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The Unknown Lives of Jesus and Mary Compiled from Ancient Records and Mystical Revelations Kindle Edition

4.5 out of 5 stars 50 ratings

“There are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.” (Gospel of Saint John, final verse)

You can discover much of those “many other things which Jesus did” in this unique compilation of ancient records and mystical revelations, which includes historical records of the lives of Jesus Christ and his Mother Mary that have been accepted and used by the Church since apostolic times. This treasury of little-known stories of Jesus’ infancy, his sojourn in the Orient as recorded in the famous Ladakh Manuscript, and his passion, crucifixion, and resurrection, will broaden the reader’s understanding of what Christianity really was in its original form: a far more vibrant and conscious movement than what we see today in its place.

But this book is more than just a collection of ancient texts. Abbot George Burke’s illuminating and scholarly commentary adds a further dimension and relevance, and will guide you to a deeper understanding of how, as he puts it, “to manifest the inner Christ that abides within us all.”

The Unknown Lives of Jesus and Mary includes the text and commentary on these early writings:
  • The Protoevangelium Of Saint James >
  • The Gospel of the Infancy of Jesus and Mary
  • The Gospel of the Nativity of Mary
  • The History of Anna, The Mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary
  • The Gospel of Thomas
  • The Infancy of the Savior
  • The Ladakh Manuscript, a manuscript found in a Buddhist monastery in Tibet telling of Jesus’ “Lost Years” and travels in India and Tibet
  • The Gospel Of Nicodemus
  • The Death of Pilate, Who Condemned Jesus
  • The Narrative of Joseph
  • The Book of John Concerning the Falling Asleep of Mary
Miscellaneous Sources
“An intelligent, respectful, and incredible perspective into an esoteric Christianity that is seldom seen. … The quality of the piece was a pleasant surprise.”
–River Ezell

From the Publisher

Abbot George Burke

In his many pilgrimages to India, Abbot George had the opportunity of meeting some of India’s greatest spiritual figures, including Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh and Anandamayi Ma.

Christ of India cover
Praise from Readers

Abbot George’s writing is "as informed and informative as it is inspired and inspiring"

James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief, Midwest Book Review

"[His] writing is well crafted and stocked with anecdotes, humor, literary references, and beautiful quotes... I found it entertaining as well as illuminating."

Reverend Gerry Nangle, President, Johrei Fellowship

"Highly recommended for earnest spiritual aspirant, especially those who might need a prod to keep them moving."

Anna Hourihan, Vedantic Shores Press.

  • The Unknown Lives of Jesus and Mary
  • Living the Yoga Life: Perspectives on Yoga
  • May a Christian Believe in Reincarnation?
  • Satsang With the Abbot
  • Spiritual Benefits of a Vegetarian Diet

Abbot George Burke

(Swami Nirmalananda Giri)

Abbot George is the founder and director of the Light of the Spirit Monastery (Atma Jyoti Ashram) in Cedar Crest, NM, USA.

He has been studying, teaching and writing on practical spiritual life for over 60 years.

He has written over 20 books on Meditation, Original Christianity, and Original Yoga, as well as the Dharma for Awakening Collection: commentaries on major scriptures of Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity and Taoism and more,

Below are some of his best sellers:

  • Soham Yoga: Its Theory and Practice
  • The Christ of India
  • The Bhagavad Gita for Awakening
  • The Dhammapada for Awakening
  • The Gospel of Thomas for Awakening

Editorial Reviews

Review

★★★★★ A wonderful Book - full of insights and relevance to the spiritual path The book The Unknown Lives of Jesus and Mary very quickly unfolds an enormous depth. Abbot Burke elicits from every sentence in the apocryphal writings its secrets and background relevant to the spiritual path. I can recommend this book to anyone who wants to get more than a superficial account of the lives of these essential figures of Christianity.
-
Stefan KaiserAbbot George's writing is "as informed and informative as it is inspired and inspiring"
-
James A. Cox, Editor-in-chief at Midwest Book Reviews

"[His] writing is well crafted and stocked with anecdotes, humor, literary references, and beautiful quotes... I found it to be entertaining as well as illuminating....Abbot George is like the Emily Dickinson of modern day spiritual writers."
-Rev. Gerry Nangle, President of Johrei Fellowship

Abbot George's writing is "Highly recommended for earnest spiritual aspirant, especially those who might need a prod to keep them moving."
-Anna Hourihan, Publisher/Editor at Vedantic Shores Press.

