The Church of Christ

(Based on the Word of God; dedicated to the promotion of independence, Indianisation, unity, co-operation, and to the removal of corruption and evil in all forms and in all places.)

Gospel

Word of God - Good News

    God so loved the world that he gave his
    Only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him
    Should not
    Perish but have
    Everlasting
    Life.

— John 3:16 A.V.

In the midst of violence, hatred, enmity, aggression, sorrow, want, tragedy and death we dare wish all followers of Christ the world over

A VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND A BRIGHTER NEW YEAR!

If Jesus Came to Your House

    If Jesus came to your house to spend a day or two
    If He came unexpectedly, I wonder what you would do.
    Oh, I know you'd give your nicest room to such an honoured guest
    And all the food you would serve to Him would be the very best.
    And you would keep assuring Him you were glad to have Him there -
    That serving Him in your own home is joy beyond compare.
    But - when you saw Him coming, would you meet Him at the door
    With arms outstretched in welcome to your heavenly visitor?
    Or would you have to change your clothes before you let Him in,
    Or hide some magazine and put the Bible where they had been?
    Would you turn off the radio and hope He had not heard,
    And wish you had not uttered that last loud, hasty word?
    Would you hide your worldly books and put some hymn books out?
    Could you let Jesus walk right in, or would you rush about?
    And I wonder if the Saviour spent a day or two with you,
    Would you go right on doing the things you always do?
    Would you keep right on saying things you always say?
    Would life for you continue as it does from day to day?
    Would your family conversation keep up its usual pace,
    And would you find it hard each meal to say a table grace?
    Would you sing the songs you always sing and read the books you read
    And gladly show the things on which your mind and spirit feed?
    Would you take Jesus with you everywhere you had planned to go
    Or would you have to change plans for just a day or so?
    Would you be glad to have Him meet your very closest friends.
    Or would you hope they stay away until His visit end?
    Would you be glad to have Him stay forever on and on,
    Or would you sigh with great relief when He at last is gone?
    It might be interesting to know the things that you would do
    If Jesus Christ in Person came to spend some time with YOU.
    If Jesus came to your house, Christian, are you not aware
    That by the Holy Spirit He is already there?
    Your body is His temple, your yielded heart His throne,
    Your deeds and words and motives - all to Him are known.
    Obey His Word and Spirit; to grieve Him is a sin,
    Oh, recognise God's presence, praise Him, HE LIVES WITHIN.

The Evangelical Christian.
Reproduced from the "Good Samaritan" dated May 1966, The Ashram Review.

A Layman’s Soliloquy on the Galilean Theological College

By S. Anchi, Belgaum

1. When Jesus Christ walked up and down the dusty roads of Palestine in the Middle East nineteen centuries ago, He founded a mobile Theological College with its Headquarters at Galilee, the aims and objects of which … His Virgin Birth, His Vicarious Death and His Victory over Death … were calligraphed on its facade and portal in indelible characters intelligible enough to be deciphered by any man of mediocre intellect.

2. The Galilean Theological College had its own Prospectus, Curriculum, Syllabus and Disciplinary Rules and Regulations quite in contrast, from Alpha to Omega (A to Z), with those of the Pharisaic and Sadducean Theological Colleges that were already affiliated to the Sanhedrin University. The Sanhedrin Syndicate was, therefore, not inclined to extend recognition to the Galilean College and accord assent to its affiliation to the University, in flagrant disregard to the Syndicate … Nicodemus, Gamaiel and Joseph of Arimathaea whose pro-Galilean voices were drowned in the din of Caiaphasism. The Chancellor of the Sanhedrin University, Caiaphas, was of the opinion that the Galilean College was a misnomer for an open-air lunatic asylum for Fishermen, Publicans and Harlots whose antecedent disrepute was a requisite qualification and condition precedent for entering into the Kingdom of God as envisaged by the itinerant pseudo-Theologian of Galilee whose eccentricities and oddities led astray the crowd a long way to the point of no return.

3. The Galilean Theological College, with never a thought as to its averse circumstance and environment, carried on its own programme, independent of the Sanhedrin University to the chagrin of its Chancellor.

4. A small group of Twelve Novices in the first instance, and another group of Seventy on another occasion, graduated themselves in the Galilean Theological College. They had the Privilege of hearing the Convocation Addresses, the complete Texts of which can be found in the Gospels of (1) Matthew 10, and (2) Luke 10:1-22, respectively. If the modern day Theological Colleges and Seminaries claim to be the counterparts of the Galilean College, then their Convocation Addresses must necessarily be reconciled as to bringing them in conformity with those quoted in the above chapters, with a view to avoid the possibility of giving rise to the general grievances that their Convocation Addresses sometimes lean too much on the side of social and complimentary gospel.

5. The Galilean College within a short space of three and a half years ascended to the apex of its glory and was at the apogee of its power not only at Galilee but also in practically the whole of four provinces of Judaea. It lost no time in exposing the Pharisaic and Sadducean College of their unwearing boast of their hoary religious irradations and spurious religiosity and over scrupulosity masquerading as spirituality. Moreover, being past masters in mercenary greed, they traded on the credulity of their followers with sheer fabrications, and thinking that religion should yield rich dividends they undertook the management of spiritual affairs of their followers as a method of bettering their own temporal ones. To put it in a nutshell their policy consisted in serving God in such a manner as not to offend the Devil. It is no wonder that the wrath of the Galilean College was kindled against such malpractices especially when such evil was perpetuated in the name of religion which had out-lived its utility and stood in urgent need of complete change, lock, stock and barrel.

