Puttaparthi, April 26: Even the most stoic of devotees let their composure slip as they saw up close the mortal remains of the Sathya Sai Baba lying in state in the grand Sai Kulwant Hall at Prashanti Nilayam on Monday.
As they filed past the body, many broke down and wept inconsolably.
Hymns and soft music softly played on the speakers, accenting the reflective mood in the mourning hall.
The body will lie in state in the hall till 6 pm Tuesday to enable devotees pay their last respects.
Some of the devotees, young and old, had stood in a serpentine queue all night for a last glimpse of their spiritual guru.
Such is their faith that many of the faithful in the queues said they were not ready to believe that the Sai Baba is no more.
Some said they were confident he would come back to his beloved devotees and guide them as before.
“The Baba has not gone anywhere. Just like the Sai Baba of Shirdi who came back from death, Sathya Sai Baba also will come back in a new avatar,” said R Sundaramma of Bangalore.
One could see an assortment of faiths, Sikh, Muslim, Hindu, Zoroastrian, within the four queues that snaked around the street corners of this little town.
Volunteers enlisted by the Sathya Sai Central Trust gently reminded the devotees to maintain order in the luminously illuminated hall.
The Sai Baba’s body was placed on a dais surrounded by several family and trust members, close devotees, a few VIPs and teaching faculty from the Sathya Sai educational institutes.
Andhra Pradesh minister J Geetha Reddy, Sai Baba’s nephew R J Ratnakar, and his favourite disciple Satyajit were among those who sat close to the casket as devotees, softly sobbing, filed past the body. None of the devotees, except for VIPs and trustees, were allowed to remain in the hall for more than a minute to prevent backing up of the queue outside.
Many of the foreign devotees joined in the bhajans and seances organised inside the hall and elsewhere on the premises of Prashanti Nilayam. “I feel sad as Baba is no more with us. However, he is in my heart and he is everywhere,” one foreigner said. Strangers consoled each other.
Clad in their regulation white, Sathya Sai Seva Dal members ensured that the queue moved along. While commoners were allowed in through two queues, VIPs were allowed in through two others.
The queues for men and women grew longer, stretching 1-2 km from Prashanti Nilayam’s Gopuram entrance even during the wee hours of Monday.
Huge LCD screens and loudspeakers were set up at several places across the pilgrim town telecasting live the happenings in the Sai Kulwant Hall.
In contrast with the calm inside Prashanti Nilayam, there was chaos in the streets outside.
Devotees expressed anguish over the discrimination by Seva Dal members and police in allowing easier passage to VIPs, including politicians, celebrities and top officials.
Some complained that VIP vehicles were being allowed till the iron gates of Prashanti Nilayam while they had had to walk a few kilometres to reach the ashram.
Police had made elaborate arrangements for crowd control.
However, many devotees expressed displeasure over the arrangements and said the trust authorities and police failed to regulate the queues.
“It took me two hours to reach the hall and I was shoved away in a second by volunteers. I coundn’t see the Baba closely,” lamented L Seenaiah, a businessman.
—Agencies