The daily program was constant and never changed, except for the days of big religious festivals such as Shivaratri or Christmas. Everyday Sathya Sai Baba went out to his audience, which was called Darshan.

The word Darshan comes from the Sanskrit word darsh, meaning, to see. This is a unique phenomenon of the Vedic tradition, the analogues of which, however, can be found in different cultures. Seeing a divine teacher is a unique experience that results in great divine mercy and grace. People came from different parts of India, as well as from many countries of the world, in order to directly meet Sathya Sai Baba and feel the boundless energy of love.

To see a great teacher directly is a life-changing blessing. It is quite difficult to talk about Darshan. In order to understand it, you need to experience it on your own. When I returned from India to Russia, my friends asked me, “why did you go to India?” I tried to talk about Darshan, but it was very difficult to explain, almost impossible. I felt that my words were powerless.

Friends told me, “we have videos and photographs of Sathya Sai Baba and therefore we can see him without leaving home. What is the difference?”

This difference can only be felt if a person has experienced this amazing sensation in his own experience. When you are in close physical proximity to Sathya Sai Baba, you get the opportunity to touch the vibrations and energies of the highest level – this is the essence of Darshan.

Sathya Sai Baba went out to the people twice a day – in the morning and in the evening. Every day, tens of thousands, and sometimes hundreds of thousands of people gathered to see him. The morning program ran from about 9 am to 11 am, and the evening program from 4 pm to 6 pm. The place where Sai Baba went out to the visitors is called the Mandir, which means temple in Sanskrit.

Those wishing to see Sathya Sai Baba usually arrived two or three hours before the start of the program and stood in line. Everyone wanted to sit closer to the path along which Sai Baba passed. The Mandir was divided into two equal parts – women sat on one half, and men sat on the other. In Indian tradition, such a division is considered natural and is not perceived in any way as a restriction on the rights of women. It is believed that feminine and masculine energies should not be mixed in the temple premises and people perceive this as something completely natural.

Even when Sathya Sai Baba was very young, a tradition arose to give him letters and notes. This is a very interesting tradition, in my opinion, worthy of being told in more detail. Sometimes there was an opportunity to talk to him personally and ask questions, but a sufficiently large number of people did not have such an opportunity, since there were always a lot of visitors around Sathya Sai Baba. People wrote notes and tried to pass them directly into his hands the moment he passed by.

I think the tradition of giving letters to Sathya Sai Baba had a deep meaning. What did people write about? These letters thanked him for healing and support. Sometimes the letters contained very specific requests for help – people wrote about their problems and asked for blessings. The letters asked spiritual questions, they asked for healing, for solving family troubles, or problems related to work and business. Even though I sometimes had the opportunity to communicate personally with Sathya Sai Baba, I also wrote letters to him. Sathya Sai Baba took my letters, and solutions to my problems and answers to my questions always came.

People brought their letters every morning and every evening. When Sathya Sai Baba walked between the rows, the opportunity arose to pass the letters directly into his hands. Since Sathya Sai Baba was a clairvoyant, he read the information contained in the letters without even physically reading them. He never physically read the letters, and one look from him was enough to know everything that was written in them. Some letters he took, and some not. Sometimes a person would hold a bundle of letters, but Sathya Sai Baba would not take all of them, but only one. If he took a letter, then the problem or issue that was stated in the letter received his blessing and was eventually resolved.

Some carried their letter for many days and even for many weeks, but Sathya Sai Baba passed by and did not take their letters. People understood this to mean this question would remain unanswered. It is difficult to say why he did not take some letters, perhaps because the requests made in them were not correct or they were meaningless. Be that as it may, whether he took the letter or not it always gave food for thought.