A man who had quite a distinguished career in public life was the late Dr. B. Ramakrishna Rao, who died in September 1967. The obituary notices in the press at the time stated that he had held several important positions in public affairs and administration. He was, for instance, during the early 1950s Chief Minister of the old Hyderabad State, and as such helped create the modern State of Andhra Pradesh in 1956. In later years he held office as Governor of two different Indian States, Kerala and Uttar Pradesh. The newspapers, however, did, not mention what to Dr. Ramakrishna Rao himself was by far the most important factor in his life, his discipleship of Sai Baba.

The little doctor, as we often called him because of his diminutive stature, was a first-class linguist and often acted as interpreter for Sai Baba. It was in this capacity that I first met him in Mr. G. Venkataswara Rao's house in Madras. On that occasion he, Mr. Alf Tidemand-Johannessen, my wife and I were sitting on the carpet with Baba while the last was giving some advice to the Norwegian, who was shortly leaving India. The little doctor was acting as interpreter when necessary.

That was in my early acquaintance with Baba, who knew telepathically that I still half-doubted the genuineness of his miraculous productions. In his gracious understanding way he seemed to make use of this opportunity - as of many others - to help remove some of my doubts.

It was a hot night and he wore half-sleeves go that his forearm from the elbow was bare. My knee as we sat cross-legged on the floor was practically touching his, and for much of the time he let his right hand rest on my knee instead of his own. I could thus see beyond all question that his hand was empty as it lay loosely, palm exposed, below my eyes -- and it was from this position that the hand went out to wave before our noses like a magic wand and produce from the air a number of things, including the usual vibhuti for all of us, and a large nine-stone ring for Alf Tidemand-Johannessen.

I developed an admiration and affection for the little Ghandi-capped doctor who, while distinguished and cultured, had true humility. Fortunately I was able to have a good talk with him about a month before he died when we were neighbours in the ashram guesthouse. That was in August 1967, and Dr. Ramakrishna Rao was present in Prasanti Nilayam at the time for its official inauguration as a township. I had heard a good many bits and scraps of stories concerning his miraculous experiences with Sai Baba, and I took this opportunity to get the facts from his own lips. He knew, of course, that I wanted the information for publication and he had no objections to that, or to the use of his name, so very well-known in India if not perhaps abroad.

Here is one remarkable story that he told me. In 1961, when he was Governor of Uttar Pradesh, he and his wife were travelling by fast train from Bareilly to Nainital in the Himalayas. They were the only occupants of their first-class carriage and the train had no corridor by which anyone could enter or leave their compartment.

At about 11 p.m. the Governor noticed some sparks coming from the electric fan. These rapidly increased in volume until he and his wife grew quite alarmed, thinking the compartment would catch fire any minute. He looked for a cord or bell by which he could sound the alarm and stop the train, but could find none. It began to look as if the Governor and his lady might be burned to death before anyone learned of their plight. There was nothing they could do but pray - which they did, wholeheartedly.

Then there was a knock on one of the outer doors. Very surprising this was, because the doors simply led to the open air through which the train was roaring at a good speed. The doctor walked over and opened the door. In from the dark night stepped a man dressed in the khaki uniform of an electric wireman. Without a word this man went to work on the faulty fan from which the sparks were now flying "like chaff from a threshing floor''.

About a quarter of an hour later the electrician said to them: "There's no danger now. You can go to bed and sleep." With this he sat down on the floor near the door.

The Governor's wife lay down on her bed and closed her eyes. But she kept half opening them to watch the man by the door because, as she told her husband later, she thought that anyone who risked his life to walk along the running board of a fast-moving train was probably a burglar who, when they were both asleep, would rob them. The Governor himself, with no such suspicions, was deeply engrossed in a book.

Suddenly he was startled to feel the touch of the workman's hand and hear his voice asking quietly if the doctor would mind closing the carriage door after him, because he was now leaving. The little doctor was astonished that the electrician did not wait until the next station before leaving, but before he could say anything the khaki-clad figure had opened the door, and the night air was whistling in to the carriage. Dr. Ramakrishna Rao jumped up, and stepped to the open doorway in time to see the man stand a moment on the running board, then vanish into the darkness.

It was all rather mystifying. How in the first place did he know that the fan was giving trouble? How did he get to the carriage and why did he choose to leave and make his way along the running board of this swaying, fast-moving express when he could have easily waited until the next stop? He either liked living dangerously or he was simply crazy, but in either case he must also be clairvoyant to know about the fault in the electric fan. With a mental shrug the little doctor lay down to sleep.

About a month after this incident the Governor was again travelling, this time by the aeroplane that was kept for his official use. With him on this occasion, besides his wife and the pilot, were his A.D.C, his personal assistant, and the pilot's wife. They were flying from Kawnpur to Benares.

