Book Reviewed: Flapper: A Madcap Story of Sex, Style, Celebrity, and the Women Who Made America Modern
There is an interesting story about the women in 1920s, before the great depression hit the nation, women were loudly making changes in their life styles and demanding equal rights. The very soul and image of the modern American woman was becoming apparent. The flapper was real, the product of compelling social and political forces that converged after WWI. By that time many women were gainfully employed, and the new financial freedom allowed them to live on their own, away from their family and community surveillance. She boldly asserted her rights to date, dance, wear revealing clothes and smoke, which their mothers only dreamed of trying. Several factors catalyzed this social revolution, feminist books, magazines, theater, movies and women's fashion. Women like Coco Chanel, the famous French fashion designer redefined feminine form and silhouette. Lois Long of New York City emerged as one of the most insightful observers of sex and style in Jazz age America. In Hollywood studios, actresses like Clara Bow, Colleen Moore and Louise Brooks were great triumvirate that fired the imagination of millions of film goers with their own distinct style. The performance of sexually oriented scenes and revealing clothes in movies and theater raised troubling questions. For example; the one-piece bathing suit popularized by Annette Kellerman, professional swimmer and vaudeville star was legally banned in many countries, and she was arrested for indecent exposure at Boston Revere Beach in 1908. For the "guardians of moral values" the less restrictive clothes went hand-in-hand with diminishing morals of women. Some sociologists suggested that sexual mores were changing.
This book focusses only on certain aspects of feminist movement and the work of few individuals. It omits the role played by numerous women in Hollywood, theater, Broadway, literature and sports that awakened the women to realize their own potential, demand equal rights and opportunities to enjoy life. In this regard, I very much like the book by Angela J. Latham, "Posing a Threat: Flappers, Chorus Girls, and Other Brazen Performers of the American 1920s."
The author concludes that American 1920's represented a high-water mark in female autonomy using fashion and body display and changed the attitudes towards morality. Women presented their fashion and body as a site and not a symbol; feminity is sacred. This focus complicated our perception of what it meant to be a woman in 1920s; even now after almost 100 years, the attitude towards fairer sex has not significantly changed.
Monday, March 31, 2014
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
The Sapphic liaison: Women who loved women during 20s/30s Hollywood
Book Reviewed: The Sewing Circle: Hollywood's Greatest Secret: Female Stars Who Loved Other Women by Axel Madsen
This is a highly readable book, and the author has way with words when she describes feminists of 1920s Hollywood who were redefining sexuality and relationships. This work is based on earlier publications about Hollywood lesbians, and many paragraphs and sentences look awfully similar to “The Girls: Sappho Goes to Hollywood” by Diana McLellan, which was published in 2013. It appears that this book may have been a source for many stories described by Ms. McLellan. For a quick read, I would recommend this book over McLellan’s, because the latter runs to about 506 pages!
Some of the most interesting stories is probably about the ravishing ladies of golden era; Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich and Tallulah Bankhead. They were all bisexuals but had strong leanings towards women. The greatest "conqueror" of sewing circle was probably poet and playwright Mercedes De Acosta who had numerous gorgeous ladies in her count, from Europe to California. Her affairs with some of the well-known ladies like; Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Alla Nazimova, Eva Le Gallienne, Ona Munson, Natacha Rambova, Lilyan Tashman and many more “good-time Charlene(s).” Sexuality was another role for many women, and for vanity and fear of discovery some of them had lavender marriages with gay men so that they could form secret alliances. Women like Tallulah Bankhead and Patsy Kelly made no secrets of their Sapphic tendencies; in fact Bankhead was very vocal about her gender orientation. Isadora Duncan is another bisexual and a longtime lover of Mercedes de Acosta who openly expressed her joy in lesbian relationship. She wrote sensual lesbian poems about Mercedes before her untimely death in Paris in an auto accident at the age of 50. Once she waved a red scarf and bared her breast on stage in Boston, proclaiming, "This is red! So am I.” Alla Nazimova was famous for organizing gay orgies at the famous “Garden of Allah,” a high-priced apartment complex on Sunset strip in Los Angeles. She threw caution to the wind and spent her fortune lavishly to produce her movie, “Salome” that featured an all gay cast.
