"To
follow Christ and bear His cross is so sweet and precious that, if I find no
cross to bear in heaven, I shall plead before him to send me as a missionary, if
need be to hell.”- Sadhu Sundar Singh Hi..I am Suma Christal...I have dedicated this page to this great Apostle India has ever seen-Sadhu Sundar Singh.His life is very encouraging, for christians of all ages.Read this and send me your queries regarding Sadhu's life or if you want to know more about Jesus Christ.. May God bless you as you entrust your life into his hands.Happy surfing!!!
The Mother's Influence on the
Son
Sadhu Sundar singh whose
birth centenary commenced on September 3, 1988 is unique among Indian thinkers.
Although he could not be classed with theologians, his sermons and writings are
remarkably original and reveal his direct experience of Christ. His efforts at
presenting the gospel in a thoroughly Indian way should be viewed against the
background of his mother's influence on him during his childhood.
She introduced him to religious texts
like the Bhagavad-Gita and, put him in touch with a Sadhu who lived in a jungle
near Rampur their native village. Her prayer was that her youngest son Sundar
should become a Sadhu (Holy man or Sage-Saint). She put the idea into his mind
when he was very young. She died when Sundar was hardly fourteen. From then on
he became perplexed in mind and sought peace by reading various religious texts
and practiced yoga.
Sadhu Sundar Singh often
recalled his pious mother in his conversations and writings.
He once remarked
that it was the Holy Spirit, which made him a Christian, but it was his mother
who made him a Sadhu. On another occasion he openly confessed that if he could
not find his mother in heaven, who died as a pious Sikh, he would not stay there
but would rather ask the lord to send him to the place where he could find her.
"His mothers teachings in the Hindu and Sikh faiths on the one hand, and the word
of Jesus Christ on the other- these two lines of thought converged like an arrow
in Sundar singh and set him on his way” says J.L Watson a biographer of the
Sadhu.
The Vision and the Call
Young Sundar developed
hatred against the Christian religion, which he came to know through the Mission
school in Rampur. He went to the extent of burning the pages of the New
Testament, which he bought from the school. This happened on December 15, 1904.
He was admonished by his father for the mad act. Sundar who was undergoing a
struggle in mind sought peace staying in his room for three days. He prayed '
O God, if there be a God, reveal yourself to me tonight'. He planned to put an
end to his life if God did not respond to his prayer by daybreak. At quarter to
five Sundar, like Paul had a vision of Christ. He says that he saw 'in a shining
cloud of light... the glorious loving face of Jesus Christ. Sundar heard
Christ speaking to him in Hindustani: "how long will you
persecute me? I died for you; I gave my life for you" Sundar fell at the
feet of Jesus and accepted him as his master and Saviour. This incident took
place on December 18, 1904. While narrating this incident Sundar Singh says: "His
power came into my heart; my life was changed in a single moment."
It is worth noting that
earlier during the year, in April, some missionaries and Indian pastors gathered
together at Sailkot in Punjab and formed the Punjab Prayer Union. They pledged
to pray everyday for a spiritual awakening in the country.
Before the year closed the Lord has called Sundar to be
used by him, to bring about the revival. It is also significant that the National
Missionary Society of India was founded during the year that followed the
conversion of Sundar Singh. Having committed his life Sundar chose the path of
the cross and decided to bear the cross at all costs. This meant severe
opposition from family circles and, leaving his father's house who poisoned him when he had his last meal at his house,he thus chose to become a
wandering preacher. He states this in one of his sermons as follows "I had to
leave home and people, I lost everything, but I found everything in Christ."
All through his ministry of twenty-four years he joyfully proclaimed that
the cross would bear those who bear the cross. He wrote: " To follow him
(Christ) and bear His cross is so sweet and precious that, if I find no cross to
bear in heaven, I shall plead him to send me as a missionary, if need be to
hell"
The
Apostle of the Bleeding Feet
Sundar Singh received
baptism on his sixteenth birthday (3.9.1905) at St. Thomas Church, Simla. For a
month Sundar pondered over his future mission and on (October Sixth, 33 days
after his baptism he left Sabathu in Simla hills clad with a saffron robe and a
turban. The Sadhu ideal implanted in his heart by his mother got itself entwined
with the mission of the wandering Christian Friar.
