individual meetings were called interviews. I was fortunate to attend such meetings many times. Sometimes, Sathya Sai Baba invited me as part of a group, and sometimes alone. Sathya Sai Baba used to invite several people for interviews. Every year more and more people came to the ashram, and so the chance to get an individual meeting became less frequent.
In the ‘90s, groups who came for a month or two often had the unique opportunity to interact directly with Sathya Sai Baba. If he believed that a person really needed to talk to him, he would invite him or her to his room for an individual conversation, each time it was solely the decision of Sathya Sai Baba himself. It was impossible to "sign up" for an interview, only Sathya Sai Baba determined who he should talk to personally.
During the morning and evening programs, people sat on the floor of the large temple on rugs, while Sathya Sai Baba walked between the rows. Sometimes, he stopped and could talk to one of those present, and if he considered it necessary, he invited him to his room for a personal conversation. The invited people got up and walked to the entrance to his room.
Sathya Sai Baba invited groups of ten to twenty people and talked with people for about an hour, sometimes up to an hour and a half. Visitors from different countries came to him: Russians and Americans, Chinese and Japanese, Germans and French, Israelis and Iranians, Argentines and Mexicans.
He invited people from different countries for personal talks, and devotees who came from all over the world gathered in his room. The room for personal meetings was relatively small, and all the invitees sat on the floor. There was a beautiful chair in the corner where Sathya Sai Baba sat.
12. I was a beginner interpreter of Sathya Sai Baba, and I was very worried, but soon I witnessed two interesting cases, after which I realized there was nothing to worry about, and so I relaxed
When a group of Hindus came to Sathya Sai Baba, he spoke with them in any one of the Indian languages, such as Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Marathi, Bengali. If the group consisted of foreigners, then the conversation was held in English. Most of the Russian-speaking people did not know English, so during personal meetings Sathya Sai Baba communicated through translators. I was fortunate enough to interpret many times at such meetings. The main advantage for an interpreter was the opportunity to have frequent personal contact with Sathya Sai Baba.
I often remember two interesting stories that happened in the early ‘90s, which were very instructive for me as a translator. At that time, I was just starting to translate for Sathya Sai Baba, and I was very excited during my first translation experiences, because I felt it was a tremendous responsibility. However, I soon witnessed two interesting cases, after which I realized there was nothing to worry about.
A woman from New York came to the ashram, who was an emigrant from Russia. At that time, she had lived in America for many years and knew English perfectly. One of the Russian groups invited this woman as an interpreter thinking she would be the most ideal translator. What could be better than a Russian woman who had lived in America for many years and who spoke both English and Russian, perfectly.
However, when she came to the interview, she was able to translate only a few phrases. It seemed that an eclipse had occurred in her mind, and she stopped understanding English, altogether. In her embarrassment, she fell silent, and the interview, in fact, was derailed.
Sathya Sai Baba continued to speak in English, but the interpreter could no longer translate anything. She stopped understanding English exactly at the time of the interview, and immediately after the meeting, her knowledge of the language returned to her. The translator apologized, saying she was very uncomfortable for letting people down.
At first, the whole group was offended, but then everyone realized that a miracle had happened. Sathya Sai Baba showed that it doesn't matter if you know English or not, if he wanted to turn off a person's knowledge of the language, he could easily do it.
Literally, two weeks later, another Russian-speaking group was interviewed. In this group, no one knew English, and only one woman from St. Petersburg knew just a few simple phrases. She was very worried, because she understood that her knowledge was not enough for a full translation. When she entered Sathya Sai Baba's room, something happened in her mind and during the meeting, which lasted about an hour, she suddenly acquired knowledge of English.
During this meeting, people asked Sathya Sai Baba a lot of rather difficult questions, and she translated everything perfectly. When this woman left the room, she caught herself and realized that a miracle had happened, for she practically did not know English. All the other members of the group were also very surprised, because they knew very well that this woman did not speak English. Subsequently, she never learned English, but at the time of the interview she knew it perfectly.
This is how Sathya Sai Baba showed he can influence a person's consciousness. These two cases were very instructive for me. It became clear to many of those present at the ashram that Sathya Sai Baba could turn on the abilities of any person, or, on the contrary, temporarily limit the possibilities of someone else.
13. Sathya Sai Baba was fluent in all the languages of the world
Sathya Sai Baba had the ability to freely understand and speak all the languages of the world. A similar ability is described in the New Testament, when the Apostles, after the descent of the Holy Spirit, spoke freely in all languages. This is not about the fact that a person is a genius of linguistics and can learn many foreign languages. In this case, we are talking about the supernatural ability to understand and speak absolutely all languages.
India has dozens of major languages and many dialects, each with its own unique script. Sathya Sai Baba's native language was Telugu, a very beautiful and melodic language. At school, Sathya Sai Baba studied his native Telugu and Hindi, as well as a basic level of English, however, throughout his life he repeatedly demonstrated the ability to speak perfectly in any language with perfect grammar and pronunciation.
When people from different parts of India came to Sathya Sai Baba, he spoke to everyone in his native dialect, but when he quoted the sacred Indian scriptures, he spoke fluently in ancient Sanskrit. Almost always Sathya Sai Baba spoke to foreign guests in English, but sometimes he could show his ability to speak in the native language of each visitor.
I had the opportunity of personal contact with Sathya Sai Baba from 1993 to 1999. I am often asked how many interviews I was lucky enough to receive in those years. At first, I wrote down the dates when personal meetings took place, and after their number exceeded one hundred, I stopped counting.
Sometimes, Sathya Sai Baba invited me to meetings as an interpreter to translate the conversation from English into Russian, and sometimes he invited me to meetings in order to communicate with me personally. Even when I went as an interpreter, I always had the opportunity to talk to him about my personal topics. As a translator, I always sat next to him, so it was often possible to take a moment to discuss my questions, but not at the expense of the group for which I was translating.
During the first interviews, I was very worried as I felt my role was such a great responsibility. I wondered if I would be able to understand exactly what Sathya Sai Baba was saying, and whether or not I would be able to accurately translate his words; after all, I was not a professional translator.
When I made a mistake and inaccurately translated a phrase, Sathya Sai Baba corrected me and did it in two ways. Sometimes he told me with a smile that I had not translated correctly and repeated the phrase in English again. Thus, showing me and everyone present that he understood how I translated into Russian.
Sometimes Sathya Sai Baba corrected me in a different way, saying a phrase in pure Russian! This was heard by all those present. Of course, it caused great surprise and delight. He spoke phrases in Russian with perfect grammar and pronunciation and could
