PROPHECIES ABOUT SATHYA SAI BABA AS GOD AVATAR,
MIRACLE MAKER AND SAVIOUR OF MANKIND

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Prophecies alleged to have been made before Sathya Sai Baba's birth and even back to the time of the sage Brighu (around 3000BC) have been spread far and wide in countless publications and web pages by Sathya Sai Baba devotees. However, one of the most notable facts about all of them is that those which reportedly refer to him by name were never known until after he had achieved quite a measure of fame in India. The literature shows nothing at all about him prior to the writings by persons who worshipped him. No independent researchers (non-infatuated persons) have presented reliable information on sources or supported the credibility of such prophesies. In the eyes of historians of religion, these claims would never stand up to the most elementary tests of validity.

The attempt to spin quotations from the Bible's Book of Revelations to make them seem to refer to Sathya Sai Baba (as the saviour, not the antichrist), as well as the same kind of highly biased interpretation of some bits of Nostradamus' obscure and vague Latin writings, are all too transparently insubstantial. The same goes for what is attributed by Sai devotees to Edward Cayce (see here). As to the ancient palm leaf prophesies - which depend on astrological input to make them apply - none have been published before those of Narayana Shastri when he was already a confined worshipper of Sathya Sai Baba as the Godhead Incarnate. Here we are faced with a mythology evidently invented post facto so as to express devotion and promote Sai Baba and those aspects of his variegated teaching which have a common appeal.

Satya Sai Baba himself has never said a word against any of the predictions about his coming but has bolstered them in many ways, both in countless discourses and interviews. His followers have not expressed a single critical thought about any detail of any of them, as far as can be found from the literature or on Sai web sites. That is enough to show that this is a cult without self-reflection, serious research or any interface with the world of historical scholars. He has made countless failed prophesies himself, among other were various statements made in discourses by Baba on vast increases in area size of the Prashanthi Nilayam ashram (to include Dharamsala, over 20 miles away) and the number of visitors expected for certain festivals were not fulfilled, the size and numbers falling far short of those predicted! We heard some reports while at Prashanthi, independently confirmed from three ashram sources, that within the preceding year Baba had told students that the village Puttaparthi would soon be bulldozed away and that within 10 years Prasanthi would become enormous – 38 miles circumference. That was very hard to imagine in such a short time – much bigger than Bangalore itself!. But the area of Prashanthi Nilayam has far from doubled so far by 2007. Predictions by Sai Baba also spoke warmly of the huge influence of his Veda Patsala (school of Vedic chanting) - as established in the early years. It was to grow and flourish, but the institution was disbanded after some years of functioning.

The following set of prophesies are taken from http://www.saibabaofindia.com/sai_baba_prophesies.htm - copied them from elsewhere. The prophesies are in brown text, my comments are inserted in black text:-
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PROPHESIES

Sri Maha Vishnu’s tenth incarnation is that of Kalki. He will be born towards the end of the Kali age, the age replete with all kind of vice and godlessness. Dharma will limp only on one foot. Even that will gradually vanish.

At this time Sri Maha Vishnu will incarnate in the world as Kalki Deva, assuming black complexion. The wicked will perish and Dharma will regain its supremacy ushering in a new age.

(Predicted by Sri Pandrimalai Swamigal : taken from the book Dasavatara, by Shri S. Ramakrishna, Bharathi Vidya Bhavan).

COMMENT: Notably, Sathya Sai Baba has never himself claimed to be Kalki Avatar... though he has otherwise claimed anything and everything to enhance his divine status. However, in a futile attempt to 'prove' that Sathya Sai Baba is Kalki, his 60th birthday chariot was drawn by four white horse, as Kalki is predicted to have along with him. He accepted the four horse chariot and rode it past the crowds. There are enough other claimants for the title of the reincarnation of Vishnu as Kalki Avatar. The most prominent currently having a wide foreign following isKalki Bhagavan, or Sri Kalki Avatar of Bangalore, advertising himself as ‘The Living Avatar’.