Above Benares the Governor noticed that they seemed to be circling a very long time over the airfield before landing. He asked if there was anything amiss and was informed that the under-carriage was stuck; the wheels would not come down. Furthermore, they were now almost out of petrol. With Dr. Ramakrishna Rao's agreement, the pilot decided to attempt a crash-landing on the grass of the airfield. He signalled the ground to this effect. The fire-engines were brought out, and everything made ready for the attempt. All knew, of course, that it was a highly dangerous operation, and both the little doctor and his wife sent fervent prayers to their Gurudev, Sai Baba, for his much-needed protection.

Perhaps the A.D.C. was praying too, for he also was a devotee of Sai Baba. Like the doctor he wore on his hand a talisman, a ring that had been materialised by Baba. The pilot knew this and, as a last resort before trying a crash-landing, asked the A.D.C. to try his hand at working the lever for releasing the jammed undercarriage. The A.D.C. placed his hand on the lever and pressed as directed. The undercarriage came down without any difficulty. They were able to make a normal landing.

The next day Mrs. Ramakrishna Rao, knowing that Baba was at Bangalore in the south, phoned him from Benares in order to thank him for his grace and protection, which, she believed, had saved them from their perilous predicament in the plane. She found, not at all to her surprise, that he knew all about the event, and mentioned details.

Then he remarked: "But you have said nothing about the train incident."

"What train incident, Swami?" she asked, for it had slipped from her mind.

"Why, when the fan was almost on fire and you thought I was a thief," Baba laughed.

Dr. Ramakrishna Rao was sure the train story could not have reached Baba in the ordinary way because neither he nor his wife had talked to anyone about it. They had refrained from mentioning it on the following morning, not wanting to upset any of their staff; then the incident had faded into the background of their busy lives.

Nothing superhuman that Sai Baba did could ever surprise the little doctor; he had through the years seen and experienced so much. For example, when he was Governor of Kerala, and was entertaining Baba and some devotees at the Guesthouse in Trivandrum in 1962, his wife had arranged a dinner party one evening for sixty people. But when Baba is around, crowds have a habit of multiplying their size, and about a hundred and fifty people turned up. It was impossible to obtain extra food at the time; Mrs. Ramakrishna Rao became very worried, and asked Baba what she should do about it.

"Feed them all," Baba told her, "There will be enough. - don't worry."

So the extra places were set and the whole crowd sat down. Baba moved among the guests and servers, blessing the food, seeing that all were happy and turning the meal, as always, into a banquet. No one went short because of the extra ninety mouths to be fed. Somehow Baba increased the food, and there was enough for all.

I knew that it was on this visit to the south that one of the dramatic miracles described in N. Kasturi's book took place. A number of Baba's disciples were walking with him on the sands of Kanyakumari where three seas meet and play around the southernmost tip of India. Suddenly a kingly wave swept high up the beach around Baba's feet, and on receding it left about his ankles a magnificent necklace, 108 fine pearls on a thread of gold.

I have spoken to a number of men, including Dr. Sittaramiah, who were present and witnessed the arrival of this treasure from the deep, and I asked Dr. Ramakrishna Rao if he had been there as well. He replied that, unfortunately, official duties had taken him elsewhere that day. In fact he was meeting Dr. S. Radhakrishnan who had just been appointed President of India. But, he said, a number of his friends and acquaintances including the Chief of Security Police were with Baba on the beach and saw it happen. They described the event to him on the following day and he was shown the pearl necklace. Baba later gave this to an old devotee whom the doctor knew.

It was while he was still Governor of Uttar Pradesh that Dr. B. Ramakrishna Rao saw the miraculous events that moved him most deeply.

In the summer of 1961 Sai Baba with a party of devotees was touring in the north, and decided to visit the famous temple at Badrinath high in the Himalayas. Dr. Ramakrishna joined the party at Hardwar on the Ganges for the 182-mile mountain trek to Badrinath. The devotees say that the object of Sai Baba's journey was not only to take them to this holy place, but to reinfuse it with spiritual efficacy. It was established some twelve hundred years ago by Adi Sankara, one of the foremost spiritual leaders of all time. He it was who brought the Upanishads into the light of day from where they had been collecting dust for centuries in caves and monasteries. At Joshimath he wrote his celebrated commentaries on the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita and the Brahmasutras, thus making these spiritual classics accessible and intelligible to a wider and ever-widening audience.



Adi Sankara not only travelled all over India and taught the people but organised and established centres in the north, south, east and west which he hoped would remain as beacons of light to carry on his work after he had gone. Badrinath was one of those spiritual power-points.

But in the course of twelve centuries - albeit millions of devout pilgrims had brought their adoration and veneration there - the power was certain to run down, the life was bound to ebb from the ancient form. Even though a particular priestly caste may not be corrupt it has most of the human weaknesses, and cannot maintain the high level set by a God-man such as Adi Sankara. The only thing that can recharge the spiritual battery of such a place is the presence and power of another God-man.

