The wealth of miraculous things that my own eyes have witnessed assure my acceptance of things of similar nature about which I have heard. This acceptance is aided by my knowledge of the integrity, intelligence and high moral character of the many witnesses. But, though to many eminent community leaders, and to thousands of ordinary folk like myself, the Sai miracles are indisputable facts, the eye witnesses represent only a small fraction of mankind. So what about the millions beyond the orbit of those who have been fortunate enough to see for themselves? What about the masses of materialists and atheists, conditioned by the superficial philosophy of modern technological progress? Is there the slightest likelihood that they may credit the truth of the incredible events described in these pages?

Nearly a hundred years ago when a Theosophist, A. P. Sinnett, Editor of British India's Pioneer, was trying to convince the western public through his writings that similar miraculous phenomena were taking place, a great Himalayan Adept wrote to him: "None but those who see for themselves will ever believe, do what you may ... But so long as men doubt there will be curiosity and enquiry."

The human mind by its nature regards anything outside a commonly accepted framework of rationality as impossible and rejects it. A materialisation phenomenon, for example, is so foreign to everyday experience that, even after watching it happen, it is not easy for one to believe that it really took place. One seems to have been in some odd way out of space and time. When one is back in the normal dimensions of space and time, the reality of a miracle seems to vanish. It goes as the reality of a dream goes on waking.

"Did the miracle really happen?" the thinking mind asks. But the glittering jewel, which came from nowhere, lies in the hand; the taste of the candy, which a moment ago was granite or paper, is undeniably on the tongue. The effects are apparent; the comprehensible causes are missing, and they are not to be found by our rationalistic thinking.

Of course the apport, the transport of a material object without any known material agency, is well-known to spiritualist and other occult circles of the west. I myself have witnessed them there. The theory behind them is that the object, which is already in existence somewhere, is de-materialised and brought in that state by psychic force to the circle where it is re-materialised.

Baba has said that some of his "productions" are apports. In this regard the observation of one Sai devotee is suggestive. A well-known Indian princess told me that she was once sitting close in front of Baba while he stood above her on a dais, waving his hand to "produce" something. She was able to look for anything happening beneath the down-turned palm. First she saw a small luminous cloud appear there; this condensed quickly to form a small shining object over which Baba's hand closed. The object proved to be a gold ring.

The old, gold ten-dollar piece which Baba "produced" for me at Horsley Hills was no doubt an apport. But what of the interesting phenomenon he performed for Dr. V. K. Gokak, Vice-Chancellor of Bangalore University? On an early visit to Dr. Gokak's home Baba saw on the wall for the first time a portrait of an Indian saint, Shri Panta Maharaja of Balekundri, and asked about its presence there.

The Vice-Chancellor replied to Baba that the saint had been his father's guru, and that he, himself, held the holy man in great reverence.

Baba: "Have you a smaller portrait of him to carry when you're travelling?"

Baba waved his hand, for a little longer than usual, remarking, "He is coming." Turning the palm up, he handed the doctor a small enamel pendant. It bore a miniature replica of the saint's portrait.

Munshi goes on to say that he thinks the sacred ash materialised by Baba and used for curing ailments and evoking faith must amount to a pound in weight per day, and is not apported, but "produced in some other even more mysterious way" It seems obvious that the sweets made while you watch from age-old solid rock, and many other phenomena performed by Sai Baba, cannot be apports.

But whether objects are "transported", created on the spot by divine will, or materialised in some other way, what amount of evidence, what number of attestations from people of intelligence and integrity, does it take to convince those who have never seen such things?

Of course, within India itself there are large numbers of people who have no difficulty whatsoever in accepting the reality of miracles. Beneath the surface of life the miraculous has always been going on in that country. There have always been men who could perform some supernormal feat or another; create a perfume from the air, read a sealed letter, crack a tumbler from a distance, heal with a touch, drink strong acid with impunity, levitate, and so on. These things are part of the fabric of the common culture. They are accepted not only by the masses but also by thinkers and thought-leaders, of the status of Dr. K. M. Munshi, for instance. On this subject I have spoken to many of the well-educated and highly cultured; most of them have seen some examples during their lives of miraculous phenomena, quite apart from the Sai Baba miracles. The possibility of siddhis is so basic to the Indian heritage that even those who have never seen anything of the kind are ready to believe in the miraculous.