- Dr. E.V.Sastri, a prominent member of the Indian Astro Occult Research Association, New Delhi, during the course of his research, found out ‘Nandi Grantham’ available in Tamil Nadu, which had all the indications about Sathya Sai Baba’s horoscope written by a famous erudite Pundit, some five hundred years ago. It was written on a piece of palm leaf of the size 36 centimeters long and 2 ½ cms broad. It reads : ‘The person to whom this horoscope relates and whose name is Sathyanarayana Raju will renounce the world in his boyhood, will start schools and hospitals, will publish books for the upliftment of the World, will spend every day of his whole lifetime for the establishment of Dharma, which is his ideal and objective’. It is further mentioned that, “He will be an Avatar amongst the Avatars”. (Taken from the book ‘The Grace of Sai’ by R.Lowenberg).

COMMENT: These palm leaf writing - called 'nadis' (claimed to have been written thousands of years ago by sages like Brighu, Kumar and others) are one of the biggest 'occult' money-earning scams in India on a level with Hindu astrology. At least hundreds of readers of palm leaves are to be found. Narayana Shastri was told by Sathya Sai Baba personally NOT to publish his claims, but he went ahead anyhow. So far he is the only nadi interpreter who has discovered the remarkable predictions about Sathya Sai Baba, out of hundreds (at least) who claim to possess such supposedly prophetic palm leaves aged anything from 400 to 5000 years old (though many are but copies, of course, and also fakes) who has discovered the remarkable predictions about Sathya Sai Baba. No palm leaves have so far been scientifically examined and carbon-dated as far as can be discovered, which is another reason to doubt their authenticity, as any scientific confirmation would have been extremely good for their business.

Narayana Sastri's 'prophecy' could easily have been contrived by a Sai follower, which the Bangalore 'shastri' who wrote it indeed was. He and one of his sons made his living from these 'readings' of sages' prophesies and his Sai Baba prophesies promoted his business (and that of his soothsaying son) very considerably among all the followers! There is no scrap of evidence that this prophecy is other than sheer propaganda by a zealous devotee who intends to promote Sai Baba by any means possible. There is no photograph or scan of the alleged palm leaf in question, nowhere is a source to the original text preserved, and there is not even a direct full translation of the alleged text presented as such . These soothsayers like Narayana Shastri work mostly on intuition and astrological data when they give readings for individuals, just as do many palmists, Tarot readers, and others who make their living by such doubtful methods.

Another well-known Brighu palm leaf reader, Kantilal G. Pandya of Bombay,whose prophesies very seldom come to pass, was endorsed in her book 'Sai Baba - The Ultimate Experience' by the Sai-deluded author Phyllis Krystal. Later she realised that she had been duped and denounced Pandya. Sathya Sai Baba has promoted Pandya privately and has sent numerous devotees there to have their fortunes told. In the interests of investigating this phenomenon, my wife and I went for a reading - though we were skeptical about the weird and wonderful claims made for the Brighu nadi and the Suka nadi. This Brighu-nadi reader Pandya's predictions for our lives have very signally failed to come to pass and most have already been shown to be false by events.

The Sastri 'prophecy' could easily have been contrived by a Sai follower, which the Bangalore 'shastri' who wrote it had been for a long time. He and one of his sons made his living from these 'readings' of sages' prophesies, his Sai Baba prophesies promoted his business (and that of his soothsaying son) very considerably among all the followers in those days! There is no scrap of evidence that this prophecy is other than sheer propaganda by a zealous devotee who intends to promote Sai Baba by any means possible. There is no photograph or scan of the alleged palm leaf in question, nowhere is a source to the original text preserved, and there is not even a direct translation of the alleged text, only a general summary of the shastri's interpretations. These soothsayers like Narayana Shastri work mostly on intuition and astrological data when they give readings for individuals, just as do many palmists, Tarot readers, and others who make their living by such doubtful methods. So another reason for doubting the authenticity of this evidence is that the shastri was doubtless using a birth date for Sathya Sai Baba which, due to official school records of his age, is now highly in doubt. He would certainly not have been able to carry out the normal astrological method - measuring Sai Baba' s shadow at a particular time of day to establish which palm leaf applied.

