The Eastern Window

Max Müller, in his book, What Can India Teach Us, expresses this thought: . . . and in that study of the history of the human mind, in that study of ourselves, of our true selves, India occupies a place second to no other country. Whatever sphere of the human mind you may select for your special study, whether it be language, or religion, or mythology, or philosophy, whether it be laws or customs, primitive art or primitive science, everywhere, you have to go to India, whether you like it or not because some of the most valuable and most instructive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India, and in India only.” Sir Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, President of India, writes in his Eastern Religions and Western Thought: “Any interpretation of the Jewish religion which ignores the total environment in which it grew up would be dangerously narrow. Two centuries before the Christian era Buddhism closed in on Palestine. The Essenes, the Mandeans, and the Nazarene sects are filled with its spirit.” As a native of India, born into a Hindu home, I was reared and educated in the rich Eastern tradition to which Max Muller makes reference. Therefore, the Indian Orthodox Church assigned me to the ministry of teaching these Orientalisms throughout the Western world. As far as I know, I am the only Hindu convert to Christianity who is engaged in this kind of teaching. For the past twenty-five years, I have carried out this work under the title, “Light Through an Eastern Window”; it has taken me on the continent of Europe, in the British Isles, and currently in the United States and Canada. It has taken me into churches of nearly every major and minor denomination, as well as numerous colleges and seminaries, interpreting parts of the Bible in the light of Eastern thought and ways of life; clarifying difficult scriptural passages and pointing up their spiritual applications. Many of my listeners have urged me to write these teachings into a book so that more Christians may be encouraged to trust in the Word of God, and believe more deeply through understanding. However, I cannot put all of these teachings into one book. We would have to start at the first verse of the first Chapter of Genesis and go through every book of the Bible until we reached the last verse of Revelation, to give the subject the consideration it deserves. Unfortunately, time does not permit the undertaking of that sort of project at this time. In the present volume, therefore, I will touch upon some of the portions of the Bible which my listeners tell me have been the most interesting and inspiring, and, if God wills, other books will follow at a later date. May God’s blessing be upon the reader who comes to this book seeking to know and understand the Word of God; may he be enlightened and abundantly blessed. Bishop K. C. Pillai, D.D. This work contains the following chapters— 1. Marriage Customs 2. The Covenant of Salt 3. Childbirth 4. Rearing of Children 5. Death and Burials 6. Laws and Justice 7. The Woman at The Well 8. Plants and Trees 9. Agriculture and Herding 10. Some Popular Idioms 11. Sacrifices 12. The Canopy