India’s 85-year old world famous legendary spiritual leader Sri Satya Sai Baba, whose noble soul left him on Sunday, was today laid to eternal rest in the Kulwant Hall of Prashanthy Nilayam at Puttaparthy with full state honours and with full traditional Hindu Vedic rituals.
The high profile ceremonies of the final rites of the Baba started at 9 am and ended at 10.30 am in the presence of dignitaries such as the chief minister Kirankumar Reddy, Governor ESL Narasimhan, Karnataka Chief Minister Yeddyurappa, former chief minister Chandrababu Naidu and BJP top leader LK Advani and several close devotees and members of families related to the Baba.
The final rites were performed by R.J. Ratnakar, Baba’s nephew amid full police honours. The team of Vedic pundits consisting of 50 Vedic scholars belonging to AP, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu were led by the eminent Vedic scholar Sri Kandukuru Kondavadhani of Rajahmundry.
When the ceremonies began, the glass casket in which Sai Baba’s body was lying in state was removed and the body was wrapped in national tri colour by police guards. Men of the Andhra Pradesh Armed Police sounded the last post and fired 21 shots in the air as a mark of respect to the departed spiritual leader.
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Mortal remains of legendary preacher Sai Baba
Put to eternal rest with state honors and Vedic rituals
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After the tri colour was removed, scholars from the Hindu, Christian, Islamic, Sikh, Judaism and Buddhist religions recited verses from their scriptures and sprinkled the wholly water brought from nine sacred rivers of the country when the final Mangala Haarathi was performed.
While this whole process was going on, hundreds of Sai devotees continuously chanted the ‘Sai’ hymn that reverberated in the Kulwant Hall.
In the end, around 10.20 am, the mortal remains of Sai Baba were carried into the pit specially dug up for his Samadhi, which will remain his as his eternal abode. The Sai Baba Samadhi will now be his eternal memorial which is likely to attract tens of thousands of devotees in future as in the past.
