SADHU FROM RAMPUR

SADHU FROM RAMPUR







Dear children of God, let us go to Rampur, Ludhiana, Punjab, to see the Sadhu Sunder Singh’s birth place and know about the saint who committed himself as a iterant evangelist to India and Tibet. Sunder’s family, who came from the Punjab, held high rank within the Sikh community; his father was a chieftain and a landowner. His mother was an honored as a bhakta, or a saint. She believed there was good in all religious and encouraged her son to seek the truth wherever it could be found.Little Sadhu: - as a young boy, Sunder used to rise early with his mother to recite prayers, and they paid visit a fortnight to a Hindu holy man who suggested he might one day become Sadhu. His mother also welcomed Christian teachers to their home, though the two of them were not persuaded by what they heard. Indeed, sunder that was as a boy of twelve attended a Christian mission school once ended a scripture lesson by tearing up the Bible. Two years later his mother died and his world collapsed; he could not live without God and it was she who made God real to him. Finding no help from the holy man, he vented his anger on the Christians; he became violent, attacking the believers and disrupting their meetings’ with a gang of other boys stoned the preachers in the bazaar and shouted down those who protested.  The climax came when he bought a copy of the New Testament and in front of his friends contemptuously ripped it apart and burned it page by page.









TRUTH FOUND SADHU: -  one day he went to the school play ground  to see the games, near by the play ground there was an old building, from that building he heard a sound. So, he went to the building to see, what was the sound? But he found that his own classmate who was praying to God fervently. And also he prayed for sunder and for his studies and his father and his family members. His friend was having a copy of New Testament with hands and praying. So he longed to have one to read and find that what is in it? Next day he went to school and asked his class teacher to give him a copy of New Testament. The Christian teacher asked him what for it?  He said that sir, I like to read this. The teacher gave him a copy of New Testament. What the words of the NT, spoke to him? Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. My yoke is easy, and my burden is light. [mathew11:28-30] blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. [mathew5:6] love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends his rain on the just and on the unjust. I am the way and truth, and the life. No one comes to the father expect through me. [john14:6] he had many questions in his heart and mind; he tried to find out the truth that he was longing to get it. Next day he went to the school and asked his doubts about Jesus and the truths, the Christian teacher had explained about the truth from the very beginning of the bible verses to Christ Jesus’ birth, died on the cross for sinners and rose up from the dead on the third day of his burial and now he lives and going to come again give us eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life [john3:16].
 Three days and nights sunder stayed in his room, praying that God would reveal himself; if not, he planned to end his life by throwing himself under an express train that passed through his village every morning at five O, clock. A short a while before the deadline, a great light filled his room and out of the brightness came the figure, not of Krishna or one of his gods, but of Jesus. “How long will you persecute me? I have come to save you. You were praying to know the truth and light and the right way, why do you not take it? I am the way, truth and the life said the Lord Jesus. Sunder had heard these words in Hindustani language, very clearly. Immediately he ran to his father’ room and said I have seen Jesus Christ, he came to my room and I have worshiped him, and I am going to become a Christian.
His family was shocked to learn his vision. Now I am a Christian, I can serve no one else but Jesus, he declared. Despite threats, attacks and personal abuse, Sunder remained true to his decision. Rather than suffer any further family disgrace his father turned him out of the home, telling him he would have no more to do with him. Sunder’s last meal was spiked with poison and the following morning he began to vomit, while blood oozing out of his mouth; he managed to crawl to the safety of a pastor’s house in the next village, where he recovered.







TRUTH PROCLAIMED SADHU:- on the sixteen birthday, 3^rd September 1905, he was baptized a Christian at the Anglican Church at Lahore, then he left for Simla Hills where he spent almost a month seeking God’s will for his future. He turned his back on the security of a western church and decided to don the yellow robe of an Indian Sadhu. From the beginning, sunder longed to take the Gospel to Tibet which was virtually a closed country. His first tour was into the foothills of the Himalayas, where he learned some of the hard realities of his calling. Often honorably received into homes along his route, he would be driven out again again when he spoke of Jesus. But when he did not curse or revile his attackers, as many other sadhus would have done, they asked his forgiveness and invited him to return.
Eighteen months after his baptism, sunder made his first trip to Tibet. Two Moravian missionaries taught him something of the language and lent him a young interpreter to accompany him. The two of them tramped from village to village, only to be rejected when they preached about Jesus; the one exception was at a monastery where Lama gave him permission to speak to the monks. After this, he returned to Tibet every year between 1908 and 1929. Some of the adventures he experienced on these journeys seem almost impossible and people often asked,” can they be true? He was beaten, imprisoned and left to die on several occasions, yet escaped to continue his preaching.Once he was arrested by monks and thrown down a well, where he was left to die among the putrefying remains of previous victims. On the third night he was secretly rescued, even though the only key to the lock was kept by the Grand Lama himself. At least three times he was similarly saved from the death by unknown rescuers who proved to be members of the sanniyasi mission, a group of secret disciples of Jesus and one of the strange underground Christian Movements of Modern India. On another occasion he was travelling with a stranger over a mountain pass in winter. Hearing the cries of an injured man, sunder went to the rescue while his fellow-traveler quickly moved on to avoid the approaching storm. He later found his former companion frozen to death, while he and the injured man survived.In 1909 he was persuaded to enter St. John’s College, Lahore, to study for the ministry; he believed that he could give the church a vision which no one else at that time could pass on. But he refused ordination when he realized it would mean remaining in the one diocese and no longer travelling to Tibet. While college gave him some idea of the work of a minister, it confirmed him in his belief that western type Christianity was not suited to India. Sadhu sunder Singh’s fame began to spread beyond India, and between 1919 and 1922 he toured the Far East and visited Europe, America and Australia. He was greatly disappointed with west; he found it to be materialistic and utterly indifferent to all spiritual values. For three years, from 1925 to 1927, sunder was forced to rest and he spent his time in the Simla Hills, writing books and pamphlets. He attempted to reach Tibet in 1927 but illness caused him to turn to turn back. His last attempted came in 1929, when he disappeared without trace. Some believe that he had joined the Christian hermits in the Kailas Ranges, others that he had been martyred for the sake of the Gospel. No one knows, and his death is still a mystery. In the end he fulfilled his oft-repeated prophecy, “I never expect to return from Tibet. Dear friends, I had a privilege to visit his village Rampur his birth place and his own house. We have seen the room where he got the vision and worshiped Jesus Christ face to face. His prayer room, where I prayed in the seat of Sadhu sunders Singh that gave a great challenge to pray for Tibet, and India and longed to do ministry to proclaim Christ Jesus to the unknown people of the earth. Surely this sadhu’s life and suffering for Gospel lead us to do and proclaim Christ to the world. Dear friends like Sadhu let us stand in our conviction to serve the Lord Jesus by proclaim the Gospel and share the good news till the end. If you are blessed by sadhus life and ministry share with your friends and tell your comments by sending to my email ID. revsjc@gmail.com, revsjc12@hotmail.com, johnchelliah857@yahoo.com.

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