Sathyam Sivam Sundaram!

The biography of Sri Sathya Sai Baba was aptly named as "Sathyam Sivam Sundaram(Truth Auspiciousness and Beauty). It exactly depicts the qualities of the incarnation of the present age. One retired Professor Sri Narayana Kasthuri penned this great story of the Lord. Initially Kasthuri too was septic to believe the glory of the Avatar, present in the form of slender boy Sathya Narayana. He came, he saw and he was conquered after many years! Sri Kasthuri was a prolific writer of repute in Karnataka State of India. Once he was in charge of programs in All India Radio. He was a Post Graduate in History and completed a degree of Law. He could speak besides his mother tongue Tamil, all South Indian languages like Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu. The last one he learned after he came into contact with Saibaba! He was a Tamilian by birth, studied in Malayalam(Kerala), served and taught in Kannada(Karnataka) and learned Telugu at the feet of the Divine. It is Sri Kasthuri who translated all the lectures of Saibaba in English. He was the Editor of the house journal known as Sanathana Sarathi.

How he came into the presence of Bagawan is a great mystery.

Sri Kasthuri"s daughter was of marriageable age. He was searching for a suitable match for her. A handsome boy whom Kasthuri had acquainted seemed to be a good match. But the problem is that the boy's father is moderately rich when compared to the status of Kasthuri. But the boy's parents were devoted to Sathya Sai, about whom Kasthuri had not heard much. When he tried to contact the boy's parents, he has not received any favorable reply. Somehow he taught of Saibaba and if he could bring the match, he could visit Saibaba. Strangely, the boy's parents had a dream in which Saibaba appeared and admonished the father for not approving the alliance with the daughter of Kasthuri. After the dream, the boy's father had rushed to the house of Kasthuri and conveyed his acceptance of his daughter for his son. This prompted Kasthuri to visit Puttaparthi and he met Saibaba. That started the encounter with Baba. It took many years for Kasthuri to literally accept the Divinity of Saibaba. Only afterwards he attempted to write the biography of Saibaba. Even after completing it, Saibaba never gave him permission to publish it. He said that the world is not yet ready. Only after few years, Baba allowed him to publish the beautiful book, "Sathyam Sivam Sundaram.