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.)

Tagore Gave 2 Nations Their National Anthems

(Special to N.I. Patrika)

Rabindranath Tagore has the unique distinction of having given their national anthems both to India and Bangladesh.

Bangladesh has chosen one of Tagore’s most beautiful songs as Banoj Kumar Chakravarty for national anthem. The song is an unreserved praise of the land of golden Bengal and displays the poet’s intensely emotional love for it. It is appropriately titled ‘Amar Sonar Bangla’ (“My Golden Bengal”).

The song was composed by Tagore during one of the most critical periods in Bengal’s history. In 1905, Lord Curzon, the then Viceroy of India, partitioned Bengal and constituted East Bengal and Assam into a separate province in the face of strong opposition from the people of Bengal. The poet felt very strongly about this move of British imperialism to dismember his beloved Bengal and gave vent to his feeling in this song. The song was composed on September 30, 1950.

It was are published in the journal Bangadarshan edited by the poet in the month of Aswin, 1312 B.S. Later it found place in the poet’s collection of patriotic songs called Baal.

Symbol of Resistance

Tagore had long been a symbol of cultural resistance to West Pakistani cultural aggression in East Bengal. In their attempt to impose West Pakistani culture in the name of cultural homogeneity the West Pakistani military-bureaucratic complex found Tagore an obstacle.

The Government viewed homage to Tagore as near treason, perhaps because the poet was a Hindu. They tried their utmost to eliminate Tagore from the literary and cultural life of East Bengal, but in vain.

Literature became a norm of resistance to West Pakistani domination and inspired political resistance.

Now that the people of Bangladesh have won both cultural and political freedom, it is in the fitness of thing that they should have chosen a Tagore song as their national anthem are token of their gratitude to the poet who inspired them so much in their struggle against alien cultural invasion.

Here is a transliteration of the song:

Amar Sonar Bangla

Amar Sonar Bangla, Ami Tomai bhalobashi.
Chirodin tomar akasb, tomar batash, amar prane bajai banshi,
O ma, fagune tor amer bone ghrane pagal gore,
O ma, aghrane tor bhara khete kee dekhechhi madhur hashi
Kee shobha, kee chhaya go, kee sneha, kee maya go - kee anchal
  bichhaiechho boter mule, nadeer kule kule.
Ma tor mukher banee amar kane lage sudhar moto
  ma tor badankhani malin hole ami noionjale bashi.
Tomar ei khelaghare shishukal katilore
  tomar drulamati ange makhi dhanya jibon mani.
Tui din furale sandhyakale kee deep jalia ghare,
  takhon kheladhula sakal kee tomar kole chhute asi.
Dhenuchara tomar mathr pare jabar kheyaghate,
  saradin pakshidaka chayyaidhaka tomar palliate,
  tomar dhane-bhara anginate jiboner din kate.
O ma, amar je bhai tara sabat tomar rakhel tomar ehashi,
O ma, tor charanente dilem et matha pete,
  de go tor payer chula ahe je amar mather manik hobe.
O ma, goriber dhan ja achhe tai aibo charantole,
  ami parer ghare kinno na er bhuson bole galar fanshi.

The English translation of the song is given below:

My Golden Bengal

I love you my golden Bengal. Always your skies, your winds,
Play the music of my life.
    O Mother, During spring the fragrance of your mango groves
Maddens my, beard with delight,
    O mother! During autumn in your blooming fields
I have heard your sweet murmuring laughter.
What beauty, what shade, what love, what affection
    I perceive beneath the banyan trees.
Besides the flowing river banks, Mother!
    Your honeyed whisper in my ear
Maddens my heart with delight. Mother! when I see you sad,
    my eyes overflow with tears.
My childhood passed on the playground,
And I am proud with your dust, and rubbed it all over my body.
When evening comes, you light such beautiful lamps,
They madden my heart with delight.
Then leaving aside all work and play
I run back to your bosom, where cows graze in your pasture,
Boats float from bank to bank, the birds sing all day.
My life passes in the shady village homes
Filled with rice from your fields.
They madden my heart with delight.
O Mother! All my brothers are your peasants, your shepherds,
O Mother! I lay down my head
On thy feet and adorn my forehead with its dust.
O Mother! I am poor, but what little I have.

Bengal Today

It is obvious, for the whole world to see, that we are faced with the most appalling situation in Bengal - Bengal taken as a whole. Millions have been driven out of their homes and have to be given shelter and food. A large-number are murdered every day. Dacoity and other crimes are frequent. There is disorganisation everywhere; the wheels of industry seem to be grinding to a stop. This is a country liable to natural catastrophe. Last year there was an exceptional cyclone and tidal wave. This year there are great floods. But these disasters can be prepared for and dealt with. Our present troubles come not from nature but from man. They are entirely man-made. What is needed is not palliatives, emergency measures - these have to be attended to of course - but a probing to the root causes.

Analysis Attempted

It may seem presumptuous, for us to try to analyse the situation and identify at least some of the factors that have been operative. But, after all, the main facts are now recorded in history for anyone to read. The present situation has not grown up overnight but, has been building up over many years. To trace some of its causes we have to go back to the last century.

The industrial revolution which transformed England and other western nations came to India a good hundred years after it had got going in Europe. Calcutta, then the capital of India, and certain other parts became the paradise of the enterprising capitalist. The law allowed him the utmost freedom to develop his business as he liked and to get as rich as he could. Labour was cheap and abundant. Bengalis may have preferred to stay on their fertile land which was still available in plenty, but poverty-stricken peasants from the neighbouring provinces supplied the businessmen with an unlimited labour force at cut-throat prices. They were housed in rows of busties, which became some of the worst slums in the world. Industries and businesses flourished, tea, jute, cotton. Great firms prospered and branched out in all kinds of directions where money was to be made. The pioneers of these enterprises were mostly British who had the fall backing of the government, but as India became independent their business were more and more taken over by Indian capitalists who continued the same method, sometimes even more ruthlessly. Little thought was given to the problems that this capitalist boom was creating for future generations. A few spoke out boldly. Some were suppressed, but most were given no hearing at all. A great social injustice was being perpetrated, and most people were content to have it so.

Then what about the land, the green and golden fields of well watered Bengal, some of the finest agricultural land in the world? The British took the traditional revenue collectors of the Moghuls, she Zamindars, and made them into landlords after the pattern they were familiar with in their own country. From this prosperous middle class they drew men to staff the learned professions, and fill the lower ranks of government officials and the offices of the business firms. They proved a most cultured and intelligent bourgeoisie. But what of the peasants on whose labours their prosperity was built? Little thought was given to them in the days when a high death rate matched a high birth rate, and land was still available. They had rice enough to eat. But what of the future? Who was able to see what was coming - the whole country turned into a rural slum? Who really cared? A few spoke out, and were not heeded. Another great injustice was being perpetrated, more woe for the future was being scored up.