6. The Chancellor of the Sanhedrin University was exasperated to see how the Galilean College, with its propaganda, had brought the Pharisaic and Sadducean Colleges into disrepute and contempt in the estimation of the public. His wounded vanity, mixed with fear, told him that not only his line of business on which his high standard of living depended will be discredited, but also his High-Priest-Hood would cease to command respect and would soon be brought down from its divine pre-eminence, unless his propaganda was gagged to fatal suffocation.

7. No sooner the Divine clock of Eternity struck the Zero hour than the Founder of the Galilean Theological College was apprehended in a shadowed garden and hauled up before the Sanhedrin Senate - a little court of sycophants, Snobs and stooges except for those like Joseph of Arimathaea - before which its Chancellor acted both as Counsel for the Prosecution and as Presiding Judge, with the results that the Prisoner was condemned to pay the extreme penalty of the Law, subject to confirmation by the Roman Procurator of Judaea. The tragic situation, thus created by mockery of justice to wreak vengeance on the Galilean Theologian, was dreary enough to daunt any other most redoubtable soul.

8. If deeper guilt can be laid at the door of one who shall be held amenable to all pains and penalties for driving Jesus to Calvary, then that one is not Judas Iscariot the treasurer - disciple of Jesus, or Pontus Pilate the Roman Procurator of Judaea, but Caiaphas the High Priest. Judas’s betrayal provided an opportunity to Caiaphas. Pilate ordered the crucifixion of Jesus for no other reason than that he could see no other way to remain Procurator of Judaea. Jesus himself said to the flabbergasted Pilate, “The deeper guilt lies with the man who handed me over to you” (John 19:11). Who handed HIM (Jesus) over to Pilate? Mark 15:1 says, “The chief Priests put Jesus in chains; then they led Him away and handed Him over to Pilate.” (NEB). It can, therefore, be safely said, without fear of exaggeration that nowadays the Sunday and Good Friday sermons are couched in a language that speaks much more of Judas’s treacherous act, and Pilate’s fear and evasion, than of the real villain of the Tragedy who was unmistakably Caiaphas, the Chancellor of the Sanhedrin University.

9. A question may necessarily arise as to why the Pharisaic and Sadducean Colleges failed? For many reasons. It would be presumptuous to attempt a detailed answer in so brief a space as this Article. Suffice it to mention here a few of the many charges against those Colleges. They converted natural simplicity of Theology into artificial complexity of Mythology. By the leaven of their teaching of men’s traditions and insincere worship, they made God’s Law null and void. Pompous rites and ceremonies were introduced, and they became more and more Babylonized. They robbed the common people of their faith in God, of their religious freedom, of their peace of mind, of their money and possessions.

10. What was the result? The Wailing Wall of Jerusalem is a standing grim relic which still speaks in unmistakable terms that due to the sins of omission and commission of the Pharisaic and Sadducean Colleges and their Alma Mater … the Sanhedrin University. God allowed the Roman legions under General Titus to lay siege and level Jerusalem and the Temple to the ground, in the year 70 A.D., as truly as He had previously allowed King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon to destroy Jerusalem and its Temple in the year 607 B.C. The chosen city of God, the heaven favoured Jerusalem, the cradle of Christianity, was reduced to ruins. Such was the punishment sent by Heaven on the first persecutors of the Founder of the Galilean Theological College, and His followers.

11. In bringing destruction upon Jerusalem and its Temple, God was making further pictures. Pictures of what? Of a greater destruction to come, very soon, possibly and probably in our own day as the signs of the times show, upon people like those Jews and for the same reasons.

12. It has already been stated that the Pharisaic and Sadducean Theological Colleges and their Alma Mater, the Sanhedrin University, converted natural simplicity of Theology into artificial complexity of Mythology, and with dire consequences. If the modern day Theological Colleges and Seminaries and their Alma Mater … by whatever name she may be called … ever contemplate to take the risk of converting natural simplicity of Christianity into artificial complexity of Churchianity, let them read the writing on the Wailing Wall of Jerusalem.

13. It is an incontrovertible fact that so long as the quantitative organisational Churchianity is willing to take the Cross and the Empty-Tomb as a flag to sail under and not willing to use them as a rudder by which to steer, it shall never be able to keep pace with the qualitative organism Christianity. Thus, there is so much of Churchianity and so little of genuine Christianity. In other words we have plenty of religion and very little of genuine Christianity. It is a very sad commentary that such Churchianity is very often confused with Christianity. We must, therefore, be in a better position to differentiate and distinguish between Christianity and Churchianity … admiring the one and despising the other.

14. Now a word about the Empty Tomb … Resurrection, one of the aims and objects of the Galilean Theological College, as stated. The Empty Tomb was not only for Christ to come out of it, but also to help Peter, John and Mary to enter into it and give testimony of the Empty Tomb. Since then many Peters, Johns and Marys have been entering into it and giving testimony of the Empty Tomb. But also, many a Judas still betraying, many a Peter is still denying; many Thomas still doubting; many a disciple still abandoning and running away.

