Sri Sathya Sai Baba's propagation of spiritualism and preaching of Hindu philosophy never came in the way of his commitment to secular beliefs.
When the Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid controversy was at its peak in the 1990s, Sai Baba refused to buckle under pressure from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) to issue a public statement favouring the construction of a Ram temple at Ayodhya. VHP president Ashok Singhal made at least two trips to Puttaparthi in this endeavour but failed to extract any assurance from Sai Baba. He chose to remain neutral.
The spiritual leader's credentials are attributed by his devotees to his conviction that he was a reincarnation of Sai Baba of Shirdi, whose teachings were an eclectic blend of Hindu and Muslim beliefs.
The Puttaparthi Baba had among his flock worldwide a large number of Muslim and Christian devotees. He told them that they need not give up their religion or their respective beliefs.
Another feature of Sai Baba's 70-year-long spiritual journey was the devotion he commanded from heads of state and government, of countries ranging from Italy to Sri Lanka and India, to Bollywood stars and top-notch cricketers like Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar.
The former Prime Ministers, P. V. Narasimha Rao and Atal Behari Vajpayee, were among the legion of big-time leaders who attended his birthday functions. But Sai Baba steered clear of party politics or partisanship on national and State issues.
Outside the fold of the devout, people will remember Sai Baba for his unparalleled contribution to providing water to drought-prone areas, besides his services in education and medicare. He funded a Rs. 300-crore project for supplying drinking water to 750 fluoride-hit villages in Anantapur district and introduced protected water schemes in Medak, Mahbubnagar, Chittoor and the two Godavari districts covering hundreds of villages.
Defining moment
The defining moment in Sai Baba's efforts for providing drinking water was the completion of the Kandaleru-Poondi high level canal (HLC) to carry Krishna water from the Telugu Ganga to Chennai city.
He contributed Rs. 200 crore for taking up improvement of the HLC, which got the project going and completed in a record 14 months, after it was started in October 2002. Justifiably, the waterway was named the Sathya Sai Ganga canal.
Keywords: Sathya Sai Baba, Babri Masjid demolition, Hindu philosophy
Would you like to give a kind look and good advice to everyone crying out for for attention, demanding attention, for seventy years? Giving darshan day in, day out, without ever a thought for your own welfare? I can't imagine a life less appealing, yet Baba did it, without ever complaining, and some people make it seem as if he liked the attention he was given. Come on, every other person would flee in horror after a few days! He was the summum of selflessness. Let's just do what he told us: Be good, do good, Help ever, hurt never.
I am writing this from the Uk. From Land's End in fact. People here all over the UK are heart broken at the loss of our beloved Swami. How did this tiny being attract people from all over the globe and enter and heal our hearts - through the greatest form of attraction in the world - LOVE. His immense outpouring of love to us all - whatever our faith, colour or creed, financial position - he has taught us on a profound level by His life - it means nothing. His unconditional love has transformed our lives and the lives of all around us. This is His mission - the propagation of love throughout the whole world. Now all of us that were touched and blessed by Him have a duty to bring this love everywhere - heal ourselves and heal our planet. Although His divine form will not be playing with us again in the Sathya manifestation He is now installed in our hearts for ever.
The charitable activities that Baba did was from the money contributed by his devotees and not by magic tricks. Money was never solicited, but given willingly for the good work done.The biggest achievement was he inspired millions to do good in his name which is his everlasting legacy. It is easy to criticise but mightily difficult to do a fraction of what he has done in the last few decades. May India be blessed with more great souls like him.
The problem with our society is that we have issues with everything. Just look around you and ask yourself what i have done to change the society? It's easy to criticize other's work. Whether Sai baba was God or not, he did his part to the society as a great person. How many of you can do even a small percentage of what he did?
Indeed according to traditional Indian lunar calendar, Baba completed 96 years and 54 days.
An year equals the time taken for earth to make a rotation around Sun. Lunar calendars cannot be relied upon in adjudging age. His prediction went wrong because he was human. May be he pursued a lot of charitable activities, but the fact remains that he did use magic tricks in an attempt to prove his divinity.There are a lot more people who pursue charitable activities, like Azim Prem Ji of Wipro and Bill Gates of Microsoft - through money which was earned in a lot more cleaner way than the way Sathya Sai's business model worked.
A noble soul indeed. God sometimes sends such souls for service of humanity. Instead of criticising them on trifle matters, we must emulate them and contribute whatever we can for the humanity.
Lots of speculations on Sai's action, questions without even knowing or experiencing anything. I have been in Swami's fold for 25 years. It is through my experiences, and the understanding I have got is that, I can confidently say Satya Sai is an Avatar. People can say anything. For those who have experienced his divinity, nothing matters expect him. All these mortal calculations, that he did not live upto the said period have actually no meaning.
If providing water to the needy is God, then Sai baba is one. He supplied water to my city, Madras.Though I don't want to enter into politics, but, I can't help myself from quoting here, that people who were anti-religion, anti-faith, anti-culture were busy making money and exposing themselves in a very big way. Here was a man who was ready to take up any project that reaches the poor and the needy.
