Who is Sadguru Sri Madhusudan Sai?

Sadguru Sri Madhusudan Sai is leading the global mission of spirituality and service by furthering the cause of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba.

Under His leadership several mammoth service projects have been undertaken in the last 11 years in India and across 30 countries in the fields of healthcare, education, and nutrition. Thousands of needy children and families have benefitted from these projects, with all services being rendered totally free of cost.

Sadguru Sri Madhusudan Sai says, “Respect all, love all, hurt nobody, serve everyone as much as possible, remain selfless, think about everybody‟s welfare and concern, and live with a sense of sacrifice by giving more than what you take from the world.”

His core teaching is – “ahaṁ brahma, sarvaṁ brahma – You are Divine and so is everyone, therefore live in accordance with that truth. Serve and sacrifice for others, considering them as your very own, for spirituality must be expressed as selfless service to all.”

Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, a philanthropist, humanitarian and a spiritual master, shed His mortal frame in April 2011, but decided to continue His divine mission of education, healthcare, nutrition and social welfare programmes absolutely free of cost for the spiritual evolution of humanity in an unprecedented manner – guiding from beyond this physical plane and using a disciple as an instrument. This was something which was unseen or unheard of in the history of the Masters who walked the face of this earth to emancipate the human race.

Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba had once pronounced, “I am attached to a work that I love. To remove the sufferings of the poor and grant them what they lack.”

Sri Madhusudan was one among Baba’s many brilliant students who studied in Puttaparthi and took to His teachings with utmost sobriety. The young man’s sincerity and purity rendered him ready to be in perfect tuning with Baba, and thus a saga of ten years of an unimaginable serendipitous voyage began when Baba appeared one day to Sri Madhusudan in his home in 2011. It became the momentous day when the mission, which outwardly seemed to have stopped with Baba’s physical departure, actually commenced or can we simply say ‘began’ which in reality was a mere continuation. Baba wanted to complete the unfinished tasks, and He needed someone who could do whatever He wanted. The choice was Sri Madhusudan who emptied himself of himself to make place for Sri Sathya Sai in his being. Baba told Sri Madhusudan that He will be there in the sūkṣma rūpa or subtle form for 10 years to guide him in the beautiful mission of spirituality and service, from a realm beyond the gross plane. Based on instructions from Bhagawan Baba, Sri Madhusudan met Sri B N Narasimha Murthy, Sri C Sreenivas and Sri Anand Kadali, and thus began the mission of education, health and nutrition. At that time there were two – one in the chair who was unseen, and one sitting down who was seen.

2014

Baba guided Sri Madhusudan to start summer retreats at Kodaikanal in Tamil Nadu, where it was revealed to the world that Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba was appearing to Sri Madhusudan and communicating through him the various instructions and guidance to devotees and missionaries. At that time, Baba told Sri Madhusudan, “Keep your mind calm and pure because the mission is going to accelerate.”

No one knew what was in store, and Sri Madhusudan simply went with the flow. It is said that a director appears on the scene to direct the play and the cast enacts their part, scene by scene, though the entire story is written and scripted much earlier. Similarly, the entire spectacle had to reveal itself in palatable doses, only to the extent to which people understood. Yet, many did not fathom what was going on. In reality, the ‘subtle’ phenomenon actually began many decades ago. Even when Baba was in His physical form, He manifested in various places, was seen by many people, and of course everyone believed and happily revelled in a state of awe and joy! And about Baba appearing to Sri Madhusudan everyday and guiding – many believed, and many did not.

2015

On February 16, 2007, Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba had announced that He would embark on a world tour shortly. Over the years, devotees from various countries invited Baba several times, but He would always smile and say, “I will come,” and the immediate question would be, when and how! To many, the answer was a smile and to many others, the answer was, “Do I have to go only by plane?” This would leave everyone puzzled, and no one quite understood the deep inner significance of what He said or meant.

And then, in 2015 the world tours began to meet devotees and guide them. Suddenly, the puzzle came together well. “Love my uncertainty,” He had told always. Formal public darshans also began in Premdeep at Sathya Sai Grama in Muddenahalli where on the instructions of Baba, Sri Madhusudan met devotees and communicated Baba’s messages and blessings.

