Light Through an Eastern Window

By Bishop K. C. Pillai

First published in 1963, this book by Bishop K. C. Pillai was written on the urging of many of his listeners to put his teachings into book form, “so that more Christians may be encouraged to trust in the Word of God, and believe more deeply through understanding.” He explains in his Introduction that he was unable to put all of his teachings into one book at this time due to time constraints, but with this volume intends to “touch upon some of the portions of the Bible which my listeners tell me have been the most interesting and inspiring.”

A wonderful book for any reader who seeks to know and understand the Word of God…

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hauraki Publishing
• Release date: Nov 11, 2016
• ISBN: 9781787202764

Bishop K. C. Pillai

K. C. (Karnam Chengalvaraya) Pillai, DD (1900 - February 20, 1970) was a Bishop-at-large of the Indian Orthodox Church, Antiochean Succession, Chennai (Madras), India. He spent the last twenty years of his life in the United States of America on a special mission to acquaint Christians with the orientalisms of the Bible. He also wrote books and worked with western Christians to help clarify what he believed were difficult Scriptural passages through an understanding of the eastern manners and customs. During his time in the United States, he became associated with Victor Paul Wierwille, the founding president of The Way International and according to the book Born Again to Serve by the American Christian Press, Pillai and Wierwille worked through every orientalism in the Bible from Genesis through Revelation over a six-week period in 1953. His books include Light Through an Eastern Window (1963) and Orientalisms of the Bible - Volumes 1 & 2 (1969). He died in Birmingham, Alabama in 1970.

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Text originally published in 1963 under the same title.

© Pickle Partners Publishing 2016, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electrical, mechanical or otherwise without the written permission of the copyright holder.

Publisher’s Note

Although in most cases we have retained the Author’s original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern reader’s benefit.

We have also made every effort to include all maps and illustrations of the original edition the limitations of formatting do not allow of including larger maps, we will upload as many of these maps as possible.

LIGHT THROUGH AN EASTERN WINDOW

BY

BISHOP K. C. PILLAI

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS 3

DEDICATION 4

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 5

INTRODUCTION 6

CHAPTER 1—Marriage Customs 7

CHAPTER 2 — The Covenant of Salt 15

CHAPTER 3 — Childbirth 21

CHAPTER 4 — Rearing of Children 24

CHAPTER 5 — Death and Burials 28

CHAPTER 6 — Laws and Justice 31

CHAPTER 7 — The Woman at The Well 37

CHAPTER 8 — Plants and Trees 41

CHAPTER 9 — Agriculture and Herding 44

CHAPTER 10—Some Popular Idioms 46

CHAPTER 11 — Sacrifices 48

CHAPTER 12 — The Canopy 51

REQUEST FROM THE PUBLISHER 53

DEDICATION

Lovingly Dedicated to

My Late Beloved Wife

Swornambal

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

My grateful thanks are due to Mrs. Jeanie

Strand of Xenia, Ohio for assisting me in the preparation and editing of the manuscript of this book.

K.C.P.

INTRODUCTION

Max Müller, in his book, What Can India Teach Us, expresses this thought:

...and in that study of the history of the human mind, in that study of ourselves, of our true selves, India occupies a place second to no other country. Whatever sphere of the human mind you may select for your special study, whether it be language, or religion, or mythology, or philosophy, whether it be laws or customs, primitive art or primitive science, every-where, you have to go to India, whether you like it or not because some of the most valuable and most instructive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India, and in India only.

Sir Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, President of India, writes in his Eastern Religions and Western Thought:

Any interpretation of the Jewish religion which ignores the total environment in which it grew up would be dangerously narrow. Two centuries before the Christian era Buddhism closed in on Palestine. The Essenes, the Mandeans, and the Nazarene sects are filled with its spirit.

As a native of India, born into a Hindu home, I was reared and educated in the rich Eastern tradition to which Max Müller makes reference. Therefore, the Indian Orthodox Church assigned me to the ministry of teaching these Orientalisms throughout the Western world. As far as I know, I am the only Hindu convert to Christianity who is engaged in this kind of teaching.

For the past twenty-five years, I have carried out this work under the title, Light Through an Eastern Window; it has taken me on the continent of Europe, in the British Isles, and currently in the United States and Canada. It has taken me into churches of nearly every major and minor denomination, as well as numerous colleges and seminaries, interpreting parts of the Bible in the light of Eastern thought and ways of life; clarifying difficult scriptural passages and pointing up their spiritual applications.

Many of my listeners have urged me to write these teachings into a book so that more Christians may be encouraged to trust in the Word of God, and believe more deeply through understanding. However, I cannot put all of these teachings into one book. We would have to start at the first verse of the first Chapter of Genesis and go through every book of the Bible until we reached the last verse of Revelation, to give the subject the consideration it deserves. Unfortunately, time does not permit the undertaking of that sort of project at this time.

In the present volume, therefore, I will touch upon some of the portions of the Bible which my listeners tell me have been the most interesting and inspiring, and, if God wills, other books will follow at a later date.

May God’s blessing be upon the reader who comes to this book seeking to know and understand the Word of God; may he be enlightened and abundantly blessed.

BISHOP K. C. PILLAI, D.D.

LIGHT THROUGH AN EASTERN WINDOW

CHAPTER 1—Marriage Customs

AMERICANS and Europeans are shocked to learn that in many parts of the East, marriages are still being arranged by parents, just as they have been for centuries past. But in spite of the seeming lack of freedom of choice involved in the system, there is a notable lack of divorce, and the children resulting from these unions do not become juvenile delinquents. Let us examine some of these customs as revealed in the Holy Scriptures, for the Bible abounds with parables and figures of speech relating to them.

First, there is the matter of selecting the bride. Careful parents give much thought to this. They avoid selecting a girl such as described in Isaiah 3:16: "Moreover the Lord saith, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go and making a tinkling with their feet...."

The stretched forth neck is a sign of pride and arrogance which the parents watch for. You may remember that Paul instructed the women of the early church to "adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness (I Timothy 2:9). I do not like that word shamefacedness which the King James translators used in this verse. A better word might be humility"; this is a quality parents look for in a prospective bride for their son.

The tinkling of the feet refers to the many jewels which Oriental women wear about their ankles. The modest girl will walk carefully so that these jewels will not jingle as she walks; but the haughty ones will make a noise with them.

Another factor which is considered is whether the prospective bride had wrinkles upon her brow. Oriental women of whatever age they may be, pride themselves on their calm, composed demeanors, since they believe that a worried-looking face betrays a lack of faith in God. This makes more significant Paul’s remark, "that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle,