35053668-Empire-of-the-Soul-Paul-William-Roberts

‘NO LIKE A-FEESH?’
compound recently planted with trees. Another sign: SRI SATHYA
SAI INSTITUTE OF HIGHER MEDICAL SCIENCES.
‘Holy shit!’ I said out loud. ‘What’s that?’
‘Baba hospital.’
‘Oh.’
There had always been a hospital in the ashram, but that one had
been the size of a small family bungalow. This one was bigger than
any Toronto hospital. Before I could be more amazed, we turned
onto a shady, tree-lined boulevard that had been a stretch of country
dirt road the last time I saw it. On either side were more colossal,
immaculately maintained buildings. The Sri Sathya Sai University,
the SSS Sports Arena, the SSS College of Arts and Sciences, and
many others that seemed to be hostels and administrative buildings.
It gradually dawned on me that this was Puttaparthi. High on a
hill to the left stood a seventy-foot-high painted concrete statue of
Hanuman, the monkey god whose burning tail had scorched these
mountains as he flew to Lanka and a showdown with the demon
Ravana. Beyond this, just up from where ‘Nagamma’s Hotel’ had
been, I saw what looked like a repro Hindu palace. Oh dear, I thought,
Baba’s built himself a palace. That’s it – he’s sold out. I was almost
pleased.
‘Not palace,’ the driver corrected. ‘That place museum of
spirituality.’ What would you exhibit there? I wondered, suddenly
noticing dozens and dozens of coaches parked everywhere in sight.
Baba was certainly more popular than he’d been twenty years before,
when the Puttaparthi bus terminal had handled one bus a day and
had trouble coping with that.
‘Today big festival,’ the driver explained.
‘Which one?’
‘Guru Poornima.’
Guru Poornima: the festival held on the full moon night nearest
to mid-July, according to the lunar calendar, and dedicated to your
guru. It was the one festival I’d never attended at Prasanthi Nilayam.
What a coincidence! Of all the days on which to come – a festival.
There had never been much chance of contact with Baba during
festivals – even twenty years before – because of the crowds. Indians
love festivals, attending every one they can justify attending. A holy
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