Founder’s life and Vision in his own words: 

My name is Poovelingam Ramasamy Solomon.

I am neither a guru nor an Acharya to establish an ashram, but I am a simple follower of Christ.  My name indicates that I am from Hindu family. It is not required in the Bible that a convert to Christ should adopt a Christian name.  However, I adopted the name Solomon after coming to know Christ and reading the books Ecclesiastes and Proverbs written by the King Solomon.  As I read these books, I felt as if they were part of the Tamil literature. Therefore, I adopted the name Solomon.  Many people, especially Hindu friends, asked me why I became a Christian.  Many of them thought that I changed my religion for the sake of marriage.  I cannot blame them for it, because it has been the rule in many Christian churches that a Christian can marry a Hindu only after he/she converted to Christianity.  In my case, that is not true.  I married my wife nine years after I became a follower of Christ.

I came to know Christ in 1960 at the age of eighteen.  Coming to know Jesus was an important and wonderful part of my spiritual journey. Life is a long journey for all of us.  We do not know where we began the journey and where we will end it.  All of us who are born will leave this human existence and go somewhere else.  I was born and brought in a Hindu family.  My father was the trustee and founder of the Kali temple in my town Kovilpatti.  I studied in a Hindu School until eighth grade.  I was a member of the Bajan group in the school and I used to participate in the Bajan also in a big local temple during the festivals for forty days.  My mind and life was molded in Hindu culture and thought.  My house was located near the Church of South India.  I grew up with Christian friends who lived in my compound.  But I never knew Jesus.  I watched Christians going to Church every Sunday carrying the Bible in their hand.  But I never knew Jesus.  I quit the school when I was 15 year old and worked in a grocery store. (We used to sell the milk powder secretly to people who bring milk from the village to the hotels in the town.  Where did we buy the milk powder?  I used to go to the CSI church compound secretly in the night and buy the milk powder from the reverend or the pastor of the church.)  But I never knew Jesus.

            I quit the school because I started to develop epilepsy seizure at the age of fifteen.  I used to get seizure at least once in six months.  I used to become unconscious for several hours and bit my tongue.  I quit my school and started to work.  My journey took a new turn and I missed my teen age life.  I worked in different places for three years and I could not hold any job due to sickness.  Life became very bitter to me.

            My parents being Hindus searched for remedies as suggested by the astrologers, priests, spirit mediums, herbalist and exorcist.  Astrologer said that I was under influence of a bad planet and he suggested that I should worship the nine planetary gods on every Friday for three months for healing which we did.  But I was not healed.  Then my father took me to a person claimed as spirit medium and the medium said that I was attacked by an evil spirit and I had to cut a chicken at night and perform a puja to get the release from the evil spirit.  I was too scared and I never did.  Then another time the herbalist told that he has to extract oil from a green color chameleon and some herbs.  He suggested that I should apply that oil in my head before bath which I did.  But it never helped me. Once, my father took me to a local government hospital when I had seizure.  There I was given an injection in my thigh with wrong medicine by the pharmacist.  As a result, small portion of flesh became dead.  Doctor then operated and removed the dead flesh. I spent nearly six months in the hospital for that to heal. Then my father took me to a village priest who claimed to have power to speak with a goddess and heal people.  The name of the village is Cholapuram located on the way to Tuticorin.  When we went to the temple we did not tell the priest why we came.  He sat before the idol and started to speak to the goddess.  I was hearing his talk but I never heard anything from the idol.  He pretended only as he could listen to the goddess.  He told us that I was suffering from a nervous disorder.  We were shocked to hear that from him.  Because we never told him that I was suffering from epilepsy.  Immediately my father told him about the nature of my sickness and requested the priest to ask the goddess for cure.  He went inside and sat before the goddess again and carried on a conversation.  Then he came to us and told us that I have to go through a kind of fasting for fort days and at the end of the forty days I have to pierce my tongue with a big needle we call it VALE.  I was too scared to do that and requested the priest to bargain with the goddess for a lesser requirement for healing.  Then he bargained with the goddess and told that I should come to worship the goddess for three months every Friday.  I never followed it through. 