COMMENT: As has been shown earlier here, we can certainly not confidently ascribe genuineness and credibility to the Nadi predictions. "There is said to be remarkable accord" - this is vague hearsay, for no known authoritative sources are ever stated nor documented. There are no photographs detailing any of the of alleged palm leaf texts referring to Sathya Sai Baba. Nowhere is a source to original text preserved, and there is not even direct translations of the alleged text because firstly they have to be selected from a mass of palm leaves on astrological data - most often got by the doubtful method of measuring the shadow of the person involved and noting the time and location (which was surely never done by Narayana Shastri in the case off Sathya Sai Baba) or by having a correct, accurate birth date (and Sathya Sai baba's alleged birth date is contradicted by several official public records of his school days -based on several sources, it is reckoned out that his birthdate was most likely October 4th 1929. see here ). Secondly, these nadi readers have to interpret the very compact Sanskrit text through intuition. They even allow questions about what the text says and they answer as if virtually everything one wishes to know were to be found there!

The various 'nadis' are basis for one of the biggest 'occult' money-earning scams in India, practiced by Hindu astrologers and 'shastris' (i.e. who have reached a certain level in the Sanskrit language). Many hundreds of such palm leaf soothsayers are to be found, but it is most unlikely that they all have leaves aged anything from 400 to 5000 years old, as is invariably claimed (though many are but copies of earlier leaves). The business of faking copies is also rife. E.V. Narayana Shastri asked Sathya Sai baba to bless publication of his Suka Nadi prophesies, but he was told 'no!'. Later he went ahead anyhow and is - so far as can be discovered - the only nadi interpreter who has discovered the remarkable predictions about Sathya Sai Baba! Since the supposed ages who wrote such nadis are a few (Suka, Brighu, Kumar) how can it be that the predictions about Sai Baba were so unique that no one else can corroborate them or provide objective evidence of any kind? Is it just a matter of 'believe what you want' yet again? Further, considering how rewarding any scientific confirmation would be for their fortune-telling business, none have subjected any palm leaves to independent historical researchers or presented them for scientific examination or even carbon-dating. Not so far as can be discovered. In short, there are plenty of sound reasons to doubt their authenticity. Yet more are detailed here below as the Nadi prophesies are examined point by point:-

The following are the highlights of the prophesies contained in the Nadi scrolls as mentioned in Sai literature by various authors:

· He will be a great incarnation of the Godhead Vishnu, Shirdi Sai and several other Gods and Goddesses and will have all powers of God.

COMMENT: The validity of his claim that he is a reincarnation of Shirdi Sai Baba is under deep suspicion for a number of reasons. It has been said that the name of the saint of Shirdi was completely unknown in the region when Sai Baba as a young man claimed he was the reincarnation. This has been proven to be entirely wrong. The name was well known and it was the fame of Shirdi Sai Baba that Sathya Narayana Raju appropriated to himself as best he could. Despite this, most followers of Shirdi Sai Baba reject Sathya as his reincarnation, most notably the official Shirdi Sai Sansthan, whose web site avoids any positive mention whatever of Sathya Sai Baba. A message from the (Shirdi) Sai Baba Trust in The Mumbai Mirror stated:-"Please do not believe anybody pretending to be a reincarnation of Shri Sai Baba. Shri Sai Baba has no disciple, nor an heir and nobody is seated on his aasan." Further, Manoj R Nair wrote in the Mumbai Mirror, Wednesday, January 11, 2006 "Sigh! Baba - Followers of Sai Baba file case against devotees of Sathya Sai of Puttaparthi to restrain them from calling him a reincarnation of the Shirdi seer".

· He will be born for protecting and propagating Dharma (righteousness) and he will have a mission to fulfil.

He will have healing powers and the power to cure himself by sprinkling water. He will use his healing powers not only for the people of this world, but also for the beings of the other worlds and on the higher planes of existence.(Devas, i.e. celestial gods and goddesses). At times He will take on the illness of the others.

COMMENT: It is suspicious that the prophecy about sprinkling water on himself first 'came to light' only after the incident in which he did this, having seemed to suffer brain haemorrhages causing paralysis of half of his body during the week or so before the 1963 Guru Poornima festival in his Prashanthi Nilayam ashram. When the crowd was anxiously waiting to see if he would appear, he staggered out with support to his chair where all could see him, then sprinkled water with one hand on his paralyzed side and became as fit as a fiddle. Most doubters were confounded and his popularity increased. However, he is know to have been regarded very highly as being a realistic actor since childhood, when he began to perform with the travelling family troupe. There is no guarantee that that incident was not carefully and secretly staged by him from the start, not least so as to impress his closest servitors like Kasturi (who had his mostly private doubts, despite his eulogies).