From the Author

There are historical records of the lives of Jesus Christ and his MotherMary that have been accepted and used by the Eastern ChristianChurch from Apostolic times and by the Western Church until the lastfew centuries. They were not included in the Holy Scriptures since itcould not be established beyond doubt that they were written by oneof the Twelve Apostles.

The first Christians did not at all consider the books which nowmake up the New Testament to be specially inspired in contrast to thebooks that were not included. In fact there was no New Testament atthat time, just a collection of books by many authors. Many writings,such as those of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, a disciple of the Apostle John,were read in the churches as being inspired holy scripture. Excepting theFour Gospels, anything written by a saint today is considered by EasternChristians to be virtually-though not officially-of the same value as thebooks of the Bible. But when a fundamental collection of authoritativeChristian writings was to be made, it was decided that only those writtenby the Twelve should be included. However, the spiritual authority ofother books was in no way lessened by this decision.

It is true, however, that the four Gospels of the New Testament arelooked upon as having a unique value. This is because these four booksare not mere history, but symbolic presentations of the passage fromhumanity to divinity, from son of man to Son of God. In the main the Gospels are historically true, but the choice and arrangement of incidentsand teachings have an esoteric purpose, and the deeper meaning is to besought beneath the surface appearance of things. The other gospels notincluded in the New Testament are simple history without this highersymbolic dimension, as we shall see.

Are they accurate?

Can we be sure these books are really historically accurate? Not anymore than we can be sure of anything that comes to us from the past.However it would not matter if they were totally fiction, for since theywere accepted and circulated by the Christians from the very beginningwe can know that their contents were in perfect accord with the originalprinciples of the Christian Church. For example, Saint Anna fears totake a headband from her maidservant lest it have a curse woven into it.Even if this did not take place, the acceptance of the incident by the earlyChurch shows that Christians believed that there were such things ascurse objects. We also see that the original Christians believed in sacredplants, communication with angels, divination, and other such thingsthat today are considered completely unchristian-which demonstratesthat it is contemporary Christianity itself that is unchristian rather thanthose concepts.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08C4ZG7B2
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Light of the Spirit Press
  • Accessibility ‏ : ‎ Learn more
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 29, 2020
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 3.6 MB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 512 pages
  • Page Flip ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 out of 5 stars 50 ratings

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Abbot George Burke (Swami Nirmalananda Giri)
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Swami Nirmalananda Giri (Abbot George Burke) is the founder and director of the Atma Jyoti Ashram (Light of the Spirit Monastery) in Cedar Crest, New Mexico, USA.

In his many pilgrimages to India, he had the opportunity of meeting some of India’s greatest spiritual figures, including Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh and Anandamayi Ma. During his first trip to India he was made a member of the ancient Swami Order by Swami Vidyananda Giri, a direct disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda, who had himself been given sannyas by the Shankaracharya of Puri, Jagadguru Bharati Krishna Tirtha.

In the United States he also encountered various Christian saints, including Saint John Maximovich of San Francisco and Saint Philaret Voznesensky of New York.

For many years Swami Nirmalananda has researched the identity of Jesus Christ and his teachings with India and Sanatana Dharma, including Yoga. It is his conclusion that Jesus lived in India for most of his life, and was a yogi and Sanatana Dharma missionary to the West. After his resurrection he returned to India and lived the rest of his life in the Himalayas.

He is the author of a number of books on meditation and practical spiritual life, including Soham Yoga: The Yoga of the Self, The Bhagavad Gita for Awakening, The Gospel of Thomas for Awakening, May a Christian Believe in Reincarnation?, and The Christ of India: The Story of Original Christianity.

