Sai Baba prediction of his death

Mr. and Mrs. Ratan Lal lived in the Prashanthi Nilayam ashram as very close servitors to Sathya Sai Baba for decades. They knew a great deal about what went on and partook in the cover-up of the sexual abuse facts and all untoward incidents, as all residents must do, or lose their apartments and, in many cases, face destitution (as did the long-devoted resident families of some of the four students who were executed in 1993).

According to Mr. Ratan Lala (a former businessman, now deceased), Sathya Sai Baba confirmed the long-reported statement that he would live until he is 96 years old. However, he also told Ratan Lala that it was no body’s business when he would die and he could alter the date at will, according to his plan. It seems that Sai Baba is hedging his bets, not least since he pronounced twice during the 1960s that he would live until the age of 92 or 93! This can be seen in two of his published discourses - one which is as follows:-

Read more about the Ratan Lals here.

Top people protected from prosecution in India

THE MURDER COVER-UP CONTINUES DESPITE INTERNATIONAL FOCUS
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1314979,00.html

 This tragic case has at least come to international notice due to the courage of Mrs. MacKeown, whose daughter’s kidneys and other inner organs were removed from the corpse without her consent, which she is still trying to recover but without success so far! Where is the British Consulate in all this with their pathetic, spineless responses, one may rightly ask? It is likely that it was under instructions not to offend the Indian Government for all the wider political and trade issues with which we are so familiar, and which caused Tony Blair to stop U.K. Metropolitan Police investigation into Sathya Sai Baba and his Organization.

This case, however, is remarkable only because of the publicity it has managed to achieve - otherwise such events are not at all uncommon in India. The recent huge kidney racket which was able to continue uncovered after TEN years illustrates the situation. Need I add that the same applies to the kidney theft at the Sathya Sai Super-Speciality Hospital, the murders of ex-students in 1993 in the ashram bedroom of Sathya Sai Baba and the alleged murder of the son of a major critic of Sathya Sai Baba, namely the Basava Premanand - famous from National Geographic and Discovery exposé and the editor of the Indian Skeptic, who writes in the latest issue:-

See also
Major sabotage by Sai college teacher averted, including murder threats against Basava Premanand

Lunatic Devotee claims he is Prema Sai

SOME LIGHT FARCICAL ENTERTAINMENT PROVIDED COURTESY OF THE NEW ‘PREMA SAI’

The lunatic and fanatical supporter fringe around Sathya Sai Baba is not only large, but sadly it also throws up some of the most comical nutters anywhere on the web. An associate who monitors the gutter billboard at Yahoo groups entitled ’sathyasaibbaba2′ sent me the posting reproduced below in black text (I have not visited any fanatics’ bulletin boards, websites or blogs myself for years now). Sathya Sai Baba has often pronounced that he will return in a new incarnation after this one as Prema Sai Baba. However, this new ‘personality’ has already been usurped - if one is to believe any of this whole farce - by a semi-literate Prema Sai - a surfer who, as he claims, has reappeared on the scene after about 6 years absence (I am informed). Why was Prema Sai off-line for so long, one wonder?

— In sathyasaibaba2@yahoogroups.com, “John Ramakrishnan”
wrote:PRAMA SAI IS PRESENT IN THIS MESSAGE. HOW DO I KNOW?

BECAUSE THIS IS HOW I COMMUNICATE WITH SHIRDI SAI AND SATHYA SAI.

THE MESSAGE IS A PROPHESY WHICH SATHYA SAI HAS MENTIONED AND NO ONE
BELIEVED. NOW THE WHOLE WORLD WILL BELIEVE AS THE PROPHESY SHALL
UNFOLD AND PREMA SAI WILL BE BORN IN THE INTERNET.

I HAVE ALSO MENTIONED IN SEVERAL OF MY MESSAGES POSTED 7 YEARS AGO
ABOUT THE RELATIONSHIP WITH ME AND SAITHYA SAI AND NO ONE BELEIVED.

NOW THERE IS NO OPTION AS EVERY ONE HAS TO BELIEVE.

