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It was surely a wonderful provision of God when He called Sundar Singh to be a Christian Sadhu. Amongst Christians his saffron robe gives him a position the best possible for the acceptance of the message he brings. Granted the same man and message he would assuredly under any circumstances have won the heart of the Indian Christian Church, but being a true Sadhu in appearance as well as in spirit has added enormously to his influence and power.
Perhaps nothing has proved more wonderful to Christians everywhere than the humility and simplicity of the Sadhu’s spirit, and no one is more filled with wonder than himself when crowds linger about him just to look at his face.
But the most remarkable results of his being a Sadhu are apparent in his life and work amongst non-Christians. This he looks upon as his sworn task. Naturally his sadhu’s robes gain him ‘an entrance to places and to people as nothing else could. Often in the course of his pilgrimages from place to place he comes across unusual types of Indian sadhus, and it has been his privilege to discover to the world a marvellous movement towards
Christianity amongst the’ most deeply religious men of India.
The Rev. J. J. Johnson, of the Church Missionary Society, who died in 1918, was one of the finest Sanskrit scholars in India. During the latter part of his life, he was set apart by his Society for a work he was magnificently fitted for amongst the pandits and learned classes throughout India. The story of this work is a romance waiting to be written. On his last visit to the south he told us that he believed there were great numbers of the highest castes of India waiting to become Christians, a statement made after years of intimate relationship with the leaders of religious thought in India.
But it was reserved for Sundar Singh to lift the veil and prove the truth of this astonishing statement, and this is how it came about. Towards the end of 1912 the Sadhu went to Sarnath (the scene of Buddha’s first preaching), and there he met with some men dressed as sanyaésis. Entering into conversation with them he found they were Christians, and belonged to a secret organization numbering some 24,000 members, who are scattered all over India. These are divided into two classes called Shishyas and Swamis, or Companions and Heralds. The Companions are ordinary members who fulfil all the usual work of life. The Heralds number about 700, are dressed like Sanyasis, and are the unpaid preachers who conduct services among the Companions wherever they meet them.
These secret believers observe baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Bands of them are found all over India, and in most distant and unexpected places. It was due to the kindness and care of some of these good people that Sundar was on one occasion nursed back to life after imprisonment and persecution in Nepal. He says that these believers are wont to assemble at fixed and very early hours in ‘“ Houses of Prayer ” outwardly resembling Hindu temples, but which contain no images or pictures. The Bible is read and expounded and Christian papers are circulated. Eastern methods are sedulously followed, such as complete prostration of the body in prayer. The belief is held that if men prayed in perfect faith they would have constant visions of the Master Himself.
Belonging to this secret Christian Brotherhood are various sadhus and hermits of recognized holiness, and a large number of the members are educated and wealthy men of the upper classes, who freely subscribe towards the maintenance of the organization. The Sadhu has often been present at their services, and has several times been mistaken for one of themselves. He has very earnestly begged that they would openly confess Christ, and they promise that when the right moment comes they will do so.
On one occasion while the Sadhu was preaching on the banks of the Ganges his audience told him that while they liked him as a sanyasi they did not like his message, and they requested him to visit a great Hindu preacher who lived close by and who was attracting large crowds. For three days he could not get near him for the crowd. One day, however, he was able to meet: him alone, and then the Sadhu learnt that he was a Christian. The Hindu preacher embraced him and said, ‘“ Brother, we are doing the same work.” Surprised at this, Sundar said he had never heard him preaching Christ. To which he replied, “Is there any foolish farmer who will sow without . preparing the ground ? I first try to awaken in my hearers a sense of values, and when a hunger and thirst for righteousness is created I place Christ before them. On the banks of this ancient river I have baptized twelve educated Hindus during the past year.” He then showed him the Bible he always carried about with him.
In one of the holy cities of India some of these secret believers took the Sadhu to an old temple, where they showed him an ancient Sanskrit manuscript containing an account of Pandit Viswa Mitra, one of the three Wise Men who, after seeing the Divine Child, came back to India but returned at a later date to Palestine when Christ had entered on His public ministry. They claim that he was the one of whom the disciples complained to the Master that they found him performing miracles and forbade him “ because he walketh not with us.” This parchment also gives in modern Sanskrit a history of the Brotherhood during later days.
The Sanyasi Mission does not appear to have flourished much until the days of Carey, when some Christian Sanyasis heard the Gospel from his lips. and were fired with fresh enthusiasm.° From that time the mission prosecuted its work with quickened faith and its numbers began to increase.
In one of the large northern cities the Sadhu was introduced to a famous Hindu preacher who was considered a profound scholar in the Vedas. He heard him lecture on the Hindu Scriptures, and towards the end the lecturer said, ‘‘ The Vedas reveal to us the need - of redemption from sin, but where is the redeemer ? The ‘ Prajapathi,’ of whom the Vedas speak, is Christ — who has given. His life as a ransom for sinners.” When questioned afterwards by Hindus the lecturer said, “ It is I who believe in the Vedas and not you, because I believe in Him whom the Vedas reveal, that is Christ.”
In speaking of this the Sadhu declared that the great need of our age is that the Church should have a broad vision; that the Christian should transcend the limitations of sect and creed, and be prepared to recognize the Spirit of God in whatever form He may be made manifest. He added that he fully believed the Sanydsi Mission is being blessed of God, and although it has taken a form we are not accustomed to, it is given to its leaders to do great things for India.
Yishu Nasri Nath ki Jai— Victory to Jesus Lord of Nazareth ”—is the password of this secret Brotherhood of Christians in India.