None of the four traditional gospels give much background on Judas Iscariot. In all four, he is introduced as one of the twelve disciples and the one who will eventually betray Jesus. As the gospels relate, Judas eventually strikes a bargain with the priests of Jerusalem: to lead them to his Master Jesus and hand him over, all in return for 30 pieces of silver.

In the famous scene, Judas arrives at the resting place of Jesus and the other disciples, leading a great multitude of priests, scribes, elders, and soldiers. As a means of identifying Jesus to the assembled authorities, Judas approaches and greets Jesus with a kiss.

After Jesus is seized and condemned, Judas attempts to return the money to the priests, and then, as one Gospel relates, he hangs himself.

It is on these foundations, then, that history has called Judas Iscariot a traitor. The story has been fleshed out in paintings, commentaries, and films, where Judas is often depicted as cowardly, weak, or greedy—incapable of grasping the true message of Jesus as the other disciples can.

However, even though it has historically been mocked and suppressed, there is another perspective on the role and character of Judas Iscariot that has recently started to re-surface.

[Based on: The Spiritual Notebook, by Paul Twitchell, 10th printing 1983, p. 192]

A.D. - Mahanta Conscousness / Jesus? - "jee'-suhs-  An ECK chela under Zadok, the ECK Master in Judea, who gave him the basic fundamentals of ECKANKAR, and out of this knowledge came what is known today as Christianity; the Mahanta Consciousness as the vehicle for the SUGMAD as IT appeared to the Christians. See MAHANTA."

[Based on: Eckankar Dictionary, by Paul Twitchell [d. 1971] (Copyright 1973 by Gail A. Twitchell), Third Printing 1978, p. 72] - [Note: Later revised definitions (found in Eckankar Dictionary & Eckankar Lexicon) omit the words "the Mahanta Consciousness", etc.]

500 B.C. - "Athena was one of the earliest followers of ECKANKAR. She is considered a legend belonging to Greek mythology, but she was, nevertheless, a flesh and blood woman who had much of the power of ECK in her grasp, although she was not an ECK Master."

[Based on: The Spiritual Notebook, by Paul Twitchell, 10th printing 1983, p. 191]

[Based on: The Spiritual Notebook, by Paul Twitchell, 10th printing 1983, p. 189]

*Trivia: "Shiv Sena. SHEEV SEH-nah The Living ECK Master who followed Moraji Desal; the Hindu who inspired Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, opened up the Red Sea, and advised Moses to go to the mountain where the Ten Commandments were revealed; He is now on the Fifth Plane working under the deity Sat Nam."

[Based on: A Cosmic Sea of Words - The Eckankar Lexicon, by Harold Klemp (Copyright 1998), p. 190]
 

2,067 B.C. - ECK Master Moraji Desal - MORAJI DESAL moh-rah-jee deh-sahl "The Living ECK Master who followed Gopal Das, and helped to write the Hammurabic Code of Laws around 2067-2025 B.C. during the time of Abraham."

[Based on: Eckankar Dictionary, by Paul Twitchell [d. 1971] (Copyright 1973), Sixth Printing 1986, p. 99]

*Trivia: "Moraji Desal. moh-RAH-jee deh-Sahl The Living ECK Master who followed Gopal Das and helped to write the Hammurabic Code of Laws.

[Based on: A Cosmic Sea of Words - The Eckankar Lexicon, by Harold Klemp (Copyright 1998), p. 141]

*Trivia: "As with any dates from the early 2nd millennium BC, the dates of Hammurabi's life are highly uncertain and subject to wide disagreement among various sources, However, according to the middle chronology, Hammurabi was born around 1810 BC and reigned over the Babylonian Empire from 1792 BC until his death in 1750 BC (corresponding to 1728-1686 BC short chronology). [....]"

[Based on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammurabi] - [T.D. - November 2006]

3,000 B.C. - ECK Master Gopal Das- "Gopal Das, great ECK Master and guardian of the Temple of Golden Wisdom on the astral plane, lived in Egypt in 3000 B.C., when the Pyramids were being built by the Pharoahs at Sakkara. He founded the mystery cults of Osiris and Isis."

