PUTTAPARTHI: Sri Sathya Sai Baba, revered by millions across the world as an incarnation of God Himself, is no more. He breathed his last at 7.40 a.m on Easter Sunday after battling for life for 28 days at Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences. He was 84.
His body has been kept in State at Sai Kulwant Hall in Prashanti Nilayam, where it will be for the next two days, to let his devotees have his darshan for one last time. Breaking the news, Dr AN Safaya, Director of the Institute of Higher Medical Sciences, said, “Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba is no more with us physically. He left His earthly body on April 24 at 7:40 a.m due to cardio-respiratory failure.”
The Sathya Sai Central Trust and Baba’s family members have decided that Baba will be buried at Sai Kulwant Hall on Wednesday morning, Industries Minister J Geetha Reddy said. However, the exact time has not yet been decided. The State government announced a mourning period of three days. Dr Anil Kumar, official translator for Sai Baba, passed on the news of the spiritual leader’s samadhi to his devotees. Governor ESL Narasimhan, Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi and Opposition leader N Chandrababu Naidu rushed to Puttaparthi as did several other dignitaries, including BJP president Nitin Gadkari, Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa and Punjab Governor Shivraj Patil even as condolences poured in from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, NDA chairperson LK Advani and a host of others . Born on Nov 23, 1926 in Puttaparthi and christened Ratnakaram Satyanarayana Raju, Sathya Sai Baba was the fourth child of Eswaramma and R Peddavenkama Raju. He had declared his divinity at the age of 14 and called himself an incarnation of the Sai Baba of Shirdi.
Since then, till his death, he had attracted devotees from over 100 countries, with his miracles and service activities. The Sathya Sai water project supplies drinking water to lakhs of people in Anantapur district and his university and super speciality hospital offer free education and medical treatment. Among his followers are the who’s who of the country, including former premier Atal Behari Vajpayee and Tendulkar to name a few. Throughout his over five-decades of spiritual ministration, Baba preached both dual and non-dualistic philosophies with special focus on the importance of service and love. Sathya Sai Baba had his fair share of controversies too, but he remains in death as in life, a veritable God for his devotees and an enigma for the others.