Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
population, never large, has now dwindled to fewer than a hundred.
Most Jews have left for Israel, which came into existence at the
same time India achieved independence.
Besides preaching universal brotherhood and religious unity,
Sathya Sai Baba and the huge organisation that gradually evolved
around him embarked on a programme of building schools, colleges,
and hospitals that spans the subcontinent today. His legion of critics,
however, maintain that his real intention is to found a new religion
with himself as God. I personally could never see this. In a self-
published book called
Lord of the Air
, an American ex-devotee claimed
Baba was Satan incarnate and fed on the love of those he trapped
with his lies. The Bible warns us of this, of course, of the devil
disguised as the Messiah. With so many messiahs around these
days, one is more inclined to wonder
which
is or was the devil. The
tradition of saints and holy men in the East, however - and the lack
of any devil - seems to make this a non-issue to Hindus.
I once heard someone ask Baba if he was Christ. 'No,' he replied.
'I'm the One who sent him.'
Inmates of the ashram sat daily in the sand around the central temple,
where Baba lived in a tiny room, waiting for darshan, the blessing
they believed emanated from his presence - even the mere sight of
him. As in all strict Hindu arrangements, the sexes were separated
in the temple compound; something Westerners always had trouble
with. It reminded me of primary school.
The birds, the palm fronds, the high blue air: it was a tranquil,
idyllic scene, yet the atmosphere always seemed to border on the
hysterical, the anxious, the expectant, and even the desperate. It
seems that peace and quiet and inner calm are the last things you
find in an ashram with a living guru in residence. These are places
where hard work is done, inner work. You don't go there for a holiday;
you go there to confront yourself and
change
. Transformation is the
one true goal of spiritual work. I came to liken the process to
smelting metals: when it's hot enough, the crap rises to the surface
and can be scraped off. Squatting on the warm, smooth sand,
constantly shifting to ease aching bones and numb flesh, I
recognised my own excitement, expectation, even awe. For the first