I SHALL FULLFILL THE PROPHESY OF SATHYA SAI BABA AND VARIOUS OTHER
PROPHESIES.. BUT BEGINING WITH THIS MESSAGE WHICH IS FROM SATHYA SAI
BABA.

YES I AM THE PREMA SAI BORN IN THE INTERNET WHICH MEANS THIS IS THE
SPEED I SHALL WORK.

I SHALL EXPLAIN TO YOU THE PROPHESY.

PREMA SAI

Halagappa is Shirdi Sai and is Prophet Mohommed

Hala Gap Pa is none other than Shirdi Sai who is the one having
incarnated as Prophet Mohommed.. and was born again a differnt form..
in Sriranagaptna  http://www.saibaba.ws/miracles/orphanagemysore.htm

MY COMMENT
Incidentally, Halagappa, who I met and who told me his long ’story’ personally (photographed by me as above), is a former baggage thief caught out by Sai Baba - and still a thief of major donated funds from unsuspecting and gullible Sai Baba followers who believe in the miracles he shows - and without questioning or properly investigating them. He was taken to see Shirdi Sai Baba as a child by an uncle and was slapped hard on the face by Shirdi Sai Baba (supposed by him to be some form of ‘healing’). His orphanage is remarkable for the extremely ragged and poor state of the children compared to the opulent marble temple he has built within it since 1986 (and his second wife, taken after he threw out his first one, took to wearing various golden ornaments). Sathya Sai Baba has warned against visiting that place or donating to him numerous times, publishing these warnings in his journal Sanathana Sarathi. But crowds of gaping visitors who do not get what they expect from Sai Baba flock there (aided by a fleet of taxi drivers which promote the place and earn large sums from foreigners who have no idea of the going price).

The supposed ‘miracles’ at Halagappa’s ‘Thief’s Temple’ in Srirangapatman are described and examined here.

Sai Baba on wise and mad monkey minds

Sathya Sai Baba is ever going on about people having ‘monkey minds’, and - if they ask questions about anything he finds unacceptable, ‘mad monkey minds’. He explains this sometimes by the well-worn Eastern analogy to the monkey trap - monkeys put a hand into a tight-necked jar and grasp a nut in their fist, but can’t get their hand out, nor can let go of the good thing. So they are caught. This is supposed to be a lesson about ‘worldly attachments’ and how one must attach only to Sai Baba’s teaching and preferably to the whole excessive personality cult around him. The “compassionate” Sathya Sai Baba loves to pick on someone in an interview by saying that he or she has a ‘monkey mind’. Interviewees laugh willingly with glee at others expense. How charming! In one instance he asked a young man ‘How is your mind?’ The poor fellow said ‘Swami, I have a monkey mind.” “No” said Swami gleefully “You have a mad monkey mind!” He raised another big [cheap] laugh. How nice some devotees are!

Sathya Sai Baba catches his followers without peanuts, but with cheap trinkets and rings etc. More subtly, keen seekers are invited to get hold of something which very soon which they will and can not let go – the illusion that they have found the one who has ALL THE ANSWERS to everything, and to their own [often sorry] lives. Part of Sathya Sai Baba s ‘trap’ is to tell them that they have to hold on tight, whatever the cost, to what they have found – him, the Full Avatar of the Age, perfect, able to save them from anything and everything for ever. At the same time, they must let go of all ‘wroldly’ attachments (which obviously includes money, no less) and only do service.

The other side of this monkey-mind warning is clearly designed to stop any kind of natural curiosity about anything other than what Sathya Sai Baba teaches and tells one to do. Especially any curiosity to find out about his private affairs, and he is a very secretive person who hides away and controls his contacts through the ‘filters’ that many persons around him serve as. Any kind of interest in finding out what Sathya Sai Baba wants kept secret may be attacked as ‘monkey-mindedness’. His followers use it regularly against anyone who raises questions as to the credibility of Sathya Sai Baba s claims.

