, for he dwelt in him.

(I love that the Doctrine and Covenants has so many more of John’s words revealed to Joseph Smith through revelation, and this section promises that we will one day receive the fullness of John’s records. Yay! I guess John was Christ’s advanced placement apostle after all.)

The words from grace to grace, imply a sort of step by step progression, which is a pattern of learning we are all familiar with, but you will notice that preceding that verse John says that He received grace for grace, which implies an exchange. I have been thinking about this exchange for years, and it gets a little deep so I’ll have to write another post on it, but the point is, Jesus had to learn and put in some work to receive the fullness.

It appears by 12 years old, He had studied Jewish law and scriptures well enough to awe the elders at the temple. It makes sense that when He had maxed out on spiritual truth where He was, that He would go after more, in the East.

According to the above passage of scripture, Jesus did not receive Christ status until after he received the fullness. It was not until after 17 years of study in India that he returned to Palestine to begin his ministry. Then he was baptized and received the Holy Ghost like a dove. This is when John bore witness that Jesus had received a fullness.

For now, I will end with a quote from Yogananda in The Yoga of Jesus:

“India’s priceless contribution to the world, discovered by her rishis [seers]… is the science of yoga, “divine union”—by which God can be known, not as a theological concept but as an actual personal experience. Of all scientific knowledge, the yoga science of God-realization is of the highest value to man, for it strikes at the root cause of all human maladies: ignorance, the beclouding envelopment of delusion. When one becomes firmly established in God-realization, delusion is transcended and the subordinate mortal consciousness is elevated to Christ-like status.”

I plan to write lots more on Christ’s yogic teachings, and I would love to hear your comments and questions as I go along.

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[1] Georg Feuerstein, Ph.D., Subhash Kak, Ph.D., and David Frawley, O.M.D. , In Search of the Cradle of Civilization: New Light on Ancient India (Wheaton, Ill, Qeust Books, 1995)

[2] Will Durant Our Oriental Heritage (The Story of Civilization, Part 1)

[3] Robert C. Priddy, On India’s Ancient Past (1999)