However, there appeared to be an obstacle in the way. By tradition, the doctor told me, the only persons ever permitted inside the temple sanctum sanctorum to perform puja were the members of a special sect of Kerala Brahmins. This caste of priests had held the position and exclusive rights since the days of Adi Sankara. The request of Doctor B. Ramakrishna Rao, the Governor of their State, counted for nought; they had heard of Sai Baba, the miracle-worker who some said was an avatar, a God-man, but they could not make an exception even for him. God himself in human form would not be allowed to enter here, for what human eyes can read the credentials of divinity?

"No matter," Baba said; ''let them keep to their traditions."

However, before some two hundred people outside the temple he materialised a statue of Vishnu. This was about ten inches high and was, it is said, a replica of the big idol within the temple. With another wave of his hand he produced a silver tray on which he placed the little Vishnu idol. Then in the same way he created a thousand-petalled lotus of gold. Everyone gasped at its beauty; and while they were wondering what it was for, Baba waved his hand again to produce a Siva lingam. This, some three or four inches in height and made of a beautiful crystal material, he placed in the centre of the golden lotus.

With the idol, lotus and lingam on the silver tray, Baba and his followers came away from the temple to the guesthouse where they were staying. There, while they all sang bhajan songs, Baba carried the lingam around and showed it to everyone, pointing out the beauty of the material, and the form of an eye which was mysteriously incorporated inside it.

Then Baba materialised a silver vessel full of holy water, 108 bilva leaves of gold, which fell in a shower from his hand onto the tray, and a heap of thumme flowers with the dew still fresh upon them. These are described as "tiny bits of fragrant fluff, plucked from a hundred little tropical plants".

All of these were materials for ritualistic worship. Baba performed Abhisheka (sacred ceremonial bath) and then, in his presence, N. Kasturi writes, "the Puja was performed, on behalf of all present, by Dr. B. Ramakrishna Rao, appropriate mantrams being recited by the devotees".

Afterwards Baba handed all the materialised items to the Governor's lady, Mrs. Ramakrishna Rao, instructing her to take good care of them, because she would be held responsible if anything was lost. The poor woman felt very apprehensive about such a responsibility - as well she might. She locked the precious articles in a cupboard in her bedroom and kept the key on her person.

Some time later Baba asked her to bring the lingam. Unlocking the cupboard, she found that it was missing; everything else was there, but the lingam had vanished. In great consternation she hurried to Baba and reported the loss.

At first he scolded her for not taking proper care, but then he laughed and said he was only teasing her. He explained to all present that he had sent the lingam back to the place from where it had been apported by his power, to the base of the idol in the temple. This "Nethralingam from Kailasa", as he called it, had been placed in a secret niche in the holy of holies long ago by Adi Sankara himself. There it had rested through the long centuries until that day, June 17th 1961, when he had brought it out to consecrate it anew and recharge it with spiritual potency. So the work he came for was done in spite of the hampering traditions of the place.

Baba later asked for the other articles in the cupboard. He distributed the 108 gold leaves among the two hundred or more people around him, and as usual there were enough for all. Mrs. Ramakrishna Rao was then greatly rewarded for those few moments of anguish she had suffered at the disappearance of the lingam. She was presented with the materialised idol of Vishnu, the golden lotus, and the silver tray on which they both stood.

The doctor told me that these sacred objects were still in his puja room at Hyderabad where the regular family worship was held.



It may be surprising to many people - though in fact it should not be - to find that a scientist of the calibre of Dr. S. Bhagavantam, M.Sc., Ph.D., D.Sc., is a devoted follower of an Adept in that field of high transcendental magic which science tends to scorn. Dr. Bhagavantam, formerly Director of the All India Institute of Science, holds the prominent position of Scientific Advisor to the Ministry of Defence in Delhi, and is well-known in scientific circles outside India.

When I met him at Prasanti Nilayam he was occupying a room furnished only with two bed-rolls and a few cushions on the floor. Like all good Indians he was quite happy to use the tiled floor as bedstead, chair and table. With him in the same room was one of his sons, Dr. S. Balakrishna, Assistant Director of the National Geophysical Research Institute of India. Both were visiting the ashram for a few days.

I sat on the floor with these two cultured scientists and charming gentlemen, anxious to hear of their experiences with Sai Baba. Outside the open door and windows the July sun gleamed on the sandy soil, white buildings and rocky hills. Inside Dr. Bhagavantam spoke in his quiet, friendly concise way, while his son confirmed many of the strange events which he too had witnessed. Dr. Balakrishna has had some wonderful experiences of his own with Baba, but here we are concerned with the remarkable reports from his eminent father.

