Sai Baba seen in ritual fire (photo)

Sathya Sai Baba has supposedly ‘manifested himself’ in the ritual fire in a shed at the ‘holy sandal’ (Paduka) celebrations in 1998. This image and caption were published on a calendar sold in the ashram. It is true that the colours orange and black are visible in a form which, with a large portion of imagination and ‘mental editing’ can be interpreted as a very rough figure – but without any distinguishing features. For a self-proclaimed omnipotent avatar, one would expect that ‘Bhagwan’ Sathya Sai Baba could have done better in the way of manifestation than such a vague form with no clear outline. However, because it is a ritual fire (homa offering), devotees want to see it as a response from their God Incarnate. It is quite easy – in the over-heated (sic) atmosphere of the ashrams and Sai groups – to begin to interpret many forms that appear in nature as representing Sathya Sai Baba or religious symbols. I admit to having done so myself – though the circumstances in my case were far more clear than in the above photos. This comes of too much concentration on the form of Sai Baba (which is a must for devotees) and the stories and hearsay relating to these supposed ‘manifestations’ (blessings, proofs of divinity or whatever).

The above image is one of hundreds of photos taken of the fire by those present, so one could be expected to show some shape that could be somewhat similar to Sai Baba. For a self-proclaimed omnipotent avatar, one would expect that he could do better in the way of manifestations than a vague form without Incidentally, also took several photos of the ceremony which I attended with my friend V.K. Narasimhan… where I snapped him (see central figure in white below) What do you see in that image of the homa fire? Figures from Hindu mythology, deities, devas, demons, dancing girls…?