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Puttaparthi has come to assume a glorious name in the world. 'Putta' means anthill. As the place abounded in anthills, it got this name Puttaparthi. What is the origin of the name of this village Puttaparthi? There is a strange story associated with it. Near the Patha Mandir, there is Venugopal Swamy Temple. A snake lived in an anthill near it. Everyday the cowherds would take their cows for grazing to the outskirts of the village. One of the cows would go to the anthill and the snake would drink milk from its udder. Everyday the cow would return home with empty udder. The cowherds found out the reason behind this and planned to kill the snake. One day as the snake was drinking milk from the cow, they hit it with a stone. The snake pronounced a curse on them that cows and cowherds would no longer be able to live in the village. That is why, the cowherds left this village and built their houses near Gokulam. You can see this yourself even today. The stone with which the cowherds tried to kill the snake is now being worshipped in Venugopal Swamy Temple. Today I narrated at length all this in order to tell you the significance of Sai Baba and Puttaparthi. Puttaparthi has a great history behind it. Many eminent and affluent people visited this place. In those days, the Maharaja of Mysore and his mother used to come here quite frequently. Many such eminent personalities recognised the greatness of Puttaparthi and revered it.
Embodiment of Love! You are really fortunate, for you are able to enjoy the Divine proximity of Sai. It is the result of the merits earned by you in your previous births. It is your great good fortune that you are singing, talking and walking with Him. You are with Sai and Sai is with you. As I often say, "You and I are one." So, develop unwavering faith in God. Students! Having come to Puttaparthi and studied here,
you should make every effort to uphold the prestige of Puttaparthi. I want
to tell you another small thing. Usually, students like to spend their
vacation at home. But here the students do not like to go home even during
the vacation. Only very few of them go home. Even after completing their
post graduation, many students stay here. What is the reason for this?
Here is the greatest Divine magnet. (Loud prolonged applause) God attracts
one and all. His power is beyond all limits. In the years to come, you
will experience the power of this magnet more and more." - Sathya Sai Baba
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"When
I started going to Bangalore, Easwaramma and Venkamma entreated Me that I
should not leave Puttaparthi. I promised them that I would never leave
Puttaparthi and would stay here forever. At that time, people of many
royal families started coming to Puttaparthi. Those days Chitravati flowed
for the most part of the year. Their devotion was so great that they
crossed the river by improvising temporary causeways of wooden planks. As
the number of My followers increased, the opposition of the local
miscreants melted away. After I promised Easwaramma, I never abandoned
Puttaparthi. The whole world may come here but I shall not leave
Puttaparthi. Generally, Avatars stay at their place of birth. If you
uproot a plant from its place and plant it elsewhere, how long will it
survive? A tree grows strong where it is planted first. In this manner,
Sathya Sai Baba has retained his roots in Puttaparthi and has made
Puttaparthi a place of pilgrimage.
Nestled in the heart of a
cluster of bald hills with a scant population of less than a
hundred, this unknown, unnoticed, unrecognised and undeveloped
village awaited the Advent of an Avatar for centuries. The result?
Fulfilment! The bald hills put on green caps; the dry tree tops put
up green leaves; the plants prepared colourful bouquets; the bees
hummed to collect honey for the Lord; and sands collected and spread
themselves to soften the path and River Chitravati began the muse on
a tune-all to greet the Divine on holy 23rd of November 1926. The
one time sleeping village is now agog with multitudes from every
nook and corner of the world drawn by the fragrance of His Glory,
Word and Deed.