Sathyam Sivam Sundaram Volume 1: Biography of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba 1926-1961

Dear reader,

"From where the words of men return, foiled in their urge to fathom; which even imagination finds unattainable, whom the Upanishads denote only by negation and denial" – 'that' is Baba, the subject of this book. He declares that He is in each of us and that we all are in Him. He proclaims that it is futile to gauge His Reality. "I am neither man, nor God, nor archangel, nor angel. I am not to be known by the names of any of the four castes, or of the four stages of human life. Know Me as the Teacher of Truth, Sathyam Sivam Sundaram," said Baba once. The picture in its first stage is negative: when it is 'developed', it becomes clear and true. Baba has made it clear and true. He says He is Sathyam, Sivam, Sundaram. These are the three manifestations of the Prema that He is, the Love which He embodies. Love, as thought, is truth; Love, as action, is goodness; Love, as feeling, is beauty. How can the amazing story of the multifaceted, transforming, and indelible impact of Baba be delineated by any pen, howsoever pious and profound? But, the authentic ecstasy one is immersed in, when one is blessed by the slightest or shortest contact with Baba's love, presses upon the feeblest pen to call on all, "O! Come and share it," however illegible the call is. Baba has come in answer to the mankind's agony. He says, "Good men and their own inefficiencies sighed for a Saviour to guide them and lead them: and I have responded." Therefore, it is the right of all men everywhere, to listen to a narrative–however halting and hazy–of the Divine Play of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, of His guidance and leadership. The first volume of this book appeared in 1960; the second was placed in your hands, in 1961; the third is now most humbly offered for your deep, delightful perusal. I am grateful that Baba blessed my hand, so that it may string the records of His Leelas and Mahimas into a garland, to be placed at His Feet.

N. Kasturi Brindavan,

Bangalore, 20.2.1974. 

Sri Sathya Sai Media Centre is a Unit of Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust, Prasanthi Nilayam. 

On 25th May 1947, Sri Sathya Sai Baba in a comprehensive letter to His brother Seshama Raju, outlined His Mission and Purpose of His Advent. A pertinent excerpt reads as follows (free translation from Telugu original).

I have a task: To foster all mankind and ensure for all of them lives full of bliss.

I have a vow: To lead all who stray away from the straight path again into goodness and save them.

I am attached to the work that I love: To remove the sufferings of the poor and grant them what they lack.

I have a reason to be proud, for I rescue all who worship and adore me.

I will not give up my mission, nor my determination.

I know I will carry them out.

The vision declared at a young age of 21 years, began materializing in the year 1956 when Sri Sathya Sai Baba started a general hospital for the villages around Puttaparthi, where poor villagers had no access to pure drinking water or basic medical amenities. It took another decade for a college for Women in the district capital of Anantapur to be built in the year 1968, in recognition of the importance of educating women who are the backbone of nation-building and a college for men in the outskirts of the city of Bangalore in the following year to answer the emergent call for an urgent shift in education paradigm. As Baba's work constantly grew in response to needs of the poor and distraught, the Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust was founded by Him in the year 1972. Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust is a Public Charitable Trust registered under Section 12A of the Income Tax Act, 1961 for carrying out activities in the areas of:

1. Relief to the Poor

2. Medical Relief

3. Education

4. Other objects of General Public Utility