With the vague proverb of the three monkeys he borrows, Sathya Sai Baba preaches that one should “Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil”. Only what is said against him is ‘evil’ enough to arouse his ire enough for him to lash out. This is seen by his strict and damning warning to devotees not to go onto the Internet when it was humming with more and more new allegations of sexual abuse by Sathya Sai Baba . Meanwhile, he gives his blessing to official Sai Baba websites to spread his ‘eternal message’, particularly how surpassing wonderful he and his works are. Whenever his claims, words and acts might be questioned, he evidently prefers people who are willing to be at least half-deaf, half-blind, half-dumb and who follow his plan to become ‘completely mindless’ - which is literally the spiritual ideal he sets up, believe it or not!

See here for a further and deeper discussion of how this penny proverb is used to cover up crime and abuses.

Sathya Sai Baba’s Unique Avatarhood Hi-jacked

Miracles will never cease - for now we read about the book of yet another Avatar entitled ’SWAMI AND AMMA -TRAVEL IN THE OCEAN OF TRUTH’ at http://todaysdivineincarnations.co.uk the following claim:-

“This book was joyfully blessed for release by Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba on Sunday March 25th 2007. Baba was seated in His chair inside the mandir, at Puttaparthi, India, before a gathering of students at the time of His blessing. ”

I have already commented on these claims in an earlier blog.  This new avatar - calling herself simply ‘Amma’ now (i.e. Mother) has the name Bhagavati Srimad Sai is in fact an unshapely, unseemly middle-aged woman, looking utterly ridiculous in her orange and other attire and being yet more obviously bogus in her various posings, such as in front of a life size Sai Baba photograph (to give the illusion they actually appeared together?) or in her photograph with an umbrella is placed beside one of Sathya Sai with an umbrella… wonder why? 

HAS SATHYA SAI BABA AUTHENTICATED THIS CLAIMANT?

Did Sathya Sai Baba actually bless her book, one wonders? How could one know? Perhaps he is too far gone to realise what he put his hand on? One might expect a denunciation of her claims by Sai officials, since other self-proclaimed ‘ammas’ who have written books about how Sathya Sai ‘wrote’ through them - one of whom claimed she was his real ’spiritual’ mother - were denounced in the journal Sanathana Sarathi. But probably this latest ‘amma’ is not considered a significant threat to his repute or finances, as she is apparently quite a nobody on the scene - so far.

Things are proceeding nicely… from the ridiculous to the yet more ridiculous, for it was claimed by this new Amma’s website:- ”The same Shiva/Shakti Avatar is before us now – Shiva being Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba and Shakti being Bhagavati Srimad Sai. “

Dr. Jack Hawley - another Sai Baba cover-up man

Dr. Jack Hawley - defender of the indefensible (a bogus claimant to being Creator and Ruler of the Universe), whose dealings with the truth leave a lot to be desired - a business consultant turned religious cult indoctrinator and amateur proselytizer through a few pseudo-religious books. He also wrote in a tract of denial of the accusations against Sathya Sai Baba, stating:- 

“How one fares in this crisis depends on one’s “capacity” (an important spiritual term for the strength of one’s faith and love).”

Hawley relies on “the strength of his faith and love” (in and for Sathya Sai Baba, don’t you know) to survive the ‘crisis’ that the allegations brought against him caused… the documentation of which are forever inscribed for those who wish to seek the true facts (see for example here).

Hawley continues: “The big question, of course, is “is it true?” And the truth is that we (all of us) don’t know! Many think they know, but they don’t really know. But I do - at least I know some things (as I’m sure many others do also). I will not talk about all I know, but I can say this: It is NOT what some minds have leaped to.”

Thus, the fully indoctrinated, mind-boggled Jack Hawley answers the big question so knowingly without actually knowing the answer… his mind leaping sublimely to transcendental conclusions, without doubt no doubt - while others of us investigated long and with much circumspection until we were unable (despite our desire that they may only have been concocted) to deny the validity and substance of the many witnesses of Sathya Sai sexual abuses we have contacted or previously known.

