The Sathya Sai Story

The birth of ordinary mortals is the direct consequence of earlier lives. The Karma or the track-record of earlier births, i.e., the nature of deeds performed, both good and bad, determine the future Janmas or births. In short, human birth is a Karma Janma (birth that is the consequence of earlier births). However, when the Lord comes down in human form, it is a different story altogether. He incarnates as a part of His unfathomable Cosmic Drama, to play as it were, a cameo role. He decides the time and the place of His incarnation, the parents, and also how His life would unfold. Thus the Lord’s birth as a human is a part of His Divine Sport or Leela; in other words, His life is a Leela Janma.

In the Sathya Sai Incarnation, the Lord chose the Ratnakara family on account of the purity, the piety, and the devotion of its members. Prior to the incarnation, Pedda Venkama Raju and Easwaramma had been blessed with one son and two daughters – Seshama Raju, Venkamma, and Parvathamma, in that order. Some years passed and Mother Easwaramma longed for another son. She observed all the prescribed austerities and soon her prayers were answered – she was to become a mother again. Even before its birth, Easwaramma knew that the child to be born would be unusual. There was a definite reason for such a belief.

Sometime prior to the birth of Swami, Lakshmamma, the mother-in-law was engaged in the worship of Lord Sathyanarayana. The Lord then appeared in Lakshmamma’s dream and blessed her, indicating that He would be born in her family. Promptly, Lakshmamma alerted Easwaramma that the latter might have strange experiences but ought not to worry about them. Shortly thereafter, Easwaramma had precisely one such experience.

One day as she was drawing water from the well, Easwaramma was startled by the sight of a big blue ball of light. The ball came directly towards her and entered her; Easwaramma fainted and fell. The Lord had entered her womb for the mandatory stay prior to physical birth as Sathyanarayana Raju. Thus the Lord was not begotten but immaculately conceived, even as His Son had been, two thousand years ago.

Sathya was born in the early hours of November 23, 1926. There were any number of unusual incidents accompanying His birth, as also in His childhood (as in the case of Krishna). Though they all gave strong hints of about His Divinity, few realised until much later that Sathya was the Lord Himself. But all unfailingly recognised that Sathya was most unusual, extra-ordinarily intelligent, precocious, and above all, always full of Love and compassion.

In Primary School, Sathya helped His classmates in diverse ways. Though Himself from a poor family, He did not hesitate to give away His clothes to needy mates. More important, He never lost an opportunity to turn the minds of His friends towards God. Among other things, He formed a Bhajan group for this purpose, which later became very popular.

It was time to move on to Higher Secondary School but such a school was available only in Bukkapatnam, several kilometers to the north of Puttaparthi. Young Sathya now had to trudge back and forth every day, no matter what the weather, crossing fields, walking on bunds, and wading through water, as required. In the Bukkapatnam School also, He was a model student, ever helpful to others. Making students God-conscious remained His prime occupation, and to hold the attention of His mates, He would often materialise Prasaadam, much to their amazement.

Sathya was an automatic choice for the class-leader (Monitor), but this brought its share of problems. Once, His teacher asked Sathya to slap all the boys in the class for some infringement of discipline. Instead of slapping hard as he was expected to, Sathya merely patted the cheeks of the errant pupils. This greatly angered the teacher, who then directed all his wrath on the class-leader. Sathya bore the punishment in stoic silence; for Him, it was all a part of the Drama scripted by Him, and this particular scene was being enacted to impart some lessons to humanity.