Vladimir Muranovs path was predetermined by a series of circumstances. In his youth, he was very ill. At first he sought help from conventional medicine. Then he became convinced that this path was fruitless, and he began to look for alternative treatments offered by traditional healers. So he became the student of a master teacher, who restored his health and taught him how to be a healer. In time Vladimir, now a healer in his own right, established a school of his own. There he began to teach his students the fundamental nature of human beings and their interaction with the Universe, together with the basics of healing.
There was a large portrait of Sai Baba in Vladimirs classroom. He told his students what he had learned about Swami, often sharing memories and knowledge from his own travels to India. Twice a year he gathered a group of people and traveled to India, going to Puttaparthi for a few days and introducing his group to Sathya Sai Babas ashram. During the five years of our friendship with the Supreme Teacher Sathya Sai Baba, I have observed that almost everyone who had ever visited this ashram as a tourist, or had just passed through, always returned or intended to return. For those visitors, a deep process of transformation had begun in their lives, an enduring friendship with the Supreme Teacher that touched many lives.
The Ashram (Monastery) of Sathya Sai Baba is located in Puttaparthi, India, a town located 150 km from Bangalore. Puttaparthi had once been a small village, but now there are schools, colleges, universities with residential campuses, museums, shops, a major hospital, clinics, libraries, temples, sport complexes and a vast stadium, a planetarium and many hotels. It is a place of pilgrimage for believers of all religions, people of different nationalities, who speak all the languages of the world. For convenience of communication people use the mantra «Sai Ram», which replaces such popular phrases as «hello» and «excuse me» and all the other things you might want to express in a language thats not your own.
The Ashram is called Prasanthi Nilayam, the Abode of Supreme Peace. Here you can often hear about miracles: the materialization of various objects, the sacred ashes of Vibhuti in Swami devotees houses, and complete healings from illness. We know a lot of incredible stories that have happened to people after they became acquainted with Swami. In this place of love and peace, there are wonderful manifestations of the Divine in everything, and a persons spiritual transformation begins with their first steps on the Ashrams paths.
CHAPTER 2
WHY I DECIDED TO WRITE THIS BOOK
In June 2014, Vadim and I took a trip to Lake Baikal in the company of Vladimir Muranov and other friends. One evening, after dinner, everyone was sitting and chatting away. Vladimir and I were exchanging our impressions of the trip. He suddenly broke off the conversation. He gave me an odd look and then said, «Write a book.» Seeing my surprised face, he added, «This wish doesnt come from me.» This suggestion practically a command surprised me. I asked:
«A book? What should I write a book about?»
«About your life, about Sai Baba,» replied Vladimir.
Inwardly I couldnt help laughing at this suggestion. I have never been eloquent, and, outwardly, my life seemed too ordinary to write about. I had tried not to tell anyone about events connected with Sai Baba, except for my husband and Vladimir. These events were too personal and, as it seemed to me, would be of no interest to others.
I listened to Vladimirs suggestion and decided to take my time thinking it over. It would have stayed on the back burner indefinitely if I hadnt had a dream just that night after our conversation. Since my first trip to the Ashram, I had been having prophetic dreams that gave me intimations and counsel on how to deal with difficult situations. Those dreams, bright and clear, usually came just before I woke up, so I remembered them very well. On this occasion I dreamt of Prema Sai (the next incarnation of Sai Baba). He came up to me, put His arm on my shoulders and looked at me with deep loving eyes, as only God can! He said, «Go ahead and do it, get started!»
Upon waking up, I had no more doubts about writing the book. It was also clear to me that the Supreme Gurus words didnt just apply to the book I was to write, but also to my spiritual advancement more generally. But I still had questions: what exactly should I write about? What style should I use? Who was my intended мaudience? I was racking my brains for days. But then I calmed down time would tell.
CHAPTER 3
EVENTS OF 20132014
Make one step towards me and I will make a hundred steps towards you
Sathya Sai Baba
My husband, my eldest son Misha, and I made our first visit to the Prasanthi Nilayam Ashram in early December 2012 for just four days. This was our first trip to India; we were travelling with a group organized by Vladimir Muranov, and Puttaparthi was one of our stops. At that time India was a whole new world for us and, not least, this wondrous Ashram. The air was filled with the fragrance of flowers in bright sunshine, and everywhere there were people dressed in bright colors. Large numbers of local people came to the Ashram every day, mostly from the villages. When I attended darshans (meetings conducted in the Divine presence, where Vedas are read and then the devotional songs bhajans are sung), there was such a large number of multicolored saris that I was continuously drawn to observe the women, their clothing and adornments, and the way they carried themselves. The Mandir (temple) itself was no less brightly colored than the people.