Moral Disintegration

The political movement for the liberation of the country from foreign rule gained momentum with the prosperity of the middle class. The British were seemingly firmly entrenched for eternity. How to get them out? Some talked of peaceful agitation and constitutional methods, bat the voices that ultimately prevailed were the extreme ones. So began violent agitation, terrorism, strike and hartal. We know it is customary to praise this movement and to justify it because of its ultimate success, but it is forgotten what a price had to be paid. The people in this country were peace loving and law-abiding. The rulers, even though foreigners, were respected, the law was obeyed. There was a strong tradition that children should be brought up to respect their gurujan, their parents and elders and particularly their school masters. There was social discipline and good order. School children and students were brought into the freedom struggle and taught that they might disobey their gurujan and break their discipline for the sake of the cause. Young men in secret associations were taught that they could kill officials and policemen without doing any wrong. Crowds were collected to defy the police and make riots. How many people saw where all this was leading? Some did, but they were condemned as stooges of the British. Some spoke out boldly. The great poet among them, and lost their standing in the nationalist movement. Surely here to a great Injustice was done. Not an injustice against property or life but an injury to something more precious still, man’s moral sense. Ideas were gradually infiltrated into young minds, to be handed down from generation to generation, that there is no absolute standard of right and wrong - no commandments of God - but only convenience. What suits the present exigencies of individual, group or nation is right. This was an injustice against the soul of a people.

The British and other capitalists grew very rich and the higher officials of government were paid on a comparable scale. The middle class were supposed to be content with their more modest revenues and salaries. The desire for more money was strong, and the highly intelligent man did not find it difficult to devise means of getting it. A position of authority, however small, gave power of leverage. People could be kept waiting, or their business held up, or they could be dealt with promptly. Friends could be helped, or those who had made themselves friends by judicious gifts. So the poison, of bribery and corruption seeped into business and administration and the tradition grew up in the community. It was not considered wrong. Another grievous moral wound was being inflicted.

Hindu Muslim antagonism had its roots deep in the history of the country, and those who ruled Bengal could not but realise how careful they should be in stopping anything that might fan the smouldering fires. The new political system for the coming independence introduced by the British, in imitation of their own democratic institutions, encouraged, yes, demanded the formation of political parties. These parties, with the bait of power before them, manoeuvred for position and did not hesitate to fan the communal fires for their own selfish purposes. This led to riots. Riots getting out of hand turned into communal massacres, culminating in the great Calcutta killing of 1946. As a desperate bid to stop this British divided India when they handed over power. Unprecedented communal massacres look place in the north-west at the time of partition, and Bengal, thanks largely to Mahatma Gandhi, only just escaped similar horrors, for a time. But millions of people were driven out of their homes, to become the most disaffected element in the population. So the idea came into people’s minds that it was all right when one’s blood was up to exterminate whole communities. Voices were raised in protest, bat did they make any deep impression?

As the capitalist economy came late to India so did its counterblast the socialist movement. Communism had become established in Russia before the movement really became effective in India. Russia was out to make communism prevail in all the worlds particularly in the dependent poverty-stricken countries of the east. Indian socialist drew their inspiration, if they did not take their orders from Russia. The labour and trade union movement was geared to international politics. The Communist emphasis on ideological orthodoxy, on the ‘party line’, on class war, on hatred as a motive and destruction as a means, prevented a sounder socialism from growing. Gradually the Communist movement, which united might easily have prevailed, fell into factions even more bitter against each other. It is difficult to speak about all this because it is so much the hot politics of the present moment.

Moral Standards

Thus, we would analyse the causes which have gradually produced the present situation. They seem to be concerned with economics and politics, but at root they are not economic or political but moral. They cannot be dealt with by economic expedients or political devices, but only by a moral change. And this is where we feel we have a right to speak out. Indeed, we should be greatly at fault if we did not.

Moral standards depend upon ONE WHO IS, Who is righteous and upholds justice.

    Who says: Thou shalt have no other gods but me - not money, nor power, nor country...
    Honour your father and mother, then your social and national life will foolish.
    You shall not commit murder.
    You shall not commit adultery.
    You shall not steal.
    You shall not give false evidence against your neighbour.
    You shall not covet.

With these standards and One upholding them there can be no compromise. Certain things are right and certain things are wrong, and we cannot juggle with them to suit our own convenience.

We can go a step further? Indeed, we must. When HE WHO IS came into the world as MAN he refused to compromise, and so He went voluntarily to death in the cause of what was right. That death, the act of the Living One, is what can bring man to his senses and restore true morality. There is no other way.

— The Epiphany, September 1971

Morally Wrong

SENATOR EDMUND Muskie has declared that he would seek the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination “not merely to (change a president but to) change the country” so that “America can once again become a nation of moral leadership and high purpose.” Whether or not Mr. Muskie wins the nomination or the election, there is little doubt that the U.S. Administration can certainly manage with a little bit of morality to distinguish itself from what it has become under President Nixon. In working assiduously for the title of “the most thick-skulled and thick-skinned President of America,” Mr. Nixon has undoubtedly been within his rights. But the heavy moral - and material - price for Mr. Nixon’s pre-occupation which the U.S. Administration in particular and the Americans in general are being made to pay, can hardly be in their best interest.

Frankly speaking, no U.S. Government have practised duplicity and deceit in so comprehensive a manner and on such subjective considerations as the one headed and inspired by President Nixon. The Anderson revelations demonstrate what personal prejudice led the Administration to undertake one after another anti-Indian measure that included among others, confusing U.S. public opinion by officially sponsored propaganda; providing clandestine arms help to Pakistan; ordering the Seventh Fleet to move into the Indian Ocean to divert the attention of the Indian Navy and Air Force; and proceeding secretly “against India only” on aid matters. Regarding all these measures the Nixon Government not only kept the people uninformed but deliberately misinformed. As for the ruthless bombing of Hanoi the American people - who are supposed to be active participants in their democratic system - were never told the real cause behind it. That President Nixon’s plan of disengagement in Vietnam is actually aimed at engaging himself once more at the White House and that all his concern for the P.O.W.’s only signifies his concern for power of the President for a second term, could not be disclosed for obvious reasons. At home too, President Nixon has shown his moral stature by allowing the Armco Steel Corporation a delay in carrying out a court order to stop its huge cyanide discharge into the Houston ship channel which threatens human life quite considerably. The manner, in which President Nixon gave federal approval to the increase in the prices of milk offers another pointer to his idea of what is morally wrong and politically profitable.

Evidently Mr. Nixon knows that some people can be fooled for all times and his gamble is to make a majority of them. Whether this cynical estimate of people’s intelligence and attempt at exploiting popular gullibility will bear fruit in the next presidential election remains to be seen. One hopes, for the sake of American conscience, it does not.

— Northern India Patrika, January 10, 1970.

1. Sheikh Mujibur Rehman and Bangladesh

People everywhere will rejoice and thank God for the release of Sheikh Mujibur Rehman on January 9, 1972. Mr. Swaran Singh said, it is the victory of good over evil. Even the Pakistanis and the American Government have expressed appreciation of the Banglabandhu’s release. From his own statement given else where in this Number under the caption “The fateful night” it may be seen how the Invisible Hand has been protecting him, how the Spirit of discernment guided and saved him from the wiles of a wicked enemy and finally in the divine providence he was delivered from death, and the grave which was being dug for him outside the jail. President Bhutto’s good sense in taking the stand he did in saving Mujib’s life against “Yahya Khan’s intention to execute him before Yahya handed over power, will ever be appreciated. Bhutto himself has expressed why he made that stand:”If I kill Mujib, not one of these West Pakistanees (about 1 lakh P.O.W.’s, besides civilians) will ever come home. My position will be most precarious.”

