Sri Sathya Sai Baba began his role as a spiritual/universal teacher at a very young age through folk songs, theater, exposition from scriptures and personal example the virtues of living a purposeful life. His family, classmates, teachers and others in the village were astounded by the extraordinary simplicity and clarity of His message. For more than five decades, Sri Sathya Sai Baba communicated His message of love, universality and spirituality to a diverse audience from different faiths, countries, culture and traditions. The uniqueness of His style was that He explained age old concepts with new insights and examples that addressed the needs of the modern society. He repeatedly emphasized that He had come to reconstruct the ancient highway to spirituality and not to found a new religion or cult. His writings and discourses have been carefully documented.

The official record of thousands of public discourses made by  Bhagawan Baba from 1953 through 2009 are contained in 42 volumes of Sri Sathya Sai Speaks. The public discourses were given in various cities of India and where-ever available an audio recording has been included.  A collection of essays called “Vahinis” (in English and other languages) were penned by Bhagawan Baba and have been published in the monthly magazine, “Sanathana Sarathi” (meaning The Eternal Charioteer) under the auspices of Sri Sathya Sai Books and Publications Trust (Ltd).  During summer, Bhagawan Baba would conduct a month long course for students and youth on Indian culture and spirituality. He would also give a discourse at the end of each day. These discourses have been compiled under the series “Summer Showers.” “Letters” are a collection of correspondence between Bhagawan Baba with His students, followers or officers in the Organization. 

Sri Sathya Sai Baba guided individual transformation through His varied teachings. The ‘Ten Guiding Principles’ is one such treasure for us to follow to bring about peace and harmony within ourselves, in our society and the world.

Sri Sathya Sai Baba was born as Sathyanarayana Raju on November 23, 1926 in the village of Puttaparthi, in the state of Andhra Pradesh in South India. Even as a child, His spiritual inclination, contemplative nature and miracles set Him apart from other children of His age, and He was known as ‘Guru’ and knower of Brahman or Godhead (“Brahmajnani’) among His peers and others in the village. However, it was not until October 20, 1940, the day He made the historic declaration of His Avatarhood, (Avatar – Divinity Incarnate) that the world at large learnt of this divine phenomenon. He proclaimed His message – to bring about the spiritual regeneration of humanity by demonstrating and teaching the highest principles of Truth, Right Conduct, Peace, Love, and Non-violence. With that announcement, he left his childhood home and began his mission.