Gods don't die. Neither do they wither away

Gods don't die. Neither do they wither away, leaving behind a wailing legion of the abandoned. Sri Sathya Sai Baba, in his own words, was God, like everyone else who queued up outside his Abode of Peace for a darshan of the divine. The difference between him and those who basked in his halo was that he knew he was the One but others didn't. On Easter Sunday in Puttaparthi, Baba's monumental township in Andhra Pradesh and a destination as sought after as the Vatican, when he breathed his last at the age of 85, the faithful didn't see it as death. It was not a full stop but a pause in the cosmic narrative of reincarnations. It was just a bodily transference, a passage to the highest realm, though, in his departure, he couldn't keep the deadline he had set for himself: Baba's vital organs failed 11 years before schedule. On the day Jesus resurrected, one of the world's most popular-and the richest-preachers left the stage he held for almost seven decades with a rare magnetism that brought the poorest and the privileged, rulers and tycoons, stars and statesmen, the ailing and the assorted salvation junkies from around the world to his feet. The self-chosen deliverer of peace and love, the highest guru and the sovereign lord and the best friend for his devotees in millions, is gone. The aura remains. So does the empire built on his charisma.

Like every other legend in the marketplace of soul therapy, the first line of the Sathya Sai Baba legend was written by Baba himself. It began on a day in November 85 years ago in the village of Puttaparthi, where Sathyanarayana Raju was born with special spiritual powers. He was a guru before he became an adult, and at the age of 14, he realised he was no ordinary mortal but an avatar-an incarnation of Sai Baba of Shirdi (1835 to 1918). This self-anointment was the beginning of a life whose influence would spread far beyond Puttaparthi. His voluminous frizzy hair as distinctive as his flowing orange robes, the diminutive Baba matched his spiritual powers with his social commitment. As healer, preacher, and a benevolent lord of miracles, he did not follow any particular faith but stressed the five pillars of humanity in his teachings: truth, moral conduct, peace, love and non-violence.

In the end, it is miracles that make the story of gods and saints enduring. Sai Baba did more than produce holy ashes and Swiss-made watches out of thin air. His contributions in health, education and drinking water are his lasting miracles that continue to change the lives of thousands. Still, unholy traits have been attributed to Baba by his critics and professional rationalists who called him a trickster. Controversies did not diminish his charisma. On Sunday, when he bowed out of the world's biggest empire of faith, estimated to be worth more than $8 billion, Sathya Sai Baba did achieve more than any other holy man in this age: he struck a fine balance between the spiritual and the social.