After this experience a village exorcist told my father that I had been possessed by three evil spirits and he had the power to chase them all.  He asked my father to buy various things for the ceremony which he did.  I just could not believe that I was possessed by spirits.  The exorcist came home and started the ceremony and laid his hand on my head and rolled my head several times expecting something to happen.  I was little courageous and prepared to see how the spirits would take possession of me.  Nothing happened.  I saw him lighting the camphor and putting it in the tumbler with water.  It was burning and floating.  Then he covered the tumbler with his hand.  I saw the water shooting out.  He covered it tight and took it out side of our compound to the street.  My mother told me that he caught the spirits and took them out.  He came back to the house and then wanted to bless my mother by putting his hand on her head.  Immediately she was possessed by the spirit.  She screamed and rolled on the ground.  He shouted at the spirit and asked the spirit to leave my mother.  She calmed down and became normal after few minutes.  Later I asked my mother what happened.  She said she did not know what happened.  I went through these experiences in search of healing.

              One day a woman who was a secret Christian told me, “Thambi (younger brother) you tried so many things why don’t you try Jesus”.  She suggested that I should go to the Christian meetings and request the pastors to pray for the healing.  I said Ok to her just to respect her.  For a week, I hesitated to go to the Christian meetings held near my home because I had developed very negative attitude toward Christians and their religion.  Besides, I did not want any of my Hindu friends see me going to the meetings.  After a week, something impressed my mind to go to the meeting.  Finally, I went and sat through the meeting on the first day and asked the pastors to pray for the healing at the end of the meeting.  Pastor Gurubatham prayed for me and gave me a Tamil Bible to read at home.

            I took the Bible home and started to read.  I spent eight hours a day reading up to hundred pages.  In the evening, I attended the meetings for three months to hear all the Seventh-day- Adventist doctrines.  I did not understand many of the doctrines preached.  First, I finished reading the Old Testament and I deeply felt that I was a sinner.  I realized that I did many things against God’s commandments.  I started to suffer from the guilt.  Then as I came to read the Gospels, I came to know Jesus and his teachings of love, forgiveness, peace, kindness and compassion.  I came to know Jesus whom I never knew before.  I was so much touched in my heart and surrendered myself to him.  I accepted him as my guru and divine savior who could heal me from the epilepsy.  I attended SDA church for six months before baptism in a river in Sattur.  That was the beginning of my Christian journey.

            After baptism, I strongly believed that I would be completely healed.  On the contrary, I had seizure few weeks after baptism.  The experience devastated me and I went through depression.  My father ridiculed me by saying my new god did not have power to heal me.  He refused to spend any more money for my treatment.  I had no money, no job, and lost hope in having good future.  Life was hopeless and meaningless.  I hated life.  I prayed to God to take my life, as I did not have courage to commit suicide.  I said to God, “Heal me or take away my life”.  I did not want to live any more with this sickness”.  My parents were fed up with my sickness.  They even told me that if I die they will cry for few days and then they will be OK.  My mother told me of her brother named Pillaiar who suffered with same sickness. He went to the Pillaiar temple and sat before the idol without taking food.  He finally died in the temple.  I too prepared in mind to meet the same destiny.

            During such a crucial period in life, I went to Pastor Wessel of the SDA church for guidance.  He encouraged me to claim God’s promises.  He read Matthew chapter eight that narrates Jesus healing the leper and the servant of the centurion.  Then he read the verses sixteen and seventeen that said, “Jesus took our infirmities and carried our diseases”.  Since then I prayed to God claiming his promises and asking God to heal or to take my life.  I did not want to remain on this earth as a burden to everyone.  As I claimed his promises I too made a promise to God that if I am healed I will dedicate rest of my life to his service particularly bringing the Hindus to Christ to receive healing, forgiveness of sin, peace and hope.  Ever since I made the commitment, I was healed.  I did not have seizure for one full year. I was only nineteen years old then living as a high school drop out for three years.  I faced with new life and new goal to fulfill my commitment to God.

