History of the Mandir Baba was then a charming youth of seventeen years. Three years earlier, he had declared, “I am Sai Baba of Shirdi come again for the redemption of mankind!”. In spite of the revealing declaration, many people around him in Puttaparthi were sceptical about his might and mission. One such person was Lakshmaiah, although he had a deep love for the divine boy. One day, Baba told Lakshmaiah, pointing to the hillocks south of the village, The Sai Pravesh (the advent of Sai) will transform that region into Prasanthi Pradesh (a region of highest peace). There will rise a bhavan (mansion)! Lakhs of people from all over India, why only India, from all over the world, will come and wait there for Sai darshan (sight of Sai)! Lakshmaiah expressed his doubt. Baba asserted, You will have to believe it when you have to stand where we are now, trying to catch a glimpse of me, standing on the porch of that bhavan. The bhavan (mansion) that Baba spoke of on that day is the mandir (temple) in Prasanthi Nilayam, the sacred abode of the Lord in the human form of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. This mandir is the heartthrob of millions of people all over the world. Sri Kasturi, the octogenarian biographer of Baba writes about the mandir, “It has been the scene of countless transformations of character, revolutions in belief, confirmations of faith, curing of disease, calmings of temper, discarding of hatred, salvaging of souls and reunions of hearts.” Indeed, the mandir today stands as the symbol of the redemption of the world through the transformation of man. This mandir is the nucleus of Sai’s mission of Dharmasthapana. The majestic mandir now stands facing north in a compound measuring 220′ x 150′ and its plinth area is a little more than 7500 square feet. It is a nilayam (residence) evolved into a mandir (temple). The construction of this building in the late forties may be described as the first manifestation of the engineering skill of Baba! Baba was then in his early twenties. It was felt that the old mandir in the village was too small to accommodate the growing Sai family that gathered round its young Master. A big building was the need of the hour, and it was raised with stone and mortar. Bhagawan himself was the architect and engineer of this building, which he transformed into the mandir in 1974. Also, he was the accountant! Baba recollects even now with a merry twinkle in his eye how he was doing the batwada (weekly payments to labourers), getting the signatures of the lucky recipients on the vouchers. Others who were associated with the construction of the Nilayam are Sakamma (a devotee from the Coorg District in Karnataka, who was instrumental in the construction of the old mandir in the village); the Raja of Sandur (a province now in Karnataka); Tiruvenkatam, a merchant from Bangalore; and Thirumala Iyengar, an engineer in charge of the construction of the Tungabhadra dam. Some curious engineers who visited the construction site now and then accepted the ideas of Baba, because they found them to be better than their own. They discovered that Baba had a greater sense of perspective and a finer aesthetic vision than they had. The story of the construction of the building is a chain of miracles wrought by Bhagawan’s grace. The most astounding was the transport of the huge girders for the central prayer hall from the railway station at Penukonda 16 miles away. Girders of 40 feet length had come from Trichinopoly (now Tiruchirapalli) to Penukonda by train. The road from Penukonda to Bukkapatnam was a district board road with a sandy stream at the seventh mile, and it passed through a few villages with delicately built houses(!) flanking the narrow road on either side with a few acutely angled curves. There was a track of three miles, from Bukkapatnam to Puttaparthi with a few dilapidated culverts and low-level causeways and a broad expanse of the sand of the river Chitravathi. Then there was the task of hoisting the heavy girders on the twenty-foot high walls. Therefore, the engineers gave up all hope of transporting the girders from Penukonda to Puttaparthi and placed before Baba some alternative proposals for roofing the prayer hall. But Baba did not relent. One fine morning, the Road Transport Officer of Anantapur district, who was a devotee of Baba, woke up to find a surprise in front of his house. It was a huge crane from the Tungabhadra Dam site, which had stopped there and refused to move forward. It had struck work! The driver was grappling with the engine in vain. He could not make it move. He sought the help of the Road Transport Officer, who thought that the crane was Baba-sent(!) for transporting the girders from Penukonda to Puttaparthi. It was agreed that the crane would transport the girders if it were repaired. The R.T.O. hurried to Puttaparthi and prayed to Baba, who materialised some vibhuti (sacred ash) and gave it to him. This vibhuti was smeared on the engine, and the driver was asked to start it, and –lo– the crane started moving! The surprised driver went happily to Penukonda railway station, lifted the girders with the giant arms of the crane and started toward Puttaparthi. The sight of this giant carrying the girders was a great surprise for the villagers, who greeted it by lining up on the roadsides. The crane somehow passed over the culverts, negotiated hairpin bends, lurched over the slushe,s and puffed its way up the Karnatanagapalli hill! It did not move further, perhaps on seeing the broad sheet of sand of the Chitravathi River! Baba himself went to the crane, sat with the driver, and handled the steering wheel. Thrilled by the touch of the Lord, the crane moved happily to the work spot and unloaded the girders. Prasanthi Nilayam, the simple looking two-storied building of granite, was inaugurated on 23 November 1950, the twenty-fifth birthday of Baba. It had a central prayer hall flanked by rooms on either side and corridors in front and behind. In addition, there was a small portico attached to

