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I was about to crack a joke about this modern Samson but desisted...AVKR was a decade older to me.
This junior Sai Baba, who it seems claimed that he was a reincarnation of the senior one, had his quota of controversies about his magic tricks and the fact that he once ran away and hid in his basement abandoning his devotees when they were attacked by knife-wielding goons:
...On June 6, 1993, an attempt was allegedly made on his life by his close aides. Six inmates of Prasanthi Nilayam were killed right inside the Baba's bedroom. All of them were part of the "inner circle" of Baba. His personal assistant Radha Krishna Menon was among those killed in the incident...
http://www.ndtv.com/people/who-is-sri-sathya-sai-baba-453784
Oh, well! Didn't Christ cry on his cross?:
King James Bible
...And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?...
And then there is this very much alive and kicking Baba who once ran away from the Ramlila Maidan at midnight hiding in a lady's dress:
...The maverick Baba disappeared from the Ramlila ground, jumping down from the stage when a huge contingent of police and RAF personnel came to detain him. Police claim he was caught at the Ranjit Singh flyover around 3.40 am, trying to escape dressed in a salwar-kameez, with a dupatta wrapped over his beard.
Cops said the Baba, posing as an injured woman, was walking away with his arms around two women supporters. When the police offered an ambulance, he refused. That's when his beard became visible and he started running, but was caught and detained...
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Baba-Ramdev-almost-got-away-in-womans-garb/articleshow/8741239.cms
This Baba, who is alleged to be a multimillionaire, is again in the news. Apparently the Haryana Government offered him a cabinet rank and appointed him as its yoga guru and brand ambassador but of course he declined since he is a 'fakir'...so we are back to my Muthukur of the 1950s, happily:
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Questioning Shirdi Sai Baba's status as a Hindu god, Shankaracharya Swaroopanand Saraswati said that Sai Baba was someone "who used to eat meat and worshipped Allah, (and) a man like that can never be a Hindu god."
If you relish controversy, like I do, come and stay in modern India and stay for good.
Everyday in my Deccan Chronicle I read titillating news items and enjoy them. And use them in my blogs and the Shatakam (100 verses) that I composed last month.
In the 1950s in my village Muthukur in the Nellore District of AP, I never heard the word: 'Baba'. We had our quota of Muslim holy men and we called them 'fakirs'.
Nor were there any babas at KGP in the 1960s...Bengalis are devotees of Shakti and Shiva and Tagore.
The first I heard of any baba was on my wedding night on the 17th May, 1979 (if I remember the date correctly). My newlywed wife and I started chatting for want of any constructive work and she told me in all seriousness:
"I have one and only one wish that you should fulfill"
And I was wondering if it was that I should quit IIT KGP and shift to IIT Madras (which I didn't like), or maybe a diamond necklace. But I was relieved when she said:
"I had a vow that I would travel to Shirdi with my husband"
And I asked her where this Shirdi was and she was dismayed at my ignorance and said it is the abode of Sai Baba (then no more) in Maharshtra. Although my wife was born and studied in AP, her parents were working in Maharashtra, so I could guess the connection.
I then lit a relieved cigarette and said: "Oh, Ok, fine, why not?"
And it took exactly 20 years for me to fulfill her vow. By then the Shirdi Sai Baba was famous all over in India...so famous that the above Shankaracharya got furious with him.
Reason: By 2000, there were a score and more of Shirdi Sai Baba temples in my remote town Nellore and even a couple in Muthukur.
I don't think there is any in Calcutta yet...I have to check...Bengalis are hidebound happily.
One of my physics colleagues at KGP, Late Prof AVK Rao, hailing from AP, one day told me somewhat shyly that he was a devotee of Sai Baba. And I said I knew all about this Muslim saint. He was flabbergasted and rebuked me:
"I am not talking of the dead Muslim Sai Baba...I am talking of the living Hindu one at Puttaparti in AP"
And I asked him what was so great about him. And he demurred and said:
"He is very powerful and does magic tricks and cures his devotees of all their ills, temporal and spiritual."
