Barry Brown’s book unifies religions as a single path of human perception
Toronto, Mar 19 (Medium): Toronto based Jewish author Barry Brown, a Pulitzer Prize-nominated Canadian journalist and author of “Humanity: The World Before Religion, War & Inequality” was present at Gore Temple, Brampton, Ontario earlier this week to speak about his book.
Barry Brown holding his book
‘Humanity: The World before Religion, War & Inequality’ is the result of more than 8 years of research. During his research, Brown discovered there is no fossil or archaeological evidence of organized human war anywhere on Earth before about 6000 years ago.
Brown said India’s epic Battle of Kurukshetra, which happened nearly 6,000 years ago, was humanity’s first full-scale war. As described in the Mahabharata, the war claimed the lives of four million warriors. The war story concludes the tales of the Mahabharata and afterwards Ancient India’s history vanishes for 2,500 years until the time of Buddha (c 600 BC).
Brown told the audience that as a young man he spent 3 years as a brahmachari in the Hare Krishna temples in Vancouver (B.C.) and Toronto where he studied the Vedas and was initiated as a brahman.
He began his investigation into the historic and family ties between the Jewish and Hindu people after reading that the famous Greek philosopher Aristotle said the Jewish people were descended from the brahman priests of Ancient India.
To investigate Aristotle’s claim, Brown first turned to the Jewish Bible. According to the Bible, human civilization began in the Garden of Eden and Eden was located in the eastern most part of the larger land called Havilah.
Brown then turned to the 20-volume, 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia where he discovered that more than 2,000 years of Jewish and Christian traditions have identified Havilah as India.
He then realized the 6,000 year old Biblical tale of humanity’s exile from Eden and Ancient India’s story of the Kurukshetra War, refer to the same event — the end of the world before war.
This catastrophic war of 6,000 years ago was memorialized when the ancestors of the Jewish people started a new calendar to mark the time when Adam and Eve were banished from Eden and the world of warfare began.
From his study of Indian and Jewish genetics he found common family ties between the Jewish tribe of born priests called Levites and many branches of Hindu brahmans including the Yadavas.
According to the Bible, the ancestors of the modern Jewish people were called the Hebrews. The word “Hebrew” means “homeless wanderers from the East” and Brown discovered this referred to the time when the Indo-Semitic Hebrew people migrated to Mesopotamia, Europe and Northeast Africa from the Indus River Valley at the time of its collapse from climate change c 2000 BC. That event was the source of the Bible’s story of Noah, he explained.
The Ancient Israelites and their line of born priests called the Levites, like India’s Brahmans, are identified by ancient family ties. The Levites are members of the family of Moses and his brother Aaron (c 1300 BC).
Dr. Lalji Singh, Vice-Chancellor of India’s Hindu University (Banaras) and a leader in India’s genetic research program told Brown that his study of the Jewish population of India revealed that their maternal and paternal gene pool is linked with the people of West- Eurasia. This hypothesis is further supported by the literary evidence, Singh added.
Then followed the question and answer period with the audience.
Q1: Can you distinguish between the symbol of Swastika of Hindu religion in India and that of the swastika symbol used by Nazis in Germany?
A1: Swastika in Hindu religion is known most widely as an important symbol denoting “auspiciousness.” Taken from Sanskrit language, Swastika literally means to be good and hence its usage in all holy practices. It is also considered to bring good luck. Some scriptures considered this symbol as representing Brahma, the creator.
But different religions have different religious beliefs. Unfortunately, the Nazis of German nationalist movements saw the swastika as the Germans’ link to the Aryan master race and a symbol of Aryan identity it soon became associated with the idea of hatred.
Q2: Where did the Swastika symbol originate?
A: In the prehistoric times, one of the ways to transcribe and preserve history was inscription on caves. During my research I noticed that no image of human conflict was found on these caves. The Swastik symbol was not there. The oldest symbol of Swastika was uncovered in Ukraine, a country in Eastern Europe, carved on an ivory figurine which dates back an incredible 12,000 years ago.
Following questions were asked during the Medium exclusive questions and answer Session:
Q1. What lessons do you think all this history has for the modern world?
A1: Members of the Jewish, Christian as well as Muslim communities have praised this book.
“I don’t know if you’re right but you’ll change history if you are,” Yaen Vered, Canadian Representative Israeli Antiquities Authority.
“Barry, you’ve discovered the Rosetta Stone for understanding early Biblical history,” John J. Mastandrea, Metropolitan United Church, Toronto
“Congratulations on this masterpiece of research,” Dr. Abdul Hai Patel, Ontario Multifaith Council.
India’s Consul General in Toronto, Ontario, Dinesh Bhatia, is one of the enthusiastic readers of Brown’s book.
“India’s Ancient history ends with the great war more than 5,000 years ago. Your book is fascinating because it explains what happened after the Mahabharata,” said Bhatia.
After the war story, the record of India’s ancient history is lost for 2,500 years until the arrival of the Buddha around 600 BC so this revelation of what happened after the war is “very exciting,” he said.
I did not get any negative comment till now. Everybody liked this book. Even a 10- year old girl read this and wanted to read this again.
Q2. The Bible is a sacred book to both the Jewish and Christian communities. How have they responded to your research?
A. Being an investigative journalist, I make cold calls to find out about the reactions to my book.
I made a cold call to a distinguished Jewish rabbi in Toronto. After introducing my self and my book I told him about Aristotle’s assertion that ‘the Jewish people had descended from the Brahman priests of India.
The rabbi reacted by saying that nobody knows from where Hebrews came from. Brown asked if he could continue explaining his findings. The rabbi agreed to listen and seven minutes later his reply was, “Send in your book; it could be of great interest to our adult education class.”
My book does not tear down what people believe; rather it gives a new way to broaden our understanding from the historical point of view and how humanity was one family.
Humanity is the first book to examine history as the two-part story of a single human family. The first part tells how a human civilization of travel, trade and language thrived for 3 million years or 99.9% of history before the first war. The second begins 6,000 years ago looks at the divisions created by the first war and follows its consequences to the modern world.
“You have created a very convincing map of the general unity of religions from Hinduism to Judaism to Christianity and Islam as a single path of human perception. This is absolutely brilliant.” Said Dr. Mayank Vahia, Astrophysicist Tata Institute for Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India
(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)