In 1968, a group of armed Naxalites, inspired by leftist revolutions around the world and driven by Mao Zedong’s ideology, launched an attack on a police camp in Pulpally in Wayanad district in Kerala. After killing a policeman, they fled into the forest but were captured within a few days.
A college student, Philip M. Prasad was one of those who took part in the attack. In jail, he thought deeply about human life, turned towards spirituality and soon became a staunch devotee of Sathya Sai Baba.
“Guess what, the attack [on the police camp] took place on November 23, 1968, Baba’s birthday,” said Prasad. “By the time I entered jail, I had already been disillusioned with Marxism. The transformation to spirituality did not happen overnight. When I look back at those early steps of change, I am convinced there is a such a thing as soul reincarnation. Once my soul must have been that of a Hindu sanyasi.”
But how did a Naxalite, who once dreamt of creating an egalitarian world through violence, undergo such a transformation? Was the divine truly greater than equality achieved by force?
“I was born a Syrian Christian, in the Mar Thoma tradition, and was raised in those beliefs. Even in jail, I used to recite the Lord’s Prayer. For nine consecutive nights, I could not sleep—my mother had taught me that prayer. Tears gushed from my eyes; unstoppable. I thought I was going mad. It was then that the first seed of faith began to germinate.”
It was in jail that Prasad first encountered devotees of Baba. “They offered me an orange. In anger, I squeezed it and threw it at them. It hit a man on his head, and he turned around and simply smiled. From that moment onwards, strange coincidences began to unfold—a chain of small miracles that, when pieced together, revealed a meaning and purpose,” Prasad said.
During the six years he spent in prison, Prasad learned Sanskrit and studied the Gita, along with scriptures from other religions. “The Gita had already entered powerfully into me before I came to jail, but it was out of jail that I began to take it seriously,” said Prasad.
During his time in jail, he had not read much about Baba. But on November 19, 1984, something inexplicable happened. “A copper ring materialised in my suitcase. It was slightly warm and had the image of Shirdi Sai Baba imprinted in it. I investigated every possible explanation—and found none,” he said.
That moment marked the beginning of his devotion to Shirdi Sai Baba. “And, on January 1, 1985, I reached Puttaparthi to meet Sathya Sai Baba. Even before I entered the ashram, tears began to flow uncontrollably from my eyes,” he said.
“I sat there, surrounded by many others, reciting the Lord’s Prayer. He [Sathya Sai Baba] looked at me—a powerful, piercing gaze that went straight through me. That very day, I decided to give up three bad habits. I instantly gave up smoking and drinking. But the third—my anarchic sexual habits—took me longer to overcome.”
Baba granted Prasad long interviews on at least three occasions. “But I did something against his wishes,” Prasad, 78, admitted. “I converted to Hinduism. He never wanted me to do that.”