Sathya Sai Baba, the Divine Alchemist

By Tina Sadhwani

It has been said that at every turning point and every great epoch of the earth’s existence there has
often been one extraordinary being standing at the leading edge of light, unravelling the
consciousness in which the transcendent descends into the physical, in which the cosmic pulse of
the universe converges to a point, to a singularity that is at once human with its manifested
boundaries, as well as suprahuman, displaying its infinite capabilities. Both heaven and earth have
collaborated in the sacred alchemy of such a creation and in the divine birth of such an
extraordinary being. In the language of the Hindus, such a sacred being is referred to as the Avatar.
He is the direct, super-conscious descendent of the same force that shapes the universe and renders
it its harmonies and balance. He symbolizes the unity of all existence and the pinnacle of the divine
intelligence that is diffused in all things.

To many around the world who have experienced him, Sri Sathya Sai Baba, is the living
embodiment of such a force and spiritual descent, that unifies all the planes of existence, from the
cosmic to the planetary and finally to the individual, guiding humankind to the next stage of
evolution, signifying the ultimate transformation and alchemy of Spirit and opening us to the
possibilities of a higher dynamism, a higher principle by which we may actualize our own greatest
potentials. He therein points us to our own hidden depths for the divinity of which he is an
extension is immanent in every one of us. As he says himself that we all are integral parts of the
same omnipresent reality in which we are all inseparably connected, from which we all emanate and
to which we all return. To recognize that we are vibrations of the same sacred essence however
demands a sense of freedom of perception that uplifts us from the narrow precepts of our own mind.

The work of Sathya Sai Baba on this planet aims at sustaining harmony and balance that transforms
the earth-consciousness in more life-affirming ways. He has declared that he is here to restore India
to her former spiritual glory and to spread the message and light of spirituality to the whole world.
His work spans both the spiritual and physical realms providing the vehicle and the means by which
satya (the truth of being) and dharma (the universal balance and cosmic order) are re-established.
The evolutionary task that Sai Baba faces therein plummets his active energies right into the global
eye of the storm, into the universal nexus that perpetually grinds the forces of light against the
forces of darkness. Howard Murphet, an author who had deeply studied and personally witnessed
the spiritual phenomenon that is Sai Baba had said in his book ‘Walking the path with Sai Baba that
“there is no doubt, of course, that Sathya Sai Baba is very active and extremely dynamic in the
world of men. He is not the withdrawn yogi, spending his time in meditation. He is essentially the
doer, the one who joins battle with the dark forces that rise sharply against the power of light he
brings”.

Sathya Sai Baba’s illuminating light and selfless service has indeed reached out to and uplifted
millions of people in the world. His devotees all around the world, in turn have been zealously
dedicated to voluntary service towards uplifting humanity. His charitable organizations and
networks have established super-speciality hospitals with state-of-the-art technology that provide all
services, including open-heart surgeries for free. These hospitals have been a boon and refuge to
lakhs of people from over 500 villages and poverty stricken areas in India. Baba’s social welfare
programmes have constantly worked at providing free quality medical care to all. He has also
established schools providing comprehensive education from kindergarten to post-graduate level,
with all tuition made available for free. Every year these schools yield the finest graduates of India
who excel not only in superior academic intelligence but are grounded in strong values of self-
discipline, integrity and spiritual wisdom. There are also many Sathya Sai Baba schools operating in
other countries and over five hundred schools in the world utilizing Baba’s ‘Education in Human
Values’ curriculum. In addition to this Sathya Sai Baba has created vast water supply systems and
canals for draught-stricken areas in South India that now provides water to millions of people.
These are all standing testimonies to the power of Sathya Sai Baba’s love, reinforcing his
benevolent vision of making healthcare, education and water available for free to all.

Moreover, Baba has also brought back the ancient and illuminating wisdom of the Vedic era back
into our lives as he reminds us in his own words “My love towards the Veda is equalled only by my
love towards Humanity… Every human being must revere the Vedas. It is the very foundation of
life. The welfare of the nation and the prosperity of the world are dependent on the Vedas… The
Vedas are a means of establishing a link with the Divine”.
Sai Baba has essentially been a constant source of love, wisdom and inspiration to millions of
people in the world, guiding them consciously as well as subconsciously through troubled times.
Yet these are only some of the visible and tangible aspects of his selfless work, while the vaster
range of his divine activities operate in transmuting the deeper regions of the world-soul.

