Gurus

Arriving in Bangalore, I contacted a friend and former colleague, Suresh, from my last contract in London. It was good to meet his family, learn about South Indian culture and drive around the technology parks, which make Bangalore the I.T. outsourcing capital of India.
Suresh’s son attends the free Sai Baba School about 140 km north of Bangalore. After learning about the ashram from the Russians, I had to take up Suresh’s offer to visit with his family on Sunday. The ashram is a living city, 15 tower blocks of dormitories, hospital, restaurants, supermarkets and cafes. It has a real buzz with thousands of people visiting for the day or staying for months. I estimated about a tenth of the people there were western which explains 114 Sai Baba centers around the world.
A guru is one who is regarded as having great knowledge, wisdom and authority in a certain area, and who uses it to guide others. This explains the description of him from his devotees as an avatar, godman, spiritual teacher and miracle worker. It was explained to me that in Hinduism a god can take many forms, this would explain the many Guru's in India.

The Sai Baba’s organisation has made a big contribution to people around the Ashram, with free health care in modern state of the art hospitals. I was impressed with the ashram setup, generosity of devotees and the benefits provided to ordinary Indians but being a devotee is not for me.