The Indian sage Sai Baba has passed away

The popular and highly revered Indian sage Sathya Sai Baba passed away yesterday at age 84. He has a huge following among the Hindus and millions of devotees all over the world. The miracle-man and revered as God by his followers, Sathya Sai Baba had the rich, famous and powerful from the world of politics, business, films and sport flocking to his doorstep in Puttaparthi, the small Andhra Pradesh village that he made internationally famous.

I have never met Sai Baba before and I am not familiar with him in this lifetime. Perhaps the only mere connection with him was from a dream I had of him a few years ago. It was a very short, clear and vivid dream. Sathya Sai Baba was standing just a few metres away from me, in a bright and long flowing white robe and omniscent afro hair. He was smiling widely at me. Then his hand beckoned me towards him. When I went up to him, he blessed my head with his both hands. Exactly the same way which my gurus, the high lamas would have done. And then I woke up. It was about 3am.

I felt so mystified. I know nothing more about Sai Baba beyond recognising his face. I am only aware that he was a certain God or sage whom many Hindus worship. I wondered about the meaning of this dream. Why him? I don't know him. I am a Buddhist. He was from a "different" religion. I only recognised him as Sai Baba because many years back, when I visited a client's office, I saw a photo of a man with afro hair and was wearing an orange robe. I asked my client who is an Indian, who that man was. He told me it was his guru, Sai Baba. After that dream, at 3am, I immediately scrambled online to find out more about him.

I learnt that Sathya Sai Baba was a popular, controversial Indian guru who has millions of followers in many countries. He was an incarnation and an embodiment of love with divine powers such as omniscience and omnipotence. He was said to manifest vibuthi (white holy ash) from his palm and materialise small objects like rings and watches daily. Even his pictures could manifest holy ash. His followers reported many spectacular miracles of many kinds that they attributed to Sai Baba. He preached the unity of all major world religions.

Sai Baba manifesting vibhuti holy white ash, even on his photos.

I also read that we can only dream of Sai Baba only if he willed it. Someone had told me then: "You are very blessed, my dear. Buddha can come to you in any Form. You get the meaning?"

A few weeks after that dream of Sai Baba, I chanced upon a Sai Baba devotee. I asked her on what occasion would Sai Baba be wearing a white robe She said usually Sai Baba wore a saffron orange robe. Only for special occasions then he would be in white, for example, on his birthdays. In my dream, he was indeed in white robe. I was given some of his vibhuti holy ash.

In this lifetime, although I did not get to meet Sathya Sai Baba in person, I believe I might have a connection with him from a previous lifetime. And I have always believe I might have been an Indian in one of my past lifetimes. Perhaps we would meet again, in another lifetime, in another realm.