Letting Go is Letting God In “Your hearts are my home! Swami will safeguard the purity of your heart which is His home. Swami will bless you with His presence, around, beside, behind and before you. Remember three things always: Always serve, wherever you are. Seek chances to help others. Never lose an opportunity to use your skills and enthusiasm for the alleviation of sorrow, pain and distress. Again, do not omit or neglect or postpone your own particular spiritual practice. Above all, have the faith that Swami is with you, at all times and places.”– Sathya Sai Baba It was in September, 1984, that I first heard of Sathya Sai Baba. In one sentence I can say: My whole life has changed. I am almost totally devoted to Baba or the God within. How this happened, I don’t quite understand, by maybe if I recall some of the events of my life and my experiences with Baba, the understanding will come. I have spent most of my life developing self-confidence and ego, for as a child, I had very little sense of my own worth. I was brought up in New York City in an upper middle class family which was highly competitive. My father was a Supreme Court Judge, my mother, an important and influential person in the United Jewish Appeal, and my brother, a famous television producer. It took me thirty-five years before I realized that I was my self and not the judge’s daughter, the producer’s sister or some appendage of my family. Finally, at 43, I realized I had everything I wanted: two marvelous, healthy children, an ideal long term relationship, wonderful friends and enough money and success. Yet, there was something still gnawing at me; something deep down inside was missing. I used to say to my friends, “No one will ever feel fulfilled unless he finds a connection with something larger than himself – the Source, God, whatever you want to call it.” In 1983, after completing an enormous effort, co-producing and co-writing the music and lyrics for a musical, I made the decision for the first time in my life not to decide what I would do next. Somehow, my need to prove myself and my desire for recognition no longer seemed important. However, this was not an easy decision. Actually, it made me very nervous, for I would have to wait, be patient and experience the anxiety of not knowing. Instead of diving head first into a new project, I was going to try out to trust that something would evolve naturally for me. A year later, I read two books about Sri Sathya Sai Baba: The Holy Man and the Psychiatrist and Avatar. I became completely entranced with the human values expressed by Sai Baba. I felt his love and a special vibration in any book about or by him. I had already read widely in the field of human consciousness and spirituality. As a matter of fact, by a coincidence (if you believe in coincidences), I had recently started working as a freelance editor with a new publishing company in this exact field. I had read Ram Dass, Muktananda, Paramahansa Yogananda; and they all said many wonderful things, but none had ever moved me like Sai Baba. When I read, “Let the different faiths exist, let them flourish, and let the glory of God be sung in all languages and in a variety of tunes“; and when I learned that, unlike most other gurus, Sai Baba does not accept money, I became very interested in him. However, it was these words of Swami’s that captured my heart, for this is exactly what I believed: There is only one religion –the religion of LoveThere is only one caste –the caste of humanityThere is only one language –the language of the heartThere is only one God –He is Omnipresent. Less that three months later, on January 10, 1985, a friend and I were on our way to India. We flew to Bangalore, rested a few days, gathered supplies and, excitedly, left for Baba’s ashram in Puttaparthi. The first day at the ashram was really a shock. First of all, I had been assigned a room to myself by the accommodations office, with no furniture, no fan, a bathroom which consisted of a hole in the floor, with a faucet four feet off the ground for washing in cold water. This was not exactly inspiring. Secondly, there was an atmosphere of devotion and reverence that was completely unfamiliar to me. At once, I realized that I was there to look inward, and that I would have to detach from all the externals or I wouldn’t last another day. Miraculously, within twenty-four hours, I had begun to ignore the austerities and to accept the extremely devotional attitude of some of the devotees. I would learn my way and let them have theirs. On the second day, my friend and I were out taking pictures. We had one picture left, and Baba came right by us in the car. He smiled at me – a smile that went right into my heart. I felt my heart physically open up. My friend looked at me and saw me grinning from ear to ear. “You’re all flushed and radiant. I never saw you look like this before.” For a minute, I was totally overcome with the love I had received from Baba. Then I said, “Do you think he was really smiling at me or because you were taking a picture?” I heard myself. I couldn’t believe what I had said. “That’s what Baba means by the monkey mind,” I exclaimed. “I can’t believe that after such a powerful feeling, I could say that. Unbelievable!” But what a lesson. I felt Baba had taught the necessity of training the mind to focus, to be one pointed, and this was essential for me because, by nature, I am very analytical. I decided right there to suspend disbelief and every

