Sathya Sai Baba was an Indian spiritual leader who was born as Ratnakaram Sathyanarayana Raju on November 23, 1926, and passed away on April 24, 2011. At the young age of fourteen, he announced that he was the reincarnation of Shirdi Sai Baba and left his home to serve his devotees. Baba gained a large following and was regarded as a guru who emphasized the importance of love, compassion, and service to humanity. He was also believed by many of his followers to possess supernatural powers and perform miracles.
Sathya Sai Baba's early life comes mainly from the hagiography surrounding him, which is considered by his devotees to be evidence of his divine nature. According to these sources, he was born on November 23, 1926, in the village of Puttaparthi, which was part of the Madras Presidency of British India, to Meesaraganda Easwaramma and Peddavenkama Raju Ratnakaram. His mother claimed that his birth was miraculous. He had four siblings, including an elder brother and two elder sisters.
Sathya Sai Baba was known for his exceptional intelligence, charity, and spiritual interests as a child. He was also highly skilled in devotional music, dance, and drama. Additionally, he was said to be capable of creating objects such as food and sweets out of thin air from a young age.
At the age of 14, Sathya Sai Baba was stung by a scorpion while living with his elder brother in Uravakonda. He lost consciousness for several hours and began exhibiting unusual behaviors such as laughing and weeping, as well as speaking Sanskrit despite allegedly having no prior knowledge of the language. Doctors believed he was experiencing hysteria. Concerned, his parents brought him back to Puttaparthi and consulted with priests, doctors, and exorcists in an attempt to cure him.
On May 23, 1940, Sathya reportedly materialized sugar candy and flowers for household members, which caused his father to become furious and believe his son was bewitched. His father threatened to beat him unless he revealed his true identity, to which Sathya calmly and firmly responded, "I am Sai Baba," referencing Sai Baba of Shirdi. This was the first time he claimed to be the reincarnation of the famous saint who had died eight years before Sathya was born. From then on, he was known as Sathya Sai Baba.
Sathya Sai Baba's first mandir was constructed in 1944 in Puttaparthi, which is now referred to as the "old mandir". Later, he built Prasanthi Nilayam, the current ashram, which was completed in 1950. In 1954, Sai Baba established a free hospital in the village of Puttaparthi. He became famous for his supposed mystical powers and ability to heal people. In 1963, Sai Baba suffered a stroke and four severe heart attacks, which left him partially paralyzed. He announced that he would be reborn as Prema Sai Baba in Karnataka after his death, and made his only foreign trip to Kenya and Uganda in 1968.
In his later years, Sai Baba established several mandirs across India, including Dharmakshetra in Mumbai, Shivam Mandir in Hyderabad, and Sundaram Mandir in Chennai. In 1993, he survived an attack by four intruders armed with knives, in which two of his attendants and the intruders were killed. He initiated several projects to provide drinking water and healthcare to underprivileged communities, including the Ananda Nilayam Mandir in Madurai and a free super-speciality hospital in Bangalore.
In 2003, Sai Baba suffered a hip fracture, which led to him using a wheelchair and making fewer public appearances. In March 2011, he was admitted to a hospital that he had started in Prasanthigram at Puttaparthi, due to breathing problems. His condition deteriorated over a month, and he passed away on April 24, 2011, at the age of 84. Some of his followers believed that he had predicted his death at the age of 96, referring to lunar years instead of solar years, and that he would resurrect or reincarnate.
After his death, Sri Sathya Sai Baba's body was placed in state for two days and buried with full state honors on April 27, 2011. An estimated half a million people attended the burial, including political leaders such as then-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi, as well as cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar. The government of Karnataka declared April 25 and 26 as days of mourning, and Andhra Pradesh declared April 25 to 27 as days of mourning. Sri Sathya Sai Baba founded the Sathya Sai Organisation in the 1960s, which has an estimated 1,200 centers in 114 countries. The number of active followers is difficult to determine, with estimates ranging from 6 million to nearly 100 million. Sai Baba's followers primarily come from India's urban, upper-middle-class sections, which are wealthy, educated, and exposed to Western ideas. In 2020, the Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust was granted Special Consultative status by the United Nations Economic and Social Council.
Sathya Sai Baba, an Indian spiritual leader, established numerous schools, colleges, hospitals, and charitable institutions in India and abroad. The estimated net financial capital of these organizations is approximately ₹ 400 billion (US$9 billion), although some estimates put it as high as ₹ 1.4 trillion (about US$31.5bn).
Following his death, questions arose about the management of the organization's finances, and there were speculations of impropriety. Reports suggested that suitcases containing cash and/or gold had been removed from his personal lodgings. In response, officials from the Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust opened his private residence in June 2011, in the presence of government, bank, and tax department officials. They inventoried 98 kg of gold ornaments, valued at approximately Rs 21 crores (US$4.7m), 307 kg of silver ornaments, valued at approximately Rs 16 million (US$0.36m), and Rs 116 million (US$2.6m) in cash. The cash was deposited into the Sai Trust's account at the State Bank of India with payment of government taxes. The gold and other items were inventoried, assessed, and placed in secure storage. An additional Rs 7.7 million (US$0.17m) in valuables were found in another four rooms. The total value of these items is believed to exceed 7.8 million US dollars. These items and goods were believed to have been donated over the years by Sai Baba's devotees from all over the world as religious gifts.
Sai Baba was recognized for his service in addressing the problem of providing safe drinking water to rural areas. The Department of Posts, Government of India, released a postage stamp and a postal cover in recognition of his work in this area. Another commemorative stamp was released on the occasion of what would have been his 88th birthday during November 2013. Sai Baba's water project brought water from the River Krishna in Andhra Pradesh to Chennai city, and in January 2007, an event was held in Chennai Nehru Stadium to thank him for his contribution to the project. Four chief ministers attended the function.
