Christian Literature for India
A. J. APPASAMY
Bible.
The hills, rivers and trees were not so grand, so aweinspiring as those, for instance, in India.
The hills are low compared with the majestic Himalayas, the effect of whose cloudcapped, towering peaks is to impart to the beholder's mind a sense of grandeur and awe.
The Jordan is the only river, the others being mere rills that swell with the rains.
And even the Jordan, swift and impetuous as it is in fact, though not in appearance, boasts of no broad and vast expanse that strikes awe into the heart.
The fig trees and olive trees of Palestine, abundant in their fruit and prolific in the images which they furnished to Hebrew thinkers, are small and by no means grand or magnificent.
The Psalms make us wonder what turn Hebrew thought would have taken if the land had been full of grand and awe-inspiring scenery.
CHRISTIAN LITERATURE FOR INDIA
Grace Samuel was also born and brought up at Palayamkottai.
But we had not met before I went abroad.
We had moved in different family circles, She had her early education in the Sarah
Tucker College run by the Church Missionary Society.
There were ten English women teaching Scripture and English in the different classes.
After two years of further study in the Women's Christian College, Madras, she obtained her B.A. Degree and worked for a further two years as a. post-graduate student in History.
We had many common interests.
She had been greatly attracted by the sermons of R. T. Archibald, Sadhu Sundar Singh and Walker of Tirunelveli.
She had read widely, particularly in English Literature and History.
She loved to sing English hymns, which meant much to her.
At the same time she read with growing appreciation the writings of Rabindranath Tagore, the modern Indian poet and dbhakta.
On April 2, 1923 we were married in the Holy Trinity Cathedral, Palayamkottai.
Now for a long stretch of years we have been working together in God's Church, sharing our deepest concerns.
We have three children—a son. who is a mechanical engineer in a Government Fertiliser Factory; a daughter who is married
CHRISTIAN LITERATURE. FOR INDIA
to a Y.M.C.A. Secretary working among students; and a daughter who, like her husband, is a doctor—both working mostly among mill workers in Coimbatore.
We have five grand children.
Many missionaries and nationals had felt for a long time that the time had come for the Indian Church to do its own thinking under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
This was what happened in the early Church when it had to encounter Greek Philosophy:
'Church Fathers like Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Ireneus and Augustine were familiar with the problems of the Greek philosophers and began to expound the Christian religion so as to meet their difficulties.
That was how Christian Theology grew.
Christian thinkers expressed their loyalty to Christ in no uncertain terms.
. But their teaching was so framed as to appeal to men steeped in Greek Philosophy.
Religion and Philosophy are deeply rooted in the Indian soil.
The Indian people are brought up on them and they treasure them as of great value.
Christian scholars would do well to understand how best they may be helped.
I was appointed English Editor of the Christian Literature Society, Madras, in 1923, and was given the necessary freedom and facilities to work at such a task.
The funds came both from the National Christian Council and the C.L.S.
I was told that I could live anywhere within easy reach of Madras so as to attend Committee meetings and have talks with the C.L.S. Secretary. I lived at Pallavaram, then a quiet and pretty village, twelve miles from Madras.
We rented a pleasant cottage with a garden. The central room, bright and airy, was large and made a lovely study where all our books were arranged in neat glass almirahs.
There were avenues of green trees in the locality along which I could go for short walks.
A friend even asked 'Why are you living here like a recluse?' because I spent much time in study and_ prayer.
The burden of my prayer was: 'Lord, show me the meaning of Thy Gospel and help me to make it clear to my educated country men.'
Some friends took a constant interest in my difficult and exacting work.
Bishop Waller was one of them.
He was paid by the British Government and his main responsibility was the spiritual life of the British civil and military personnel in Madras
State.
He had come out as a missionary of the C.M.S. and to the end he took genuine care of the Indian congregations included in
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his diocese.
On account of his: position as the Bishop of Madras he had a high social standing and received invitations to all important public meetings in the city.