At that first visit, Sai Baba remained a puzzle for me, but we loved the Ashram and its atmosphere to such an extent that we decided we would definitely come back. Four months later, in April 2013, my son and I returned to the Ashram.
We found information about Swami mainly from books, and from talking in the Ashram with witnesses of Swamis earthly life. We enjoyed going to the Chaitanya Jyoti Museum with the old Swami devotee Igor Mehanoshin who acted as a guide for Russian groups, explaining the Museums exhibits in great detail.
In those days Sai Baba was incomprehensible to me, despite my best efforts to comprehend His acts and work out explanations for things that I just couldnt square with my logic. Eventually I grew weary of these efforts and gave them up, realizing that to comprehend the incomprehensible was simply beyond my conscious ability. All I knew was that simply being present in the Ashram was a one-of-a-kind experience, making us feel completely calm and serene, and that we had never experienced anything like this anywhere before.
From this visit I took home a framed picture of Swami. It was just a photo of his smiling face, but it seemed to me the best likeness that Id seen. When I returned to Moscow, I put it on a shelf in my kitchen. One day, while thinking about Sai Baba and doing household chores, I heard a crash; that same picture had fallen on the floor! I picked it up and moved it to another shelf. A few days later, as I was watching a video about Sai Baba, I suddenly felt such a strong wave of love and longing for Him that my tears flowed like a river, with this thought swirling around nonstop in my head: «Why didnt I find You alive, still among us on earth? Why did You call me so late?» It was like waking up from a dream All of a sudden the same picture of Swami fell down with a crash yet again. Thats when my tears stopped! I sat down and looked at what was happening around me: at that moment, it was as if Sathya Sai Himself had appeared in front of me. He let me know, «I hear you. I see you.» As I came back to myself, I pressed that picture of Swami to me and began to jump and twirl from pure joy. From that moment I began to sense His constant presence by me.
From this visit I took home a framed picture of Swami. It was just a photo of his smiling face, but it seemed to me the best likeness that Id seen. When I returned to Moscow, I put it on a shelf in my kitchen. One day, while thinking about Sai Baba and doing household chores, I heard a crash; that same picture had fallen on the floor! I picked it up and moved it to another shelf. A few days later, as I was watching a video about Sai Baba, I suddenly felt such a strong wave of love and longing for Him that my tears flowed like a river, with this thought swirling around nonstop in my head: «Why didnt I find You alive, still among us on earth? Why did You call me so late?» It was like waking up from a dream All of a sudden the same picture of Swami fell down with a crash yet again. Thats when my tears stopped! I sat down and looked at what was happening around me: at that moment, it was as if Sathya Sai Himself had appeared in front of me. He let me know, «I hear you. I see you.» As I came back to myself, I pressed that picture of Swami to me and began to jump and twirl from pure joy. From that moment I began to sense His constant presence by me.
A few days later, mysterious incidents started to happen. A large icon with an image of Jesus Christ fell from the icon stand. When I picked it up and put it back, I was surprised to see what happened to the icon next to it. The face of the Kazan Mother of God was covered with a thick layer of soot, even though I never burn candles around these icons. This coating was only around the face of the Virgin, of uniform thickness and confined to the curve of her face; it didnt touch her clothing at all. I want to emphasize that all of these icons and portraits were securely fixed to the icon stand and nothing like this had ever happened before. I never could explain the sudden appearance of the layer of soot but I regarded the incidents with the photograph and the icons as a call for me to visit the Ashram once again. So a few days later my older son and I departed for India.
That trip was full of unusual situations, interesting visions, and new acquaintances.
On the day after my arrival in Puttaparthi, a young woman approached me to ask for help, as it was her first time in India and in the Ashram. I gladly agreed, and soon we became friends. The girl turned out to have incredible abilities, which, due to natural modesty, she generally concealed and was in no hurry to share. Without any particular difficulty, she could make quick and accurate predictions of what would happen in the foreseeable future, and had visions of what had happened in the past.
In the evening of that same day, I said I would accompany her to her hotel, which was not on the Ashrams grounds. At the gates, an elderly sevadal