To all questers of truth, to each traveler upon the increasingly arduous journey of learning, and to each fellow spirit drawn to a common vocation—

I do not provide these notes of reflection as a duty, nor as a praxis of office; rather, I share them as one who has long listened—listened to the beautiful symphony that is South Asia: a fragile and defiant symphony, bright in its paradoxes and possessing a continual sense of incompletion that references not deficiency, but not yet!

Throughout my life, I have chosen to remain—willfully—without a title or designation. I remain just an Emeritus Patron of the Sundar Singh Institute of South Asian Studies. I still identify, less with a title than as a pilgrim. I remain a traveler, a sojourner, formed by and being continually formed by the irrepressible vitality and spiritual audacity of this part of the world.

The Institute was never to be an escape from the weight of the world. The Institute was meant to be an encounter—an encounter of thought, an encounter of thinking in, rather than of, action; the life of the mind that dwells not in abstraction but dwells in the depths of common struggle. In an age devoted to velocity, we chose deliberation. In a culture captivated by easy answers, we chose to think through difficult and uncomfortable questions. South Asia does not allow you to forget it. It insists the presence of its geographies, its histories, its spoken and unspoken languages, the echoes of legacies that do not end at borders and call on us to respond anew. It asks for us not to just observe passively, but to engage morally. It will not let us settle for a singular narrative and it asks us to wrestle—with intention and ethics—the plurality of truths that exist here.

This is the foundation of the Institute. We affirm that humility is the condition of all authentic knowledge; that love without learning is empty; that ideas born of ethical imagination, must aspire to do more than inform policy; they must ideally transform people. To transform not just minds—but hearts.

It is not citations or awards that I most enjoy, it is changing lives—changing the lives of those who have long been unseen, long unheard, still maintaining a dignity. Our Scholars are not just “academic”, they are dreamers, advocates, and builders. Their scholarship lives in the space where truth cannot be silenced.

We have walked with the knowing and knowing: with elders from the village, and global actors. Not so we could boast, or use the experience for hashtags. But, because the issues we face: climate justice, public health, cultural memory, democratic renewal, are not topics we debate, they’re not a fad, they’re a sacred duty. Their labours of love.

So, as Patron Emeritus, I do not just look backward with gratitude. I look forward—with expectation and determination and reverent hope. The legacy of Sadhu Sundar Singh is not a statue to admire; it is a call to action. It calls us to move with new energy into the future, with love as our South Asian compass, and integrity as our never-fading star.

To the scholars that step through our doors, to the donors and supporters that sustain our work from afar, and to the many friends that stand with this Institute—I say: your work is not in vain. Your research has impact. Your hope in the continuing promise of humanity matters.

May the Institute always be a home for hard truths, a temple of radical compassion, and a light for all who know the story of South Asia is not finished. It continues—written in weary hands, but carried with open arms.

Dr Maharaj Devendra Shankara
Patron Emeritus
Sundar Singh Institute of South Asian Studies