How Venezuela became a stronghold of Sathya Sai devotees? Maduro bows to interim President Delsey

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After the attack, former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is in the custody of America. On the other hand, Delcy Rodriguez is taking charge as interim President of Venezuela. But the common connection between both is that they are devotees of Satya Sai Baba. Amidst the recent developments, pictures of Nicolas Maduro and Delsey are going viral in which it is clearly visible how big devotees of Indian spiritual guru Satya Sai Baba both of them are.

According to the website and YouTube channel of the Sathya Sai Central Trust, Rodriguez visited Prasanthi Nilayam Ashram, the Samadhi temple of Sathya Sai Baba in Puttaparthi, Andhra Pradesh, twice in recent years. According to the Ministry of External Affairs, various spiritual and cultural centers in Venezuela have been established by Indian gurus and organizations, including followers of Sathya Sai Baba, Brahma Kumaris and Radha Swami.

Now the question is how the thoughts of Sathya Sai Baba reached Venezuela and this country became the stronghold of his followers. From Maduro to the current interim President Delsey, he has devotees.

How did Sathya Sai Baba’s thoughts reach Venezuela?

It began in 1972 when Arlette Meyer, Elizabeth Palmer and their family from Venezuela came to India to visit Sathya Sai Baba at his ashram. He also visited him in 1968 and 1970. When he had the privilege of traveling with Sathya Sai, Baba’s thoughts had a deep impact on him. The living conditions for foreign travelers in Baba’s ashram were quite different. There were neither modern toilets nor hi-tech facilities like in western countries.

Arlette had read only one issue of Sanatan Sarathi and did not know much about Sai Baba. But when she saw him giving darshan from the balcony after the evening aarti in the temple, she felt a wave of energy inside her and started crying.

The next day, on 24 December 1972, Sathya Sai Baba gave his famous sermon in which he declared that he was the one about whom Jesus had said, “He who sent me will come again.” The very next evening, a foreigner came to the flat and asked if a translator was present. Arlet said that he is a translator by profession.

The person said, “Okay, then you can translate Swamiji’s books.” He suggested ‘Sai Baba, Man of Miracles’. This idea started taking shape, but he thought that permission should be taken from Swamiji first.

Gael Muniz of Mexico (left) and Arlette Mayer of Venezuela with Sathya Sai Baba.

During an interview Swami asked him, what is your name? When they replied, Arlette, Swami jokingly said, Arlette, not omelette, which made everyone laugh. She asked Baba if she could translate the book into Spanish, and he said, yes, do it, it is your duty.

Ten months later, Arlette returned to Prasanthi Nilayam with the book ‘Man of Miracles’ translated into Spanish, but she had no idea how to publish it. By chance he met Gael and Luis Muniz from Mexico, who had come to seek permission to translate and publish some of Baba’s books in Spanish.

He gave Lewis a photocopy of his translation and said, “This is the first copy.” In 1974, during an interview, Swami blessed the first Spanish translation published of him and asked Arlett to continue translating the Sathya Sai Speaks series. During this visit, Swami also instructed him to open a Sai Centre.

When Baba asked- Who is singing in the centre?

After consulting Dr. Hislop, a senior member of the Sathya Sai organization, Arlett opened Venezuela’s first Sai center in the capital Caracas on August 22, 1974. In an interview, Swami asked how the Sai Center was doing and was told that very few people were coming. He replied, “We want quality, not numbers.” When he asked who was singing at the centre, he was told, “You, Swami.” He then encouraged the group to sing the bhajans themselves instead of using the tape, and that’s when the group began learning the bhajans seriously.

Nicholas Maduro With Satya Sai

Nicolas Maduro had reached the shelter of Satya Sai Baba.

Spanish collection of Sai literature grows in Venezuela

Very few people used to come to the small Sai Centre, but when the first consignment of ‘Sai Baba, Man of Miracles’ arrived from Mexico and was distributed, the number of people gradually started increasing. Arlet continued his translation work and soon the Spanish collection of Sai literature grew. Sathya Sai Speaks Vol. The address and telephone number of Sai Kendra was recorded in the books, so gradually more people started coming. Initially, all this work was done on typewriters, as Arlet did not have a computer until 1985.

Viral video of interim President Delsey in the ashram

The organization was not limited to just sermons

Arlet participated in the Second World Conference of Sai Organizations in 1975 as a representative of Venezuela. At that time, the front of the temple was completely redesigned, additional rooms were added, the Purna Chandra Auditorium was being decorated, and construction of the 50-foot-high Sarva Dharma Stupa was underway, which Baba inaugurated on 23 November. The crowd was so huge that it became difficult for Swamiji to even move.

The organization began to grow in scope and a public meeting was held on the last Saturday of every month at which a film shot by Arlett during his first visit was shown. In addition, brief readings of Swami’s messages were given in the Thursday meetings. To ease the process of learning the hymns, a hymn book containing 271 hymns in Sanskrit and some hymns in Spanish was prepared. All these things had their impact and new people started coming. The number increased so much that there was no space left in the apartment.

Gradually, when the organization got associated with the Education Ministry, the thoughts of Satya Sai Baba started reaching the entire country and neighboring countries. The camps organized here for the needy spread the fame of the organization to a larger population. The purpose of the camps is to take care of the elderly. Spending time with children. Such activities started being conducted. Gradually Venezuelan politicians and well-known personalities started arriving to listen to Sathya Sai Baba’s sermons.

Venezuela Acting President Rodriguez Is Sai Baba Devotee, Visited Andhra Ashram Twice

Photo of Delsey Rodriguez’s visit to Sathya Sai Ashram.

Interim President Delsey’s visit to India

Delsey visited Sathya Sai Baba Ashram in 2023 and 2024. During her recent visit on October 26, 2024, Delsey Rodriguez had visited Prasanthi Nilayam to pay obeisance to Lord Sri Sathya Sai Baba. Managing Trustee of Sri Satya Sai Central Trust, R.J. Ratnakar welcomed Rodriguez and gave him a tour of the ashram. Delsey spent time in the sanctum sanctorum and Shanti Bhavan, the two main spiritual sites of Prasanthi Nilayam, and said that being in the divine presence of Sathya Sai Baba left her “feeling at peace and at peace.”

This was not his first visit. Earlier, on August 5, 2023, Delsey had visited Prasanthi Nilayam when she was in India as part of the Venezuelan delegation attending the G20 summit.

How did Maduro become a devotee of Baba?

Sai Baba, known as the “Master of Miracles” with millions of followers around the world. Devotees believed that he had abilities ranging from healing the sick to making objects appear out of nowhere. Visitors to Maduro’s private office in the Miraflores Palace in Caracas see a large framed portrait of Sai Baba along with portraits of former leaders Hugo Chávez and Simon Bolivar. According to reports, Maduro became a staunch follower of Sai Baba through his wife Cilia Flores. Cilia Flores, herself a lawyer and parliamentarian, was a devotee of Maduro long before she married him.

It was Flores who brought Maduro to India to meet Sai Baba in 2005, long before their marriage. At that time Flores was the lawyer of former President Hugo Chavez and Maduro was the Speaker of the Assembly. Later, when Maduro was appointed foreign minister, Flores replaced him as president. A 2005 photo shows Maduro and Flores, who was among Sai Baba’s followers, kneeling on the ground during a meeting with the guru at his Prasanthi Nilayam ashram in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Several photos and videos show Rodriguez paying his respects to the spiritual leader at the ashram in 2023 and 2024.

Also read: How much gold does Venezuela have? Maduro sent 113 metric tons of gold to Switzerland

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