Jagdish Saminaden

It was on a Friday evening in March 1955 in Rose Hill, Mauritius, at the “ Mauritius Dramatic Club”, of which I was a member, that it all started. Rose Hill is a town close to Quatre Bornes where I was born. A speaker, Dr Leland Jensen, had been invited to give a talk on the “World Brotherhood”. He was an American Bahá’í pioneer. He spoke inspiringly and he showed me that civilisation had progressed in stages due to the impetus given by a number of special people like Krishna, Buddha, Christ and Muhammad. Their messages from God had inspired their followers to make creative efforts towards building a cohesive community with common ideals for the benefit of mankind. It was the first time in Mauritius that the name of Christ was named on an equal footing as that of Krishna and Buddha. Christ had always been put on a pedestal above all the rest of the Messengers of God. Dr Jensen said that the time had come for a world civilisation and we needed a special person to lead us to that world civilization. He never once said during his talk who could perform such a task, but he invited us to come to his home in Belle Rose where he said he would elaborate on this theme. I was thrilled with this new concept.

A week later, I went to his house with friends from the club and we listened with profound interest at his explanations about Bahá’u’lláh, the founder of a new Faith. This came as a great surprise as we had never heard this name before. There were some Christians in the audience including a clergyman. When Dr Jensen quoted from the Bible regarding the prophecies of the return of Christ, the clergyman tried to argue with him but he could not explain or refute the Bible prophecies relating to the second coming of Christ which the Bahá’í Faith advanced.

I was brought up in a Hindu family but not an orthodox one and I myself had no real belief. I was wary of religion. Mauritius was multiracial, multicultural and multi religious. Although communities usually lived peacefully together, they lived in separate compartments with their own traditional beliefs. The Bahá’í message I had just heard from Leland Jensen, the American pioneer, seemed to answer my own personal needs. I was enthused more than I can describe and a few weeks later I declared my faith in Bahá’u’lláh. In fact, the very moment I heard of the message of universal brotherhood I had made up my mind that this was for me. It was around February 1955 when I joined the Bahá’í Faith and I instantly stopped taking alcoholic drinks which had been a common social drink with friends up to then. For my good fortune my immediate friends had also become Bahá’ís.

At Dr Jensen’s place I met Miss Otillie Rhein, another pioneer from the United States.

I attended firesides and deepening classes at the pioneer’s home. Soon I was serving on the Local Spiritual Assembly and on the Area Teaching Committee. My life had changed dramatically. We went regularly teaching to nearby towns and villages in an old car whose registration number 1130 I remember clearly. I remember that number clearly because the car was used for innumerable teaching trips. It is a pity that Leland and Opal, his wife, who was a Knight of Bahá’u’lláh, became Covenant Breakers in 1959 for their support of Mason Remey’s claim to be the next Guardian.

source: http://bahaihistoryuk.wordpress.com/2011/12/09/jagdish-saminaden/ (accessed july 1, 2012)