He attended as many of them as possible and made many friends, both Indian and European.
In this way he kept in touch with all new developments. He was a keen student of Church History.
I could see him any time and get his help. Though a man with a rough exterior he had a heart of gold. He was prepared to attend even sub-committees appointed to deal with my work; once he went line by line through a manuscript at my request.
My Oxford thesis on the Fourth Gospel and Hindu Bhakti Literature had been accepted by the examiners, who had also commended its spiritual insight.
But I felt strongly that before publication it should be rewritten in India.
For-two reasons.
Only in India I could study enough Sanskrit to make the book adequate.
I was fortunate in securing for nine years the services of a Sanskrit pandit who was a follower' of Ramanuja the Bhakti philosopher, and had a competent knowledge of English.
The second reason for rewriting my Oxford thesis was that I felt it should come out of life.
It should be explained to people so as to meet their difficulties and help their longings and I must hear their comments. There were many opportunities. I was invited to give courses of lectures in Theological Colleges, Arts Colleges,
Y.M.C.A. Meetings, Indian Ministers' Conferences, Missionaries'
Conferences and Evangelistic Meetings for Educated Hindus.
I accepted these invitations which came from many parts of India and visited such places as Madras, Calcutta, Bangalore, Jaffna,
Cuddalore, Pasumalai, Poona, Allahabad, Agra, Tiruppatur and Kodaikanal on different occasions. My approach was this. There have been a great many bhaktas in India.
They had deep and profound longings for communion with a personal God.
They had their frustrations and also their satisfying experiences.
Some of their traditions such as image worship and the belief in Karma we cannot possibly accept as they are' not in line with the mind of Christ.
Christ alone is Our Lord and Saviour.
He alone is our Friend and Counsellor.
By dying on the Cross He has manifested the unlimited love of God for us and has brought us closer to Him.
We need to follow Christ and whatever there is in the wealth of religious experience in Hindu Bhakti Literature which is in
CHRISTIAN: LITERATURE. FOR INDIA
harmony withthe mind of Christ is ours.
This was the gist of my teaching.
A' good: many» people were helped: by: it:
In the light» of practical) experience my Oxford thesis) was rewritten and published in two slim volumes—Christianity as Bhakti Marga
{1928) and. What is Moksha? (1931).
Several hundred. copies of them were sold also in England.
I find that though the books are not now in print they are available in many of the missionary libraries in Europe and America.
Recently I obtained a copy of What 1s Moksha? through a second-hand book-shop in New York:
Another outcome, of my work during. those years. was the publication of, Temple Bells in 1930.
I was deeply moved by the Bhakti Hymns.
They stirred.in me a profound longing to serve God, Their earnestness, their sincerity and the depth, of: their passion for God captivated me. I yearned to have a similar Bhakti for Christ.
And I also yearned that my fellow Christians should be similarly moved. So I prepared an anthology of Hindu Bhakti
Literature from the earliest Upanishadic times down to the present day.
Bishop Waller, the Chairman of the C.L.S. Committee, wrote a foreword commending the book.
The manuscript was typed out and circulated' among the members of the Committee who gave their general approval.
But they expressed the fear that the orthodox supporters of the C.L.S. in England would not understand such a book and might withdraw their support from the Society.
So I was.asked to make my own arrangements about its publication.
The, Y.M.C.A.
Publishing House, then in Calcutta, was publishing a series of books on the Heritage of India.
They welcomed the manuscript as being in line with their work and spent much time providing suitable illustrations from modern
Indian art and making the printed book as attractive as possible.
The book has had a continual sale in India and many people have told me about the help and inspiration it has given them. 'The S.C.M. Press, London, ordered 2,000 copies in sheets, to be bound and sold in England with their imprint.
In 1923 Sadhu Sundar Singh invited me to Subathu near Simla to help him in translating his book Reality and Religion from the original Urdu manuscript.
In 1928 he invited me again to spend a: week with him at Subathu.
