What is going on in Prashanti Nilayam, the abode of “Bhagwan” Satya Sai Baba at the holy town of Puttaparthi in Anantapur district?
Is Baba still alive and if he is, is there any chance of he becoming normal and give darshan to the devotees?
These are the questions bothering the minds of millions of devotees. As various stories doing rounds in the media about the status of his health and murky happenings inside the trust, the devotees are worried as to whether Baba had really become a prisoner in the hands of some selfish individuals and whether they are deliberately denying him the required medical assistance, so that their shady deals would not come out in the open.
All these days, people have been going there only as devotees. Nobody bothered to find out how the trust has been running and who is managing the whole activities in Prashanti Nilayam.
Though everybody knows Satya Sai Baba had built up a multi-billion spiritual empire spread over 160 countries, but nobody knows the value of it.
There are no official records on the extent of the Sai Baba empire, as the Satya Sai Central Trust never makes it public about the flow of funds into the trust or its expenditure details.
The media has no access to the trust affairs and nobody really knows who the members are in the trust and whether any changes are made at any point of time.
There is no entry for the government into the trust affairs, as if it is a “special economic zone,” and the Presidents, Prime Ministers, Chief Ministers, ministers, bureaucrats, members of judiciary and even armed forces representatives, who regularly visit Puttaparthi and pay obeisance to Sai Baba, have no access to the trust affairs at all.
There are only tentative estimates about the wealth accumulated in Sai Baba’s spiritual empire. In fact, Baba himself had once revealed during an address that the Trust owned immovable property including lands in and around Puttaparthi to the tune of Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000 crore.
According to conservative estimates, the Trust's holdings touch a mind-boggling Rs 1.3 lakh crore if their assets in various countries are also taken into account. But nobody knows how these funds are managed and how they are spent on what. We are told there will be internal auditing every year, but the details are never made public.
Now with Sai Baba has reached a stage of almost no return to the material world, the media focus is entirely on the empire in the post-Baba period. Whether it may be family members or insiders in the trust, people are coming out in the open to leak the internal affairs of the Prashanti Nilayam to the media and there were real startling revelations.
The series of stories appearing in a section of media, based on these leaks, reveal that certain trust members have converted Prashanti Nilayam into a virtual mafia den. As of now, the names of one Satyajit, personal attendant of Baba and previous stores manager Shourie, who have taken complete control of trust affairs, have come out.
These so-called attendants never believed that Sai Baba was a divine personality, but had eyes only on the properties of the trust.
They went to the extent of making Baba addicted to sleeping pills, which made him sluggish and weak. They never bothered to provide treatment Baba, though he had suffered from facial epilepsy six months ago and bronchitis recently. It was only after his almost slipped into coma, did they admit him in super speciality hospital, where the treatment has been going on only as per their directions.
A petition has been filed before the State Human Rights Commission, demanding that all the details pertaining to Baba’s health condition and the line of treatment be made public. Sadly, a divine character has to fight for his human rights!
