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ਸੋ ਦਰੁ | So Dar
ਸੋਹਿਲਾ | Sohilaa
ਰਾਗੁ ਸਿਰੀਰਾਗੁ | Raag Siree-Raag
Gurbani (14-53)
Ashtpadiyan (53-71)
Gurbani (71-74)
Pahre (74-78)
Chhant (78-81)
Vanjara (81-82)
Vaar Siri Raag (83-91)
Bhagat Bani (91-93)
ਰਾਗੁ ਮਾਝ | Raag Maajh
Gurbani (94-109)
Ashtpadi (109)
Ashtpadiyan (110-129)
Ashtpadi (129-130)
Ashtpadiyan (130-133)
Bara Maha (133-136)
Din Raen (136-137)
Vaar Maajh Ki (137-150)
ਰਾਗੁ ਗਉੜੀ | Raag Gauree
Gurbani (151-185)
Quartets/Couplets (185-220)
Ashtpadiyan (220-234)
Karhalei (234-235)
Ashtpadiyan (235-242)
Chhant (242-249)
Baavan Akhari (250-262)
Sukhmani (262-296)
Thittee (296-300)
Gauree kii Vaar (300-323)
Gurbani (323-330)
Ashtpadiyan (330-340)
Baavan Akhari (340-343)
Thintteen (343-344)
Vaar Kabir (344-345)
Bhagat Bani (345-346)
ਰਾਗੁ ਆਸਾ | Raag Aasaa
Gurbani (347-348)
Chaupaday (348-364)
Panchpadde (364-365)
Kaafee (365-409)
Aasaavaree (409-411)
Ashtpadiyan (411-432)
Patee (432-435)
Chhant (435-462)
Vaar Aasaa (462-475)
Bhagat Bani (475-488)
ਰਾਗੁ ਗੂਜਰੀ | Raag Goojaree
Gurbani (489-503)
Ashtpadiyan (503-508)
Vaar Gujari (508-517)
Vaar Gujari (517-526)
ਰਾਗੁ ਦੇਵਗੰਧਾਰੀ | Raag Dayv-Gandhaaree
Gurbani (527-536)
ਰਾਗੁ ਬਿਹਾਗੜਾ | Raag Bihaagraa
Gurbani (537-556)
Chhant (538-548)
Vaar Bihaagraa (548-556)
ਰਾਗੁ ਵਡਹੰਸ | Raag Wadhans
Gurbani (557-564)
Ashtpadiyan (564-565)
Chhant (565-575)
Ghoriaan (575-578)
Alaahaniiaa (578-582)
Vaar Wadhans (582-594)
ਰਾਗੁ ਸੋਰਠਿ | Raag Sorath
Gurbani (595-634)
Asatpadhiya (634-642)
Vaar Sorath (642-659)
ਰਾਗੁ ਧਨਾਸਰੀ | Raag Dhanasaree
Gurbani (660-685)
Astpadhiya (685-687)
Chhant (687-691)
Bhagat Bani (691-695)
ਰਾਗੁ ਜੈਤਸਰੀ | Raag Jaitsree
Gurbani (696-703)
Chhant (703-705)
Vaar Jaitsaree (705-710)
Bhagat Bani (710)
ਰਾਗੁ ਟੋਡੀ | Raag Todee
ਰਾਗੁ ਬੈਰਾੜੀ | Raag Bairaaree
ਰਾਗੁ ਤਿਲੰਗ | Raag Tilang
Gurbani (721-727)
Bhagat Bani (727)
ਰਾਗੁ ਸੂਹੀ | Raag Suhi
Gurbani (728-750)
Ashtpadiyan (750-761)
Kaafee (761-762)
Suchajee (762)
Gunvantee (763)
Chhant (763-785)
Vaar Soohee (785-792)
Bhagat Bani (792-794)
ਰਾਗੁ ਬਿਲਾਵਲੁ | Raag Bilaaval
Gurbani (795-831)
Ashtpadiyan (831-838)
Thitteen (838-840)
Vaar Sat (841-843)
Chhant (843-848)
Vaar Bilaaval (849-855)
Bhagat Bani (855-858)
ਰਾਗੁ ਗੋਂਡ | Raag Gond
Gurbani (859-869)
Ashtpadiyan (869)
Bhagat Bani (870-875)
ਰਾਗੁ ਰਾਮਕਲੀ | Raag Ramkalee
Ashtpadiyan (902-916)
Gurbani (876-902)
Anand (917-922)
Sadd (923-924)
Chhant (924-929)
Dakhnee (929-938)
Sidh Gosat (938-946)
Vaar Ramkalee (947-968)
ਰਾਗੁ ਨਟ ਨਾਰਾਇਨ | Raag Nat Narayan
Gurbani (975-980)
Ashtpadiyan (980-983)
ਰਾਗੁ ਮਾਲੀ ਗਉੜਾ | Raag Maalee Gauraa
Gurbani (984-988)
Bhagat Bani (988)
ਰਾਗੁ ਮਾਰੂ | Raag Maaroo
Gurbani (889-1008)
Ashtpadiyan (1008-1014)
Kaafee (1014-1016)
Ashtpadiyan (1016-1019)
Anjulian (1019-1020)
Solhe (1020-1033)
Dakhni (1033-1043)
ਰਾਗੁ ਤੁਖਾਰੀ | Raag Tukhaari
Bara Maha (1107-1110)
Chhant (1110-1117)
ਰਾਗੁ ਕੇਦਾਰਾ | Raag Kedara
Gurbani (1118-1123)
Bhagat Bani (1123-1124)
ਰਾਗੁ ਭੈਰਉ | Raag Bhairo
Gurbani (1125-1152)
Partaal (1153)
Ashtpadiyan (1153-1167)
ਰਾਗੁ ਬਸੰਤੁ | Raag Basant
Gurbani (1168-1187)
Ashtpadiyan (1187-1193)
Vaar Basant (1193-1196)
ਰਾਗੁ ਸਾਰਗ | Raag Saarag
Gurbani (1197-1200)
Partaal (1200-1231)
Ashtpadiyan (1232-1236)
Chhant (1236-1237)
Vaar Saarang (1237-1253)
ਰਾਗੁ ਮਲਾਰ | Raag Malaar
Gurbani (1254-1293)
Partaal (1265-1273)
Ashtpadiyan (1273-1278)
Chhant (1278)
Vaar Malaar (1278-91)
Bhagat Bani (1292-93)
ਰਾਗੁ ਕਾਨੜਾ | Raag Kaanraa
Gurbani (1294-96)
Partaal (1296-1318)
Ashtpadiyan (1308-1312)
Chhant (1312)
Vaar Kaanraa
Bhagat Bani (1318)
ਰਾਗੁ ਕਲਿਆਨ | Raag Kalyaan
Gurbani (1319-23)
Ashtpadiyan (1323-26)
ਰਾਗੁ ਪ੍ਰਭਾਤੀ | Raag Prabhaatee
Gurbani (1327-1341)
Ashtpadiyan (1342-51)
ਰਾਗੁ ਜੈਜਾਵੰਤੀ | Raag Jaijaiwanti
Gurbani (1352-53)
Salok | Gatha | Phunahe | Chaubole | Swayiye
Sehskritee Mahala 1
Sehskritee Mahala 5
Gaathaa Mahala 5
Phunhay Mahala 5
Chaubolae Mahala 5
Shaloks Bhagat Kabir
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Swaiyyae Mahala 5
Swaiyyae in Praise of Gurus
Shaloks in Addition To Vaars
Shalok Ninth Mehl
Mundavanee Mehl 5
ਰਾਗ ਮਾਲਾ, Raag Maalaa
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Interfaith Dialogues
Sadhu Sundar Singh
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<blockquote data-quote="Archived_member7" data-source="post: 90254" data-attributes="member: 2306"><p><strong>Sadhu Sundar Singh</strong> (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_3" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">September 3</span></a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1889" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">1889</span></a> Patiala State, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">India</span></a>) was an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Indian</span></a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Christian" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Christian</span></a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missionary" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">missionary</span></a>. He is believed to have died in the foothills of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himalayas" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Himalayas</span></a> in 1929.</p><p><strong>Contents</strong></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px">[</span><span style="font-size: 10px"><span style="color: #002bb8">hide</span></span><span style="font-size: 10px">]</span></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><LI class=toclevel-1><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh#Biography" target="_blank"><span style="color: #5a3696">1 Biography</span></a> <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><LI class=toclevel-2><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh#Early_years" target="_blank"><span style="color: #5a3696">1.1 Early years</span></a> <LI class=toclevel-2><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh#Religious_awakening" target="_blank"><span style="color: #5a3696">1.2 Religious awakening</span></a> <LI class=toclevel-2><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh#Life_of_servitude" target="_blank"><span style="color: #5a3696">1.3 Life of servitude</span></a> <LI class=toclevel-2><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh#Formal_Christian_training" target="_blank"><span style="color: #5a3696">1.4 Formal Christian training</span></a> <LI class=toclevel-2><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh#Helping_others" target="_blank"><span style="color: #5a3696">1.5 Helping others</span></a> <LI class=toclevel-2><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh#Footsteps_of_Christ" target="_blank"><span style="color: #5a3696">1.6 Footsteps of Christ</span></a> <LI class=toclevel-2><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh#Universalism" target="_blank"><span style="color: #5a3696">1.7 Universalism</span></a> <LI class=toclevel-2><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh#Travels_abroad" target="_blank"><span style="color: #5a3696">1.8 Travels abroad</span></a> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh#Final_trip" target="_blank"><span style="color: #5a3696">1.9 Final trip</span></a></li> </ul><LI class=toclevel-1><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh#Biographical_controversy" target="_blank"><span style="color: #5a3696">2 Biographical controversy</span></a> <LI class=toclevel-1><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh#Timeline" target="_blank"><span style="color: #5a3696">3 Timeline</span></a> <LI class=toclevel-1><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh#Footnotes" target="_blank"><span style="color: #5a3696">4 Footnotes</span></a> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh#Further_reading" target="_blank"><span style="color: #5a3696">5 Further reading</span></a> <br /> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:SadhuSundarSingh.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/SadhuSundarSingh.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a></li> </ul><p></p><p><strong>[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sadhu_Sundar_Singh&action=edit&section=1" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">edit</span></a>] Biography</strong></p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sadhu_Sundar_Singh&action=edit&section=2" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">edit</span></a>] Early years</strong></p><p></p><p>Sundar Singh was born into an important landowning <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikh" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Sikh</span></a> family in Patiala State in northern <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">India</span></a>. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikh" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Sikhs</span></a>, rejecting <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Hindu</span></a> polytheism and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Muslim</span></a> intolerance in the sixteenth century, had become a vigorous nation with a religion of their own. Sundar Singh's mother took him week by week to sit at the feet of a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Sadhu</span></a>, an ascetic holy man, who lived in the jungle some miles away, but she also sent him to a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Christian</span></a> mission school where he could learn English.</p><p>The death of Sundar Singh's mother, when he was fourteen, plunged him into violence and despair. He turned on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missionaries" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">missionaries</span></a>, persecuted their <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Christian</span></a> converts, and ridiculed their faith. In final defiance of their religion, he bought a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Bible</span></a> and burned it page by page in his home compound while his friends watched. Three nights later he went to his room determined to commit <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">suicide</span></a> on a railway line. Sitting on the railway track, Sadhu loudly asked who is the true God. If the true God didn't show Himself that night, he would commit suicide. It is said that finally before the break of dawn and shortly before the arrival of the train, God finally came to Sadhu.