miracle in the next.
28. The older brother, Keshan
A special question is the mission of Prema Sai Baba's elder brother, Keshan (born in 2008). Already, quite a few devotees believe that Keshan is a partial Avatar. Some say he is the embodiment of the cosmic divine serpent Adi-Shesha, who lives in heaven. It is on this cosmic serpent that the supreme Lord Maha-Vishnu reclines.
According to Vedic legends, God, almost always, does not incarnate alone, but with his celestial team, which includes Adi-Shesha, who incarnates as the brother of the Avatar.
Some Avatars of the past had brothers who played an important role in their mission. Krishna had an older brother, Balarama, who, according to the sacred texts, was a partial incarnation of the god, Vishnu, and was born along with Krishna in order to help him in his spiritual mission on Earth.
Rama Avatar had several brothers who played an important role in his mission. One of them was Lakshmana, who devotedly followed his divine brother and assisted in his work of delivering the goddess, Sita.
Lakshmana spent many years together with Rama Avatar in the foothills of the Himalayas where they visited the ashrams of the sages together and received spiritual instructions and practiced austerities. Lakshmana, together with his divine brother, took part in the battles with the demon Ravana and his army.
Another brother of Rama Avatar who played an important role in his mission was Bharata. It was Bharata who began the tradition of honoring the sandals of the Lord (Paduka), which became one of the most important plots in the Ramayana epic.
Jesus Christ also had a brother, most likely an older one, whose name was Jacob. After the resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ, it was his brother, James, who led the first community of Christians, which was historically called the Jerusalem Church.
Usually, we are accustomed to think that the apostle Peter is the main disciple of Jesus Christ. It is very strange that there is little mention of James, the brother of Jesus, in the New Testament.
Immediately after the ascension of Jesus Christ, it was his brother James who became the leader of the first Christians, which is described in the Acts of the Apostles.
We also have to admit that not all Avatars had significant brothers. For example, the Buddha did not have brothers who were known for their special role in history.
We know about Sathya Sai Baba's relatives, but none of them have had a tradition of special reverence. Sathya Sai Baba took great care of his relatives, including his brother, but strictly forbade the creation of any special worship cults for his relatives.
After the departure of his parents, a tomb was built where many devotees could practice meditation and prayer. Honoring the parents of Sathya Sai Baba is quite natural, but during their lifetime they did not play an important role in the spiritual life of the ashram.
It is difficult to say what kind of cult of veneration for the parents of Sathya Sai Baba may develop in a few centuries. For example, during the life of Jesus Christ, there was no hint of the veneration of his mother, but several centuries later a great tradition of veneration of the Virgin Mary appeared in Greek Orthodox and Catholic Christianity.
Let's get back to discussing the personality of Keshan, the elder brother of Prema Sai Baba. This is a very difficult question at the moment, because Prema Sai Baba is only eleven years old at the time of writing this book, and his elder brother, Keshan, is fourteen.
We already know Keshan is a unique person. When his mother, Taja Mani, was pregnant and about to give birth to her first child, Keshan, she had a mystical dream. In this dream, she realized she would give birth not to a simple child, but to the next incarnation of Balarama (Krishna's elder brother).
By this logic, if the first son was Balarama, then naturally the mother was not surprised when the second son was recognized as Krishna (Prema Sai Baba). From a very early age, Keshan constantly performed traditional Vedic worship of the gods, especially goddesses such as Durga, Lakshmi, Saraswati and Kali.
Little Keshan sometimes does not have time to do his homework, because he constantly does Vedic worship ceremonies for goddesses, all day long. Instead of playing with the neighborhood boys, he is busy decorating the statues on the home altar.
If you look closely at some of the children's games of the divine brothers, you can see that Keshan treats his brother, Prema Sai Baba, as a goddess. There were many cases where Keshan called and even prayed to his brother, calling him "Amma", which means "mother goddess".
Quite a few devotees notice that Keshan performs traditional goddess worship (pujas) from morning to evening with amazing inspiration. His rituals last literally for hours, and he regularly does not have time to do school homework, because he is constantly busy worshiping goddesses.
The rituals performed by Keshan have miraculous powers, so some devotees ask him to perform prayers for them. Prema Sai Baba follows this closely and encourages his brother's practice.
29. Pilgrimage to Mount Arunachala
Sathya Sai Baba predicted that one of the signs that his next incarnation as Prema Sai Baba was gaining strength would be the flooding of the Chitrawati River which flows in the village of Puttaparthi.
A couple of years before Sathya Sai Baba passed away, and as he predicted, the Chitrawati River dried up completely. People knew this was an indirect sign of the imminent departure of Sathya Sai Baba, but no one wanted to think about sad things, so people drove away such thoughts.
In 2012, when Prema Sai Baba was born, a tiny stream appeared in the dry riverbed, which gradually became a full-flowing river again. In 2021, unexpectedly for everyone, the river was filled with