Swami in Croatia One year during the vacation period, Swami asked a Greek lady to address the gathering. This lady happens to be a doctor, actively involved in Sai service. One of her service campaigns was in Croatia, then torn by war and conflict. She organised a volunteer group and took it to Croatia for rendering assistance to the war victims. The members of the group distributed packets containing food, medicines, clothing, and along with these, a small photo of Swami. Recalling the service experience, the doctor said, “The people were very happy that we had come to help them. One of the people there held up Baba’s photo and said, ‘We know this person’. I was very surprised and asked, ‘How do you know Him? Have you heard about Him?’ They replied, ‘No, we have actually seen Him here.’ I was astounded and asked, ‘Seen Him? Here in Croatia? And what was He doing here?’ They said ‘Just what you are doing; distributing food, blankets, and medicines.’ I was stunned.” After the electrifying narration was over, one of the devotees present remarked, “Swami this is absolutely extra-ordinary!” Swami replied, “For you it is extra-ordinary but for Me, this quite ordinary and routine.” A hush descended on the audience – naturally.

Swami in Bosnia When Russia attacked Bosnia many Bosnians fled to neighbouring countries. The refugees were sheltered in specially built camps awaiting return of peace. A Bosnian woman, ardent devotee of Baba felt in her duty to do some seva to the unfortunate refugees. She carried baskets of bread and packets of biscuits in the van over a long distance and distributed them in the camps. She also gave each of them a packet of vibhuthi and a photograph of Swami. While eating, they were looking at Swami’s photograph and talking something among themselves in their own language. She could not follow what they talked to each  other. She was inquisitive to know, in particular, what they said while looking at Swami’s image. She therefore sought help from the driver of her van. He went to them and returned after a while. He told her what they were telling to each other, “This man (in picture) has been giving us bread and biscuits everyday. But today he gave them to her and asked her to distribute them. She was very much surprised to hear these words. In a meeting held during the summer training classes in Brindavan in 1996, that Bosnian woman was permitted by Swami to speak. She narrated the above incident and added, “If we take one step forward for doing good, Swami will be there ahead of us all the time”.

