“EVERLASTING GOOD NEWS” ASSEMBLY AT DELHI

Most assuredly, the “Everlasting Good News” Assembly of Jehovah’s Witnesses, which moved around the world in 1963, was a contributing factor in the advancement of Jehovah’s emerging organization in India! There were 583 assembly delegates rounding the world for this international assembly.

Reporting on the New Delhi juncture of the around-the-world assembly, Edwin Skinner writes: “Permission had been obtained for a group of brothers and sisters to enter the customs enclosure at the airport to assist the visitors and guide them through the health, immigration and customs formalities. Additionally, the Indian sisters, clad in their graceful and colorful saris or the salwa-kamis dress of northern India, greeted every delegate with a garland of flowers and the traditional Indian salutation Namaste (‘I salute you’). . . . Each flight during the four days of arrivals was greeted in the same manner, whether day or night.

“Delegates were present from twenty-seven different countries. One small group came by road from Kabul, Afghanistan, across the rugged mountains of the Khyber Pass, through Pakistan and on into India. . . . A group of 110 came from Ceylon, crossing by boat what is known as ‘Adam’s Bridge’ separating the island from India’s mainland, and then traveling by rail for 1,432 miles [2,304 kilometers] one way to Delhi. A 1,400-mile-rail journey in India, with third-class accommodations, without sleeping facilities or air conditioning, and with primitive toilets, is something to experience for it to be properly appreciated. But the brothers were happy.

“Brothers living in south India also formed a large party and made the similar long rail journey of well over 1,000 miles to Delhi. To them it was like a trip to a foreign land. For the first time in their lives, they heard people speaking a different language, saw people wearing different clothing, living in different types of houses, and in country quite different from their own native Kerala or Madras. For many, it meant spending their very meager savings in order to meet with their brothers from other lands.”

Describing the convention site, Brother Skinner wrote: “The assembly was held in the impressive and beautiful Vigyan Bhavan (House of Science), India’s prestige hall. This fine building contains a luxurious auditorium accommodating 1,069 persons.

“Once inside the auditorium, which is carpeted throughout and air-conditioned, the delegates settled into the comfortable seats. Each chair had its own writing table and was equipped with earphones, with selector switch and volume control, by which one could switch into any one of four language translations in addition to the speech from the platform. Almost half the auditorium was exclusively used by the Indian delegates listening to the discourses in Kanarese, Malayalam, Tamil and Urdu/​Hindi. The Marathi-speaking brothers were also cared for, either by direct translation from the platform or in a separate room.”

The 583 around-the-world visitors were housed in the fine government-owned 320-room Ashoka Hotel. For five days the dining room at mealtimes was predominantly occupied by Jehovah’s Witnesses, all wearing convention lapel badges. They chatted so warmly that some of the hotel staff found themselves talking about the “brothers sitting at this table,” or saying, “that brother over there wants to speak to you.”

Someone belonging to a sect of Christendom asked the hotel manager how he was faring with all these “Jehovah people.” The manager replied: “They are the best disciplined people we ever had in the hotel. We would be happy to take a thousand of them if we had the room.” He added, “We sometimes have more trouble with fifty people than with this whole group of 583.”

But, what about the convention program? It was spiritually beneficial, indeed. For instance, speaking on the subject “Faithful Women in the New World Society,” F. E. Skinner pointed out that in India there were many faithful, capable and mature Christian women. But Skinner said that too many women were burdened down like slaves in the home and had very little time or encouragement to study. He appealed to husbands to care for their wives in the same way that Christ cares for his wifely congregation.​—Eph. 5:21-33.

The big day of the assembly in Delhi was Thursday, August 8, when the program featured the reading of the Resolution, which was adopted enthusiastically by the 901 delegates present. Among the stirring discourses was the public talk by Brother Knorr on “When God Is King over All the Earth.” For it the attendance was the largest that Jehovah’s Witnesses had ever had in India​—1,296, including about 350 strangers, despite a very wet evening.

Brother F. W. Franz gave the discourse “Of Which God Are You a Witness?” This talk on Isaiah, chapters 43 and 44, was the turning point for one Hindu in the audience who had associated with Jehovah’s Witnesses for some years, but never made a dedication to God. When Franz explained how the pagan worshiper cuts down a tree, using half of it to carve for himself a god before which to prostrate himself and the other half to make a fire to warm himself and bake his bread, this Hindu saw the nonsense of it all. That very evening he expressed his dedication to Jehovah and was baptized the next day.

Among the forty-four baptismal candidates at this assembly was Annabelle Lartius, from Allahabad, who had observed her own brother, George, pursue a steadfast course in the face of parental opposition. She had been forbidden to go out in field service. In India it is rare for a woman to assert her right to obey God rather than men, but Miss Lartius had done what field service she could. (Acts 5:29) With difficulty she got to the assembly and, having made a dedication, she underwent baptism.

