Putaparthy Sri Satya Sai Baba, whose original name is Satyanarayana Raju, was born on November 23, 1926 to the couple Pedda Raju and Eswaramma at Puttaparthy in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh. The year coincides with the Telugu year ‘Akshaya’ which means ‘never declining’ and ‘ever full’. He was the youngest of the two brothers and two sisters.

However, there are Baba’s school records which say that Baba was born in the year 1929.

It is said that Sai Baba’s paternal grandfather Kondama Raju, who lived for 110 years and died in 1950, is a staunch devotee of Lord Rama.

Sai devotees say that a number of miracles took place in the house and in the village of Puttaparthy one day before and after the birth of Sai Baba. It is said that Baba was placed on a set of old clothes soon after his birth and the maid servants attending his mother found a movement under the clothes. Later, to their surprise, the servants found a powerful cobra moving under the clothes.

The cobra’s moment was later interpreted by the devotees of Baba as the blessings of Shiridi Sai Baba. Satyanarayana Raju, before he became the Baba, grew as a pure vegetarian and never turned away beggars from home with out giving alms.

When he was in school, he used to help his co-students with pencils, pens and text books by producing them from his palm miraculously. When some of his friends fell sick, he used to cure them instantly. Even in his childhood only, he attained the name of a miracle man.

One day, when he was thirteen, Raju had leapt into the air in the school compound looking at some thing and he fell down. He was carried home by his friends but he was unconscious for the next 24 hours, it is said.

After he gained consciousness, he was totally a changed man. He was describing about far off places which he had never seen and telling about people who he had never met. He also started reciting slokas from the Vedas and ancient scriptures.

Raju, absenting himself from school, stayed at home giving darshan to the people of the village and solving their problems. When his father shouted at him and asked him what he was, he reportedly replied: “I am Sai Baba. I have come to ward off your troubles, keep your houses clean and pure. Venkavadhoota prayed that I be born in your family, so I came.” Venkavadhoota was a family ancestor who had been looked upon as a great yogi and guru by the people of hundreds of villages surrounding the area.

Sai Baba was considered as the Amsa and Avataara of the Shiridi Sai Baba. Satya Sai Baba is said to be his reincarnation. Sai Baba of Shirdi was famous for keeping a continuous yagya fire burning 24 hours a day. Yagya fires are the source of Vibuthi ash for which Satya Sai Baba is famous for producing from his hands.

Sai Baba stated about himself in a letter to his brother Janakiramaiah in 1947, “I have a task to foster all mankind and ensure for all of them lives full of bliss. I have a vow, to lead all who stray away from the straight path again into goodness and save them. I am attached to a work that I love, to remove the sufferings of the poor and grant them what they lack.”

The rest of how he made millions of devotees all over the world is part of history and it is there for all to see openly.