15. The bribed guard of the Sealed Tomb, unmindful of risking their own necks, made themselves bold enough to give false testimony that while they were asleep Jesus disciples came by night and stole his body away, thereby at least supporting the Empty Tomb. But the modern day Grand Guards of the “Empty-Upper-Room with a cross over it,” by virtue of their preternatural pomposities, have been able to go on doping and duping their credulous followers by the exuberance of their own verbosity of “isms” and “Schisms.” These dignitaries … the counterparts of the “Eight Woes” described in Matthew 23, and Luke 11, shut the door of the kingdom of Heaven in men’s faces. They themselves are not entering into it and when others are entering they stop them, thereby earning for themselves the apt sobriquet, “A dog in the manger.”

16. Although the Divine Clock of Eternity, kept in good running order and regulated to standard time by the Great Time-Keeper of the Holy Bible, incontrovertibly indicates that Jesus Christ has run the great race covering a long distance of the Dolorous Way commencing from the Crib to Calvary, via Gethsemane and Gabbatha, and finished his course on the Cross, and was awarded a Crown of Life at the Empty Tomb, still it is a matter of great surprise to find a good number of pseudo-Theologian doyens and their docile followers doubting and denying His Virgin Birth, His Vicarious Death, and His Victory over Death.

17. Those who have no time for anything but making a mockery of Christianity, and talking or hearing about such mockery, may pause for a while and lift their heads and see, if they have eyes to see, the calligraphy writ large on the Watch-Tower of the Galilean Theological College, viz,

    God so loved the world, that he gave his
    Only-begotten Son, that who-so-ever believeth in him
    Should not
    Perish, but have
    Everlasting
    Life.

— John 3:16. A.V.

1. The above verse is so arranged that when the first letter of each line is placed one below the other and tend downwards, it gives the word “GOSPEL” i.e., GOOD NEWS. And this GOOD NEWS is not only turning round the pivot of the Old Testament, but is also hanging on the hinges of the New Testament. The Old Testament is the complement of the New Testament in-as-much as the New Testament is the supplement of the Old Testament.

2. The Good News of the Kingdom of God, coupled with the scriptural axiom that Christianity is not a way of nation, but THE way of salvation must necessarily be proclaimed in unequivocal terms from the Pulpit, Platform and Press without fear of contradiction or frown, by every Christian if he binds to live as Christ himself lived.

3. The following observations from eminent Writers may be quoted here with advantage in justification of the above.

G.R. CROW in his “The Lamb and the book” says:-

“In some respect we live in a tolerant age; an age where intolerance in matters of religion is frowned upon. There is nothing more acceptable in this age than the lie that all the religions lead to God.”

“A silent Christian, is in some measure, the defeated Christian. For victorious living a public witness is constantly necessary.”

John Calvin, a colleague of Martin Luther who hatched the egg of the Reformation laid by Erasmus, once said, “A dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I saw that God’a truth is attacked and yet would remain silent without giving any sound.”

— DEO GRATIAS (THANKS TO GOD).

— The Crusader, Mijar, Mangalore Tq.

The Bible Society of India Silver Jubilee

Note:

In this year of the Silver Jubilee the Bible Society of India desires to bring to the centre of our attention the Tibetan people in their homeland and in exile, and God’s Good News for them.

God’s Good News for Tibetans

A Pilgrim People

About 100,000 of these people in exile who had escaped torture and mass murder are now struggling to establish new homes in India, Nepal and Bhutan. Dispossessed of everything, they are striving to achieve a new identity. Homeless and stateless, they are at the mercy of their host countries. Many, young and old, work on border roads in the Himalayas. Their camps, actually ramshackle huts and tents, are marked by the innumerable prayer flags which flutter over them. For blessings in this life and for safe passage into nirvana they keep praying om mani padma hum - the jewel in the lotus!

Sun and Wisdom Two Disciples

A frail, quiet little boy from Shighatse, in central Tibet - his name meant Sun - was taking a long hazardous journey from home to join one of the lamaseries (monastery). Here his future days would be spent. Tradition demanded that at least one son in a family should enter the priesthood. Priesthood was considered a privilege. By its merit was acquired, and what was more, a secure living provided. After years of learning language and studying religion in two of the most famous monasteries of Tibet, Sun managed to get just beyond rote-reading.

About twenty years ago Sun, now a mature man, travelled over the high Himalayas to the little border kingdom of Bhutan and hence to India. He repeated this feat several times following different routes. On one of his journeys however he was taken seriously ill when he had just crossed over from Bhutan into India. However, he found shelter and healing at the Finnish Mission hospital. The nurse who was looking after him gave him a Tibetan New Testament. Its words impressed him deeply. Deep in his heart he knew that here was truth and that Christ was the way. Buddhism no longer held any appeal for him, and he abandoned it.

He next found himself in Darjeeling. There he was drawn into the fellowship of Christian people. This was a time of careful reading of the Bible. New light began to break in on him and the Lord Jesus became an intimate, personal and living reality. A sense of new beginning dawned on him through the experience of forgiveness, and for the first time he began to know true joy and peace. He acknowledged his faith in Christ and received baptism at Ghoom near Darjeeling.

