Was the Vatican originally a Hindu religious seat?

This is the Hindu deity Shiva. This piece is at present on view in the Etruscan Museum at the Vatican in Rome. Encyclopedia Britannica mentions under the headings "Etruria" and "Etruscan" that between the 2nd and 7th centuries BC, northern Italy was known as Etruria. During excavations many such "meteoric stones mounted on carved pedestals" are discovered in Italy. Obviously, therefore, this one was dug up from the Vatican itself. Many more must be lying buried in the Vatican's massive walls and numerous cellars. Vatican is itself the Sanskrit word "Vatica" applied to Hindu cultural-cum-religious centers as in "Ashrama-Vatica" or "Dharma-Vatica" or "Ananda-Vatica." Therefore, the Vatican was obviously a Hindu religious seat before its incumbent was forced to accept Christianity.


Source & image: http://www.stephen-knapp.com/art_photo_fourteen.htm

One important part of Eastern knowledge that was present in early Christianity was the understanding of karma and reincarnation. I have already discussed this and pointed out some of the verses that showed the acceptance of reincarnation in the Bible in The Secret Teachings of the Vedas; so, I will not go into it so deeply here. But it is known that the Second Council of Constantinople in 553 A.D. threw out all references to reincarnation and stated that the idea of it was a myth, and anyone who believed in it would be excommunicated. Of course, this action would not be unexpected in light of the other things the Church has done throughout history in order to place itself as the only way to reach heaven and attain the mercy of God. By eliminating the possibility of reincarnation and the soul’s existence prior to this life, there could be no chance for the soul to reach the state of spiritual perfection over a period of several lifetimes. There would only be this one lifetime in which the soul came into existence, and one chance for a person to reach either heaven or eternal hell, which would be determined by the intervention of the Church. In other words, the Church felt threatened by the fact that the soul has an eternal and personal relationship with God that must be rekindled either in one, two, or however many lifetimes it takes, and this relationship does not necessarily depend on one’s good standing in any religious organization. Thus, people could try to re-establish their relationship with God by other means than the dictates of the Church, which is what the Church could not tolerate.


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More connections between Christianity and the Vedic culture can be recognized as follows:

The ancient Vedic custom of applying ash or sandalwood paste to the body is still retained by Christianity in the observance of Ash Wednesday. The so-called “All Soul’s Day” is an exact translation of the Vedic observance of Sarva Pitri Amavasya, the day fixed by tradition for the worship of all deceased ancestors.

Another Christian tradition derived from Vedic origins is that of having and ringing bells in the churches, especially before or during worship. In Vedic temples it is often seen where bells are rung during worship and when pilgrims enter the temple, announcing their entrance. Christian churches also ring bells to announce the beginning of worship. The word “bell” comes from the Sanskrit bal which means strength. This is in reference to the idea that ringing a bell adds force to the voice of prayer in invoking divinity.

When the Christians say “Amen” at the end of their hymns or to emphasize something, what they are saying is a corrupted form of “Aum” or “Om,” which is a standard form of Vedic meditation and name of the Supreme Being.

While we are on the topic of words used in Christianity that are derived from Sanskrit, the Catholic term “Madonna,” another name for Mother Mary, comes from the Sanskrit Mata Nah, meaning “Our Mother.” This is also derived from the great Vedic Mother Goddess. Thus, Mother Mary was a reference not only to the mother of Jesus alone, but a reference to the Goddess, mother of all humanity. Furthermore, the European term of “Madam” is a soft pronunciation of the Hindu term mata or mataji, which also means “Mother.”

The term “vestry” in referring to the room in churches in which holy clothes are kept comes from the Sanskrit word vestra, meaning clothes. Even the word “psalm” with a silent “P” comes from the Sanskrit word sam or sama which means holy and serious sacred songs, hymns or chants, as found in the Sama-veda.