He was a Sadhu
with a difference. He became a Sadhu to serve. "It was the road, not solitude
that called him" says Cyril Devy. Speaking about his Sadhu-life Sundar says:" I am not worthy to follow in the footsteps of my Lord. But like him, I want no home,
no possessions. Like him I will belong to the road; sharing the suffering of my
people, eating and staying with those who will give me shelter, and telling all men of the
love of God."
After visiting a few
villages Sundar began his first winter tour and covered many parts of Punjab,
Jammu and Kashmir, then proceeded further to Baluchistan and Afghanistan. Very
soon Sundar Singh came to be known as the Apostle of the bleeding feet in
several Parts of North India. During one of his visits to Europe he was asked
whether the stones had cut his feet, Sundar replied that they were strong enough
to cut the stones. Sundar carried with him only a blanket and an Urdu New
Testament. Within two years he had covered almost the whole of North India.
Meanwhile he spent a year (1909-10) in St. John's Divinity School in Lahore.
Although he was offered a license to preach in the Anglican Church, he did not
want to confine his ministry to any particular denomination. He chose to
continue his ministry as a wandering Sadhu and carry the message of Jesus Christ
to all churches and also to people of other faiths. He was a frequent visitor to
Rishikesh, where he made friends with a number of Hindu Sadhus with whom he
shared the joy of his experience in following Jesus Christ, his guru.
Sundar Singh was a born
adventurer and had a burden to take the gospel to places like Tibet, which were
closed for missionary activities. At the tender age of nineteen he was bold
enough to venture into the land of the Lamas. Between 1908-1929 he is said to
have made no less than twenty risky trips to that country.
During 1914-1918 Sundar Singh experienced severe hardships, including
imprisonment in a den with leeches and, using very painful torturing methods to stop him preaching.This he gladly accepted with the remark that it was very sweet to
suffer for Christ. He wrote in his Urdu New Testament:
“ Christ’s presence
had turned my prison into a blessed heaven. What will it be like in heaven
itself”?
Between 1918-1919 he made
visits to South India, Sri Lanka, Burma and Malaysia.
Although Sundar was endowed with the gift of healing, he, like Paul, used
it sparingly. He once prayed that the gift be withdrawn since he was aware of
the pitfalls of popularity. When left for Tibet on his twelfth trip in 1919, he
told his friends that he never expected to return. Sundar had the zeal to die as
a martyr.
In 1920 he visited
Britain, America and Australia. His father who by this time had accepted Christ
paid for his voyage. Sundar challenged the churches in the West to come out of
their materialistic outlook. He made bold prophetic statements such as the
following: "Europe has failed to
understand Christ. They have failed to understand his mind because they do not
live with him "..." there are many people nowadays in the churches in Christian
lands; who admire Christ and his teachings and have the privilege of being near
the kingdom of God, but they will beat their breasts like the five foolish
virgins, for they are near but not in the kingdom of God " It is observed that
'he was as fearless in his denunciation as he was tender in his pleading.
Sundar Singh made a second trip to Europe in 1922,En route he visited the Holy
Land and fulfilled his heart’s desire.
The
Page and the Pen
When he was thirty-three
in 1922 he wanted to die at that age like his master. Owing to hectic travels
and crowded programmes continuously for sixteen years the Sadhu began to lose
his health. He had heart attacks, trouble in eyesight, ulcers and several other
complications, which compelled him to confine himself to his residence in
Sabathu. Apart from his regular correspondence with friends all over the world,
he was able to devote considerable time to write several thin volumes:
At the masters feet
(1922)
Reality and religion
(1923)
Search after Reality
(1924)
Spiritual Life (1925)
Spiritual World (1926)
Real Life (1927)
With and Without
Christ (1928)
These
were written in Urdu and translated into English with the assistance of his
friends T. E. Riddle, A. J. Appasamy, Arthur and Rebecca Parker, and J. W.