Diana Wynyard, one of the first English ladies to become a member of the sewing circle, enjoyed the warmth of ladies hugs in sunny California. There were rumors that Barbara Stanwyck tried to seduce her future rival, Bette Davis when they were filming Edna Ferber’s 1932 movie “So Big.” Tallulah Bankhead’s wild flossy beauty attracted some of the most interesting lesbians of 1920s that included Katharine Cornell, Laurette Taylor, Sybil Thorndike, Beatrice Lillie, and Harlem’s Gladys Bentley, a three pound black Mae West, to put it mildly, donned in tuxedo and known to have married a woman in New Jersey in a civil ceremony in 1920s!
Libby Holman is another lady who had passionate affairs with Du Pont heiress Louisa Carpenter and later married tobacco heir Zachary Smith Reynolds. Holman was charged with murder when her husband was found shot, but later the charges were dropped. She established a foundation for civil rights movement to the memory of her deceased son. Dr. Martin Luther King was the first to receive the grants to travel to India to study Mahatma Gandhi’s path of non-violence and civil disobedience.
Paramount’s costume designer Edith Head and her gay husband Fox director Wiard “Bill” Ihnen pursued their homo sexuality for decades. Joan Crawford and Barbara Stanwyck had failed marriages and gave them time to seek comfort in the tender arms of gorgeous females. Sexless Linda and Cole Porter apparently helped his career and the couple’s homosexuality. Jill Esmond struggled to accept her lesbian orientation, but remained married to actor Lawrence Olivier for years. Their marriage was newer consummated. Katherine Hepburn, Janet Gaynor, Lili Damita, and Agnes Moorhead were daisy chains of deceit. Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester; Vincente Minnelli and Judy Garland were also lavender couples. Alla Nazimova's marriage with actor Charles Bryant; Mercedes De Acosta with Abram Poole; Lilyan Tashman with Edmond Lowe, and Rudolph Valentino with Jean Acker and later with Natacha Rambova are well-known examples of lavender marriages. The book is filled with lot of interesting stories, and I recommend to anyone interested in the history of Hollywood and the movies (and theater) of golden era.
This is a highly readable book, and the author has way with words when she describes feminists of 1920s Hollywood who were redefining sexuality and relationships. This work is based on earlier publications about Hollywood lesbians, and many paragraphs and sentences look awfully similar to “The Girls: Sappho Goes to Hollywood” by Diana McLellan, which was published in 2013. It appears that this book may have been a source for many stories described by Ms. McLellan. For a quick read, I would recommend this book over McLellan’s, because the latter runs to about 506 pages!
Some of the most interesting stories is probably about the ravishing ladies of golden era; Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich and Tallulah Bankhead. They were all bisexuals but had strong leanings towards women. The greatest "conqueror" of sewing circle was probably poet and playwright Mercedes De Acosta who had numerous gorgeous ladies in her count, from Europe to California. Her affairs with some of the well-known ladies like; Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Alla Nazimova, Eva Le Gallienne, Ona Munson, Natacha Rambova, Lilyan Tashman and many more “good-time Charlene(s).” Sexuality was another role for many women, and for vanity and fear of discovery some of them had lavender marriages with gay men so that they could form secret alliances. Women like Tallulah Bankhead and Patsy Kelly made no secrets of their Sapphic tendencies; in fact Bankhead was very vocal about her gender orientation. Isadora Duncan is another bisexual and a longtime lover of Mercedes de Acosta who openly expressed her joy in lesbian relationship. She wrote sensual lesbian poems about Mercedes before her untimely death in Paris in an auto accident at the age of 50. Once she waved a red scarf and bared her breast on stage in Boston, proclaiming, "This is red! So am I.” Alla Nazimova was famous for organizing gay orgies at the famous “Garden of Allah,” a high-priced apartment complex on Sunset strip in Los Angeles. She threw caution to the wind and spent her fortune lavishly to produce her movie, “Salome” that featured an all gay cast.
Diana Wynyard, one of the first English ladies to become a member of the sewing circle, enjoyed the warmth of ladies hugs in sunny California. There were rumors that Barbara Stanwyck tried to seduce her future rival, Bette Davis when they were filming Edna Ferber’s 1932 movie “So Big.” Tallulah Bankhead’s wild flossy beauty attracted some of the most interesting lesbians of 1920s that included Katharine Cornell, Laurette Taylor, Sybil Thorndike, Beatrice Lillie, and Harlem’s Gladys Bentley, a three pound black Mae West, to put it mildly, donned in tuxedo and known to have married a woman in New Jersey in a civil ceremony in 1920s!