At Dr. Bhagavantam's first meeting with Sai Baba, which was in the year 1959, they went for a walk on the sands of the Chitravati river. Others were present, but Bhagavantam was walking by the side of Baba. After a while Swami asked him to select a place on the sands for sitting down. When the doctor hesitated, Baba insisted, explaining that only in this way could Bhagavantam's scientific mind be quite sure that Baba had not led him to a spot where an object had been "planted" in the sands.

After the scientist had chosen an area and the party was seated on the sands, Baba began to tease the doctor a little; he made fun of the complacent "all-knowing" attitude of many men of science, and deplored their ignorance of or indifference to the ancient wisdom to be found in the great Hindu scriptures.

The doctor's pride was stung. He retorted that not all scientists were of this materialistic outlook. He himself, as an example, had a family tradition of Sanskrit learning and a deep interest in the spiritual classics of India.

Then in an endeavour to establish the bona fides of his scientific colleagues he told Baba that when Oppenheimer, after exploding the first atom bomb, was asked by the press representatives what his reactions were, he replied by quoting a verse from the Bhagavad Gita, thus showing that he was a student of that great work. "Would you like a copy of the Bhagavad Gita?" Baba asked him suddenly, scooping up a handful of sand as he spoke. "Here it is," he continued, "hold out your hands."

Bhagavantam cupped his hands to catch the sand as Baba dropped it into them. But when it reached the scientist's waiting palms, it was no longer the golden sand of the Chitravati. It was a red-covered book. Opening it in stunned silence, the doctor found that it was a copy of the Bhagavad Gita printed in Telegu script. Baba remarked that he could have presented the doctor with one printed in Sanskrit, but as the latter read Sanskrit script with some difficulty, Baba had given him one in Telegu, Bhagavantam's native tongue. Bhagavantam had not mentioned his limited proficiency in Sanskrit; this was something that Baba just knew.

As soon as he could, Bhagavantam examined this miraculously produced volume closely. It appeared to be quite new and was well printed, but where? The names of printer and publisher, always given in the normal way, were nowhere to be found.

One day in 1960 Sai Baba was visiting the great scientist's home in Bangalore. At this time Dr. Bhagavantam was Director of the All India Institute of Science in that city. He had known Sai Baba for about a year and was struggling to make the incredible phenomena he had witnessed fit in with his scientific training.

He said on one occasion at a public meeting: "I was a fairly lost person at that time for all this was an utter contradiction to the laws of physics for which I stood and still stand ... Having learned the laws of physics in my youth, and having taught others for many, many years thereafter, about the inviolability of such laws - at least so far as any known human situation is concerned - and having put them into practice with such a belief in them, I naturally found myself in a dilemma.

One of Dr. Bhagavantam's sons, at this time a boy of about eleven years, seemed to be mentally retarded. Some medical men had recommended as treatment the piercing of the lumbar region of the spine to remove cerebro-spinal fluid, and so relieve pressure on the brain. Others had been against such treatment, saying that it would only make the boy worse. Dr. Bhagavantam had decided not to have it done.

Baba, who loves and understands children, saw the boy and asked a sympathetic, question about him. The scientist began to talk about his son's case, and then Baba took over the narration and himself related all that had happened, including the medical debate about the advisability of a lumbar puncture. He went on to say that this would in fact would do no harm, but on the contrary would help the boy, making him appreciably better as time went on. Then casually, as if it were nothing at all, he said that he would himself do the puncture, then and there.

The scientist was startled. Doubt and fear agitated his mind. He began to wonder about things like professional qualifications for such an operation. But before he could utter a word, Baba had waved his hand and materialised some vibhuti. Uncovering the boy's back, he rubbed this sacred ash on the lumbar region. Next, with another hand wave, he took from the air a hollow surgical needle, about four inches long.

The father felt himself in the presence of a power so far beyond his understanding that he could, say nothing; he just waited, watched and hoped for the best. The boy seemed to be semi-conscious, apparently anaesthetised by Baba's vibhuti. Without hesitation Baba inserted the needle, showing that he knew the precise spot at which such insertions must be made. To the watching father the needle seemed to go right in out of sight, and he began to worry about how it would be recovered.

Meantime Baba was massaging the back and removing the fluid that came out through the needle; he seemed to take away about one cubic centimetre of this fluid, the scientist said. Then massaging more strongly or in a different way, Baba brought the needle out of the boy's back. He held it in the air as if handing it to some invisible nurse. Immediately it vanished.

"Have you a surgical dressing?" Baba then asked the watching, spellbound people in the room: Bhagavantam, another of his sons called Ramakrishna, and a friend named Sastri who was a Sanskrit pundit.

Young Ramakrishna replied, saying that by phoning the Institute he could get a dressing within ten minutes.

"Too long!" Baba laughed, waving his hand again, and taking a dressing of the right type, as if from a trained assistant in another dimension. Carefully he arranged it on the boy's back, and then brought him around to full consciousness. The patient seemed to suffer no pain or discomfort either during or after the operation.

