Someone recently sent me the following commentary and query:
Hi Bhagwan Acharya Ji,
Somewhere in Hindu scriptures I read Jews are YADAVAS, the lost tribe of Lord Krishna who, after defeat in the epic war in the “MAHABHARTA,” were ousted from India some 7 to 8,000 years ago and left India through Khaiberpass and via Afghanistan, [disappearing] in the Middle East… Your views on this, please. Siva cremation ceremony, star, respect for milk and meat, and Sanskrit words in Hebrew language are proof of that they are Hindus. Thanks, Mark Ji
Kind Sir:
Thank you for the interesting information and commentary – this is the kind of material I want people to ask me about or discuss with me. That’s why I have so many groups and forums; alas, it rarely happens! Regardless of whether or not the facts are completely accurate, THIS is critical thinking without all the psychological baggage brought to the table through conditioning, conceit and credentialism, as we find so typically in this field.
I agree that there is much data indicating some of the earliest “Jews,” i.e., Hebrews, are migrants from India. In earlier scholarship, there has appeared a repeated contention that Hebrew is related to Vedic or other proto- or pre-Sanskrit Indian language via Chaldean, of which Hebrew is supposedly a late corruption. I have not yet followed up on this subject to my satisfaction and using more modern scholarship, which is hard to come by because of institutional prejudices. I’m not so sure about the dates you’ve suggested, but I will look more closely at them. To my understanding the “Yadavas” were Greeks, but the “Yadus” were Judeans. The end result is the same, however.
Also, I am not an evemerist who believes that Krishna was ever a real person, and it seems that the Hebrews who made their way West were followers of Brahma, who becomes Abraham, while the former’s consort Sarasvati was morphed into Sarah. The idea of Krishna as a fully blown god or godman character did not occur until much later than the dates you give, with inferences in the Vedas the first real indication of the very rudimentary existence of a divine, personified “Krishna.”
Moreover, the Mahabharata cannot be taken as a literal battle, although there is certainly recreation in the epic of some battle scenes that likely took place on Earth at some point. Historical fiction and mythology often draw from real events. Nevertheless, the Mahabharata is largely a celestial story, reflecting cosmic events and entities in significant part. But that is the subject of yet another fascinating investigation, which I discuss in my books, as I do also the apparent link between the Mahabharata and the Homeric epics, the Iliad and Odyssey.
I have written about these ideas in my books since 1999, starting with “Christ Conspiracy.” At this moment, I am working on this very subject for my forthcoming book “The Christ Myth Anthology.”
