Sreejith Narayan

PART I

It has been the question of this Yuga and one that has been doing rounds in various Sai circles for the past few months. I have received many emails from fellow devotees regarding this topic. There were few occasions when I had thought about it but ultimately there is no point in trying to put a date against His Return. Swami’s ways are mysterious and unpredictable. That said, it would be really worth the wait, is it not? It is certain that each and everything He said will come to pass. When, where, how, is beyond us! 

In the book I had suggested the time-frame between July 2012 and April 2014 purely deduced from Swami’s own words regarding His lifetime on earth. As discussed in the book, Swami indicated 94 a few times and 96 a few other times. Some books on Swami do mention 93 and 95 but that is due to the difference in age calculation between various cultures.

The age of a person is counted differently in different cultures. In most western countries, the age of a person who has lived for 20 years and 11 months is considered 20 years old and his/her age will turn to 21 only on the next birthday one month later. In India too, some places follow this method. But in some other places in India, a person is considered 21 years old as soon as he/she has lived for one day beyond 20 years. There are certain other practices too which makes this all too confusing. So we will stick to only the most common ones mentioned above. Anyways, the differences mentioned in different books are because of the different ways of calculation. The ages 94 and 96 are based on the most prevalent method used in that part of India.

One important thing I noticed is that whenever Swami mentioned 94, He indicated that He will be in His body (or form) for that many years. Whenever 96 was mentioned, He indicated He will live until that age. How is it possible for someone to live 94 years in a body (or form) and achieve 96 years of age? Well, as it turns out, there is actually only one way to do it. Just disappear for a couple of years in between and then come back to live on till the 96th year!

I never utter a word that does not have significance.  (The Life of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, N.Kasturi, Page 196)

If we think that Swami mistakenly mentioned two different ages at different times, we are the ones making the BIG mistake. Even an ordinary human being like myself is capable of remembering what “number” I mentioned a few days ago and be consistent with it when I say it again. Then how will the Avatar make such a mistake? We need to understand that anything the Avatar says has a deep meaning. That is what prompted me to believe Swami will return in a matter of  two to three years after He left His body. No matter what calculation we use, we will find a difference of 15 to 36 months (if we calculate with the months as explained in the Chapter 3 of the book) between the ages mentioned by Swami during different times.

For example, Swami will be 94 after His birthday on Nov.23, 2019. He will be 96 after His birthday on Nov.23, 2021 and will remain on 96 till Nov.22, 2022. So if we calculate the number of months between Nov.23, 2019 and Nov.22, 2022, we will get 36 months which can be taken as the maximum difference between the two ages (94 and 96) mentioned by Swami. Hence the assumption in the book that Swami may return before April 2014.

Whatever I say is the truth, whatever I do is the truth, whatever I will is the truth - this is the confidence you should have, even though things may appear otherwise.(Sri Sathya Sai Baba, Amrita Varshini, Page 5)

Please click here to read the Part II of this article