The Creator by His Student Year after year, students have the good fortune to photograph Bhagawan. We are mesmerized with the illusion that we have a lot to do with taking a good picture. Bhagawan has a way of teaching the simple yet profound messages. In April’94, in Kodai Kanal. Nearly all the students on this trip had a camera with them. Four of us had been taking pictures of Bhagawan for over 4 years, and were known to have a camera handy, in His presence. One crisp and beautiful morning, Bhagawan instructed the students to get ready for taking pictures and prepare to leave after morning darshan. We boarded the bus and made our way to a devotee’s house in Kodai Kanal. The garden was in spring bloom overlooking the clouds hugging the mountain ridges. After taking several pictures in various locations around the garden, we were preparing to return to Sai Sruthi. Before getting on the bus, we asked for one more pose. It so happened that, I needed to change the film in my camera. To keep out of the way for other photographers, I moved behind a small post with a creeper clinging to it. Before I knew it, Swami was walking towards me. HE came up to the creeper and plucked a few leaves. Swami turned His palm upwards and showed me a pair of fruit. He asked, “What is this?” I replied, “Swami, they are plums.” Swami gave his sweet smile and said, “Do plums grow on creepers?” Swami instructed the students to board the bus and Swami graciously joined us. As we started to move, HE put the “Plum” into the mouth of one of the boys and asked, “How does it taste?” he replied, “Like chocolate and no seed!” There isn’t day that passes when Swami reinforces the principle of GOD – Generation, Organisation and Destruction. (The accompanying photograph captures the exact moment described here. You can even see the boy, with the camera, behind the creeper !)

Swami appears in Colombia Victoria and Hugo Vasquez, New York Several years ago, when we were still new to Swami, my sister experienced a phenomenal act of Swami’s grace. At that time, the Colombian economy was in turmoil and unemployment rates had reached record numbers. Under those trying circumstances, one night, a queerlooking visitor knocked at my sister’s door. He requested her to give him 50 Peso [Colombian currency] for traveling to another city. The stranger claimed to be penniless. My sister’s heart melted and she wanted to help. Unfortunately, that was the only money left in her house and was to serve as the sole means of sustenance for several weeks to come. Despite her daughter’s reasoning, she decided to oblige the visitor; she gave the money and closed the door. Almost instantly, she realized that the visitor was none other than Baba himself and she at once reopened the door. To her amazement, Baba had vanished. The turn of events that took place in the coming days, further proved the identity of the visitor. In the next few days, she found unexpected money (for an amount that was sufficient to provide basic necessities for several weeks). Strangely, her husband was also re-employed and the family troubles ended miraculously. Baba’s timely intervention had averted a serious crisis.

The miracle cure of Shiva Kumar A remarkable case involving the use of vibhuti at a distance concerns a fourteen year old boy named Siva Kumar who suffered from heart trouble. In November 1964, when Siva Kumar was staying with his uncle Dr. M.D.V. Raman in Bombay, he developed cerebro-spinal meningitis, with partial paralysis of the left side , and loss of both sight and speech. On November 30th he became unconscious, and at 11:45 that morning cyanosis intervened and the boy turned blue. The doctors gave him only a few hours to live. But at noon he seemed to be making signs as if he wanted something. The people present interpreted his signs to mean that he would like a bath and some of vibhuti which had been brought by a friend from Puttaparti that morning. They did as he requested, bathing him and applying the vibhuti. Next he made signs that he wanted a photograph of Sai Baba. This was brought, and set in front of him. Then Siva rubbed his paralysed left leg and arm with his good right hand. Suddenly he got off the bed and walked, albeit falteringly and with assistance, into the family puja room. There he sat near the altar and seemed to go into a state of meditation. This went on for about two hours, then Siva walked from the puja room, this time unaided, looked about, went over to a chair and sat in it. Evidently his eyesight had returned; and then he spoke. He told those present that Sai Baba had appeared to him in a vision, saying that his life would be saved. Siva had begged to have his sight and speech back too, and baba had granted the prayer, telling him just what to do. Soon afterwards Siva was able to return to school and the studies he loved. When these facts were reported, over a year after the miracle cure took place, Siva was still in the best of health.

