"Near Srinigar in the Happy Valley of Kashmir we find
the legend of an extraordinary saint known to the Buddhists as
St. Issa," says the monk. "Events in the life of Issa closely
resemble that of Jesus Christ, revealing what are thought to be
the lost years of our Lord."
During his investigation of this "marvelous country," Notovitch
learned that there existed in the library at Lhasa ancient
records of the life of Jesus Christ. In the course of a visit to
the great convent Himis, he located a Tibetan translation of the
legend and carefully noted in his carnet de voyage over two
hundred verses from the curious document known as "The Life of
St. Issa."
The legend recorded by Dr. Notovitch appears to be a collection
of eyewitness accounts, a book of tales told by indigenous
merchants arriving from Palestine where they had happened to be
on business during the controversial execution of a man known as
the "king of the Jews." This type of word-of-mouth news service
is still popular in the fantastic bazaars of Calcutta and
Bombay.
One of the narratives tells of an Israelite by the name
of Issa, "blessed by God and the best of all," who was put to
death by Pontius Pilate, the governor of Judea. Another detailed
account traces the lineage of Issa and closely parallels
Matthew's scrupulous chapter-one genealogy of Jesus Christ.
The earth has trembled and the heavens have wept because
of a great crime which has been committed in the land of Israel.
For they have tortured and there put to death the great
and just Issa, in whom dwelt the soul of the universe,
Which was incarnate in a simple mortal in order to do
good to men and to exterminate their evil thoughts
And in order to bring back man degraded by his sins to a
life of peace, love, and happiness and to recall to him the one
and indivisible Creator, whose mercy is infinite and without
bounds....
At this time came the moment when the all-merciful Judge
elected to become incarnate in a human being.
And the Eternal Spirit, dwelling in a state of complete
inaction and of supreme beatitude, awoke and detached itself for
an indefinite period from the Eternal Being,
So as to show forth in the guise of humanity the means
of self-identification with Divinity and of attaining to eternal
felicity,
And to demonstrate by example how man may attain moral
purity and, by separating his soul from its mortal coil, the
degree of perfection necessary to enter into the kingdom of
heaven, which is unchangeable and where happiness reigns
eternal.
Soon after, a marvelous child was born in the land of
Israel, God himself speaking by the mouth of this infant of the
frailty of the body and the grandeur of the soul.
The parents of the newborn child were poor people,
belonging by birth to a family of noted piety, who, forgetting
their ancient grandeur on earth, praised the name of the Creator
and thanked him for the ills with which he saw fit to prove
them.
To reward them for not turning aside from the way of
truth, God blessed the firstborn of this family. He chose him
for his elect and sent him to help those who had fallen into
evil and to cure those who suffered.
The divine child, to whom was given the name of Issa,
began from his earliest years to speak of the one and
indivisible God, exhorting the souls of those gone astray to
repentance and the purification of the sins of which they were
culpable.
People came from all parts to hear him, and they
marveled at the discourses proceeding from his childish mouth.
All the Israelites were of one accord in saying that the Eternal
Spirit dwelt in this child.
When Issa had attained the age of thirteen years, the
epoch when an Israelite should take a wife,
The house where his parents earned their living by
carrying on a modest trade began to be a place of meeting for
rich and noble people, desirous of having for son-in-law the
young Issa, already famous for his edifying discourses in the
name of the Almighty.
Then it was that Issa left the parental house in secret,
departed from Jerusalem, and with the merchants set out towards
Sind,
With the object of perfecting himself in the Divine Word
and of studying the laws of the great Buddhas.
According to the legend, Issa left his father's house secretly
at age thirteen. He joined a merchant caravan and arrived in
India "this side of the Sind" sometime during his fourteenth
year.
Young Issa, the Blessed One, traveled south to Gujarat,
through the country of the five streams and Rajputana, then on
to the holy cities of Jagannath and Benares where Brahman
priests taught him Vedic scripture.
Issa continued north into the Himalayas and settled in
the country of the Gautamides, followers of the Buddha Gautama,
where for six years he applied himself to the study of the
sacred sutras. He left India in his twenty-sixth year, traveling
to Persepolis, to Athens, to Alexandria.
Issa was twenty-nine when he returned to Israel--and
reentered the familiar gospel of St. Luke, chapter three. His
baptism by John in the river Jordan.
... He passed his time in several ancient cities of India such
as Benares. All loved him because Issa dwelt in peace with
Vaishas and Shudras whom he instructed and helped. But the
Brahmins and Kshatriyas told him that Brahma forbade those to
approach who were created out of his womb and feet. The Vaishas
were allowed to listen to the Vedas only on holidays and the
Shudras were forbidden not only to be present at the reading of
the Vedas, but could not even look at them.
