PUPIL’S PROGRESS
Given his middle-class moorings in the BALCO township in Chhattisgarh, Madhusudan Naidu realised early that hard work is the passport to success. After moving to Puttaparthi, he made the most of the opportunity while studying at the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning (SSSIHL). There, he bagged a gold medal in BSc (Chemistry) in 1999, an outstanding grade in MSc (Chemistry) in 2001 and another gold medal in MBA (2003). During these years, the young Madhusudan observed and picked up Sathya Sai Baba’s traits.
After his MBA, he did a stint with the HDFC Bank between 2003 and 2009, and ran a financial advisory firm in Bengaluru from 2009 to 2011. Following Sathya Sai’s demise in 2011, he joined hands with B.N.
Narasimha Murthy, a former SSSIHL hostel warden, and decided to take his mission forward by breaking away from Prasanthi Nilayam. Along with C. Sreenivas, who was associated with Sathya Sai’s healthcare mission, and Isaac Tigrett of Hard Rock Café fame, who was among those who funded the mission’s first superspeciality hospital, they claim to have come together at the late guru’s behest to build new institutions. Though the Prasanthi Nilayam establishment has rejected Madhusudan, this has not deterred his devotees. “I knew Madhusudan as a student and Narasimha Murthy as a hostel warden,” says A. Anantharaman, a former SSSIHL faculty member. “Brilliant as they were in their roles at Prasanthi Nilayam, I cannot believe their human capabilities could create the structure at Muddenahalli and ensure exponential expansion without some spiritual power.”
At Sathya Sai Grama, chanting of prayers and singing of bhajans are part of the daily routine just like they are at Prasanthi Nilayam. Madhusudan gives a religious discourse on Thursdays and Sundays. He lives in a two-storeyed building designed like a temple, with a prayer hall on the ground floor and his personal quarters above it. Though he has positioned himself as Sathya Sai’s spiritual successor, some are sceptical about his devotional quotient. Sceptics say his devotional activity does not have the same traction as that of Sathya Sai, though several senior devotees go to Muddenahalli now because of what is being done in the areas of healthcare and education.