Satya Sai Baba,(Satya Narayana Raju)was born in 1926,in
the Indian state,Andhra Pradesh.He
is a very popular but controversial Indian sadguru who has followers all over the world.He claims to be the reincarnation of Shirdi's Sai
Baba and subsequently adopted his name.
He also claims that he is an
incarnation of Shiva and Shakti and an embodiment of love
with divine powers such as omniscience and omnipotence.His
mission started in the early 1940s.
He claims to materialize
objects like rings,vibhuti,wathches etc. out of nothing.His followers,
and non-followers, have experienced many other miracles performed by him.
He preaches a traditional
form of Hinduism that has a strict morality.
He teaches
the unity of all major world religions and says that they all lead to
God, which is in concordance with Vedic principles of the validity of
multiple paths.
Many devotees report that Baba came to them in a dream before they
even knew who he was. It was only later through a series of events
they learned who he was.His stories attracted many spiritual seekers
from abrosd.
The guru became increasingly popular and by the year 2004 the estimated
devotees were well over one million.At present hundreds of positive books
are published about Satya Sai Baba. Some quarters of the Indian government consider Sai
Baba to be a 'national treasure'.
Satya Saibaba teaches to love all,give service to others,put control
on desires and practise meditation.
Baba has a huge ashram near the isolated village of Puttaparthi.called Prashanthi Nilayam
(abode of peace).Baba resides much of
his time in this ashram. In the hot summer
the guru leaves for his other ashram called Brindavan,near
Bangalore,India.
He is regarded as an excellent orator in his native language
Telugu and also Tamil. He claims to be the full divine incarnation of Lord Shiva and Shakti and claims that he is able to create matter from mere thought.
Baba claims
that his darshan has spiritual benefits for the visitors.Devotees wait
for hours to get a proper darshan.Baba sometimes invites people for a
group interview with him in a room in the Ashram. Followers consider
it a great privilege to get such an interview.
He has founded a number of educational institutions and charitable
hospitals,which provide free education and health care to the public.
The Indian ex.President Abdul Kalam and especially the ex.Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee visit the ashram and pay respect to the guru