We congratulate Mujibur Rehman for the steadfast stand at the peril of death he made for the liberation of his people. It was that lionhearted bravery - the non-violence of the brave - which Gandhiji used to praise that he so nobly expressed. Like Gandhi, the struggle he launched was so non-violent as to make Jayaprakash Narain say that it was the greatest such struggle in history. If our information is correct he persisted in it despite great provocation, to the night of his arrest. But with his removal those who led the struggle compromised and resorted to the same weapons as of the enemy. It was a pity that even Gandhian leaders in India failed at the hour of trial. J.P. for instance, wanted India to supply arms to Bangladesh. That gave the ‘enemy’ the handle to strike and strike with all fury. Gandhi’s words becomes most relevant in this context: “Violence always thrived on counter-violence.” The British Government wants to put the struggle on the plane of machine guns, where they have the weapons and we have not. I want to put the struggle on a plane where we have the weapon and they have not, the plane, of non-violence … that would give us the victory.”

But the question might be asked whether non-violence even if it worked against the British would have worked against a brutish dictator as Yahya Khan. Gandhi’s reply to the Congress Working Committee is as relevant in this context as it was then. He said, “Nonviolence does not depend for its working upon the sufferance or good will of the tyrant. It is self-sustained.” It might however be conceded that a non-violent struggle needed training and leadership just as in an armed struggle. It might take a longer time for achieving victory. But look at the destruction of life and property involved - 3 million lives including hundreds and thousands of children, and the brutalisation of man to boot! A non-violent struggle on the other hand would involve much less loss in men and material. And the non-violent training received by the people will inconceivably lead to their moral height and that their opponents.

Despite the fact that Mujibur is assuming responsibility of the State in the wake of genocide by a one man military-regime and in the chaotic conditions economic, social, political and cultural - of Bangladesh it is bold of him to resign Presidentship announcing a truly democratic form of Government. This, and his emphatic declaration as Prime Minister against corruption and any alcohol being served to guests at any official functions in Bangladesh or in the country’s Mission abroad, indicate the Gandhian spirit which he wants to bring to bear on politics. On his release, instead of taking up responsibility for Government, Mujibur said that, “his intention was to remain out of the Government and to move from village to village for uplifting the lot of the people. However, he said he could not do so because a conspiracy against Bangladesh was being hatched. He wanted his countrymen to remain vigilant,” This would remind us of what Nehru said that though non-violence was the highest he was not strong enough to pursue it as Gandhiji would have done.

President Bhutto himself had conceded the “brutality” which the Pakistan military leaders indulged in. CARITAS, the Roman Catholic international relief agency said the other day that Mother Theresa, recipient of the Peace Prize was planning to leave for Bangladesh with 10 other Sisters to care for 4000 women (victims of rape by the Pak army men) in a state of advanced pregnancy. On almost every platform on which the victorious leader speaks, he is reported to be shedding tears, of pain and sorrow about the indiscriminate slaughter of millions of his people and the pain, and suffering from those widowed, orphaned, Wounded and homeless. And yet his words reported by Radio Pakistan, that he believed in “the policy of peaceful co-existence, non-alignment, friendship for all and malice for none,” gives an inkling into the nature of the man. In offering our salute to Sheikh Mujibur Rehman we assure him and the people of Bangladesh our continued prayers. We urge the nations to render him all the support in persevering in this humane spirit. We would urge the U.S.A. and President Nixon to rise to the occasion and recognise Bangladesh, thus giving the lead to such nations as are still hesitant to do so because they suspect America’s displeasure by so doing.

2. The U.S. Government, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh

Our editorial on “U.S. Arms to shoot down democracy in East Pakistan?” (July 1971) along with the “Open letter to President Nixon (published since in September 1971 Arunodayam and in some other papers) were sent to President Nixon with copies to Ambassador Keating (in New Delhi). We were surprised that there was not even an acknowledgement from either. This is unlike our previous experiences concerning such communications with the U.S. Administration. The same fate happened to our letter forwarding resolutions passed at a meeting of the F.O.R. (1), Kerala, held on 5th April 1971 (10 days after the arrest of Sheikh Mujibur Rehman) titled an”Anguished concern for peace,” published in Arunodayam, April 1971. The letter addressed to Mujibur was returned by the Consulate of India in whose care it was sent, marked “Undeliverable” after 4 months. We are receiving letters from our readers abroad most of them appreciating our observations. The U.S. Administration, however, seems so persist in ite unseemly altitude to the whole situation regarding Bangladesh.

Open Letter by Ex-French Minister

We wish the American people had a chance to see the Open Letter by M. Andre Malraux, a former French Minister in the De Gaulle administration, published in Le Figaro. He asked why President Nixon did nothing but wait and watch while Mujibur was jailed and his people fled to India. “Elections were held in Bengal. Pakistan was expecting to win. It was beaten, its opponents winning 167 seats out of 169; whereupon they jailed the leader of the opposition Sheika Mujibur Rehman (who also had majority in the whole of Pakistan - editor), who rather non-violent, patiently waited at home for the Pakistanis to come and arrest him … Is not it exactly as it an unsuccessful American Presidential candidate had his successful opponent put in Jail? What did you do then? … The Pakistanis massacred the leaders of the opposition.”

The Tension Faced by Mrs. Gandhi

People abroad hardly seem aware of the tension that Mrs. Gandhi was under when almost every other party leadership in India, including even the Sarvodaya leader Jayaprakash Narayan was clamouring for an immediate recognition of Bangladesh and arms supply from India, she persisted in her patience, hoping against hope that the world community (very much under U.S. leadership) would act and save India and the people of Bangladesh from agony. The indignation fell in India against the Government’s hesitation may be seen reflected in a “virulent” attack in which former Deputy Prime Minister Morarji Desai said that “Butchery of 3 million people could have been prevented if India had recognised the secessionist Government immediately after the crack-down of the erstwhile West Pakistan army.” Even some of the leading papers in India wrote most critically against Mrs. Gandhi’s trip to the U. N. and to various Capitals to acquaint them of the urgency of the situation, and for speedy action. India acted only after Pak planes bombed Indian cities and Pakistan President declared war.

Mr. Averell Harriman on U.S. Responsibility

The following words by the American negotiator and diplomat Mr. Avecell Harriman, we hope would give our readers an idea of the total situation visas the U.S., India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. When Pakistan arrested Mujibur Rehman and indulged in massive repression and slaughter of hundreds of thousands of East Pakistanis not only did the Nixon administration fail to condemn this savagery by an army we had supplied, but incredibly enough American shipment of arms were not immediately cut off. By failing to exert the leverage the United States possessed to obtain Mujibur Rehman’s freedom, possibilities of continued united, though federated Pakistan, and of peace were lost. “When war broke out,” “The administration continued to ignore West Pakistan’s brutal repression and branded India as aggressor. At a time when the appropriate United States role we obviously to urge restraint on both sides, we openly sided with one and clearly the wrong side at that. Whether viewed morally on with the cold calculations of power politics is ill behoved the United States to identify itself with the discredited Pakistani military regime which was predictably to lose in East Pakistan. There are now indications that the war was unnecessarily prolonged our support for West Pakistan. Other senseless acts such as suspending development aid to India and movement of United States Seventh Fleet intense Bay of Bengal, an inexplicable throwback to days of gunboat diplomacy, contributed to our loss of worldwide prestige and to the estrangement of the people of India the World’s largest democracy/ Furthermore the Soviet Union’s influence in the area has been greatly strengthened by our incredible blunders.”

