A miracle of mother Earth

Photo: Aerial View of the Earth where Puttaparthi is situated taken from Space Shuttle.

This Photo was taken from space shuttle of NASA on 29th Nov, 1972. Then at that time in 1972 there was no ‘Google Earth’ or satellite map was available to all as of now.

       A miracle of mother Earth:
Homer Youngs, an American scientist working for NASA was engaged in taking photographs of the earth from outer space. In 1972 his wife Laila accompanied Indra Devi and visited India to have a Darshan of Bhagawan Baba in Puttaparthi. Homer thought of photographing Puttaparthi through an orbiting space shuttle when his wife was there. He sought the help of his colleagues in NASA but none knew the precise longitude and latitude of Puttaparthi. Therefore, he proposed to cover the surrounding areas as well and accordingly took the snaps. As the pictures were taken from orbiting space shuttle from an altitude of 200 miles, buildings and cities were not visible. Clouds and seas appeared as small white dots, and mountains, hills and forests as black dots.      After a few days Laila returned to California from Puttaparthi. She was very happy when she learned that her husband had taken photographs of Puttaparthi when she was there. She began examining the photographs. She hoped to find the hills around Puttaparthi, the building complex and Swami’s Mandir etc., in Prasanthi Nilayam. She was thoroughly disappointed as there were only white and black dots and nothing else. She also felt sorry as; theirs was a middle class family and were to spend about $60 for the photographs. Disappointed, she left the photographs in a corner in their house.
After some time, some Sai devotees visited their home on their way to attend the wedding of Indra Devi’s daughter. Homer was running a Sai Book Centre at his home. He arranged for them a photo exhibition of Sai Baba, and the devotees were recalling Swami’s charming Divine personality. Thereafter Homer also showed them the pictures of Puttaparthi he has taken through orbiting space shuttle. They were closely examines each of the photographs, and one of the devotees suddenly shouted, “Look, there’s Sai Baba! Sai Baba is here.” All of them checked the photos again and again. On careful examination, they found a very clear image of Sri Sathya Sai Baba’s face formed of white and black dots.
The impression is very clear. His radiant face, sparkling eyes, the nose, the birthmark on the cheek, the thick hair all are clearly visible. All of them, including Laila and her husband, were pleasantly surprised at the discovery. The pictures discarded until then as useless, came to be regarded as marvelous. The entire Sai family hailed the pictures as tokens of Sai’s grace. In due course the finances of the Youngs improved.
       Homer visited Puttaparthi in 1978 and had Darshan of Bhagawan Baba. He immediately realized he had seen for the first time a person possessing a unique Divine aura around Him. He was particularly struck by the pulsating and brilliant celestial halo around Swami’s head. He showed Baba the pictures that had taken on 29th Nov, 1972. Baba looked at them and graciously said to him, “Bangaru these are very petty things in My infinite Divine powers.” Those pictures were beautifully placed in the Planetariam at Prasanthinilayam. This is another event, which underscores that Swami pervades the universe. He is all pervasive. (Excerpts from the book: Sri Krishna Sri Sathya Sai by Dr. J. Suman Babu, Page 137-138).
Please Note:

        1) You can have a glimpse of this photo (captured from orbiting space shuttle) also in the ‘Chaitanya Jyoti’ Museum at the ‘Vishvaroopa Darsan’ Video and can see the photo in the book ‘Chaitanya Jyoti’ Published by Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organisations in November 2001, Page No. 117.

       2) Then at that time in 1972 (The B/W Picture was taken on 29th Nov, 1972 from space shuttle of NASA) there was no ‘Google Earth’ or satellite map was available to all as of now. [The present Satellite View is also provided here, (Please see the next photo) but note that now the landscape and condensation of forestation (topography) is changed during the last 45 years].

       3) However if you meticulously search in the same area (Yellow line Rectangular box) of the present photo of Google map of the same place (Photo Captured by Google’s satellite orbiting around the earth, downloaded on 8th April 2017), you will find the remnants of the Bhagawan Baba’s face and that is still perceptible! What a miracle of the mother Earth!

Sanathana Sarathi