NEW EXPERIENCES IN FIELD SERVICE

The thing most enjoyed by the around-the-world travelers was the field service. Most of the visiting brothers were able to witness several times in English.

One American brother of Jewish descent engaged in Bible discussion with a Hindu gentleman, who interrupted, saying: “But this message is for the Western people more than for us. We are a peace-loving nation and believe in equality. It is you people who segregate black men from white. Why should I read your holy book?” The brother tactfully pointed out that he was not calling as a representative of America, or any so-called Christian country, but of a group of people who follow Bible principles. He showed that the Bible teaches that God is not partial, but that in every nation the man who works righteousness is acceptable to him. (Acts 10:34, 35) Just because the so-called Christian nations did not follow these good principles, he showed, that did not make the Bible valueless. Rather, it contained wisdom for people of every nation. The Hindu gentleman appreciated this argument and gladly accepted some literature, especially when he learned that the brother himself knew what discrimination meant, being of Jewish descent.

EYE-OPENING TOURS

The visitors also had some new experiences as they went on tours that had been arranged. Tramping now in the pouring rain, the visitors experienced something of the Indian monsoon weather. But their spirits were high and they enjoyed it all. Then, with dripping umbrellas, wet raincoats, and water-soaked shoes, they piled into their buses for a ride through the real Indian bazaar streets. Here they saw beggars deformed from youth, crawling on hands and stumps of legs, bicycle rickshaws, bullock carts, cycles, pedestrians and cars, along with the ever-present cows​—all fighting for space on the congested, narrow street. Little smoke-filled tea shops and eating houses were dotted about everywhere, with their charcoal fires at which men, naked to the waist, prepare with their bare hands the tasty chappaties and other delicacies so dear to the Indian palate.

One of the buffaloes, which supply the milk for the people of India, came meandering down the street like a queen. At the corner of a street a man was squatting in front of a fire hydrant calmly enjoying a bath. Then, in the midst of it all, along came a Muslim funeral, only men, and they took turns carrying the body, which lay on an open stretcher. Muslims bury their dead. Hindus always cremate them on an open funeral pyre.

There was a cow eating some vegetables set out on the sidewalk for the housewives to buy. One thing that caused no little amazement to the foreign delegates was the story about the ‘sacred cow.’ Temple servants collect cow’s urine for use in their ritual, and even put drops of it into their ‘holy water’ to drink. Not only Hindus do this, but Parsees also.

The “Everlasting Good News” Assembly was a milestone in the forward march of the Kingdom work in India. Brothers who came to New Delhi from Iran and Afghanistan felt especially blessed, as they do not have sufficient numbers to enjoy assemblies in their own countries. It was also a unique experience for the Indian brothers to meet fellow servants from other lands and work with them. What a delightful evidence of the unity existing in the New Order society, where nationalistic barriers do not exist!

In 1968 at a district assembly at Bangalore, in the Raja Venkatarama Hall, some local Hindu fanatics attempted to ruin the gathering. On Saturday night they smeared cow dung over the banner advertising the public talk and on Sunday over the entrance doors and walls. The brothers had this cleaned up before the morning session started, and so this went unnoticed by the brothers in general. As a result of good newspaper publicity, the state government took an interest in the assembly. They assigned police inspector Dennis to attend all sessions and prepare a full report to the government on what had transpired at the assembly.

Inspector Dennis informed Brother Hongal, the assembly overseer, that the main things he had to report were whether any conversions took place at the assembly, whether any particular community or religion had been criticized and whether politics had been discussed. On the final day, Hongal asked the inspector what opinion he had formed. Dennis replied that he had been impressed by the things that he had seen and heard, the smooth running of all the departments and the willing cooperation of the brothers.

Then, in a disarming manner, Brother Hongal asked Dennis what kind of report he intended making. The inspector answered: “I am in a quandary about that. The report is to be sent to the minister of the ruling party, so that if any opposition members raise the subject of the assembly of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the State Assembly, the minister may be able to give them specific information regarding the assembly. However, if I put in my report that all the speakers kept saying, ‘Turn to Revelation, or Mark, or Psalms,’ neither the minister nor the opposition members will be able to fathom what the report is all about. So, I will keep my report simple and brief and merely state that nothing objectionable was indulged in.”

The outstanding feature of the entire series of assemblies during 1968 was the combined attendance of 3,132 at four gatherings, with 122 taking the step of baptism. This is noteworthy, in comparison with the total number of Witnesses then in India​—2,337. It thus revealed a realistic potential for the organization to continue growing in India.

The assemblies from 1964 to 1968 trained the Indian brothers in efficient organizational procedures. And it was gratifying to note that at the 1968 Bangalore assembly, the entire administration was under the direction of Indian brothers, with Victor Hongal serving as the assembly overseer and Prabhakar Soans as assembly chairman. Moreover, for some years, in Kerala the assemblies were operated entirely by our Indian brothers. For a certainty, a strong, unified Christian organization was making itself evident in India.