THE DIVINE WHO MOVED HUMAN HEARTS

AS PUTTAPARTHI RESONATES WITH CELEBRATIONS OF SATHYA SAI BABA'S BIRTH CENTENARY, THE WEEK LOOKS AT HIS LIFE AND LEGACY, AND EXPLORES WHY MILLIONS OF PEOPLE WORSHIP HIM AS GOD

- BY ANIRUDHA KARINDALAM/Puttaparthi

A light breeze sweeps across Puttaparthi, the headquarters of Sri Sathya Sai district that was carved out of semiarid Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh three years ago.

The town, about 150km northeast of Bengaluru, nestles against the rolling foothills of the Eastern Ghats, with the Chitravati river flowing quietly alongside.

Everywhere in Puttaparthi, one can feel the presence of Sathya Sai Baba, who was born here in 1926 and built free residential schools and colleges, free super speciality hospitals and massive drinking water systems. His words and images adorn the walls and shopfronts, and millions of people visit Puttaparthi every year. Millions more worship him as God. They speak of his love, how he transformed their hearts and lives, and how vibhuti (sacred ash) spontaneously appears on his photographs in their homes. Fourteen years after he breathed his last, he continues to draw seekers from around the globe—rich and poor, famous and unknown. Come November 23, Puttaparthi will resonate with the birth centenary celebrations of its beloved numen.

The heart of the town pulsates in the Prasanthi Nilayam ashram that Sathya Sai Baba built in 1950. Thousands gather in the Sai Kulwant Hall here every day to sit crosslegged and listen to devotional songs, and then stand quietly in neat queues to touch his samadhi with their foreheads— at the very same spot he had stood and taught about divinity in human life. He sauntered slowly through the hall, accepting letters from devotees, stopping to talk to them, blessing them, producing vibhuti for them from his open palm.