With the funeral of the Sathya Sai Baba over, the focus has now shifted out of Puttaparthi to a small village named Doddamallur, which lies between Channapatna and Maddur around 90 kilometres away from Bengaluru.
Doddamallur will play a significant part in the days to come, as this has been the village that has been identified by Sathya Sai Baba to be the place where his next incarnation Prema Sai Baba will be born.
With the reincarnation stories doing the rounds, a great deal of interest has already been generated in this small village. The sleepy hamlet has had just one great story to tell in all these years — that Lord Rama had prayed at the Shri Ambegalu Shri Krishna temple before he set out to Lanka to battle Ravana.
There was a great deal of confusion regarding this place as far as stories of Prema Sai Baba were concerned.
Earlier, it was being said that he would be born in a village called Gunaparthi near Mandya, but now it is official that the reincarnation would happen at Doddamallur.
The villagers are in a frenzy. They are aware that if this happens then their village will become hugely important and what is more they all believe that Sathya Sai Baba’s reincarnation will be born in their village.
Prema Sai Baba, according to the discourses given by Sathya Sai Baba, would be the third and the last incarnation of Sai Baba, the first being Shiridi Sai Baba.
This has also been documented in a book written by a lady by the name Kannamma who herself is a great devotee of Sathya Sai Baba.
The people from Puttaparthi have been showing a great deal of interest in Doddamallur.
What is more ironical is that two months back, Baba himself had dispatched a team of around 700 members to Doddamallur. The villagers were a bit taken aback to see such a large contingent.
The group headed straight to the temple at Doddamallur and offered ‘Laksharchana’ and ‘Kumkumarchana’ pujas, which were conducted for nearly 10 hours. Temple trust Chairman Venu confirmed this.
Venu goes on to add that this was the moment that they are all waiting for. They have no reason to believe that this will not happen and the whole village thinks that the prophecy by Baba will come true.
What we were given to understand is that there is no date specified for the birth of Prema Sai and so it could happen anytime in the near future, he said, ading, the age factor which is being debated was also clarified to us.
We expect the people from Puttaparthi to come down and identify Prema Sai for us. Although we are on the look out for the possible parents of Prema Sai, we would still wait for the people from Puttaparthi to do the needful. All they have told us is to inform them if they find something strange or a miracle, which is bound to happen around the Shri Ambegala Krishna temple, Venu said.
Regarding the birth of Baba’s next incarnation, the trustees said the spiritual leader had not given any specific date for the birth of Prema Sai Baba.
The history of Prema Sai Baba began in 1963. During a Guru Poornima discourse, Sathya Sai Baba stated, “Shiva said that they (Shiva and Shakti) would take human form and be born in the Bharadwaja lineage, thrice: Shiva alone as Shirdi Sai, Shiva and Shakthi together at Puttaparthi as Sathya Sai, and Shakthi alone as Prema Sai, later.” This is the first time Prema Sai was mentioned.
Some years later, Sathya Sai elaborated on the message and mission of Prema Sai. “Prema Sai, the third avatar will promote the evangel news that not only does God reside in everybody, but everybody is God. That will be the final wisdom which will enable every man and woman to go to God. The three avatars (Shirdi Sai, Sathya Sai, Prema Sai Baba) carry the triple message of work, worship and wisdom.”
Clearing further confusion, Sathya Sai continued, “they (the three Sai avatars) are not separate. I have already mentioned the complete oneness of the three in the final objective of the mission. I will give you an example. Take a kilo of gur (jaggery). The whole of it tastes sweet. Next break it into small pieces. Each of them is sweet. Finally break them into small grains. You find the same sweetness in them. So the difference is one of quantity and not quality. It is the same with the Avatars. Their tasks and powers requisite to them differ according to the time, the situation and the environment. But they belong to, and derive from, one and the same dharma swarup or divine body.”
On March 6, 2008, (during Shivaratri celebrations) Sathya Sai Baba gave further insight to the nature of the triple incarnation. “The Avatar came as a Trinity. The first was Shirdi Sai, the second is Parthi Sai, and the third will be Prema Sai. The complete unity among all will be achieved when Prema Sai comes.”
In the early 1990s, during a talk with students, Sathya Sai told them “that the father of his next incarnation, as Prema Sai, had been born in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. He also said that the body of Prema Sai was in the process of being formed.” “It is also said that Prof. Kasthuri will be the mother of Prema Sai,” who is now already reborn.
The future incarnation of Sathya Sai is to include the roles of being a husband and father. It is said, at a certain time, Prema Sai will be married, and be the father to one boy.
Prema Sai Baba is said to complete the mission of the Sai avatar to end this age of darkness and to usher in the golden age of Mankind. Around 2105, the incarnation will finish as Prema Sai Baba (then 86) will enter into mahasamadhi.
Professor G. Venkataraman relates a personal experience with Sathya Sai in which Prema Sai became the topic. A “warden offered a peanut to Swami who first refused but later popped one nut into his mouth. He then started giving us one nut at a time. Everyone put out his hand to receive the Prasadam from Swami and when my turn came I did the same. But what fell into my hand was not a piece of groundnut but an enamel billet with some art work on it. I gave Swami a puzzled look and he said, “See what it is.” I tried to see what was on the billet but could not see clearly since I did not have my glasses on. Swami then made some teasing remarks and said, “This billet shows the Cosmic Form of the Lord. Embedded in it are the forms of Shirdi Sai and Swami. I have left some space for Prema Sai also. Shall I include Prema Sai also?” We remained silent, stunned by the experience. He then smiled and said, “No I shall not include Prema Sai because you faithless fellows would desert me and go after him!” We all laughed.”
In 2004, Professor Anantharaman talked about an experience with Howard Murphet and Sai Baba. “Howard then asked what work would Prema Sai do? Sai said “He will have plenty of work. Prema Sai will elevate human consciousness to divine heights. Not only will there be a lot of work but he will also need a lot of help.”
James Sinclair, in 2005, described a series of dreams that, “went on for years. I saw myself walking up a hill, led by three men in the darkness of night. One was an old man in white. One looked somewhat like Jesus Christ. The one in the middle had an orange robe.” Fifteen years later, he describes finding a book about Sai Baba, and seeing his appearance, “recognised that the recurring dream had been of Shirdi Sai, Sathya Sai, and Prema Sai walking up the hill night after night for many years.”
Saiprema 