Sri Sathya Sai: The Divine Architect – By Dr. D.V. Hemanth Kumar

Hemanth Kumar receiving his Gold Medal in Physics from Sri Sathya Sai on SSSIHL Convocation Day - November 22, 2005

If one comes by road to Puttaparthi, one descends into a unique valley. The first shade of pink and yellow finds one near the railway station, Sri Sathya Sai Prasanthi Nilayam. Further on come the Super-specialty Hospital and the Airport. In a matter of minutes in a speeding car, the lonely countryside transforms into a flourishing town. The enormous statue of Hanuman beckons from a hill top. Leading to the very heart of the town there comes the Vidyagiri Avenue, the fountainhead of Learning, housing Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, a Deemed University. The dwelling of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba is at the heart of the town in the Prasanthi Mandir. Standing in the bus station, coming back after thirty years, one would not trust his senses. It is the very same Puttaparthi that, not in the very distant past, had been a stone’s throw from stone-age. Every square foot of this hallowed surrounding has borne witness to this change, irrevocable in many ways from what had been a God-forsaken country in the remotest reaches of rural India. At the vertex of this holy town resides its Architect, Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, who in contrast to His surroundings remains much the same. Untouched by the radical change about Him He reaches out to the masses in the same manner He did as a fourteen-year-old, seeking earnestly to transform their lives for the better by His touch. Sai Baba and Puttaparthi are immortal.

A bird's eye-view of the majestic Vidyagiri Complex

Coming from what was a lower middle-class family, Sathya (as He was called then) envisioned this work-shop and created it out of nowhere. For those ill of body and mind, for the listless travellers on the road to salvation, for the forlorn and the desperate, Puttaparthi is a workshop. And many such troop into its consecrated precincts to find their moorings. They with their maladies have a home there and Sai Baba, for his part, enshrines Himself in their hearts.

The story of this town is as unique as its Maker’s. Sai Baba’s mother asked of her young Sathya a dispensary for the village, a school for the village children and a well to provide drinking water for the villagers. Young Baba was not just content with granting these but later went on to establish a Super Specialty Hospital, a University and a mammoth Drinking Water Project, catering to the needs of millions of people. All these He accomplished from His chosen abode Puttaparthi. The story of Sai Baba and the making of Puttaparthi is a lesson in determination and will power. Not just this. It stands as an illustration of what He advocates - Hands in the Society and Head in the Forest.

Above all, He holds dear to His heart, His property - His students. He cherishes their company and they in turn reciprocate His love, for it is sincere and sublime. Sai Baba’s special attention to students arises from His concern for their happiness, but Baba is also a visionary. All His acts not only clearly indicate a desired result in the immediate future but more importantly foretell of a fruit to come at a later and a more appropriate time. The country’s future, He firmly envisages, is the future of the present-day youth. It is mainly on account of this fact that Sai Baba takes personal care and devotes close attention to the moulding of young men and women in His colleges.

‘Swami’, as He is lovingly referred to by His students and devotees alike, has this singular ability to reach out to various sections of people that flock to His Feet seeking solace. In His endearing manner He cajoles and caresses them and relieves them of their infirmities. These He does in myriad ways and in many cases mysteriously. Unable to comprehend them, people term these as miracles. He refers to them as visiting cards. Given these visiting cards, His devotees gather about Him and He sets about doing what is His wont. He reaches out to the inner recesses of the human heart and incalculably alters its composition seeking thus to transform from within. Of all His miracles that glorify Him, the transformation of the human heart is the most significant.

To those not in His immediate presence He reaches out through His message. His message is universal, embracing all religions alike and reaching out clear and distinct to all the strata of the society. He thus gathers to unify them under the shade of brotherhood and love for God. One finds in His message, spread over 60 years of His life, a unique feature. He addresses every issue of concern to subtle details and finds solution to all of them under the banner of what He extols as the acme of all values and virtues, love. One finds the very same underlying principle stressed time and again, subtly in many cases and glaringly in a few. He tirelessly strives to drive home the eternal truths in which His devotees firmly believe, will stand them in good stead all their lives. His life and teachings are not confined to our lives and times alone but will be revered and will guide the lives of generations to come. Inspired and awed by His message, posterity will take to it in all earnestness and fulfil the promise of a better tomorrow.

Baba says, He has not come to start a new religion, but to confirm each in his own faith so that a Hindu would become a better Hindu, a Muslim a better Muslim and a Christian a better Christian. Sai Baba is the Divine Mother and Father. Sa means “Divine”; Ayi means “Mother” and Baba means “Father”. This Divine Mother has come to gather her children unto herself and nourish them on eternal values and like a Divine Father reprimand and correct their unruly behaviour. This Divine Parent has come to lead by holding the hands of all His children who are found groping in the darkness of delusion and ignorance.

The Avatar according to Hindu philosophy, is the ultimate expression of God’s love to His creation, it is the Divine Consciousness juxtaposed with human limitations. The present times are most significant in world history for they indicate a revolution. This is a revolution that is very different from what the world has witnessed, a silent revolution that is gathering momentum, a revolution in the name of God to turn all of mankind to the path of goodness. We are having the best of times, because Sai Baba has chosen to be in our midst.

Of us who breathe the same air as He does, it would be said, they lived with God. We should be remembered not so much for meeting Him at the crossing, for many meet Him there, but we must be remembered for choosing to journey with Him from the crossing. To sanctify our lives would mean to tread by His side, to hold out our hands in prayer and devote our lives towards the fulfillment of His Cause.

- Dr. D.V. Hemanth Kumar

Student (1988-2000), Sri Sathya Sai Higher Secondary School

Student (2000-2005), Department of Physics

Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning

Prasanthi Nilayam

Currently, Assistant Research Professor, Arizona State University, USA

Source: Sai Sparshan 2005 (80th Birthday Special Issue)