</p><p><a href="http://www.uecf.net/video/sadhu_sundar.wmx" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3366bb">http://www.uecf.net/video/sadhu_sundar.wmx</span></a></p><p></p><p><strong>[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sadhu_Sundar_Singh&action=edit&section=3" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">edit</span></a>] Religious awakening</strong></p><p></p><p>However, before dawn, he wakened his father to announce that he had seen <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_Christ" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Jesus Christ</span></a> in a vision and heard his voice. Henceforth he would follow <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_Christ" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Christ</span></a> forever, he declared. Still no more than fifteen, he was utterly committed to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_Christ" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Christ</span></a> and in the twenty-five years left to him would witness extensively for his Lord. The discipleship of the teenager was immediately tested as his father pleaded and demanded that he give up this absurd conversion. When he refused, Sher Singh gave a farewell feast for his son, then denounced him and expelled him from the family. Several hours later, Sundar realised that his food had been poisoned, and his life was saved only by the help of a nearby <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Christian</span></a> community .<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh#cite_note-0" target="_blank"><span style="color: #5a3696">[1]</span></a></p><p>On his sixteenth birthday he was publicly baptised as a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Christian</span></a> in the parish church in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimla" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Simla</span></a>, a town high in the Himalayan foothills. For some time previously he had been staying at the Christian Leprosy Home at Sabathu, not far from Simla, serving the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leprosy" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">leprosy</span></a> patients there. It was to remain one of his most beloved bases and he returned there after his baptism.</p><p><span style="font-size: 9px">Part of a series on</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 9px"></span><strong><span style="font-size: 15px">Protestant</span></strong></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 15px">missions</span></strong></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 15px">in India</span></strong><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:CareyEngraving.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a0/CareyEngraving.jpg/100px-CareyEngraving.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a><strong><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Carey_(missionary)" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">William Carey</span></a></strong><strong>Background</strong></p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Christianity</span></a></p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_the_Apostle" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Thomas the Apostle</span></a></p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantaenus" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Pantaenus</span></a></p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protestantism" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Protestantism</span></a></p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Indian_history" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Indian history</span></a></p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Christian_missions" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Missions timeline</span></a></p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_India" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Christianity in India</span></a></p><p></p><p><strong>People</strong></p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartholom%C3%A4us_Ziegenbalg" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg</span></a></p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Marshman" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Joshua Marshman</span></a></p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Ward_(missionary)" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">William Ward</span></a></p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Duff" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Alexander Duff</span></a></p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Norris_Groves" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Anthony Norris Groves</span></a></p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Martyn" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Henry Martyn</span></a></p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hyde" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">John Hyde</span></a></p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Carmichael" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Amy Carmichael</span></a></p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._Stanley_Jones" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">E. Stanley Jones</span></a></p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Mills_Thoburn" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">James Mills Thoburn</span></a></p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scudder_family_of_missionaries_in_India" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">The Scudders</span></a></p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Protestant_missionaries_in_India" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">more missionaries</span></a></p><p></p><p><strong>Works</strong></p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serampore_College" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Serampore College</span></a></p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Church_College,_Calcutta" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Scottish Church College</span></a></p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilson_College,_Mumbai" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Wilson College</span></a></p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madras_Christian_College" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Madras Christian College</span></a></p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Stephen%27s_College,_Delhi" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">St. Stephen's College</span></a></p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gossner_Theological_College" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Gossner Theological College</span></a></p><p></p><p><strong>Missionary agencies</strong></p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Missionary_Society" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">London Missionary Society</span></a></p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_Missionary_Society" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Church Missionary Society</span></a></p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baptist_Missionary_Society" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Baptist Missionary Society</span></a></p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Assembly_of_the_Church_of_Scotland" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Scottish General Assembly</span></a></p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Board_of_Commissioners_for_Foreign_Missions" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">American Board</span></a></p><p></p><p><strong>Pivotal events</strong></p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Rebellion_of_1857" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Indian Rebellion of 1857</span></a></p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Republic" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Indian Republic</span></a></p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayyavazhi_in_reports_by_Christian_missionaries" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Interactions with Ayyavazhi</span></a></p><p></p><p><strong>Indian Protestants</strong></p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakht_Singh" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Bakht Singh</span></a></p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krishna_Mohan_Banerjee" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Krishna Mohan Banerjee</span></a></p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Madhusudan_Dutt" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Michael Madhusudan Dutt</span></a></p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandita_Ramabai" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Pandita Ramabai</span></a></p><p><strong>Sadhu Sundar Singh</strong></p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jashwant_Rao_Chitambar" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Jashwant Rao Chitambar</span></a></p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Premasagar" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Victor Premasagar</span></a></p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y._D._Tiwari" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Y. D. Tiwari</span></a></p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._C._John" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">P. C. John</span></a></p><p></p><p>This box: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Protestant_missions_to_India" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">view</span></a> <span style="font-size: 9px">• </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template_talk:Protestant_missions_to_India" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">talk</span></a> <span style="font-size: 9px">• </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Protestant_missions_to_India&action=edit" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">edit</span></a></p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Detail_of_Indian_Pea{censored}_tail_feather.