Libby Holman is another lady who had passionate affairs with Du Pont heiress Louisa Carpenter and later married tobacco heir Zachary Smith Reynolds. Holman was charged with murder when her husband was found shot, but later the charges were dropped. She established a foundation for civil rights movement to the memory of her deceased son. Dr. Martin Luther King was the first to receive the grants to travel to India to study Mahatma Gandhi’s path of non-violence and civil disobedience.
Paramount’s costume designer Edith Head and her gay husband Fox director Wiard “Bill” Ihnen pursued their homo sexuality for decades. Joan Crawford and Barbara Stanwyck had failed marriages and gave them time to seek comfort in the tender arms of gorgeous females. Sexless Linda and Cole Porter apparently helped his career and the couple’s homosexuality. Jill Esmond struggled to accept her lesbian orientation, but remained married to actor Lawrence Olivier for years. Their marriage was newer consummated. Katherine Hepburn, Janet Gaynor, Lili Damita, and Agnes Moorhead were daisy chains of deceit. Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester; Vincente Minnelli and Judy Garland were also lavender couples. Alla Nazimova's marriage with actor Charles Bryant; Mercedes De Acosta with Abram Poole; Lilyan Tashman with Edmond Lowe, and Rudolph Valentino with Jean Acker and later with Natacha Rambova are well-known examples of lavender marriages. The book is filled with lot of interesting stories, and I recommend to anyone interested in the history of Hollywood and the movies (and theater) of golden era.
Thursday, March 13, 2014
Jessica Lange is stunning in the portrayal of troubled actress Frances Farmer
Movie reviewed: Frances starring Jessica Lange
The facts speak for themselves. Jessica Lange's stunning performance as the troubled actress, Frances Farmer got a nod from the Academy in the best actress category in 1982, the first of the five nominations she received during 1980s. The story is largely based on Frances Farmer's auto biography, "Will there be a Morning?" and "Hollywood Babylon" by historian and author Kenneth Anger. The movie is pretty long, about 140 minutes, but skips the key portion of her life. In her book, she describes her ordeal in the state facilities for insane in great detail; the brutality of the caregivers, orderlies, and nurses, both physical and sexual, and lobotomies performed during those days of her incarceration is highly vivid and brutal. The movie deals with this part very briefly. The circumstances of her arrest at the famous Knickerbocker Hotel in Hollywood, California and her subsequent demise as a Hollywood performer is well handled in the movie. Actress Kim Stanley also offers an outstanding performance as Mama Farmer, a highly controlling mother in the life of young Frances. Stanley was also nominated for Academy Award in the best supporting actress category. This is a highly watchable movie and I recommend this to anyone interested the life of Frances Farmer.
The facts speak for themselves. Jessica Lange's stunning performance as the troubled actress, Frances Farmer got a nod from the Academy in the best actress category in 1982, the first of the five nominations she received during 1980s. The story is largely based on Frances Farmer's auto biography, "Will there be a Morning?" and "Hollywood Babylon" by historian and author Kenneth Anger. The movie is pretty long, about 140 minutes, but skips the key portion of her life. In her book, she describes her ordeal in the state facilities for insane in great detail; the brutality of the caregivers, orderlies, and nurses, both physical and sexual, and lobotomies performed during those days of her incarceration is highly vivid and brutal. The movie deals with this part very briefly. The circumstances of her arrest at the famous Knickerbocker Hotel in Hollywood, California and her subsequent demise as a Hollywood performer is well handled in the movie. Actress Kim Stanley also offers an outstanding performance as Mama Farmer, a highly controlling mother in the life of young Frances. Stanley was also nominated for Academy Award in the best supporting actress category. This is a highly watchable movie and I recommend this to anyone interested the life of Frances Farmer.
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Animal behavior: Migration and homing instincts
Book Reviewed: The Homing Instinct: Meaning and Mystery in Animal Migration, by Bernd Heinrich
This is an interesting book by Bernd Heinrich, a renowned scholar that discusses interesting facts about animal migration and their attachments for their habitats. The book is largely focused on behavior with no discussion of genetics as it relates to the behavior, and no prior knowledge of biology is required to understand and appreciate this book.
