Love Is My Form: The Advent (Volume 1)

Researching Sathya Sai Baba's life is a challenging and enduring journey, driven by steadfast persistence and deep dedication, sustained only by unwavering devotion to Him.

Discovering Sai Baba's Legacy

R. Padmanaban (Author): Following a hiatus of nearly a quarter-century, I am resuming my research to enrich Love Is My Form, a meticulously researched biography of Sri Sathya Sai Baba's remarkable life. Recognising the value of time, I have chosen to retire from my role at Sai Towers to fully commit to this cherished project. I am actively seeking valuable contributions, including letters, photographs, writings, and leads for further exploration. Your support with these aspects is immensely valuable and will significantly contribute to the advancement of this research.

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Origin
Love Is My Form: The Series

Origin Of The Series

The Genesis Of The Biographical Series: Love Is My Form

R. Padmanaban (Author): The journey of my project commenced with the vision to craft a pictorial biography of Sathya Sai Baba, drawing inspiration from works like Bhagavan Sri Ramana - A Pictorial Biography, Swami Vivekananda - Pictorial, and Ramakrishna: A Biography in Pictures. The concept was to chronicle significant moments in His life in a series of photographs, each meticulously annotated with the date, location, and a narrative caption to bring the imagery to life.

This endeavour led me to travel and connect with devotees who had been followers since 1943 to gather these photographs. However, the task was not as straightforward as merely collecting images and returning.

Conversations with devotees invariably centred around Sathya Sai Baba, and I found myself engrossed in listening to their personal accounts and miraculous experiences with Sathya Sai Baba, which they shared with me spontaneously and with great enthusiasm.

After a year of enriching and enlightening exchanges, I came to a profound realization. The personal accounts and miraculous events that had been shared with me had never been recorded in any published works on Sathya Sai Baba. This revelation prompted me to shift my focus from the original concept of a pictorial biography to the creation of an in-depth biographical series titled Love Is My Form.

Introduction To The Series

"I act and move only for the sake of mankind. "

- Sri Sathya Sai Baba

At the age of 21, Sri Sathya Sai Baba made what has become an historic reply to a letter of counsel that his brother had written to him. His brother's missive was sent out of general love and concern for the controversial phenomenon that the young Baba then was. It cautioned young Sathya against the wily ways of the world and the evils attendant to name and fame.

In this historic reply to His brother, Sri Sathya Sai Baba said: "I have a 'Task: to foster all mankind and ensure for all of them lives full of Ananda (bliss). I have a Vow: to lead all those who stray away from the straight path again into goodness and save them. I am attached to a Work that I love: to remove the sufferings of the poor and grant them what they lack."

In 1953, Sathya Sai Baba laid bare His intentions in a talk delivered on Vijaya Dasami Day in His ashram, Prasanthi Nilayam. He said, "The first sixteen years of my life were spent more in play and pranks; the next sixteen have seen, much more than in previous years, mahimas (signs and wonders) which arouse spiritual yearning and devotion to God and award delight. After the thirty-second year, I have resolved to grant mankind upadesa (lessons) on Truth, Morality, Equanimity and Love (Sathya, Dharma, Santhi and Prema)."

R. Padmanaban

Meet The Author

Primary Researcher & Author
Dr. R. Padmanaban

Dr. Padmanaban Ranganathan, hailing from Coimbatore, received the distinguished honour of a personal invitation to Prasanthi Nilayam by Sri Sathya Sai Baba. From 1984 to 1990, he served as Sai Baba's personal photographer, a role that enabled him to intimately document the spiritual icon's life in both visual and written forms. In 1990, Padmanaban founded Sai Towers, which rapidly gained acclaim as the finest hotel and restaurant in Puttaparthi.

His entrepreneurial journey further extended into the realms of book publishing and distribution, focusing particularly on spirituality and works pertaining to Sathya Sai Baba. This journey culminated in the inception of Sai Towers Publishing in 1999. Under his stewardship, Sai Towers Publishing has achieved the remarkable feat of publishing over 300 books in various languages, featuring authors from across the world, thus significantly contributing to global spiritual literature.

Padmanaban is the principal researcher and acclaimed author of Love Is My Form: The Advent, published in 2000, which meticulously details the first twenty-five years of Sri Sathya Sai Baba's life. His other significant literary contributions include Prasanthi Guide,Cricket for Love, and the 2006 children's series Sri Sathya Sai Baba: Stories for Children. These works, along with his extensive publishing endeavours, showcase his deep commitment to spreading spiritual knowledge and the teachings of Sri Sathya Sai Baba.

Love Is My Form: The Advent

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