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Chapter I INTRODUCTION “You are the God”, is an aphorism, it perhaps makes one bewilder, and creates a sort of disbelief; though acceptable academically – has little to do with immediate reality. Yet this is the basic belief of many religions and seers that constantly persuading the human beings through verses and speeches. Historically in the long queue of so called religious ministers, propagandists, and practitioners; who proclaimed the divinity manifested in man – Sri Sathya Sai Baba is the latest and modern in the recent past. At the age of 14, he had announced that he was Sai Baba of Shirdi – the mystic of the past century in his previous incarnation. He has given many proofs to satisfy his stand and exhibited some super natural powers to the villagers, to which his father himself was skeptical about. In 1940, the boy suddenly announced that, he has come to ward off the troubles of people, and going to serve the society. He left his home and moved on to a nearby garden; from there his spiritual mission began. His relentless work for the welfare of humanity lasted till his end of life. He started an organization in 1968, which has now more than a million members all over the world. Sri Sathya Sai Baba has attained the stature of a legend in his life-time. His works will continue to be remembered forever. Sri Sathya Sai Baba (1926-2011), basically a Hindu renunciate, is a man of miracles and mysterious deeds. He has established no particular path of faith 2 or movement but he has brought together humanity under the principles of the Brotherhood of Man and the Fatherhood of God. He exhorted every Hindu to be a better Hindu, a Muslim a better Muslim and a Christian a better Christian. The symbol of his organization has representations from major religions. He held the ideal of Love all; Serve all as a common theme. Sri Sathya Sai Baba had a Spiritual Mission to enlighten the world society by making deep understanding with their religious tenets and insight. He made series of discourses and writings throughout his career as a preacher of spiritual values. He conveyed the greatest spiritual truths in easy and practical terms. This present research focuses on Sri Sathya Sai Baba’s speeches and writings in a critical view point on the basis of its universal appeal especially to human values. I. Biographical Account i) Earlier life of Sri Sathya Sai Baba Sri Sathya Sai Baba was born on the 23 November 1926 in Puttaparthi as Sathyanarayana Raju, to Pedda Venkappa Raju and Easwaramma, as their fourth child. He was born in the clan of the “Ratnakara Rajus”, who were well-known for preserving classical traditions through theatre and drama. Sathya, as he was called, was a precocious and charming little boy. He played and frolicked with his friends on the banks of Chitravati river and helped at home with household chores like fetching water and cooking vegetarian food for his grandfather. He attended school in the nearby town of Bukkapatnam due to unavailability of such facilities in his village and even became a Boy Scout leader. Besides, he took active part in the historical and epic dramas enacted by his artistic family, 3 composing ditties on social and moral issues and making the village lads sing them aloud. On May 23, 1940 at the of age 14, he suddenly threw away his school books and announced to his family and friends that he was Sai Baba of Shirdi; “his previous incarnation.” No one at Puttaparthi in rural Andhra Pradesh, the birthplace of Sathyanarayana Raju, had ever heard about the saint Sri Sai Baba of Shirdi. This first and former Sai Baba was known as Shirdi Sai Baba, a God man (1838 – 1918) in India, preached the basics of morality and spirituality through his simple yet powerful teachings of love, compassion, patience, faith, surrender, equanimity, detachment and service. He was a simple, illiterate rural ascetic, who lived for forty years in an old isolated mosque at Shirdi, wearing tattered clothes like a Muslim fakir, begging alms and performing all sorts of thrilling miracles to cure, help and bless his countless devotees and visitors. As the goal of a Sufi aspirant is to reach God-realization – to realise his own inner divinity, Shirdi Sai Baba attained his divine status and throughout his life he played the traditional role of a Master guiding others into the spiritual path. The thrust of Shirdi Sai Baba’s whole life was one-pointed, focused entirely upon God, giving up everything for the God-realization, as his method was the ascetic (Abdelfattah xii). Sathyanarayana Raju gave many proofs of that he was the same person reborn. He related numerous incidents and experiences to prove that he was the reincarnation of Shirdi Sai. From