Recognition and Outlook for the Future

Any suspicion about India having colonial ambitions in Bangladesh may be allayed by the categoric declaration by the Government that the Indian army “will not be there a day longer than desired by the Bangladesh Government.” Mujibur has announced publicly the need for the continuance of the Indian forces for some time longer till the new State feels it is out of danger. The unilateral ceasefire ordered by Mrs. Gandhi has demonstrated practically that India has no territorial designs on Pakistan. Regarding Kashmir India has announced her willingness to have bilateral talks with Pakistan as desired by President Bhutto. If Pakistan rises to the occasion and recognise Bangladesh, the possibility of a federated Bangladesh, Pakistan, Kashmir and India along with Burma, Nepal and Bhutan might assume a new and practical dimension. And that might go a long way in bringing about peace and stability in the subcontinent.

— Arunodayam

Hit Back at USA

THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT is not only unrepentant, but continues to be vindictive in its attitude to India. Day after day, more light is being shed on its hatred and hostility before, daring and after the war with Pakistan. If this hate complex continues, it is not beyond the possible for America to invent another “Tonkin Gulf incident” to wage war on us, by alibi through a rearmed Pakistan, if not directly.

All the time, however, a strange, almost sinister, attempt is being made by America’s friends and beneficiaries in Nadia to create an impression that this hostility is only an aberration of a Nixon or a Kissinger, and that the bulk of Americans have nothing but admiration and love for India in their hearts. This is a spurious and interested campaign designed to prevent India facing up to the full consequences of the hostility of the industrial-military Mafia that rules America.

THE simple fact is that India, like many another unfortunate country, is being smothered by America. American goods, American institutions, American values, American culture and scholarship, an indiscriminate, gaping-mouthed admiration of everything American, have mutilated the free, natural and spontaneous development of our economy, education and culture. The dollar has proved to be more destructive than the atom bomb.

AMERICA’s growing hegemony over India’s political life was being built up by the so-miscalled economic “aid” which mainly comprises loans. Its impact is further complicated by the strange device of the PL 480 funds, which have certainly been an important constituent of inflation. There is also the constant flow of funds through private channels by which administrators, students, experts and journalists have all been turned into grateful lobbyists of America?

ACCORDING to Ambassador Keating, “American aid now totals 9,900 million dollars (Rs. 7,425 crores), making India the top partner of the US in its worldwide foreign assistance programme.” Between April 1951, the beginning of the First 5-Year Plan, and October 1970, India had used Rs. 11,995 crores of foreign aid, of which America’s share was 56.5 percent.

NATURALLY enough, no nation can live that long on unearned money. A report issued by the World Bank on September 13 last year pointed out that our debt service payments had risen from 16.5 percent of the total value of the export of our goods and services in 1965 to 22 percent in 1969. The trend is growing. India’s status is confirmed as a chronic debtor.

URGENT efforts to head off further aggravation of this situation are needed purely as a measure of national self-preservation? If Pakistan could declare a moratorium on all its foreign debts only to make war there is no reason why we should not take protective steps to build peace. We must first of all declare a moratorium on American debts; next freeze the PL-480 funds; and finally stop the outflow of money and men. All industries in which there is American participation by capital, collaboration or know how it should be asked to stop repatriation of funds.

ABOVE ALL, it is absolutely essential to stop American funds flowing to individuals and institutions and thus restrict, if not totally destroy, the corrupting power of the dollar in our public life.

— BLITZ, 8-1-1972

Letters

Kodaikanal, 18-1-1972.

My dear Brother in Christ,

Many thanks. Yours of 12th instant, for all your wishes and more especially for your prayers - may I be worthy!

May I share a few questions with an experienced soul like you:

1. Has not the eternal Christ always been at the side of the sincere seeking Buddhas, Rishis, Mahatmas of India?

2. If there is come truth at this point, then what do you think India’s witness to the Christ is?

3. Whatever this may be surely India has a special gift for the Church, for Humanity, and this moment - what is it?

4. At what points does a disciple of Jesus Christ need to be very alert in India today?

This is enough for the moment! When we cannot meet in body let us feet in spirit. The blessings of the eternal be with you.

Sincerely,

RALPH R. KEITHAHN.

Brief Answers

1. Yes, Christ as the Logos (according to St. John) and Nada, Shabda, Chit, Anand, Sphota, Aum (as claimed by the Indian disciple) has energised and revealed his truth and will to, all prophets and righteous men in all ages and all countries. He is Creator and lighteneth every man that is born (St. John chapter 1). He has been very much with Buddha’s compassion and his concerned search for a remedy for universal Dukh (sorrow and pain). The eternal Christ has enlightened the Rishis of India. He has been very much at the side of Rammohan, Keshub, Dayanand, Tagore and Gandhi. Today his light and power are guiding even Indira and Mujib. To deny this is to be blind to truth. Though God as Revealer and creative Power has made no distinction and shown no partisanship from his side, the receptivity on the part of man, however great, has varied and been limited by internal and external conditions. So the Word (Logos = Aum) became Flesh - was exemplified in fall and perfect human nature in Jesus of history to teach authentically, redeem mightily and lead unerringly.

2. India’s Witness to the Christ - is great and clear. Down the ages prophetic flashes have pointed to the coming on earth of someone like Christ. The unerring spiritual realisations of the Rishis and Munis are in line with the Light of the world. Prajapati (Lord of creatures) in Rigveda dividing his body as a sacrifice of propitiation of sins of men and gods is an idea, type, prognostic in the heart and mind of a real Rishi (the idea and not a historical incarnation of the Divine) logically and psychologically points to Jesus - son of man (the incarnate Son of God - the Word) sacrificing hit life as a propitiation of sins of men in a cone eye way. The principle of the law and order of society, (inherent in be sacrifice of Prajapati) of Varnashram Dharma strongly witnesses to Christ - the Head of the ordered society of the redeemed - the Church Catholic. The Vedic ideas of sphota and ananda and the conception of the God of love and grace through Vishnu who is concerned about the welfare of his devotees and incarnates himself from age to age inevitably points to the most satisfying Incarnation of Jesus. The righteous God Varuna of the Vedas and the doctrine of Ahimsa (non-violence) represent a preparation for the harmonised personality of Jesus of truth, justice, love and humility. The age long desire of India for union with God and for a concrete vision of God and for a touch even an intimacy with him (as indicated rather grossly in idolatry) is the Hindu way to the discovery of the express Image of God (Hebrews chapter 1) in Jesus. Examples, more or less important, can be multiplied. Let it suffice to say that the spirit of the Eternal Christ has “been present and active in Hinduism which has responded to it in its peculiar ways according to its own genius. India of the recent past has witnessed to Christ through the reformist modern movements - like the Brahmo Samaj, Arya Samaj, Prarthana Samaj, Theosophy, etc., and through persons like Gandhi and Tagore and Sunder Singh and even Aurobindo. India of the Middle Ages witnessed to Christ with the rise of humanistic renaissance of Buddhism and of the Bhakti religion (of grace, love and salvation free of cost) of Vaishnavism. Today India is witnessing through her democracy, war against caste concern for the scheduled castes and tribals, and through her just, stand as a secular and non-aligned State - her non-aggression and her support of freedom struggles against capitalism, feudalism, colonialism, and any form of slavery - social, religious, economic, political. All this, and also the Indian spirit of tolerance (how be it, though at times it verges on syncretism), catholicity, generosity, hospitality, the many inter faith conferences, the international fellowship - all points to the fullness and harmony of the Christ who claimed so be the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

