Sadhu Chellapa came from a very religious family from Tamilnadu, India. He recalls his grandfather being a conservative religious person but his father being a little lenient. When he was at a very young, 1st World war was going on. The times were very difficult and his family was in search for a better livelihood. It was also the time of British Raj in India. Hindu caste system was very prevalent. The lower caste people were inhumanely treated by the Brahmins and the upper class people. While at the same time, the British did not discriminate between the high and the low caste and they welcomed anyone who would be ready to serve them. So his father who was well educated and respected in the society decided to embrace Christianity for the quality of life for himself and his family. By doing so, he also could please the ruling British empire.
His father was working with a Missionary who was from Britain. Everything went well until his father demanded a salary raise. In response to that, he lost his job. The family was stranded. They had nowhere to go. Even everyday food for the family became a challenge. One day, young Chellappa went to the temple to eat the food which was offered to the idols; he liked the temple and especially food. So every day, he would go to the temple to eat and while eating he would listen carefully to the shlokas recited by the priest of the temple. Soon he memorized many of the shlokas by heart. One day the priest saw and heard him reciting the same shlokas and was very impressed. He asked the young boy to come and help him in the duties of the temple. He readily accepted because that meant more food during the day and no starvation. Slowly people noticed him at the temple reciting shlokas and were very impressed. His fame grew and people also offered him gifts and food.
One day, he realized while reciting the Shlokas about a legend “Prajapati” (the lord of the people) which is mentioned in the Vedas. This historic figure was supposed to take the sins of the world and die for it. He also had to remain sinless and a wild thorny creeper on his head. He was to die for the sins of the world and resurrect. Sadhu Chellapa was really interested in this deity “Prajapathi” who is mentioned in Rig Veda as a “silent sufferer”. So he started searching for him. He asked many questions to other priests and Brahmans in the temples. He was determined to search out his Prajapathi. But he did not find any satisfactory answers. He was only 19 years old at that time and felt very disillusioned. So he thought to himself may be there is no God and everything is purposeless.
During this time, he met another atheist who had a long conversation with him that there is a god, but the world has many names to this god. People say there is a Christian god, a Muslim god, a Jewish god and thousands of Hindu gods, So it is better to believe there is no god. It makes more sense to just ignore God!
Some time went by, and his parents wanted him to get married. One of his Uncles insisted that he would marry a good Christian girl. He did not know why he believed that, but he agreed to it. So he married and had children. Life went on but he was not at peace, he started smoking, drinking and also went under a huge debt. Due to his ill habits of smoking, he suffered from TB. There was no proper cure in those days so he suffered a lot. On top of this he always had guilt in himself that he is neither a good husband to his wife or a good father to his children. Day by day the guilt of family, disillusionment from god and the tensions of debt led him to depression.
One day he was travelling in the train with all the problems and worries of his life and he thought of a way to escape from it. He decided to commit suicide. He went to the door of the gushing train to throw himself down. Right at that moment he heard a mysterious voice saying, “He that conceals his sin will never prosper.” This verse struck him to his core. He felt why he heard something like this? What was the purpose? Was there a message for him? As soon as the train stopped he got down and he saw a huge Christian gathering in an open place. He started walking towards it, thinking that Jesus Christ is a Christian and foreign god of the West. But he felt compelled to go there. In the meeting he heard the pastor speak about sin which he understood very well from his knowledge of Vedas. But then, the pastor said that only Jesus Christ, who is born of the virgin can take away the sins of world, for He alone is sinless and he is the atoning sacrifice on behalf of all the people. Sadhu Chellapa recalled that about “Prajapathi”, written in the Vedas too. He could not believe the exact connection. That night the pastor invited the congregation to come forward and accept Jesus Christ as their Savior. He ran in front, prayed and accepted Jesus into his heart. Since that day he started sharing his testimony and preaching the Word of God in all the places.
You can read more about him, his mission, and his audio and video preaching on his website http://www.agniministries.org/Default.aspx. His testimony is published in a leading British magazine “The Edge”. You can also listen to 10 part testimony here on youtube where he talks in detail about the Vedas and its fascinating yet much ignored passages which may point to Jesus Christ. (The videos are set into playlist, so you can continually watch all parts without any more clicks.)
Video testimony of Sadhu Chellappa
httpvp://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=F465B151819799F1
source: http://www.jeevanmarg.com/
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