In a nomad tent, one among the many that dotted the pasture - lands of the high Tibetan plateau, a baby girl was born years ago. Little Wisdom was soon toddling around, growing up with animals and graduating to being a herd girl. School was unheard of for a nomad girl. The herd did not belong to her family. She and her people were serfs to a feudal lord in nearby Lhasa. Soon the family sent her all to Lhasa. There she was forced to work as a servant. Her mistress barely fed her but demanded service night and day. Life in Lhasa had become turbulent with the coming of invaders. Under the prevailing restlessness without and within, Wisdom and a girlfriend decided to escape to India. On the way she was befriended by a Tibetan trader. He took her to Kalimpong where she served as a servant to his wife.

Her master’s kindness was however marred by the mistress’s harsh and violent treatment of her. It was growing misery, and in a strange city. Wisdom escaped and began working in a restaurant, where too working conditions were again very harsh. Among others working there was a frail man, the cook. This was Sun. Sun noted her humour and endurance, and her instinctive desire to keep away from the less honourable members of humanity around her. They became friends. He asked her to be his wife. She knew he had been a priest and that the law of celibacy should be binding. But she also knew of priests who had lapses. However, she had enough of deception and suffering and disillusionment to agree to any relationship that might be no more than a passing episode in her life.

Then she became ill. Sun arranged for her to be taken to hospital, brought her food and paid the bills. Sun’s love and constancy won her over. Eventually, in the presence of friends, they agreed to live as man and wife. Wisdom soon discovered that Sun was keeping some unusual books in his box and occasionally reading them. Their shape was different from the Buddhist books. She asked him about them. Sun told her not to bother about them since she could not read herself. But through sheer persistence she discovered that they were Christian books and that her husband was a baptised Christian. She rebuked him for hiding the fact and declared that they could not have two religions in one family!

In her endeavour to become a Christian Sun did not do much more than introduce her to some of his own missionary friends in Kalimpong. He was himself on a trip to Calcutta.

In the course of time Wisdom received instruction. Gradually she realised that much of her life had been sinful, and she became open to God’s mercy and forgiveness. When she prayed it was with a frank open heart as though conversing with one whom she knew personally.

The change in Wisdom brought Sun to his senses; for this had been a dark interlude for him marked by loss of faith. In brokenness of heart he returned to the Father’s House. The local church welcomed them into its warm fellowship and a new life began for them there, a life of joyous and victorious faith. Through illness and want they have remained faithful and now help in the teaching and care of a small school for Tibetan refugee children.

A Pilgrim Priest-King

A five-year-old boy in his native Amdo in remote north-eastern Tibet was presented with a Gospel, and photographed. He soon left for Lhasa the capital. This marked the completion of a nation-wide search and discovery of the 14th Dalai Lama. Tradition claimed him to be the re-incarnation of the previous one. In February 1940 he was enthroned in Lhasa amidst scenes of ancient pomp and pageantry. By an act of providence Tharchinla, the veteran Tibetan pastor from Kalimpong, was present in Lhasa at this time. He had made 5,000 copies of the boy Dalai Lama’s photograph with the Gospel in his hand. These were either sold or given away free to Tibetans. Standing there in the temple Pastor Tharchin prayed that the time may soon come when this temple would become a home for the Word of God and a sanctuary where the Tibetans would worship God in spirit and in truth.

Ten years later the completed Bible in Tibetan arrived from Lahore. This unique event was celebrated by a Thanksgiving service in Kalimpong. Pastor Tharchin followed this quickly with a review of the Bible in his newspaper. The Dalai Lama was at that time in Yatung in the Chumbi valley. He read Pastor Tharchin’s article about the Tibetan Bible and ordered a copy for himself sending Rs. 8/- as its price. This was his first complete Bible. In 1958, he came to India for the 2,5000th anniversary of the Buddha. On his way back he stopped over in Kalimpong where he received Tharchin in audience. The latter presented him with an English Bible.

Again in 1960 the Dalai Lama and Pastor Tharchin met together, this time at Mussoorie. Their meeting was long and the discussion centred round religious truth. The Dalai Lama then said - that he had no Bible, as the one he had was left in Lhasa at the time of his flight to India. Pastor Tharchin and the Reverends Phunsheng and Vittoz - the latter two were then revising the Tibetan New Testament - immediately bought a Tibetan Bible, got it specially bound and inscribed and presented it to the Dalai Lama, together with an English Bible.

The indications are that the Dalai Lama continues to read the Bible. In a recent letter he is reported to have observed that the essence of Buddhism and Christianity is love, and that all of us must endeavour as much as we can to let love have its free play in the lives of men and of nations.

Serving the Tibetans

The new text of the Tibetan New Testament - eight years in printing - has come off the press. It will be formally released at Thanksgiving services in three Tibetan Churches: Leh, Rajpur and Kalimpong. Let us unite with them in giving thanks for God’s Good News for Tibetans today.

Let us acknowledge our failure in fellowship:

• We have not taken notice of these broken-hearted exiles in our midst.
• We have not cared enough for them or their little ones.
• We have made no ventures in fellowship. (Most of the work is done by foreigners).
• Let us the people of God in India open our hearts to Tibetans, Christian and Buddhist.
• Let us as individuals and congregations pray for their renewal and restoration.
• Let us wherever conditions permit try to meet with them and share with them God’s eternal promises in Christ so that they do not travel alone.