Dr, Jack cobbled together a book about business management  (See here and read more here about Hawley’s unsupportable words and actions)- after endless waiting, much agonising and humble begging for guidance from Sathya Sai Baba in hundreds of ashram darshans, - called The Spirit of Work. See my critique of this book - the product of a pampered VIP who spends six months of each year as an ashram layabout… that is, doing no other ’service to mankind’ than waiting and waiting, walking to the top of the food queues, reeling off an occasional parrot ‘lecture’ to Westerners about Sai Baba’s love (i.e., the ‘intangible’ kind, not the very tangible sort behind closed doors)! Hawley’s so-called “walkthrough” of the Bhagavad Gita is another book in the Gita-thumping tradition… all regurgitated Sai Baba indoctrination (the greatest ‘wisdom’ of the ages and the true Truth of the meaning of life made simple for every Joe Lunchbucket, no less!).

After 2000, when many facts began to become public due to the Internet, anyone who continued to believe in Sathya Sai Baba’s purity and truthfulness was nothing but a dupe, an ostrich in denial - or an outright cover-up agent and false propagandist.

Incidentally, no amount of searching can pull up the slightest notice by any indologists or other scholars of the Hawley book in which he invites to a “walkthrough” of the Bhagavad Gita - other than that of V.K. Narasimhan - not himself a Gita scholar - who was clearly virtually unable to avoid writing something (having to meet Hawley daily for 6 months of each year).

More sexual abuse evidence emerges against Sathya Sai Baba

Muz Murray is a world renowned mystic and mantra yoga master of 40 years’ experience. Although endowed with the saffron robe and spiritual name of “Ramana Baba” in India, he sees himself neither as a ‘Swami’ nor a ‘New Age’ teacher, inclining rather to the notion of a ‘No Age’ seeking the teachings suitable for any age of the world. Muz Murray signed the Public Sai Petition, stating that he had been warned by Swami Muktananda of Ganeshpuri over thirty years ago never to get into a private darshan with Sai Baba, since he had just returned from Puttaparthi adjudicating in a court case regarding Sai Baba’s molestation of the son of two of Muktananda’s disciples. Also an Arab friend of Muz Murray was penetrated by Sai Baba many years later, he states.

This kind of information has been flowing in - mostly since 1999 when the Internet made it possible for victims, otherwise isolated, to confer and stand forth with their testimonies. Muz Murray further criticises Sathya Sai Baba for excessive claims as to his much-publicised service projects, such as his hospitals (where a kidney theft took place - see updated info here) and the flawed Rayalaseema water project. (Read more of Muz Murray’s statements on this here)

The British Press on the BBC’s ‘The Secret Swami’ film

The British newspapers and media were completely unanimous in praising the BBC’s one-hour documentary about Sathya Sai Baba entitled ‘The Secret Swami’ (a fitting title too). The following are brief excerpts which highlight the issue, with some amusing asides:-

Millions have fallen for the twaddle peddled by the Indian guru who is more than content to be recognised as a living god. (The Herald (UK)

Frankly, in my view, anyone who seriously claims they are God is either a charlatan or a cheating South American footballer. And anyone who magics up gold rings and necklaces out of thin air is much more likely to be Paul Daniels than the Almighty.
So it is hard to imagine why people are so keen to fall at the feet of Sai Baba, an unlikely-looking guru who is scarcely five feet tall and sports a hairstyle which might have been created by sticking his toe in an electric socket. (Evening Standard UK)

If it is true that each age gets the god it deserves, and, furthermore, if Sai Baba, a self-declared living god, is really the one this age deserves, then we are clearly in worse shape than we thought. For all the manifest sincerity of their quest for spiritual enlightenment, in fact partly because of this sincerity and the openness that renders them utterly gullible, there is something faintly comical about westerners arriving in India and accepting spiritual guidance from the first dark-skinned person who declares him or herself to be divinely inspired. Were it not for the horrendous crimes of which he stands accused, Sai Baba would be a perfect example of this laughable phenomenon. (Financial Times UK)

