A “Spiritual Laboratory“of Contextualization

Gunther S. Franke's Interview by Dr. Margaret S. Solomon in Riverside, California (April, 2020)

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What made you come to the Karunaiyananthar Ashram? 

When I had the opportunity to visit India for the first time in 2007 I was travelling with a group of European researchers interested in interfaith communities. They introduced me to the vast richness of spirituality in Hindu ashrams. Ever since, I was fascinated by the ashram movements in India, especially in the sacred spiritualities of Hindu-Christian encounters. In 2019 I had read about the Seventh-Day-Adventist missiologist and theologian Dr. Poovelingam R. Solomon, who lived his vision and founded a private Christian ashram in Southern India (Thirupoonthuruthi, Thanjavur District; Tamil Nadu). 

Engaging in interreligious dialogue for more than 30 years Dr. Solomon is applying Tagore´s, Gandhi´s and E. Stanly Jones’ models of ashram spirituality to blend it with the Adventist perspectives of contextualization (Gottfried Oosterwal, Brian De Alvis (org. S. J. Samartha): “Bullock-Cart Theology”).

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How is Poovelingam Solomon bringing Christ to Hindus and Muslim?

Dr. Solomon has written a book and several pamphlets related to Hindu religious issues, that he  distributes to all the Hindu and Muslim visitors at the ashram.

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His book “God Who Wipes Away Your Pain” is a contextualized version of the four gospels, where the author presents Jesus Christ as the healer of pain, mental and physical wounds.  As a young man Solomon suffered from epilepsy.  On different occasions he tells about his personal experience of coming to know Jesus Christ and the experience of receiving healing from epilepsy.

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You stayed for six weeks? - What was your experience?

I was very impressed to learn that the purpose of the ashram is not a Western model of Mission. But it is to help people from Muslim, Christian and Hindu communities and other faith traditions to develop a deeper understanding of spirituality.  

The Karunaiyananthar Ashram portrays the fascinating conversion story of Dr. Poovelingam R. Solomon and his private spiritual journey. I had a unique chance to experience an interreligious ashram community in the form of a modern “spiritual research laboratory“, located in a Hindu village setting.

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The leadership of the community is centered exclusively on the founder´s vision, to communicate Jesus and his teachings with Hindus in the Tamil Nadu religious context. The 78-year old theologian does not like to be identified as a spiritual leader, coach, guru or swami. Although he had been trained in Adventist theology and its missiology he has come to realize.

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November 2019: When I arrived in Thirupoonthuruthi I had no idea of what to expect.
I had already gained some basic knowledge about Christian-Hindu ashrams when visiting the Benedictine monastery Shantivanam in Kulithalai, Tamil Nadu (2007) and the religious centers in Rishikesh, Haridwar, Tiruchirappalli and Tiruvannamalai (2012) for an international film project (Documentary: “Henri le Saux - A Benedictine Monk and his Hindu Belonging”, Munich). 

Our interest in filming was mainly about Catholic monks and Protestant missionaries from the West who had established compounds to convert Hindus to Christianity in order to deliver supposedly “pagan” Hindu “idol worshippers” from their obsessions.

In recent times, many of these religious centers basically provided devotional thought patterns and wellness. In silence retreats - in yoga and meditation classes – they lead spiritual practitioners to a deeper understanding of the universal spirituality of Hinduism and Christian pluralism.

The ashram of Poovelingam Solomon is different. The vision to establish a spiritual center had grown out of his dissertation about Contextualization in India (Adventist Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan, USA), in 1993. 

I was very impressed by the amazing history of the private ashram, which had begun as a unique and independent spiritual center. Special programs were implemented to uplift the oppressed, educate poor students and improve the health of the people in the villages. Its main purpose has changed over the years dramatically, from educating the Christian evangelists on contextualization to preparing members of all world religions to engage in developing peace and harmony in the world.