Baba has done innumerable social service projects.Westerners are bevildered as to how such quality tertiary medical care can be given free of cost and invite Sathya sai Super speciality hospital administrators to talk about it in various medical seminars. With enough funds and will and Love anybody can do such projects. It is no miracle. The greatest Miracle that Baba has been doing all along His Life was the transfermation of Hearts and bringing them closer to Divinity. Top class management institutions can boast of producing great MBA grads, but none can be compared to the morality and ethics displayed by MBA students passing out from Sathya Sai University.
If god is beyond human mind comprehension, then why bother wondering who Baba was? He did not ask for recognition or acknowledgement. What he said was a repetition of what was said before by any sect or religion. be good,do good, love all,serve all.what's so difficult to understand?stop wasting time and let's start becoming loving and practise truth,dutifullness, observe peace and non-violence. The world will be a much better place. Love Bible or Koran or Gita or whatever,Stay where you are and do what's right.Never compare or criticise. Its a complete waste of time. Be one and see oneness in all and you are doing the right thing.
Sathya Sai Baba, Swami to me and other devotees, has left His body. We will not have the great fortune of enjoying and cherishing His Darshan and interactions with us in a multitude of ways. But, not to worry. He has taken possession of our hearts and minds from the very first moment we saw Him or thought of Him. His curing of our physical illnesses, in miraculous ways, has firmly established Him in our hearts. His physical expressions of Love, Kindness, Grace and Benovelence have firmly impressed us and started the process of transformation of our soul into what it was meant to accomplish - total identification and merger with Atma. Swami's gifts to the society in terms of social benefits like schools, colleges, Universities, hospitals, water supplies, roads etc. are tremendous, but His entering and residing in our hearts will stand the uppermost of all.
Baba's philosphy encompassed service to mankind without partiality towards any one religion. In our chaotic world now, he was a welcome breath of fresh air to humanity and his loss is a major blow to world religious harmony. May His Soul Rest In Peace!
Though these are peoples money,what he spent to the people of different regions and religions..his service to this mankind is a great thing he alone had achieved and in future somebody have to take this forward.
I think serving humanity is the greatest act/manifestation of faith, particularly when you serve the weakest sections of society.
I am an Indian Muslim and I love and respect Sai Baba because he was helping millions of poor Indians without asking their religion or caste.
A great Soul has passed away. Regardless of what His detractors claim , Sai Baba has been able to do something that none of the governments has managed to do yet. Provide state of the art education and healthcare to the needy at zero cost. His is an institution of followers willing to donate large sums of money in full confidence that, the monies are going to be put to use serving the society. Probably it is His divine miracles or showmanship as the people would like to believe, is what has brought in all the millions. But His unending love for humanity and His service to all people regardless of their religion is what makes people look upto Him as God.
Forget whether he was God or not.
The type of Service, He provided to the mankind has no parallels.
Providing drinking water to remote villaages of Tamil nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh(including tribal areas in East Godavari Ditrict) was a great achievement and a good service for the thirsty people apart from free medical and educational service to all the needy people.
No Government could do such type of Service to the people till now. Nobody can forget this.
It is very easy to criticize but how many can achieve what Baba has done. God or no God he has done what other people did not. He has supplied water connection, built schools, colleges, hospitals which are serving the poor people. These were not built to make money. I admire his work and respect him as God no matter what other tells about him. Instead of criticizing and talking nonsense why not challenge the politicians who have done nothing but eat all our money. They say India in booming but is it booming because of good govt, good law and order? ..It is booming because of IT companies. What is the fate of people who are not working in IT companies?
A religious leader, by definition, cannot be secular. Sai Baba was apolitical, and that was a good thing.
In 1991 we supplied a cardiac echo scanner to the Puttaparthi hospital. Free treatment and the availability of world-class doctors meant that several critically ill patients thronged the hospital. Once, some care giver- a doctor or a nurse- asked the Baba why there were still some mortalities among the operated patients. I was told that the Baba replied, 'because you people do not love the patients enough. You think you're doing a noble service. That thought should be replaced by boundless love for the patient that you treat.'
There is no parallel to this great soul who taught, 'Love All, Serve All.'
Sri Baba was not just ''secular'' which would mean being "neutral" to all Beliefs and not attached to any one Belief system. He was a great unifier of all Faiths, in accordance with ancient declaration in Hindu scriptures: Truth (God) is One; the wise call it variously (Ekam sath vipraha bahudha vadhanthi).
He "funded" and "contributed" these large amounts of money for the projects you mentioned.
Are you implying that these were his personal funds?
Sai Baba was a great human being who did great service for human being but he not above being a human being. He was not god, he was not beyong the normal and natural cycles of life an death. We need more human beings like him who are not mixed up with god and who are not performing magic.
Critics say that Satya Sai Baba did not live up to 96 years which he once predicted in 1963. Indeed according to traditional Indian lunar calendar, Baba completed 96 years and 54 days. Sceptics can calculate. Baba's prediction never went wrong, indeed the critics did not have the intelligence to comprehend it.
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