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The Making of a New-Age Therapist 199
Midwest, and that he was intelligent and mentally strong.
“Who is this Sai Baba?” we asked overselves. “The best I can make out is that he’s probably something like an Indian Billy Graham,” he
said. I know more than that, I thought to myself, but we’ll wait and see. Suddenly there was a hush, and there in the opening of the auditorium stood Baba. He was swaying slowly back and forth and appeared peaceful, beautiful—and very much in command. All eyes
were turned to him; there was absolute silence.
He smiled and set about filling the room with love, walking
among the students, stopping to talk, soon putting everyone at ease. He circled the hall slowly and began to approach us. As he passed my acquaintance, he patted him approvingly on the shoulder, and all at once this big powerful man began to cry—so heavily that I was embarrassed to look.
Shaken by this sudden turn of events, I thought, “Oh my God, what are we in for here?” Then a volunteer came over to the man, summoning him to an interview with Baba. When he returned some time later, he appeared quite changed. Bending forward, I asked in a whisper, “Can he really materialize objects?” That’s what I was interested in at the time: a material sign of a higher level of consciousness than that possessed by all the rest of the hundreds of teachers we were always hearing about.
Subdued now, he replied, “Yes, he can materialize objects, but what’s more moving is his joy, his friendliness—his love.” From then on he stayed very quiet. I saw him on the grounds, absorbed in contemplation or reading a book by Baba. It seemed Baba had unmade and remade him in an instant.
Well, it wasn’t long after that shock and after witnessing at first hand the most extraordinary materializations of objects and hearing incredible stories of Baba’s power and glory (described in detail in my first book) that I began to realize how extraordinary Baba was. Speakers would get up and talk, but what did they know? Baba would appear, move through the audience with great love and seemingly complete knowledge of everyone, with remarkable energy, peace and poise—and no one could take his eyes off him. It was so clear: the speakers after all were merely mortal—but Sai Baba was something else. That’s when my speech-giving phobia began.


































































































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