In plain words
All sorts of people came: “Who are you? Has a ghost seized you? Has a demon seized you? Who are you?” So they kept asking many questions. I told them clearly, “I am no ghost, I am no demon; I am Sai, know this for certain.” “How are we to know that you are Sai Baba?” they asked. In those days no one in those parts had heard the name Sai Baba. No one knew it. In Anantapur district no one knew even the name of Sai Baba. Then someone brought flowers. I took those flowers into my hand and scattered them. Those flowers gathered into the letters “Sai Baba”. Those flowers formed, one after another, into the letters “Sai Baba”. That boulder is in Uravakonda even today. In the village of Uravakonda in Anantapur district there is a man called Anjaneyulu. He is the State President of the Sathya Sai Organisations of Andhra Pradesh. He had a great mandir and a hall built on that boulder. He took a photo. That boulder is in front of me. On the boulder is Sai Baba. That came out clearly in the photo. They gave those photos out to everyone. As my fame kept growing day by day, many people from the villages and towns around, possessed by ghosts and spirits, used to come in their bullock carts. “If this boy tells them to go, the ghosts will go,” they said, and many brought even the mad. In this way, as their faith deserved, the demons left them. Then many believed that it was true. In this way the power of this Satyam kept growing day by day. So Seshama Raju wrote a letter to his father that it was not possible for him to keep me with him. In those days it was very hard for letters to go from one place to another.
Pedda Venkamaraju went one Monday to Bukkapatnam for the market. There he received the letter Seshama Raju had sent. In that letter: ‘You must not stay where you are even a moment. We cannot manage him. Come at once and take him home,’ he wrote. He came straight from the market just as he was, poor man. He had not a naya paisa in his pocket. He got the bus fare from Seshama Raju, seated me in the bus at Uravakonda and came. The bus comes as far as Bukkapatnam. From there one has to walk to Puttaparthi. Pedda Venkamaraju took me by the hand and, with much toil, brought me along on foot. Kondamaraju was living at the house. Kondamaraju was very orthodox. He had great faith in God and the gods. He called Pedda Venkamaraju: “Venkappa! Do not say anything to him. His bent has to do with the thought of God. I shall keep him with me for some days,” he said. He kept me with him and watched over me every moment, morning and evening. Meanwhile some discord began among the brothers in this joint family. There were four brothers: Pedda Venkamaraju, Chinna Venkamaraju, Venkatramaraju and Subbaraju. The four of them sat down to divide and go separately. All right! Kondamaraju gave each of them one room and told them to go; Kondamaraju alone remained by himself. ‘Father! Where will you stay?’ Pedda Venkamaraju came and asked. ‘My boy! I need no one. Send Satyam with me. Satyam and I, the two of us, will stay together,’ he said. In the family no one ever called me by the full name ‘Satyanārāyaṇa’. Everyone called me ‘Satyam, Satyam’. He took me along and kept me with himself. I went on doing all his service. As things went on in this way, after some days the situation changed completely. Only Venkamma would come, morning and evening. ‘Satya! Do you have any dreams? Does anyone appear to you?’ she would ask, enquiring. But I would tell no one anything. She too had great faith in Sai Baba. Then she asked, ‘I want a photo of Sai Baba, Satyam.’