3. What is India’s special gift this moment for the Church; for humanity?

   Yes, India’s fundamental faith in and emphasis on, the spiritual in life. The spiritual and the moral must govern and utilise the material and not vice versa nor should there be a confused partnership of the two. Religion, faith, morality, spirituality on the one hand and science, learning, art, technology on the other. The latter must not rule the former. Power of money, army, number, violence must not overwhelm the sanctity and liberty of the individual, national entity and thereby disturb and destroy universal peace and co-operation between man and man. The Church has this divine gift in the Word of God and Jesus Christ, in abundance but seems to be losing her grasp and grip. Let her be warned by, and learn from, Hindu India - from her conduct in the past and even in contemporary events. Has the Church been timid, hesitant in upholding the right and just, when moral issues Dave emerged on the national and international front?

   India has a good example to offer to the Church in its practice concern for the poor and weak who are oppressed and decimated by the mighty and rich. This ought to be inherent in the Church’s life and mission, but it is not there. To some extent and in some way Christians are serving humanity indeed but as professionals and not from the highest motives.

   Another gift India can give to humanity is the “Panchsheel” - the five principles of non-aggression of peaceful and fruitful co-operation. In spite of caste, race, language, provincialism, India shows at every crisis her fundamental unity and national integration and her respect to others rights. Are not these and similar principles very Christian and should the Church in India and India’s neighbours not emulate and practice them? Are the foreign missions and Indian Churches making aggression on India socially and mentally?

   The earnest search for truth; the Hindu religious devotion; the humility of the leaders of religion and State; the Hindu’s quiet propagation of truth and faith through life rather than word; an amount of toleration and catholic spirit; valuing saintliness, renunciation and godly learning over ostentation, riches, godless education, and political power (exemplified by Tagore, Gandhi, Sunder Singh as - by Buddha and Rishis of old); Ahimsa and many other things are free gifts of India to others.

   But India’s best gift is her moral and spiritual stand in all things, Her high regard for idealism rather than superficial prudence and mere satisfaction of immediate success. Nominal Christian countries have taunted India as a moralist nation. This is an honour.

4. A disciple of Christ in India has to be alert at many points:

   1. He cannot practice and pretend to preach the Christian religion over against other religions - particularly Hinduism. He is in order and authorised by Scriptures to present Christ, as the source of love and peace and his message as that of great joy to all people. Christ has to be disentangled from much crust and accretion that has gathered round his Person as Saviour and Lord of life in the course of centuries of development of the faith in the western world and in the Middle East. These acquisitions, however useful in the west, are alien and unsuitable to Hindu India who want to see the simple pure Christ.

   2. The Christian must disabuse his mind of any spiritual snobbery and hypocrisy of which there is an abundance among evangelicals and evangelists. He must be humble as his Lord. A sense of superiority vitiates his preaching. The Gospel flung from a distance and a high pedestal of power, money and organisation is automatically rejected as coming from a pity and not from a loving heart. To be successful the evangelist must be simple and natural as the Indian monk and sadhu, even when married.

   3. Theological Seminaries and Bible schools are spoiling our youth - men and women - by producing high worldly ambitions in their minds by the example of the high standards of the staff and the extravagant setup. These are all foreign. Young people are being turned into fake Americans by money. True evangelists for India can be trained only according Ashram ideals and in an Ashram atmosphere. America pours in money almost forcibly and young people are easily tempted and then spoilt. Under the circumstances here can be no identification and fellowship between the Church and India on which so much theological emphasis is put in these very institutions. Can you be alert here and work for the right?

   4. Will Christians be careful in giving up their dependence on overseas charity and learn to be self-reliant? There is an amount of extraterritorial loyalty to Pakistan and to the western countries. Whatever the reasons they are obsolete now. Grow and exercise single loyalty to the country of your birth or adoption and to the State and supremely to Jesus Christ and not necessarily to the western churches.

   5. We have to be very alert and up and doing now to relate Christian life to the culture of India and to the main streams of life here. How many are co-operating with non-Christians in the service of the country without any price? There are so many independent and voluntary service organisations in the country of so many types. Let Christians join in large numbers on a local basis. There is no better way of recognition and of glorifying-God, in today’s needy and miserable India.

   6. A Christian in India today ought to be careful in not demanding special privileges from Government or special kind treatment from Society. Is not only makes us objects of pity and contempt and our Christian witness weak and ineffective.

   7. The Christian has to be alert at the level of the economic and social life of the Church, Caste and other class distinctions must be not only denounced but eliminated. The poor, uneducated and oppressed sections of the Church must be lifted and redeemed in the cast of difficulties and opposition. Let the haughty, selfish rich, the sophisticated snob be deprived of all church activities and privileges. Let them not hold sway over the distressed and humble, holding authoritarian positions in the different departments of church life. If the Church cannot or will not redeem its poor and helpless brethren, there is no love or faith or other essentials of Christianity in it. It will have to die.

   8. While being a firm upholder of socialism and democracy and secularism in national life evolved through comparatively slow processes - a convinced devotee of constructive Revolution - the Christian must fight violence, mental and concrete, and even the unnecessary and unwise use of force by the Government under certain circumstances.

There are many other matters against which or about which the disciple of Christ must be alert. He will naturally act as a free Christian if he searches for light in the Word of God and if he allows himself to be led by the Holy Spirit and not by his selfish desires. Our readers may have other suggestions which will be to the point and helpful.

— R.C. DAS.

Thyrogodvej 47, 7320 Brande, Denmark, 20-8-1971.

My dear friend,

I may inform you that the Danish Editor who visited you at Varanasi, Hans Rietling, has published a most interesting record of this, for him very valuable, meeting with you. The article is headed “An Indian Grundhong,” comparing your approach to cultures and religions with that of our Danish prophet, Church Father, Philosopher, historian and poet - N.F.P. Grundhong, father of our folks high schools and our co-operative movements that successfully filled their intention and meaning and became world renowned. That part Rietling compared you with was your view of your old culture as the human necessity and preparation for your faith in Christ as the fulfiller, just as Grundhong considered our old northern culture with its myths and beliefs in the gods of the old Scandinavian Myths as the necessary human background and preparation for faith in Christ and a life in Him, by Him, for Him, and through Him.