early childhood it was apparent that young Sathya was quite different from his playmates. Although his family ate meat, he 4 himself maintained to be a natural vegetarian, who abhorred the thought of killing animals. He frequently brought beggars home to be fed by his parents, though they often scolded him for what they felt was unwarranted generosity on his part. He was called “Guru” by his playmates, for he had been leading them in devotional songs before school and fascinating and amusing them by taking candy and playthings from an empty bag. Villagers witnessed the great super natural powers of the divine child Sathyanarayana. However the skeptics took these great powers as the powers of evil spirit possessing the child. Sathyanarayana endured a period of torture as his parents took him to a well known exorcist of the countryside. The exorcist was famous and most feared, to whom the boy’s demon had become a personal challenge. He shaved the boy’s head and cut three crosses onto his skull, then poured caustic material on the wound and into his eyes until they were swollen almost shut. Finally, his parents could stand no more of this ordeal and called a stop to it, though their son had not been apparently cured. The young Sathya bore everything, including the excruciating pain of the exorcist in total calmness. Baba subsequently stated that he was demonstrating at this time that he is beyond pleasure and pain, beyond duality. As he explained later: I wanted to make known that I am Divine, impervious to human suffering, pain or joy. Even after seeing all that fortitude and that miracle of a little boy passing unscathed through all that terror, you are not convinced that I am Baba. Then, how would you have reacted if I had just made the announcement one fine day? (Divine Grace 7) 5 One day in May 1940, Sathya’s father saw a crowd gathering around his son. He appeared to be manifesting candy and fruit out of thin air, and many people were falling to the ground, calling him an incarnation of God. Confused and frustrated at his son’s strange behavior and now by this display of sleight-of- hand or, worse, black magic, Sathya’s father picked up a stick and approached threateningly, “Who are you.. who are you?” he demanded angrily. In a calm but firm voice, the boy announced that, “I am Sai Baba.” He said that he was the reincarnation of a little known but much respected Holy man, named Sai Baba of Shirdi, and had come to ward off all troubles and difficulties of people. He refused to go back home and moved to the garden of an Inspector of Excise, saying to his family members that, he did not belong to them, and he was leaving to accomplish his future work. He said that those devoted to him were calling him and he was starting the task for which he had come. Sri Sathya Sai Baba was engaged in the task of divine mission ever since. This was the beginning of his spiritual mission, which as he explained in a historic letter to his brother in 1947, was the moral and spiritual upliftment of the masses, with a focus on nurturing and caring for the poorest of the poor in society. He was determined that no power would stop him in achieving what he had set out to do and neither would criticism deter him from this sacred task. From then on, till April 24, 2011, Baba relentlessly and selflessly worked for the welfare of the humanity, through all means and ways available to him. His most important task was the transformation of mankind, so that they realized their innate Divinity. Miracles and materializations, for which he was famous 6 were merely the means to this end of elevating the collective consciousness of people, after grabbing their attention away from worldly ways. Even the colossal social service projects undertaken under his vision and guidance had this aim. They not only reached out to the poor and the needy, but also called for the active participation of his devotees in practising the values he preached, through service and self-transformation. ii) Sri Sathya Sai Baba as Divine incarnate Sri Sathya Sai Baba, addressed by his devotees as Swami or Baba or Bhagawan, was born in a humble family in the heartland of rural Southern India, in the village of Puttaparthi had widespread adulation and some denigration during his lifetime. He has been a living God for his innumerable devotees spread across the globe. Often portrayed as a larger-than-life figure, Sri Sathya Sai Baba attained the stature of a legend in his life-time. Born in the country of contradictions; of mysterious and fascinating, of superstitious and enlightened, the life story of Baba parallels with the lives of other spiritual personages, who rose to fame from obscure beginnings.

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