Once it is understood that the word Asherah is a Hebrew transliteration of the Sanskrit Asura, then we can see a thumbnail history of the Jewish patriarch's "hostile takeover" of the religion of their fathers in the accounts of the patriarchs destroying the Asherah shrines and the pillars.  And of course, we connect the destruction of the Asherah shrines with the destruction of the original vegetarian covenant of Gen. 1: 29, and the rewriting of the dietary covenant in Gen. 9: 2-3
 
 

   The supposedly divine commentary in the following scriptures, that is, the voice of Deity, is not the voice of the Divine at all, but the voice of greedy patriarchs rewriting the scriptures and promoting a God of brutality, ignorance and disease, a god of carnivorism, slavery, sexism against women, bigotry against homosexuals.  The history portrayed below shows not an evolution, but a devolution, or, as the word has been cleverly respelled: devilution.  Here the fabricated god of orthodox Judaism is shown as desiring the brutality, and the fear and dread involved for creatures in the institution of animal sacrifices, as well as the disease-promoting diet of carnivorism.

     This fabrication of such a god promoting brutality and disease, also, of course, is one which puts money into the purses of the Hebrew patriarchs who were cattlemen.
 

   Asherah or Asura to the Hindus in the earliest days of the Vedas meant the Almighty, as Margaret Stutley explains in her Hinduism, not demon, which it came to mean later. The word Asherah meant both God Almighty as well as God's shrines. So in "Deuteronomy" and "Kings" and other books we see that the Asherah have been destroyed, and the vegetarians worshipping there have been scattered and killed, these vegetarian tribes now being spoken of as enemies who must be destroyed, rather than as friendly tribes.

    One may see a parallel between the way in which the word Asura was originally regarded as positive, and then later negative, and the way in which the promised land of milk and honey, Canaan, was regarded.  Originally Canaan was seen as a sanctuary for the Israelites leaving behind the tribulations of being slaves in Egypt.  Later, however, after the hostile elimination and dispersal of the pure remnant Jews worshipping at the Asherah shrines, the scriptures were rewritten to portray Canaan as a land of hostile tribes.  Why?  Canaan was named after Kannan who is Krishna or Vishnu, the champion of vegetarianism in the Bhagavadgita and Mahabharata, who, like Shiva, was also known as Pasupati, the compassionate Lord of Creatures who forbid animal sacrifices.
 
 

    Poles and pillars, as is evident in "Genesis," the first book of the Pentateuch, were erected to the original Jewish Deity, Shiva, or Saba.  The name of Shiva, aka Siva, Seba, Sheba, Saba, is seen in the ancient Hebrew word for pillar, masseva, or matseba, as well as in the word Sabbath (English), Shabbath (ancient Hebrew), as well as in the Sabaoth, the name of the military Lord of Hosts that rescues the fleeing Israelites from the pursuing Egyptians.  A name for the Jewish academy or higher school of learning is called Yeshiva, which contains the name of Shiva in an untransliterated form, the Ye being a form of Yah or Jah.  And the feast days, T' ub shevat, the Feast of Trees, and Shavu ot, the Jewish Feast of Weeks and the Christian Pentecost, both contain a form of the Shiva root.  Among the Hindus Shiva is known as Lord of the Trees, and one of his divine attributes is the emission of tongues of flame or fire.  Pillars were erected to Shiva throughout the ancient world, from the area called the Holy Land to the Yucatan and Turtle Island, where easily recognized names of Shiva were also invoked by the  indigenous.

   When reading the following entrees showing the word Asherah, keep in mind the original vegetarian covenant, and the fact that the name Asura, or Asherah, originally simply meant Deity or Almighty God, not only to Hindus, but to the original Jews following that covenant.

Instead, you must break down their pagan altars and shatter their sacred pillars. Cut down their Asherah poles and burn their idols. De 7: 5.

Break down their altars and smash their sacred pillars. Burn their Asherah poles and cut down their carved idols. Erase the names of their gods from those places!   De 12:3

  "You must never set up an Asherah pole beside the altar of the LORD your God.  De 16:21

  The Israelites did what was evil in the LORD's sight. They forgot about the LORD their God, and they worshiped the images of Baal and the Asherah poles.  Jud 3:7

 Pull down your father's altar to Baal, and cut down the Asherah pole standing beside it. Jud 6:25

   Baal is a name shared by Shiva and Krishna both, e.g. Bala, Balarama. Originally Baal was an ancient Hebrew name for master and even for Deity. Then after the takeover being described in these scriptures, it was used to mean a demon or the name of an idol.
 
