Guyanese followers of influential Indian Spiritual Guru, Sri Sathya Sai Baba sat in devotion to him for 12 hours following his death early yesterday morning.
Baba, affectionately called “Swami” by his followers, was believed to be a demi-God; a human who had achieved God realization and enjoyed the best of both this physical realm and the realm of the Gods.
Swami, 85, was admitted to a hospital in his hometown of Puttaparti, India about a month ago and, according to various international media reports, he died from multiple organ failure. The news of his death spread quickly throughout a network of millions of followers who were plunged into mourning.
Local Sai Baba follower and businessman Sunil Teotia told Stabroek News yesterday that although their Swami has discarded his human body this will in no way affect anyone’s faith in him. Swami’s followers, Teotia said, will surely miss his physical presence but they understand that the soul is immortal and that their leader had gone on to do greater works.
Sai Baba, he stated, was “a great spiritual leader, a great spiritual teacher he has left with us a legacy of love, a legacy of serving humanity, teachings of true righteousness”. Teotia also noted that one of the more important messages spread by Swami was that of non-violence.
The late spiritual leader, he further said, encouraged them to continue following their respective paths which would lead them to God. Sai Baba, in one of his more famous words of wisdom, had said: “I have come not to disturb or destroy any faith, but to confirm each in his own faith, so that the Christian becomes a better Christian; the Muslim, a better Muslim; and the Hindu, a better Hindu.”
It is with this mission that the Sai Baba foundation extended its reach from India to many other countries. There are several Sai Baba centres in Guyana, Teotia said; in Georgetown, Berbice and West Demerara. The organization, he stressed, is far reaching.
A 12-hour prayer session, which commenced at 6pm yesterday and was expected to conclude at 6am today, is the only activity local followers have held so far. Teotia said that up to yesterday afternoon the local arm of the organization had not yet composed a programme of activities to be executed in observance of Sai Baba’s death.
He further noted that their Swami will be laid to rest tomorrow. The body, Teotia explained, will not be cremated. He further explained that it is customary for the bodies of such saints to be preserved.
“My father is a doctor and he was a non-believer until he saw medical evidence of Baba healing diseases like cancer which have no cure,” Teotia also said.
There are countless accounts of such miracles, many controversial, which were performed by Sai Baba during his lifetime. Though he was revered by millions around the world as a living God, Sai Baba was a controversial figure, criticised by some as a fraud protected by political influence, the UK Guardian said. It further reported that his later years were dogged by allegations of sexual abuse.
Volunteers working with Sai Baba’s organization, The Guardian said, have effectively delivered disaster relief and undertaken large-scale developmental works that have brought water or sanitation to hundreds of thousands of people. There are more than 1,200 centres of his Sathya Sai organisation in over a hundred countries around the world.
Sai Baba, the UK publication further said, did not appoint a successor to run his sprawling spiritual and temporal empire, currently run by a trust, after his death. The Economic Times newspaper estimated its worth at up to £5 billion though admittedly no accurate valuation was possible.