Peoples. Some of his previously unpublished articles compiled by A. J. Appasamy
under the title The Cross is Heaven were
published in the series of World Christian Books in 1956. M. R. Robinson
translated his Real Pearl into
English in 1966. A collection of sermons of the Sadhu recorded by Alys Goodwin
in Switzerland was posthumously brought out by the Christian Literature Society,
Madras under the title Life in
Abundance (1980). A diary maintained by
her when she accompanied the Sadhu during his tour in Switzerland was published by C.L.S. in 1989.
Sundar
Singh is a communicative writer. He is precise in expression while his style is
simple and direct. His books are full of illustrations. The bulk of his writings
contain recorded versions of the messages received from the Lord during the
visions granted to him. According to Robin Boyd his writings and recorded
sayings are full of theology, full of Indian theology. His theology is
Christ-centered and rooted in the New Testament. It is mystical and evangelical
to the core. It is thoroughly Indian and accommodative in outlook.
The
Sadhu in his last published book With and Without Christ
gives interesting
incidents taken from the lives of Christians and non-Christians, which
illustrate the difference in lives, lived with Christ and without Christ.
The
Sadhu's books speak so much about human suffering. Bishop A. J. Appasamy
observes: "It is helpful to remember that they are written by a man in the
thirties of his life who was suddenly crippled in his work by illness... to him
life beyond the grave was not anything strange or new but a continuation of the
life, of joy, experience in the presence of his Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
' These devotional books written in such circumstances, have a compelling and
persuasive power as they reflect his conviction that all human suffering is sent
by a loving God, just as much as all joy is sent by him."
Several
Christian scholars in Europe including Arch Nathan Soderblom and Professor
Friedrich Heiler have written useful books on the life and ministry of Sundar.
Heiler's book has been translated into English under the title The Gospel of
Sadhu Sundar Singh (1927). He deals at length with the
Theologica Experimentalis of the Sadhu and speaks
about the significance of Sadhu Sundar Singh both for India and for western
Christianity in the wake of the ruthless criticisms of his opponents in the west.
In the
Footsteps of the Master
Since the day of his
conversion Sundar Singh endeavored to follow Christ and made every effort to
imitate his master, particularly his life of prayer and meditation. He would
spend long hours in solitude communion with God. He had a number of visions in
which he would be seated at the feet of his master and converse with him. Great
truths were revealed to him during these sessions of dialogue. While speaking
about the intimate relationship with his master, he says that "He (Christ)
opened his heart with the key of love. . . filled it with his presence."
In
February 1913 he attempted a forty-day fast in a jungle near Rishikesh. When his
strength was altogether gone after about two weeks, he swooned and was carried
to Rishikesh railway station by woodcutters who were passing through the jungle.
The experience of the fast brought to him a notable expansion of his spiritual
life. "From that time on his life was one of a real and unbroken with his Lord
whose rewarding presence he counted as the best of God's gifts" says Riddle.
Sundar Singh followed his master in using a number of parables and stories to make the gospel of Jesus Christ clear and meaningful and to his audience. Heiler says that "to the Sadhu a parable is more than a picture or a sudden flash of inspiration."
A few of them such as the
ones found in Real Life are
short stories. Several others are analogies in short sentences such as the
following: "The firefly is one of the smallest of the insects; yet it gladdens
the heart of the traveler." "When you go to a strange country it is good to have
a friend who will be kind to you. Become friends with Jesus Christ; then in
heaven you will have a friend." Most of the parables are of medium size. They
are about eighty in all. Each one of them like the parables of his master is
related to the gospel and the kingdom.