This article appeared in a couple of our best dailies. I highly value your writings (Church of Christ No. 2, 1971) on “the Church and the Ashram.” “Mission schools and colleges” and on “Bangladesh” for the fairness, wisdom and true Christian spirit is which you treat these important problems. I vividly keep a vision, in mind and heart, of you and your work for Christ in India, a call I once felt I had to follow in co-operation and fellowship with my dear friend Manilal Parekh, but providence would otherwise. I was compelled to remain in Denmark in educational work in schools and public work as a lecturer and writer.

His rich blessing and peace be with you daily.

Yours in Him,

AKSEL.

(You have done me too much honour. I am not worthy to be compared to Dr. Grundhong. Your words indicate your bubbling heart of generosity, kindness and sincerity. - R.C. Das)

If I Had a Million Pounds

    I would buy me a perfect sea-side home
    Within sight of Malabar Hill,
    And there would I spend my latter days
    Until of life I had drunk my fill.

    I would build me a perfect dream-house there
    With windows that face the sea.
    And the years would flow as the west winds blow
    For my true love and for me.

    I would build me a perfect temple there
    A shrine where my Christ might dwell.
    And then would I wake to behold my soul
    Damned deep in a perfect hell.

— David Gosling, The Guardian.

Miraculous Faith Cures

NEW DELHI: Faith has many manifestations, and prayer is of them. This is the basic philosophy of Mrs. Rajamma Devanandan who took Delhi by storm with her prayer meetings where she cured scores of persons merely by her touch and prayer.

Thousands flocked to the Baptist Church compound where she held prayer meetings for over a week. There were those who had been suffering from various ailments, from cancer to simple pain and had come to her more or less as a last resort, She never professed to have a magic wand which would end their sufferings in a moment. Some were cured on the spot, some look a few days, and some included those who had attended her earlier prayer meetings in March.

Clad in a white sari and without any ostentation, Mrs. Devanandan simply invokes the blessings of Jesus Christ who, she says is a symbol of higher divinity, and it is in that higher being that she exhorts the people to have faith.

BLITZ was witness to at least three cases of polio, all children, who were cured on the spot. Eleven-year old Kiran Kapoor, daughter of a senior officer of The Times of India here, had one leg shorter than the other. Though afflicted since childhood, she was cured on the spot.

R.L. Vadhera came from Chittorgarh with his nine-year daughter Rekha distorted by the same disease, She, also went back home cured. A fifty-year-old cancer patient, Amir Chand also found relief.

Likewise, Mrs. Devapandam claims to have cured thousands of people in different parts of the country. She herself was a heart patient in 1952, but now she is completely cured and does not feel any ill effect even though her prayer meetings last till the early hours of the morning.

— Blitz 18-11-1971.

Mission to Believing Hindus

1. THE NEED: Ever since the great pioneers both missionaries and Indians such as Carey, Miller, Duff, Nilkant Shastri, Rama Bai and in more recent times Narayan Vaman Tilak, Sundar Singh, B.C. Sircar, B.A. Nag etc., lived, preached, taught, sang, wrote - and as a result Hindus found Christ - roughly for the last half a century, witness among Hindus has suffered a serious setback. Both foreign missions and the Indian church have failed the Hindus of higher classes, of culture, of faith and piety in the numerous towns, cities, religious centred throughout the country. These men and women - who have ever sought truth and peace - have been specially hungry for spiritual food in the context of the modern scientific and mechanical civilisation - for clear light and guidance in uncertainties, an anchoring of faith, a strong Saviour and Lord of Life. But these centres of depot and seeking Hindus are without any worthy evangelists with qualifications of head and heart.

2. Christian AIMS should be to

   1. Touch these aspiring souls
   2. Establish groups of seems workers
   3. Pray and depend on God for means and support.

3. STRATEGY: Occupation of intellectual and religious centres from where influence percolates to villages. The original apostles were guided by such vision.

4. INSTRUMENTS: Ashrams, Libraries and Reading Rooms, Preaching Halls, Small Dispensaries and schools; also Homes, orphanages, social reconstruction centres etc.

5. AN APPEAL: by the sheer grace of God against odds I have been enabled to carry on a ministry of the Word covering more than half a century. In these last days one longs to see the beginning of an Ashram in Greater Calcutta through which to come in contact, in a humble way, with some among the millions of Hindus and their various religious institutions and incidentally to be of some service to the church. Volunteer workers are there but no resources. The Ashram may be affiliated, as other Ashrams are, to the “Bharat Khrist Sangh” (Fellowship of Christ in India) an Incorporated indigenous Ashram Will be conducted by an Acharya assisted by colleagues and an Advisory Committee.

— R.C. Das.

Indigenous Worship

(Some suggestions as to Forms and Methods)

By R.C. Das (continued from previous issue)

Feasts and Festivals

1. Anniversaries of Saints, noted sadhus and sanyasis and other great men of the world, especially of our country and Church, can be observed as festivals.
2. Marriages and birthdays,
3. Musical performances and processions, illuminations, dramatic performances depicting incidents in the lives of Biblical heroes.
4. Dedication of children, naming children, beginning of student life, Baptism, Confirmation.
5. Harvest festival, erection of a new house and its first use, festivals of the seasons etc.
6. Christmas, Epiphany, Palm Sunday, Easter, Whit Sunday (Pentecost). Laymen woman children, must be freely and fully associated with the services and festivals of the church.

Peculiar to Christians with Hindu background:

1. Structure of the church building may be after the pattern of a Hindu temple but with a Cross on top or at the gate for distinction.
2. The internal disposition of the church may be to an extent that of a temple with a “holy of holies” - the altar - in a semi dark cell to induce the sense of reverence, mystery and awe. Then it may have an expanding body or a chabutra or angon - open or protected courtyard for the congregation.
3. Pictures, paintings, or other symbols helpful in inducing remembrance, respect and faith and as aids to worship may be kept according to taste.
4. Flowers, incense, lights (candles, or small earthen lamps preferable) and other artistic decorations nay be freely used.
5. Consecrated Food and Drink symbolising the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus may be preserved as the altar for devotees so receive freely at other than Communion time.
6. Kirtan or Kalakshepam (songs sung in unison by a party) to induce Bhakti (loving devotion) to Christ.
7. Nama Sadhan - reciting the name or names of God many times to foster concentrated devotion and self-surrender to, and unity with Christ.
8. On special festive occasions, going round the church in a procession with lights or flowers or branches in hand singing praises, say 12 times (remembering the Apostles) or 7 limes (after the seven Churches) or three times (meditating on the Holy Trinity) will be helpful to all, especially the young. This is Pradakshina- a typically Hindu practice.
9. Arati or service of lights, incense, flowers etc. Especially in the evening, worshippers may sing praises or prayers with flowers in hand and offer them on the altar or wave lamps or incense around the altar. This needs careful and detailed instruction. This will arouse and satisfy the religious emotions.
10. Prayers, praises, songs or benediction in Sanskrit will create a climate of mysticism, reverence and a sense of unity with in country’s bast and present spiritual life. Women should have an honoured place in the Services and festivals of the Church.

Peculiar to Christians with Muslim background.