 

  Then build an altar to the LORD your God here on this hill, laying the stones carefully. Sacrifice the bull as a burnt offering on the altar, using as fuel the wood of the Asherah pole you cut down."  Jud 6:26

  Early the next morning, as the people of the town began to stir, someone discovered that the altar of Baal had been knocked down and that the Asherah pole beside it was gone. In their place a new altar had been built, and it had the remains of a sacrifice on it.   Jud 6:28

 "Bring out your son," they shouted to Joash. "He must die for destroying the altar of Baal and for cutting down the Asherah pole." Jud 6:30

They built pagan shrines and set up sacred pillars and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree.  1Ki 14:23

  He even deposed his grandmother Maacah from her position as queen mother because she had made an obscene Asherah pole. He cut down the pole and burned it in the Kidron Valley.  1Ki 15:13

 Then he set up an Asherah pole. He did more to arouse the anger of the LORD, the God of Israel, than any of the other kings of Israel before him.  1Ki 16:33

 Then the LORD will shake Israel like a reed whipped about in a stream. He will uproot the people of Israel from this good land that he gave their ancestors and will scatter them beyond the Euphrates River, for they have angered the LORD by worshiping Asherah poles.  1Ki 14:15

 Now bring all the people of Israel to Mount Carmel, with all 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah, who are supported by Jezebel." 1Ki 18:19

 But they continued to sin, following the evil example of Jeroboam. They even set up an Asherah pole in Samaria.  2Ki 13:6

  They set up sacred pillars and Asherah poles at the top of every hill and under every green tree.   2Ki 17:10

   As we shall see in another chapter, the fact that Moses made the Nehustan, and Aaron the golden calf, are remnants of the original vegetarian Bible with its Hindu iconography.

 They defied all the commands of the LORD their God and made two calves from metal. They set up an Asherah pole and worshiped Baal and all the forces of heaven.  2Ki 17:16

   One of the not so mysterious mysteries of the Bible is why Moses, the great liberator and patriarch of the Israelites, would forge a pagan idol, the Nehustan.  This fact is never explained in the entirety of the Torah or Old Testament, perhaps because scholars were aware that the Nehustan was part of the Hindu iconography, and represented the healing Kundalini Serpent Power of Shiva, Lord of Yoga.  And in the following passage, when Hezekiah destroys the Nehushtan, the Nehustan is therefore contextually connected ideologically with the worship of the Asherah.

  He removed the pagan shrines, smashed the sacred pillars, and knocked down the Asherah poles. He broke up the bronze serpent that Moses had made, because the people of Israel had begun to worship it by burning incense to it. The bronze serpent was called Nehushtan. 2Ki 18:4

COMMENTARY: The fact that Moses himself made a bronze serpent (which to him was an emblem of the spiritual fire of his God, Sheba, or Shiva) is one of the great embarrassments to orthodox Jews. So too, to those who truly realize that Aaron was a chosen minister of the Most High,  is the fact that Aaron built the golden calf. Remember, both these men were prominent in the liberation of the Israelites from Egypt and both were presented as participating intimately in Deity's miracles. It is totally illogical only from an orthodox Jewish point of view that either of them would have made Hindu icons, yet they did..  The fact is, both Moses and Aaron were following the original vegetarian religion of their fathers, seen in the vegetarian covenant of Genesis 1: 29, in the Nehushtan representing the healing kundalini serpent power of Shiva, the Lord of Yoga, and the compassionate Lord of Creatures, and in the golden calf, representing the sacred cow, worshipped by Hindus and the original Jews.
 

 
2Ch 24:18   They decided to abandon the Temple of the LORD, the God of their ancestors, and they worshiped Asherah poles and idols instead! Then the anger of God burned against Judah and Jerusalem because of their sin.

He rebuilt the pagan shrines his father, Hezekiah, had destroyed. He constructed altars for Baal and set up an Asherah pole, just as King Ahab of Israel had done. He also bowed before all the forces of heaven and worshiped them.  2Ki 21:3

2Ch 15:16   King Asa even deposed his grandmother Maacah from her position as queen mother because she had made an obscene Asherah pole. He cut down the pole, broke it up, and burned it in the Kidron Valley.

Jer 17:2   Even their children go to worship at their sacred altars and Asherah poles, beneath every green tree and on every high hill.
 

 Manasseh even took an Asherah pole he had made and set it up in the Temple, the very place where the LORD had told David and his son Solomon: "My name will be honored here forever in this Temple and in Jerusalem - the city I have chosen from among all the other tribes of Israel.    2Ki 21:7

Then the king instructed Hilkiah the high priest and the leading priests and the Temple gatekeepers to remove from the LORD's Temple all the utensils that were used to worship Baal, Asherah, and all the forces of heaven. The king had all these things burned outside Jerusalem on the terraces of the Kidron Valley, and he carried the ashes away to Bethel. 2Ki 23:4

2Ki 23:6 The king removed the Asherah pole from the LORD's Temple and took it outside Jerusalem to the Kidron Valley, where he burned it. Then he ground the pole to dust and threw the dust in the public cemetery.

