BRAHMIN REBORN
By Bhaskar Sreerangam
10 Publishing. 140 pages. £2.99
ISBN 978 1 913 278 045
When Rishi Sunak became a Member of Parliament he swore his oath on the Bhagavad Gita. Not only do we currently have a Chancellor of the Exchequer who is from a Punjabi Hindi background, but also a Home Secretary, Pritti Patel, a Gujarati Hindu. So it would be wise for every Christian in the United Kingdom to familiarise themselves with the basics of Hinduism.
Brahmin Reborn is an autobiographical testimony of Bhaskar’s conversion from a devout and conservative Hindu background to faith in Jesus Christ in his early 20s. Set in mid-1960’s South India it explains his journey to Christ, and acts well as a primer for Westerners to Hinduism. Although he clearly articulates the transformation experienced through becoming Christian, this book is primarily, I suggest, most useful not for the Hindu enquirer but for the Christian who wants to understand the journey of a Hindu to Christian faith.
His conversion doesn’t happen until halfway through the book but, given that he builds tension well, one is longing for that moment. The book takes only a couple of hours to read and ends his story at the beginning of his Christian journey after his conversion. It might have been good to hear about his subsequent journey to the UK from India and becoming a pastor. Sadly, since he died in 2017, perhaps that story will never be told. But that doesn’t diminish the power of his testimony.
Coming from a very religious family history is not necessarily typical of every Hindu convert, especially in Britain today where faith is much more loosely adhered to. Nonetheless the cost of discipleship and rejection by his family is something UK converts from Hinduism still face today, despite its claims to tolerance and ability to syncretise with other faiths.
What comes across clearly is the contrast between a faith based on works, and the grace that Jesus Christ offered him. So although this is the story of a Hindu convert, in reality it is the story of every Christian believer. It reminds me of Martin Luther‘s testimony: ‘Though I lived as a monk without reproach, I felt that I was a sinner before God with an extremely disturbed conscience. I could not believe that he was placated by my satisfaction. … At last, by the mercy of God, meditating day and night, I gave heed to the context of the words, namely…“He who through faith is righteous shall live.”… There I began to understand that the righteousness of God is that by which the righteous lives by a gift of God, namely by faith.’
Every convert needs the assurance that eternal life only comes as a gift and is not something we can earn, and Bhaskar’s story therefore has power for us all.
