It was February 16, 1958 when Swami blessed the first few copies of The Sanathana Sarathi to be distributed freely to all present. But why the name ‘Sanathana Sarathi’?
Could it not have been ‘Divine Love’, ‘Sai Speaks”, “Unity to Divinity” or anything similar? And who christened it so? Prof. Kasturi, the Lord’s hand-picked mission-man and the first editor of this magazine, narrates a beautiful incident to put to rest all such often queried queue of questions. “I got the good news pretty quick; Baba had come to Bangalore . He was staying in Sri Vittal Rao's house on the 9th Cross Road , Wilson Gardens, only 5 minutes away from my residence, ‘Ashoka’ on the 12th Cross,” writes Prof. Kasturi in his biography, Loving God. “Knowing that there was a possibility of His coming to his place, I had tipped the dry cleaner, who attended to the washing and ironing of his door and window curtains, to inform me as soon as he delivered the wash to Vittal Rao. I had noticed that he had the curtains washed and ironed as part of house-cleaning, preliminary to Baba's visit. When the news leaked at last, I posted the little daughter of my domestic help on a slab of stone facing his house, with directions to keep watch for a big car and an orange robe. So within ten minutes of Baba's stepping into his house, Vittal Rao was amazed to find me on his verandah! “Wait! Wait!” he pleaded. But Baba spotted me and came towards me with His palm ready to fall on my shoulder. “Now, you have to work at Puttaparthi”, he said. “A monthly magazine will start soon. Guess! How is it named?” He asked. I confessed I could not delve into His Will. Yet He drew out from my reluctance a few names. “The Godward Path”, “Karma Dharma ...”, “Premayoga.” He waved aside the titles I suggested and announced that he had decided to designate it as “Sanathana Sarathi!” Sai Ram