The Human Dilemma

The continuing catalogue of violence, tragedy and death which confront us today is anything but reassuring. While some people tend to play it down, hoping against hope for a better day, there are many others who are rightly fearful regarding where all of this will lead us.

Some years ago, just prior to his death, Dag Hammarskjold, one of our world’s leading statesmen said, “I see no hope for permanent world peace. We have tried so hard and we have failed so miserably. Unless the world has a spiritual rebirth within the next few years, civilisation is doomed.”

A well known French existentialist, Jean Paul Sartre, has said, “There is no exit from the human dilemma.”

All around us men of leadership are voicing alarm. Many have expressed personal disillusionment.

From an evangelical perspective Billy Graham has expressed our present day situation quite forcefully. In his book, “World Aflame” he has written, “Our world is on fire and man without God will never be able to control the flames. The demons of hell have been let loose. The fires of passion, greed, hate and lust are sweeping the world. We are like a people under sentence of death, waiting for the sentence to be announced. We sense that something is about to happen. We know that things cannot go on as they are. History has reached an impasse. We are now on a collision course. Something is about to give.”

This appraisal of the hour in which we live is not very reassuring, but it certainly is realistic. It demands of every child of God an honest evaluation of his motives, his service, and his goals in life. Where does the child of God fit into this situation? What are the Church’s priorities? What can it offer in such an hour?

Someone has well said that the Church exists for the double purpose of gathering in and sending out. This is an important aspect of its function. If it fails in either of these areas it fails to fulfil the purposes for which Christ established it.

In our day it seems that many Christians are content with membership in what appears to be an exclusive club, rather than the Church of the living God. Its emphasis is upon the development of its on little program, and there is an absence of true compassion and concern for the need of others. Its success is too often measured by its value to the “in group.”

John A. MacKay has written a timely word for our day. In discussing the Church and its task he says, “The whole Church must become a mobile missionary force, ready for a wilderness life. It is time for us all to be thinking of campaign tents rather than of cathedrals.”

The tragedy and heart-break of our day calls for the total involvement of every child of God in the task of world evangelisation. It calls for a new yieldedness and commitment to Christ on our part. It calls for the dynamic of the Holy Spirit in the life of all God’s people. It demands commitment comparable to that of the Early Church, and the dynamic of the Holy Spirit’s power which they evidenced in their fellowship together, and in their witness to a lost world.

Vance Havner is right when he says, “The Church is so subnormal that if it ever gets back to the New Testament normal it would seem to people to be abnormal.”

Today we desperately need to learn how to relate our worship and our service.

Ernest Southcott understood this when he wrote, “The holiest moment of the church service is the moment when God’s people - strengthened by preaching and sacrament - go out of the church door into the world to be the Church. We don’t go to church. We are the Church.”

May God enable His people to demonstrate this in this hour of man’s deep dilemma.

— Gordon Coles, - Editorial Revival.

Indian Culture

What is culture? It reveals the character and identity of soul and mind of a people. It can be gathered from:-

1. Music - divine in origin: c/o Narad, Apsaras, etc.
2. Dance - Origin divine: c/o Natarajan, Devadasis, etc.
3. Poetry - Presiding Deity is Saraswati, Gayatri, or Vach.
4. Architecture and sculpture - connected with Sakarbad, Avatarbad, Houses, Temples, Biharis, Caves, etc.
5. Painting and Drawing - subjects are gods and goddess and saints; natural and artificial objects, Human figures, etc.
6. Archaeology - from coins, relics in stone and brick, and writings, etc.
7. History and Philosophy - enshrined in Sanskrit and other ancient regional languages of India.
8. Austerities and penances and ritualistic worship - Asana, Yogas, Sandhyas, Arati, Seva, Bhog, etc.
9. Festivals, Bratas and Acharyas, Sanskaras (sacraments) social, domestic and personal.
10. Village arts and crafts - house decorations, Pottery, smithy, carpentry, etc.
11. Folklore and dance.
12. Ashram - Dharma (Chaturashram) and Varnashram Dharma - the scientific artistic method in which life (individual and social) has been organised.
13. Ashrams - educational and other institutions for Sadhana in which India’s literature, science, philosophy, spirituality and discipline have been developed.
14. Law of Karma - The ideas of Dharma, Rit and Cosmos.
15. The divinity of the Real.

Hindu Culture

(A real store house - vast, complex, composite, comprehensive, many-sided, rich and ancient).

A. METHODS of CULTIVATION

1. Study books - Ref. Natesan and Company Madras: Theosophical
Bookshop, Varanasi: Gita Press, Gorakhpur: Y.M.C.A. Publishing
House, Calcutta and Libraries in cultural Institutions.