Sundar
Singh organized his devotional life of prayer and meditation along the pattern
set by Jesus. Prayer for him was the hidden root for the life lived in constant
fellowship with Christ. He firmly believed that prayer could never alter the
will of God. This he illustrates with a parable about the bird, which sits
brooding over her eggs. As she continues to sit on them the change does not take
place in the mother but in the eggs. So
also through our prayer God is not changed but we are changed so as to know his
plans for us.
Prayer and meditation are described by Sadhu as the opening of our hearts to God when "the rays of the Sun of righteousness will heal the wounds of our sins and give us perfect health." Speaking about his prayers the Sadhu says: "I use no words. I think only of those things that I have been reading, of the things I have been doing or intend to do, of the people I know, of myself and of Jesus-such thought is prayer, God speaks not man."
Sundar
Singh's appearance and presence always reminded his audience of Jesus Christ. A
friend of the Sadhu observed his face becoming radiant and like the face of
Jesus, whenever he returned from his solitary meditation and prayer. A Hindu
Saint at first sight of Sundar was able to see that Sundar has realised the
bliss, which he was struggling after.
Like his master Sundar
Singh was a man of the masses and as such a man for others. As an active mystic
he engaged himself in the service of others in places like the leper Asylum in
Sabathu. Evangelism, social service and prayer were all important to him. When
asked by Streeter and Appasamy what he would do if he had a week all to himself,
would he spend it in prayer or in active evangelism, Sundar replied: Can we
drink only water or eat only food for a week? We require both drink and food.
Service for him is
unthinkable apart from suffering and sacrifice. He took delight in bearing the
cross through physical suffering and mental agonies and learnt to be humble. The
offers to accept the headship of training centre, which was to be started for
Christian Sadhus, was politely turned down by the Sadhu. He was not interested
in the post of the "Bishop of Indian Church" when the indigenous minded
Christian community in Lahore offered the same to him. Sundar did not want to be
addressed as "Sadhuji" by his friends. He would request them to call him "Little
brother". He compared the little honour he accepted at times to the honour
received by the donkey, which had to walk on the cloaks spread on the road when
the master rode on it. Sundar Singh refused to bless or baptize people including
his father who accepted Christ during the last years of his life because Sundar
felt himself unworthy for doing the same with the hands which tore the bible
into pieces and burnt them; the blessing could be received only from the pierced
hands of Jesus. There were occasions when the Sadhu's humility was expressed
with remarkable humour. When a friend brought a fine rug as a present to him,
the Sadhu took the rug graciously and then asked the friend to accept it from
him as a present. While in London, he wore a red raincoat on his saffron robe.
When he stood in a street corner in thick fog he was mistaken for a post pillar
by an old lady. She was taken aback when the pillar-box said: “Give me the
letter, I will post it for you.”
Many during his lifetime complimented the Christ-likeness
in the life of the Sadhu. What Friedrich Heiler wrote to him would perhaps
surpass them all: 'Since coming to know your life and your preaching, I read the
New Testament with new eyes.’
Life'
In Christ' and' For Christ'
Christ-centeredness is
prominent in the life and writings of the Sadhu. Jesus was for him "not the
supreme mystic; but the master of mystics, the Saviour of mystics." Hence
he could proclaim: "Christ is my life. He is everything to me in heaven and
earth." For the love of his master he accepted the cross as the basis of his
mystical life and called it "the key of heaven". He wrote: "Outwardly it (Cross)
may appear full of nails, but in its nature, it is sweet and peaceful."
Christ spoke to him in
ecstasy that his crucifixion should not be viewed as an isolated incident in his
life, which lasted only for a few hours, but as a continuous experience in his
life on earth. Christ also taught him that he who accept the cross and lives his
life in his Lord dies, not once for all but daily.
