THIS, THE first volume of a uniquely definitive biography of Sri Sathya Sai Baba, covers the first 25 years (1926-1950) of his life. The plan is said to be to follow the story with five more volumes (already in preparation) stretching the account to the year 2000 A.D. Each of these volumes would cover only a decade of his life. In this well- documented edition, the authenticity of each event reported is testified to by actual witness, whom the editor has chased to wherever they may be living at present. This extreme degree of authentication would, even if not required by devotees or general readers, satisfy the suspecting skepticists, regarding their credibility. Such a highly objective and fully attested biography is indeed necessary to convince posterity that once such a transcendent figure walked on earth in this period of history, that he defied a definition except perhaps as an incarnation of God. This is a Hindu concept, of course.

The book opens with an introduction by Dr. R. S. Padmanabhan, who has since become a long-time devotee of Baba. He had an occasion, as a fresh dental graduate, to sit in a Bhajan session of Baba in Bangalore in 1944; Baba, 18 years old at that time, materialised Vibhooti, blessed the youth and said he would get married in February 1945. To the demurring dentist, Baba said that it would surely occur and he would come and bless him. He had, in the same period, told the prospective bride elsewhere in a similar vein; she was just 15 years old. The partners had not known each other and the marriage did occur in February 1945.

Such mysterious phenomena abound in page after page throughout. There have, of course, been quite a few books on Baba, some having been noticed in these columns by the present reviewer. There are also masterly biographies by Ra. Ganapathy and by N. Kasthuri, which are frequently cited in this book. But this present edition is the first systematic chronology, recording events almost as a day-to-day diary.

As a very young boy Raju (as Baba was then known) told the neighbour, Karnam Kamalamma, an astounding truth: “You think I am a human being? No, I am God. I am Easwara himself. You will see my glory in the coming years. Believe me!” From then on, all events that unfolded every day, have only confirmed the veracity of that self-assessment. While at school, he used to materialise Vibhooti, Lingams, photographs of Shirdi Sai Baba and other items. On October 21, 1943, he made a declaration that has since become history: “I am Shirdi Sai Baba in a new life.” Almost the next day, an old lady, a daughter of a district collector in the then Nizam Domain, came in. Raju greeted her with an astounding remark: “My child, you have arrived at last!” She had been a regular visitor to Shirdi; having lost all her four sons, she had once prayed to Shirdi Sai Baba to grant her relief from the pains of worldly life, to which he had replied (before his samadhi that occurred in 1917): “I will be born in Andhra and you will stay with me forever!” This he had told the lady on her oath that she would not divulge it till the time came.

Even when he was at school, he had once dumbfounded an angry teacher who was to give a cane-lash at his palm, because the teacher saw Shirdi Sai Baba’s picture on it. A classmate who had offended him by throwing stones was denied food in the hostel. In the next Thursday Bhajan session, Raju called for Abdul Khader standing somewhere unseen in the rear-end of the queue. He asked him: “You came to plead for Hanumanth Rao! It was I who made the headmaster punish the wrong-doer. Now you can tell the headmaster to resume feeding him!” To this classmate’s query (in 1944) as to when India was likely to achieve independence, Baba had answered “The 15th of August, 1947”. We should remember that neither leaders nor the foreign rulers had any notion not to speak of an agreement about this date.

In January 1948, when Baba was supervising the Mandir construction at Puttaparthi, on one evening, he became uneasy, went into a room and shut himself. When he came out at 7-30 p.m. he announced to the people around: “A great soul has passed away!” The village people in those days could know the news, only a day later, from TheHindu that Mahatma Gandhi had been shot dead. So also he had a peculiar vision and experience on 14th April, 1950 when Ramana Maharshi attained Samadhi.