The Miraculous Flow of Vibhuti
How Bhagawan would cause
Vibhuti to flow from an empty vessel
Sathya Sai Baba Preparing For
"Vibhuti Abhishekam", the
worship of the silver idol of Shirdi Sai Baba with Vibhuti was
one of the events associated with the Shivaratri festival. This
abhishekam used to be performed by Bhagawan Himself. Howard
Murphet, who witnessed this astounding spectacle during the
Shivaratri celebrations in February 1966 describes it in his
book, “Sai Baba – The Man of Miracles”:
On the stage is a large silver statue of Sai Baba of Shirdi in
His characteristic sitting posture. Mr. Kasturi takes up a small
wooden urn, about a foot in height, and filled with Vibhuti.
This he holds above the head of the silver statue, and lets the
ash pour over the figure until the urn is empty. He shakes it
well to make sure that the last grains have fallen out, then
continues to hold it above the statue with its open top
Now Sai Baba thrusts His arm as far as the elbow into the vessel
and makes a churning motion with His arm, as women did when
making butter in the old days. Immediately the ash begins to
flow again from the vessel and continues to do so in a copious
stream until He takes His arm out. Then, the flow of ash stops.
Next He puts His other arm in and twirls that around. The ash
streams out over the statue again. This process goes on, Baba
using alternate arms, ash pouring from the empty vessel while
His hand is in it, and stopping as soon as He takes it out.
Finally Shirdi Sai is buried in a great mound of ash - much more
than the vessel could possibly have held.
Now the urn is placed on the floor: the miraculous, ceremonial
ash bath is over. There is a joyous, elevated atmosphere all
around; Mr. Kasturi's face is more radiant than ever, Baba's
movements and manner are the acme of unselfconscious grace. It's
all wonderful, yet having watched Him pull handfuls of ash out
of the empty air I am not so greatly surprised to see Him stir
it in large quantities from an empty pot.
Reference: “Sai Baba: Man of Miracles” by Mr. Howard Murphet.
Page: 42-43 (Paperback Edition). Published by Macmillan India
to Shirdi Baba during Sivaratri
Celebrations in 1969