About Dhanjibhai Fakirbhai
Dhanjibhai was born in a Hindu family in 1895 in Baroda, Gujarat. His father died when he was a child, but his mother and grandmother raised him in an atmosphere of bhakti, faithful to Hindu ritual and devotional singing.
He was sent to a Methodist school for his basic education and there was attracted to Jesus. He avidly read both Hindu and Christian books. But while a college student he had a transformative encounter that pointed him to Jesus.
During my college days I was deeply concerned about religion and God. Once as I was walking with open eyes over a road the morning sun burst into view behind some houses, and with its sudden light a voice said in my heart: “Do you seek God? Jesus is God.” This entered into me as a deep conviction and light. Ever since that time Jesus has been to me God, and I have never had to go back on that revelation nor do I need any other God. (Khristopanishad, CISRS 1965, pg. 4)
Dhanjibhai was a college lecturer in physics and wrote technical textbooks especially on electricity. His life in Christ was nurtured by encounters with Sadhu Sundar Singh who visited Baroda in 1917 and 1924, pointing Dhanjibhai to Indic patterns of discipleship to Jesus.
Dhanjibhai retired early from his professorial work in order to write about Jesus in Hindu terms. We are posting some of his work here as it is highly recommended for stimulating thought about Jesus bhakti in Hindu communities. Sri Hriday Gita, The Song of the Heart, is his best known work. The Gujarati text is here along with chapter four of the English translation (from B.R. Publishing Corporation in Delhi, available at (https://margnetwork.org/product/immortal-life-the-mukti-marg-of-sri-jesus/)).
Two other of Dhanjibhai’s seminal works have been translated into English and both of those are also posted here; Khristopanishad and The Philosophy of Love (Prem Tattva Darshan). We are very pleased to also post a video of Robin H.S. Boyd sharing in 2017 about Dhanjibhai on the 50th anniversary of his death at age 72 in 1967.