I have been a distant observer of the Saibaba phenomenon over the years and my feelings swung between, is he a real god to ok let me not be skeptical he is doing admirable social work.
There were claims that he is a charlatan, trickster etc. but his phenomenon was always on the rise, to his credit none of the allegations stuck to him. He deftly evaded most challenges thrown at him by rationalists and went on to build his credo spreading his simple message of universal love. He was dogmatic and took into his fold all castes,creeds and religions with open hands.
Needless to say that there is something special in this man who could attract Presidents, Prime Ministers, Judges, Ministers and Doctors to his fold. I had an opportunity to see him in his Bangalore ashram, a diminutive figure in a wheel chair was rolled into the hall, he had a soft gleaming skin, I instantly could feel he is different from the rest of us but I do not know in what way. They say one should be “connected” to a guru to experience his warmth and love and that is what his followers might feel in his presence. Perhaps rest of us do not have such experience since we have not yet surrendered to a guru.
Over the past 2 decades Saibaba has used his trust funds well to serve the public and used his money generating power in executing projects which government couldn’t do. Drinking Water projects to the parched district of Anantapur and Chennai city are significant as also the super specialty hospitals in Puttaparthi and Bangalore. His trust has poured crores of rupees into these endeavors. He is indeed a god to many who go to his hospitals to get their surgeries done free of cost. He is a god for the denizens of Anantapur and other districts where his projects delivered drinking water. Saibaba has stepped in where governments failed.
He has left an empire worth anything between 40,000 to 100,000 crores and it is up to the trust to deliver on the ideals of service that Saibaba preached. India is a land of mystics and god men of all sorts; we are naturally attracted to these mystics for various reasons. Some of them are frauds, some of them are genuine and some in between, Satya Saibaba has definitely left a positive legacy with his work for the society and a role model for the rest of the spiritual gurus on how to harness their energy towards social good.
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I fully agree. No business man could create such a social welfare programmes which Satya saibaba built for the society. I visited Puttaparti about 15 years ago and I could still remember the kind of peaceful and hospitality the ashram maintained clubbed with discipline. Many of my known people got benefit from the hospitals, even I remember sai baba donating crores for bringing water to Anantapur in collaboration with L&T. Its a great lesson for all, how a life can be utilized for making it more meaningful and helpful for others
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Ram.
ReplyDeleteWhen all our politicians are swindling funds meant for social activities, here is a man who has donated crores and crores of rupees for betterment of society. As a Chennai-ite I am indebted to him for allocating funds to solve the long pending water problems. When the CM of TN requested him to help on solving the water problem, Saibaba simply gave 200 crores for it.
Many of my friends who are ardent follower of baba say that he was planning to construct a similar kind of multi-specialty hospital in Chennai similar to the one at puttaparthi.I don't know whether this would materialize now and I’m keeping my fingers crossed.I want the new trustees to continue the work started by Saibaba and spread his ideology of simplicity ,generosity and humility.