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b9/Detail_of_Indian_Pea{censored}_tail_feather.jpg/35px-Detail_of_Indian_Pea{censored}_tail_feather.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a></p><p></p><p><em><strong><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Indian_Christianity" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Indian Christianity Portal</span></a></strong></em> </p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sadhu_Sundar_Singh&action=edit&section=4" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">edit</span></a>] Life of servitude</strong></p><p></p><p>Then, in October 1906, he set out from it in quite a new way. He walked onto the road, a tall, good-looking, vigorous teenager, wearing a yellow robe and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turban" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">turban</span></a>. Everyone stared at him as he passed. The yellow robe was the "uniform" of a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Hindu</span></a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">sadhu</span></a>, traditionally an ascetic devoted to the gods, who either begged his way along the roads or sat, silent, remote, and often filthy, meditating in the jungle or some lonely place. The young Sundar Singh had also chosen the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">sadhu</span></a>'s way, but he would be a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">sadhu</span></a> with a difference.</p><p>"I am not worthy to follow in the steps of my Lord," he is recorded as saying, "but, like Him, I want no home, no possessions. Like Him I will belong to the road, sharing the suffering of my people, eating with those who will give me shelter, and telling all men of the love of God."</p><p>He at once put his vocation to the test by going back to his home village, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rampur" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Rampur</span></a>, where he was shown an unexpectedly warm welcome.</p><p>This was poor preparation for the months that were to follow. Scarcely tough enough to meet physical hardship, the sixteen-year-old sadhu went northward through the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punjab_region" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Punjab</span></a>, over the Bannihal Pass into <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmir" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Kashmir</span></a>, and then back through Muslim <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghanistan" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Afghanistan</span></a> and into the brigand-infested North-West Frontier and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baluchistan_(Chief_Commissioners_Province)" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Baluchistan</span></a>. His thin, yellow robe gave him little protection against the snows, and his feet became torn from the rough tracks. Not many months had passed before the little <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Christian</span></a> communities of the north were referring to him as "the apostle with the bleeding feet." This initiation showed him what he might expect in the future. He was stoned, arrested, visited by a shepherd who talked with strange intimacy about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_Christ" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Jesus</span></a> and then was gone, and left to sleep in a way-side hut with an unexpected <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobra" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">cobra</span></a> for company. Meetings with the mystical and the sharply material, persecution and welcome, would all characterize his experience in years ahead. From the villages in the Simla hills, the long line of the snow-clad <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himalayas" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Himalayas</span></a> and the rosy peak of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanga_Parbat" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Nanga Parbat</span></a>, rose in the distance. Beyond them lay <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibet" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Tibet</span></a>, a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhist" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Buddhist</span></a> land that missionaries had long failed to penetrate with the gospel. Ever since his baptism <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibet" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Tibet</span></a> had beckoned Sundar, and in 1908, at the age of nineteen, he crossed its frontiers for the first time. Any stranger entering into this closed territory reputedly risked both terror as well as death. Singh took the risk with his eyes, and his heart, wide open. The state of the people appalled him. Their airless homes, like themselves, were filthy. He himself was stoned as he bathed in cold water because they believed that "holy men never washed." Food was mostly unobtainable and he existed on hard, parched barley. Everywhere there was hostility. And this was only "lower Tibet" just across the border. Sundar went back to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabathu" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Sabathu</span></a> determined to return the next year.</p><p>He had a great desire: to visit <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestine" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Palestine</span></a> and re-live some of the happenings in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_Christ" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Jesus</span></a>' life. In 1908 he went to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombay" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Bombay</span></a>, hoping to board a convenient ship. But, to his intense disappointment, the government refused to give him a permit, and he had to return to the north. It was on this trip that he suddenly recognised a basic dilemma of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Christian</span></a> mission to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">India</span></a>. A brahmin had collapsed in the hot, crowded carriage and, at the next station, the Anglo-Indian stationmaster came rushing with a cup of water from the refreshment room. The brahmin -- a high-caste <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Hindu</span></a> -- thrust it away in horror. He needed water, but he could only accept it in his own drinking vessel. When that was brought, he drank and was revived. In the same way, Sundar Singh realised, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">India</span></a> would not widely accept the gospel of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_Christ" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Jesus</span></a> offered in Western guise. That, he recognised, was why many listeners had responded to him in his Indian sadhu's robe.</p><p></p><p><strong>[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sadhu_Sundar_Singh&action=edit&section=5" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">edit</span></a>] Formal Christian training</strong></p><p></p><p>There was still sharper disillusionment to come. In December 1909 he began training for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Christian</span></a> ministry at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglican" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Anglican</span></a> college in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lahore" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Lahore</span></a>. Some of Singh's biographers depict his experience at college as one of an unhappy misfit. He did not form relationships with fellow students, and only met them at meal times and designated prayer sessions. From the beginning he found himself being tormented by fellow students for being "different" and no doubt too self assured. Certainly he appeared to fellow students as very conspicuous.</p><p>Although Singh had been baptized by an Anglican priest, he was ignorant of the ecclesisatical culture and conventions of Anglicanism. His inability to adapt to Anglican life hindered him from fitting in with the routines of academic study. Much in the college course seemed to Singh to be irrelevant to the gospel as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">India</span></a> needed to hear it. After eight months in the college Singh decided to leave in July 1910.</p><p>It is sometimes asserted by his biographers that the cause of Singh's withdrawal from ministry training was due to remarks made by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bishop_Lefroy&action=edit&redlink=1" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ba0000">Bishop Lefroy</span></a> about the requirements of an ordained Anglican priest. The strictures, as the biographers report it, is that Singh was told he must now discard his sadhu's robe and wear "respectable" European clerical dress; use formal Anglican worship; sing English hymns; and never preach outside his parish without special permission. Never again visit <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibet" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Tibet</span></a>, he asked? That would be, to him, an unthinkable rejection of God's call. However, his biographers omit to state that the stipulations laid down by the Bishop were normative for all Anglican priests of that day in India.</p><p>With deep sadness he left the college, still dressed in his yellow robe, and in 1912 began his annual trek into <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibet" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Tibet</span></a> as the winter snows began to melt on the Himalayan tracks and passes.