There are of course countless spiritual healers of more and less credible kinds. The phenomenon is not well understood and scientific medicine has not succeeded in researching the apparently genuine cases by any means. More on this here 'Faith healing, self-suggestion and Sai Baba'

· He will have power to extend the life of deserving persons. When the Kali yuga influence grows even more intense, people will see His true might and will acknowledge that He is the Supreme Power. Then mankind will bow to him as a great Emperor and He will be revered as the greatest living being, MAHAPURUSHA, in the world.

COMMENT: We can most confidently state that day will not come within his lifetime, or ever - for that matter, considering the huge damage he has himself done to his reputation. His many false and ignorant statements alone would ensure that, apart from his sleight-of-hand 'materialization' as revealed by video footage and testified by many who were at his interviews and countless false predictions and promises, constant boasting, trying to get recognised by the Duke of Edinburgh, to get a Nobel Prize and his frequent ungodly and outright rude words to people, constant spreading of slander and rumours etc.

· Sri Sathya Sai Baba will perform great miracles.

· He will also retain youthful look, age notwithstanding
COMMENT: By what stretch of the imagination can one say that Sathya Sai Baba has retained his youthful looks?

· He will be Brahmachari. He will establish Ashrams, educational and medical institutions.

COMMENT: A Brahmachari means a totally celibate person. But he stands widely accused of homosexual activities, even by some of his closest followers, such as Dr. Naresh Bhatia, who told the journalist Mick Brown of the Daily Telegraph that he had been in a sex relationship with Sathya Sai Baba for years and that many, many boys had been sexually used and abused by him, including one under-age boy he personally examined and found anal rape had taken place. Boys sleep in his bedroom apartment, and have done for decades, see here. Perhaps Sathya Sai Baba interprets 'brahmachari' as apparently a fair quite a number of other Indian males do, someone who abstains from sex with females? Sathya Sai Baba has been accused of sex abuse by scores of persons... see short clips/transcripts of two outspoken testifiers on the BBC documentary 'The Secret Swami' here and here
For a comprehensive overview see here

· He will have equal attitude towards all men and women. His glory will spread and many people will get near him. But all cannot have His grace due to past sins.

COMMENT: Anyone who has been to the ashrams will know that, whatever Sathya Sai Baba claims as his attitude is towards the sexes, his entire outward attitude is one of discrimination of women. His supposed equal compassion for them is too well hidden for his words to be matched by his actions, which he claims is the chief mark by which we can distinguish a genuine spiritual teacher for a dishonest one. Not only does he give far more time to men in every respect - especially his male students (who receive nearly all his time compared with the females) and his male followers, to whom he gives by far the most of his time at darshan, but he nominates men to 95% of the positions in his various institutions and his Sathya Sai Organization. Women are relegated to a figurative 'back seat' in all events with the exception of on one day per annum 'Ladies Day', which he introduced in the 1990s no doubt due to the criticism which reached his ears from many women and also male devotees from Western countries where women's rights are taken seriously both in legislation and practice in a way which Indian women can probably only dream of for a rather distant future.

The linking in the Suka Nadi prophecy of the statement about women and about past sins may well reflect the widespread prejudice in India that women are born as females (i.e. as an inferior gender) because of their 'karma', which in the Hindu world-view results from past good deeds and sins in one or more former lifetimes. Sathya Sai Baba's has spoken on women occasionally, praising them as mothers, dutiful spouses and child bearers and rearers while frequently rejecting ideas like their being fit to rule a country or even carry out traditional male professions. He holds in the main that they should be home makers rather than aspire to occupations that are traditionally a male preserve in India and other Eastern countries. He also makes various contradictory statements about women and their roles - probably all according to the audience and such considerations. See Sai Baba's "teaching' on women

· He will be PREMASWAROOPA, ANANDASWAROOPA, AND JNANASWAROOPA. (Personification of Love, Bliss and Wisdom)

COMMENT: That he is no personification of pure love is seen in his lectern-thumping, hate-packed and directly untruthful Christmas Discourse, 2000 and, of course, in the profuse allegations of sexual abuse and proof of murder cover-up. As to Bliss, he has become stone-faced and morose-looking most of the time, except occasionally when he smiles for the cameras. Students reported on the Convocation address 22-10-2008, as follows:-
"Swami made it clear that He has no enemies. Every one loves Him. Many people may have some misunderstandings about Me but it is only their IMAGINATION.. I have no enemies.. I love all. I am always smiling. Many people think how can I keep smiling? I don't like castoroil faces.. When you all are happy, I will be happy."