Homemaking is practiced by animals regardless of their position in the evolutionary ladder. It is especially important for rearing young until they are ready to face challenges of the world. It is most prominently displayed among insects and birds but also in some mammals, spiders, crustaceans, fish and some reptiles. Many examples are discussed, for example, Loons in Northern Lakes fight viciously every spring for the possession of the only spot to nest on a Beaver lodge and where only one pair stays and the others must go quite far to find any place at all. Rules change when nest site is no longer arbitrary and becomes unique and valuable commodity. It may be built at a great cost and skill in which case it becomes a nuptial offering of competing males. Thus in weaverbirds and woodpeckers, males do most of the site preparation and female inspects it and chooses the best site and the male who built it. It is all the matter of costs and benefits of leaving verses staying and fighting.
What knowledge birds have that they fly nonstop all day and all night on the wing and losing significant body weight. Albatross is like sea turtles, long lived wanderers with fixed home positions. Young albatrosses fly an average distance of 84,000 miles a year and have a genetically fixed dispersal direction but always return home for breeding.
The take home message from this book is that all animals have the basic instincts for their homes just like humans. Animal behavior is also discussed on many cable programs such as; Nat Geo, Discovery channel, Science channel, etc., but it is nice to read this book because this book has lot more materials than a television show. I recommend this book to anyone interested in animal behavior.
This is an interesting book by Bernd Heinrich, a renowned scholar that discusses interesting facts about animal migration and their attachments for their habitats. The book is largely focused on behavior with no discussion of genetics as it relates to the behavior, and no prior knowledge of biology is required to understand and appreciate this book.
Homemaking is practiced by animals regardless of their position in the evolutionary ladder. It is especially important for rearing young until they are ready to face challenges of the world. It is most prominently displayed among insects and birds but also in some mammals, spiders, crustaceans, fish and some reptiles. Many examples are discussed, for example, Loons in Northern Lakes fight viciously every spring for the possession of the only spot to nest on a Beaver lodge and where only one pair stays and the others must go quite far to find any place at all. Rules change when nest site is no longer arbitrary and becomes unique and valuable commodity. It may be built at a great cost and skill in which case it becomes a nuptial offering of competing males. Thus in weaverbirds and woodpeckers, males do most of the site preparation and female inspects it and chooses the best site and the male who built it. It is all the matter of costs and benefits of leaving verses staying and fighting.
What knowledge birds have that they fly nonstop all day and all night on the wing and losing significant body weight. Albatross is like sea turtles, long lived wanderers with fixed home positions. Young albatrosses fly an average distance of 84,000 miles a year and have a genetically fixed dispersal direction but always return home for breeding.
The take home message from this book is that all animals have the basic instincts for their homes just like humans. Animal behavior is also discussed on many cable programs such as; Nat Geo, Discovery channel, Science channel, etc., but it is nice to read this book because this book has lot more materials than a television show. I recommend this book to anyone interested in animal behavior.
Thursday, March 6, 2014
Consciousness through One Mind; the nonlocal ways of knowing that bypass physical senses
Book reviewed: One Mind, by Larry Dossey
I very much enjoyed this thought provoking book which is largely built on the concept of One Mind of Vedanta Philosophy of Hinduism. Erwin Schrodinger, a physicist and philosopher and a strong believer of Vedanta, echoed its basic concepts of All in One, and expounded on the foundations of quantum physics that in One Mind, the consciousness is transpersonal, universal, collective, and infinite in spacetime. Therefore it is immortal and eternal. Although there are billions of apparently separate human minds but their view of the world is largely coherent. He saw perfect harmony between the philosophy of quantum physics and the metaphysics of Vedanta.
In this book, the author argues that the ability to acquire information at a distance without the mediation of physical senses or the machines is an example non-local communication. If consciousness is non-local, it exists everywhere in spacetime. Therefore the mind and the consciousness cannot be confined to brain or a body, but it is universal. The author has done an exhaustive literature work to compile his One Mind theory supported by numerous examples; both historical and scientific facts. The One Mind is like an invisible, non-physical cloud computing platform with infinite storage capacity. There is no need to link to the storage, because all minds are connected non-locally in a unitary whole, says the author.