2. Visit, and live in, real orthodox Indian homes.

3. Study Institutions and consult experts - such as Shantiniketan
and Visvabharati, Schools of Art and Museums, Sangit Shalas,
Sarnath at Varanasi, Sevagram (Wardha), Golden Temple - Amritsar,
Birla Temple - Delhi and Varanasi and Vrindaban, Nagri Pracharini
Sabha - Varanasi, B.H.U. (Art Gallery) and Vishwanath Temple,
Adyar - Madras, observatories in different centres (Delhi), Moghul
Architecture in Delhi, Agra, Lahore, Taxila, Rajgir, Nalanda,
Ajanta and Ellora Caves. Different Pilgrim centres in India, Aurobindo
Ashram - Pondicherry, the four great Hindu monasteries - Sringeri,
Sharada, Gobardhana and Joshi or Jyotirmath and the bigger Ashramas
and Temples especially in centres like Varanasi, Madurai,
Trichinopoly, Haridwar, Vrindaban, West Bengal (Belur and Dakshineshwar),
Ayodhya, Puri, Congiveram, Kamakja etc.

4. Watch some of the dance festivals, Kirtons - corporate singing
of Bengal, some worship performances (Durga, Kali, Krishna etc.).

5. Carry out some idea or project in your own station.

6. And specialise in some branch or other of cultural life.

B. Hindu culture is essentially religious and has a spiritual and moral end-attainment of Brahma sthiti (union with God or abiding in God) and Sanyas (disciplined character).

C. Sift all objects of artistic creation of beauty or utility. Apply the Christian ethical standards.

D. Can we do anything in this connection to enrich the life of the church?

1. Use the religious and intellectual heritage of India (c/o
Appasamy's The Heritage of India and the Christian Gospel) - resulting
in the rise of Christian Ramanujas, Nanaks, Kavirs and Chaitanyas,

2. Use the practical and material heritage of India issuing its
distinctiveness:-

    a. Architecture of churches, schools, hospitals, Ashrams, etc.
    b. Music in church and outside.
    c. System of art of worship.
    d. Poetry and painting.
    e. Observance of certain festivals in the family life.
    f. Ashram life.
    g. Sadhu life.

Letter From Swami Chinmayananda

PURI

Sri Ramkrishna Sivananda Ashram, Serampore (Hooghly) W.B.

My dear Rev. Das,

We meet here in congregation between 5 and 7:30 P.M. daily for meditation. In our meditation mood I wrote out the following prayer which I read and explained to them. We all prayed and wished for you as I depicted our relation and friendship of long-standing. Thus, we had a very fine congregational prayer for your well-being. I hope the Catholic superior and others called on you. Hoping this finds you in good health and best spirits. I remain, with love and good wishes,

Yours sincerely in Him,

Chinmayananda.

“On the 84th anniversary of his auspicious birthday - the 10th September 1970, the brethren in fellowship of Sri Ramkrishna Sivananda Ashram wish and pray to God, that Sri R.C. Das of Khristpanthi Ashram of Varanasi may have the happy return of this day again and again; and may He bestow upon him the bliss, while in meditation and Sadhana, to be in full communion with the Spirit and Truth! May He give him energy and will to meditate upon and serve Him! Amen!”

(Swami Chinmayanandji is one of our well-beloved and worthy old students of 8t. Paul’s College, Calcutta, away in the later years of the century. He would call himself a Christian but not a Churchian. I am grateful for the love and generosity which he and his Ashram brethren cherish for a humble follower of the Lord Jesus. Supremely I am thankful to God the Father for his loving kindness and untold blessing upon his unworthy Servant over the long years. - R.C. Das).

Report and News

1. Mrs. B. DUTT has been in Simla on their Estate since August with a few companions. They have regular Bible study and prayers and meet visitors. She is much better in her health. We hope and pray that she may soon finish writing her book on Christ.

2. Rev. D. DUTT - Since his return from Europe he has visited Lucknow taking a week of evangelistic meetings in Dua Ghar of Brother Chand. Recently he has attended the Dusserah convention at Dehradun and put in a short trip to Simla together with some friends.

3. Rev. S.K. MUNDLE has rejoined his work at Shantalpur in Jalpaiguri (West Bengal) after his two-week visit home in Calcutta. He is intending to issue his fourth occasional letter as a pilgrim.

4. Brother SATYEN CHOUDHURY of Shantikandra, Jampui Hill, (Tripura) to whom reference was made in a previous issue, is starting a tea stall to maintain himself and his family at least until he could make arrangements for admission to a college for theological and biblical studies. A Hindu convert baptised in rather obscure circumstances and afterwards having married a Mizo girl he is not finding a proper sponsor who will help him get some training for Christian service. Any institution or friend willing to help him may kindly contact us here in Varanasi or him directly.

5. In a year or so in VISAKHAPATNAM at least two independent Christian organisations came into existence with a fanfare. One of them was so ambitious as to start a Christian University with a strong missionary emphasis. We do not know how much progress it has made. The other, with clear evangelistic and church activities its aims seem to be facing internal difficulties. There will always be problems of different kinds in public and co-operative work. But they must be solved in the only way viz, in the spirit of Christ’s wonderful love. Over emphasis on marginal doctrines and motives of worldly gain must not mislead Christians.

6. KHRISTPANTHI ASHRAM, VARANASI

1. The following have come and stayed in the Ashram:- Shri D.B. Dutt and family of Bata Company, Calcutta; Shri J.R. Biswas and family, Dum-Dam; Shri Pijus Kumar Mundle (Fr. Mundle’s nephew) and family, Calcutta; Shri Govinda Sharma of Sylhet, Assam. The following have honoured the Ashram by their visit: - The Rt. Rev. Patrick De Sousa - Bishop of Varanasi and his Secretary; Dr. Fr. Panikkar - noted scholar end writer from Hanumanghat; a Catholic Sister from Pande Ghat; Rt. Rev. Dr. Alexander Mar. Theophilus Episcope, missionary bishop of the Mar Thoma Church of Kerala, accompanied by the Acharya of Sihora Khristpanthi Ashram and Rev. E.N. John of the local Pilgrim Mission; The Rev. K.G.S. Durairaj, General Secretary, N.M.S. from Madras accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. Singh of the local Cutting Memorial School and Shri A.V. Singh of Allahabad.