Apart from his stupendous presumption that 'everyone' loves him - when he is not known at all to the majority of humanity, this shows how he has to put on a brave face and is unhappy when his devotes are, as they so often seem to be when begging for his intervention and much more. He himself says he "puts up" a smiling countenance (see snaps of him above!) in a discourse in October 2008:-
“The students… …wonder how Swami is able to put up such a smiling countenance (my emphasis) in the midst of great criticism and how Swami could put up such great patience!".

However, an Indian lady devotee in Norway with connections to some of Sathya Sai Baba's inner circle sent out an e-mail telling how she had learned that he sits and cries most of the day. Strangely enough, a very similar account was given to me by a US lady devotee of long standing from Hawaii called Kanta Devi. She had long known Prof. V.K. Gokak well - one of the closest servitors at that time. Gokak was visiting Sai Baba daily in his Trayee Brindavan apartment where he sat suffering a hairline fracture in the hip joint (after his first accident in his bathroom after slipping on the soap). He told Kanta Devi, who he knew very well, that Sai Baba sat in an armchair all day and was very depressed, shedding bitter tears each time Gokak visited him. Kanta Devi was very concerned about this and asked my wife and I how it could be explained. Of course, blind devotees would have said that "it is all Swami's divine play which no one can understand". Indeed, as soon as one throws away the last vestige of judgement and common sense, nothing Sai Baba says or does can be understood, as it is just play and has meanings he alone knows. This is the depths to which renunciation of an independent mind can bring anyone who is not very careful.

· He will show Himself in many places simultaneously, though He will actually be in one place and there will be many divine acts and manifestations.

(e) According to the world famous prophecy-maker Nostradamus who recorded his prophecies in his book “Centuries”, some 400 years ago, a very great leader would be born in South India (land surrounded by the three seas) He would have unlimited wisdom and power, and He would be an immortal ruler. With His efforts, world war would be over, and India’s spiritual message to humanity would spread far and wide. He would observe Thursday as the Holy Day.

COMMENT: Nearly all of the fanciful interpretations, like this highly doubtful one, of Nostradamus' vague and ambiguous Latin texts have been refuted by experts, not least here. An example of the 'spin': a land surrounded by three seas could fit many lands other than India. That he has 'Unlimited wisdom' is proven to be completely untrue as his ignorance of many subjects, and belief in superstitious nonsense is clearly documented fro his own published statements, and on a large scale (eg. see here). That the 2nd world war is over due to Sathya Sai Baba's efforts is another outrageous claim. In 2002, Sathya Sai Baba was recorded in a group interview as saying that all war would be at an end on earth by 2007, and that the Golden Age would begin then (see statement and analysis here) The date predicted has come and gone, since when the continuing war in Afghanistan and a new brief inter-state war in Georgia took place, to name the most obvious ones, to which list most people would add Iraq, Sudan, the Congo...

(f) Sri Aurobindo, the great seer of modern India, who was in total penance for the descent of the Supernatural Power upon this Earth for the uplift of humanity, terminated his outside activities and went into complete solitude on 24th November, 1926. His reason for the withdrawal was that the embodiment of the Overmental Delight Consciousness, Lord Krishna, had once again come down to the terrestrial sphere. Suffice it to note that the advent of the Lord of our narrative had occurred just on the preceding day.

COMMENT: photostats of register pages from three schools attended by Sathya Narayana Raju (who later usurped the already famous name of the Shirdi saint 'Sai Baba') show a quite different story. According to the registers, Sathya Sai Baba was born 3 years before the propitious astrological day, just after Aurobindo said an incarnation was descending.

