At the age of six I wore the sacred thread (poonool) according to the Hindu tradition. I was given to the Gayathri Diksha, and was sent to an ashramam for my studies. Right from my childhood I studied the Rigveda, Yegurveda, Samarveda, Adarvarnaveda, Nalayiram, Lijya Prabhandtha, Ethishasa, Purana Ramayana, Mahabharatha, Bhagvatgeetha etc in the Hindu mythological subjects in Sanskrit as well as the Grandha language. Once my early education was over in Hindu philosophy in south India, I was sent to north India, Uttar Pradesh to do my doctorate in the Banaras University. I went there and did my siromony in Sanskrit and sironomy in grandha, which is to say PhD in Sanskrit and PhD in Grandha. While I was studying in the Banaras University the destruction of the Babri Masjid took place at Ayodhya. Since I was a Bhattachary and since I was doing my double PhD in a famous Hindu university, I was chosen by the RSS as their national youth leader. The objective of the RSS is to stop foreign religions coming in to India. They are especially dead against Christ and Christianity being proclaimed in the land of India. When I was in this organization as their national youth leader, my personal commitment was to destroy the mosques then and there. In those days my faith in the Hindu religion and their gods was very strong and so I went all the way to France and I peddled a dynamite bomb and I brought it to India and set off at the tomb of the mosque, using my personal computer from my cabin. At that time many Islamic fundamentalists came forward to stop us in our activities. In retaliation our Hindu Parishad people chopped up their hands and legs and chopped off their heads and killed not less than 3,000 people and flung their bodies into the Sarayoor River. I recall this, as I was totally submerged into the sinful way of life from the beginning. That was how strongly I believed in the Hindu philosophy.
After this incident I was doing the research work in my university library. The research topic that I had taken for my thesis was:
- How will man go to the kingdom of God after his death?
- How will a man reach the Brahma patha or Sivan Narayan Patha?
- How can we get into the kingdom of God?
While I was going through many books in the library, a very old sanyasi came to the library and called out to me. He had a long beard and very long hair. He was wearing only an ordinary dhoti. He called me out and gave me a small piece of paper and then he walked away. I did not know who he was or where he came from. After he left I looked at the piece of paper he had given me and on it was written the verse from John Chapter 3 verse 16. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, for whosoever believeth should no perish but shall have everlasting life.” The more I read this scripture the more it began to inspire me in the very depth of my heart. My dear brothers and sisters why did this particular scripture inspire me so much? The word of God says in John, Chapter 1 that the word of God consists of life. I went to all my gurujis and asked who is this begotten son. All they could tell me was that the begotten son is Krishna Paramatma and Rama Paramatma, etc. But nobody told me that Jesus is the only begotten son.
For one month I was desperately hunting for the answer. After one month, one particular morning I was sitting in my dormitory going through this piece of paper once again. Tears started to gush out of my eyes to know who this begotten Son of God is. Then I heard a voice telling me to read the Rigveda. Upon opening it what I read in Sanskrit was “Santhakaram purakasayanam, pathmanabm suresham, vishwakaram… mekavarnam.. lakshikantham…yogikirtham vande bishnumbam, survalokayika…” which means, “The God so love the world, that He gave His only begotten Son of God that whosoever believe in Him will have everlasting life.” When I read this Bible scripture in my own Rigveda I decided that even if I die I must obey this only begotten son and that I must surrender my life to Him.
There was still a great vacuum in my life. I still did not know Jesus as the Saviour of the World, nor as the Prince of Peace, nor as the Redeemer of the World and in such a state I found myself making preparations to return to Tamil Nadu. I booked my ticket on the Ganga-Kaveri express. At Varansasi station I boarded the train and subsequently arrived at Madhya Pradesh. All the while I was reading John 3:16. Something told me that I should keep mediating on this verse and I did so till the train pulled into Madhya Pradesh. The railway staff went for a coffee break and at the same time I heard a voice telling me to get off the train at this station. I was wondering why I should do this for I did not have any relative there. The more I refused to listen to the voice the more persistent it became. Finally I gave in and got off the train. After a few minutes the train left the station and I was left alone on the platform. Again I heard a small voice telling me to start walking. I started to walk. After walking for nearly three kms I came to a place called Baratpur Mapier town in Jabalpur city. The moment I came to this particular spot, where there was a cement arch, I saw the same old sanyasi who had come to my college library, 800 kilometres away, coming towards me pointing his fingers at me. Putting his hand on me he said, “The Lord who you wanted to know in your life is Jesus Christ. The only begotten son whom you are seeking is Christ. He loves you and forgives your sin and he is going to cleanse you from all your sinful natures. He is going to give you a new life”. When he said all that I could not control myself. Here was a very simple man, very old and ordinary, but yet filled with the resurrected power of the Lord, preaching the Gospel to me. I humbled myself and yielded to that saint.
From there he took me to a place called Bidagarh. That is where the Narmada River begins to flow at a very high velocity. We crossed the river and went to the other side where we could find no human beings at all. He took me into the forest and he took me inside a cave. With a great burden he knelt in the cave and opening the Bible he started to preach the Gospel. He told me how God created the heavens and the Earth, the rivers and the seas, the plants and the animals and how he created human beings. He told me of the fall of man into sin and how the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world as the Messiah, how much he suffered on the cross at Golgotha and how he finally died. When I heard all this I could not control myself for in Hinduism there are 33 crores (millions) gods. But none of these gods came to die for me and my sins. But here I found that Jesus came and died for my sins. Even Hinduism says very sincerely in the Samaveda, “Every man is a sinner and unless he is cleansed by precious blood he cannot go into the kingdom of God”. But we find that no one came to shed their blood in Hinduism but I found that Christ had done it. I opened my heart to the Lord and cried, “Lord, I am very sorry. Lord, I open my heart to you. Lord, it was for my sins that both your hands and your legs were nailed to the cross. It was for my sin that you wore the crown of thorns on your head. It was for my sin that a spear was thrust into your ribs. Lord, I am sorry and please forgive me, Lord.”