2. Friends will recall that in our last issue (No. 3, 1970) we made some comments on Sriprakasji’s observations on Indian Christians. On having read them he has been so good as to write a fine letter expressing kindly thoughts in a very friendly spirit. We are happy to think that we have many friends like Sriprakasji who highly regard Christ and his missionaries. We are grateful for his noble sentiments.

3. Rev. Fr. Ishwar Prasad is expected to join the Ashram as from the new year. We have known him over many years. He has been trained in the local Indian Missionary Society in Humanities and Theology. He has gone about among Hindus to some extent and has for some time been in village work in east U.P. He is a celibate and a vegetarian, speaks Hindi, English and Malayalam and wears Hindustani dress.

4. Acharya Das has suffered from Influenza recently and is weak. He expects to receive some visitors in the next few months.

— Executive Secretary, B.K.S.

Notes

1. A Menace to the Church

1. We have had experience of nearly a hundred Christian Sadhus - good, bad, indifferent - having stayed in the Khristpanthi Ashram - Varanasi over the past forty years. These and many others have filled the Christian community in India. Some 25% of them are good, helpful and exemplary. The rest are wicked and even dangerous. Some are cheats, some idle vagabond, many are ignorant, some beggars, some are even violent, some have stolen other men’s wives or daughters and others are dishonest. Even the good ones have not all kept their vows of celibacy and poverty. They have been acquisitive. Once they have collected some money or have fallen in love with some midwife or teacher or widow, they have built good houses and married. Their preaching has been a cloak to hide their worldly ambitions. Some of them play very clever ruses. Usually retired and moneyed men or well-to-do widows and religious women are the victims.

   They have one good quality - zeal for preaching and prayers. Neglect or hostility on the part of church authority to utilise this potentially good material and economic reasons or family troubles have driven many to imitate the life of a Sanyasi. They are the cause of prolific divisions in the church. They make a bid to form sects and groups on whom they feed. The pastor and missionaries should be positively careful. Mere negative criticism or indifference or opposition will do more harm, while bad ones should be boycotted, good ones should be encouraged and trained for disciplined service. They generally hate denominationalism and claim to belong to the one invisible and true church. This should not be condemned. In most cases their knowledge of the Bible is neither deep nor sound. They are normally bigoted and are ignorant of helpful evangelical approach.

2. Numerous individuals, fairly educated, possessing powers of leadership, zeal and go, initiative and highly worldly ambition, have formed small evangelistic organisations with international appeal and big schemes and projects. They emphasise literature production and distribution, preaching biblical truths to form what they claim to be the true church. All of them have foreign connections either open or secret. So money flows abundantly from the west. Many of them fly to and fro. All of them possess cars, dress American, live and travel and feel high. In fact, they are great spiritual snobs and religious hypocrites. There is corruption galore. They amass money and build good houses for themselves. Their religiosity is sensational and evangelical zeal is jumpy. They are found among the Pentecostals or are their offshoots, among the Evangelicals or are their errant children running off at a tangent. Some discontented seniors whose merits were not recognised by the selfish and sluggish authorities of the bigger church have also joined the fray.

They print either false or inflated reports of their activities by the thousand and broadcast it as a dragnet to catch dollars. They send their own, or friends, or other, children to overseas countries for biblical training as persons dedicated to save the millions of heathens in India. Some of them fall into matrimonial tangles and come out as missionary hopefuls. Their evangelical tenour is doctrinal bigotry, condemnation of Hinduism, and judging all without Christ and hurling them into hell. They suffer from restlessnees, even hysteria, and from lack of humour. They are too serious and some of them wear long weary faces. They move fast and quick hither and thither. They use military terms both in their preaching and writing. The words “save”, “saved”, “salvation”, “blood”, “cross” are constantly on their lips but their faces or behaviour do not show any peace or holiness which is a sure result of salvation.

The American cultural organisations who want to Americanise the whole world exploit these Christian freelances to the full and offer to the youth tempting scholarships or lucrative posts in U.S.A. Their passages (air) are paid for.

Among these, there are some indigenous growths with a prominent leader. They boast of independence, but they are the most slavish lot having secret financial arrangements with small missionary groups here or directly with foreign churches.

Now these numerous small bodies have created, by their doctrinal differences and fanciful evangelical method, a confusion and a noise which is not at all healthy for proper growth of Christian life. They lure away young converts from Hinduism or immature Christian youth from the bigger churches and exploit them for their own gain. The authentic churches, too busy with organisational matters and devoid of the prophetic ministry, are lying vulnerable to poisonous attacks from these disorderly, materialistic and selfish leader. The church must be very stupid not to have recognised and utilised the evangelical earnestness and moral dynamism of these pioneer workers. It can still be done.

