27th April 2011: Exclusive LIVE Photos/Videos: Sathya Sai Baba Funeral/Burial

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Sathya Sai has used a wheelchair since 2005 due to his failing health. In 2006 he suffered a fractured hip. He met followers ever since from a car or his porte chair.

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Former prime ministers, presidents, actors and politicians – the fan following of god man Sathya Sai runs into several columns of the world's who's who.

The man who claims to have performed several miracles including bringing two dead men back to life, counts top businessmen and even the country's cricketers among his followers.


In 1968, when Sathya Sai made his first and only trip overseas to Uganda he met with dictator Idi Amin. But the late military leader and President of Uganda was one of a long list of celebrities who sought audience with him everyday, mostly at his native Andhra village of Puttaparthi where he lived.






In a letter made public in December 2001, then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, former Chief Justice of Supreme Court PN Bhagawati, former former chairperson of Rajya Sabha Najma Heptullah and former Union Minister Shivraj Patil expressed "pain and anguish" at alleged attempts by the media to tarnish Sathya Sai's image.


The allegations by the media followed criticisms by rationalists of the godman's claims of divinity and his refusal to undergo scientific scrutiny of his materializing inanimate objects out of thin air.
Among his noted followers are actor Amitabh Bachchan, cricketers Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble, politicians Shivraj Patil, Ashok Chavan, S M Krishna, M K Stalin and Chandrababu Naidu.


In 2001, when the digital radio network Radio Sai Global Harmony was launched through the World Space Organization, Dr Michael Oleinikof Nobel, a distant relative to Alfred Nobel, said it would spread Sathya Sai's message of global harmony. He was a patron of the radio network.

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Sachin pays homage to Sai Baba in Puttaparthi


Video


Puttaparthi: Iconic Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, a devotee of the late Sathya Sai Baba, on Monday paid his last respects to the godman who died on Sunday.

The 38-year-old Tendulkar skipped his birthday celebrations on Sunday to mourn the death of Sai Baba, who battled multiple-organ failure before breathing his last at 85 years of age.

The iconic batsman was accompanied by his wife Anjali during his visit to the Sai Kulwant Hall in Prashanti Nilayam in Puttaparthi. The couple was moved to tears upon arriving at the hall where they sat for a while before driving off.

Click to play video


Puttaparthi: Iconic Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, a devotee of the late Sathya Sai Baba, on Monday paid his last respects to the godman who died on Sunday. The 38-year-old Tendulkar skipped his birthday celebrations on Sunday to mourn the death of Sai Baba, who battled multiple-organ failure before breathing his last at 85 years of age. The iconic batsman was accompanied by his wife Anjali during his visit to the Sai Kulwant Hall in Prashanti Nilayam in Puttaparthi. The couple was moved to tears upon arriving at the hall where they sat for a while before driving off.

The Baba's body has been kept in the Hall for two days for his millions of devotees to pay their last respects.

Born as Sathyanarayana Raju in a humble backward caste family on November 23, 1926, Baba emerged as one of the most popular godmen in India in modern times.



Initially he attracted attention through acts like producing articles like sacred ash and 'lingam' which his detractors claimed was a sleight of hand, but later he came to be known for his founding institutions of learning and philanthropy.



Baba, who considered himself a reincarnation of Sai Baba of Shirdi, was hospitalised on March 28 following problems related to heart and respiration and had been lying critical following multi-organ failure.

Surviving on ventilator support, his kidneys stopped functioning and his health suffered deterioration a few days ago when his liver also stopped functioning.



The Sai Baba leaves a big empire estimated from a conservative figure of Rs 40,000 crore to a staggering Rs 1.5 lakh crores raising questions over who will manage the Trust.