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APPU RAMAN
1921—1982
Appu Raman was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on 21 December 1921 and came to Malaya in 1928. It has been said of him that he seemed to have been born with a burning desire to serve humanity. His association with the Ministry of Welfare Services began in
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1946 and he continued his dedicated services to the poor and needy through this Department until his retirement in 1976, during which time he held many important posts and initiated a number of societies including the Self—Reliant Society, the Association for the Physically Handicapped, the Association for the Mentally Retarded and a host of others. His Bahá’í life began in 1962. He accepted the Faith through Mrs. Theresa Chee. On that auspicious occasion, when asked what his life ambition was, not having anything in particular to say, he pointed to a picture of the Bahá’í Temple in Wilmette and said, ‘Perhaps all I want is to visit that Tefnple!’ He was granted the bounty of visiting the Mother Temple of the West three times and of visiting the Holy Places in Iran, as well. In 1965 he was elected a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of Malaysia and continued to serve on that body until 1972 in which year he was elected chairman. In the early years of the Faith in Malaysia he was instrumental in establishing the national Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds. In his teaching work he was recognized as a scholar of Hinduism and was popular among the Tamil believers because of his eloquence and his depth of knowledge of both their
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language and culture. In his final years he became actively involved in the Ulu Langat Local Spiritual Assembly and the project assigned to it by the National Spiritual Assembly, that of developing the Balakong Summer School land.
In late December 1981 Mr. Raman started off on a four-month teaching trip which was to take him to Thailand, Burma, Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka but he ascended to the Abhá Kingdom on 5 January 1982 at Rangoon, Burma. His sudden death came as a shock to the Malaysian community and his loss was felt equally keenly by the believers in Burma who had grown close to his radiant personality. More than five hundred friends from all parts of Burma gathered at the funeral. The National Spiritual Assembly of Burma reported that the Faith had not been so well proclaimed in that land since the days of the Hand of the Cause of God Mustafé Rfimi. As the two rows of Burmese friends, with tears in their eyes, carried Mr. Raman’s body from the hearse to the grave, they realized that through him a permanent bond had been established between the communities of the Greatest Name in Burma and Malaysia. The energy he devoted to the Faith .and his obedience to its principles, laws and ordinances are but small examples of the love he had for Bahá’u’lláh. May the Blessed Beauty accept his loyal services at His Holy Threshold. Mr. Raman leaves behind his wife, Mrs. Thanapakian Raman, and five children.
On 8 January 1982 the Universal House of Justice cabled the National Spiritual Assembly of Burma expressing the hope that the example of this DEVOTED SERVANT would inspire the beloved fn'ends in that country to INTENSIFY THEIR RESOLVE in service to the Faith. The friends in Malaysia received the following cable:
GRIEVED PASSING DEVOTED SERVANT BAHAULLAH APPU RAMAN IN BURMA. HIS SACRIFICE FIELD SERVICE BAHAULLAH SHEDS LUSTRE YOUR COMMUNITY WHICH MAY WELL BE PROUD SPIRITUAL VICTORIES ACHIEVED BY ITS NUMEROUS DISTINGUISHED MEMBERS MANY FIELDS BAHAI SERVICE. ASSURE RELATIVES FRIENDS ARDENT PRAYERS PROGRESS HIS SOUL.
THE Bahá’í’ WORLD