I accepted both the invitations and travelled long distances by train to be with him. I had
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been with him in various cities in Europe but he was then exceedingly busy with his meetings. Now his health had broken down and he had felt called to give his message to the world through the written word.
As I recall my impressions after forty years, I was struck by the sincerity and humility of the man. "He was. living with a Punjabi family who looked after him during his illness and after his recovery.
He loved their children and spent much time with them.
There were no outward signs of holiness about him except his yellow robe.
In prayer he followed the precept of Jesus and prayed in secret.
I did not know when he prayed and how he prayed.
He was eager to spread in the world the message which God had given him.
Royalties from his books: were coming in.
He spent as little as possible on himself and added the rest to the trust fund for charitable purposes which he created.
Every year my father was in the habit of spending the summer months on the Kodaikanal hills.
When the hot season of 1926. approached he hesitated a good deal as to whether he should undertake that year the journey to the hills.
Though his mind and spirit were unusually active, he was losing physical strength and every month he was becoming feebler.
With indomitable courage he was making his spirit master his steadily declining body. After consulting some doctors he finally made up his mind to go to Kodaikanal as usual and asked me to meet him at the Kodai Road station and to keep him company on the journey up the hills.
Normally his health improved when he went to Kodai.
But this time his appetite was very poor; he was not able to take much nourishment.
During the last days of his life he used to'ask for the sixth Psalm and apparently felt and made his own the Psalmist's: prayer 'Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am weak: O Lord, heal me, for my bones are vexed."
But he continued to the last his life of prayer and meditation and study. On Sunday the roth of April he took to bed and passed away peacefully on the 13th, in his seventy-ninth year.
He was actually in bed for only about thirty-six hours.
But during those hours he seemed to be suffering intense pain.
All he could do was to recognize his wife and children with a feeble smile when they came to see him in his last moments.
He could not even pray aloud as he usually did.
He beckoned us to kneel by the bedside and laid his hands on our heads in silent blessing.
Those were solemn moments for us.
CHRISTIAN LITERATURE FOR INDIA
It was sad to see a person of such vigorous and strong and powerful spirit battling against the weakness of his body.
He died as he had often wished, a quick and peaceful death without prolonged illness or agony.
It almost seemed as if he had been summoned from the busy town of Palayamkottai to the quiet hills which he loved dearly so that he might meet his Master in peaceful surroundings.
For twelve years he had been renting from the Sacred Heart College this small estate, Woodcot, three miles below Kodaikanal.
The bungalow stood by itself in an immense wood; a lovely little stream ran through the grounds; the birds filled the air with their songs. all hours of the day, particularly in early dawn.
It was in such an atmosphere of peace and beauty that he breathed his last.
That morning his friend Bishop Abraham of the ancient Syrian Church called to see him and in the death chamber offered an earnest prayer begging for God's gracious mercy towards him and the members of his family.
Soon after the nearest doctor was. sent for.
He was a Roman priest attached to the Sacred Heart College.
He brought with him another priest.
After examining the patient he requested the permission of the family to offer prayer.
They then knelt down and silently and most reverently pleaded for one who was more or less a stranger to them.
Soon after he died Bishop Tubbs, the Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Tirunelveli to which we belonged, came.
He also prayed earnestly in the death chamber.
'Thus my father died as he lived, a catholic soul with the benediction of three great branches of the Christian Church, the Syrian, the Roman and the Anglican, resting upon him.
In 1930 I offered myself for Ordination in the Diocese ot Madras.
By that time I had got'to know Bishop Waller well.
He said, 'I shall be glad to ordain you but I should first like to have in writing your theological views.
Will you write two long essays for me on "The Development of Christian Theology in the Early Christian Church" and "The Meaning of the Sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion"'?'.
He accepted the essays and I was ordained that April, first as Deacon, and after eight months, in December, as Priest.
The ordinations took place in two impressive services in St George's Cathedral, Madras.
The two essays I wrote were auseein in The Madras Diocesan Magazine.