In his traditional Christmas references to Jesus Christ, Sathya Sai Baba gives VERBATIM account in quotes of whateach of the three 'Arabian' kings said to Mother Mary, and not least too statements Jesus made to Paul! Not only did Paul never meet Jesus, but the alleged connection between them was Paul's conversion experience describe it as miraculous, supernatural, or otherwise revelatory in nature. Some kind of 'vision' Paul had causing his conversion from a persecutor of Christians to a self-appointed 'apostle' (NOT one of the four apostles, of course). This all happened after Jesus's crucifixion.
The following quotations from Sathya Sai Baba (in brown text) are transcribed from the scans of the original publication, see below.
" Initially, Paul hated Jesus. One day Jesus appeared in his dream and asked him lovingly, “PauI, what harm have I done to you, why do you criticise Me? All your travails are consequences of your own actions; I am not responsible for your suffering." Then Paul was transformed and attained sainthood. "
Comment: the EXACT WORDS of Jesus! Sai Baba fantasizing again that he knows everything. Of course, Christians take no notice at all of his self-appointed wisdom about Christianity. They have their own rock-solid beliefs!
"When Jesus was born three Arabian kings came to see Him. They were overjoyed seeing the newborn babe. While returning, the first king said to Mary, “Mother, you have given birth to a child who loves God.” The second king said, “Mother you have given birth to a child who will be loved by God.” The third king said, “Mother Mary, your child is not different from God, both are one and the same.”
Comment: More verbatim reported speech with only 2000 years delay! Perhaps Sai Baba hopes that Nativity plays will be re-texted to fit his doctrine.... that all are not different but God one and the same.
"When it was decided that all the devotees of Jesus should be crucified along with Him, even His closest devotees, Peter, Matthew, and St. Paul refused to identify themselves as His followers."
Comment: So Paul, who never accepted or met Jesus until after his death, is now presented as one of the disciples prior to his trial! Quite a smart reinvention of history which has its charms too!
"The term Christmas has been derived from the roman language. Truly speaking, Christmas falls in the month of March, not in December. Since it is very cold in December and people are confined to their homes, they utilise this time
to celebrate Christmas. Actually Jesus was born in the month of March. With the passage of time this fact has been distorted and misrepresented in the Bible."
Comment: As usual, Sathya Sai Baba just invents his ownwisdom, for there is no such word prefiguring Christmas in Roman Latin. The word 'Christmas' is derived from the Middle English Christemasse and Old English Cristes mæsse (meaning “Christ’s Mass”). Origin: first recorded in 1038. “Cristes” is from Greek Christos and “mæsse” is from Latin missa (the holy mass). In Greek, the letter Χ (chi), is the first letter of 'Christ', and together with the similar Roman letter X, has been an abbreviation for 'Christ' since the mid-16th century. Thus, Xmas is sometimes used as an abbreviation for Christmas.
"When Jesus reached this stage, He had no suffering at all; He was always blissful and was prepared foil anything. Even at the time of crucifixion, he was smiling, because he realised that He was not the body."
Comment: Strange, then, that Sathya Sai Baba pretened to 'manifest' a crucifix from a piece of the original cross (he said) showing Jesus as he was at the moment of death... not a happy smile at all! (See photo and account here)
"When Paul went on accusing Jesus, He lovingly went up to him and gave him a pleasing smile. The sweetness of the nectarine smile of Jesus transformed the poisonous heart of Paul. Be always cheerful, even in times of adversities. Always put up a smiling face, never a castor-oil face. "Happiness is union with God"."
Comment: Now we have Jesus going up to Paul and giving him a bit of the good old Sathya Sai Baba 'smile' that does the trick transforming poisonous hearts! A shame that the smiles have all disappeared from Sathya Sai Baba and are replaced by wooden and castor-oil faces! (See examples from his birthday in 2010 and more).
The full 1998 Christmas Discourse:-
