New Delhi .- Millions of people in India and abroad mourn the death Sunday of Sathya Sai Baba, a popular and controversial holy man who built a financial empire and conquered the hippie movement with its aesthetics and its alleged miracles. Sai Baba, 84 and self-proclaimed god, this morning suffered cardiorespiratory failure at the hospital that he built in his hometown, the southern Puttaparthi, and which had entered since late March with heart problems.
"Sathya Sai Baba is no longer with us. He died at 7.40 hours (02.10 GMT), like any human patient," he told Efe that city from the doctor who cared, AN Safaya. Sai Baba, whose real name is Sathyanarayana Raju, has millions of supporters, including influential politicians, cricketers and film stars, who considered him an incarnation or avatar of the Hindu trinity consisting of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.
Born in 1926 in the midst of a poor family, at age fourteen Raju said to have divine nature and preached for three days under a tree in Puttaparthi, where he then raised his religious center, the "Prashanti Nilayam" or "Abode of Peace" . He became famous later time because of his alleged miracles, mystical abilities with which ash or food produced nothing, or was removed from the mouth jewelry, gold balls and watches, a practice denounced as frauds by various associations.
The holy man was also charged in the past of committing sexual abuse by several of his disciples, but police never charged, and a former prime minister of India, Atal Bihari Vajpayee came to defend him publicly. "We had decades trying to unmask. He himself said he would die at age 96, and look.
His influence has been negative for India. Today there are about 7,000 people who claim to be avatars of god," Efe said the president of the Association Indian Rationalists, Sanal Edamaruku. Sai Baba, known for his hair style, "afro" and a long orange robe, became popular in the West in the seventies, largely thanks to the hippie movement, and now has followers in over 100 countries the world.
Their religious center is a place of pilgrimage for many Indian personalities, to the point that both the President, Pratibha Patil, and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, attended his last birthday. "Sathya Sai Baba was a spiritual leader who inspired millions of people, without renouncing their own religion, to lead a moral life, following the ideas of truth, right conduct, peace, love and nonviolence," lamented today itself Singh said in a statement.
In recent years, following allegations of fraud, Raju had left his miracles, and had focused on social aid and charity, supported by a Council which manages, according to Finance India, over 9,000 million dollars in donations . In Puttaparthi is today dozens of schools, hotels, a university, an airport and a hospital where doctors loyal to the saint provide treatments and operations performed at symbolic prices for the poor.
Sai Baba and predicted that eight years after his death (aged 96) would be born a new avatar, Prema Sai Baba, but the Indian media now speculate what will happen to his compound, in fear that their managers are enzarcen in struggles for control. The Council has decided to expose the body of the saint after 18.00 pm today for two days so that the faithful can see and pay homage ("darshan") before starting the funeral ceremonies.
In recent days, authorities Anantapur district, where the city had ordered a massive deployment of police in anticipation of possible violence between the fans, who pray for days at the hospital by the saint. "We have taken all necessary measures. Now he is dead, we hope that the devotees take it easy and no violence," he told Efe the Inspector General of Police of the district, Charu Sinha.
A Sathya Sai Council source told Efe that after "leaving his mortal body," the saint is now "pervasive" in nature, and that the duty of his followers will "feel and look" so "different" to the arrival of his next incarnation. 
"Sathya Sai Baba is no longer with us. He died at 7.40 hours (02.10 GMT), like any human patient," he told Efe that city from the doctor who cared, AN Safaya. Sai Baba, whose real name is Sathyanarayana Raju, has millions of supporters, including influential politicians, cricketers and film stars, who considered him an incarnation or avatar of the Hindu trinity consisting of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.
Born in 1926 in the midst of a poor family, at age fourteen Raju said to have divine nature and preached for three days under a tree in Puttaparthi, where he then raised his religious center, the "Prashanti Nilayam" or "Abode of Peace" . He became famous later time because of his alleged miracles, mystical abilities with which ash or food produced nothing, or was removed from the mouth jewelry, gold balls and watches, a practice denounced as frauds by various associations.
The holy man was also charged in the past of committing sexual abuse by several of his disciples, but police never charged, and a former prime minister of India, Atal Bihari Vajpayee came to defend him publicly. "We had decades trying to unmask. He himself said he would die at age 96, and look.
His influence has been negative for India. Today there are about 7,000 people who claim to be avatars of god," Efe said the president of the Association Indian Rationalists, Sanal Edamaruku. Sai Baba, known for his hair style, "afro" and a long orange robe, became popular in the West in the seventies, largely thanks to the hippie movement, and now has followers in over 100 countries the world.
Their religious center is a place of pilgrimage for many Indian personalities, to the point that both the President, Pratibha Patil, and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, attended his last birthday. "Sathya Sai Baba was a spiritual leader who inspired millions of people, without renouncing their own religion, to lead a moral life, following the ideas of truth, right conduct, peace, love and nonviolence," lamented today itself Singh said in a statement.
In recent years, following allegations of fraud, Raju had left his miracles, and had focused on social aid and charity, supported by a Council which manages, according to Finance India, over 9,000 million dollars in donations . In Puttaparthi is today dozens of schools, hotels, a university, an airport and a hospital where doctors loyal to the saint provide treatments and operations performed at symbolic prices for the poor.
Sai Baba and predicted that eight years after his death (aged 96) would be born a new avatar, Prema Sai Baba, but the Indian media now speculate what will happen to his compound, in fear that their managers are enzarcen in struggles for control. The Council has decided to expose the body of the saint after 18.00 pm today for two days so that the faithful can see and pay homage ("darshan") before starting the funeral ceremonies.
In recent days, authorities Anantapur district, where the city had ordered a massive deployment of police in anticipation of possible violence between the fans, who pray for days at the hospital by the saint. "We have taken all necessary measures. Now he is dead, we hope that the devotees take it easy and no violence," he told Efe the Inspector General of Police of the district, Charu Sinha.
A Sathya Sai Council source told Efe that after "leaving his mortal body," the saint is now "pervasive" in nature, and that the duty of his followers will "feel and look" so "different" to the arrival of his next incarnation.
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