This charismatic `Teflon god’ is worshipped by Indian prime ministers and peasants. …former devotees suggest the `Godman’ is all too human. One recalls: `I remember him saying, if you don’t do what I say, your life will be filled with pain and suffering.’ Strange words from a guru of peace and love. (Daily Mail UK)

His magic tricks are hailed as miracles by the crowds who flock to see him and now the 78-year-old pervert one of the most revered figures in Indian religion…. If his acolytes happen to be impressionable young boys, all he asks is that they drop their pants, allow him to rub oil in their genitals while kissing them hard on the mouth. (Daily Mirror UK)

India’s biggest spiritual guru, Sai Baba, looks like a cross between Liz Taylor on her way to rehab and a superannuated member of an acid rock band. And if you think that’s being rude, you should hear what Sai Baba allegedly gets up to with some of his younger male disciples. (The Independent UK)

Sai Baba, an Indian mystic with 30 million followers worldwide, claims to be a living god. It is now alleged that he has been involved in the systematic sexual abuse of his disciples for years. According to a former follower: “The being which I called Sai Baba - the living god that I had taken into my heart - had been truly abusing my son for so long. I felt completely betrayed.” (The Times, UK)

‘Do as I say or your life will be full of pain and suffering’. No, not Big Brother to the housemates, Sven in the dressing room at 4.45pm on Thursday or even the delightful pig farmer, Jimmy Doherty (of BBC2’s equally delightful Jimmy’s Farm) to his ‘gay’ boar, Blaze, but, allegedly, the not-so-sage advice of the Indian avatar, Sai Baba, to one of his (good-looking, teenage, American) male followers after an inappropriately intimate one-on-one.
… Predictably, his followers and, more alarmingly, the Indian government, brush off such allegations angrily - so untouchable is Sai Baba that the gunning-down of four intruders in his rooms was swept under the carpet. (The Observer UK)

Young men who claimed to have been sexually abused by Sai Baba related hair-raising stories of “private interviews” in which the not-so-holy man pulled his skirt over his head and invited them to get down and dirty. Hilariously, one Hindu scholar reminded us that this is a practice sanctioned by neither scripture nor tradition. “Worship of the linga does not include doing the blow-job.” (The Guardian UK)

The Secret Swami might have veered towards the amusing - in an “Oh my God, how gullible can you be?” kind of way - had it not been for the repeated allegations of sex abuse. Sai Baba, the swami in question, had started off looking like some old bloke with an ego as big as his bank account. There he sat, in his opulent ashram at Puttaparthi, near Bangalore, dressed in blinding canary-yellow and sporting a head of what looked like jet-black pubic hair - a mane of Leo Sayer proportions; as if he had poked his tongue into a light socket. Count your blessings - he didn’t sing. (The Scotsman UK)

Baba, with funding from Isaac Tigrett, the hippy-entrepreneur who founded the Hard Rock Café, built a 500-room hospital that provides free heart and kidney surgery. Assistant producer David Saville sums up the ethical conundrum thus: “The question is, do you let him get away with it for the greater good?’
As for Tigrett, some of his candid responses disarm, while others chill to the core. When asked whether he’d still admire Baba even if the charges of paedophilia were proven beyond doubt, he laughs before calmly explaining, `He could go out and murder someone tomorrow - it’s not going to stop my evolution…Absolutely, I believe there is truth to the rumours.’ (Time Out UK)

Some Useful Resources

 ‘The Secret Swami’ showcased with selected transcripts and brief video clips (Good for an overview of the essence)

 

‘The Secret Swami ‘(BBC Television) full film streaming viewing or download (80 MB, Broadband). The Secret Swami (23.3 MB, Modem)  http://www.rfjvds.dds.nl/thesecretswami/thesecretswami.wmv (180 MB)  Here is a small version for modem users: http://www.rfjvds.dds.nl/thesecretswamismall/thesecretswamismall.wmv (23,3 MB)
You can also choose to download it packed in zip file (22 MB), click here.

