85th birthday of Swami

November 23rd of this year marks the 85th birthday of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, lovingly addressed as Swami by HIS followers. Swami is widely revered as an avatar or incarnation by millions around the globe. The less publicised facts about Swami are the amazing service projects that HE has undertaken, from providing free healthcare in the villages in and around Anatpur district in Andhra Pradesh, to providing clean drinking water to several villages to providing free education to bright students from kindergarten to Ph.D. to providing worldclass free healthcare in the super specialty hospitals in Bangalore and Prasanthinilayam - the service activities are amazing both in magnitude and quality. All this is carried out by highly qualified devout followers with spirituality and love as the undercurrent.

Born as Satyanarayana Raju in 1926 in the remote hamlet of Puttaparthi, Swami left HIS home to make the world HIS home on 20th October 1940 and declared that HE has come for the sake of humanity. HE established an ashram in Puttaparthi and named it Prasanthi Nilayam - the abode of supreme peace. Since then, HE has been as tireless as the earth in planning and executing a mind boggling range of service activities and been a great Teacher. A Teacher with a difference - since HE has always followed what HE has preached and thus been an inspiration for the millions around the globe.

There is an angle of mysticism about HIM in that HE creates things with a movement of hand. While that provides a curiosity which the scientific mind takes to be a mere trick, if one ever travels to Prasanthi Nilayam with an open mind, he will realize that there is much much more to Swami than magnificent materializations. HIS teachings are lucid, to the point and are saturated with love. HE addressed people as Premaswarupa which means embodiment of love.

Our friends at RadioSai have been doing a yeoman's service in spreading the message of LOVE and TEACHINGS of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. As part of the 85th year of the advent they have also created a video series that captures the life and teachings of Swami. I invite you to share the same with all of us. You can see that here: http://media.radiosai.org/www/

As I have figured out in my journey with SAI in the last 30 years or so in which time I have only a few times seen HIM up close, never spoken to HIM in person, yet I love listening to HIS discourses, HIS teachings, I follow HIS work and I have realized that there is something for everyone in HIS teachings - right from a tiny tot to an erudite scholar. Let the debating mind rest, please do open up to the life making teachings of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba.

SaiRam.