2015

On February 16, 2007, Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba had announced that He would embark on a world tour shortly. Over the years, devotees from various countries invited Baba several times, but He would always smile and say, “I will come,” and the immediate question would be, when and how! To many, the answer was a smile and to many others, the answer was, “Do I have to go only by plane?” This would leave everyone puzzled, and no one quite understood the deep inner significance of what He said or meant.

And then, in 2015 the world tours began to meet devotees and guide them. Suddenly, the puzzle came together well. “Love my uncertainty,” He had told always. Formal public darshans also began in Premdeep at Sathya Sai Grama in Muddenahalli where on the instructions of Baba, Sri Madhusudan met devotees and communicated Baba’s messages and blessings.

2017

Darshans commenced regularly at the Sri Sathya Sai Premamrutham auditorium in Muddenahalli and many thronged from around the world. A glimpse, a word, a look, seemed to bring solace to every parched heart. Through the instrumentation of Sri Madhusudan, Baba delivered discourses twice a week – Thursday and Sunday. Simultaneously, the magnitude of the service projects executed expanded at an inexorable pace around the world.

2018

In November, during Baba’s birthday celebrations, Baba conveyed that in times to come Sri Madhusudan will guide humanity as a ‘Sadguru’ while staying at the ashram in Muddenahalli.

2019

During one of the interactions in early 2019, Baba prodded Sri Madhusudan to start taking charge of the entire mission and to start following his intuitions which arise from within, rather than relying on instructions externally. It was something new for Sri Madhusudan yet again, for since the very beginning of this divine phenomenon in 2011, he was only used to following Baba’s instructions. He went with the flow and followed Baba’s directives. Slowly, the boundaries started blurring; for onlookers it became difficult to differentiate. It was like living on the edge of human and divine, an experience Sri Madhusudan began to live in every single breathe. For us to be able to even fathom this concept, we have to grow spiritually and experience it for ourselves.

And finally, on the auspicious morning of Guru Purnima July 16, 2019, Baba bestowed His infinite grace upon His disciple with the ultimate gift – to merge with the infinite consciousness, the ultimate One. The spectacular moment was witnessed by thousands of students, staff and devotees who had gathered from around the world. The journey from Sri Madhusudan to Sri Madhusudan Sai was complete. He had found Himself in himself. Baba guided Sri Madhusudan Sai to thereafter to take charge of the ongoing mission and blessed him with self-realisation, after which Sri Madhusudan Sai became an ascended Master – Swami. The meaning of the Sanskrit root of the word swami is – (he who is) one with his self (swa stands for “Self”). So, anyone who knows and is a master of himself/herself is a Swami.

2020

In November 2020, Baba handed over the complete charge and totally merged with Sadguru Sri Madhusudan Sai, just as Shirdi Baba merged in young Sathyanarayana Raju several decades ago. Sri Madhusudan Sai came to be known as Sadguru Sri Madhusudan Sai.

Sadguru Sri Madhusudan Sai guided devotees on the spiritual path through discourses like Master the Mind, Upanishads etc. while continuing the education, health and nutrition mission across more than 30 countries. Deeply rooted in the idea of advaita, His discourses nudged everyone to look within and seek answers for every solution. He believes that the world needs Self-realised individuals, more than anything else. For Sadguru Sri Madhusudan Sai, Self-realisation is not something which happens after leaving the mortal coil, but rather, it is very natural and totally possible, even while the person is in the body. His devotion and selfless service to humanity is a shining example to young men and women, who are propelled from within to follow His footsteps and not be swayed away by the vagaries of life.

Sadguru Sri Madhusudan Sai embarked on a global mission to teach the concept of oneness to humanity – the ultimate truth that the supreme consciousness pervades the entire creation, animate and inanimate – sarvaṁ brahma. He passionately and emphatically started propagating and encouraging everyone, young and old, to constantly chant and contemplate on mantra comprised of four words, “ahaṁ brahma, sarvaṁ brahma”, for the ultimate truth to reveal itself, undoubtedly.

