Sathya Sai Baba

India is a land of the spiritual gurus. So much so that the words "Guru" and "Mantra" has become a part of the English vocabulary. For instance, I was having a discussion with an American colleague at work and he freely used the words like "Mantra" without batting an eyelid.

That surprised me and at the same time I felt proud as an Indian because who would have imagined a few years back that words like "mantra", "karma" and "Guru" which was limited to an Indian context would find a wider audience in the present day.

Nonetheless, I was referring to the above as the news of the passing away of Sri Sathya Sai Baba was across all the electronic and print media. Although I was born in Karnataka, I spent most of my growing up years in Andhra Pradesh and was very much familiar with the topography of my adopted state.

Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka were two states in stark contrast. Whereas Karnataka was blessed with abundant greenery and exotic locales. Most parts of Andhra Pradesh were dry and barren. The pockets of affluence was limited mostly to its state capital Hyderabad and West Godavari district. Also the depleting ground water levels didn't help.

Anantapur district belonged to the latter category. But one person did make a difference and that was Sathya Sai Baba. I remember when I was in college and waiting at the bus stop, a man walked upto me with his bicycle and struck a conversation. Now this man was dressed in a simple kurta pyjama with a jute bag slung over his shoulders. He spoke in English and his communication skills was good. After sometime, he took out a picture from his bag and turns out that it was Sathya Sai Baba. That put me off as I felt that this man was using his conversation as a bait to find new converts to Sathya Sai Baba's cause.

What irked me about Sathya Sai Baba was that people considered him as God. I was not able to reason out how can you make a human being take the place of God. Now God as we know and call him by several names is someone who we think is a higher power.

It also amused me that Sathya Sai Baba's audience included a who's who. From the Prime Minister, Governors, Chief Ministers, celebrities, cricketers and foreigners there was no one who hadn't met him.

Just like he had millions of devotees across the world, Sathya Sai Baba had his share of critics (including me :)). But looking back, when you see the amount of work done by his organization like setting up the Superspeciality hospital where complex surgeries are done free of cost, the drinking water supply project which covers most of the villages in Anantapur, Sathya Sai Institutions of Higher Learning etc.. if people consider him a god, no one should grudge that. Some of these infrastructure building activities come under the domain of the government and he has stepped in to fill the void when the government failed to do so. Even Sathya Sai Baba's bitter critics would agree on this point.

We had so many famous and infamous godmen. People like Chandraswami who was linked to the ex-Prime Minister Narasimha Rao, Rajneesh of the Osho ashram and the recent entrant Yoga guru Baba Ramdev. Where Sathya Sai Baba stands apart is that inspite of having his share of controversies he used his wealth (mostly donations from his devotees) for the greater good of the society.

As one famous quote goes there is no escape from death and taxes, even a living god like Sathya Sai Baba is not an exception. I hope that the good work done by his organization, the good will among his devotees and his message will inspire many for years to come.

(Image courtesy: http://www.ndtv.com/album/listing/news/sathya-sai-baba-life-in-pics-10292/slide/5)