2. Concerning Our Country - Bharat

1. It is claimed that our Government is Secular. Is it really true? Is it not mere propaganda for foreign consumption? Take, for example, the anti-Christian legislation in M.P. and Orissa. Whenever a Hindu becomes a Christian Police calls him for interrogation. Why? Is not there freedom of action subject to morality and order? Is conversion violent and immoral? It is a serious interference with a man’s conscience and with liberty - cherished values of a free country. Do the Police go after a man or woman when he or she becomes a Muslim or Buddhist or changes denominations within Hinduism? The acts in M.P. and Orissa discriminate against a particular religious community. How can the President of India, as Guardian of a wise Constitution giving religious freedom to all men allow such discrimination and communal hatred in a secular state? During the Centenary celebrations of Swami Vivekananda, who was essentially and emphatically a leader and preacher of Hinduism. Government subsidised distribution of his teachings involving large sums of money. They have done the same by inaugurating the Rock Statue of Swamiji at Kanya Kumari. Besides policing, Government spends large amounts for Kumbhas and other religious Melas and celebrations at important shrines. These are activities outside the purview of the Government and should be managed by the community concerned. Public parks and education institutions are used for worship by the dominating community in the absence of Government’s concern to protect their secular and public character. British policy was honest and simple, and it was implemented. They never interfered with, or participated in, any religious functions and never allowed the religions to interfere with one another, minority communities are being deprived of their due share in the services of the Government by High Caste officials in the administration. Reflect on this and try to understand the true import of secularism.

2. Democracy. Ministers and many other public leaders talk glibly about our democratic state. Does democracy consist in only democratic law, procedure and processes and in elections and ministry making? Or does it lie in administering policies that effect the everyday life of the individual? Does it consist in allowing a vote to every adult to elect legislators who immediately forget their voter’s interests and get busy in power mongering and profit collecting. In more than two decades of so-called democratic regime the average citizen is more miserable today than before in every sense. In fact the Government does not rule. It only sits as Guardian of a theoretical constitution, Acts of Legislatures and empty policies.

3. Socialism. This is a non-Indian concept. The entire society is full of caste distinctions, invidious economic differences, religious taboos, nepotism, favouritism, monopoly, capitalism, feudalism, provincialism, linguism, untouchability, millions of landless slave labourers, eight crores of untouchables, cities and towns with palaces and slums side by side etc. where is socialism? It is in the dovecots of the Secretariat, in the daily press and in popular harangues. It is hidden under huge dams and big bridges, in giant mills and factories, in extensive scientific and agricultural buildings, in palaces of governor end ministers, in political capitals and in posh hotels, in wasteful embassies, fine Government offices etc. In these, well-to-do and high caste men, mostly of the majority communities, enjoy their cushioned jobs with pleasant emoluments while the millions of slave-workers are oppressed by grinding poverty and get tired of strikes, demonstrations, layoffs, and lockouts, in fighting for a living wage.

Whither India? To confusion, anarchy and communism? Our representatives, a large majority of them, get our votes for legislatures in order to create a socialistic, democratic and secular state. But these selfish hypocrites at once get busy in making and toppling ministries, in forming self-contradictory alliances, in defections, in corrupt and illegal practices in order to secure power, self and prestige. The electorate must be educated or limited and only right type of men selected for legislation and administration. It is not strange that in a government proclaimed to be democratic, socialistic and secular big parties and moneyed and propertied classes, many individual leaders of high caste and influence, are opposing Indira Gandhi. Because she has a dubious majority. She must see to it at any cost that her supporters become an overwhelming majority to defeat and dispel the forces of darkness from the country thus assuring a steady growth of a happy and prosperous society.

3. Evangelism

(in cities, town and important shrines among religious and educated Hindus). Some suggestions and a brief outline of programme based on actual experience.

1. Preaching the full Gospel in various ways in a friendly spirit and according to indigenous methods. Uncharitable thought and dogmatic assertions should be avoided.

   1. Bible study with an open and unprejudiced mind and an eastern heart of faith and love
   2. Music
   3. Worship
   4. Observance of silence and meditation
   5. Small group meetings
   6. Provision of literature and Library facilities, Books on religious biography - lives of saints, martyr and converts devotional books such as Imitation of Christ, Practice of the Presence of God, John Bunyan etc., are helpful.
   7. Praying for the sick and the distressed.

2. Methods of approach.

   1. Personal contacts
   2. Visiting homes of all desirable persona, religious and cultural institutions (also participation in their activities) and foundations - such as Ashrams, temples, Shrines, schools and hostels etc.
   3. Private conversations and sharing of spiritual experience.

3. Study of Hinduism - elementary and advanced - its faith practice and culture (especially Living Hinduism in its popular aspects).

4. Helping interested Christians (especially younger men and women) in acquiring experience in such work.

5. An informal interdenominational advisory body of well-wishers and supporters.

6. Leader to conduct the work in cooperation with all but with his own mind, initiative and decision under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

7. Evangelists must be converted and saved persons filled with the Holy Spirit.

Edited and Published by:

Rev. R.C. Das, M.A.,
Khristpanthi Ashram,
129, Dashashwamedh, Varanasi, India

Printed at:

Evangelical Press,
“CHRIST NAGAR MISSION”,
Badagayedapadavu Post, Mangalore Taluk, S. India