</p><p></p><p><strong>[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sadhu_Sundar_Singh&action=edit&section=6" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">edit</span></a>] Helping others</strong></p><p></p><p>Stories from those years are astonishing and sometimes incredible. Indeed there were those, who insisted that they were mystical rather than real happenings. That first year, 1912, he returned with an extraordinary account of finding a three-hundred-year old <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Christian</span></a> hermit in a mountain cave-the Maharishi of Kailas, with whom he spent some weeks in deep fellowship.</p><p>According to Singh in a town called Rasar he had been thrown in a dry well full of bones and rotting flesh and left to die. However three days later a rope was thrown to him and he was rescued. The difficulty with this account is that Singh is the sole witness to report this event. As Singh has been represented by some biographers as a suffering preacher, it is worth recalling that the three days spent down the well bears resemblances to the gospel narratives concerning the death and three days of burial for the Christ before his resurrection from the dead. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh#cite_note-1" target="_blank"><span style="color: #5a3696">[2]</span></a></p><p>At these and at other times Singh was said to have been rescued by members of the "Sunnyasi Mission" -- secret disciples of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_Christ" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Jesus</span></a> wearing their <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Hindu</span></a> markings, whom he claimed to have found all over <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">India</span></a>.</p><p>One of the difficulties with the evidence to support this story of the secret Sunnyasi Mission is that this brotherhood was reputed to have numbered around 24,000 members across India.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh#cite_note-2" target="_blank"><span style="color: #5a3696">[3]</span></a> The origins of this brotherhood were reputed to be linked to one of the Magi at Christ's Nativity and then the second century AD disciples of the apostle Thomas circulating in India. Nothing was heard of this evangelistic fellowship until after William Carey began his missionary work in Serampore. The Maharishi of Kailas experienced ecstatic visions about the secret fellowship that he retold to Sundar Singh, and Singh himself built his spiritual life around visions.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh#cite_note-3" target="_blank"><span style="color: #5a3696">[4]</span></a></p><p>Whether he won many continuing disciples on these hazardous Tibetan treks is not known. Singh did not keep written records and he was unaccompanied by any other Christian disciples who might have witnessed the events.</p><p></p><p><strong>[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sadhu_Sundar_Singh&action=edit&section=7" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">edit</span></a>] Footsteps of Christ</strong></p><p></p><p>As Sundar Singh moved through his twenties his ministry widened greatly, and long before he was thirty years old his name and picture were familiar all over the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Christian</span></a> world. He described in terms of a vision a struggle with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satan" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Satan</span></a> to retain his humility but he was, in fact, always human, approachable and humble, with a sense of fun and a love of nature. This, with his "illustrations" from ordinary life, gave his addresses great impact. Many people said, "He not only looks like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_Christ" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Jesus</span></a>, he talks like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_Christ" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Jesus</span></a> must have talked." Yet all his talks and his personal speech sprang out of profound early morning <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meditation" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">meditation</span></a>, especially on the Gospels. In 1918 he made a long tour of South India and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceylon" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Ceylon</span></a>, and the following year he was invited to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burma" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Burma</span></a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Malaya" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Malaya</span></a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">China</span></a>, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Japan</span></a>.</p><p>Some of the stories from these tours were as strange as any of his Tibetan adventures. He claimed power over wild things He claimed even to have power over disease and illness, though he never allowed his presumed healing gifts to be publicised.</p><p></p><p><strong>[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sadhu_Sundar_Singh&action=edit&section=8" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">edit</span></a>] Universalism</strong></p><p></p><p>Sundar Singh was a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_reconciliation" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Christian universalist</span></a>; he believed that all people would, eventually, attain salvation. Writing in 1925 he argued:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px">If the Divine spark in the soul cannot be destroyed, then we need despair of no sinner... Since God created men to have fellowship with Himself, they cannot for ever be separated from Him... After long wandering, and by devious paths, sinful man will at last return to Him in whose Image he was created; for this is his final destiny.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh#cite_note-Tentmaker-4" target="_blank"><span style="color: #5a3696">[5]</span></a></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p><p>In 1929, before his final mission, he was asked about the doctrine of eternal punishment by some theology students in Calcutta. He said that "There was punishment, but it was not eternal," and that "Everyone after this life would be given a fair chance of making good, and attaining to the measure of fullness the soul was capable of. This might sometimes take ages."<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh#cite_note-Tentmaker-4" target="_blank"><span style="color: #5a3696">[5]</span></a></p><p></p><p><strong>[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sadhu_Sundar_Singh&action=edit&section=9" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">edit</span></a>] Travels abroad</strong></p><p></p><p>For a long time Sundar Singh had wanted to visit <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_of_Great_Britain_and_Ireland" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Britain</span></a>, and the opportunity came when his father, Sher Singh, came to tell him that he too had become a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Christian</span></a> and wished to give him the money for his fare to Britain. He visited the West twice, travelling to Britain, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">United States</span></a>, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Australia</span></a> in 1920, and to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Europe</span></a> again in 1922. He was welcomed by Christians of many traditions, and his words searched the hearts of people who now faced the aftermath of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">World War I</span></a> and who seemed to evidence a shallow attitude to life. Sundar was appalled by what he saw as the materialism, emptiness, and irreligion he found everywhere, contrasting it with Asia's awareness of God, no matter how limited that might be. Once back in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">India</span></a> he continued his ministry, though it was clear that he was getting more physically frail.</p><p></p><p><strong>[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sadhu_Sundar_Singh&action=edit&section=10" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">edit</span></a>] Final trip</strong></p><p></p><p>In <strong>1923</strong> Sundar Singh made the last of his regular summer visits to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibet" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Tibet</span></a> and came back exhausted. His preaching days were obviously over and, in the next years, in his own home or those of his friends in the Simla hills he gave himself to meditation, fellowship, and writing some of the things he had lived to preach.</p><p>In <strong>1929,</strong> against all his friends' advice, Sundar determined to make one last journey to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibet" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Tibet</span></a>. In April he reached <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalka" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Kalka</span></a>, a small town below <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimla" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Simla</span></a>, a prematurely aged figure in his yellow robe among pilgrims and holy men who were beginning their own trek to one of Hinduism's holy places some miles away. Where he went after that is unknown to many people. Whether he fell from a precipitous path, died of exhaustion, or reached the mountains, will remain a mystery. It was also said that Sadhu was murdered and his body was thrown in the river, another account says he was caught up into Heaven with the angels.</p><p>But more than his memory remains, and he has continued to be one of the most treasured and formative figures in the development and story of Christ's church in India.</p><p></p><p><strong>[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sadhu_Sundar_Singh&action=edit&section=11" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">edit</span></a>] Biographical controversy</strong></p><p></p><p>There have been several biographies written about Sundar Singh, many of which emphasize his piety, humility and Christian witness. The late <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_J._Sharpe" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Eric J. Sharpe</span></a> has surveyed the various biographical studies of Sundar Singh and discerned a number of significant discrepancies in chronological details, in the accounts of his Christian conversion, and the accounts of his travels to Tibet.