Jain Samaj Wishes Sathya Sai Baba Quick Recovery & Long Life

We pray for the quick recovery and good health of Sathya Sai Baba. Baba’s individual crusade against illiteracy, unemployment, poor health services has benefited to millions of individuals and improved their life all over the world. Baba has shown what the true meaning of religion and humanity in a civilized world. All his life, he focused his thoughts and actions together for the benefit of common person. Since, no one is eternally going to live on this earth, we have to reconcile that, he may leave us one day, for his next journey. Whenever he leaves us, it will be a great loss to the humanity. However, we will always remember him, pray for him and wish him good.

Life Sketch - Sathya Sai Baba, born as Sathyanarayana Raju on 23 November 1926 is a popular Indian spiritual figure. Sathya Sai Baba has claimed to be the reincarnation of the great spiritual guru, Sai Baba of Shirdi.

Sathya Sai Baba and his organizations support a variety of free educational institutions, hospitals, and other charitable works in India and abroad. The number of Sathya Sai Baba adherents was estimated to be around 8 million. The Sathya Sai Organization reports that there are an estimated 1,200 Sathya Sai Baba Centers in 114 countries worldwide. In India itself, Sai Baba draws followers from predominantly upper-middle-class, urban sections of society. A cultural icon in his home country, Sai Baba has attracted presidents and prime ministers from India and other countries.

Sathyanarayana Raju was born to Eswaramma and Peddavenkama Raju Ratnakaram in the village of Puttaparthi,Andhra Pradesh, India. Almost everything known about his life stems from the hagiography that has grown around him, the presentation of narratives that hold special meaning to his devotees and are considered evidence of his divine nature.

His birth, which his mother Eswaramma asserted was by miraculous conception, was also said to be heralded by miracles. As a child, he was described as unusually intelligent and charitable. On 8 March 1940, while living with his elder brother Seshama Raju in Uravakonda, Sathya was apparently stung by a scorpion. He lost consciousness for several hours. Within the next few days there was a noticeable change in Sathya's behavior. There were symptoms of laughing and weeping, eloquence and silence. He began to sing Sanskrit verses, a language of which he had no prior knowledge. Doctors believed his behavior to be hysteria. His parents brought Sathya home to Puttaparthi. Concerned, they took him to many priests, doctors and exorcists.On 23 May 1940, Sathya called household members and materialized sugar candy and other items. His father became furious upon seeing this, thinking his son was bewitched. He took a stick and asked him who he was. To this Sathya announced calmly and firmly I am Sai Baba, a reference to Sai Baba of Shirdi. He proclaimed himself to be a reincarnation of Sai Baba of Shirdi—a saint who became famous in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in Maharashtra, and who had died eight years before Sathya was born.

Later that year, Sathya Sai Baba declared that he had no worldly relationship with anyone, and around this time, devotees began to gather to him. In 1940, Sathya Sai Baba began to travel to Madras and elsewhere in South India and soon had a large regional following.

In 1944, a mandir (temple) for Sathya Sai Baba's devotees was built near the village. It is now referred to as the old mandir. The construction of Prashanthi Nilayam, the current ashram, began in 1948 and after 2 years, was completed in 1950 . In 1957 Sathya Sai Baba went on a North Indian temple tour. In 1954, Sathya Sai Baba established a small free General Hospital in the village of Puttaparthi.

In 1963, Sathya Sai Baba suffered a stroke and four severe heart attacks. It is believed by some that he healed himself of these, and on recovering announced that he would be reborn as Prema Sai Baba in the state of Karnataka.

On 29 June 1968, Sathya Sai Baba made his first and only trip overseas, to Uganda. During a discourse in Nairobi, Sathya Sai Baba stated, "I have come to light the lamp of Love in your hearts, to see that it shines day by day with added luster. I have not come on behalf of any exclusive religion. I have not come on a mission of publicity for a sect or creed or cause, nor have I come to collect followers for a doctrine. In 1968, he established Dharmakshetra or Sathyam Mandir in Mumbai. In 1973, he established Shivam Mandir in Hyderabad. On 19 January 1981, in Chennai he inaugurated the Sundaram Mandir. In March 1995 he started the water project to provide drinking water to 1.2 million people in the drought-prone Rayalaseema region in Anantapur. In 2001 Sathya Sai Baba established another free Super Speciality hospital in Bangalore to benefit the poor. In April 1999 he inaugurated the Ananda Nilayam Mandir in Madurai, Tamil Nadu.

Since 2005, Sathya Sai Baba has used a wheelchair and his failing health has forced him to make fewer public appearances. In 2006 he suffered a fractured hip when a student standing on an iron stool slipped, and both boy and stool fell on Sathya Sai Baba. He gives darshan now from a car or his porte chair . He is also known as a singer.

It was reported that Satya Sai Baba was admitted to the hospital at Prashantigram at Puttaparthi on March 28, 2011 following respiration-related problems.

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