''And is he any better?" I asked the good doctor.

"Yes, his condition has improved though not remarkably," he replied cautiously, "but who knows what he would have been like without the operation. Swami says that he will go on improving as he grows older."

Dr. Bhagavantam has seen Baba produce many things by his magical hand-wave. These include medicines in bottles and other packs, properly sealed, but without any name of the maker marked on them. He has seen Baba change one stone or decorative figure, set in jewellery, to another of an entirely different character, simply by stroking his finger across the face of it. The relevant item of jewellery did not for a moment disappear from view during such operations.

Once he saw Baba produce amrita in a container which the physicist estimated from his experience of capacities would hold enough for about fifty people, each receiving the spoonful which Baba doled out. In fact, though, Baba fed about five hundred people with the ambrosial liquid, which apparently was miraculously increased to ten times its original volume.

On another occasion the doctor was sitting with a group of devotees around Baba on a beach in southern India. The talk turned to the various names by which the ocean had been known in Indian mythology. Someone mentioned the name "Ratnakara", which means, he said, "Lord of Diamonds or Precious Stones". "In that case," Baba remarked playfully, "the ocean should produce some diamonds for us." Putting his hand in the water, he took out a sparkling diamond necklace.

Everybody was enthralled at the sight of this circlet of large stones, and someone asked Baba to wear it. Bhagavantam could see plainly that it would not go over Baba's head, being too small and apparently without a clasp for opening the necklace. But such problems did not bother the miracle-man; he simply pulled it outward with both hands as one would stretch a rubber ring. It increased to the right size, yet there were no gaps between the stones. Then, to please his devotees Baba put this diamond garland from "Ratnakara" over his head and wore it on his neck for a short time.

Dr. Bhagavantam has also had his own personal experience of Sai Baba's faculty of knowing what is taking place thousands of miles away, without benefit of telegraph or radio.

When Dr. S. Balakrishna, Bhagavantam's son, moved into a new house in Hyderabad, Baba agreed to go there and perform a house-blessing ceremony. The auspicious day for the ritual was named by Baba and he promised to come on that day. Dr. Bhagavantam was himself away on a government mission to Moscow, but he was scheduled to be back in Hyderabad on the morning of the day of the ceremony, which was to take place in the afternoon.

However, engine trouble in the aeroplane by which he was returning developed somewhere near Tashkent, and he was forced to spend the night in that city. This was the night before the ceremony and Baba, who was at Balakrishna's house in Hyderabad, informed the family that there was engine trouble and that Dr. Bhagavantam was spending the night at Tashkent, but would be flying on to Delhi the following day. No one else in the area knew that there had been any trouble with the plane or that Bhagavantam was at Tashkent. No word of this had come through ordinary channels. But Baba had his own way of knowing, and also of foreseeing that the fault would be righted by the following day.

In the afternoon of the auspicious day, as prearranged, Sai Baba carried out the house-blessing ceremony. During this he produced in his usual miraculous manner a beautiful statuette of Shirdi Baba which the two scientists informed me is about three inches in height and seems to be of solid gold. Baba said it was to be kept in the shrine-room of the Hyderabad house where it was materialised. And there it is still.

All felt sorry that the head of the family, Dr. Bhagavantam, could not be present at the important ceremony, and that evening they talked about where he might perhaps be spending his time. Was he back in Delhi, they asked Baba. Yes, the latter told them, and he was at that moment in the office of the Minister of Defence, New Delhi.

Then Baba booked a telephone call to the Minister's office, making it a personal call to the Scientific Adviser, Dr. Bhagavantam. At that period, I am told, there was always a considerable delay for a trunk call over such a long distance. But Baba's call came through in a few minutes.

Dr. Bhagavantam was at the office, as Swami had stated. He was closeted with the Minister, and in the middle of an important conference. The Minister had in fact given strict instructions to his staff that he was not to be interrupted no matter who telephoned or called to see him. Nevertheless, and no one knows why, one of the secretaries did interrupt him to say that there was a phone call from Hyderabad for Dr. Bhagavantam. With the Minister's concurrence, the doctor left the room and took the call; then Swami's sweet-voice was in his ear, telling him that all had gone well at the house-blessing. Baba elated him further by saying that he would remain in Hyderabad with the family until Bhagavantam returned on the morrow. With joy in his heart and renewed spirit, the scientist went back to discuss his country's defence problems with the Minister responsible in those days, V. K. Krishna Menon.

When I asked Dr. S. Bhagavanam if I could use his name in support of the incredible things he had told me, he promptly answered: "Yes, I'll stand behind every word of it." The earlier dilemma, the conflict between his scientific training and the evidence of his senses, has been resolved. He says, "In our laboratories we scientists may swear by reason, but we know that every time we have added a little to what we know, we have known of the existence of many other things, the true nature of which we do not know. In this process we become aware of further large areas, to understand which we have to struggle more. Thus while adding to knowledge we add more to our ignorance too. What we know is becoming a smaller and smaller fraction of what we do not know." He goes on to say: "Sai Baba transcends the laws of physics and chemistry, and when he transcends a law, that fact becomes a new law. He is a law unto himself."