</p><p>Sharpe indicates that different portraits of Sundar Singh were constructed by writers in continental Europe, England and the United States of America. He argues that the different portraits disclose much about the way Westerners thought about India in the 1920s and 1930s. Sharpe remarks:</p><p>"When in the spring of 1920 an Oxford don and his young Indian tutee conceived the idea of writing a book about Sadhu Sundar Singh, it was in their minds to interpret him to the West in terms that the West could grasp and according to a scale of values that the West could affirm."<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh#cite_note-5" target="_blank"><span style="color: #5a3696">[6]</span></a></p><p>Sharpe also points to significant omissions of detail between the biographies of A.J. Appasamy, B.H. Streeter, Janet Lynch-Watson, Cyril J. Davey and Phyllis Thompson. Perhaps the most glaring differences concerns the influence of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emanuel_Swedenborg" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Emanuel Swedenborg</span></a> (1688-1782) and Swedenborgian writers on Sadhu Sundar Singh. Sharpe refers to correspondence between Singh and A.E. Penn who was the secretary of the Indian Swedenborgian society where Singh stated that he had contact with Swedenborg in the spirit world:</p><p>"I saw him several times some years ago, but I did not know his earthly name. His name in the spiritual world is quite different just according to his high position or office and most beautiful character."<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh#cite_note-6" target="_blank"><span style="color: #5a3696">[7]</span></a></p><p>Sharpe also refers back to Singh's endorsement of Swedenborg as recorded by Appasamy:</p><p>"Swedenborg was a great man, philosopher, scientist and, above all seer of clear visions. I often speak with him in my visions. He occupies a high place in the spiritual world ... Having read his books and having come into contact with him in the spiritual world, I can thoroughly recommend him as a great seer."<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh#cite_note-7" target="_blank"><span style="color: #5a3696">[8]</span></a></p><p>Sundar Singh's correspondence with the Swedish Lutheran bishop Nathan Soderblom in November 1928 further confirms that he claimed visionary contact with Swedenborg.</p><p>For western evangelical Christians, Swedenborg has long been regarded as an unorthodox teacher. Some, such as the Christian apologist <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Martin" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">Walter Martin</span></a>, have classified Swedenborg and his followers among the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult" target="_blank"><span style="color: #002bb8">cults</span></a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh#cite_note-8" target="_blank"><span style="color: #5a3696">[9]</span></a> In light of the evangelical rejection of Swedenborg's theology, the omission of Sundar Singh's endorsement of Swedenborg's teachings from evangelical biographies is very significant. The difficulty for evangelicals is compounded by Singh's confirmation of contact with Swedenborg in the spirit world. This visionary form of contact with an unorthodox deceased teacher clashes with the portraits of piety drawn by later evangelical biographers such as Cyril Davey and Phyllis Thompson.</p><p>The results of Sharpe's survey of the various biographies, articles published in Indian and European periodicals, and the extant correspondence of Sundar Singh's, discloses a complex web of western images that portray Singh in contradictory ways: evangelical missionary, ecstatic visionary, and ascetic pilgrim. Sharpe pleaded:</p><p>"It is time to rescue his memory from oblivion on the one hand and romantic adulation on the other, to protect him from a few of his patrons, and give him his rightful place among those of whom he himself wrote."<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh#cite_note-9" target="_blank"><span style="color: #5a3696">[10]</span></a></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Archived_member7, post: 90254, member: 2306"] [B]Sadhu Sundar Singh[/B] ([url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_3"][COLOR=#002bb8]September 3[/COLOR][/url], [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1889"][COLOR=#002bb8]1889[/COLOR][/url] Patiala State, [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India"][COLOR=#002bb8]India[/COLOR][/url]) was an [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India"][COLOR=#002bb8]Indian[/COLOR][/url] [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Christian"][COLOR=#002bb8]Christian[/COLOR][/url] [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missionary"][COLOR=#002bb8]missionary[/COLOR][/url]. He is believed to have died in the foothills of the [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himalayas"][COLOR=#002bb8]Himalayas[/COLOR][/url] in 1929. [B]Contents[/B] [SIZE=2][[/SIZE][URL="javascript:toggleToc()"][SIZE=2][COLOR=#002bb8]hide[/COLOR][/SIZE][/URL][SIZE=2]][/SIZE] [LIST]<LI class=toclevel-1>[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh#Biography"][COLOR=#5a3696]1 Biography[/COLOR][/URL] [LIST]<LI class=toclevel-2>[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh#Early_years"][COLOR=#5a3696]1.1 Early years[/COLOR][/URL] <LI class=toclevel-2>[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh#Religious_awakening"][COLOR=#5a3696]1.2 Religious awakening[/COLOR][/URL] <LI class=toclevel-2>[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh#Life_of_servitude"][COLOR=#5a3696]1.3 Life of servitude[/COLOR][/URL] <LI class=toclevel-2>[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh#Formal_Christian_training"][COLOR=#5a3696]1.4 Formal Christian training[/COLOR][/URL] <LI class=toclevel-2>[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh#Helping_others"][COLOR=#5a3696]1.5 Helping others[/COLOR][/URL] <LI class=toclevel-2>[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh#Footsteps_of_Christ"][COLOR=#5a3696]1.6 Footsteps of Christ[/COLOR][/URL] <LI class=toclevel-2>[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh#Universalism"][COLOR=#5a3696]1.7 Universalism[/COLOR][/URL] <LI class=toclevel-2>[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh#Travels_abroad"][COLOR=#5a3696]1.8 Travels abroad[/COLOR][/URL] [*][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh#Final_trip"][COLOR=#5a3696]1.9 Final trip[/COLOR][/URL] [/LIST]<LI class=toclevel-1>[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh#Biographical_controversy"][COLOR=#5a3696]2 Biographical controversy[/COLOR][/URL] <LI class=toclevel-1>[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh#Timeline"][COLOR=#5a3696]3 Timeline[/COLOR][/URL] <LI class=toclevel-1>[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh#Footnotes"][COLOR=#5a3696]4 Footnotes[/COLOR][/URL] [*][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh#Further_reading"][COLOR=#5a3696]5 Further reading[/COLOR][/URL] [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:SadhuSundarSingh.jpg"][IMG]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/SadhuSundarSingh.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [/LIST] [B][[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sadhu_Sundar_Singh&action=edit§ion=1"][COLOR=#002bb8]edit[/COLOR][/URL]] Biography[/B] [B][[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sadhu_Sundar_Singh&action=edit§ion=2"][COLOR=#002bb8]edit[/COLOR][/URL]] Early years[/B] Sundar Singh was born into an important landowning [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikh"][COLOR=#002bb8]Sikh[/COLOR][/url] family in Patiala State in northern [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India"][COLOR=#002bb8]India[/COLOR][/url]. [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikh"][COLOR=#002bb8]Sikhs[/COLOR][/url], rejecting [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu"][COLOR=#002bb8]Hindu[/COLOR][/url] polytheism and [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim"][COLOR=#002bb8]Muslim[/COLOR][/url] intolerance in the sixteenth century, had become a vigorous nation with a religion of their own. Sundar Singh's mother took him week by week to sit at the feet of a [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu"][COLOR=#002bb8]Sadhu[/COLOR][/url], an ascetic holy man, who lived in the jungle some miles away, but she also sent him to a [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian"][COLOR=#002bb8]Christian[/COLOR][/url] mission school where he could learn English. The death of Sundar Singh's mother, when he was fourteen, plunged him into violence and despair. He turned on the [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missionaries"][COLOR=#002bb8]missionaries[/COLOR][/url], persecuted their [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian"][COLOR=#002bb8]Christian[/COLOR][/url] converts, and ridiculed their faith. In final defiance of their religion, he bought a [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible"][COLOR=#002bb8]Bible[/COLOR][/url] and burned it page by page in his home compound while his friends watched. Three nights later he went to his room determined to commit [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide"][COLOR=#002bb8]suicide[/COLOR][/url] on a railway line. Sitting on the railway track, Sadhu loudly asked who is the true God. If the true God didn't show Himself that night, he would commit suicide. It is said that finally before the break of dawn and shortly before the arrival of the train, God finally came to Sadhu. [URL="http://www.uecf.net/video/sadhu_sundar.wmx"][COLOR=#3366bb]http://www.uecf.net/video/sadhu_sundar.wmx[/COLOR][/URL] [COLOR=#3366bb][/COLOR] [B][[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sadhu_Sundar_Singh&action=edit§ion=3"][COLOR=#002bb8]edit[/COLOR][/URL]] Religious awakening[/B] However, before dawn, he wakened his father to announce that he had seen [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_Christ"][COLOR=#002bb8]Jesus Christ[/COLOR][/url] in a vision and heard his voice. Henceforth he would follow [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_Christ"][COLOR=#002bb8]Christ[/COLOR][/url] forever, he declared. Still no more than fifteen, he was utterly committed to [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_Christ"][COLOR=#002bb8]Christ[/COLOR][/url] and in the twenty-five years left to him would witness extensively for his Lord. The discipleship of the teenager was immediately tested as his father pleaded and demanded that he give up this absurd conversion. When he refused, Sher Singh gave a farewell feast for his son, then denounced him and expelled him from the family. Several hours later, Sundar realised that his food had been poisoned, and his life was saved only by the help of a nearby [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian"][COLOR=#002bb8]Christian[/COLOR][/url] community .