Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba is the greatest spiritual leader in the contemporary world. Born in 1926, and named Sathya Narayana Raju, Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba declared His Poorna Avatarhood, a Divine Advent with fullest powers in 1940, when He was only 14 years old.

Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, lovingly referred to as Swami by His devotees, was born in a remote village called Puttaparthy in Andhra Pradesh in India. The date of His birth is November 23 1926. Puttaparthy was known as Golapalli grama in the early days which means the village of cow-herds or the village of cattle farmers. One of these farmers noticed that a cow he owned did not give him much milk and he suspected that someone was stealing milk from his cow. One day, the suspicious farmer followed the cow to see why the cow has less milk and was shocked by what he saw.  A large snake was sucking milk from the udder of the cow and the cow stood still, allowing the snake to drink its milk. The angry farmer hit the snake with a stone, thus killing the milk stealing snake. The dying snake’s curse made Golapalli a village infested with poisonous snakes and became uninhabitable. Thus Golapalli became known as Puttavardhani or a place where snakes dwell. The appearance of snakes made people leave this area and soon Puttavardhani became devoid of people. However, thanks to the efforts of a  few people who built a temple of God Siva in the area with the stone that killed the snake enshrined in it, the population of snakes gradually receded and villagers started  to come back and settle in the village. Later the village became known as Puttaparthy.

 

Sathya Sai Baba, Is He a Universal Guru?

There are hundreds of thousands of gurus who claim to be great. It is very easy for you to know whether they are Universal Gurus or fake and weak gurus. Of all names of gurus, people all over the world remember and worship only five spiritual leaders. Sri Rama who lived some 15000 years ago, Sri Krishna who lived some 5500  years ago, Lord Buddha who lived 2600 years ago, Jesus Christ, over 2000 years, and Prophet Mohammed, some 1540 years ago . Sathya Sai Baba is revered as a Universal Spiritual Leader in over 160 countries and with 1400 “samithis” in the world. Sathya Sai Baba is the only contemporary Spiritual leader who attracted so many devotees, and continue to attract devotees.

Puttaparthy grew as a village of farmers and cattle keepers. Sri Sathya Sai Baba was born in Puttaparthy on Nov 23, 1926 – an auspicious Monday in the lunar month of Kartika, when Lord Shiva is especially adored. He was given the name Sathya Narayana Raju. A very significant event occurred soon after the birth of the child, which revealed the divinity of the baby. One day, it was noticed that the bed of clothes on which the baby was lying was being moved up and down in a peculiar way by something underneath. They watched with bated breath and when they looked under the bed they found a cobra underneath! The snake was playing the role of Sesha to the Seshasai! (Sesha, according to Hindu belief, is the serpent on whose bed of coil Lord Vishnu rests.)

His mother Easwaramma observed that little Sathya had unbounded compassion, particularly for the poor and downtrodden. Even as a toddler, He insisted that the beggar at the door be served well in spite of their own limited means and would often give His own share to the needy. When He began school, His playmates were inspired by His ability to lead them to be socially responsible, spiritually aware, and endowed with individual and national character. His friends were often fascinated by His extraordinary powers of creating things out of thin air, knowing the future, and deep understanding of scriptural wisdom.

Moreover, it was observed that when an infection of cholera swept like a poisonous miasma over the area and wiped-out entire families in the surrounding villages, Puttaparthy did not feel the blast of death. Wise men told one another that the Divine Atmosphere generated by the Bhajan group led by Sathya Narayana Rau was responsible for saving their lives.