Once in Madras, addressing an audience of some 20,000 people who had come to hear Sai Baba's message, the worthy doctor said, inter alia, "Scientists are aware that knowledge is not the same as wisdom. Wisdom to be got from Bhagavan (Sai Baba), and the like of him, who come among us from time to time for this express purpose ...

He is a phenomenon. He is transcendental. He is divine. He is an incarnation. He is our nearest kith and kin; turn to him for the eternal message. That alone can save us."

The wealth of miraculous things that my own eyes have witnessed assure my acceptance of things of similar nature about which I have heard. This acceptance is aided by my knowledge of the integrity, intelligence and high moral character of the many witnesses. But, though to many eminent community leaders, and to thousands of ordinary folk like myself, the Sai miracles are indisputable facts, the eye witnesses represent only a small fraction of mankind. So what about the millions beyond the orbit of those who have been fortunate enough to see for themselves? What about the masses of materialists and atheists, conditioned by the superficial philosophy of modern technological progress? Is there the slightest likelihood that they may credit the truth of the incredible events described in these pages?

Nearly a hundred years ago when a Theosophist, A.P. Sinnett, Editor of British India's Pioneer, was trying to convince the western public through his writings that similar miraculous phenomena were taking place, a great Himalayan Adept wrote to him: "None but those who see for themselves will ever believe, do what you may ... But so long as men doubt there will be curiosity and enquiry."

The human mind by its nature regards anything outside a commonly accepted framework of rationality as impossible and rejects it. A materialisation phenomenon, for example, is so foreign to everyday experience that, even after watching it happen, it is not easy for one to believe that it really took place. One seems to have been in some odd way out of space and time. When one is back in the normal dimensions of space and time, the reality of a miracle seems to vanish. It goes as the reality of a dream goes on waking.

"Did the miracle really happen?" the thinking mind asks. But the glittering jewel, which came from nowhere, lies in the hand; the taste of the candy, which a moment ago was granite or paper, is undeniably on the tongue. The effects are apparent; the comprehensible causes are missing, and they are not to be found by our rationalistic thinking.

Of course the apport, the transport of a material object without any known material agency, is well-known to spiritualist and other occult circles of the west. I myself have witnessed them there. The theory behind them is that the object, which is already in existence somewhere, is de-materialised and brought in that state by psychic force to the circle where it is re-materialised.

Baba has said that some of his "productions" are apports. In this regard the observation of one Sai devotee is suggestive. A well-known Indian princess told me that she was once sitting close in front of Baba while he stood above her on a dais, waving his hand to "produce" something. She was able to look for anything happening beneath the down-turned palm. First she saw a small luminous cloud appear there; this condensed quickly to form a small shining object over which Baba's hand closed. The object proved to be a gold ring.

The old, gold ten-dollar piece which Baba "produced" for me at Horsley Hills was no doubt an apport. But what of the interesting phenomenon he performed for Dr. V.K. Gokak, Vice-Chancellor of Bangalore University? On an early visit to Dr. Gokak's home Baba saw on the wall for the first time a portrait of an Indian saint, Shri Panta Maharaja of Balekundri, and asked about its presence there.

The Vice-Chancellor replied to Baba that the saint had been his father's guru, and that he, himself, held the holy man in great reverence.

Baba: "Have you a smaller portrait of him to carry when you're travelling?"

Dr. Gokak: "No."

Baba: "Would you like one?"

Dr. Gokak: "Yes, Swami, very much."

Baba waved his hand, for a little longer than usual, remarking, "He is coming." Turning the palm up, he handed the doctor a small enamel pendant. It bore a miniature replica of the saint's portrait.

Apports are perhaps better known to all classes in India than to those in the west. The ex-Government minister, great educationalist and well-known writer, Dr. K.M. Munshi, states in his excellent Bhavan's Journal that he has seen apports "produced" by a man sitting near him on the sofa of his own drawing-room. First there was "kum-kum (red powder) on a tray, another time flowers, a third time prasad, and a fourth time currency notes".

Munshi goes on to say that he thinks the sacred ash materialised by Baba and used for curing ailments and evoking faith must amount to a pound in weight per day, and is not apported, but "produced in some other even more mysterious way". It seems obvious that the sweets made while you watch from age-old solid rock, and many other phenomena performed by Sai Baba, cannot be apports.

But whether objects are "transported", created on the spot by divine will, or materialised in some other way, what amount of evidence, what number of attestations from people of intelligence and integrity, does it take to convince those who have never seen such things?

