HP's father, an employee of the FDA, had been a follower of Shirdi Sai Baba, (believed by Baba's followers to be a previous incarnation of Sathya Sai Baba) who came to him in a dream telling him to go to the ashram of Sathya Sai Baba.

His mother was a surgeon who asked Baba for liberation. After that she suffered intensely for 2 years, and then left her body. After her death, ashes poured from Swami’s pictures in her home. Her son HP,  had not abstained from meat and alcohol in the West, but vowed to accompany her ashes to the ashram and to abstain from flesh and alcohol on the journey. When he arrived at the ashram, Baba said to him that he was released from his vow and he could do what he liked in the village. Baba then told him how much change was in his pocket and materialized a 100 rupee note for him. He went into the village where he ordered chicken and had 9 drinks. Nevertheless he was mindful that he wanted to be back in time for Baba’s lecture. Because of the quantity he had imbibed, he had to make frequent trips to the men’s room. Baba saw him coming back after one of these trips and said to him “Would not one drink have been better than nine?” The Bhagavad Gita says ‘what good does repression accomplish?’ God
knows that nearly all of us have areas of resistance or outright rebellion and that only our hearts and not force will change us. HP has grown more spiritual every year. His detachment, humor, acute intelligence combine to make  a very powerful presence. He has been blessed to have had more contact with Baba than most other devotees.

Thousands have witnessed the vibuthi come out of many things including paper pictures in HP's family home.

His friend Linden asked him his first experience of Baba. When he was a baby, HP replied, Baba covered him with vibuthi.

-saiom shriver-
 

Footnote:

http://sathyasai.org