JESUS OF INDIA
Acknowledgments
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Autobiographies
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Acknowledgments (from the book)I am grateful to all of those who have approached the spiritual realm with an open mind. This is never easy, for psychological security is something we strive to maintain. It's a rare bird who doesn't falter. Frederick Nietzsche, Carl Jung, Fritz Perls, readily come to mind. The great Eastern thinkers, Ramana Maharshi, Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, and J. Krishnamurti, also come to mind. Without these, my journey would have been quite different. Foremost of all, Jesus Christ, like many others gave his life for his efforts. All of these great spiritual leaders risked psychological security, and physical death, in order to find that rare perennial jewel, mystical union. However, it was Holger Kersten's book, Jesus Lived in India, which was the inspiration for this book. Without his work, his research, his openness and willingness to risk it all, the passion for this effort would have remained unleavened. It is with great admiration and respect for Kersten's work that I have taken on the task of imagining Jesus' travels prior to the recorded Gospels. I have very loosely, and for my own enjoyment, created many events, experiences and talks. I claim no special knowledge or archaeological background which would allow me to make any factual claims. This is a work of fiction, a personal journey I took, using Jesus as the vehicle. Many have done this before. Jesus is just too great a figure, and too far beyond easy understanding, to be left alone. Whatever truth is in this work, is for you, dear reader, to decide. I have no special hold, lock or key, on which to claim special dispensation. My hope is simple. If through this story you are inspired to seek a deeper truth, I and you will benefit. Maury Lee A Short History of How This Book Came to Be:I was attending a church and participating in group discussions. Frequently, people would come up to me after the group and ask me who I was. I often heard the comment, "You said what I wanted to say, what I meant, but you said it better than I could." Secondly, a number of people told me I should be writing books. This comment became common enough that it had a profound effect on me. I had always wanted to be a writer. In fact, I have a degree in Creative Writing. So, it seemed that I was being told to follow my dream. So, my first thanks go to the Unity Church on the Plaza and the members there who encouraged me to write. At the end of a service, a very good friend handed me the book, Jesus Lived in India, by Holger Kersten. He said, "I think you might really like this." Was he ever right. I devoured it. I drank it. I lived it. Why? Because I had been thinking for a long time that what the great Eastern sages were saying was exactly what Jesus was saying, only somehow, we in the West had misunderstood. We didn't get it. If it took me 40 years to get it, why couldn't I help some others on the path? I thought that would be admirable.? OK, how do I do that. Why write a book. Hadn't I been told that's what I should be doing. And, wasn't that what I wanted to do? Now the only remaining decision was what kind of book to write. Holger Kersten had already written a very good research book. Why not write a novel that incorporated his research? And, wouldn't a novel be more accessible to more people than one more research book? And, if I made it a fictional work, I wouldn't need to worry about all the footnotes and quotes, and everything else that goes with that style. So, I wrote the first draft. I must thank all of those that read the first, rather pathetic drafts. They were mostly notes, of then this happened, then this, then this. Sort of like notes to myself, not much dialogue or story line. But, with the encouragement I received, I did more re-writes. Again, people volunteered to read and edit. Now, this wasn't like the real nitty-gritty editing one would get from a publishing house, but it helped. I got a lot of feedback. Sometimes as simple as, "What happened to his donkey? Did he leave it in the jungle to get eaten?" With those lapses worked through, more drafts were written. And more reading and more editing. All in all, I think the book has had twenty edits. Through it all, Barbara managed to live with me, and support me, and argue with me about the book, and of course, everything else that goes with sharing a household. Jesus of India Copyright © 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2006 by Maury Lee
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