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Articles on the Divine

India Needs People Like Baba: German Leader

Article in The Times of India dated 1st November 2001.

The visit of a German MP was reported by one of India's major dailies, the Times of India, from which we give below extracts of the highlights of the article.

BANGALORE: While the German Chancellor was busy with Bangalore’s IT skippers on Tuesday, a senior colleague of his had a rather different agenda. Breaking off from the rest of the delegation, Dr. Friedbert Pfluger, MP. Chairman – Committee on the Affairs of the European Union and Deputy Chairman of the CDU in Lower Saxony – took time off to visit the ashram of Sri Sathya Sai Baba at Puttaparthy.

“I had heard a lot about Baba from a close friend of my wife and I wanted to meet him. ”He told the Times of India after his return from Puttaparthy. Dr. Pfluger described his visit to Puttaparthy as an amazing discovery. “I did not know about the charitable super speciality hospital there or for that matter about the University. It was very impressive,” he said.

Dr. Pfluger spent over an hour with Baba and believes he will carry back the memory for a long time. “It was a bit strange in the beginning. I found his attire a bit different,” he laughs, “ but he got talking and the more he talked the more I was impressed.”

The German leader was most impressed with the social work and lifestyle Baba maintains. “Education and clean water he has provided to the people in the villages around is remarkable,” he said. “I found he leads a simple life and sets an example rather than just preach,” he added, Dr. Pfluger found Baba’s concept that it is not enough to live just for oneself but to serve the needy very relevant. “He says it is important that you show others that you love them.”

“He said, what guides me are patience, perseverance and purity. He has enormous inner strength and I could see this,” Dr. Pfluger said. So what is the impression he carried back? “He dispels the darkness of poverty and illiteracy. I am convinced India needs people like Baba,” he asserts. “I appreciate his teaching that it is not exactly any particular religion. As Baba says it is meant to make a Hindu and better Hindu and a Christian a better Christian.”

The three-hour drive was memorable in the end? “Of course,” he gushes, “including the roads and drivers without headlights,” he laughs. “A German driver would die trying to drive on these roads,” he says, throwing up his hands.

Dr Friedbert Pfluger, just 46, is tipped to take over as Chancellor one day. He is clear about his views on India.“ India with its different cultures is the greatest democracy in the world. This is something my country and indeed all of Europe understand,” he says, “India with its diverse people is more than a country, it is a continent.”

What will be his Indo-German agenda? “There is a lot of potential here. We look too much towards China; it is time we took a closer look at India.”