1. Some converts of the deeper mystical type will emphasise the contemplative aspects of life aiming at a loving union with Cod in Christ. Poet Shadi, mystics like Omar Khayyam and Chisti of Ajmer. They will be inevitably influenced by their Sufi heritage and will be anti-sacerdotal and anti-ritual. Their worship will partly resemble that of the Quakers. They will mainly draw from Johannine writings and the Psalms. They will hardly be interested in the ritualistic worship of the average Church and will find affinities with similar groups of Christians. They will have to be not only tolerated, but sympathised with even encouraged in discovering modes of communion satisfying to their souls.
2. The average Muslim convert will be satisfied (like many Hindu converts) with the simple type of worship and prayer as are in vogue in modern denominations like the Baptists, Presbyterians and Methodists,
3. But a small number of converts and their children will find fellowship in an ornate festive type of worship and will develop life like that of the Shias who form a large part of the Muslim community in India. Their respect for Pirs, Paigambars will express itself in their respect for Christian Saints and sages and martyrs. They will have appropriate symbols and rites on festival occasions.
4. Muslim converts generally may, and in time will, build churches after the Saracenic style of architecture - a valuable contribution.
5. They may keep features of Muslim life and culture as are not inconsistent with Christian principles in the matter of dress, language, and name unless they take to Sanskritic and Hindu way of life.
6. Recitation of verses, or songs or praises in Urdu, Persian, or Arabic will be quite in order unless they give up these in favour of other Indian languages - a bread which may be set in motion soon and effectively.

In brief, a Muslim convert has as much right and duty to express his Christian faith in his own way as a Hindu convert has. In Muslim dominated towns and village areas, at least in some congregations, Muslim culture must have a right of way - everything without impairing undivided loyalty to Christ.

The whole purpose of indigenous method of worship is to give freedom for full spiritual development and to make religions life easy and natural so that the innate powers of the soul may be brought out and utilised in the service of God and man. In foreign terms and through, borrowed vehicles - through imitation - the hereditary resources of a people cannot be mobilised for worship.

Khristpanthi Ashram

(A spiritual in evangelistic centre for the followers of the Way of Christ; started in 1930, reorganised in 1948 under new auspices 1971)

Founder: ACHARYA REV. R.C. DAS, M.A.

1. Affiliated to:

   1. National Missionary Society, 1948
   2. Bharat Khrist Sangh, 1965.

2. Position: A co-operative non-partisan Fellowship of those who confess Jesus Christ as personal Saviour and God

3. Aims and objects:

   1. Study of the Bible, of Hinduism and of the Apostolic Church
   2. Purposeful creative thinking
   3. Adventures in Faith under the Holy Spirit
   4. Indigenous expression of Christianity
   5. Evangelism.

4. Means and methods:

   1. Worship
   2. Community life
   3. Literature
   4. Personal friendship

5. Activities:

   1. Preaching the Gospel specially among orthodox groups, Pilgrims, Sadhus and Sanyasis as Well as students and educated men,
   2. Bible classes, conversations with enquirers, distribution of literature, prayers and Lectures, Lending of books etc.
   3. Retreats and conferences for workers.

6. Gifts and donations towards the support of the Ashram and the work in the city will be gratefully acknowledged.

7. Office: 129, Dashashwamedh Road, VARANASI (U.P.), India. Sevak-Pramukh and Acharya

   Rev. R.C. Das, M.A., Shastri Vidyaratna Vidyaranjan, Rev. Father Ishwar Prasad (Upacharya), Brahmanand Thomas (Brahmachari)

One of the, if not the largest and important pilgrim centres and cultural seats - Varanasi occupies in North-east India a strategic position, in the life of the Hindu people. With a population of 10 lakhs and slated on the left bank of Ganga and on the high road to all parts of India - Varanasi receives a constant stream of pilgrims from the south and north, east and west of India. With the sages and saints living in the Muths and Ashrams, with Sanskrit learning extensively cultivated and the numerous Hindu sects all being represented here - Varanasi is verily the nerve-centre of Hindu India symbolising both its head and heart through the many educational institutions and the varied forms of devotion and piety. Its secular and political life is of a high order too. Varanasi has supplied to the State ire Governors and several ministers and developed high grade indigenous industries.

In such a city of the Hindus in the very hub of its life and activity mainly of religious significance stands prominently the Christian Ashram with its message of true peace, unity, and love and as a living witness to the redemptive power of Jesus Christ. Through its humble service during these 42 years, many have been converted in their minds and hearts to the truths of Christianity, many more have been deeply influenced in the right way. Out of these many, some 25 have publicly confessed Jesus as Saviour and Lord - Sadhus and Sanyasis, pilgrims, students, families, congressmen including so widows - all educated and originally religious. Some of these have turned out very effective evangelists and personal workers. The budget of the Ashram has always been very moderate as the leaders and inmates are volunteers living on a sacrificial basis. We need Rs. 3,000/- for a year. Such an indigenous original and independent enterprise certainly deserves the sympathy, prayer and active support of all those who desire the extension of the Kingdom of God in India.

— Rajendra Chandra Das.

A. The Cities of Palaces and Wealth-Calcutta - Greater Calcutta

There is no joy nor happiness here among the majority of its seven million people. It is a city of great contrasts. It is a wonder how palaces and slums can coexist - how, with what conscience or heart, millionaires can live with thousands of miserable beggars, refugees, starving destitute and diseased men, women and children at their very doors. Those unfortunates are found all over and also in other great cities. In the rural areas too big farmers who mostly own the land, congressmen and ministers who have made a pile, businessmen who monopolise all trade and commerce and money, mellowness who have usurped, paddy lands - are on one side, on the other are the poor small farmers who cannot get enough crops to support them through the year, labour cultivators, small traders and craftsmen, and other day-labourers who have no rice and cannot purchase it at Rs. 3/- per kilogram. So they slowly die of starvation effects. Government have never admitted death from starvation under shelter of a technical definition of starvation. Besides these classes, there are lakhs of clerks of various grades whose salaries are always inadequate to support their families. They work hard in mills, factories, offices, and shops where the proprietors and managers and directors enjoy fabulous profits.

Except rich areas in Calcutta and Greater Calcutta, the whole of W. Bengal, as other parts of India, is practically in famine condition. The rich people can take cure of the poor and increase their prosperity, and efficiency and usefulness for society without much discomfort to themselves. But have they the concern, love and passion for their underprivileged countrymen? Indian history does not show an example of the high and rich thinking of the low, and the poor. Otherwise, there would not have been an accumulation of seven crores of untouchables and depressed, millions of hill tribes and aboriginals (Adivasis) and many crores of other poor carte people. And there could not be these conflicting contrasts and gaps between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots.’ The only alternative to voluntary surrender and equitable distribution of wealth and prosperity is compulsory communism. The hesitant look to socialism and rosy promises to the ignorant masses will not work any more. Democratic Socialism is a delicate experiment too idealistic and precarious. It is better to go on one side and be creative and progressive. Government must be stronger and yielding results to the common man.

