Life of the master
The famous Sathya Sai Baba, known for materialising objects and his radiating hair, was born as Sathya Narayana Raju in the village Puttaparthi in 1926.
The village was a part of the Madras presidency of British India. Their family belonged to an OBC community of musicians and balladeers.
As a child, he was described as “unusually intelligent” and charitable, though not necessarily academically inclined, as his interests were of a more spiritual nature.
Abilities like materialising objects out of thin air, predicting things before happening was common for him.
He was very compassionate and kind towards the poor, and would often give food to the hungry instead of eating himself.
At the age of 8, he began schooling and learnt things quickly.
As his brother Seshama Raju got transferred to Uravakonda, he took Satyanarayana with him, where he continued his studies.
In March 8, 1940, at the age of 14, he was once bitten by a scorpion, and he was miraculously healed from that. After that incident he behaved in a strangely divine way. Sometime he would burst into devotional songs, sometimes he would sing sanskrit shlokas, but most of the times remain in silence, and rarely had food.
His parents were growing concerned about their son, thinking he was possessed by an evil spirit.
On 23rd May 1940, he materialised sweets, candy, flowers for the family members, which was quite usual for him. At that time, his father got angry, brought a stick and threatened to beat him if he didn’t say who he was. Satyanarayana took a pause and told “I am Sai Baba“. He proclaimed that he was the reincarnation of Shirdi Sai Baba, who had left his body 8 years ago.
Initially shocked, but slowly his family members got used to this fact. On 20th October 1940, he returned back from the way to going school, and he said “I am no longer your Sathya. I am Sai. I am going. I don’t belong to you; Maya has gone. My Bhaktas are calling Me. I have My Work. I can’t stay here any longer”.
Saying this he left home, and moved to a nearby excise inspector’s bungalow garden.
A few days later, he left Uravakonda for Putaparthi, where he shifted to the house of the village headman. As the stories of Satyanarayana’s miracles spread, hordes of devotees came visiting him.
A temple was built in February 1947, where he resided and granted darshan to his devotees.
On 23rd November 1950, an ashram “Prashanthi Nilayam” was constructed for his devotees, where he stayed and granted darshan.
In 1954, Sai Baba established a small free general hospital in Puttaparthi. In 1957 Sai Baba went on a pilgrimage, visiting holy temples in North India.
In 1960, he established the Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organisation to enable his devotees to undertake service activities as a means to spiritual advancement.
On 29 June 1968, Sai Baba made his only overseas trip, to Kenya and Uganda.
He established 4 temples- Sathyam Mandir in Mumbai in 1968, Shivam Mandir in Hyderabad in 1973, Sundaram Mandir in Chennai in 1981 and Ananda Nilayam Mandir in Madurai in 1999.
In March 1995, he started a project to provide drinking water to 1.2 million people in the drought-prone Rayalaseema region in the Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh.
In 2001 he established another free super-speciality hospital in Bangalore to benefit the poor.
In 2003, he suffered a fractured hip and he continued making public appearances in his wheelchair after that. In 28 March 2011 he was admitted to a hospital following respiratory problems and he breathed his last on 24 April 2011.
The Govt of India released a commemorative stamp on what would be his 88th birthday on November 2013.
Organization
The Sathya Sai Organisation, founded by Sathya Sai Baba “to enable its members to undertake service activities as a means to spiritual advancement”. Today it has over 1,200 Sathya Sai Centres (branches) in 126 countries. Through this organisation, Sathya Sai Baba established a network of free super speciality and general hospitals, clinics, drinking water projects, a university, auditoriums, ashrams and schools.
All of it is managed by the Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust, which he founded in 1972.
Teachings
Baba used to write on different spiritual topics in Telugu, for the ashram periodical “Sanathana Vahini“. A devotee Prof Kasturi translated them into English and published them. There are 15 vahinis total, named Prema Vahini, Upanishad Vahini, Sathya Sai Vahini etc… They are all available to be read online in their website.
The institution has a presence through offical YouTube, Facebook channels. It does not have a centralised official app.
Of course every material can be ordered online or brought from their ashrams.
References
1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sathya_Sai_Baba
Avadhoota Udyana 