(g) Bhagavan Baba has also overwhelmed the Christian world by declaring that it was He who sent Christ to the world, and that His incarnation had, indeed been prophesied by Christ and recorded in the Bible over

1,900 years ago. The extract of that startling revelation made by Sri Sathya Sai Baba before a group of Christians on the Christmas Day in 1975 is given below (and scanned on the right):

“There is one point that I cannot but bring to your special notice today. At the time when Jesus was merging in the supreme principle of divinity, he communicated some news to his followers which has been interpreted in a variety of ways by commentators and those who relish the writings on writings and meaning upon meaning, until it is all swelled up into a huge mess. The statement itself has been manipulated and tangled in a conundrum. The statement is simple : “He who sent me among you, will come again”, and he pointed to a lamb. The lamb is, merely a symbol, a sign. It stands for the voice ‘Ba-Ba’; the announcement was of the advent of Baba. ‘His name will be truth’. Christ declared. ‘Sathya means Truth’. ‘He wears a robe of red, a blood red robe’. (Here Baba pointed to the robe He was wearing). ‘He will be short, with crown (of hair)’. The lamb is the sign and symbol of love. Christ did not declare that He would come again, He said ‘He who sent me will come again’. That Ba-Ba is this Baba’. ( pointing to Himself)”.

Sathya, the first name of Baba means Truth. “His eyes were like a flame of fire”. Baba’s eyes have such an intensity, are so full of life and seem to indicate with dazzling glow. “He wore many crowns on his head”. Baba’s Afro style hair gives it the appearance of a crown. “The robe he wore was covered with blood”, alludes to ochre robe that Baba wears. “His name is the word of God” is incidentally the meaning of Bhagavan.

(i) An article published in the November, 1985 issue of “Expans” magazine reported thus: Among the various prophesies made in ancient scriptures of world, and those by sages and seers as contained in palm leaf volumes carefully preserved by Sanskrit Scholars, none appears to be so amazing as the detailed account of the advent of Sai Baba, as an incarnation of God in 20th century as reported to have been given by Prophet Mohammed. According to the article published in “Two Worlds” magazine of London, an Iranian writer, browsing, in a book stall in Teheran, was irresistibly drawn to a huge volume. It was the 14th edition of the discourses of Mohammed, in 25 volumes “The Ocean Of Light” . It is claimed that these discourses were collected together some seven hundred years after the prophet’s death. Volume 13 of these discourses is called “ Mehdi Moud” in Arabic, which means “The Great Teacher that was promised”. The teacher is also referred to as “Master of the World”, “Master of Time” ..etc., Mohammed is quoted by Peggy Mason as having indicated a large number of signs by which the great teacher could be recognised. Prominent amongst these hallmarks, which remarkably tally with Sai Baba, are as follows: All things you will ask from God, He will give you. All the treasures of the world are under His feet. He will give gifts that are light in weight. His devotees will collect under a great tree ( the huge Banyan tree, that has been since removed in Brindavan campus). Many of them will have a spot on their forehead (the Hindu Kumkum dot). He will go around amongst the devotees and touch their heads with His hand. Every eye that sees Him will be happy, not only humans but disembodied souls. His devotees will crane their necks to see Him. He will live for 95 years. He will live at hill (Prasanthi Nilayam is on a hill). His house will be square. He will make the world light and full of peace. So as not to be deceived, you should know that the Master of the World will bring things out of His body and through His mouth.

COMMENT: Yes... apparently so. And when he fails he blames his collapse on the weight of the small egg-shaped golden lingam, saying it weighed 3 tons! This is undeniable as it was all filmed by the BBC very clearly. Why does he hold a large towel to his mouth just before the lingam supposedly emerges in every instance since 2000?

"Yuga shall start from 1999 and during the days of His next Avatar as Prema Sai which will be from 2030 onwards, the world will see the best period of human civilisation. However, Baba says from now till 1999 there will be many natural calamities, but He will exercise His powers and influence as Avatar to prevent Nuclear War. He has told His devotees not to get out of the umbrella of His Divine Protective Grace lest they be subjected to harm at the hands of nature’s fury which will indeed be raging till 1999." (The matter contained in paragraphs (h) and (I) above, has been taken from the book “Pralaya 1999”, by M. R. Narendra).

