From Hinduism to Christianity along the road of tragedy
Deepak Mahtani had everything he ever dreamed of in life: money, a prosperous company, class, and business degrees from Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan, and American College, Switzerland. He followed his family’s tradition of serving the eastern gods and was sure that he was living life to the fullest.
Born into a Sindhi Indian family, Mahtani grew up learning the Hindu scriptures, attending their services and participating in the rituals that accompany the faith. Her father was a businessman from Pakistan who fled to India due to tribal persecution. She settled in Bombay with a few rupees and started a business. Not long after, she boarded a freighter and moved 6,000 miles to Indonesia.
She gave birth to her son Deepak and two other brothers in Hong Kong, and moved to Japan four years later. She still practiced her Hindu religion and her father always instilled in her children’s heads that “money and success is all you need to be happy in life”.
He had no idea that hell was just around the corner until an unexpected tragedy struck and changed his life forever. His sister came to visit him in Geneva for two weeks. He was in a car accident and died instantly. It was a very traumatic experience that left him in severe depression for six months. He lost interest in his business, started smoking, drinking heavily and was suicidal until he met a fellow Sindhi Indian in Geneva who was a Christian. This new friend tried to introduce the Christian God to him, but Mathani was adamant. His friend encouraged him not to reject the Christian God, but to focus on the man Jesus and his word. Bathani got a Bible and began to read the words of Jesus in red and gradually began to believe in the God of the Bible.
At the age of 12, Mahtani lost her mother to kidney disease. Although he was the baby of the family, he was determined to succeed at all costs. Upon graduating from school, he started an electronics distribution company that grew from zero to $4 million in four years. His wealth came with a luxurious lifestyle: first-class travel, five-star hotels, nice clothes, and money to do whatever he wanted. He was fluent in English, French, Spanish, Japanese and two Indian languages. His busy schedule didn’t accommodate anything he had to do with God; he was brutally aggressive to get what he wanted to the point of pushing people out of the way without flinching. For Mahtani back then, what could be sweeter than the “heaven” he was experiencing on earth?
He had no idea that hell was just around the corner until an unexpected tragedy struck and changed his life forever. His sister came to visit him in Geneva for two weeks, then got into a car accident and died instantly. The trauma of his death left him in severe depression for six months. He lost interest in his business, started smoking, drinking heavily and was suicidal until he met a fellow Sindhi Indian in Geneva who was a Christian. This new friend tried to introduce him to the Christian God of his, but Mahtani was adamant. His friend encouraged him not to reject the Christian God but to focus on the man Jesus and his Word. Mahtani got a Bible and began to read the words of Jesus in red and gradually began to believe in the God of the Bible.
After unsuccessfully praying to other gods for a good night’s sleep, the God of the Bible granted his request. That was how he gave his life to Christ. Today, he shares the Gospel throughout the world, especially with Hindus and Sikhs and business people. He is active in the leadership of his local church and is married to Celia. They have two adult sons: Arun and Sanjay.
When he first converted to Christianity, his family members were unhappy and extremely skeptical. Over time they saw the positive impact of his new faith. Her act of loving and accepting his family despite his differences in beliefs caused her older sister and his niece to convert to Christianity.
Today, Mahtani is a management training consultant specializing in understanding culture and working with different cultures, especially those of India, Japan and China. She has advised and trained hundreds of senior managers involved in Indian business outsourcing and remote management of teams around the world. Most of her clients are FTSE100 and Fortune 500 companies, and she sits on several boards.
As well as his business interests, he is active in a number of charities both in the UK and South Asia that raise funds for health, development and education in developing countries. He was included in the Who’s Who International of Professionals (2001). He recently participated in the writing of a book called Sindhi Journeys of Faith: 20 stories of Sindhis from around the world who have come to know Christ. All 2,000 copies of the book have been distributed and another reprint is being planned.
“After 20 years of being a follower of Jesus Christ, He has answered my prayers,” says Mahtani, summarizing his Christian experience. “Today, I am more successful than ever, not because of the money but because of the people I met through my faith while traveling the world.”
His message to the world is: “God is a God of love, and Jesus is his means of proving it to each of his children. He wants a relationship with each of us so badly. Don’t think of it as a religion.” but more like a love story. Also don’t believe and live the lies that the evil one and the people he uses to discourage us have told about you.
Let us lift Deepak Mahtani in prayer, may the Lord continue to empower him to reach others with the Good News, in the name of Jesus. Pray that his efforts will not be in vain and his unlimited favor will be his portion at all times, in the name of Jesus.