[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh#cite_note-0"][COLOR=#5a3696][1][/COLOR][/URL] On his sixteenth birthday he was publicly baptised as a [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian"][COLOR=#002bb8]Christian[/COLOR][/url] in the parish church in [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimla"][COLOR=#002bb8]Simla[/COLOR][/url], a town high in the Himalayan foothills. For some time previously he had been staying at the Christian Leprosy Home at Sabathu, not far from Simla, serving the [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leprosy"][COLOR=#002bb8]leprosy[/COLOR][/url] patients there. It was to remain one of his most beloved bases and he returned there after his baptism. [SIZE=1]Part of a series on [/SIZE][B][SIZE=4]Protestant missions in India[/SIZE][/B][SIZE=4][/SIZE][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:CareyEngraving.jpg"][IMG]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a0/CareyEngraving.jpg/100px-CareyEngraving.jpg[/IMG][/URL][B][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Carey_(missionary)"][COLOR=#002bb8]William Carey[/COLOR][/URL][/B][B]Background[/B] [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity"][COLOR=#002bb8]Christianity[/COLOR][/url] [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_the_Apostle"][COLOR=#002bb8]Thomas the Apostle[/COLOR][/url] [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantaenus"][COLOR=#002bb8]Pantaenus[/COLOR][/url] [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protestantism"][COLOR=#002bb8]Protestantism[/COLOR][/url] [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Indian_history"][COLOR=#002bb8]Indian history[/COLOR][/url] [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Christian_missions"][COLOR=#002bb8]Missions timeline[/COLOR][/url] [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_India"][COLOR=#002bb8]Christianity in India[/COLOR][/url] [B]People[/B] [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartholom%C3%A4us_Ziegenbalg"][COLOR=#002bb8]Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg[/COLOR][/URL] [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Marshman"][COLOR=#002bb8]Joshua Marshman[/COLOR][/url] [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Ward_(missionary)"][COLOR=#002bb8]William Ward[/COLOR][/URL] [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Duff"][COLOR=#002bb8]Alexander Duff[/COLOR][/url] [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Norris_Groves"][COLOR=#002bb8]Anthony Norris Groves[/COLOR][/url] [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Martyn"][COLOR=#002bb8]Henry Martyn[/COLOR][/url] [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hyde"][COLOR=#002bb8]John Hyde[/COLOR][/url] [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Carmichael"][COLOR=#002bb8]Amy Carmichael[/COLOR][/url] [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._Stanley_Jones"][COLOR=#002bb8]E. Stanley Jones[/COLOR][/URL] [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Mills_Thoburn"][COLOR=#002bb8]James Mills Thoburn[/COLOR][/url] [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scudder_family_of_missionaries_in_India"][COLOR=#002bb8]The Scudders[/COLOR][/url] [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Protestant_missionaries_in_India"][COLOR=#002bb8]more missionaries[/COLOR][/url] [B]Works[/B] [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serampore_College"][COLOR=#002bb8]Serampore College[/COLOR][/url] [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Church_College,_Calcutta"][COLOR=#002bb8]Scottish Church College[/COLOR][/URL] [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilson_College,_Mumbai"][COLOR=#002bb8]Wilson College[/COLOR][/URL] [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madras_Christian_College"][COLOR=#002bb8]Madras Christian College[/COLOR][/url] [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Stephen%27s_College,_Delhi"][COLOR=#002bb8]St. Stephen's College[/COLOR][/URL] [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gossner_Theological_College"][COLOR=#002bb8]Gossner Theological College[/COLOR][/url] [B]Missionary agencies[/B] [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Missionary_Society"][COLOR=#002bb8]London Missionary Society[/COLOR][/url] [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_Missionary_Society"][COLOR=#002bb8]Church Missionary Society[/COLOR][/url] [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baptist_Missionary_Society"][COLOR=#002bb8]Baptist Missionary Society[/COLOR][/url] [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Assembly_of_the_Church_of_Scotland"][COLOR=#002bb8]Scottish General Assembly[/COLOR][/url] [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Board_of_Commissioners_for_Foreign_Missions"][COLOR=#002bb8]American Board[/COLOR][/url] [B]Pivotal events[/B] [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Rebellion_of_1857"][COLOR=#002bb8]Indian Rebellion of 1857[/COLOR][/url] [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Republic"][COLOR=#002bb8]Indian Republic[/COLOR][/url] [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayyavazhi_in_reports_by_Christian_missionaries"][COLOR=#002bb8]Interactions with Ayyavazhi[/COLOR][/url] [B]Indian Protestants[/B] [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakht_Singh"][COLOR=#002bb8]Bakht Singh[/COLOR][/url] [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krishna_Mohan_Banerjee"][COLOR=#002bb8]Krishna Mohan Banerjee[/COLOR][/url] [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Madhusudan_Dutt"][COLOR=#002bb8]Michael Madhusudan Dutt[/COLOR][/url] [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandita_Ramabai"][COLOR=#002bb8]Pandita Ramabai[/COLOR][/url] [B]Sadhu Sundar Singh[/B] [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jashwant_Rao_Chitambar"][COLOR=#002bb8]Jashwant Rao Chitambar[/COLOR][/url] [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Premasagar"][COLOR=#002bb8]Victor Premasagar[/COLOR][/url] [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y._D._Tiwari"][COLOR=#002bb8]Y. D. Tiwari[/COLOR][/URL] [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._C._John"][COLOR=#002bb8]P. C. John[/COLOR][/URL] This box: [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Protestant_missions_to_India"][COLOR=#002bb8]view[/COLOR][/url] [SIZE=1]• [/SIZE][url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template_talk:Protestant_missions_to_India"][COLOR=#002bb8]talk[/COLOR][/url] [SIZE=1]• [/SIZE][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Protestant_missions_to_India&action=edit"][COLOR=#002bb8]edit[/COLOR][/URL] [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Detail_of_Indian_Pea{censored}_tail_feather.jpg"][IMG]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b9/Detail_of_Indian_Pea{censored}_tail_feather.jpg/35px-Detail_of_Indian_Pea{censored}_tail_feather.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [I][B][url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Indian_Christianity"][COLOR=#002bb8]Indian Christianity Portal[/COLOR][/url][/B][/I] [B][[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sadhu_Sundar_Singh&action=edit§ion=4"][COLOR=#002bb8]edit[/COLOR][/URL]] Life of servitude[/B] Then, in October 1906, he set out from it in quite a new way. He walked onto the road, a tall, good-looking, vigorous teenager, wearing a yellow robe and [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turban"][COLOR=#002bb8]turban[/COLOR][/url]. Everyone stared at him as he passed. The yellow robe was the "uniform" of a [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu"][COLOR=#002bb8]Hindu[/COLOR][/url] [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu"][COLOR=#002bb8]sadhu[/COLOR][/url], traditionally an ascetic devoted to the gods, who either begged his way along the roads or sat, silent, remote, and often filthy, meditating in the jungle or some lonely place. The young Sundar Singh had also chosen the [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu"][COLOR=#002bb8]sadhu[/COLOR][/url]'s way, but he would be a [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu"][COLOR=#002bb8]sadhu[/COLOR][/url] with a difference. "I am not worthy to follow in the steps of my Lord," he is recorded as saying, "but, like Him, I want no home, no possessions. Like Him I will belong to the road, sharing the suffering of my people, eating with those who will give me shelter, and telling all men of the love of God." He at once put his vocation to the test by going back to his home village, [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rampur"][COLOR=#002bb8]Rampur[/COLOR][/url], where he was shown an unexpectedly warm welcome. This was poor preparation for the months that were to follow. Scarcely tough enough to meet physical hardship, the sixteen-year-old sadhu went northward through the [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punjab_region"][COLOR=#002bb8]Punjab[/COLOR][/url], over the Bannihal Pass into [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmir"][COLOR=#002bb8]Kashmir[/COLOR][/url], and then back through Muslim [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghanistan"][COLOR=#002bb8]Afghanistan[/COLOR][/url] and into the brigand-infested North-West Frontier and [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baluchistan_(Chief_Commissioners_Province)"][COLOR=#002bb8]Baluchistan[/COLOR][/URL]. His thin, yellow robe gave him little protection against the snows, and his feet became torn from the rough tracks. Not many months had passed before the little [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian"][COLOR=#002bb8]Christian[/COLOR][/url] communities of the north were referring to him as "the apostle with the bleeding feet." This initiation showed him what he might expect in the future. He was stoned, arrested, visited by a shepherd who talked with strange intimacy about [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_Christ"][COLOR=#002bb8]Jesus[/COLOR][/url] and then was gone, and left to sleep in a way-side hut with an unexpected [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobra"][COLOR=#002bb8]cobra[/COLOR][/url] for company. Meetings with the mystical and the sharply material, persecution and welcome, would all characterize his experience in years ahead. From the villages in the Simla hills, the long line of the snow-clad [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himalayas"][COLOR=#002bb8]Himalayas[/COLOR][/url] and the rosy peak of [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanga_Parbat"][COLOR=#002bb8]Nanga Parbat[/COLOR][/url], rose in the distance. Beyond them lay [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibet"][COLOR=#002bb8]Tibet[/COLOR][/url], a [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhist"][COLOR=#002bb8]Buddhist[/COLOR][/url] land that missionaries had long failed to penetrate with the gospel. Ever since his baptism [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibet"][COLOR=#002bb8]Tibet[/COLOR][/url] had beckoned Sundar, and in 1908, at the age of nineteen, he crossed its frontiers for the first time. Any stranger entering into this closed territory reputedly risked both terror as well as death. Singh took the risk with his eyes, and his heart, wide open. The state of the people appalled him. Their airless homes, like themselves, were filthy. He himself was stoned as he bathed in cold water because they believed that "holy men never washed." Food was mostly unobtainable and he existed on hard, parched barley. Everywhere there was hostility. And this was only "lower Tibet" just across the border. Sundar went back to [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabathu"][COLOR=#002bb8]Sabathu[/COLOR][/url] determined to return the next year. He had a great desire: to visit [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestine"][COLOR=#002bb8]Palestine[/COLOR][/url] and re-live some of the happenings in [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_Christ"][COLOR=#002bb8]Jesus[/COLOR][/url]' life. In 1908 he went to [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombay"][COLOR=#002bb8]Bombay[/COLOR][/url], hoping to board a convenient ship. But, to his intense disappointment, the government refused to give him a permit, and he had to return to the north. It was on this trip that he suddenly recognised a basic dilemma of the [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian"][COLOR=#002bb8]Christian[/COLOR][/url] mission to [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India"][COLOR=#002bb8]India[/COLOR][/url]. A brahmin had collapsed in the hot, crowded carriage and, at the next station, the Anglo-Indian stationmaster came rushing with a cup of water from the refreshment room. The brahmin -- a high-caste [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu"][COLOR=#002bb8]Hindu[/COLOR][/url] -- thrust it away in horror. He needed water, but he could only accept it in his own drinking vessel. When that was brought, he drank and was revived. In the same way, Sundar Singh realised, [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India"][COLOR=#002bb8]India[/COLOR][/url] would not widely accept the gospel of [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_Christ"][COLOR=#002bb8]Jesus[/COLOR][/url] offered in Western guise. That, he recognised, was why many listeners had responded to him in his Indian sadhu's robe. [B][[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sadhu_Sundar_Singh&action=edit§ion=5"][COLOR=#002bb8]edit[/COLOR][/URL]] Formal Christian training[/B] There was still sharper disillusionment to come. In December 1909 he began training for the [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian"][COLOR=#002bb8]Christian[/COLOR][/url] ministry at the [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglican"][COLOR=#002bb8]Anglican[/COLOR][/url] college in [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lahore"][COLOR=#002bb8]Lahore[/COLOR][/url]. Some of Singh's biographers depict his experience at college as one of an unhappy misfit. He did not form relationships with fellow students, and only met them at meal times and designated prayer sessions. From the beginning he found himself being tormented by fellow students for being "different" and no doubt too self assured. Certainly he appeared to fellow students as very conspicuous. Although Singh had been baptized by an Anglican priest, he was ignorant of the ecclesisatical culture and conventions of Anglicanism. His inability to adapt to Anglican life hindered him from fitting in with the routines of academic study. Much in the college course seemed to Singh to be irrelevant to the gospel as [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India"][COLOR=#002bb8]India[/COLOR][/url] needed to hear it. After eight months in the college Singh decided to leave in July 1910. It is sometimes asserted by his biographers that the cause of Singh's withdrawal from ministry training was due to remarks made by [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bishop_Lefroy&action=edit&redlink=1"][COLOR=#ba0000]Bishop Lefroy[/COLOR][/URL] about the requirements of an ordained Anglican priest. The strictures, as the biographers report it, is that Singh was told he must now discard his sadhu's robe and wear "respectable" European clerical dress; use formal Anglican worship; sing English hymns; and never preach outside his parish without special permission. Never again visit [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibet"][COLOR=#002bb8]Tibet[/COLOR][/url], he asked? That would be, to him, an unthinkable rejection of God's call. However, his biographers omit to state that the stipulations laid down by the Bishop were normative for all Anglican priests of that day in India. With deep sadness he left the college, still dressed in his yellow robe, and in 1912 began his annual trek into [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibet"][COLOR=#002bb8]Tibet[/COLOR][/url] as the winter snows began to melt on the Himalayan tracks and passes. [B][[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sadhu_Sundar_Singh&action=edit§ion=6"][COLOR=#002bb8]edit[/COLOR][/URL]] Helping others[/B] Stories from those years are astonishing and sometimes incredible. Indeed there were those, who insisted that they were mystical rather than real happenings. That first year, 1912, he returned with an extraordinary account of finding a three-hundred-year old [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian"][COLOR=#002bb8]Christian[/COLOR][/url] hermit in a mountain cave-the Maharishi of Kailas, with whom he spent some weeks in deep fellowship. According to Singh in a town called Rasar he had been thrown in a dry well full of bones and rotting flesh and left to die. However three days later a rope was thrown to him and he was rescued. The difficulty with this account is that Singh is the sole witness to report this event. As Singh has been represented by some biographers as a suffering preacher, it is worth recalling that the three days spent down the well bears resemblances to the gospel narratives concerning the death and three days of burial for the Christ before his resurrection from the dead. [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh#cite_note-1"][COLOR=#5a3696][2][/COLOR][/URL] At these and at other times Singh was said to have been rescued by members of the "Sunnyasi Mission" -- secret disciples of [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_Christ"][COLOR=#002bb8]Jesus[/COLOR][/url] wearing their [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu"][COLOR=#002bb8]Hindu[/COLOR][/url] markings, whom he claimed to have found all over [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India"][COLOR=#002bb8]India[/COLOR][/url]. One of the difficulties with the evidence to support this story of the secret Sunnyasi Mission is that this brotherhood was reputed to have numbered around 24,000 members across India.[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh#cite_note-2"][COLOR=#5a3696][3][/COLOR][/URL] The origins of this brotherhood were reputed to be linked to one of the Magi at Christ's Nativity and then the second century AD disciples of the apostle Thomas circulating in India. Nothing was heard of this evangelistic fellowship until after William Carey began his missionary work in Serampore. The Maharishi of Kailas experienced ecstatic visions about the secret fellowship that he retold to Sundar Singh, and Singh himself built his spiritual life around visions.