Pall of gloom in Sr'patna Ashram

Baba’s followers from the surrounding villages thronged the Ashrama as soon as the news of Baba’s demise spread here. The followers visited the Ashram and paid their last respects to the portrait of Satya Sai Baba in the prayer hall. Many travellers passing on the Mysore - Bangalore highway also gave a brief stop and visited the Ashram to condole the death of Baba.

The ardent follower and founder of the Ashram Halagappa was in tears after the news broke about the death of his spiritual guru. Halagappa and his associates had been offering mass prayers since Baba was hospitalised following illness and prayed for his early recovery.

The Octogenarian says that he opened the Ashram after being inspired by Baba. The Ashram has provided shelter to thousands of orphans so far. “We have been distributing food and cloth to poor on Baba’s birthday on Nov 23 every year,” he says and adds that Baba’s death is something he can never come to terms with.

Halagappa’s son Sai Prasad claimed that the rose water which oozed from a metal piece given to his father by Baba stopped had gone dry. While, the portrait which released Vibhoothi (white powder) also stopped releasing it from past 27 days since Baba was admitted in hospital.

Interestingly, the belief that Baba’s reincarnation will happen in a village on the banks of river Cauvery in Mandya district has raised curiosity of the people in the region. Baba’s followers believe that Satya Sai will reborn as Prema Sai. But, there are contradictory versions floating around, with some predicting his birth immediately after his death and some stating he would be reborn only in 2030. The 41 kilometre stretch, on which the Cauvery river flows in the district, is filled with anxiety with people beginning to speculate about every new birth in the region and visiting children who were born around the time as Sathya Sai Baba’s death.