First: I never was a “follower” of Sathya Sai Baba as in religious matters.
When I was about 32, I too was quick to categorise him as a fake as many who question the trickery in his magical powers. This video making the rounds has, similarly, many people belittling the spiritual leader. Most are ‘educated’ and ‘rational’ people, like me. Except that since those “young” days and in the 32 yrs that have followed since my first exposure to Sai Baba, I seem to have learnt a lesson that the young Raju (Satya Sai Baba’s original name) born in Puttaparthi learnt as a kid. This blog is about that lesson. It’s not about Sathya Sai Baba as a miracle man, but about him as an emancipated human being who served the very people who showered their love on him.
The educated need rational explanations to begin to understand and then, perhaps, follow a path. That is both the strength and the curse of the educated. My views on this subject of “belief” are in my blog: “” and I do not wish to elaborate here. However, in order to understand the context of this piece, a mention of that blog is relevant. Do browse it.
The uneducated need another kind of explanation to understand and follow a path. Since they are not schooled in formal logic and scientific methods, they adopt a simple test: WYSIWYG – what you see is what you get. I dare say, many who consider themselves educated are also not quite the scholars of scientific method that they’d like to be and in reality, follow just the crowd.
The masses fall into category 2 in India: Uneducated. When the masses are ‘attracted’ by means that they relate to, they follow. When masses gather, the ‘educated’ soon follow, if only at first to fathom the Guru’s power of attraction. Soon, the mass hysteria takes over and then the ‘educated’ become followers too. When celebs follow (for their own reasons!), everyone is interested. That’s the commonly held phenomenon that Sathya Sai Baba was.
The real-world Sai Baba is worth emulating for his deeds.
Most people with a mass following use it for self-aggrandisation, accumulating wealth and seizing power. The examples are so many that I don’t need to list any.
But what did Satya Sai Baba do? He set up hospitals, schools, colleges, and provided drinking water for the very people who worshipped him. He gave it all back. He left it all in a trust rather than in his personal wealth. That is the real phenomenon of Satya Sai Baba.
That is why I consider him an emancipated soul, one worth emulating.
It is also my opinion that, like me in my early days, the ‘educated’ miss the woods for the trees when they are fixated with the magician’s trade that Satya Sai Baba used to bring together millions of people who heeded his words.
This is one case where the majority is right. Where common wisdom is indeed that: wisdom.
Shri Shri Shri Sathya Sai Baba, may your soul rest in peace.
@jsvasan