Sri Sathya Sai Baba - I
M.Srikanth
Prologue :
This article is not in defence of what the students tried to do
(attempt to kill Baba) recently. I do not know anything about the incident
other than what I read in misc.news.southasia. Those students might have
been motivated by things other than in this article to do what they did.
The following is a chronicle of my experiences in Sri Sathya Sai
Institute of Higer Learning. These happened a good 4 years ago. But not much
has changed, can change in this place.
Strong reader discretion is advised. If you are a strong devotee of Baba
Please desist from reading further.
You have my word about the truth of this article and nothing further.
All flames will be nuked (Tsk, tsk, Mixed metaphor, Scotty! :-))
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Sri Sathya Sai Baba : The good, the bad and the ugly
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Introduction : This is a brief intro to Baba. Those who know about him may
skip this.
Sathya Narayana was born in Puttaparthi, a remote village in AP
border(with Karnataka), 65 years ago. Legend has it that, he left home when he
was eleven, proclaiming that he has a mission to fulfill in life. He declared
himself the incarnation of Shirdi Sai Baba (who had attained samadhi in late
1910's).
Today he commands an international devotional gathering that has more
than a million people from all over the world in it. In India, the list
includes P.V.Narasimha Rao, S.D.Sharma, R.Venkataraman,Chandrashekar
CMs of AP, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, Singers S.Janaki,
P.Susheela, M.S.Subbulaxmi, artiste Lalgudi Jayaraman, Sportsmen Gavaskar,
Shastri, Kapil Dev and a host of other illuminaries.
He runs the autonomous university, Sri Sathya Sai Inst. of Higher learning
and the hospital Sri Sathya Sai Super specialities hospital. He has residential
'mandirs' in Ooty(Sathyam), Hyderabad(Shivam), Madras(Sundaram), Bombay and
most importantly, Bangalore (Brindavan).
A word about SSSIHL: SSSIHL runs in three places: HQ in Puttaparthi(Boys
only), a branch in Whitefield, Bangalore(Boys only) and a branch in
Anantapur(Girls only). Courses are offered in Arts, Science and Commerce and
the instritute offers Bachelors, Masters and Doctorate degrees. There is also
an MBA program. There are no professional courses(though there was a plan for
a medical program).
I studied in the Whitefield branch. The college in Whitefield is a small
structure of three important buildings. The college is at the west end of
the campus and across a football field, in the center, is our hostel and in the
east end is the Bungalow-cum-Mandir where Swami stays whenever he comes to
Bangalore ( about 5-7 times a year).
Sathya Sai Baba : The good
Sathya Sai Baba is an excellent orator in Telugu and his speeches can be truely
inspiring and motivating. He does not have a radically new philosophy or a
style of religion. He preaches the age-old values of dharma, ahimsa, prema,
sathya and shanthi (the five pillars of human values, as he calls them).
However, he does them in so effective a way, that his devotees, atleast most
of them, make a sincere attempt to follow the ideals and practice them in
real life. It is this that makes the numerous charity programs and social
activities organised by the Sathya Sai Organisations so popular and well
attended.
'Seva Dals', as these organisations are called, are admirable units run by selfless
and motivated individuals who do a lot of very good social work like organising
medical camps for impoverished people(I have visited many of these and they
are run in clean surroundings, by well qualified people and reach the poorest
among the poor who come flocking there), food camps, adopting villages etc.
There is very little propaganda element in all these activities. There is just
a solitary decorated portrait of Swami in the center of the activities but
other than this, no preaching goes on to those who are being served.
The Institute that is being run by Swami is entirely free. There is no tuition
fee charged from any of the students at any level. I hear that the Hospital
that was recently(two years ago) opened is also free for the patients.
I am not able to think of anything else that is important to write here. I
want the reader to just carry the impression that the women and men who are
sincerely devoted to Swami have their lives transformed. You will understand
this if you visit the house of any devotee. I have often been impressed by the
quietness, serenity, religious purity and solemnity that I found there. I have
found that most of these people talk softly, do not get angry easily and have
a very peaceful life. If you go to Prashanthi nilayam (Puttaparthi), you
will find the whole place to be like this. I will quote an incident that
happened. In the mandir complex in Puttaparthi, one is not supposed to smoke.
Once, a sevadal member saw a person smoking and went and requested him not to.
The person got irritated and asked, "What will you do if I just continue
smoking?". To this the sevadal member quietly replied, "I will just keep on
asking you not to smoke till you stop".
It is truely amazing how a single person can cause such a transformation in
so many minds.
<to be continued>
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M.Srikanth (ka...@cse.ogi.edu)
18361, NW Heritage Pkwy #1, Aloha, OR 97006. (503) 690 9520.
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