The BBC’s ‘The Secret Swami’ - A Revision
http://barrypittard.wordpress.com/2007/04/04/the-bbcs-the-secret-swami-a-revision/

Exposure of Sathya Sai Baba. Media Source List
http://barrypittard.wordpress.com/2007/10/23/exposure-of-sathya-sai-baba-media-source-list/

The Secret Swami. BBC Docu. Review. Condensed
http://barrypittard.wordpress.com/2007/10/16/the-secret-swami-bbc-docu-review-condensed/

Banking on Heaven - the sectarian snare

Banking on Heaven is what many religious followers do, if not all to the same extent. However, those sects which make ’salvation’, ‘nirvana’ and ‘liberation from rebirth’ the key motivation for their followers, are liable to be able to indoctrinate them into acceptance of much else. As is increasingly evident, leaders of sects and cults use such levers to exercise power over followers and to make them accept, hide and cover up a variety of sexual abuses and other crimes, even to the extent of covering-up murders in which their leaders have been involved (usually claiming to be prophets, saints or God Himself). The more geographically isolated a sect is, the less chance of followers being able to avoid virtual ‘brainwashing (i.e. in this case that the particular charismatic figure is the ONLY way to reach heaven (or whatever other panacea is offered). Those entrapped within this social-mental-emotional web become very fearful of leaving and so losing their chance of ‘heaven’. In yet another of an endless stream of revelations about such sects, that oft of the Mormon-inspired polygamist Warren Steed Jeffs, has been exposed:-              

The largest known organized community of polygamists in the USA is the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, headed by Jeffs, has about 8,000 members, broke from the Mormon church, which disavowed polygamy a century ago.The 1,900-acre YFZ Ranch near Eldorado in Texas where members are confined was built by followers of imprisoned polygamist “prophet” Warren Steed Jeffs. Girls deemed by adult sect members to be of “child-bearing age” were forced to submit to sex and have babies. An affadavit to this effect by a victim provided the legal basis for authorities to remove the children and place them in state custody. The allegations prompted police and social workers to remove hundreds of children from the Texas ranch. One teenage bride said she was in an abusive “spiritual” marriage to an older sect member, the documents stated. She reported that she was the man’s seventh wife and had been beaten and choked. She said she had been hospitalized in the past with cracked ribs and hoped to escape the abuse by faking a medical condition.
Watch a former plural wife describe her escape » See also Polygamy Practiced More Widely than Ever Before - Los Angeles Times (http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_8856953)

 

A parallel case of banking on heaven - the Sathya Sai Baba sect

While the polygamy is not a part of the Sathya Sai Baba teaching, he does have a prediliction, according to reliable witnesses, for underage sexual partners (boys). His movement also shares other strong cultist features with the sect described above. Practically all followers of Sathya Sai Baba are banking on heaven in that he preaches the overriding and indeed sole aim of human life is ’liberation from the wheel of life’ (Moksha). The Sathya Sai Baba movement is geographically widespread, but despite that most of its members soon come to live in a kind of mental-emotional and consequently social isolation, spending much of their time with other followers and consequently not thinking outside the box within which their minds have become closed off through indoctrination from other social and intellectual influences. Further, many key followers of this self-appointed God Incarnate live in geographical isolation in Sai Baba ashrams or are confined to Sai Baba colleges, where homosexual abuses by Sai Baba and other staff members - including some of his former victims - have been reported on a considerable scale by many persons, and where four devotees who were students were murdered in cold blood in Sai Baba’s own bedroom while he stood by. In these ashrams it is unthinkable to utter a single word of criticism against Sai Baba, and blackballing follows discovery of suchlike.

 

 

These ashrams are the hub from which of the world-wide Sathya Sai Organizations is actually directed and controlled, its members being strictly censored against expression of any criticisms or doubts. They face exclusion from the organisation and ashrams - plus total ostracism from all Sai contacts - if they even discuss the many and very substantial allegations of sexual abuse and murder complicity against Sathya Sai Baba. The only reason why Sai Baba has not been brought to book for the many alleged crimes is the huge influence of Sathya Sai Baba and his many prominent followers in India - including a long list of Indian Prime Minister and Presidents - up to an including the present incumbents.  

