A Twist in the Road

The time had come to find a champion for moringa. We envisioned it would be someone very well known, well respected, and influential with the masses. Such a person could herald moringa for its Vitamin A content and its ability to prevent blindness, and everyone would listen.

We set our sights on Sai Baba, the Indian saint who was reputed to have 80 million followers around the world. He was most famous for manifesting sandalwood ash from his bare hands as a communion for his devotees. We knew Sai Baba could communicate with the masses through their hearts, rather than their minds. His message would reach far beyond those 80 million, to all the people whose lives they touched.

David Kimble, Trees for Life Executive Director, and I packed our bags and left for Puttaparthi, India. Our sole mission was to meet with Sai Baba and appeal to him to speak out for moringa. We didn’t have an appointment, but we decided that once we got there, we would find a way to see him.

We had done our homework. We had prepared a package the size of a matchbox that contained five moringa seeds and a small pamphlet explaining moringa’s benefits and how to plant and care for the trees. We were ready to tell Sai Baba that Trees for Life would finance the production of these boxes if he would be willing to give them out to his followers as his prasad—a holy gift to all those who flocked to him by the thousands to receive his darshan.

We flew to Bangalore then took a taxi to Sai Baba’s ashram in Puttaparthi and arrived late at night. Once we got there, we were told a room was available, but they had no sheets or towels; we were supposed to have brought our own. We slept on bare beds and rose early the next morning to attend Sai Baba’s darshan at 6:30 a.m. We were about five minutes late and, as we ran toward the tent, Sai Baba came out by himself. He looked at us and I bowed to him with folded hands. It was a brief, first personal glimpse, and then he went back inside where a crowd of about 10,000 people were gathered.

Before entering the tent, everyone took off their shoes. David and I put our shoes in a line with all the others. When we came out afterward, David’s shoes were right where he left them. My shoes were nowhere to be found. We both laughed.

There was another darshan in the afternoon. This time I wore simple canvas tennis shoes. David and I had a plan to foil any shoe thieves. We each put one of our shoes on one side of the entrance. The other shoe we put about 500 shoes away. We thought, who would want to steal just one shoe?

When we came out of the tent, David’s one shoe was there, but mine was missing. We checked the other side, 500 shoes away. David’s second shoe was there, but mine was gone. Once again, we laughed. What had happened was beyond our comprehension. 

The next day, we attended our third darshan. By then, I was wearing cheap flip flops. Guess what? When we came out to collect our shoes, David’s were in place and my flip flops had disappeared.

I was getting the message: come with total humility, not as a person trying to sell his idea to Sai Baba.

We were told that Sai Baba saw only a few people by appointment, and he selected who he wanted to see. Visitors could not approach him to get an appointment. One person advised us to share our message with Sai Baba’s personal physician. If he approved of the idea, he would share it with Sai Baba and perhaps he might invite us to see him. 

Getting an appointment with the doctor was another problem. He was head of Sai Baba’s new, state-of-the-art, multi-million-dollar heart hospital, and we were told he was a very busy man. The only possibility was to catch him at home, because he faithfully went home for lunch. We knocked on his door, unannounced, promptly at 1 p.m.

The doctor answered the door. He gave us a half-hearted greeting. It was obvious he was not expecting to be interrupted during his lunch hour.

“How can I help you?” he asked.

We apologized for the interruption.

“We would like to communicate the importance of moringa leaves to Sai Baba,” I said. “We were told to talk to you first and then, if you approved, you might relay the message to Baba.”

 “Come in! Come in! Come in!” he said hurriedly. Both David and I noticed the doctor’s face had turned ashen.

We had spent lots of money to get there, and I knew we had only one chance to sell our idea and the time was short. I went straight to the point. The doctor listened without any interruptions. I ended up speaking for almost 20 minutes.

“Is there anything else you want to tell me?” he asked, when I was finished talking.

“No,” I said.

“Now let me share something with you,” he said. “This morning, at the darshan, I was backstage. After Baba gave the darshan, he came backstage and started talking to me about moringa leaves. I didn’t know what he was talking about. I didn’t know what moringa was. Baba said, ‘These people believe the main contribution of moringa leaves is vitamin A. They are not aware of the protein content in moringa leaves and its quality.’ 

“He told me his grandmother used to feed him moringa leaves when he was growing up. He said he has a moringa tree growing outside his window, and he eats the leaves every day.”

Shaking his head in disbelief, the doctor continued, “Baba repeated the message seven or eight times. I was just standing there, wondering why he was telling me this and what it had to do with me.”

“When you stood at my door and said you had come to talk to me about moringa leaves, I thought I was seeing a ghost,” the doctor finished.

We realized Baba had sent his answer through the doctor: Check the protein content.

Before we left the next day, we attended another darshan. At that event, Sai Baba walked through the crowd of thousands, manifested hard candies and threw them to the people. David and I were sitting in a row through which he happened to pass. When Sai Baba passed me, he kicked me gently with his feet, and dropped three candies in my lap. 

“Oh, my gosh, how fortunate you are!” the man sitting next to me said. “He gave you three candies.”

“Here, one is for you,” I said, bowing to him while handing him a candy.

“No, no, no,” he said. “They were meant for you.”

In that moment I was fully aware that I had everything that I needed and Sai Baba was affirming my call to be a channel to share with others. I insisted that the man take the candy, and he accepted.