An Indian Sadhu found Christ
Yoga and concentration (samadhi) have given the sadhus, sanyasis, and the
poets of India great mental development and power. These psychic exercises lead
to self-hypnotism and also self-deception—a sort of satisfaction which comes
from self-denial and rigorous, self-imposed discipline of the physical body and
the mind.
So far, I have never met a sadhu or a religious man who could say he had truly
found shanti (peace) or God. All they venture to say is that they are still
seeking. How can they who reject the only Saviour, who gave His life for the
salvation of mankind, get shanti and salvation?
Some of these men, however, can also work miracles and signs, which totally
captivate people. We know that the magicians of Egypt did some of the miracles
which Moses performed under the direction of God. Some, by worshipping evil
spirits, can do certain things which appear like miracles. Some, by living a
life of self-denial and by yogic exercises, can even heal the sick or read
others’ minds and sometimes even make a clever guess at what the future holds.
Many who worship evil spirits can tell the past events of men. Most people do
not know that there are powers of darkness, which, if worshipped, can help them
on a short-term basis, to feel fulfilled and even be apparently successful. But
a true change of character and new life, none of these spirits of the underworld
can give.
Indian religions are highly developed intellectual achievements of men. The
mind, when highly developed, can function in an extraordinary way and even
subdue man’s instincts and desires. This ultimately results in killing oneself
and destroying one’s spiritual potentialities. But when a man comes under the
influence of the Holy Spirit of God, those instincts are not killed but
controlled and sanctified and led in the right channels of service. Love with
heart purity, love with holiness of life, and faith with humility, which the
Lord Jesus gives a repentant sinner, result in a great capacity to bring men
under the influence of the Cross of Christ. When people are truly broken at the
Cross, the resurrection power of Christ begins to operate in them.
No great Indian sadhu can say, "I can bring salvation to another." The religions
of India in their highest disciplines can only bring about a kind of negative
ordering of the soul and body, which renders the body as a corpse, while all the
time the spirit still remains unkindled and dead. Christ bring salvation to the
spirit, soul and body and causes a person to live on a high level of faith,
which in turn makes one go and rescue the fallen, and lift them into the New
Life and the cleansed walk.
Sundar Singh was born in 1889 into an important landowning Sikh family in
Patiala state, North India. With the passing away of his mother and the deep
void it left in Sundar Singh’s heart, there came a desperate longing for reality
and peace. If ever a man could have found true release and fulfillment through
Yoga, it was Sundar Singh, as he was in dead earnest to practise and implement
all that this system taught. But at this stage, he knew that he had tried all
the available methods and meditations known to him, but the deep void persisted.
Earlier, his mother having already taught him a great deal from Hindu
Scriptures, had put him under the tutelage of a Hindu pandit and an old Sikh
sadhu. But Sundar was bitterly disappointed that they could not show him the
secret which would meet his deep inner cravings. Of this period of his life
Sundar Singh said, "They taught me with great sympathy and freely gave me the
benefit of their experiences, but they had not themselves had that real blessing
for which my soul was craving, so how could they help me to get it?"
Sundar’s struggles therefore continued. A great sadhu visited their home six
months before his conversion and said, "This lad would become in future a great
man in the world or a mad person." One day his father rebuked him when he saw
him pouring kerosene and burning the Bible with perverse delight. Although he
counted it to be a meritorious act, a deep unrest took hold of him shortly after
this outburst of bigotry. He could not eat nor sleep for three days. This
intense search for finding reality in God could not go on forever. He wanted to
end his life if he could not find that real peace, which his mother had asked
him to seek.
On the third night he got up at 2 o’clock and had a bath in cold water for one
hour. Then he sat in meditation or prayer and said to God, "O God, if there is a
God, if You answer me and give me peace before 5 o’clock this morning and appear
to me in your true form, I will serve You as a sadhu all my life. If I do not
get an answer from You I will end my life by throwing myself on the rails of the
railroad behind my house, when the Ludhiana Mail passes in the morning." Sundar
meant what he said. He went on praying and meditating and at four he closed his
eyes again. At 4:30 when he again opened his eyes he saw a white smoke-like glow
in his room. For a moment he wondered if there was fire in his room. But then
came the thought that God perhaps was answering him and he closed his eyes
again. As he prayed on, lo, before him stood a glorious figure with such
brightness that exceeded the sunshine at mid-day. Yet he could see it without
being dazzled by the sight. Then he saw the crown of thorns on the head of the
figure which stood between the ceiling and the floor. There were wounds in the
hands, feet and in the side which were bleeding. Having recognized Him to be
Christ, Sundar turned away his face saying within himself, "He is none of the
incarnations whom I believe." But then he heard these words, "I am Christ whom
you are persecuting. There is salvation only through Me. If you believe Me now,
you will be saved. If you don’t believe Me you will be damned fore ever."
Then flashed into his mind the fact that he had never prayed to Christ but to
the universal God, to reveal Himself to him. He had challenged God that if He
would appear to him, he would never back out but follow Him. He had never, for
even a moment, expected that the answer to his prayer was Christ. How could he
now refuse the revelation of the Living God? Immediately he fell on the Feet of
the Lord Jesus Christ and worshipped Him. A mighty power like the power of
electricity flowed into him and a great peace came upon him. He was so full of
joy that he ran to his old father, who was sleeping, and woke him up saying that
he had seen Christ and that he had given himself to Him. The father remembered
the statement of that great sadhu who prophesied that this lad would become
either a mad man or a great person. He told his son that something had gone
wrong with his mind and that he should go and sleep. In this manner the Lord God
Almighty captured for Himself a well-prepared young man to be His follower.
( Joshua Daniel, Laymen Evangelical Fellowship)
With permission from Job Anbalagan gloryofhiscross@yahoo.co.in