Puttaparthi, the village in Andhra Pradesh where Sai Baba was born and lived, has undergone extensive development since his establishment of various institutions. The village now boasts an extensive university complex, a speciality hospital, two museums, a planetarium, a railway station, a hill-view stadium, an administrative building, an airport, and an indoor sports stadium. The Chaitanya Jyoti museum, devoted exclusively to the life and teachings of Sai Baba, has won several international awards for its architectural design. High-ranking Indian politicians have been official guests at the ashram in Puttaparthi, including former president A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Andhra Pradesh former chief minister Konijeti Rosaiah, and Karnataka chief minister B. S. Yediyurappa. Sai Baba's 80th birthday celebration was attended by well over a million people, including 13,000 delegates from India and 180 other countries.
Sathya Sai Baba's followers consider themselves part of a worldwide mass religious movement, often referred to as a "New Religious Movement" (NRM) or a cult, depending on the scholar or source. Sai Baba claimed to be the reincarnation of Sai Baba of Shirdi, and his followers considered him to be the Avatar of Shiva. Sai Baba's following is regarded by most scholars to be of Hindu persuasion but has drawn people of all religions, ethnicities, and social classes.
Sai Baba was known for his teaching "Love All, Serve All. Help Ever, Hurt Never." His devotees gather daily or weekly for devotional songs, prayer, spiritual meditation, service to the community, and to participate in "Education in Human Values" known as "Bal Vikas."
Followers believed in seeking the spiritual benefit of Sai Baba's darshan, scheduled for morning and afternoon each day. Sai Baba would interact with people, accept letters or call groups or individuals for interviews. Devotees considered it a great privilege to have an interview and sometimes a single person, group or family was invited for a private interview for answers to spiritual questions and general guidance.
It was reported in 2001 that Sai Baba advised his followers not to browse the inter
Criticism
Accusations
Accusations against Sathya Sai Baba by his critics over the years have included sleight of hand, sexual abuse, money laundering, fraud in the performance of service projects, and murder.[8][11]
In 1972 Abraham Kovoor made the first public criticism of Sathya Sai Baba[116] when he looked into a claim publicly narrated by one devotee[116] that Sai Baba had created a new model of a Seiko watch, and found the claim to be untrue.[117][118]
In April 1976, Hossur Narasimhaiah, a physicist, rationalist and then vice-chancellor of Bangalore University, founded and chaired a committee "to rationally and scientifically investigate miracles and other verifiable superstitions". Narasimhaiah wrote Sai Baba three widely publicised letters challenging him to perform his miracles under controlled conditions. The letters were ignored.[119] Sathya Sai Baba said that he ignored Narasimhaiah's challenge because he felt that a scientific approach to spiritual issues was improper, adding that "Science must confine its inquiry only to things belonging to the human senses, while spiritualism transcends the senses. If you want to understand the nature of spiritual power you can do so only through the path of spirituality and not science. What science has been able to unravel is merely a fraction of the cosmic phenomena..."[120] Narasimhaiah's committee was dissolved in August 1977. Narasimhaiah held the fact that Sai Baba ignored his letters to be an indication that his miracles were fraudulent.[121] As a result of this episode, a public debate raged for several months in Indian newspapers.[122]
Indian rationalist Basava Premanand, who began campaigning against Sathya Sai Baba in 1976, unsuccessfully attempted to sue him in 1986 for violations of the Gold Control Act, citing Sai Baba's purported materialisations of gold objects. When the case was dismissed, Premanand unsuccessfully appealed on the grounds that claimed spiritual power is not a defence recognised in law.[123]
A 1995 TV documentary Guru Busters, produced by filmmaker Robert Eagle for the UK's Channel 4, accused Sai Baba of faking his materialisations.[124] The clip from the film was mentioned in the Deccan Chronicle, on 23 November 1992, in a front-page headline "DD Tape Unveils Baba Magic".[125]
Claims of Sai Baba resurrecting American devotee Walter Cowan in 1971 have been discussed by British journalist Mick Brown in his book The Spiritual Tourist from 1998,[126][127] and subsequently by Erlendur Haraldsson, who interviewed doctors attending Cowan at the hospital; these physicians reported that Cowan had been dangerously ill but had not died.[128]
Brown also related his experiences with the alleged manifestations of vibhuti from Sai Baba's pictures in houses in London, which he felt were not fraudulent or the result of trickery.[129] Brown wrote with regards to Sai Baba's claims of omniscience, that "sceptics have produced documentation clearly showing discrepancies between Baba's reading of historical events and biblical prophecies, and the established accounts."[126]
Allegations of abuse
In January 2002, a documentary produced by Denmark's national television and radio broadcast company, Danmarks Radio (DR), called Seduced By Sai Baba, analysed videos of public manifestations of Sai Baba and suggested that they could be explained as sleight of hand.[130] The documentary also presented interviews with Alaya Rahm, former devotee of Sathya Sai Baba, where he alleged abuse by Sathya Sai Baba.[8] As a result, in 2002 the parliament of the United Kingdom discussed the danger to male children of British families intending to visit the ashram of Sathya Sai Baba in case of individual audiences with the guru.[131]
In 2004, the BBC produced a documentary titled The Secret Swami as part of its series "The World Uncovered".[132] One central theme of the BBC documentary was again Alaya Rahm's sexual abuse allegations against Sathya Sai Baba.[133] This documentary interviewed him together with Mark Roche, who had spent 25 years of his life since 1969 in the movement and alleged abuse by Sai Baba.[133] The show also featured allegations from Sai Baba critic Basava Premanand. Premanand stated in the documentary that, in his opinion, Sai Baba faked his materialisations.[8]