Issa said that man had filled the temples with his
abominations. In order to pay homage to metals and stones, man
sacrificed his fellows in whom dwells a spark of the Supreme
Spirit. Man demeans those who labor by the sweat of their brows,
in order to gain the good will of the sluggard who sits at the
lavishly set board. But they who deprive their brothers of the
common blessing shall be themselves stripped of it.
Vaishas and Shudras were struck with astonishment and
asked what they could perform. Issa bade them "Worship not the
idols. Do not consider yourself first. Do not humiliate your
neighbor. Help the poor. Sustain the feeble. Do evil to no one.
Do not covet that which you do not possess and which is
possessed by others."
Many, learning of such words, decided to kill Issa. But
Issa, forewarned, departed from this place by night.
Afterward, Issa went into Nepal and into the Himalayan
mountains ....
"Well, perform for us a miracle," demanded the servitors
of the Temple. Then Issa replied to them: "Miracles made their
appearance from the very day when the world was created. He who
cannot behold them is deprived of the greatest gift of life. But
woe to you, enemies of men, woe unto you, if you await that He
should attest his power by miracle."
Issa taught that men should not strive to behold the
Eternal Spirit with one's own eyes but to feel it with the
heart, and to become a pure and worthy soul....
"Not only shall you not make human offerings, but you
must not slaughter animals, because all is given for the use of
man. Do not steal the goods of others, because that would be
usurpation from your near one. Do not cheat, that you may in
turn not be cheated ....
"Beware, ye, who divert men from the true path and who
fill the people with superstitions and prejudices, who blind the
vision of the seeing ones, and who preach subservience to
material things. "...
Then Pilate, ruler of Jerusalem, gave orders to lay
hands upon the preacher Issa and to deliver him to the judges,
without however, arousing the displeasure of the people.
But Issa taught: "Do not seek straight paths in
darkness, possessed by fear. But gather force and support each
other. He who supports his neighbor strengthens himself
"I tried to revive the laws of Moses in the hearts of
the people. And I say unto you that you do not understand their
true meaning because they do not teach revenge but forgiveness.
But the meaning of these laws is distorted."
Then the ruler sent to Issa his disguised servants that
they should watch his actions and report to him about his words
to the people.
"Thou just man, "said the disguised servant of the ruler
of Jerusalem approaching Issa, "Teach us, should we fulfill the
will of Caesar or await the approaching deliverance?"
But Issa, recognizing the disguised servants, said, "I
did not foretell unto you that you would be delivered from
Caesar; but I said that the soul which was immersed in sin would
be delivered from sin."
At this time, an old woman approached the crowd, but was
pushed back. Then Issa said, "Reverence Woman, mother of the
universe,' in her lies the truth of creation. She is the
foundation of all that is good and beautiful. She is the source
of life and death. Upon her depends the existence of man,
because she is the sustenance of his labors. She gives birth to
you in travail, she watches over your growth. Bless her. Honor
her. Defend her. Love your wives and honor them, because
tomorrow they shall be mothers, and later-progenitors of a whole
race. Their love ennobles man, soothes the embittered heart and
tames the beast. Wife and mother-they are the adornments of the
universe."
"As light divides itself from darkness, so does woman
possess the gift to divide in man good intent from the thought
of evil. Your best thoughts must belong to woman. Gather from
them your moral strength, which you must possess to sustain your
near ones. Do not humiliate her, for therein you will humiliate
yourselves. And all which you will do to mother, to wife, to
widow or to another woman in sorrow-that shall you also do for
the Spirit."
So taught Issa; but the ruler Pilate ordered one of his
servants to make accusation against him.
Said Issa: "Not far hence is the time when by the
Highest Will the people will become purified and united into one
family."
And then turning to the ruler, he said, "Why demean thy
dignity and teach thy subordinates to live in deceit when even
without this thou couldst also have had the means of accusing an
innocent one?"
From another version of the legend, Roerich quotes
fragments of thought and evidence of the miraculous.
Near Lhasa was a temple of teaching with a wealth of
manuscripts. Jesus was to acquaint himself with them. Meng-ste,
a great sage of all the East, was in this temple.
Finally Jesus reached a mountain pass and in the chief
city of Ladak, Leh, he was joyously accepted by monks and people
of the lower class .... And Jesus taught in the monasteries and
in the bazaars (the market places); wherever the simple people
gathered--there he taught.
Not far from this place lived a woman whose son had died
and she brought him to Jesus. And in the presence of a
multitude, Jesus laid his hand on the child, and the child rose
healed. And many brought their children and Jesus laid his hands
upon them, healing them.
Among the Ladakis, Jesus passed many days, teaching
them. And they loved him and when the time of his departure came
they sorrowed as children.