Examples from many paranormal and parapsychological experiences such as Near-death experience (NDE), parapsychology, and dreams have been discussed. All these involve nonlocal ways of knowing that bypass the physical senses. They reveal linkages and connections between distant individuals. In ancient India, yoga was practiced by sages and rishis to obtain spiritual insight and tranquility that far exceeded their original mental capabilities. During meditation, reverie, or in a state of seep thoughts, time is perceived as eternal and the distinctions between past, present and future disappears, and it opens the door to One Mind. When One Mind is the source of all information that is known and knowable, then it is omniscient and if it is nonlocal, unconnected to body or mind in spacetime, then it is omnipresent and eternal.
The book is written as a series of stand-alone, bite size vignettes about One Mind concept for general readers, and it does not require any knowledge of neurobiology, if some sections are not interesting, skip it. It is the big picture that emerges from the discussions of the book that is important in appreciating the book.
I very much enjoyed this thought provoking book which is largely built on the concept of One Mind of Vedanta Philosophy of Hinduism. Erwin Schrodinger, a physicist and philosopher and a strong believer of Vedanta, echoed its basic concepts of All in One, and expounded on the foundations of quantum physics that in One Mind, the consciousness is transpersonal, universal, collective, and infinite in spacetime. Therefore it is immortal and eternal. Although there are billions of apparently separate human minds but their view of the world is largely coherent. He saw perfect harmony between the philosophy of quantum physics and the metaphysics of Vedanta.
In this book, the author argues that the ability to acquire information at a distance without the mediation of physical senses or the machines is an example non-local communication. If consciousness is non-local, it exists everywhere in spacetime. Therefore the mind and the consciousness cannot be confined to brain or a body, but it is universal. The author has done an exhaustive literature work to compile his One Mind theory supported by numerous examples; both historical and scientific facts. The One Mind is like an invisible, non-physical cloud computing platform with infinite storage capacity. There is no need to link to the storage, because all minds are connected non-locally in a unitary whole, says the author.
Examples from many paranormal and parapsychological experiences such as Near-death experience (NDE), parapsychology, and dreams have been discussed. All these involve nonlocal ways of knowing that bypass the physical senses. They reveal linkages and connections between distant individuals. In ancient India, yoga was practiced by sages and rishis to obtain spiritual insight and tranquility that far exceeded their original mental capabilities. During meditation, reverie, or in a state of seep thoughts, time is perceived as eternal and the distinctions between past, present and future disappears, and it opens the door to One Mind. When One Mind is the source of all information that is known and knowable, then it is omniscient and if it is nonlocal, unconnected to body or mind in spacetime, then it is omnipresent and eternal.
The book is written as a series of stand-alone, bite size vignettes about One Mind concept for general readers, and it does not require any knowledge of neurobiology, if some sections are not interesting, skip it. It is the big picture that emerges from the discussions of the book that is important in appreciating the book.
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
The American culture in transition: Flappers and Gibson Girls of 1920s
Book Reviewed: Posing a threat; falppers, chorus girls, and other brazen performers, by Angela Latham.
This book is partly historical in nature that discusses as how the women in 1920s redefined sexuality and feminist movement. The expression of sexuality and nakedness as flapper girls on Broadway and Hollywood movies of 1920s paved the way for women’s revolution; for expressing themselves as women using emerging fashion of that time. The “flapper look” was as much a pose as it was a particular style of clothing that women wore. It was a frank and free expression and the allure of beauty at its core. The ladies started looking for autonomy for their financial, moral or physical well-being; it was a sisterhood of mothers, daughters, sisters and wives who needed to look out for each other and protect their interests. Specific arguments against fashionable displays by women in 1920s by clergy, politicians, and self-proclaimed community leaders seemed, more often, as red herrings. Women struggled against enormous odds to define a nebulous entity in terms of their own identities. They received multiple and conflicting messages about who they should be. Everyone wanted to control women’s clothing. The controversies that raged about women’s fashions throughout 1920s do indeed mark this era as important one in which to assess the interplay between conflicting social and ideological agendas inscribed on the bodies of women. The performance of fashion raised troubling questions. Case in point; the one-piece bathing suit popularized by Annette Kellerman, professional swimmer and vaudeville star was legally banned in many countries, and she was arrested for indecent exposure at Boston Revere Beach in 1908. For the “guardians of moral values” the less restrictive clothes went hand-in-hand with diminishing morals of women. Some sociologists suggested that sexual mores were changing.
