History and origins of the Sathya Sai Baba movement Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
The Indian guru Sathya Sai Baba is claimed to have been born in 1926 as Sathyanarayana Raju, in or across the river from the village Puttaparthi in the state Andhra Pradesh of India. Devotees honor his birthday as 23 November 1926. Some critics like Hari Sampath state that his school register proves that he was born in 1929. The scholar Brian Steel disputes that this is sufficient evidence to conclude that this is the case. His mission started in the early 1940s. Then he claimed to be the reincarnation of the fakir Sai Baba and subsequently changed his name. He publicly stated the date as October 20th 1940 and that it was a Monday when he threw away his schoolbooks on the way to school. However, that date was actually a Sunday.Many visitors to Puttaparthi were stimulated by stories of miracles allegedly performed by Baba. He then became even more popular due to the character and integrity of those who told their own tales in print on their return to their native place. Many visitors also report Baba came to them in a dream before they even knew who he was. It was only later through a series of events they learned who he was. Stories like this attracted early spiritual seekers from the West, such as Americans, Dr. John Hislop, famous Hollywood screenwriter Arnold Schulman, psychiatrist Dr. Samuel Sandweiss, as well as the Australian Howard Murphet, all of whom visited the guru, examined him and his teachings and activities, and then wrote books about their experiences. In turn, these books inspired other spiritual seekers to visit and examine Sathya Sai Baba in person. As a result, many foreign dignitaries and even famous people began to visit Sai Baba, and still do to this day.
The guru became increasingly popular and by the late 1960s westerners started to visit him. As of 2004 there are estimated to be well over 1 million devotees, predominantly among Indians and people of Indian ethnic origin. In Nordic countries and the Netherlands, numbers fell after 2000 due to negative publicity about Baba, and subsequently also in Australia after the showing there by SBS of the Danish film "Seduced by Sai Baba."
At present several hundred positive books have been published about Sathya Sai Baba. Some quarters of the Indian government consider Sai Baba to be a 'national treasure'.
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