Sathya Sai Baba. Supernatural Experiences and Divine Transformation. Book One

10. Letters addressed to God

Even when Sathya Sai Baba was very young, a tradition arose to give him letters and notes. This is a very interesting tradition, in my opinion, worthy of being told in more detail. Sometimes there was an opportunity to talk to him personally and ask questions, but a sufficiently large number of people did not have such an opportunity, since there were always a lot of visitors around Sathya Sai Baba. People wrote notes and tried to pass them directly into his hands the moment he passed by.

I think the tradition of giving letters to Sathya Sai Baba had a deep meaning. What did people write about? These letters thanked him for healing and support. Sometimes the letters contained very specific requests for help – people wrote about their problems and asked for blessings. The letters asked spiritual questions, they asked for healing, for solving family troubles, or problems related to work and business. Even though I sometimes had the opportunity to communicate personally with Sathya Sai Baba, I also wrote letters to him. Sathya Sai Baba took my letters, and solutions to my problems and answers to my questions always came.

People brought their letters every morning and every evening. When Sathya Sai Baba walked between the rows, the opportunity arose to pass the letters directly into his hands. Since Sathya Sai Baba was a clairvoyant, he read the information contained in the letters without even physically reading them. He never physically read the letters, and one look from him was enough to know everything that was written in them. Some letters he took, and some not. Sometimes a person would hold a bundle of letters, but Sathya Sai Baba would not take all of them, but only one. If he took a letter, then the problem or issue that was stated in the letter received his blessing and was eventually resolved.

Some carried their letter for many days and even for many weeks, but Sathya Sai Baba passed by and did not take their letters. People understood this to mean this question would remain unanswered. It is difficult to say why he did not take some letters, perhaps because the requests made in them were not correct or they were meaningless. Be that as it may, whether he took the letter or not it always gave food for thought.

11. Only Sathya Sai Baba determined who needed more to talk to him personally and provided such an opportunity

In addition to general meetings, there was the possibility of direct communication with Sathya Sai Baba in his room. These individual meetings were called interviews. I was fortunate to attend such meetings many times. Sometimes, Sathya Sai Baba invited me as part of a group, and sometimes alone. Sathya Sai Baba used to invite several people for interviews. Every year more and more people came to the ashram, and so the chance to get an individual meeting became less frequent.

In the ‘90s, groups who came for a month or two often had the unique opportunity to interact directly with Sathya Sai Baba. If he believed that a person really needed to talk to him, he would invite him or her to his room for an individual conversation, each time it was solely the decision of Sathya Sai Baba himself. It was impossible to "sign up" for an interview, only Sathya Sai Baba determined who he should talk to personally.

During the morning and evening programs, people sat on the floor of the large temple on rugs, while Sathya Sai Baba walked between the rows. Sometimes, he stopped and could talk to one of those present, and if he considered it necessary, he invited him to his room for a personal conversation. The invited people got up and walked to the entrance to his room.

Sathya Sai Baba invited groups of ten to twenty people and talked with people for about an hour, sometimes up to an hour and a half. Visitors from different countries came to him: Russians and Americans, Chinese and Japanese, Germans and French, Israelis and Iranians, Argentines and Mexicans.

He invited people from different countries for personal talks, and devotees who came from all over the world gathered in his room. The room for personal meetings was relatively small, and all the invitees sat on the floor. There was a beautiful chair in the corner where Sathya Sai Baba sat.

12. I was a beginner interpreter of Sathya Sai Baba, and I was very worried, but soon I witnessed two interesting cases, after which I realized there was nothing to worry about, and so I relaxed

When a group of Hindus came to Sathya Sai Baba, he spoke with them in any one of the Indian languages, such as Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Marathi, Bengali. If the group consisted of foreigners, then the conversation was held in English. Most of the Russian-speaking people did not know English, so during personal meetings Sathya Sai Baba communicated through translators. I was fortunate enough to interpret many times at such meetings. The main advantage for an interpreter was the opportunity to have frequent personal contact with Sathya Sai Baba.

I often remember two interesting stories that happened in the early ‘90s, which were very instructive for me as a translator. At that time, I was just starting to translate for Sathya Sai Baba, and I was very excited during my first translation experiences, because I felt it was a tremendous responsibility. However, I soon witnessed two interesting cases, after which I realized there was nothing to worry about.

A woman from New York came to the ashram, who was an emigrant from Russia. At that time, she had lived in America for many years and knew English perfectly. One of the Russian groups invited this woman as an interpreter thinking she would be the most ideal translator. What could be better than a Russian woman who had lived in America for many years and who spoke both English and Russian, perfectly.

However, when she came to the interview, she was able to translate only a few phrases. It seemed that an eclipse had occurred in her mind, and she stopped understanding English, altogether. In her embarrassment, she fell silent, and the interview, in fact, was derailed.

Sathya Sai Baba continued to speak in English, but the interpreter could no longer translate anything. She stopped understanding English exactly at the time of the interview, and immediately after the meeting, her knowledge of the language returned to her. The translator apologized, saying she was very uncomfortable for letting people down.

At first, the whole group was offended, but then everyone realized that a miracle had happened. Sathya Sai Baba showed that it doesn't matter if you know English or not, if he wanted to turn off a person's knowledge of the language, he could easily do it.

Literally, two weeks later, another Russian-speaking group was interviewed. In this group, no one knew English, and only one woman from St. Petersburg knew just a few simple phrases. She was very worried, because she understood that her knowledge was not enough for a full translation. When she entered Sathya Sai Baba's room, something happened in her mind and during the meeting, which lasted about an hour, she suddenly acquired knowledge of English.