The Miraculous Flow of Vibhuti How Bhagawan would cause Vibhuti to flow from an empty vessel “Vibhuti Abhishekam“, the worship of the silver idol of Shirdi Sai Baba with Vibhuti was one of the events associated with the Shivaratri festival. This abhishekam used to be performed by Bhagawan Himself. Howard Murphet, who witnessed this astounding spectacle during the Shivaratri celebrations in February 1966 describes it in his book, “Sai Baba – The Man of Miracles”: On the stage is a large silver statue of Sai Baba of Shirdi in His characteristic sitting posture. Mr. Kasturi takes up a small wooden urn, about a foot in height, and filled with Vibhuti. This he holds above the head of the silver statue, and lets the ash pour over the figure until the urn is empty. He shakes it well to make sure that the last grains have fallen out, then continues to hold it above the statue with its open top downwards. Now Sai Baba thrusts His arm as far as the elbow into the vessel and makes a churning motion with His arm, as women did when making butter in the old days. Immediately the ash begins to flow again from the vessel and continues to do so in a copious stream until He takes His arm out. Then, the flow of ash stops. Next He puts His other arm in and twirls that around. The ash streams out over the statue again. This process goes on, Baba using alternate arms, ash pouring from the empty vessel while His hand is in it, and stopping as soon as He takes it out. Finally Shirdi Sai is buried in a great mound of ash – much more than the vessel could possibly have held. Now the urn is placed on the floor: the miraculous, ceremonial ash bath is over. There is a joyous, elevated atmosphere all around; Mr. Kasturi’s face is more radiant than ever, Baba’s movements and manner are the acme of unselfconscious grace. It’s all wonderful, yet having watched Him pull handfuls of ash out of the empty air I am not so greatly surprised to see Him stir it in large quantities from an empty pot.

The Namecard for Mata Betty enlarged A personalised namecard materialized for Mata Betty by Lord Sai Baba in 1980. Actual size is 1×2 inch.

The Omniscient Sai I will tell you personal incident. I came from the hot state of Andhara Pradesh. As Bangalore is very cold, I soon developed sinus problem. I took a water heater and went for my bath. I was about to take my bath, when there was sudden power cut. The power went off and the water was not ready for my bath. So I causally washed my face and went for darshan. I sat in the darshan, Slowly, came the gentlle figure, the short with broad smile, holdin his robe with one, and weaving the hand in circles with the other. He stood in front of me looked into the empty space and waved both hands, saying, “There are some who come for darshan without having bath. I, WAS WONDER STRUCK. I WAS TAKEN BACK, AND SAID,”How so you know?” He replied, “Where am I? I am in your bed room and I AM in your bath room. I am everywhere ” Then I, ran to my room and took a double bath. I returned and sat on the verandah. Baba came suddenly after bhajans. He came straight to me and said, “A normal bath is enough, don’t worry. The omnipotence and omnipresence are qualities of divinity to let us know that the Avatar is not less than the divine personaliy. Once Bhagavan said to an old man, “Today is the death anniversary of your wife.” Bhagavan even told him more details. He may have met so many people in between. Yet He remebers everything and everyone. Omnipotence,Omnipresence and omniscience. The person may have forgotten but not Bhagavan. Once there was a couple who came to Him. The couple had been having heated argument back at home. Bhagavan called the wife, and naturally the husband follwed obediently. Both of them were given an interview. Then Swami came out of the interview room and said, “You fight at home, so fight here also, I will give you time. “So, here you can experience directly the omnipresence, omnipotence and omniscience. Once in KodaiKanal I was with all the seve dal in the garden. They were giving ice creams, so I also received one. Swami came to the mandir and I stretched out my hand. Swami said, “You have taken icecream already outside.” I said, Swami, I did not say I have not eaten.” “Then Swami said why do you stretch your hand here? . “there, the seva dal give you icecream .Then I said , But Swami I want from your divine hands, therefore I am asking. Then He gave me one with His divine Hands. He then asked me “Is it nice? OK, take two.” So this kind of omnipresence will make you happy and it will be benefical to you.