At Puttaparthi, faith overcomes grim reality

PUTTAPARTHI: A sense of surrealism pervades this small town of 25,000.
Medical bulletins may state that Sri Sathya Saibaba is in a very critical condition and not responding to the treatment and none of his vital organs is functioning. But his devotees, which include family members, trustees of the Sathya Sai Central Trust and the man on the street refuse to accept this.
"He is god. He will overcome this phase and start giving darshans. That's my belief, you may not believe this but I do," says trust secretary K Chakravarthi. "He has divine powers to heal himself," he says emphatically.
"We know he's struggling hard inside the ICU. But he will pull through this traumatic phase. We have full belief that it's only a matter of time before our living god resurrects himself," says Hanumantha Rao, a staffer in the IT wing in Prasanthi Nilayam.
Though A N Safaya, director, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences (SSSIHMS), said the medical team was making last-ditch efforts, Saibaba's relatives remain doubtless. "Doctors are doing their job. But Saibaba will come back. I am sure," said M Shankar Raju, Saibaba's sister Venkamma's son.
He recalled how once Saibaba came back strong when doctors and his followers had given up hope. The spiritual head was nearly into a coma in Brindavan ashram in Whitefield, Bangalore. "After one day, he asked me to get food and told family members that nothing had happened to him," Shankar Raju said. But his son Sai Kiran, who is a doctor in SSSIHMS, refused to comment on the present health condition.
Some of the followers even come out with absurd logic. "Nothing will happen to Baba. He's enduring the pain of a 106-year-old 'muni' (sage) in the Himalayas who's in his last stages. Once the sage is revived, the swami will automatically recover," said another staunch disciple and Sai Seva Dal volunteer Venkat Reddy.
Analysts say those associated with the spiritual guru are his devotees first. "They are unable to forget this. It's shocking that even doctors and scientists are not ready to accept the harsh reality. Which is why they believe that his healing powers will make him rise from the hospital bed," said a rationalist.
Even those in power are his strong disciples and refuse to acknowledge the gravity of his health. "Media is unnecessarily going overboard on his health. Lakhs of devotees are praying and doing bhajans. He often says that his devotees are his medicine," said industry minister J Geeta Reddy, an ardent devotee.
Issac Tigrett Burton, a staunch devotee who has donated huge sums for SSSIHMS, sums it up: "He's immortal. I perceive him as a protector of the whole world."
Little wonder the trust itself released a two-page letter in the late hours of Thursday that Saibaba's health would improve and that he would give discourses again.