My ancestors were Kshatriyas and belonged to the Cavalry in the Kingdom of Chatrapati Shivaji of Maharashtra fame. When that kingdom deteriorated, the British disbanded the armies of the Maharashtra Kingdom and drove the soldiers out of Maharashtra. Those Kshatriyas settled in different parts of our country. One branch settled in Andhra Pradesh about 250 years ago. My ancestors are from that branch.

The late Sri. Muktyala Venkateswara Rao and the late Smt. M. Jaggamma are my parents. My elder brother, Sri. M. Veera Raju , was born in August 1930. He graduated in civil engineering in the year 1950. He worked as Chief Engineer in the Irrigation Department of the Government of Andhra Pradesh and also as Chief Technical Examiner to the Government of Andhra Pradesh. He retired from service in 1988 and settled in Kakinada, East Godavari District of Andhra Pradesh. I was born as the second son to my parents, in November 1936. I graduated in electrical engineering in the year 1958. I have a younger sister who was born in June 1940. Her husband is a graduate in medicine, worked as Deputy Civil Surgeon in the Government of Andhra Pradesh, retired and settled in Kakinada.

My father and mother were very orthodox Hindus. While studying in the PR. College in Kakinada, while in the Intermediate Class, my father came under the influence of Brahma Samaj. Slowly his faith in Hinduism became weakened. The late Sri. N. Daniel was a classmate of my father. This gentleman discussed and explained Jesus Christ to my father. My mother’s father had a younger brother who was a learned person but an atheist. He made my father study books written by famous atheists like Ingersoll and others. Mr. Daniel gave books written by Bible scholars replying to the books written by Ingersoll and other atheists. My father was utterly confused by all this and decided to make his own comparative study of religions and find the truth. He studied Hindu scriptures , Quran (English Translation) and the Bible. He spent more than 25 years in his quest for truth and finally found that the answer is Jesus Christ only.

As per the customs in our families those days, a girl child is not permitted to go to school after attaining the age of 10 years. From that age onwards, the girl child has to be confined to the four walls of her house only. She cannot even go onto the verandah of the house! Immediately after attaining that age, marriage of the girl child had to be completed. Such being the custom, my mother could study up to Class V only. From then on she was grilled in Hindu religious studies and poojas, fasting and praying and other rites. The older ladies in the home and Brahmin purohits were in charge of teaching the poojas and other rites to my mother and her two elder sisters. Thus, my mother became a very staunch and orthodox Hindu. We being from the Kshatriya Caste, the second highest one after Brahmins, my mother practiced untouchability and other customs. When my mother was about 12 years my grandfather performed her marriage. My father was still in quest of truth when his marriage took place.

Naturally, my mother brought us up under those strict rules. My mother had special affection for me and I too loved my mother very much. So her influence was great on me.

Having found Christ, my father taught my mother about Jesus Christ and explained to her that He is the “Prajapathirdevebhyam Athmanam Yagnam Kruthwa Prayaschittaha” mentioned in Vedas. He told her that the prayer of our Sages Asathoma Sadgamaya; Thamasoma Jyotirgamaya; Mruthyorma Anmruthamgamaya was answered by Jesus Christ in definite terms: “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; No man cometh to the Father but by Me” and “I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on Me should not abide in darkness.”  My mother was confused those days because her husband was telling her about the God of the untouchables! Though she was convinced after some time she was concerned about us children. So my mother used to send me to temples and Hindu festivals along with her eldest sister. Those trips imbibed in me the caste system, etc.

After years of efforts of my father and other converts to Christianity from Brahmins and others, slowly my mother accepted Jesus Christ as her personal Saviour. My parents took quite some time in deciding whether we three children also were to be converted to Christianity along with them. They were sure of excommunication by our relatives. Marriages of the children was a great concern my parents were seized of. Finally, they decided to convert us, the three children also along with them, whatever be the consequences.

My father, mother, my elder brother (aged about 13 years then), myself (about 7 years then) and my younger sister (aged about 3 years then) converted to Christianity on the 27^Th of February 1944.

My mother, who was a staunch Hindu became a staunch Christian after conversion. She tried to bring us up, her children, to be good Christians. She taught us that idol worship is not acceptable to God and that God wants us to worship with our soul because God is a Spirit.  She made us read the Bible and pray at home, attend church and prayer meetings conducted by Christian preachers. But, due to the influence of students in the school, I was not able to decide whether I have to follow in the footsteps of my parents – specially my mother who loved me very much and whom I loved as much – or to follow the other relatives (who are all Hindus even today).

During the year 1946, my mother was diagnosed to be suffering with a fibroid tumor in her womb. My maternal uncle’s son (who married my sister later) was studying medicine in the King George Hospital and Medical College at Visakhapatnam. He got my mother examined by Dr. (Mrs.) Lazarus, a very well noted gynecologist in the King George Hospital and Professor of Gynecology. She told my brother-in-law that there was no hope for my mother because all efforts of Dr. Lazarus to treat the anemic condition of my mother did not bear any fruit. So Dr. Lazarus opined that my mother might live for about 6 months only, at best. Fervent prayers of my parents and several Christian friends and saints were answered by God and my mother lived till February 1983—a full 37 years more than the estimated life span according to a noted Doctor. It was a miracle. This miracle had a profound impression on me that Jesus Christ is a prayer hearing and answering God.  But, my heart was full of sin and sinful thoughts. I was getting influenced by some students and was on the path of waywardness. At home I was reading the Bible and praying to please my parents only. Once in the school I was a different fellow. My heart was hard as a stone and full of hypocrisy.

Between the years 1950 – 1954 I was a Boy Scout. Our schools used to send us, the Scouts, to temples to assist and regulate the pilgrims at the bathing ghats. These temples are situated either on the banks of irrigation canals or the temples have small tanks inside the temple complex. Pilgrims bathe and then enter the temples to offer prayers to the deities. While on duty at the bathing ghats I was looking at the water, which was becoming extremely turbid due to several thousands of pilgrims bathing. Similarly, water in the temple tanks is very stale because there is no way of emptying the tanks and cleaning them. The conditions there raised questions in my mind—water in the canals and temple tanks is not clean and hence cannot clean the body. Then how can that water cleanse our souls?

My father worked in Ramachandrapuram and Peddapuram in the East Godavari District of Andhra Pradesh during the years 1947 to 1951. While I was studying in the High Schools there, some of my classmates were coming to school from nearby villages. During a few festivals they invited me to their houses to spend a day with them. During those visits I saw cocks, he-goats and rams being sacrificed to the village deities. I could not appreciate or understand the significance of animal sacrifices and the rituals. During the years 1951 and 1952, animal sacrifices and pilgrims bathing in stale water were bothering me too much. I requested my father to explain the rituals, etc. My father explained by quoting from Vedas and the Bible:*