By : Dr. G.R. Vijayakumar
Eli Stanley Jones (1884–1973) was an American 20th-century Methodist Christian missionary. He is remembered chiefly for his interreligious lectures. His friendship for the cause of Indian self-determination allowed him to become a friend of leaders like Gandhi and Nehru and a great saint like Sri Narasimha Swamiji.
He is considered as an ‘Apostle of Peace’.
Jones was born in Baltimore, Maryland on January 3, 1884. He was educated in Baltimore schools and Kentucky. He was called to missionary service in India. He traveled to India in 1907and began working with poor and backward castes, including Dalits. He became a close friend of many leaders in the Indian Independence movement and became known for his interfaith work. He said, “Peace is a by-product of conditions out of which peace naturally comes. If reconciliation is God’s chief business, it is ours—between man and God, between man and himself, and between man and man.
In 1948, he met Sri Narasimha Swamiji at Chennai and their interaction is a memorable event for Sai devotees. Sri Radhakrishna Swamiji has jotted down this memorable event.
E Stanley Jones first met Sri Narasimha Swamiji in 1948. He went into an upstairs room to find him sitting on a bed, surrounded by scores of papers. After a warm greeting by both men, Jones cut right to the technological heart of the matter when he asked Sri Narasimha Swamiji point blank: “How can we make Christianity naturalized in India, not a foreign thing, identified with a foreign Government and a foreign people, but a part of the national life of India and contributing its power to India’s uplift? What would you, as one of the Torch-bearers of Sai movement in India, tell me, a Christian, to do in order to make this possible?”
Sri Narasimha Swamiji‘s reply was something that Jones would put into practice for the rest of his life, and it is indeed something that all Christians should seek to uphold. Sri Narasimha Swamiji said: ‘First, I would suggest that all of you Christians and missionaries must begin to live more like Jesus Christ. Second, practice your religion without adulterating it or toning it down. Third, emphasize love and make it your working force, for love is central in Christianity. Fourth, study the non-Christian religions more sympathetically to find the good that is within them, in order to have a more sympathetic approach to the people”. The two of them would meet on several occasions in the years following. Sri Narasimha Swamiji gave him a quote from Chandogya Upanishad: “The Atman is hidden in the lotus of the heart. Those who see themselves in all creatures go day by day into the world of Brahman hidden in the heart. Established in peace, they raise above shackles and they remain free from fear and those who know this live day after day in heaven in this very life. Sai Baba called upon his devotees to visualize him in all beings and with this implicit faith in Sri Narasimha Swamiji, Jones adopted this model. The two apostles met on a few occasions later and became very close friends.
In various theological seminaries Jones referred to Sai Baba and his work became interdenominational and worldwide. He helped to reestablish the Indian “Ashram” (or forest retreat) as a means of drawing men and women together for days at a time to an in-depth study of their own spiritual natures and quest, and what the different faiths offered.
He was in constant touch with Franklin D. Roosevelt and Japanese leaders trying to avert war. He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his reconciliation work.
In 1963, Stanley Jones received the Gandhi Peace Award.[ Dr. Jones had become a close friend of Mahatma Gandhi, and after Gandhi’s assassination wrote a biography on his life. It is noted that later in time, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. told Jones’ daughter, Eunice, that it was this biography that inspired him to “non-violence” in the Civil Rights Movement.
He gave up his mortal coil on January 25, 1973 in Bareilly India.
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