I stayed for two months with the old man in the forest. Every morning we used to kneel together in the presence of the Lord for hours and pray and meditate upon the Word of God. After two months one day he took me to the Narmada River and baptized me in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. It is very difficult for me to say everything that happened to me that day. As David says in the 23rd Psalm, “He prepared a table for me in the presence of my enemies and He anointed my head with oil. My cup runneth over, surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” That was the assurance I got. After I received the Holy Spirit, the old man said to me, “God has brought you to Judea and then he will take you to Samaria and from there to the uttermost parts of the Earth.” He explained to me that Judea meant him, Samaria meant my hometown and community. He told me to that I was to go back to my community and preach to them the Gospel. I went back to Nepal.
The moment I reached home my parents were standing outside. My father did not allow me to go into the house. They said to me, “We sent you to get a higher education in the most famous university. You received two gold medals from the president of India. After all this you are returning as a poor, downtrodden, inferior untouchable caste. What happened to you?” They left me standing at the door and after asking for some Ganges water from the temple my father proceeded to give me a bath as I was defiled. He poured that water over me. Even then according to them I was still impure for only external purification had taken place and I still needed internal purification. So he sent another priest to the backyard of the house and asked him to bring a glass of cow’s urine. I was told to drink this by my father. In our family our father is very revered and in no way do we show any disrespect to him. Therefore when he commanded me to drink I had to obey. I silently received this and saying “victory in the blood of Jesus”, over and over again, I silently drank it. Only then was I allowed to enter.
These temples were constructed 2000 to 3000 years ago and right from the entrance to the Mola Sarpa Graha, we had to walk not less than 3 km. The ceiling is 100-120 ft high and at night there are no lights as there was no electricity. The temple was also infested with poisonous snakes and scorpions. For many days I was not given any food nor did I have any proper clothing. But amidst all these dangers I knelt down and prayed, “Lord, without your help I can never be here. I do not know for what reason you have kept me here but help me to proclaim and lift up your name to these people. Lord, open the door where I can proclaim the good news as for David said in the scripture, “What shall I do unto the Lord who has given me the joy of salvation?” Again in the very next scripture he says, “I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving and will call upon the name of the Lord, I will pay my vows unto the Lord in the presence of all his people”. The next morning about sixty Bhattacharyas came to open the temple early in the morning and doing so they came inside. I was on fire and at that moment I called out to the Bhattacharyas. “Come here. What does your Vedas say about God? What does Hinduism say about God? Who is the true God in Hinduism? What are the characteristics of God mentioned in Hinduism? What does Hinduism say about how a man can go into the kingdom of God? Who is the true god that can bring salvation to mankind? For example, Om shri brahmaputhraye namaha – what does this mean? The only begotten son I worship thee. Who is the only begotten son? It is the Lord Jesus Christ.
By the divine grace of God thirteen Bhattacharyas accepted the Saviour. Out of them six people were baptised. Today they are strong believers. All this God did for his glory.
Like the time I was inside the temple with these people for six months and in the meantime the RSS people came to know about me and so did the BJP and the Shiv Sena along with a lot of other Hindu organisations. They came to Nepal and pulled me out of the temple and thrashed me mercilessly. They fractured both my hands. Today the hand you see is not the real one but an artificial one. In one hand I have 16 screws fixed in my elbow with steel plates within. They poured acid all over me and threw me in the streets. They told me that if I preached Christ anymore then they would kill me. My parents asked me to get out, as I had become a danger to their survival. I was shunned by my family, community, friends and villagers. At a total loss as to what to do then and there I knelt and prayed to the Lord and asked Him what He wanted me to do. I claimed his promise where He said that in the days of your trouble I will deliver you and you will glorify me. The Lord told me that along with Judea even Samaria was over and so “Step out in my name and I will take care of you”.
Slowly I made my way to the faith home in Nepal. There God miraculously provided me first aid and a plane ticket to Bombay Navarathna hospital for treatment. I stayed in the hospital for six months and now I am all right. After that I went back to Nepal once again. My household did not open the door and they told me to leave. I did not know what to do with my life. There were so many denominations in Christianity like Roman Catholics, Jehovah Witnesses, Marthomites etc. All I knew was the Father God, the Begotten Son and the Holy Spirit. After this I went into many parts of Nepal and interior villages to proclaim Christ. I was expelled from Nepal for preaching the Gospel. I went to Tibet and from there came to north India. Finally today I am in south India. Today right from Kanya Kumari in the south to Kashmir God has taken me to proclaim the good news. Other than parts of India, God took me to Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, France, Sweden, Germany and Czechoslovakia. I came with nothing yet I lacked for nothing. When I came into the ministry I did not have any money on me yet I cannot say that I have gone hungry even once. God provides me with everything that I want day by day. I am also on the RSS hit list. Ten days ago I was coming back to Tamil Nadu from Rajastan and I was circled by the RSS people and I lost all my properties to them. By the grace of God I am well today.
Source: Dr Srinivasa Bhattachary’s own written testimony
[Double PhD, devout Hindu, conversion story, India, scholar, miracles]