Of course, within India itself there are large numbers of people who have no difficulty whatsoever in accepting the reality of miracles. Beneath the surface of life the miraculous has always been going on in that country. There have always been men who could perform some supernormal feat or another; create a perfume from the air, read a sealed letter, crack a tumbler from a distance, heal with a touch, drink strong acid with impunity, levitate, and so on. These things are part of the fabric of the common culture. They are accepted not only by the masses but by thinkers and thought-leaders, of the status of Dr. K. M. Munshi, for instance. On this subject I have spoken to many of the well-educated and highly cultured; most of them have seen some examples during their lives of miraculous phenomena, quite apart from the Sai Baba miracles. The possibility of siddhis is so basic to the Indian heritage that even those who have never seen anything of the kind are ready to believe in the miraculous.

Yet for this very reason, it seems to me, some of the intelligent are inclined to miss the main point of the Sai Baba miracles. I have heard them say: "Advanced yogis are able to perform miracles, but so what? What is the value in such things?"

Some go further and say that miracles should not be performed, that they are an obstacle to spiritual progress. They quote statements from their scriptures and yogic texts to support this view. But if we examine such statements properly we find that the warnings about the perils of performing miracles are given to disciples, to those at an intermediate stage on the spiritual path. Patanjali, for instance, points out that, at some level of training in yoga, latent supernormal powers of various kinds are liable to make their appearance. That is to say the disciple will find that he has the power to perform certain "miracles".

But there are several grave dangers inherent in this. It may stir his pride and egotism. He may start using it for selfish purposes. It may make him think that he has reached his goal. Instead of understanding that these psychic and psycho-kinetic powers are mere by-products, he may consider them the final product or at least a sign that he has reached a high level of spirituality. But psychic powers are not in themselves a sign of spirituality. Thus the pupil enamoured of such powers, will be led astray and make no further progress towards life's true goal.

Baba himself, while in his former body at Shirdi, often gave warnings to his devotees on this matter. He pointed out that the acquirement of supernormal powers often takes a disciple, who has not reached the highest levels, farther away from the main object of his spiritual disciplines, which is the realisation of God. To one of his devotees who had just developed clairvoyance, for instance, Baba said: "Why are you gazing at the strumpet's performance? It does not behove us to dally with a strumpet!"

The man's wife, who was present, thought that Baba was referring to some fleshly concubine, but the devotee himself understood that his Sadguru, Baba, was giving him a timely warning, lest he be carried away by the charms and seductions of his newly-acquired powers.

But such dangers, and such warnings, apply only to chelas, pupils on the path, not to those who have reached the final goal - not to a fully God-realised man, a God-man or avatar. There is no desire for earthly gain, no pride, no egotism, no self-glory in the miracles of a Christ, a Krishna, a Sai Baba. Therefore there is no danger, neither to the performer of the miracle nor to the recipient of its benefits.

However, though the recipient can suffer no ill effects from divine miracles, he may not always obtain all the good effects potentially there. To every such miracle there is a spiritual string, so to speak. If the receiver fails to perceive the string he has lost a golden opportunity. He may perhaps have gained a golden jewel, or he may have been blessed by merciful healing, helped in a practical problem or saved from some deadly peril. These are important things, no doubt, but small compared with what he might have gained.

If he continues to dodge the spiritual string, he will in time become surfeited with miraculous phenomena. They will no longer impress or delight him. Moreover, they will not continue to serve him; and when the point is reached where the miraculous powers of the God-man work no more that materialist's way, where he no longer gets the worldly benefit he expects, he will drop away from the God-man's following. As Captain James Cook when he discovered the east coast of Australia, sailed past and missed the narrow inlet to the fine harbour where Sydney stands, so such a one will miss the narrow way to the divine harbour for which all human ships are searching. And how long must he wait, how many years, how many lifetimes, for such another opening?

What, then, is the significance of the divine miracle, the high, transcendental magic that works never for the benefit of the performer, but always for mankind? Some of its purposes are obvious, some more hidden. As the great Himalayan Adept suggested to Sinnett, miracles do tend to lead men towards investigation and enquiry into the deepest mysteries of the universe. Colonel H.S. Olcott, after seeing a stream of miraculous phenomena during the final quarter of last century, wrote.

"For my part I can say that the great range of marvels of educated will-potency which I saw made it easy for me to understand the Oriental theories of spiritual science. "

This effect - helping the understanding of "spiritual science" - the miraculous will have on minds that are open, alive and anxious to explore the deeper strata of existence. Though the wonders in themselves are subordinate to and less important than the spiritual truths behind them, they are signs more powerful than words to guide men towards those truths, which at their deepest levels cannot be expressed by either wonders or words. For men are in general apathetic, and need something spectacular to shake them out of their inertia. B.V. Narasimha Swami wrote: "One common feature in the lives of both Sai and Jesus is that people always had to be convinced of the divine nature of the two, only through the miracles they performed. Miracles are a concession that divinity allows for human blindness."

