Al Drucker, long-time Sai devotee, has passed away; My gratitude to him for sharing his writings and videos

Last updated on 27th February 2016

Mrs Yaani Drucker​, wife of Mr. Al Drucker, has informed her Facebook friends (I am her FB friend) and permitted me to share publicly that Mr. Al Drucker has passed away. As she puts it, "Al so peacefully flew the cage - free."

I pray to Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba to shower His Grace on the sukshma sharira of Mr. Al Drucker, and give courage to Yaani Drucker, his wife, and rest of his family & friends to bear the loss of his physical sharira.

I would like to express my deep gratitude to Al Drucker sir for sharing his experiences of Sai Baba and his views of Sai Baba's teachings (see http://atmapress.com/). I gather that he has also written on his understanding of spiritual philosophy from various religious texts like the Bhagavan Gita and the Bible.

I did not have the privilege of meeting him in person but thanks to some Sai devotee video-interviewers who put up Al Drucker's interview and other lectures/talks videos on youtube, I was able to see him and hear him talk on video. Surely, Drucker sir was deeply devoted to sharing Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba's teachings including Advaita philosophy, and his spiritual experiences, with the world at large, even at an advanced age. It was very inspiring to see his dedication in this regard. I am sure sister Yaani Drucker, his wife, would have had an important role in helping him play this role at an advanced age. So thanks to Yaani Drucker too.

I should also say that as a former teacher in the Sathya Sai university (offering free service from Jan. 2003 to March 2012 with designations of Honorary Staff/Honorary Faculty/Visiting Faculty), I did make some inquiries in the past couple of years or so with a couple or so long-timers in Prasanthi Nilayam (I continue to live in Puttaparthi, outside the ashram) about Mr. Al Drucker, and they remembered him having been a notable figure in Prasanthi Nilayam many years ago (one person mentioned spiritual talks to Western devotees, while another talked about him being a specialist in physics). I believe Mr. Drucker has made significant contributions to the Awareness program of the Sai university which is taught to all Sai university students.

Some months, or maybe a year or so ago, I came to know that Mr. Drucker had experienced Nazi Germany as a Jewish boy living in Germany then, and had escaped from Germany to USA! It was the first time I read of any Sathya Sai devotee himself/herself having experienced Nazi Germany persecution of Jews. His experience of travelling in a train with a Nazi SS colonel who recognized him as a Jewish boy but showed a kind side of his personality and advised him to escape the Jewish Holocaust in Europe at that time, by going Westwards instead of Eastwards, was utterly fascinating! Here's a great interview of Mr. Al Drucker by Mr. David Jevons which I would recommend all readers, whether Sai devotees or not, to read (if they have not read it earlier), http://www.ramalacentre.com/newsletter09_99_02.htm (also put up on my blog here: https://ravisiyer.blogspot.com/2016/02/an-interview-with-al-drucker.html).

I repeat my prayers to Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba to shower His Grace on the sukshma sharira of Mr. Al Drucker and give courage to his family & friends to bear this loss. Jai Sairam!
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Readers may want to read the following blog posts related to Mr. Al Drucker:
1) An Interview (in 1999 perhaps) with Al Drucker (of atmapress.com), https://ravisiyer.blogspot.com/2016/02/an-interview-with-al-drucker.html.

2) Al Drucker's last days; How he benefited from hearing about N. Kasturi's last days, https://ravisiyer.blogspot.com/2016/02/great-soul-al-druckers-last-days-n.html, dated 25th February 2016