I asked him how he got his powers and he replied hesitantly:
"People say his powers rest in his weird hairdo":
Everyday in my Deccan Chronicle I read titillating news items and enjoy them. And use them in my blogs and the Shatakam (100 verses) that I composed last month.
In the 1950s in my village Muthukur in the Nellore District of AP, I never heard the word: 'Baba'. We had our quota of Muslim holy men and we called them 'fakirs'.
Nor were there any babas at KGP in the 1960s...Bengalis are devotees of Shakti and Shiva and Tagore.
The first I heard of any baba was on my wedding night on the 17th May, 1979 (if I remember the date correctly). My newlywed wife and I started chatting for want of any constructive work and she told me in all seriousness:
"I have one and only one wish that you should fulfill"
And I was wondering if it was that I should quit IIT KGP and shift to IIT Madras (which I didn't like), or maybe a diamond necklace. But I was relieved when she said:
"I had a vow that I would travel to Shirdi with my husband"
And I asked her where this Shirdi was and she was dismayed at my ignorance and said it is the abode of Sai Baba (then no more) in Maharshtra. Although my wife was born and studied in AP, her parents were working in Maharashtra, so I could guess the connection.
I then lit a relieved cigarette and said: "Oh, Ok, fine, why not?"
And it took exactly 20 years for me to fulfill her vow. By then the Shirdi Sai Baba was famous all over in India...so famous that the above Shankaracharya got furious with him.
Reason: By 2000, there were a score and more of Shirdi Sai Baba temples in my remote town Nellore and even a couple in Muthukur.
I don't think there is any in Calcutta yet...I have to check...Bengalis are hidebound happily.
One of my physics colleagues at KGP, Late Prof AVK Rao, hailing from AP, one day told me somewhat shyly that he was a devotee of Sai Baba. And I said I knew all about this Muslim saint. He was flabbergasted and rebuked me:
"I am not talking of the dead Muslim Sai Baba...I am talking of the living Hindu one at Puttaparti in AP"
And I asked him what was so great about him. And he demurred and said:
"He is very powerful and does magic tricks and cures his devotees of all their ills, temporal and spiritual."
I asked him how he got his powers and he replied hesitantly:
"People say his powers rest in his weird hairdo":
I was about to crack a joke about this modern Samson but desisted...AVKR was a decade older to me.
This junior Sai Baba, who it seems claimed that he was a reincarnation of the senior one, had his quota of controversies about his magic tricks and the fact that he once ran away and hid in his basement abandoning his devotees when they were attacked by knife-wielding goons:
...On June 6, 1993, an attempt was allegedly made on his life by his close aides. Six inmates of Prasanthi Nilayam were killed right inside the Baba's bedroom. All of them were part of the "inner circle" of Baba. His personal assistant Radha Krishna Menon was among those killed in the incident...
http://www.ndtv.com/people/who-is-sri-sathya-sai-baba-453784
Oh, well! Didn't Christ cry on his cross?:
King James Bible
...And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?...
And then there is this very much alive and kicking Baba who once ran away from the Ramlila Maidan at midnight hiding in a lady's dress:
...The maverick Baba disappeared from the Ramlila ground, jumping down from the stage when a huge contingent of police and RAF personnel came to detain him. Police claim he was caught at the Ranjit Singh flyover around 3.40 am, trying to escape dressed in a salwar-kameez, with a dupatta wrapped over his beard.
Cops said the Baba, posing as an injured woman, was walking away with his arms around two women supporters. When the police offered an ambulance, he refused. That's when his beard became visible and he started running, but was caught and detained...
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Baba-Ramdev-almost-got-away-in-womans-garb/articleshow/8741239.cms
This Baba, who is alleged to be a multimillionaire, is again in the news. Apparently the Haryana Government offered him a cabinet rank and appointed him as its yoga guru and brand ambassador but of course he declined since he is a 'fakir'...so we are back to my Muthukur of the 1950s, happily:
...Posted by Ishani
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