I just came to know that Satya Sai Baba departed this morning, at the age of 84 (born 23rd November 1926).
I heard about him in the beginning of the 80ies. October 1982 I went to Puttaparthi for the first time. I met there an old man, Ninu Kasturi, who in the morning told stories about Sai Babas life; when Kasturi died some time later, he was said to be the future mother of Sai Baba, for his next incarnation as Prema Sai.
For some time I was very much impressed by Sai Baba, and I translated some books, two of them were published (Satya Sai Speaks Vol. 9, and a collection of extracts from his books on “Meditation”).
I several times went to India to see Sai Baba, the last time April 88 on our wedding journey. In Whitefield, Bangalore, Sai Baba even called my wife and me to an interview. Together with some other people we sat in his room, where I saw him materialising a ring from a very short distance. First it was copper, then he transformed it to gold. He took my hand and played with my wedding ring. I thought, What will he do with it? – For a long time I had desired to get a ring from him, but later I saw a very large ring he materialised for the ex-husband of my sister with a large kitschy Jesus picture, and my ex-brother in law threw it into the ocean. – But Sai Baba just played with my ring, turned it around on my finger and said: “Many misunderstandings”. It was an emblematical expression: I was involved into a very strange story where I was for some time quite irritated by him – the blog isn’t the right place to tell. But also in our marriage we had to learn to overcome misunderstandings, so this situation with the interview came to my mind from time to time. After the interview in Whitefield we followed Sai Baba on his way to the Nilagiris, where he visited a school in Ooty. On the way we saw a medaillon in a little temple with a picture of Sai Baba, and there was a constant flow of amritha out of it. They gave me the medaillon to hold, and later I got a little bottle with this amritha, a sweet liquid from which I still have some at home.
Also in our first longer talk with Sri Kumar in Zurich 2000, he told me a story of an encounter he had with Sai Baba, he showed me the ring on his hand which Baba had materialised for him.
End of 1988 my wife and I left the Sai Baba movement after having heard some irritating stories. I felt my path in life would take another turn, and so it did. Nevertheless, I hold him in high regard, having played an important part in a phase of my life.