2Ki 23:7 He also tore down the houses of the shrine prostitutes that were inside the Temple of the LORD, where the women wove coverings for the Asherah pole.

   One may conjecture that Asherim, the plural of asherah, is historically related to the ashrams of Hindus and Buddhists today, who are involved in meditation, teaching and prayer.

2Ki 23:14   He smashed the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherah poles. Then he desecrated these places by scattering human bones over them.

2Ki 23:15   The king also tore down the altar at Bethel, the pagan shrine that Jeroboam son of Nebat had made when he led Israel into sin. Josiah crushed the stones to dust and burned the Asherah pole.

2Ch 14:3 He removed the pagan altars and the shrines. He smashed the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherah poles.

2Ch 17:6   He was committed to the ways of the LORD. He knocked down the pagan shrines and destroyed the Asherah poles.

2Ch 19:3   There is some good in you, however, for you have removed the Asherah poles throughout the land, and you have committed yourself to seeking God."

    The people of Judah, like the people of Samaria, worshipped the sacred calf or cow, just as did the Hindus. The word Judah itself is derived from Hoduwe, which in ancient Hebrew means Hindustan.  As one can see the overthrow of original Judaism was met with opposition in a number of places.

2Ch 31:1   Now when the festival ended, the Israelites who attended went to all the towns of Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh, and they smashed the sacred pillars, cut down the Asherah poles, and removed the pagan shrines and altars. After this, the Israelites returned to their own towns and homes.

2Ch 33:3   He rebuilt the pagan shrines his father Hezekiah had destroyed. He constructed altars for the images of Baal and set up Asherah poles. He also bowed before all the stars of heaven and worshiped them.

2Ch 33:19   Manasseh's prayer, the account of the way God answered him, and an account of all his sins and unfaithfulness are recorded in The Record of the Seers. It includes a list of the locations where he built pagan shrines and set up Asherah poles and idols before he repented.

2Ch 34:3   During the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, Josiah began to seek the God of his ancestor David. Then in the twelfth year, he began to purify Judah and Jerusalem, destroying all the pagan shrines, the Asherah poles, and the carved idols and cast images.

2Ch 34:4   He saw to it that the altars for the images of Baal and their incense altars were torn down. He also made sure that the Asherah poles, the carved idols, and the cast images were smashed and scattered over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.

2Ch 34:7  He destroyed the pagan altars and the Asherah poles, and he crushed the idols into dust. He cut down the incense altars throughout the land of Israel and then returned to Jerusalem

Isa 17:8   They will no longer ask their idols for help or worship what their own hands have made. They will never again bow down to their Asherah poles or burn incense on the altars they built.

Isa 27:9  The LORD did this to purge away Israel's sin. When he has finished, all the pagan altars will be crushed to dust. There won't be an Asherah pole or incense altar left standing.

Mic 5:14  I will abolish your pagan shrines with their Asherah poles and destroy the cities where your idol temples stand.
 

   Asher is the daughter of Jacob by Zillah, Leah's servant.  The fact that Jacob names his daughter after a Hindu deity, the Asherah or Asura, is irrefutable proof that the patriarchs themselves were Hindus in the soil of Canaan and Palestine. The name Asher is explained by Catholic commentators by the term beoshiri, i.e. what good fortune, and by Ishsheruni, they call me fortunate. Ishsheruni has the Ish prefix meaning divine, ish being related to the Isa, Isana and Ishvara names of Shiva. Asher means happy in ancient Hebrew, and is another form of the Egyptian Aussur, or Osiris, who, even in Egypt, in his aspect of Unefer, the sacred hare, is a Deity honoring vegetarian offerings.
 

    Osiris is the Greek name for the Egyptian Ausur.  The account of Osiris, or Ausur,  given in the vignettes or pictures in the pyramids is the story of the breaking of the body of the Asura, by breaking up the original scriptures. The fact that Isis finds each piece of Osiris' body, and that the phallus (lingam or pillar) is the last to be found, signified that when one had recovered all the fragments of the original body of scriptures, the phallus / lingam / pillar symbolized that it was the tradition of Shiva, which was true.

   In the pyramid vignettes, seen in the Book of the Dead, or the Book of Awakening, which I will deal with in more detail in a later study, we can nonetheless see that lions, the symbol of carnivorism, are connected with negativity, and that one must go beyond their influence in order to develop spiritually

   In the Egyptian pantheon, Shu is the father of Geb, or Seb, Lord of the Earth, and Seb may be seen as a form of Seba, or Shiva. Pillars were erected to Shu, the father sky god, just as they were to his son Seb.

   There is no need to enter in the controversy over the comparative antiquities of Sumeria, Egypt and India, and to argue which culture came first.  There is sufficient agreement among numerous scholars who agree with the fact that the Vedic culture was universal at the time Judaism arose, and that, though it contained numerous deities in its pantheon, the main deity worshipped at that time was Shiva.