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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on July 3, 2020
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    This book of wonder is full of information I was thirsting for, especially about Mother Mary (who especially drew my attention last Christmas season.) Before reading this book I couldn't understand the virgin birth of Jesus. I like the author's commentary about the plentiful material given. I appreciate the weaving of Eastern and Western thought with references and some science. I 'm glad to have this book in my Kindle library.
    4 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on July 19, 2020
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    I have been waiting for a set of writings such as this. This is a wonderful spiritual contemplation on the New Testament Apocryphal Gospels. Scholars and spiritual seekers alike will not be disappointed with this excellent writing from Abbot George. This has certainly enriched my spiritual knowledge and contemplation of the gnostic gospels.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on July 13, 2020
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    "The Unknown Lives of Jesus and Mary" offers Abbot George's interpretation of the Gnostic gospels - early accounts of Jesus and the Apostles that the early church decided not to include in the Bible. Abbot George offers a fresh and intelligent interpretation of these texts from his own theological tradition of Hindu-Christian syncretism. His views and interpretations are anything but orthodox but he truly breathes new life into the overdone and poorly understood field of Gnostic literature. Of all the non-Christian commentaries to have on them, this is the one to own.

    I highly recommend this book for people searching for a New Age exploration of the Gnostic literature from an Eastern perspective. The book is a pleasant surprise and I will be ordering a hard copy for my bookshelf.
    5 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on May 28, 2022
    Format: Kindle
    I find this book entertaining as well as illuminating. As I read the book it was like a different story line of what the bible should or could have been. I have a better understanding of the Virgin Mary how Christ Jesus was born.
    My point of view OR my opinion which book is really telling the truth of/or on the bible? It does make us think.
    God gave this information to whoever originally wrote the bible in a different language we interpreted how we understood it. I think there are so many unanswered questions many of us have and are not accepting the many different books that have been written.
    What I did not like it keeps quoting Amazon's Reviews as we are self can read it. Towards the end from where it starts "Author's Notes too much is not need to be said.It is very interesting seeing from a different point of view. But again, this is only my opinion.
  • Reviewed in the United States on September 10, 2020
    Format: Kindle
    Stirring stories of the spiritual qualities of Mother Mary's parents, Jesus performing miracles while still in His swaddling clothes, the inspiring faith of Saint Joseph in supporting Mary and Jesus, and my favorite chapter, The Ladakh Manuscript of the "Lost Years" of Jesus in India, Pakistan and the Himalayas. A tough one to put down once you start reading, insightful commentaries by the author Abbot George Burke add even more rich meaning.
    Dr. Bill C.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on July 28, 2020
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    If your looking for a book about some some different perspectives on Jesus,Mary and their spirituality then this is a great book for you. Very thoughtful and well discussed ideas are brought forth and shared for you to consider. Takes a look at aspects of both Jesus and Mary and their lives not covered in many other books.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2022
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    This book elaborates on the Bible and many other books from channelers about unknown things that happened in Jesus and Mary's life.

Top reviews from other countries

  • Morgan
    1.0 out of 5 stars Hmmmmmmmmm
    Reviewed in Australia on September 23, 2021
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    Whilst I am totally onboard with the idea that the historical Jesus traveled to India in his "missing years" (from 12 to 30) and studied there extensively this book offers little to substantiate that. Ditto that there are extensive stories related to Jesus throughout the Eastern Christian churches that cannot be found in the standard Bible. Yes, quite possibly, but Swami Nirmalanada Giri does not reference ANY of the sources (ancient records) that he quotes. Nor does he even quote them as an oral tradition which I would also be OK with. Not everything needs to be written in a book to be true.

    I am quite willing to accept that some of this stuff came to the author in mystic revelation but then it should be stated as such and not as historical fact. And starting with one historical fact that we can be sure of, Jesus was of the Jewish race and therefore highly unlikely to be of white complexion. I tend to discredit "historical records" that recount that he was.

    All in all a bit of a mish-mash with many leaps of faith and logic.
  • Genicaboierica
    5.0 out of 5 stars nice book
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 24, 2025
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    im pleased with fast deliveries but i will complete this reaiiew after im done reading ok

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