p. 12 | India by G. G. Lowry

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 5, 1911

India

By G. G. Lowry

G. G. LOWRY

According to the teachings of Hinduism, if a man tells a lie he has committed a sin of the same magnitude as murder in the first degree; and unless he does enough penance to offset the sin, he must be punished as follows:—

When he dies, he must go to one of the many hells of which their writings tell. When he reaches the place, he is met by the angel of death, who beats him in the mouth, cuts out his tongue, and heaps upon him all the terrible punishments that hellish demons can invent. After he has spent thousands of years thus, he is born again into the world, first as a village hog, second as an ass, third as a dog, fourth as a maggot, and finally is again born as a man, to be afflicted all his life with deafness, leprosy, sore mouth, etc., and then to die and go to hell again.

They also teach that those who commit such sins as eating flesh, drinking intoxicating liquors, stealing, killing, committing adultery, gambling, showing ingratitude or disrespect to elders or teachers, and especially to Brahman priests, will be punished just as much more as their sin is greater than telling a lie.

In order not to receive all these punishments

they must do penance according to the direction of the priests. The penance generally consists in making a pilgrimage to some distant temple, in giving a cow or some other present to the priest, in lashing themselves with whips through the streets, or in going without food for a certain length of time, etc.

One day as I was going down the street, I saw a man doing penance by whipping himself most unmercifully. He had what is called a “blacksnake” whip about five feet in length, and was going up and down the street without any clothing, whipping himself, cutting the flesh so that blood came at every stroke. He would swing the whip around two or three times, then jump from off the ground, causing the whip to strike him in such a way as to make it sound like the report of a gun. While he was doing this, his wife and children were around him, beating drums and making all the noise they could. It was a terrible sight. For days the picture of that man was continually before me. I could not forget it.

Now the questions come, Why was that man doing that thing? Why was he so cruelly treating himself? The answer is: He was doing it as a good work which was well pleasing in the sight of his god, and which he hoped would pacify the anger of the god he had offended by his sins.

As I saw this, I could not help thinking of the prophecy of our Lord, where it says, “He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” If we accept Jesus as our Saviour, we need not punish ourselves as that man did, for “with His stripes we are healed.” Jesus suffered for us. How thankful we should be that he has done so much for us!

But that poor Hindu man knows nothing of Jesus, the one who has done so much for man. He does not know that Jesus has been beaten for him. He knows nothing of the peace, joy, and happiness of trusting in the Saviour. And this is not an isolated case. Millions of India’s people are in the same condition. O that they had the gospel of Jesus! Can we not all do something to help give these benighted people a knowledge of the true God and of his love for them?

Pray that we who are in these dark lands may be able to reach them with the gospel, that they may enjoy with us the blessings that it brings.

Trichinopoli.