B. Bombay and Greater Bombay

During a recent visit we found an appalling amount of poverty in the beautiful city of Bombay. Side by side with misery and unhealthy there was dazzling wealth. The contrast could not be sharper and deeper. In a modern city the most antiquated slums with all their squalor existed as before. New slums of a modern type have arisen. On the one hand there are the high and huge skyscrapers, the dazzling lights, the beautiful parks and fountains, the broad easy roads, the thousands of care with fewer pedestrians, the beautiful bays, the lakes, seaside resorts, posh hotels and cultural institutions, the temples, mosques, churches; on the other - the new and old busties for poor millions of workers, cesspools, death-pits on roads, pavement dwellers, thousands of starving peddlers, numberless rickshaw-pullers, quarrelling and drunk vagabonds, beggars and anti-socialists without numbers, unswept roads and uncleaned drains! This is Bombay! The contrast does not end here. Most people are without culture and education, large numbers are untouchable and low in society, an amount of immorality in laid red light areas and among sophisticated rich men and young girls. Does this picture give an image of the perennial Hindu culture? There are similar other cities all over India. Parliamentary democracy or verbal easy chair socialism will not solve these problems. India needs and the world needs committed reformers and dedicated statesmen with a religious fervour and spiritual vision both in the social and political fields by thousands who will be examples of honesty, in corruptibility and justice.

— R.C. Das.

The Sadhu Ideal in the Life of Sundar Singh - A Natural Approach to Hinduism

(Brahmanand)

The advent of the present century produced four great Indians in three different fields. They were Tagore, Gandhiji, Aurobindo, and Sundar Singh. All left the Indian scene long ago, but none has risen up so far to take up their places to continue their work. The life and work of Sundar Singh was unique on its own merit. He was about the first Christian Sadhu who most of all caught the public imagination and became famous both in India and abroad. As a Christian Sadhu and a man of exceptional character and gifts, Sundar Singh stands high. The Sadhu ideal of Sundar Singh was closely related to the Sanyasi-ideal of Hinduism. Both these are ways of life which have no limit for self-sacrifice and renunciation.

Eighty percent of India’s population consists of Hindus and the entire effort of the Church in India should be directed to bring these people to the saving knowledge and leadership of Jesus Christ. “Renunciation and sacrifice are held high in Hinduism, and Hindus are therefore attracted towards Christ who is the embodiment of these virtues. It is, therefore, important that the lives of the Christians be consistent with their professions of discipleship to the Lord Jesus Christ. The Christian who lives a sacrificial life will be able to win more Hindus to Christ than the Christian living in ease and comfort.

This is exactly what Sadhu Sundar Singh was trying to do nearly hall a century ago. His concern was to touch silent a fragment of India’s population with the gospel. If any one Indian was succeeded in doing this, it was Sadhu Sundar Singh.

Sadhu Sundar Singh had many things in common with Apostle Paul. Born in good well-to-do families, and were deeply immersed in spiritual atmosphere. While Paul had his education at the feet of Gamaliel, Sundar Singh had his own instructions under the Hindu Pundits and learnt his spiritual lessons from his deeply pious mother. Like Paul, Sundar Singh was also a persecutor of Jesus Christ, but both were converted by a vision of the Lord. While Paul became the greatest Apostle of Christ in the west, Sundar Singh became the most eager Christian disciple and preacher the Indian Church was ever seen. Both lived, suffered and died for one cause - the propagation of the faith of Jesus. In this paper we intend to see how the Sadhu life of Sundar Singh has enhanced this cause in the miles of the Hindus of India.

The Sadhu Ideal - The Hindu View

The practice of asceticism has always been held in the highest esteem in India, and every ascetic has expected support for his livelihood from the public through gifts and alms. An ascetic considers himself as a merit to practices so, but it is the privilege of others to supply his simple wants. An ascetic in India never lacked essential physical needs. Sadhus are predominantly a group of ascetics in Hinduism. They are good and pious men, saints and sages. India is country famous for sages who lived down through the past three millenniums. The Hindu religion of today has attained its sanctity by the saintly lives of the past. A Sadhu is a man who vowed life-long allegiance to God or Truth or Peace and renounced the world, its pleasures and enticements. They are seen everywhere in the land and by their presence they bring a consciousness of something beyond the limited circles of the ordinary community life. Some of them had kept themselves aloof from the society, yet they have been given due respect and they in turn exercised invisible influence over the society. By and large the largest number of Sadhus have taken the strong vow of celibacy, self-renunciation and poverty. He never marries or enters into the ordinary occupation of the world. He wandered from place to place especially places of pilgrimage and centres of temples, ashrams and mutts. The common dress which he wears is a cotton gairiki (saffron), the traditional colour of saga (renunciation) and sanctity. His hair is long and sometimes plated (uncombed), and his body and face smeared with ashes. Some of them present a very clumsy look, yet India pays profound respect so all who have renounced the world to seek the way of enlightenment and emancipation. “Dr. Farquhar in his crown of Hinduism says:- As long as the world lasts men will look back with wonder on the ascetics of India. Their quiet surrender of every earthly privilege, and their strong endurance of many forms of suffering will be an inspiration to all generation of thinking Indians. For nearly 8,000 years the ascetic of India have stood forth, a living testimony to the supremacy of the spiritual.”

The Christian View

As a matter of fact, we have clear evidences in both the Old and New Testaments of the ideals and practices of asceticism. This was advocated to combat sin and attain a complete resignation to the holy will of God. In O.T. we see the visual practice of fasting, sometimes obligatory and sometimes optional. We also see in the O.T. that a certain group of persons abstains all their lives from the use of wine. In the N.T. also it is expected that the members of the Christian Community give heed to fasting (Matthew 6:16, 9:15, Acts 13:2, 14:23, 2 Corinthians 11:27 etc.). The same attitude also has been demanded in the matter of sexual continence (Matthew 19:21 and 1 Corinthians 7:25), or of the renunciation of worldly possessions (Matthew 19:21, Acts 2:44, 4:32, 5:4), or of temporary taking of a vow (Acts 11:24) and the like. In short, ascetic discipline of vice and training in virtue are contemplated in the N.T. as desirable, nay, even as necessary, recording to times and circumstances, in the sphere of Christian life. In the interest of the Kingdom of Christ, the Apostle Paul submits himself to fasting, watching, cold, nakedness, etc. (2 Corinthians 6:5, 11:26); and bruises and subdues his body after the manner of athletics (1 Corinthians 9:24-27). And he looks for similar action on the part of other serious minded followers of Christ (Galatians 5:24, Romans 13:14, Colossians 3:5).”

So we see that the Sadhu ideal whether it is in Hinduism or in Christianity is a great virtue, and we need to recognise its value and should manifest it in renunciation and self-abnegation. However, Where is a great difference in regard to the goal which the in ideal attains in the lives of individuals. In Hinduism Sadhu ideal is for attaining one’s own success and salvation by self-effort. For the Christian it is also for the Gospel’s sake and for the building up of the Kingdom of God on earth.

(to be continued)

An Appeal

Ishananda S.K. Paul - an independent evangelist and a devoted servant of God - has been preaching the Gospel in the State of Orissa with his centres in Cuttack and Jamboo for many years. He is a musician, a Homeopath and a divine healer. He spent a number of years in the Khristpanthi Ashram of Varanasi in the early fifties. He is trying to build an Ashram of a simple style at Puri on the seaside in a two acre garden gifted to him for the purpose. He has been engaged recently in relief work among the evacuees and refugees and other poor and distressed people in Jamboo area especially those who have lost their all during the last cyclonic storm and sea wash. Famine has appeared, children are suffering, diseases have spread. Any help sent by friends will be gratefully acknowledged by the undersigned.

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