In one chapter the author discuss the power of performance about brazen feminity by examining the play, “Ladies Night in a Turkish Bath,” originally written by Charlton Andrews and later reworked by Avery Hopwood. The story is about a gentleman who undergoes a homeopathic treatment to cure his bashfulness lands in a Turkish bath on ladies' night. It was censored in Chicago for its unbashful display of women. The play violated unwritten and yet powerful codes of personal intimacy by the close proximity of using nudity. The bedroom farce of this play had moved one step closer to raw humanity and the fact the whole play was set in a bath was threatening to many folks. The author’s careful examination of this play and how it was received by general public makes a very interesting read.
The author concludes that American 1920’s represented a high-water mark in female autonomy using fashion and body display and changed the attitudes towards morality. Women presented their fashion and body as a site and not a symbol; feminity is sacred. This focus complicated our perception of what it meant to be a woman in 1920s; even now after almost 100 years, the attitude towards fairer sex has not significantly changed.
This book is partly historical in nature that discusses as how the women in 1920s redefined sexuality and feminist movement. The expression of sexuality and nakedness as flapper girls on Broadway and Hollywood movies of 1920s paved the way for women’s revolution; for expressing themselves as women using emerging fashion of that time. The “flapper look” was as much a pose as it was a particular style of clothing that women wore. It was a frank and free expression and the allure of beauty at its core. The ladies started looking for autonomy for their financial, moral or physical well-being; it was a sisterhood of mothers, daughters, sisters and wives who needed to look out for each other and protect their interests. Specific arguments against fashionable displays by women in 1920s by clergy, politicians, and self-proclaimed community leaders seemed, more often, as red herrings. Women struggled against enormous odds to define a nebulous entity in terms of their own identities. They received multiple and conflicting messages about who they should be. Everyone wanted to control women’s clothing. The controversies that raged about women’s fashions throughout 1920s do indeed mark this era as important one in which to assess the interplay between conflicting social and ideological agendas inscribed on the bodies of women. The performance of fashion raised troubling questions. Case in point; the one-piece bathing suit popularized by Annette Kellerman, professional swimmer and vaudeville star was legally banned in many countries, and she was arrested for indecent exposure at Boston Revere Beach in 1908. For the “guardians of moral values” the less restrictive clothes went hand-in-hand with diminishing morals of women. Some sociologists suggested that sexual mores were changing.
In one chapter the author discuss the power of performance about brazen feminity by examining the play, “Ladies Night in a Turkish Bath,” originally written by Charlton Andrews and later reworked by Avery Hopwood. The story is about a gentleman who undergoes a homeopathic treatment to cure his bashfulness lands in a Turkish bath on ladies' night. It was censored in Chicago for its unbashful display of women. The play violated unwritten and yet powerful codes of personal intimacy by the close proximity of using nudity. The bedroom farce of this play had moved one step closer to raw humanity and the fact the whole play was set in a bath was threatening to many folks. The author’s careful examination of this play and how it was received by general public makes a very interesting read.
The author concludes that American 1920’s represented a high-water mark in female autonomy using fashion and body display and changed the attitudes towards morality. Women presented their fashion and body as a site and not a symbol; feminity is sacred. This focus complicated our perception of what it meant to be a woman in 1920s; even now after almost 100 years, the attitude towards fairer sex has not significantly changed.
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Historical Jesus: Looking for evidences that Jesus lived in India
Movie Reviewed: DVD - Jesus in India, by Edward T. Martin
I very much enjoyed watching this fascinating documentary by Edward T. Martin about Jesus's visit to India. In this 97 minute documentary, the narrator visit many places in India including the state of Kashmir, and speaks to scholars familiar with the history Jesus's visit to India, before and after Jesus's crucifixion. He interviews, Princeton University Professor Elaine Pages, Brother Chidananda of Self Realization Fellowship (disciple of Paramahamsa Yogananda), Sri Shankaracarya of Puri, the spiritual leader of Hindus, Suzanne Olsson, the author of "Jesus in Kashmir - the Lost Tomb," and other scholars from the State of Kashmir who are knowledgeable about the Rauzabal Shrine of Srinagar, which is widely believed to be the burial place of Jesus and his mother Mary is buried not far from here, according many scholars, including German scholar Holger Kersten.