Other Christian links with Sanskrit words can be found in the name Bethlehem, which is the English mispronunciation of the Sanskrit Vatsaldham, which means “the home (town) of the darling child.” The Sanskrit term Nandarath is linguistically connected with Nazareth. Nandarath means Nanda’s chariot, and King Nanda was the guardian at whose village he nurtured Lord Krishna (sometimes pronounced as Chrisn, and later Christ in some regions).

The Christian term “Satan” and the Islamic term “Shaitan” both are derived from the Sanskrit term Sat-na, which means non-truth, falsehood, or fraudulence. The Christians who explain the term “Devil” as a fallen angel should realize that the word is derived from the Sanskrit terminology which signifies a fallen Deva.

At the beginning of the book of John in the New Testament, it states, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” This is actually a verbatim translation of the Vedic Sanskrit mantra: “Prajapatirvai idamagraasit, tasya vag dvitiyaa asit, vag vai paramam Brahma.”

The Holy Spirit in Christianity is called Paramatma in Sanskrit, or Parakalate. In Greek the word is Paraclete. This is the God of that spiritual knowledge which is revealed or descended, or the Veda, which is spoken through the prophets (Sanskrit purohitas) . Veda is Yeda in Hebrew, the word God uses for His Self-revelation in Exodus of the Old Testament. Veda in Greek is Oida, and Aidos, from which the English word idea is derived. The term oida is used for God’s/Christ’s Sel-revelation in the New Testament. Thus, the Vedas, the Old and New Testament, and the related scriptures are but part of one continuous revelation of God.

Source: http://www.stephen-knapp.com/christianity_and_the_vedic_teachings_within_it.htm

 

Actually vatika only means garden.

 

Some mispronunciation. Wonder if the Jews mispronounce it too?

Really this is all useless stuff and nonsense.

 

Sarva Pitri Amavasya - all ancestors' new moon day/night

Mata Nah - depending on pronunciation could mean "Not mother" or "We bow to mother"

Sat-na - Very strange usage that I doubt would ever be found in a Sanskrit work. And to say it refers to a fallen devata is such a tremendous stretch that it is ridiculous.

Prajapatirvai idamagraasit, tasya vag dvitiyaa asit, vag vai paramam Brahma.
- The Lord of all creatures was here first. His word was second. The word indeed is the Supreme Lord.

Parakalate - I never heard that one.
purohitas are not prophets. They are priests. Big difference.



I've read similar things by Hindu rightwingers who claim that Hinduism is the source of everything in the world. I've met characters who insisted that all history is a fabrication of western imperialists, and in truth the Indian empire spanned the entire universe.
The moderate element among these crazies are the ones who usually try to find such contrived etymological similarieties with other religions, thereby showing their respect and acceptance of them. Of course what it really amounts to is saying that nobody but us knows anything and everything in the world was disovered and taught by Hindus.

I am a very interfaith person (I don't even consider myself very much a Hindu anymore) and I love to discover where the teachings of different faiths dovetail. But the purpose is to learn new things from the each, not to prove that one is superior to the other.

 

wikipedia says stephen knapp is a member of iskcon so we can conclude all of what he says is twisted

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Knapp

 

Hmm, btw I didnt write the above stuff or agree with it. It was discussed quite heatedly on another forum and I was interested in the opinions of you guys here. The replies were quite useful to me because I do not understand a word of Sanskrit and have never heard of iskcon. So people indicating the errors was enlightening to me.

 

iskcon is the international society for krishna consciousness or the hare krishnas

slaughtering stone elephants

steven knapp does expose the extreme brutality of the moslem invaders, they even slaughtered stone elephants, am not quite sure though when you know a stone elephant is dead and not severely dislocated?

 

Hare Krishna!

Quote:
Originally Posted by philuk
Other Christian links with Sanskrit words can be found in the name Bethlehem, which is the English mispronunciation of the Sanskrit Vatsaldham, which means “the home (town) of the darling child.”

From dear BBB...
Some mispronunciation. Wonder if the Jews mispronounce it too?
Really this is all useless stuff and nonsense.
......


Surely all useless stuff and utter nonsense. Over-enthusiastic approach to find similarities and to say that things propagated from the East.......Bogus.

Kumar.