Yet for this very reason, it seems to me, some of the intelligent are inclined to miss the main point of the Sai Baba miracles. I have heard them say: "Advanced yogis are able to perform miracles, but so what? What is the value in such things?"

Some go further and say that miracles should not be performed, that they are an obstacle to spiritual progress. They quote statements from their scriptures and yogic texts to support this view. But if we examine such statements properly we find that the warnings about the perils of performing miracles are given to disciples, to those at an intermediate stage on the spiritual path. Patanjali, for instance, points out that, at some level of training in yoga, latent supernormal powers of various kinds are liable to make their appearance. That is to say, the disciple will find that he has the power to perform certain "miracles".

But there are several grave dangers inherent in this. It may stir his pride and egotism. He may start using it for selfish purposes. It may make him think that he has reached his goal. Instead of understanding that these psychic and psycho-kinetic powers are mere by-products, he may consider them the final product or at least a sign that he has reached a high level of spirituality. But psychic powers are not in themselves a sign of spirituality. Thus the pupil enamoured of such powers, will be led astray and make no further progress towards life's true goal.

Baba himself, while in his former body at Shirdi, often gave warnings to his devotees on this matter. He pointed out that the acquirement of supernormal powers often takes a disciple, who has not reached the highest levels, farther away from the main object of his spiritual disciplines, which is the realisation of God. To one of his devotees who had just developed clairvoyance, for instance, Baba said: "Why are you gazing at the strumpet's performance? It does not behove us to dally with a strumpet!"

The man's wife, who was present, thought that Baba was referring to some fleshly concubine, but the devotee himself understood that his Sadguru, Baba, was giving him a timely warning, lest he be carried away by the charms and seductions of his newly-acquired powers.

But such dangers, and such warnings, apply only to chelas, pupils on the path, not to those who have reached the final goal - not to a fully God-realised man, a God-man or avatar. There is no desire for earthly gain, no pride, no egotism, no self-glory in the miracles of a Christ, a Krishna, a Sai Baba. Therefore there is no danger, neither to the performer of the miracle nor to the recipient of its benefits.

However, though the recipient can suffer no ill effects from divine miracles, he may not always obtain all the good effects potentially there. To every such miracle there is a spiritual string, so to speak. If the receiver fails to perceive the string he has lost a golden opportunity. He may perhaps have gained a golden jewel, or he may have been blessed by merciful healing, helped in a practical problem or saved from some deadly peril. These are important things, no doubt, but small compared with what he might have gained.

If he continues to dodge the spiritual string, he will in time become surfeited with miraculous phenomena. They will no longer impress or delight him. Moreover, they will not continue to serve him; and when the point is reached where the miraculous powers of the God-man work no more that materialist's way, where he no longer gets the worldly benefit he expects, he will drop away from the God-man's following. As Captain James Cook, when he discovered the East Coast of Australia, sailed past and missed the narrow inlet to the fine harbour where Sydney stands, so such a one will miss the narrow way to the divine harbour for which all human ships are searching. And how long must he wait, how many years, how many lifetimes, for such another opening?

What, then, is the significance of the divine miracle, the high, transcendental magic that works never for the benefit of the performer, but always for mankind? Some of its purposes are obvious, some more hidden. As the great Himalayan Adept suggested to Sinnett, miracles do tend to lead men towards investigation and enquiry into the deepest mysteries of the universe. Colonel H. S. Olcott, after seeing a stream of miraculous phenomena during the final quarter of last century, wrote. "For my part I can say that the great range of marvels of educated will-potency which I saw made it easy for me to understand the Oriental theories of spiritual science."

This effect - helping the understanding of "spiritual science" - the miraculous will have on minds that are open, alive and anxious to explore the deeper strata of existence. Though the wonders in themselves are subordinate to and less important than the spiritual truths behind them, they are signs more powerful than words to guide men towards those truths, which at their deepest levels cannot be expressed by either wonders or words. For men are in general apathetic, and need something spectacular to shake them out of their inertia. B. V. Narasimha Swami wrote: "One common feature in the lives of both Sai and Jesus is that people always had to be convinced of the divine nature of the two, only through the miracles they performed. Miracles are a concession that divinity allows for human blindness."

Concerning words, spoken or written, men nod or shake their heads, agreeing, disagreeing, debating, comparing ... For there are many who have spoken wise words. But if, as they say in journalism, one picture is worth a thousand words, one miracle is worth many thousand.

