Alter ego of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba?

[Continued from yesterday]

K.B. Ganapathy (KBG): How did you become his successor?

Sathya Sai Baba died in the year 2011. Sadguru Sri Madhusudan Sai was in Bengaluru. He had a prayer room attached to his living room. One day while he was sitting and praying, the apparition or call it astral body appeared before Mr. Madhusudan and spoke of many matters spiritual and mundane and asked him to wear his mantle and carry on his mission in this world.

Mr. Madhusudan asked how could he undertake such a mission as he had neither spiritual power nor contacts of high profile persons. Sathya Sai Baba told him not to worry. He would put him in touch with some people who would support and help him. He even named Prof. Narasimha Murthy and Prof. Shashidhara Prasad apart from others.

Here I remembered Jesus. He had asked one of his disciples to go and preach his message, the glad tidings. But the disciple pleaded his inability as he was an illiterate.

Jesus said: Fear not. I will put words into your mouth.

Be that as it may, at this  point, I asked what was the apparition (astral body) like. Was it standing or sitting? It was standing, he said. What was the attire the astral body was wearing? The attire normally worn by Sathya Sai Baba.

Did you touch him? Was it a physical body? “No. I did not touch him. It was not a physical body but I could see him with my eyes (made a victory sign with two fingers and took them near his two eyes).”

KBG: Did he give you that divine vision as Lord Krishna gave to Sanjaya to describe Kurukshetra war to the blind king Dhritarashtra and to Arjuna when Lord Krishna showed him Vishwaroopa?

Sadguru flashed a gentle smile at my question and said No. “I saw him with my normal eyes.”

Time was running out. Helicopter was waiting. I forgot to ask him if he was blessed with the miraculous power of producing or materialising vibhuti (holy ash) and other small objects like wrist watch, gold ring or chain by a mere sleight of hand and also about miraculously healing. Someone later told him he does this miracle sparingly. Let it be. However, I asked him one last question.

KBG: Are you enlightened?

He seemed to dodge the question. But made suggestions that would infer he was.

KBG: What is the difference between an enlightened person and an ordinary person like me?

Again there was a flicker of a smile, eyes downcast. Earlier we had discussed about mixing mundane and the spiritual in what he was doing. Serving the world in the field of Education, Health and Nutrition (to children) belongs to the realm of materialism where one is bound by attachments while spiritualism is renunciation, detachment from the worldly needs and possession.

KBG: How to reconcile these two opposites in pursuit of Mukthi, enlightenment or liberation?

“It is like living in a house. You have a kitchen, bedroom and puja room. You choose what you need. Or like taking a lift in a three-floor house. Two floors for the affair of the world, the last one, the third one, for the spiritual realisation. I can leave the first two floors and go directly to the third floor,” he said.

I smiled and nodded as in agreement.

Then he spoke of his invocation to Goddess Chamundeshwari at Chamundi Hill Temple on 21st December, Thursday and the blessings he received from the Goddess. He said that he always wanted to shift the present location of the school in Mysuru city to a sylvan surroundings far away in a village and had even selected some acres of land in a village. However, for some reason it did not fructify and so he had prayed to the deity Chamundeshwari and sought Her  blessings to make it happen.

“As I was praying I heard a voice saying ‘why do you ask me, make a Sankalp and it would happen’,” Sadguru said.

KBG: You mean She asked you? Did you hear it with your ears?

“Yes, I heard Her voice. And I made the Sankalp. And this morning I received a message from a Dubai devotee saying that he had decided to establish the school at a cost of Rs. 20 crore and he would sell some of his shares to raise the fund.”

I was dumbstruck. So also Bhamy Shenoy. I do not know about Prof. Shashidhara Prasad because he must have experienced this kind of miracle when he had been with the Puttaparthi Sathya Sai Baba and now with the Sadguru. Whatever the existential truth, I was happy, Mysuru District is going to get an institution that would teach both Sanatana Dharma and the secular education.

I wanted to ask him about the miracles performed by his Master Sri Sathya Sai Baba and  the power behind it. Whether magic or divine. But there was no time.

I had written about Sri Sathya Sai Baba in this column number of times as and when I got the opportunity. The whole world knows his mystical power (of course, Rationalists did not believe in it) to materialise vibhuti (holy ash), ring, necklaces, watches, etc. I wanted to know if Sadguru Sri Madhusudan Sai too has that mystical power. I shall find out if and when I meet him next. And I may meet him soon as he had extended an invitation to visit his iconic epicentre for all global service activities in Muddenahalli near Bengaluru Airport.

I got up from my seat, prompting him to terminate the interview, followed by others.  After all, the helicopter was waiting. I left the place after a hurried photo-shoot with Sadguru, who is described by the media and his followers as a Spiritual and Social Leader of the Global Mission for Education, Nutrition and Healthcare.

I thought of the early 1900s’      4-H programme of the US which sought to promote positive youth development. It means Head-Heart-Hands-Health.

I guess, the Sadguru’s mission too is similar to the US programme except he is giving equal importance to the Dharmic values of this land of Sanatana Dharma. If it is so, so be it.

Om Tat Sat.

[Concluded]

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