COMMENT: "Till 1999?" After that date we had the greatest tsunami in living memory! Year 2000 was when nature began to take off as regards really destructive weather conditions! New Orleans devastated, Large parts of India (Orissa et.) and Bangladesh likewise... and similar crises in many countries around the world. Global warming has caused massive loss of glaciers and polar ice fields. According to many ecologists, if the Himalayan glaciers continue to melt as they are now, the life-giving Ganges will dry up before very long, creating desert condition for the most productive area of India. Unless human society manages to counteract the terrible trend. M.R. Narendra's 'Pralaya 1999(i.e. end of the world') is totally discredited, yet saibabaofindia.com still foolishly includes this religious nonsense.

"The author has mentioned in the beginning of this chapter about the characteristics (Signs) of an Avatar. Let us delve more on this: The story of Sri Krishna, universally accepted as Poorna Avatar - the Total Advent - is the clearest proof of the immaculate conception of the Divine Child. As the Bhagavatha narrates, the agony of Mother Earth compels the compassions of the Omniwill into the resolve to incarnate as Sustainer, Solace and Saviour of mankind. Brahma hears the voice of the all pervasive God Vishnu that conveys the blessing and the boon to the suffering supplicants who have come before Him. He announces: “The Bhagavan Himself, the Almighty Resident in All, moved by His own Will , takes birth in the house of Vasudeva” (Vasudeva “Griha”)."

Comment: What does "universally accepted" mean? Virtually everyone in the world? Certainly therefore Krishna is not so accepted - for there are # Christianity: 2.1 billion # Islam: 1.5 billion # Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist: 1.1 billion # Chinese traditional religion: 394 million # Buddhism: 376 million # primal-indigenous: 300 million # African Traditional & Diasporic: 100 million for a start!   But only 900 million Hindus. Not all of them accept Krishna, for there are Vishnu-worshippers and the Shiva worshippers for a start who often do not agree with one another.

After Devaki, the consort of Vasudeva, had given birth to seven children and had offered each one of them to her brother as she had promised, the Will decided that it was time for the Advent to take place. The Bhagavatha says : “The Lord who is the Sovereign of the Universe desired to enter the mind of Vasudeva as a facet of Himself in order to confer fearlessness on good and Godly”. ‘Amsa’ , the Sanskrit word used in the text rendered here as ‘facet’, is usually interpreted as meaning ‘part’. But the Universal Absolute cannot be partitioned; the ancient commentator Anandagiri elucidates the word as ‘Svechha nirmithena maayaamayena Swaroopena’ (with a body moulded by His own Will and capable of deluding the World into the belief that it is human). “Then, that indestructible Divine principle which was destined to establish peace and prosperity in the World, was accepted into her mind, as the Eastern sky accepts the moon or as the pupil receives the illuminating mantra from the guru” .

The emphasis on the ‘Mana (mind) of both the father and the mother announces to us that the Avatar’s advent occurs in ultra-physical ways. The mother serves as the inaugural Vessel to contain the Cosmic Essence and allows it to unfold as its Will dictates.

The incarnation of the Buddha too was equally marvellous. The following lines are from the epic poem ‘Light of Asia’ by Edwin Arnold: ‘The Devas knew the signs and said, “Buddha will go again to help the World”. “ Yes” spoke He. “Now I go to help the World. I will go down among the Sakyas under the Southward snows of Himalaya where pious people live and a just king”. That night the wife of king Sudhodana, Maya, the Queen, asleep beside her Lord dreamt a strange dream, “that a star from Heaven, splendid, six-rayed, in colour rosy-pearl, whereof the token was an Elephant, six tusked and white as milk of Kamadhenu, shot through the void and, shining into her entered her womb upon the right”. The Buddha formed the body for Himself within that maternal niche, conferring the status of father on Sudhodana, and Maya meditated on the Sidhartha moon, in the sky of her womb until the time when all could witness the glory of the child in the cradle.

Mary, the mother of Jesus, was similarly blessed. “The Angel Gabriel was sent from God to Virgin spoused to a man whose name was Joseph of the House of David, and the Virgin’s name was Mary. And the angel said unto her, “Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in the womb and bring forth a son and shall call his name Jesus”…. Then said Mary unto the angel, “How shall this be, seeing I know not of a man?” And Angel answered unto her, “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also the holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And so it did come to pass as the World knows.”