____

 

Hare Krishna!

From Bhaskar
.........
I've read similar things by Hindu rightwingers who claim that Hinduism is the source of everything in the world. I've met characters who insisted that all history is a fabrication of western imperialists, and in truth the Indian empire spanned the entire universe.
The moderate element among these crazies are the ones who usually try to find such contrived etymological similarieties with other religions, thereby showing their respect and acceptance of them. Of course what it really amounts to is saying that nobody but us knows anything and everything in the world was disovered and taught by Hindus.

I am a very interfaith person (I don't even consider myself very much a Hindu anymore) and I love to discover where the teachings of different faiths dovetail. But the purpose is to learn new things from the each, not to prove that one is superior to the other.



That's it, Bhaskar. Signs of a Jnani purush, very much appreciate your views.

Love.
Kumar.

 

most of these loopy ideas of a blade of grass not moving unless it is linked to vedic culture was pioneered by a chap named p. n. oak

bhaktivedanta, the founder of iskcon was into oak's ideas and wove them into his teachings and thus his followers such as knapp also carrying on this tradition

 

Hari Om!

Glad you agree, although I am no jnani.

 

Well said my friend! I agree with GDK - this is the true attitude - to learn what we can from whatever traditions we can. The whole notion of competition between religions must surely be one of the greatest absurdities on this planet.

I'll just add though that this article totally overlooks the whole area of the ancient Hebrew language, and the many esoteric traditions such as the Quabbala which are closely associated with it.

 

knapp covers it elsewhere on the relationship between hebrews and the vedas

"Stephen Knapp seeks a connection between Yadavas and Jews. The Greeks referred to the Jews as Judeos, or Jah deos or Yadavas, meaning people of Ya or descendants of Yadu, one of the sons of Yayati. It is also regarded that the basis of the Kabbalah, the book of Jewish mystical concepts, as described in The Holy Kabbalah by Arthur Edward Waite, is linked with Kapila Muni, the Indian sage and incarnation of Krishna who established the analytical sankhya-yoga philosophy. Therefore, a connection between the early Jews and ancient Vedic culture is evident."

http://www.yadavnetwork.com/

 

You know, it is possible to find shiva or even vishnu images in pre-christian italy. There was alot of trade going from India and china to Rome and its provinces at this time. They bought alot images and sculptures as well as alot of spices and silk. There was a recent discovery in norway(?) where they found a carved buddha (possibly from India) . It shows that there was some trade going on, it doesn't prove the existence of an ancient hindu empire.

 

I agree. Also, the Romans, and esp. the later Romans, were into many diverse and different types of religious cult. Even the actual forms of the gods of Rome was imported from Greece. So it's no surprise at all that atifacts from many parts of the world should be found in Roman sites.

On the Norway Buddha - it is not impossible that Vikings may have had trade with Asia - they certainly explored northern Asia.

 

Personally I think this sort of stuff is going nowhere.
I'd say the roots of early Judaism can be found in Mesapotamia and Egypt - there seems to be very little connection with Hinduism, other than in the minds of Hindu supremacists.

 

It is interesting however, to see the similarities in languages and how they evolved. One of the earliest known cities, is a Mesopotamian settlement called Ur, which happens to be the Tamil word for city. Perhaps there is some ancient common instinct within us that guides our minds and tongues.

 

this is the essential point, not that the beliefs or ideas came from india but from the universal deeper consciousness

this image of what knapp chooses to call a shiva lingam that he says is from the vatican, http://www.stephen-knapp.com/art_photo_fourteen.htm could as well be an egg or simply a penis and so why does it have to be indian but a universal symbol of life that ancient people have chosen to honor or worship is some form

 

i disagree, would make a good action movie with indiana jones

 

Perhaps it goes back to a pre-historic epoch. But in general, Sanskrit is part of the indo-european group of languages.Most likely, they evolved from a language spoken in central Asia and Russia 10-15,ooo years ago.
Semitic languages such as Hebrew, Aramaic (as spoken by Jesus) and Hebrew come from different roots.