*On the twenty-second of July, (year 1957)* when he was just 31 years old,

Baba left New Delhi by car for Rishikesh. When he reached

Sivanandanagar at
6:30 that evening, *Swami Sivananda* called a special gathering of the
disciples of the Ashram and offered Baba a hearty welcome.

*Swami Sivananda* was the very embodiment of equanimity. In the midst

of
vociferous pleadings and protestations from visitors and inmates, he was
being pushed around by his disciples in a *wheeled chair.
*
*Speaking of the things that he is accustomed to make and give, Sai Baba
discounted all spurious explanations and said that his will is immediately
fulfilled. He materializes things to give joy to his devotees, just as a
father gives sweets to his little ones, not to advertise his generosity or
parenthood.*

*He then materialized by the mere wave of his hand a magnificent

Rudraksha
garland of 108 beads, a rosary made from a berry. *It was of exquisite
workmanship, each bead encased in gold, and all were strung in gold with
a
five faced king-bead in the center. He presented it to Swami Sivananda.
He
also manifested a large quantity of sacred ash and applied it to the sage's
forehead. That evening when the Swami entered the Satsang Hall wearing
the
unique garland, everyone was awed by its luster and workmanship and the
miracle that brought it forth.

Baba's speeches and conversation were so full of rare and deep wisdom
that
the next day a number of senior monks and neophytes came to see Baba
and
plied him with questions designed to clarify their doubts.

*Swami Sadananda,* one of the senior disciples and *author of "Sanmarga

Deepam," "Maha Sakthi" and books like a commentary on Patanjali's Yoga
Darsana *was, prior to his entering the monastery, a professor of history at
the Presidency College, Madras.

Swami Sadananda told that Baba can roam at will through the regions of
the
soul, the supersoul, and the oversoul, and can reveal whatever happens
anywhere at any time. *He also said he is all-powerful and had seen Baba
converting a grain of rice into a grain of ivory and transforming that grain
of ivory into a hundred and eight elephant figurines, each one carved and
clearly recognizable by means of a magnifying glass!
*
*Swami Sivananda also had hour-long discussions with Baba every
evening* and
was given fruits and holy ash materialized specially for improving his
health. Day by day the Swami became better and better. One day Baba
took
Ganges water in his hand, and lo, it became sweet and fragrant nectar. He
gave it to the Swami to be taken as a cure.

It came as a pleasant surprise to many in the Ashram when they saw, on

the
day Baba departed, *Swami Sivananda enthusiastically taking Baba
around* his
hermitage, for on the day Baba reached the Ashram, and for a number of
days
thereafter, *the Swami had been pushed around in a wheel chair!
*
*"Every Avatar is an amazing phenomenon - but it is also amazing not to
recognize Him!!! : SATHYA SAI BABA*