Yet other strong similarities exist between the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and the Sathya Sai Baba sect. One such is chauvinistic male domination, which ensures that the entire organisation is put together by men and benefits men in favour of women. Sathya Sai Baba is well known for his great preference for men over women, spending most of his day exclusively with male servitors and giving very much more attention to men than women during his former ‘walkarounds’ in the ashram. (’Former’ since he can no longer walk). Women are segregated from men within the ashrams, but men are given pride of place on all occasion (except partly on one day, so-called Ladies Day). See how the Sai Organization defends all this here.

 

 

Will India clean up its Augean police and political stables?

The infamous case of Mrs. MacKeown’s daughter Scarlett’s murder in India, is yet another in a long list of police cover-ups by notorious corrupt police forces and politicians in that country. Doubtless it was only the very brave persistence of Scarlett’s mother against massive harassment from crooks, police and governmental authorities and the subsequent international outrage caused the Indian Home Minister, Mr. Shivraj Patel, to allow Mrs. MacKeown’s appeal for an audience. He is a long-term devotee of Sathya Sai Baba, the self-proclaimed God Incarnate and Father of Jesus set an example for top level governmental cover-up in 1993 after four youths were executed by the Puttaparthi police in cold blood in the Godman’s bedroom while he stood by. The present Home Minister’s considerable initial reluctance to help Mrs. MacKeown reminds of the Sai baba cover-up. The entire matter - involving blackmail of the police into executing four devotees by rifle which was led by Sai Baba’s younger brother Janakiramiah - was buried without any completed investigation or court process! The Government (led by Sai devotees Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao and then Home Minister S.B. Chavan) stopped a CBI investigation.

British Government Authorities Fail their Citizens Abroad at will. The kind of corruption up against which Mrs. MacKeown has had a huge struggle without any active support by Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth office. That it washed its hands of the matter shows a most disgusting failure of the UK Government. They appease Indian authorities on any such issue of justice due to their desire to keep India friendly for economic and other reasons. (A classic example being the suspension of Metropolitan Police investigations of Sathya Sai Baba when contracts for Hawker jets were to be signed by the Indian PM Vajpayee, as Sai devotee who defended his Baba on every such occasion. See this article. Scarlett’s case was clearly suppressed by Indian authorities on economic grounds, the bad publicity it would have caused for Goan and other Indian tourism. The whole issue has backfired on them because they cannot treat foreigners in the same way they do many of their own citizens who are denied their legal rights and cannot defend their human rights. Here is a transcript of Mrs. MacKeown’ words on Sky News - UK 2 April 08)
(see http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-1310763,00.html?f=rss)

1. INTERVIEWER: Sky News Centre Presenter: “Alex Crawford said you found some very high level contacts, even with the Gandhi family?
2. MRS.MACKEOWN: Yeah, the National Congress of Women came down – very powerful women. They took a letter from me back up to Sonia Gandhi. I think that helped enormously to put pressure on the government to finally OK this. They were sort of dragging their feet over it a little but I was a bit sceptical because the Home Minister himself had to put his signature on the paperwork. I think he had no choice in the end really.
3. INTERVIEWER: You were getting a fairly rough ride in some places and some criticism saying, well, that you shouldn’t have left Scarlett on her own.
4. MRS. MACKEOWN: Yeah, I think that was the government that kept repeating that message because – as far as I was concerned – I’d answered all the questions about how I left her – and she wasn’t actually left and she certainly wasn’t on her own. I think the government were just putting negative messages out there to try and take the point away, really, from the fact that she was murdered and that the police horrifically had tried to cover it up.
5. INTERVIEWER: You must think an awful lot about the events of that time and how it might have been different?
6. MRS. MACKEOWN: Yeah, I do. This is why we pushed for the CBI inquiry because I want the policemen that covered it up prosecuted as criminals because of what they put me through. It was already horrific enough event despite having to deal with the things I had to deal with because of them.

