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The Christ of India Reviewed By Bani Sodermark of Bookpleasures.com
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Bani Sodermark








Reviewer Bani Sodermark. Bani has a Ph.D in mathematical physics and has been a teacher of physics and mathematics at the university level in both India and Sweden. For the last decade, her interests have been spirituality, healthy living and self-development. She has written a number of reviews on Amazon. Bani is a mother to two children.



 
By Bani Sodermark
Published on August 9, 2016
 

Author: Abbott George Burke

Publisher: Light of the Spirit Press

ASIN: B01IY3WDCM



Author: Abbott George Burke

Publisher: Light of the Spirit Press

ASIN: B01IY3WDCM

                                      The Unknown Heritage of Christianity

Even while growing up in a deeply religious Hindu family, I went to two different Christian missionary schools. The first school I went to was a Roman Catholic institution where ecumenical education was imparted separately to Christian and non-Christian students, a common practice for all Catholic institutions in Delhi at the time. The Christian students were taught the Bible and scriptures based on the same. The non-Catholic students were given education in ethics via a subject called Moral Science. The content of the Moral Science course was common for all schools run by Catholic institutions and was totally non- denominational. Despite my Hindu family background, I never experienced a clash between my own religion at the time and my own understanding of Christianity. None at all.

This was to change. My next school was run by another Christian organization. There I was exposed to a strong dose of the Christian rhetoric of being a sinner who has to be saved and that Jesus was the sole custodian of the Way, the Truth and the Life.

Before I changed schools. I loved Jesus at least as much as my Hindu gods and goddesses, and for me, Christian saints were on the same par as Hindu saints. The kind of moral education that I experienced in my second school, reflects the schism between Christianity as practised in the Western World and that practised by some Christian institutions operating in India. It is this schism that this book attempts to bridge, as it puts forth new information gleaned from a detailed  study of the recently uncovered Nag Hammadi manuscripts.

This book puts together different puzzle pieces of history to arrive at a very realistic portrayal  of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The picture of Jesus that emerges is very much like the one we know, but less confrontational, less judgemental. The Essenes in those times, of whom Jesus was one, were not too interested in ritualistic worship, they sought  the truth for its own sake, like the Hindu sages of the Aryan civilization. The author presents strong evidence to show that Jesus came to India during the “Lost Years” for the purpose of learning, before he returned to Israel to complete his Life’s Mission. The author also presents solid evidence for the fact that Jesus returned to India after his crucifixion, the places he visited, the people he met and the work he did during his later years.

Next the author relates the story of the disciple called St. Thomas who came to Ïndia after Jesus crucifixion. Once again, the author presents his own interpretation of the life and times of this lesser known saint. Finally, the author provides a detailed account of how the Gospel of St.  Thomas draws its roots from the Sanatan Dharma or the Eternal Religion where the ultimate guru is the Self.

The information in the section on the relation between Sanatan Dharma and the Gospel of St. Thomas is further elaborated in Marshall Govindan’s book called “The Wisdom of Jesus and the Yoga Siddhas”. In it, Jesus’ life and teachings are presented as part of  a greater canvas involving other spiritual giants.

This book  portrays Jesus as  a warm and evolved human being who advocated heart-to heart contact between others and himself, bypassing the veneration often demanded by lesser masters. For me, personally, it reinforces the picture of the friend called Jesus that I had during my early school years.

This book is a MUST READ. It rewrites history by presenting a totally new way of perceiving events, uncovering lies that have been propagated over millenia. We owe it to ourselves to open our minds to the possibilities unveiled by these revelations.

Strongly recommended.