Sai Baba's devotees believe he will live for 96 years

A group of eminent devotees, including former judges, police officers  and physicians, believe that the 85-year-old Sathya Sai Baba's present condition  is because he has taken on himself the sufferings of one of his  devotees.

As the guru battles for life at the Sathya Sai super speciality hospital  at Puttaparthi town in Anantapur district, a group of devotees  Thursday held a press conference here to say he would recover and appeal to the media to respect their sentiments. "Sai Baba is incarnation of god. He will recover and will live for 96  years as he himself had once said," said R. Prabhakar Rao, former  police chief of Andhra Pradesh.

Some devotees said Sathya Sai Baba himself was god and hence not like other  human beings. They believe he is passing through the current phase of illness as he has taken human form. The group also said that faith had no logic.

The eminent devotees dismissed reports in a section of the media that Sathya Sai  Baba died 20 days ago and that his death was not being announced to  get funds from his devotees in India and abroad. Former chief justice of Andhra Pradesh high court J. Eswara Prasad claimed that Sathya Sai Baba had cured his childhood paralysis when doctors  had termed it incurable. "He always protected me and I did not even  avail the official security during some key assignments," said the  former judge.

Eminent agricultural scientist and former vice chancellor of Andhra  Pradesh Agricultural University M.V. Rao said he, too, believed that Sathya Sai Baba would come out of the present illness and go on to live for 96 years.  "Though as a scientist I see everything scientifically, the powers of  Baba and his extraordinary social work impressed me," he said.

Former police commissioner of Hyderabad Appa Rao said the Sathya Sai Baba possessed  supernatural powers and he had seen him materialise objects like wristwatches and rings out of thin air. Facing a volley of questions, the devotees did not respond to a query  if they would stop believing Sathya Sai Baba was an incarnation of god if he did not  live for 96 years.

Physician and vice president of Narayana Hrudayalaya-Malla Reddy  Hospital Anil Kumar said only four organs of the guru had either failed or  not functioning well and claimed that there were hundreds of instances  where such patients lived on ventilator for  25 years.

Anil Kumar quoted doctors attending on Sathya Sai Baba as saying that  he was not in coma. He said though millions of devotees had come  forward to donate their organs, it was not possible to  transplant the vital organs.