Nonetheless, despite his far reaching positive influences, Sathya Sai Baba has often been criticized
by rationalist organizations, cynics and others as a spurious and bogus miracle worker who
capitalizes on the superstitions and blind ignorance of the masses. The blind masses that absurdly
range from the common man to world famous cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar and Sunil Gavaskar,
to eminent award winning doctors like Devi Prasad Shetty and Dr. N. Rangabashyam to superlative
business entrepreneurs like Noah Samara (CEO Worldspace) and Sunil Bharti Mittal (Chairman and
Managing Director of Bharti Telecom) to former presidents like Francisco Flores (of El Salvadore)
and A.P.J Abdul Kalam (of India) to top echelons from the world of finance like Duvvuri Subbarao
(RBI Governor) and K.R. Ramamoorthy (ING VYSYA Bank Chairman) to Royal Families like that
of the King and Queen of Nepal, Princess Astrid of Belgium and Raja of Venkatagiri to Former
Chief Justice of India- Justice Ranganath Mishra to Civil Aviation Minister- Praful Patel to Hard
Rock Cafe founder- Isaac Tigrett and many more, to name only a few, who have all (for over sixty
years) been drawn from various parts of the world and from diverse backgrounds to this
controversial so-called magician.
Travelling across the continents and the vast stretches of space, simply to witness a man perform
magic tricks would seem rather irrational and impractical an act to expect of such eminent
personalities. Moreover, most of the people who are now Baba’s devotees experienced his miracles
and transformative blessings long before they even heard his name.

Sathya Sai Baba’s power is indeed the power of divinity and his magic is in simple words the magic
of love that binds and unifies. However, the alchemical processes that Baba engages in, be it
spellbinding magic, powers of materialization, unconditional love or selfless service can only be
fathomed by a mind that has raised itself high enough to apprehend the mysterious workings of the
Cosmic Mind. Mystic-sage Sri Aurobindo, in his understanding of the operations of a higher
supreme reality affirms that “what is magic to our finite reason is the logic of the Infinite. It is a
greater reason, a greater logic because it is more vast, subtle, complex in its operations: it
comprehends all the data which our observation fails to seize, it deduces from them results which
neither our deduction nor induction can anticipate because our conclusions and inferences have a
meagre foundation… If we observe a happening, we judge and explain it from the result and from a
glimpse of its most external constituents, circumstances or causes; but each happening is the
outcome of a complex nexus of forces which we do not and cannot observe, because all forces are
to us invisible, — but they are not invisible to spiritual vision of the Infinite”.

The divided mind that subsequently divides life and the world into natural and supernatural, into
reason and faith, into god and creation, or spiritual and material therein takes the limits of its
perception and dichotomies of its thought for the limits of life. The sharp opposition made by
rationality and reason against that which it cannot accommodate into its finite vision it dismisses as
the delusions of another’s mind. However, “the most glaring shortcoming of rationalists,” says
author Bill Aitken, “is their habit of leaving love out of the equation. Their approach is cerebral and
misses out on ordinary human emotions. The rationalists use Sai Baba to attack what is in fact their
main enemy – the freedom to cherish the world of Spirit”.

This universe of space, time, galaxies, stars, life, mind, material objects and myriad beings can
indeed be conceived of as a well contrived mathematical formula, a mechanical operation of mere
physical forces and equations that can be rationally defined. But it can equally be conceived of as a
divine symphony, a single magnanimous living entity, a magical phenomenon and synergy of
cosmic proportions that can only be known as intimately and as inexplicably as a lover knows the
rapture of love, a dancer knows the ecstasy of dance, a musician knows the power of universal
harmonies or a mother knows the joy of creation, for such is the mystical nature of the power and
love of Sathya Sai Baba, in the grasp of which we are indelibly and forever transformed.

“I have come to reconstruct the ancient highway to God; to instruct all in the essence of Vedas, to
shower on all this precious gift; to protect Sanathana Dharma, the Ancient Wisdom and to preserve
it. My Mission is to serve happiness and so I am always happy to come among you, not once but
twice, thrice as often as you want me. To set right those who have taken to the wrong path and to
protect the good, I will be born again and again. I have come to light the lamp of Love in your
hearts, to see that it shines day by day with added lustre.” ~Sathya Sai Baba