Swami has often declared that this Sai Avatar descended because the Saints and Sadhus of all the lands prayed for His arrival. “I chose the mother who was to experience My closeness during gestation. The Avatar alone has this freedom of choice. In other cases Karma determines the time and space, the group and the grade.

Years later as Swami sat one day surrounded by his devotees, there was an abrupt interruption. A Pundit well versed in the holy Puranas felt a sudden urge to ask a question. “Swami; was your Incarnation a Pravesa (an entrance) or a Prasava (Enciente) ?” Shri N.Kasturi could not quite understand the relevance of the interruption that jolted everybody away from the jocular mood of the talk, but Swami knew the reason. Turning to Easwaramma seated in front, He said, “Tell Rama Sarma what happened that day near the well after your mother-in-law had warned you”. Mother said, “She had dreamed of Satyanarayan Deva and she cautioned me that I should not be frightened if something happens to me through the Will of God. That morning when I was at the well drawing water, a big ball of the blue light came rolling towards me and I fainted and fell. I felt, it glided into me”. Swami turned to Rama Sarma with a smile. “There you have the answer; I was not begotten. It was Pravesa, not Prasava”. (Thus a divine incarnation takes place by a process of impregnation which occurs by the Divine Will itself and not by the natural and normal human process)

COMMENT: On the question of virgin births - this is entirely a belief which has, of course, no reasonable evidence to support it. Such claims have been made for many supposedly divinely born persons. The obvious widely believed example is that of the Virgin Mary's mothering of Jesus. while other claimed virgin births include Ghengis Khan, Lao Tzu, Buhhha, Romulus, Dionysus, Alexander the Great, Zoroaster, Karna, Ra, and figures in Greek and other ancient mythologies and numerous other lesser known figures. All these stories belong to the realm of untestable religious mythology and subjective belief. Among reasons for claiming virgin birth - as in the case of the Virgin Mary - include the desire to prove the fulfilment of former prophesies, to refute claims of illegitimate birth due to adultery (as historically claimed of Mary in early texts). There are precedents in legend and myth, particularly in the Old Testament of the Bible. In the Bhagavatha Purana, Krishna is supposed to have been born by the mental transmission from Vasudeva, which is loosely referred to by many Hindus (including Sathya Sai Baba) as a 'virgin birth' but Krishna was recorded as being the eight born son of Devaki - it was a strange kind of virgin here. The same goes for Easwaramma, mother of Sathya Narayana Raju (Sai Baba), who already had a son and had suffered several miscarriages prior to the "virgin birth'.

"To get back to the period when Easwaramma was pregnant. Kondama Raju had dreams of Venka Avadhootha in which he was instructing him to be prepared - but for what he was not told. And Pedda Venkapa Raju, the father, was awakened at night by sweet musical notes emanating from the string and percussion instruments kept in the ‘rehearsal room’. Angels, Gandharvas, Kinnaras? Musical Ancestors? He knocked at the doors of astrologers. Telling them about his attempts to know what these meant, he described his tension at the time and the comforting explanation of an astrologer at Bukkapatnam was, “Is the music sweet and soothing?” he asked. “The notes and beats were thrilling,” Pedda Venkapa Raju answered. “Is there a pregnant woman in the house?” When told “Yes”, he predicted that the Gods were playing music to charm the baby in the womb. He recited a verse in Sanskrit from a book on horoscopes to please the bewildered father.

It had come at last, that moment chosen by the Lord to appear on Earth in His incarnated form. It was the month of Karthika. Monday. The day of worship for Siva, was about to glide into Tuesday, the day dedicated to Ganesh. It was 5.06 A.M. I.S.T. on 23rd November,1926, and the reigning star was Ardra. From 4 O’clock that morning Lakshamma, the mother-in-law was at the Satyanarayana Pooja at the home of the priest. She was called back home more than once as the delivery neared but she was determined not to return until she could bring back the deity’s Prasad for Easwaramma which she could procure only at the conclusion of the ceremony. At last she came, she gave. It was accepted and relished. And the son was born."