AN HEIR OF DOUBT

A FORMER STUDENT TAKES OVER SATHYA SAI BABA’S PREACHINGS AND PRACTICE, UPSETTING THE OLD GUARD

- Amarnath K. Menon

His acolytes call him the 21st-century avatar of Sri Sathya Sai Baba. His detractors beg to differ. He has transformed Sathya Sai Grama, nothing more than a collection of buildings a decade ago, into a thriving spiritual sanctuary that brings alive the preachings and practices of the Sri Sathya Sai Baba. The spiritual guru's original home, Prasanthi Nilayam in Puttaparthi, Andhra Pradesh, managed by the Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust (SSSCT), is losing both flock and popularity to the upstart, as it were.

War has erupted over the legacy of the Sathya Sai Baba, who passed away in 2011. On one side is the 43-year-old Madhusudan Naidu, a business management graduate of the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning (SSSIHL)-one of the many colleges that Sri Sathya Sai Baba had set up in Puttaparthi-who claims to be the legitimate heir of the spiritual guru. On the other is the guru's nephew, R.J. Rathnakar, managing trustee of the SSSCT since 2020, who sees Naidu as nothing more than a pretender and claims to be the real custodian of Sathya Sai Baba's endowments.

Long-time Sathya Sai devotees and associates of the Puttaparthi-based institutions resent the rise of Madhusudan and B.N. Narasimha Murthy, a former SSSIHL hostel warden, who lead the rival faction. "Puttaparthi is the most sacrosanct place for devotees," says former Andhra Pradesh minister J. Geetha Reddy. "It is from here that Sathya Sai spread the mission of service and love."