The key witness to the theory is from Russian historian Nicolas Notovitch and his discovery of manuscripts at Himis monastery in Ladakh. Buddhist monks of Tibet recorded the history of Issa (Jesus); the original was in Pali, the language of Buddhists which was then translated into Tibetan. The history was documented 2000 years ago and copies of these documents were found in Himis monastery in Ladakh and it was summarized by Nicolas Notovitch. Later in 1929, Swami Abhedananda of the Ramakrishna Order reviewed and verified the authenticity of the Apocrypha by personally studying them at Himis monastery. Later Russian scholar Nicholas Roerich and Elisabeth Caspari confirmed the existence of these documents during their visits to the Buddhist monastery at Himis. A cardinal of Roman Catholic Church apparently tells Edward Martin that there are about 60 manuscripts with the church and one of them is the copy of the Himis manuscripts.
Canonical Gospels record the history of Jesus until he was 12 and then resume at the age of 30, but the intervening 18 years of his youth is unaccounted for. There is only one reference to Jesus' whereabouts; Luke 2.52 says; "And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man." This doesn't really say where he increased his wisdom and knowledge to preach the glory of God. According to Himis manuscripts, Saint Issa (Jesus) joined a merchant caravan and arrived in Juggernaut (Puri), India where the Hindu scholars received him with open arms and taught him Sanskrit, the Vedas and the Vedic practices, including healing the sick and performing exorcisms (taught in Hindu scripture Atharva-Veda.) Issa spent considerable amount of time studying the metaphysical thoughts of Buddhism, and later teaching at Juggernaut, Rajagriha, Benares and other holy cities of India. His teachings stressed for equality among all men and worked for the emancipation of the poor and downtrodden. In his later years, he went to preach in the Himalayan country of Nepal, and finally returned to Palestine at the age of 29.
The influence of Hinduism and Buddhism may also be found in the following: Sermon on the Mount is one of the classic examples for preaching the word of God and Jesus having full knowledge of Buddhism and how Buddha gave his first sermon in the Park of Gazelles in Benares, after fasting and meditating for 42 days under a fig tree. Jesus like Buddha underwent mystical test and meditation in the wilderness for 40 days to seek the spiritual power. In Hinduism, especially during Vedic times, great rishis, sages, and saints went to the deep forest for meditation for self-purification of the body, mind and soul. When they emerged from this long and arduous journey into the inner consciousness, they would attain spiritual and healing powers. In one episode, Jesus goes to a high mountain with Peter and his followers. After meditation, he transfigured before their very eyes and his face shine like the Sun (Mark 9:2, 30; Luke 9:30 and Matthew 17; 3-6.). Timothy believed Jesus was God (Timothy 3:16). This is similar to the description of Vishwa-rupa in chapter 11 of Bhagavad-Gita where Lord Krishna appears to Arjuna in the Universal form and shines like Sun.
Many scholars have argue that Jesus survives crucifixion and goes back to Kashmir valley of India for the second time and spend the remaining years of life. Jesus first appears to his disciples at Jerusalem, Galilee and Bethany, and heads towards Damascus when he meets Paul who had been sent by Romans to capture Jesus again, But Jesus sends a message through a disciple to Paul to preach the holy name (Acts 4:6; 9:10-15.) According to the gospel of Phillip, Jesus was saved from crucifixion and nursed by his friends and disciples and remained in hiding for some time. He imparted spiritual knowledge to Peter and James. After spending about 18 months with them he appointed James as his successor and migrated to live in Kashmir, India with his mother Mary, disciple Mary Magdalene, and a close group of followers. The most important information about the arrival of Jesus Christ in the valley of Kashmir and his meeting with the King of Kashmir, Shali-Vahana has been recorded in Bhavisya Purana (Bhavisya Purana 17-32.) I highly recommend this DVD to anyone interested in the life of Jesus Christ.
