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India is known throughout the globe as the land of the occult and of spirituality. She has been the birthplace of several holy seers and prophets, and this is the cause for the religious consciousness of the people here. Puttaparthi (also Puttaparthy), in the southern flanks of the country, has given birth to one such prophet, Sri Satya Sai Baba. Innumerable devotees, from all over the globe flock to this small town every year to have a glimpse of the seer, and be touched by his divine presence.LOCATION
Located in the southwestern parts of the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, Puttaparthi is surrounded by the arid and rocky hills bordering Karnataka. It is the seat of Prasanthi Nilayam, the ashram of Sai Baba. Sai Baba resides here from July to March.
HISTORY
Satyanarayana Raju was born on November 23, 1926 in Puttaparthi, an obscure village in the erstwhile Madras Presidency. He is said to have shown prodigious talents and unusual purity and compassion from an early age. His apparently supernatural abilities initially caused some concern to his family, who took him to Vedic doctors, eventually to be exorcised. Having been pronounced to be possessed by the divine rather than the diabolical, at the age of fourteen he calmly announced that he was the new incarnation of Sai Baba, a saint from Shirdi in Maharashtra who died eight years before Satya was born.
Gradually his fame spread, and a large group of followers grew. In 1950, the ashram was inaugurated and a decade later Sai Baba was attracting international attention. Through his miraculous powers, including the ability to materialize vibhuti or the sacred ash, with curative properties, Sai Baba has millions of devotees worldwide, a considerable number of who turn out for his birthday celebrations in Puttaparthi, where he delivers a message to his devotees.
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