Sadhu Sundar Singh A Biography

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13. More Tibetan Journeys
When God gives a vision to a man it stays. There may be temporary setbacks and delays, but a man who is
guided by the Spirit of God will not be deflected even if there is very real danger to his life. Reaching the needy and
scattered communities in the wilderness of Tibet's high plateau was a burden laid upon Sundar Singh's heart by God,
and he carried out this mission with a passionate zeal to declare Christ, where His saving Name was never heard
before.
Nineteen more journeys followed between 1908 and 1929. Kotgarh, at 7000 feet elevation, about fifty miles
away from Simla, became a kind of base camp for Sundar Singh for his journeys into Tibet and also as a resting
place for prayer, where he refuelled in God's presence.
Even on the borders of Tibet he found consecrated Moravian missionaries from Germany. The Moravian
Church had sent out its missionaries from the beginning of the eighteenth century after they had experienced revival
and had established their brotherhood at Herrenhut. Herrenhut is situated deep in the erstwhile communist East
Germany and close to the borders of Poland. In the ancient cemetery of this village are the graves of the founders of
this movement, Count Zinzendorf and his wife. Young men had moved out of Herrenhut, burning with zeal to carry
Christ to the remote corners of the globe. Some of them had left with a mere light bag or two, to traverse the whole
land mass of Europe and Asia and to cross the oceans. They did not give in to the dangers which they faced but
penetrated even to Kashmir and the borders of Tibet. One of these dedicated men even translated the Bible into
Tibetan.
Now Sundar Singh met two of these godly men by the names of Kunick and Marx, doing their work for
Christ and reaching souls without publicity and fanfare. The media was not there to trumpet out or photograph the
exploits of these two heroes, who had thought nothing of sacrificing so much, to serve people. Some of our modern
heroes, who do exploits with the finest of equipment and with the aid of the latest space-age gadgets, are nothing
compared to these early heroes of the Cross. The Moravian Mission had three stations at Leh, Keylang and Pooh,
respectively. Their chief work was in these places close to Tibet's borders.
Kunick and Marx received Sundar Singh and taught him some elements of the Tibetan language and even
gave him an interpreter to help him in his work.
As Sundar Singh ventured deeper into Tibet and explored new routes which were not customarily used by
travellers, more of the desperate need of Tibet was unveiled before his eyes. Prayer flags fluttered everywhere from
the courtyards of dwellings, as though God needed to be signalled and His attention caught by a flag! Some of these
flags, in fact, had become so filthy and tattered from exposure to rain and dust that they made a sad and sickening
sight.* (Even in Trinidad and other regions, where Indians had migrated centuries ago, these flags flutter
conspicuously. In India itself, amongst the multitude of idolatrous symbols, you will but very rarely come up with
prayer flags.)
There were the peasants who carried prayer wheels. A little scroll with some mysterious writing or chant is
whirled round and round by the turning of what was called the prayer wheel. Hence by this mechanical motion, one
is said to be saying so many prayers.
It is so enigmatic that in neighbouring Nepal, wheels were totally outlawed for centuries. How strange that in
that whole region, while they counted upon a wheel to say their prayers for them, it could not be used for mobility on
a carriage or cart. It is because the wheel was thought to be totally sinful, that Nepal saw no need to have roads!
Even into the middle of the twentieth century, once one got out of Khatmandu, the capital of Nepal, the tracks or
paths which pedestrians used for ages, were barely jeepable.