I very much enjoyed watching this fascinating documentary by Edward T. Martin about Jesus's visit to India. In this 97 minute documentary, the narrator visit many places in India including the state of Kashmir, and speaks to scholars familiar with the history Jesus's visit to India, before and after Jesus's crucifixion. He interviews, Princeton University Professor Elaine Pages, Brother Chidananda of Self Realization Fellowship (disciple of Paramahamsa Yogananda), Sri Shankaracarya of Puri, the spiritual leader of Hindus, Suzanne Olsson, the author of "Jesus in Kashmir - the Lost Tomb," and other scholars from the State of Kashmir who are knowledgeable about the Rauzabal Shrine of Srinagar, which is widely believed to be the burial place of Jesus and his mother Mary is buried not far from here, according many scholars, including German scholar Holger Kersten.
The key witness to the theory is from Russian historian Nicolas Notovitch and his discovery of manuscripts at Himis monastery in Ladakh. Buddhist monks of Tibet recorded the history of Issa (Jesus); the original was in Pali, the language of Buddhists which was then translated into Tibetan. The history was documented 2000 years ago and copies of these documents were found in Himis monastery in Ladakh and it was summarized by Nicolas Notovitch. Later in 1929, Swami Abhedananda of the Ramakrishna Order reviewed and verified the authenticity of the Apocrypha by personally studying them at Himis monastery. Later Russian scholar Nicholas Roerich and Elisabeth Caspari confirmed the existence of these documents during their visits to the Buddhist monastery at Himis. A cardinal of Roman Catholic Church apparently tells Edward Martin that there are about 60 manuscripts with the church and one of them is the copy of the Himis manuscripts.
Canonical Gospels record the history of Jesus until he was 12 and then resume at the age of 30, but the intervening 18 years of his youth is unaccounted for. There is only one reference to Jesus' whereabouts; Luke 2.52 says; "And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man." This doesn't really say where he increased his wisdom and knowledge to preach the glory of God. According to Himis manuscripts, Saint Issa (Jesus) joined a merchant caravan and arrived in Juggernaut (Puri), India where the Hindu scholars received him with open arms and taught him Sanskrit, the Vedas and the Vedic practices, including healing the sick and performing exorcisms (taught in Hindu scripture Atharva-Veda.) Issa spent considerable amount of time studying the metaphysical thoughts of Buddhism, and later teaching at Juggernaut, Rajagriha, Benares and other holy cities of India. His teachings stressed for equality among all men and worked for the emancipation of the poor and downtrodden. In his later years, he went to preach in the Himalayan country of Nepal, and finally returned to Palestine at the age of 29.
The influence of Hinduism and Buddhism may also be found in the following: Sermon on the Mount is one of the classic examples for preaching the word of God and Jesus having full knowledge of Buddhism and how Buddha gave his first sermon in the Park of Gazelles in Benares, after fasting and meditating for 42 days under a fig tree. Jesus like Buddha underwent mystical test and meditation in the wilderness for 40 days to seek the spiritual power. In Hinduism, especially during Vedic times, great rishis, sages, and saints went to the deep forest for meditation for self-purification of the body, mind and soul. When they emerged from this long and arduous journey into the inner consciousness, they would attain spiritual and healing powers. In one episode, Jesus goes to a high mountain with Peter and his followers. After meditation, he transfigured before their very eyes and his face shine like the Sun (Mark 9:2, 30; Luke 9:30 and Matthew 17; 3-6.). Timothy believed Jesus was God (Timothy 3:16). This is similar to the description of Vishwa-rupa in chapter 11 of Bhagavad-Gita where Lord Krishna appears to Arjuna in the Universal form and shines like Sun.
Many scholars have argue that Jesus survives crucifixion and goes back to Kashmir valley of India for the second time and spend the remaining years of life. Jesus first appears to his disciples at Jerusalem, Galilee and Bethany, and heads towards Damascus when he meets Paul who had been sent by Romans to capture Jesus again, But Jesus sends a message through a disciple to Paul to preach the holy name (Acts 4:6; 9:10-15.) According to the gospel of Phillip, Jesus was saved from crucifixion and nursed by his friends and disciples and remained in hiding for some time. He imparted spiritual knowledge to Peter and James. After spending about 18 months with them he appointed James as his successor and migrated to live in Kashmir, India with his mother Mary, disciple Mary Magdalene, and a close group of followers. The most important information about the arrival of Jesus Christ in the valley of Kashmir and his meeting with the King of Kashmir, Shali-Vahana has been recorded in Bhavisya Purana (Bhavisya Purana 17-32.) I highly recommend this DVD to anyone interested in the life of Jesus Christ.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)