Baba’s body will be kept at the Sai Kulwant Hall here for two days – Monday and Tuesday. Arrangements will be made for darshan after 6:00 pm on Sunday at the hall.

Andhra Pradesh Health Minister Geeta Reddy said that Sai Baba’s body would be buried on Wednesday in Puttaparthi.

Sai Baba’s response to medical treatment had been slow for some days. He was on intermittent hemodialysis and on assisted respiration until Saturday evening at the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medial Sciences here.

Sai Baba was admitted to the super-speciality hospital on March 28 following problems related to heart and lungs. Doctors treating him said he was suffering from multi-organ dysfunction.

Born in 1926 into an ordinary family at Puttapathi village of Andhra Pradesh, Sathya Sai Baba was named Sathyanarayana.  As a child he was unusually intelligent and never showed any interest in worldly things. When he was just 14 years old, Sathyanarayana announced that he was a reincarnation of Sai Baba of Shirdi.

His miracles like creating Ash and gold rings from vacuum made him famous across the globe. His ashram at Puttaparthi became a famous religious centre within just few years.

From prime ministers, presidents, kings, ambassadors, sports stars, movie stars and ordinary people, millions thronged his ashram seeking his blessings for over 50 years. He founded over 1500 Sathya Sai Centres in 114 countries across the globe.

The demise of Satya Sai Baba came as a deep shock for the beneficiaries of various social programmes launched by him through Sathya Sai Central Trust in the state.

Prominent among the programmes is Sri Satya Village Integrated Programme (SSVIP) under which drinking water is provided to 212 villages in East Godavari district in a phased manner.