| History And Origins Of The Sathya Sai Baba Movement |
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The Indian Guru Sathya Sai Baba was born in or near the poor and isolate village Puttaparthi under the name '''Sathyanarayana Raju''' with the family name '''Ratnakaram''' in a family of farmers. His official birthdate as stated in his official hagiographical biography written by SSB's follower professor Narayana Kasturi is November 23 , 1926 and this is the date accepted by his devotees. Some critics like Hari Sampath state that his school register proves that he was born in 1929 though according to former follower Brian Steel this was an error. According to Kasturi's official biography written that contains no references and very little source information, he was stung by a scorpion in May 1940 and lost consciousness for a few days. Some time later Sai Baba announced that he was the reincarnation of the Fakir Shirdi Sai Baba . Sai Baba publicly stated in a discourse on October 20th 1990 that the date on which he refused to continue to go to school and threw away his schoolbooks on his way to school was Monday October 20 , 1940 . According to Brian Steel, he continued to go to school until 1943 . It is however certain that his mission started in the 1940 s and that he changed his name into Sai Baba. At the latest in 1963 he made strong and explicit claims of personal divinity. Many visitors to Puttaparthi were stimulated by stories of miracles allegedly performed by Baba. He then became even more popular due to the character and integrity of those who told their own tales in print on their return to their native place. Many visitors also report Baba came to them in a dream before they even knew who he was. It was only later through a series of events they learned who he was. Stories like this attracted early spiritual seekers from the West, such as Americans , Dr. John Hislop, famous Hollywood screenwriter Arnold Schulman, Psychiatrist Dr. Samuel Sandweiss, as well as the Australian Howard Murphet, all of whom visited the guru, examined him and his teachings and activities, and then wrote books about their experiences. In turn, these books inspired other spiritual seekers to visit and examine Sathya Sai Baba in person. As a result, many foreign dignitaries and even famous people began to visit Sai Baba, and still do to this day. Schulman wrote in his 1971 book called ''Baba'' that "''For any episode of Baba's childhood, there are countless contrasting versions and, at this point, the author discovered that it was no longer possible to separate the facts from the legend.''" Schulman conceded that a possible reason for the contradictory stories was probably from his need to have interpreters to interperet other interpreters, as in the case of his interview with Baba's sister. Schulman concluded that what the translators claimed Baba's sister said may well have been quite different from what she actually said. The guru became increasingly popular and by the late 1960s westerners started to visit him. As Of 2004 there are estimated to be between 3 - 10 million devotees, predominantly among Indians and people of Indian ethnic origin. In Nordic Countries and the Netherlands , it was claimed that numbers fell after 2000 due to negative publicity about Baba, and subsequently also in Australia after the showing there by SBS of the Danish film "Seduced by Sai Baba." At present several hundred positive books have been published about Sathya Sai Baba. Some quarters of the Indian government consider Sai Baba to be a 'national treasure'. BIBLIOGRAPHY
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