            I went back to high school again to finish my studies. Then somehow I collected some money to go to a Bible college in Pune.  I told my father about my plan of going to Christian college in Pune.  My father said, “I already considered one of my sons is dead.  You can go anywhere.  I don’t care’.  I took a long journey to an unknown world with lot of hope and aspirations.

            I landed in the college in June 1963 and studied there until March 1970.  It was another journey in my life.  After living three years with simple, faithful Christians in my town I came to a place that was totally foreign to me. In the beginning I was very discouraged and disillutionized with Christianity at the college.  I was upset and discouraged.  I was ready to quit Christianity and go back home.  At that time a friend named Samuelraj Pakkianathan said, “Are you going to be a quitter?  This is not the right place for people like you.  We need to have Christian Ashram in India to train the ministers to work in India” Two words that he said “not to be a quitter and Christian Ashram” made a new turn in my life journey.  I spent six years studying theology in a Seventh-day- Adventist Bible College.  After graduation I served as a minister in SDA Church Coimbatore for three years.  As a paid minister I could not realize my vision of bringing the knowledge of Christ to the Hindus.  I was happy in working with the people and serving them but I could not tolerate the church leadership putting pressure on me to bring more people for baptism.  I left the church ministry after three years and joined the University of Pune for philosophical studies.  After receiving Master’s degree in philosophy I joined Spicer Memorial College as a faculty to head up the department of philosophy for two years.  After studying philosophy my mind shifted from theology to missiology.  I became more concerned with dealing the existential issues related to human suffering here and now.

I went to USA in August 1977 and pursued higher education in Biblical studies   and missiology at Andrews Theological Seminary, Calvin Theological Seminary and Fuller Theological Seminary. I served as a mental health worker for ten years and as an adjunct at the Andrews Theological Seminary for three years during my stay in USA. During my studies in western seminary I was able to understand the western mind for Christian mission in non western world and the American missionary enterprise.  I decided not to work under any western organization for the promotion of western Christianity in India. I did not like to be a paid minister for a Christian denomination.  I always longed to become a self-supporting missionary like Apostle Paul and I prayed about it for many years.

After leaving the teaching job in the Seminary in 2000 I focused on the development of the Christian Ashram in India.  God opened the way to fulfill my commitment that is to bring the knowledge of Christ to the Hindus through Christian Ashram.  Since 2000 I come to India to spend five to six months in the Ashram to conduct Inter-religious meetings, health seminars, eye camps and seminars on communication of Christ to the Hindus. 

My interest is only to communicate Christ in a meaningful way to the Hindus.  After knowing Christ I came to know God who is truth, love, compassion and merciful.  I received peace deep within my soul and I want all my Hindu brothers and sisters to experience the same.  I do not think it is needed for them to convert themselves to Christianity just because they received Jesus in their hearts.  They can remain as Hindu followers of Christ without becoming Christian worshipers of Christ.  I am not interested to join any western denomination in their mission to expand the western Christendom in India, but like to work with any religious and secular organization in uplifting the oppressed and to bring health and healing to our ailing nation.  I want people of all religions to transcend their religions and embrace spirituality for the welfare of humanity.

I have come a long way in my spiritual journey and have made several paradigm shift.  My focus is not on any religion or church but on the words of Christ found in the four Gospels.  I like to meditate on his words in the context of his time and try to draw some lessons which can be applied by us living in the 21^st century facing several crisis and challenges.  Mankind is divided on the basis of race, color, language, religion, ethnicity and ideologies but in Christ there is one God father/mother of all, one people with no divisions and one world without bounderies.