When the Almighty ordered Moses to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt, Moses protested that the people would not believe he was sent by God, and would not accept him as their leader. So the Almighty told him to throw his staff on the ground. Obeying, Moses saw the staff become a serpent. Then the Lord ordered him to pick up the serpent by its tail, and doing so he found the serpent was a staff again. This was the first of the many miracles that Moses was able to perform through the power of God. The purpose of such marvels was not only to make the Israelites - and Pharoah - realise that Moses was a divine messenger, but also to overcome the many tremendous obstacles in the long journey from bondage in Egypt to freedom in the Promised Land. Like all the immortal stories of man's pilgrimage, this one has deeper meanings too. It teaches among other things that miraculous powers have a value in freeing Man from the bondage of the flesh, leading him through the many obstacles of life and his own vain mental strivings to the promised land of spiritual freedom and liberation.

So, beginning with the nucleus of disciples around him, the God-man uses miracles to help them grasp the truth about his divine nature, and also to help them overcome blockages in their spiritual progress. The nucleus of disciples grows to a large following, and gradually - as the religious history of the past shows - the good news, the gospel, spreads until millions become his followers. Thereby the heavy karma of mankind is lifted a little, and more and more souls are brought from darkness towards the light.

But it is wise to remember that the greatest miracles are not always the obvious ones. In the presence of the man of divinity our awakening spiritual perception beholds a demonstration of the most stupendous miracle in the very existence of such a man. We, who are ourselves bond slaves to desire, see one who is master of earthly desire. We, who are always centred in our little, separate, self-important selves, see one who is centred in the Self of all mankind, all life. We, who struggle on through sorrow and passing joys, see the embodiment of eternal joy. We, who constantly confuse love with lust, possessiveness, self-love, feel from the great one the nectarine flow of a love that is divine, universal, embracing all life. Yet at the same time this love is not vague and impersonal; it is very personal, focused on each devotee's innermost heart. And in it there is no taint of egotism.

If our feet are on even the beginning of the spiritual path, we know that these great qualities are goals towards which we ourselves are struggling in life's pilgrimage. But often such goals have seemed a long way off. We have wondered sometimes if we could ever reach them - if any human being ever really came to them. Perhaps after all, we ponder, they are no more than a beautiful dream of the heart. But now before us in the flesh is one who has scaled the spiritual Everest. An ideal, a dream, has thus become an actual, living reality in time. Human nature, we thus see, can indeed be changed, the lower animal self of man can be completely transmuted into a higher Self.

Here lies, perhaps, the deepest significance of divine miracles; they demonstrate the God-like potentialities, the "flake of the world-fire", in each human being. They build our faith, and help us to work with new zeal towards the production of a divine edition of ourselves. And this is accomplished not only through the great inspiration of the living example before us, but also through the silent, transforming ray that emanates from the divine one and unbeknown to us reaches to our depths. By his very nature of pure love the avatar calls all men to him, and the many who come he guides along the razor-edged way.

Sai Baba, while still in his Shirdi body, stated that he would lead hundreds of thousands of people onto the path and take them to the goal, right up to the very end; right to God. On this work he is still energetically engaged.

Narasimha Swami, and others who have imbibed deeply at the Sai fountain, have stated that the universalist religion of love and brotherhood as taught by Sai Baba is destined to embrace the world. Certainly it is spreading through the length and breadth of India and beginning to take root in places abroad. Satya Sai Baba made his first trip overseas in July 1968. He went to Uganda in East Africa, where there was already a nucleus of devotees. His visit became a national event. Great crowds swarmed around him - not only the few thousand Indians there but also the many thousands of Africans, not only the masses of the "lowly" but the "high-ups" as well. Government ministers, the Inspector-General of Police, the Army Chief of Staff and other top officials gathered to pay homage to Baba. Crowds danced with joy at the sight of him, and ranks of police guards went on their knees as he walked between them.

Of old, this could not happen, and tidings of such amazing events reached the mass of mankind either through verbal reports or by accounts written long after the events took place. Now the sceptic, the doubting Thomas, who cannot believe in either the greater or the lesser miracles, can prove their reality for himself. If keen enough, he can visit Prasanti Nilayam to witness them; otherwise he can wait until Sai Baba comes nearer to his part of the globe.

The miracles of Christ and Krishna must be taken on trust or through faith; those of Sai Baba you can see for yourself.