THE MYTHOLOGIZATION OF THE LIFE OF SATYA SAI BABA
Keywords:
Satya Sai Baba, Satya Sai organization, alternative religious community, mythologization, Sai devotees in SerbiaAbstract
Satya Sai Baba is a global guru from south India whom followers consider to be the avatar or incarnation of the supreme god consciousness of our time. Because of the belief that Satya Sai Baba is god in human form, his followers ascribe a number of specific godlike atributes to him, such as being all-knowing, omnipotent and omnipresent. Satya Sai Baba founded the Satya Sai organization in Putaparti in south India in 1960. The organization later spread and started to grow in Serbia in the late 1980's. Satya Sai Baba's mythologized life had a significant role in the efficient spread of the movement and the creating of the world of Sai devotees. An analysis of the essential elements of the mythical biography will indicate the existence of coinciding elements in the life of Sai Baba and other religious figures. These elements have an essential role in spreading the faith of Sai Baba as an incarnation of god. By applying structural analysis, we will determine the necessity of mythologizing the guru's life in the creation and survival of sai-babism, globally as well as in Serbia. Key events and characteristics of the mythologized life of Satya Sai Baba have been determined based on fieldwork and interviewing Sai followers in Serbia in 2011 and 2012.
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