Sundar found the
cross as the distinctive mark of Christian discipleship against the Sanyasa
(world negation and renunciation) of Hindu tradition. He was critical of both
the Hindu and Christian sanyasis of his day and was of the opinion that they should not fall below
the ideal. As a Sadhu (a religious person whose life is set towards a goal)
Sunder "did not renounce the world but only the evil in it." It meant the bearing
of the cross and a sharing in the suffering of his master. This he illustrates
with the beauty of diamonds and the pearls.
Diamonds do not dazzle with beauty unless they are cut; when cut the rays
of the sun fall on them and make them shine with wonderful colours. So when we
are cut into shape by the cross we shall shine as jewels in the kingdom of
Gods.’ "Pearls are the product of pain and suffering; still when
treated with neglect the lusture is destroyed. Their charm, which is due to a
peculiar surface play of light, might be destroyed by contamination with grease,
ink or similar matter. . . So, like the pain born pearl, spiritual life
without pain and suffering, cannot become beautiful."
The mystical
experiences of Sundar Singh include visions seen in the state of ecstasy.
Although these were precious for him he did not glorify in them. Nor did he
allude to them in his sermons but had only narrated some of them to his close
friends. He felt an inner urge to put them in writing and was greatly relieved
after publishing his visions of the Spiritual world in 1926. In the
Preface Sadhu speaks about his first experience at Kotgarh, in his eyes were
opened to heavenly vision. During the years that followed the visions have
continued to enrich his life. He had them sometimes as often as eight or ten
times in a month when his spiritual eyes were opened to see the glory of
heavenly sphere and walk there with Jesus and hold conversations with angels and
spirits. Several of them are recorded in his books. These experiences created in
him a longing to enter in permanently to the bliss and fellowship of the
redeemed.
The visions become
meaningful only in the Christ centric character of the Sadhu's mysticism. "Christ
on his throne is always in the centre... The face of Christ seen by the Sadhu
in ecstasy with his spiritual eyes is the same that he saw at his conversion
with bodily eyes. The scars of Jesus are not ugly; but beautiful." Sundar Singh
felt that he understood more about God in a single moment of ecstasy than he
could have had many years of study in a Theological College. Apart from
his experience of "the communion of the Saints the Sadhu also learnt through
them that 'the Saints help in the work of saving souls in hell, because there
can be no idleness in heaven.' Those in hell will ultimately be brought to
heaven..." Very few will be lost but
many will he saved.
This universalism or hope
in ultimate salvation perhaps remained as a concealed foundation of his
evangelistic preaching in which he stressed the need for repentance and the
certainty of immediate judgement.
The Sadhu had a burden
for the places where the gospel had not reached. Tibet became his mission field.
During his visits he set up small congregations in some places in Tibet and also
started a school. He preached the gospel alike to the Lamas and the Hindu
Sanyasis at Rishikesh, to philosophers such as Henri Bergson and Rabindranath
Tagore and to villagers whom he met in corn fields or jungles and to the
Christian congregations in various parts of the world. His was a characteristic
personal approach through which he shared the joy and peace he received from his
master. A report which appeared in Morning Star of Jaffna, Sri Lanka
gives in nutshell the typical manner in which the Sadhu preached to mixed
audience "Sundar Singh has
also a message for non-Christians. He has not attacked their religion. He has
not scolded nor used harsh terms of reproach, but has fearlessly testified to
his own failure after long and painful search to find peace and joy and
satisfaction apart from God's great revelation Christ."
The interview conducted at
Calcutta in February 1929 by S.Kulendran (Later Bishop in Jaffna of the Church
of South India) a young theological student at Serampore Sadhu answers a
question relating to peoples of other faiths as follows: 'The old habit of
calling them “heathen” should go. The worst “heathen” are among us. We
should love them as brothers, though we need not love all that they believed and
did.
The Sadhu in his last
published book With and
without Christ gives interesting
incidents taken from the life of Christians and non-Christians, which illustrate
the difference in lives, lived with Christ and without Christ. Sundar writes:
"The quickening work of the living Christ is not confined to our
organized churches, but is going on among non-Christians far in excess of what
is commonly known or of any estimate we can make."