Concerning words, spoken or written, men nod or shake their heads, agreeing, disagreeing, debating, comparing ... For there are many who have spoken wise words. But if, as they say in journalism one picture is worth a thousand words, one miracle is worth many thousand.

When the Almighty ordered Moses to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt, Moses protested that the people would not believe he was sent by God, and would not accept him as their leader. So the Almighty told him to throw his staff on the ground. Obeying, Moses saw the staff become a serpent. Then the Lord ordered him to pick up the serpent by its tail, and doing so he found the serpent was a staff again. This was the first of the many miracles that Moses was able to perform through the power of God. The purpose of such marvels was not only to make the Israelites - and Pharaoh - realise that Moses was a divine messenger, but also to overcome the many tremendous obstacles in the long journey from bondage in Egypt to freedom in the promised land. Like all the immortal stories of man's pilgrimage, this one has deeper meanings too. It teaches among other things that miraculous powers have a value in freeing Man from the bondage of the flesh, leading him through the many obstacles of life and his own vain mental strivings to the promised land of spiritual freedom and liberation.

So, beginning with the nucleus of disciples around him, the God-man uses miracles to help them grasp the truth about his divine nature, and also to help them overcome blockages in their spiritual progress. The nucleus of disciples grows to a large following, and gradually - as the religious history of the past shows - the good news, the gospel, spreads until millions become his followers. Thereby the heavy karma of mankind is lifted a little, and more and more souls are brought from darkness towards the light.

But it is wise to remember that the greatest miracles are not always the obvious ones. In the presence of the man of divinity our awakening spiritual perception beholds a demonstration of the most stupendous miracle in the very existence of such a man. We, who are ourselves bond slaves to desire, see one who is master of earthly desire. We, who are always centred in our little, separate, self-important selves, see one who is centred in the Self of all mankind, all life. We, who struggle on through sorrow and passing joys, see the embodiment of eternal joy. We, who constantly confuse love with lust, possessiveness, self-love, feel from the great one the nectarine flow of a love that is divine, universal, embracing all life. Yet at the same time this love is not vague and impersonal; it is very personal, focused on each devotee's innermost heart. And in it there is no taint of egotism.

If our feet are on even the beginning of the spiritual path, we know that these great qualities are goals towards which we ourselves are struggling in life's pilgrimage. But often such goals have seemed a long way off. We have wondered sometimes if we could ever reach them - if any human being ever really came to them. Perhaps after all, we ponder, they are no more than a beautiful dream of the heart. But now before us in the flesh is one who has scaled the spiritual Everest. An ideal, a dream, has thus become an actual, living reality in time. Human nature, we thus see, can indeed be changed, the lower animal self of man can be completely transmuted into a higher Self.

Here lies, perhaps, the deepest significance of divine miracles; they demonstrate the God-like potentialities, the "flake of the world-fire", in each human being. They build our faith, and help us to work with new zeal towards the production of a divine edition of ourselves. And this is accomplished not only through the great inspiration of the living example before us, but also through the silent, transforming ray that emanates from the divine one and unbeknown to us reaches to our depths. By his very nature of pure love the avatar calls all men to him, and the many who come he guides along the razor-edged way.

Sai Baba, while still in his Shirdi body, stated that he would lead hundreds of thousands of people onto the path and take them to the goal, right up to the very end; right to God. On this work he is still energetically engaged.

Narasimha Swami, and others who have imbibed deeply at the Sai fountain, have stated that the universalist religion of love and brotherhood as taught by Sai Baba is destined to embrace the world. Certainly it is spreading through the length and breadth of India and beginning to take root in places abroad. Satya Sai Baba made his first trip overseas in July 1968. He went to Uganda in East Africa, where there was already a nucleus of devotees. His visit became a national event. Great crowds swarmed around him - not only the few thousand Indians there but also the many thousands of Africans, not only the masses of the "lowly" but the "high-ups" as well. Government ministers, the Inspector-General of Police, the Army Chief of Staff and other top officials gathered to pay homage to Baba. Crowds danced with joy at the sight of him, and ranks of police guards went on their knees as he walked between them.

There is little doubt that all continents and all peoples will have the chance to see Sai Baba in the years ahead. So here is something never known before in the world's history. A God-man, a living worker of miracles, will be able through the use of modern global communications to travel the world, and make his message known to all people during his lifetime.

Of old, this could not happen, and tidings of such amazing events reached the mass of mankind either through verbal reports or by accounts written long after the events took place. Now the sceptic, the doubting Thomas, who cannot believe in either the greater or the lesser miracles, can prove their reality for himself. If keen enough, he can visit Prasanti Nilayam to witness them; otherwise he can wait until Sai Baba comes nearer to his part of the globe.

The miracles of Christ and Krishna must be taken on trust or through faith, those of Sai Baba you can see for yourself.