[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh#cite_note-3"][COLOR=#5a3696][4][/COLOR][/URL] Whether he won many continuing disciples on these hazardous Tibetan treks is not known. Singh did not keep written records and he was unaccompanied by any other Christian disciples who might have witnessed the events. [B][[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sadhu_Sundar_Singh&action=edit§ion=7"][COLOR=#002bb8]edit[/COLOR][/URL]] Footsteps of Christ[/B] As Sundar Singh moved through his twenties his ministry widened greatly, and long before he was thirty years old his name and picture were familiar all over the [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian"][COLOR=#002bb8]Christian[/COLOR][/url] world. He described in terms of a vision a struggle with [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satan"][COLOR=#002bb8]Satan[/COLOR][/url] to retain his humility but he was, in fact, always human, approachable and humble, with a sense of fun and a love of nature. This, with his "illustrations" from ordinary life, gave his addresses great impact. Many people said, "He not only looks like [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_Christ"][COLOR=#002bb8]Jesus[/COLOR][/url], he talks like [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_Christ"][COLOR=#002bb8]Jesus[/COLOR][/url] must have talked." Yet all his talks and his personal speech sprang out of profound early morning [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meditation"][COLOR=#002bb8]meditation[/COLOR][/url], especially on the Gospels. In 1918 he made a long tour of South India and [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceylon"][COLOR=#002bb8]Ceylon[/COLOR][/url], and the following year he was invited to [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burma"][COLOR=#002bb8]Burma[/COLOR][/url], [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Malaya"][COLOR=#002bb8]Malaya[/COLOR][/url], [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China"][COLOR=#002bb8]China[/COLOR][/url], and [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan"][COLOR=#002bb8]Japan[/COLOR][/url]. Some of the stories from these tours were as strange as any of his Tibetan adventures. He claimed power over wild things He claimed even to have power over disease and illness, though he never allowed his presumed healing gifts to be publicised. [B][[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sadhu_Sundar_Singh&action=edit§ion=8"][COLOR=#002bb8]edit[/COLOR][/URL]] Universalism[/B] Sundar Singh was a [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_reconciliation"][COLOR=#002bb8]Christian universalist[/COLOR][/url]; he believed that all people would, eventually, attain salvation. Writing in 1925 he argued: [INDENT]If the Divine spark in the soul cannot be destroyed, then we need despair of no sinner... Since God created men to have fellowship with Himself, they cannot for ever be separated from Him... After long wandering, and by devious paths, sinful man will at last return to Him in whose Image he was created; for this is his final destiny.[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh#cite_note-Tentmaker-4"][COLOR=#5a3696][5][/COLOR][/URL] [/INDENT]In 1929, before his final mission, he was asked about the doctrine of eternal punishment by some theology students in Calcutta. He said that "There was punishment, but it was not eternal," and that "Everyone after this life would be given a fair chance of making good, and attaining to the measure of fullness the soul was capable of. This might sometimes take ages."[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh#cite_note-Tentmaker-4"][COLOR=#5a3696][5][/COLOR][/URL] [COLOR=#5a3696][/COLOR] [B][[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sadhu_Sundar_Singh&action=edit§ion=9"][COLOR=#002bb8]edit[/COLOR][/URL]] Travels abroad[/B] For a long time Sundar Singh had wanted to visit [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_of_Great_Britain_and_Ireland"][COLOR=#002bb8]Britain[/COLOR][/url], and the opportunity came when his father, Sher Singh, came to tell him that he too had become a [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian"][COLOR=#002bb8]Christian[/COLOR][/url] and wished to give him the money for his fare to Britain. He visited the West twice, travelling to Britain, the [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States"][COLOR=#002bb8]United States[/COLOR][/url], and [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia"][COLOR=#002bb8]Australia[/COLOR][/url] in 1920, and to [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe"][COLOR=#002bb8]Europe[/COLOR][/url] again in 1922. He was welcomed by Christians of many traditions, and his words searched the hearts of people who now faced the aftermath of [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I"][COLOR=#002bb8]World War I[/COLOR][/url] and who seemed to evidence a shallow attitude to life. Sundar was appalled by what he saw as the materialism, emptiness, and irreligion he found everywhere, contrasting it with Asia's awareness of God, no matter how limited that might be. Once back in [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India"][COLOR=#002bb8]India[/COLOR][/url] he continued his ministry, though it was clear that he was getting more physically frail. [B][[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sadhu_Sundar_Singh&action=edit§ion=10"][COLOR=#002bb8]edit[/COLOR][/URL]] Final trip[/B] In [B]1923[/B] Sundar Singh made the last of his regular summer visits to [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibet"][COLOR=#002bb8]Tibet[/COLOR][/url] and came back exhausted. His preaching days were obviously over and, in the next years, in his own home or those of his friends in the Simla hills he gave himself to meditation, fellowship, and writing some of the things he had lived to preach. In [B]1929,[/B] against all his friends' advice, Sundar determined to make one last journey to [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibet"][COLOR=#002bb8]Tibet[/COLOR][/url]. In April he reached [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalka"][COLOR=#002bb8]Kalka[/COLOR][/url], a small town below [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimla"][COLOR=#002bb8]Simla[/COLOR][/url], a prematurely aged figure in his yellow robe among pilgrims and holy men who were beginning their own trek to one of Hinduism's holy places some miles away. Where he went after that is unknown to many people. Whether he fell from a precipitous path, died of exhaustion, or reached the mountains, will remain a mystery. It was also said that Sadhu was murdered and his body was thrown in the river, another account says he was caught up into Heaven with the angels. But more than his memory remains, and he has continued to be one of the most treasured and formative figures in the development and story of Christ's church in India. [B][[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sadhu_Sundar_Singh&action=edit§ion=11"][COLOR=#002bb8]edit[/COLOR][/URL]] Biographical controversy[/B] There have been several biographies written about Sundar Singh, many of which emphasize his piety, humility and Christian witness. The late [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_J._Sharpe"][COLOR=#002bb8]Eric J. Sharpe[/COLOR][/URL] has surveyed the various biographical studies of Sundar Singh and discerned a number of significant discrepancies in chronological details, in the accounts of his Christian conversion, and the accounts of his travels to Tibet. Sharpe indicates that different portraits of Sundar Singh were constructed by writers in continental Europe, England and the United States of America. He argues that the different portraits disclose much about the way Westerners thought about India in the 1920s and 1930s. Sharpe remarks: "When in the spring of 1920 an Oxford don and his young Indian tutee conceived the idea of writing a book about Sadhu Sundar Singh, it was in their minds to interpret him to the West in terms that the West could grasp and according to a scale of values that the West could affirm."[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh#cite_note-5"][COLOR=#5a3696][6][/COLOR][/URL] Sharpe also points to significant omissions of detail between the biographies of A.J. Appasamy, B.H. Streeter, Janet Lynch-Watson, Cyril J. Davey and Phyllis Thompson. Perhaps the most glaring differences concerns the influence of [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emanuel_Swedenborg"][COLOR=#002bb8]Emanuel Swedenborg[/COLOR][/url] (1688-1782) and Swedenborgian writers on Sadhu Sundar Singh. Sharpe refers to correspondence between Singh and A.E. Penn who was the secretary of the Indian Swedenborgian society where Singh stated that he had contact with Swedenborg in the spirit world: "I saw him several times some years ago, but I did not know his earthly name. His name in the spiritual world is quite different just according to his high position or office and most beautiful character."[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh#cite_note-6"][COLOR=#5a3696][7][/COLOR][/URL] Sharpe also refers back to Singh's endorsement of Swedenborg as recorded by Appasamy: "Swedenborg was a great man, philosopher, scientist and, above all seer of clear visions. I often speak with him in my visions. He occupies a high place in the spiritual world ... Having read his books and having come into contact with him in the spiritual world, I can thoroughly recommend him as a great seer."[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh#cite_note-7"][COLOR=#5a3696][8][/COLOR][/URL] Sundar Singh's correspondence with the Swedish Lutheran bishop Nathan Soderblom in November 1928 further confirms that he claimed visionary contact with Swedenborg. For western evangelical Christians, Swedenborg has long been regarded as an unorthodox teacher. Some, such as the Christian apologist [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Martin"][COLOR=#002bb8]Walter Martin[/COLOR][/url], have classified Swedenborg and his followers among the [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult"][COLOR=#002bb8]cults[/COLOR][/url].[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh#cite_note-8"][COLOR=#5a3696][9][/COLOR][/URL] In light of the evangelical rejection of Swedenborg's theology, the omission of Sundar Singh's endorsement of Swedenborg's teachings from evangelical biographies is very significant. The difficulty for evangelicals is compounded by Singh's confirmation of contact with Swedenborg in the spirit world. This visionary form of contact with an unorthodox deceased teacher clashes with the portraits of piety drawn by later evangelical biographers such as Cyril Davey and Phyllis Thompson. The results of Sharpe's survey of the various biographies, articles published in Indian and European periodicals, and the extant correspondence of Sundar Singh's, discloses a complex web of western images that portray Singh in contradictory ways: evangelical missionary, ecstatic visionary, and ascetic pilgrim. Sharpe pleaded: "It is time to rescue his memory from oblivion on the one hand and romantic adulation on the other, to protect him from a few of his patrons, and give him his rightful place among those of whom he himself wrote."[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh#cite_note-9"][COLOR=#5a3696][10][/COLOR][/URL] [/QUOTE]
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