2022

In Kodaikanal this year, Sadguru Sri Madhusudan Sai revealed the entire story in a candid manner. Without any reservations, He shared details of those earlier days of interactions with Bhagawan Baba and the challenges which were posed in front of Him, and how He was liberated from all the shackles of worldly confinements.

At that time, sometime in 2012, whatever messages were received were relayed. Baba had told Sri Madhusudan to read bhāgavatam and to continuously meditate on divine thoughts. One day while he was reading, Baba appeared on the chair which was kept in front of him. Upon seeing that Sri Madhusudan was reading the bhāgavatam, Baba explained the inner significance of every syllable of the word – bhā – bhakti, ga – gyana, va – vairāgya, mu – mukti, and missed the expansion of ‘tha’. When Sri Madhusudan asked Baba about the explanation for ‘tha’, He simply replied saying that He forgot. This illusory answer of the Master did not deter the unrelenting disciple to prod and extract an answer. Baba then said, “Even I if explain, you will not understand.”

But Sri Madhusudan was adamant and lovingly chided his Master by saying, “While at Puttaparthi, the drama enacted by You – forgetting names, people, places etc – will not work now.” Having understood that divine incarnations come with certain human attributes, in this case being forgetful, Sri Madhusudan simply meant that he knew he was dealing with the Supreme Being, and therefore Baba’s answer of having forgotten the explanation for the syllable “tha” was not acceptable. 5 

Baba then replied, “When I decided to come as Sathya Sai Baba, I took upon myself certain attributes and behaved accordingly. And even now, I am coming to you as Sathya Sai Baba, therefore I am still behaving like Sathya Sai Baba!” 

Sri Madhusudan quickly asked, “You are saying You decided to come as Sathya Sai Baba THEN, and You are saying You decided to come as Sathya Sai Baba NOW…then who are YOU?”

Baba replied – “If you want to know Me, become Me. I am pure Selfless Love.” This is the most genuine and substantive answer to the question as to why He chose to come again as the sūkṣma rūpa Sathya Sai Baba. It is because that was the only way Sri Madhusudan could have related to his Master. The Supreme did not appear as Lord Rama or Lord Krishna or any other divine avatār to him. 

Beyond the illusions of names and forms, the truth of all divine incarnations is selfless love and the one who develops that, verily becomes the Divine. Today, as Sri Madhusudan Sai expresses that selfless love for all through His life’s works and teachings, He perfectly exemplifies this truth that in selfless love, all are Divine. 

Sri Sathya Sai Baba as promised to Sadguru Sri Madhusudan Sai, guided for ten years during which He transformed Sri Madhusudan Sai from being human to Divine. Today, though Sri Sathya Sai Baba – the Divine incarnate – withdrew from the world stage, He has left behind a perfect manifestation of divinity in Sri Madhusudan Sai. 

We must consider ourselves fortunate to this date, to have been part of something so spectacular. The last 11 years of this unprecedented mission has taught us many things—it came as a package of learning, love, service, laughter, smiles and tears at times, and by the grace of the guru, we have come this far. 

This compassionate guru has been hand holding us as an instrument of His guru – Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. This is not a guru-śiṣya paraṃparā, but rather a guru-guru paraṃparā. The time has come for us to realise this, that we are all not disciples or śiṣyas in the making, but rather gurus in the making! Sri Madhusudan Sai didn’t have an excuse. We don’t have an excuse. 

Sri Madhusudan sacrificed his individuality, based on the dictates of his Master – for the sake of all the children who are beneficiaries in many ways today, and for the sake of the global humanity. Ultimately, we are all here to do good for others—to give ourselves completely for the welfare of others.

We have an example in front of our eyes, a contemporary with whom we can relate to. It is time to simply flow—flow with the Divine Consciousness within us—and work as Divine to reach out to the divinity in others only to serve ourselves in others, just like Sadguru Sri Madhusudan Sai!

A contemporary with whom we can relate to

It is time to simply flow – flow with the Divine Consciousness within us – and work as Divine to reach out to the divinity in others only to serve ourselves in others, just like Sadguru Sri Madhusudan Sai!