His position seems to be
closer to that of J. N. F when he speaks about Christianity as the fulfillment
of Hinduism: 'Christianity is the
fulfillment of Hinduism, Hinduism has been digging channels. Christ is the water
to flow through these channels.... Non-Christian
thinkers also have received light from the Sun of Righteousness. "There
are many beautiful things in Hinduism, but the fullest light is from Christ...
The Holy Spirit is not the private property of some special people ." Sundar
Singh was not interested in attacking the religious practices of Hinduism found
at the popular level. A few of his observations and criticism about the
doctrines of karma, jnana marga (The Path of Knowledge) and yoga provide
incentives for meaningful dialogue between the Hindus and Christians.
Sundar Singh was equally
interested in sharing the good views with the Buddhists. In 1922 he made a
proposal to the National Missionary Society (NMS) for starting missionary work
on the border of Tibet. In 1924 the NMS of India had asked Sundar Singh to
collaborate with them in the evangelization of Tibet. He agreed to train two
workers every year who would go with him to preach the gospel in Tibet. In 1927
the NMS reported that some of its work was in Tibet and Himalayan States under
the direction of Sadhu Sundar Singh.
Owing to ill health
after 1922, though Sundar started for Tibet on different occasions he could not
proceed far. Although his health was failing, Sundar undertook a trip in April
1929 along with some traders to Tibet. He had to walk several miles with them
beyond Badrinath on the snowy mountains. The road into Tibet was very difficult
and often dangerous mountain track, which ran along the higher ledges. Sundar
promised to return after a month or so but he never returned from that journey.
Some of his friends including the Rev. Riddle went a long way on the snowy
mountains to find some trace of him, but to no avail. In response to the
petition made by the executioners of the Sadhu's will that his death might be
presumed the court gave probate of the will in 1932. It may possibly have
happened that in some remote region, among the mountains, a final disaster
overtook him, or perhaps he might have missed his step owing to poor eyesight or
suffered a sudden heart attack. Yet another possibility is that he died the
death of a martyr. To die such a death says Appasamy, a great friend of the
Sadhu, "was his greatest ambition." Riddle after returning from the search
in the Himalayan region inferred that "the call he longed for came to him in
the earlier stages of his journey, and that once more the heavens were opened
for him like Enoch to enter in and this time to abide in the rapture of the
presence of his Lord."
The
Challenge of Sadhu Sundar Singh
The life and teachings of
Sadhu Sundar Singh are of great importance to world church. His interpretation
of Christianity with the mystical insights gained from the religious heritage of
India could be compared to the methods adopted by St. John and St. Paul in the
early Christian church. He gave a characteristically Indian form to
Christ-mysticism. Baron von Hugel rightly observes that Sundar Singh was proud
of being an Indian and was anxious to remain an Indian as deep Christianity
allows. Sundar's challenge to the church in India is to take indigenization
seriously and grapple with the problem of meaningful and critical adaptation of
the religious tradition of India. Prompt response came from leaders like
Savarirayan Jesudason, R. C. Selvaratnam and Sadhu Mathai who made bold attempts
at indigenization in Christian Ashrams during the early decades of the present
century.
There
is much to be achieved in this direction by the churches in India. The various
experiments at indigenization made at Ashrams and Theological Seminary have not
found proper reception in the congregations. Many are highly critical about the
whole question of indigenization. Such attitudes create difficulties for the
church to make its distinctive contributions to the world church.
A few weeks before
the Sadhu left Sabathu for Tibet on his final journey he spoke in a meeting at
Okara on 12th March 1929, which was attended by several Hindus along with
Christians in the area. Sundar Singh's advice to a young Sadhu on that day was
as follows: "Read your Bible daily with prayer, do not flee from the Cross and
do not become proud when some good people give you any honour. Remember the colt
had the honour of walking on the garments which were spread by men in the way
while Christ was entering Jerusalem and people were saying 'Hosanna, blessed is
he that cometh in the name of the Lord." The colt had this honour because Christ
was seated on it.
