Sai Baba's one real miracle that no one can question

  I am not a follower of Sathya Sai baba, or any baba, or Pope or any other religious man or Godman for that matter. I may be spiritual, but I am not religious. I never visit temples or churches or gurudwaras or mosques or any other religious place unless accompanying friends of that particular faith, or the place has some historical or cultural significance that interests me. So, I would visit the cathedral at Chartres or the Golden Temple at Amritsar or any temple anywhere, just for the reasons mentioned above.

I remember when I visited the holiest site of Hindu pilgrimage – Kailash-Mansarovar – a few years ago, while the sundry swamis and gurus and all others were totally overawed by the occasion, I remember getting overawed by the prospect of trekking in the region and the natural beauty alone, with zero religious overtones. It is with that background that I now begin the real reason of this post.

  In the reams written about Sathya Sai baba's life and death and the millions of followers he has/had, I have honestly been unmoved. I agree with the rationalists that if he were indeed God and had supernatural powers, why would he die like a normal human being, after being supported by life-support systems for almost a month? There are then tons written about his so called powers that would conjure up material goods out of thin air and also how several rationalists call him a trickster or a fraudster who merely indulged in magical tricks to impress and win the confidence of the gullible. I agree with that too.

But just as I doubt the miracles attributed to him, I hold the same view on miracles attributed to all other saints and godmen and godwomen, of all religions. Having said that, however, I still have no hatred or ill-will towards them. On the contrary, I hold them in high esteem.

  First of all, I think there has to be something that all these people possess that makes millions follow them blindly. It is something that cannot be wished away. And when you dig deeper, you see the reason and that is the reason I respect them.

  The faith of the millions comes from the genuine philanthropic work that these guys undertake. In the case of Sai baba, for example, he transformed a small village into a hub of education and health facilities. He brought water to some of the most water starved areas of the state, paying for it from his trust.  All this is something that the state could never have achieved by itself. A fellow cyclist in my group is now a General Manager with a top BPO firm in the country. He studied at the university set up by Sai Baba.

  Like him, there would be millions who benefited from what Baba's trust set up. It is the lives of such people that he touched, millions of them through his life that treat him as God. To them, he brought about unimaginable improvement to their lives and irrespective of what rationalists like me may say, baba was a God to them.

  To me, this is test enough as a citizen. We need more doers like him. Even if some brand them tricksters or fraudsters, I would rather have them benefit all segments of the society than having to grapple with crooks who masquerade as our rulers and resort to nothing but cheating.