[Based on: The Spiritual Notebook, by Paul Twitchell, 10th printing 1983, p. 188]

*Trivia: "Gopal Das. GOH-pahl DAHS The Mahanta, the Living ECK Master in Egypt, 3000 B.C., who founded the mystery cults of Osiris and Isis; the guardian of the fourth section of the Shariyat-Ki-Sugmad on the Astral Plane; he teaches at the Temple of Golden Wisdom there.

[Based on: A Cosmic Sea of Words: The ECKANKAR Lexicon, By Harold Klemp] http://www.eckankar.org/Masters/Gopal/ - [T.D. - November 2006]

*Trivia: "[....] It is well known that the Egyptians had a system of astronomical calculations some 50,000 years before Alexander the Great, which set off dates, months and years by mathematical numbers. This was the duo-decimal system, or method of reckoning by 12 in common use. It is by the use of this system in the construction of the pyramids, that the origin of the English foot of 12 inches has been traced. Among the early races the decimal system or reckoning by 10, was esoteric and known only to the higher initiates. [NP] Much of the system which was in early use during these times was due to the efforts of Gopal Das who was the living ECK Master during these times. He introduced a simple system which was considered the duo-decimal system which is the reckoning by 12 in common use. The priestcraft tried to withold it from the public, but he was able to give out enough information especially among the ECK disciples of his times, and gradually in the centuries that followed it became better known and eventually found favor in public education. [NP] Naturally in the early days of man the decimal system was held sacred because the esoteric leaders thought it was received from the higher powers. [NP] We know the decimal system was used by mankind of the earliest archaic ages, since the whole astronomical and geometrical portion of the secret sacerdotal language was built upon the number 10, or the combination of the male and female principles. The 10, being the sacred number of the universe, was secret and esoteric, both as regards the unit and cipher, or zero, the circle. [....]"

[Based on: THE ECK-VIDYA, ANCIENT SCIENCE OF PROPHECY, by Paul Twitchell [d. 1971] Copyright 1972 by ECKANKAR, Sixth Printing 1982, p. 132] - [My brackets. NP = New Paragraph - D.R.D.]

The name Judas itself bears a kind of a stigma which burns within us. He who betrayed the ‘’Son of God ‘’ with a kiss has become the most despised person in the annals of human history. And yet, we may be despising someone that may have never even existed. His personality is the darkest on the chronicle of the world. And in this passage, we see the blackness of Judas contrasted with the absolute pure whiteness of Jesus Christ. Jesus and Judas come head to head at this point, the deed which has been festering in the heart of Judas, and which he has begun to perpetrate is now pushed to its climax and Judas is exposed as the betrayer.

Jesus and Judas, the epitomes of opposites. The Perfect One and the absolutely imperfect. The best and the worst. The absolutely perfect and the absolutely wretched. Jesus and Judas. And by contrast here the purity of Jesus, and the vileness of Judas become very, very obvious.

Israeli archeologists have discovered the family tomb of Caiaphas, the Jewish High Priest who presided at the trial of Jesus and delivered Him to the Romans to be crucified.

Buried in an ancient cave on the outskirts of Jerusalem, the family's bones were sealed in ornate and elaborately carved ossuaries, ceremonial boxes used widely by the Jews of the late first century.

Archeologists say no comparable evidence exists for the remains of any other such major figure mentioned in the New Testament. And after 2,000 years, the presence of Caiaphas's bones in the tomb cannot be finally verified either. But the age of the bones, the inscriptions on the ossuaries and the artifacts that surrounded them all point directly toward his influential family.

One of history's most reviled and enigmatic men, Caiaphas has often been portrayed by historians as malevolent, mad for power and blindly eager to please Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor. The Gospel describes Caiaphas's condemnation of Jesus in John 11:49-50: "Ye know nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people and that the whole nation perish not."
Like many such discoveries, this one came by accident, when workers widening a road in Jerusalem's Peace Forest in 1990 stumbled across an unusually large burial site.

Although it has been nearly two years since the site was uncovered, researchers have taken until now to assure themselves through the writing on the walls of the tomb and artifacts found with the bones that the remains were indeed those of the priestly family.