Sadhu Sundar Singh's
ministry is a challenge to rethink and reorganize the patterns of Christian
spirituality.
The significance of
prayer, Bible Study and meditation should be rediscovered in the present context
for relating them to the servant hood and the prophetic ministry of the church.
Preoccupation with numerous programme and activities is often seen to be the
cause for the slackness of devotional life on the part of individuals as well as
churches.
The Sadhu's ministry is
a warning to those who would overestimate the institutional and organizational
set up of the church. He once observed: "God is a God of order, but the order
must agree with the leading of the Holy Spirit otherwise it will be useless."
There is much to be learnt
from his ministry during times when we listen to prophetic voices raised from
many quarters for non-cultic and structure free types of ministries. Sundar
Singh through the rich and resourceful treasure of the gospel found for himself
the dynamics of the Christian ministry in Christ's way. While speaking to Arch
Nathan Soderblom he said: "we are
tired of doctrines. We need the living Christ. India wants people who will not
only preach and teach, but workers whose whole life and temper is a revelation
of Jesus Christ." Heiler when quoting the words of the Sadhu points out their
applicability to the West as well.
The preaching ministry
of the Sadhu is thoroughly Indian. His sermons are full of parables and
illustrations gleaned from the Indian set up. Christian preachers in India use
many of these. It will be highly rewarding if such illustrations are gathered
from the religious literature and oral traditions of India by the preachers
themselves and used appropriately in their sermons. Sundar Singh's preaching
ministry makes us reflect more on the preparation of the preacher rather than
the preparation of the sermons. He says:
"Preachers ought to get their message from God. If they get it from books
instead, they do not preach their own gospel; they preach the gospel of others.
They sit on other people's eggs and hatch them and think they are their own."
The Sadhu's observations
about Theological Education are worth considering. Although he could not stay in
a Divinity School for more than a year, he never spoke or wrote against
theological training. A student in Cambridge wanted to give up his studies and
become a missionary as a result of listening to Sundar's sermon. When this was
reported to the Sadhu he said: “that is not what I meant. Ministers do need
training. What I meant was that learning without life is dry bones.”
When Sundar Singh made
a will in 1925 leaving his money for charitable purposes, he included
scholarships for evangelistic workers to pursue theological studies at
recognized seminaries and also special scholarships for promising persons for
the study and teaching of the New Testament.
When Streeter and Appasamy asked him about the training of theological students, he told: “there should be more practical work. The professors themselves should go about the country for two or three months with their students to preach the gospel.” His advice becomes meaningful in our context today when various kinds of internship and practical work programme are planned at various levels. The practical work that was in the mind of the Sadhu was evangelism. This again is a challenge for meaningful contacts with people of other faiths particularly through dialogue. The person-to-person contact in evangelism today is very much a missing dimension. This was very prominent in the ministry of Sundar Singh who made friendly contacts with various kinds of people including farmers in the fields, travellers in train compartments, sanyasis at Rishikesh and warders in Tibetan prison houses. He was accessible to them because of his typical way of presenting “the water of life in an Indian cup”. It will be appropriate to conclude with a tribute paid to Sadhu Sundar Singh by Dr. Nicol Maculcol, an eminent scholar and missionary in India:
"In him Christianity and Hinduism seem to meet, and the Christian faith stands forth, not as something foreign but like a flower which blossoms on an Indian stem.”
Please feel free to link this page if it brings glory to our lord and saviour Jesus christ.For all your comments and suggestions kindly
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Links to other sites on the Web
The Story of Sadhu Sundar Singh
Sadhu Sundar Singh Forum
Hindu Shishyas of Christ
Visions of Sadhu Sundar Singh
This is taken from the book"Sadhu Sundar Singh" by "T.Dayanandan Francis" a book, published by the Christian Literature society. For other books related to Sadhu Sundar Singh , kindly contact:
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