Comment on the above interview: Mrs MacKeown’s complaint against the Home Minister (who is the top representative of the Indian Government in criminal matters) is stated mildly. The harassment that these officials exercise over people when they believe they can rule high-handedly is known to everyone who has had to deal with them. Take as a classic example of ministerial conceit and aggressiveness the former Minister of Education M.M. Joshi when interviewed by the BBC about Sai Baba (a classic example – see transcript and video clip! )

That the Home Minister spread moralising slanders about Mrs MacKeown shows how it works. The Indian Government were doubtless worried what admission of such a horrendous kind of murder might to do its tourist trade (and doubtless the considerable rake offs for permits and official paperwork their officials take, a practice which is standard (illegal) practice in India, but which is kept as far as possible hidden from foreigners). Further details on the case are found at:
The pathologist who carried out the first, disputed, post-mortem on British teenager Scarlett Keeling has been suspended.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ It was only the determination of Mrs MacKeown a mother-of-nine, to prove Scarlett had been murdered - and not drowned, as police claimed - that led to a second post mortem examination which found she had been raped and killed. It showed her body was covered in bruises and there was insufficient water in her lungs to have drowned. Tourism minister Francisco Pacheco said: “This is a clear case of murder and it has gone out of proportion because the police tried to cover it up.

“Ms MacKeown, 43, said she had been threatened. Police have agreed to protection. She has accused police and Goan officials of covering up the true nature of her daughter’s death and has moved to a secret location on the advice of her lawyer. Ms MacKeown said locals told her to “get out of here” during her high profile campaign to unearth the truth. “It’s very easy for people to get at you around here,” she said.
“We’ve heard that some people aren’t very happy with us. The beach is deserted, half the shacks have been closed, a lot of people are losing business.

From ‘The Times of India’
PANAJI: The National Commission for Women has held that Goa police investigations into the rape and murder of British teenager Scarlett Keeling were “completely misleading”.
In its preliminary report on the teenager’s death, Commission member Nirmala Venkatesh said “police are trying to hide the facts of the case and close it. We will never allow this to happen.”
Venkatesh claimed that Scarlett was injected with morphine. “She was raped by four to five persons by gagging her mouth. There are nail marks on the body and several marks which indicate that more than one person was involved in sexually assaulting her,” she said.
“Police investigation in this case was completely misleading and evidence in this case was destroyed by police themselves,” she said.
The NCW member said that they will continue to fight for justice and will brief Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi on the police attitude in this case. From the BBC:
Ms MacKeown has alleged that links between police officials, politicians and the drugs mafia are hampering the probe into her daughter’s death. After visiting Goa, India’s National Commission for Women accused the local police of destroying evidence. The beach bar where Scarlett was before she was murdered has been pulled down. The commission also said there had been a delay in producing a medical report that could mean evidence of rape had been lost. It also repeated the allegation that Goa’s police were trying to protect someone involved in Scarlett’s murder.

From BBC1: Kishan Kumar, the senior Goa Police officer leading the investigation into Scarlett’s murder, told BBC News it was almost complete. He said: “To keep the Goa Police clear and say that we have nothing to hide, we have recommended that the Central Bureau of Investigation [CBI] take over the probe. “I had admitted to initial lapses in investigation, and we have suspended one policeman already. But now our investigation is on the right track and we have nothing to hide.”
A spokesman for the CBI said it had not yet received a request from Goa’s state government.

The Sai Organization’s ritual ‘interaction’ revealed

The Sathya Sai Organization conducts exercises according to strict plans at their various conferences, calls ‘interactive panels’. Questions are fielded on forms handed out to participants. They are “sorted and ordered” in the interests of avoidance of sensitive issues, to suppress any reference to the many damaging facts about Sai Baba and his selected (non-elected) true-believer VIPs. Their often pre-formatted answers are “parrot speak” consisting in well-known side-issues to avert criticism about being loving etc. Not least that one should rather question oneself, ones motives in seeing problems or putting question - which is mainly how the Sai leadership understands “self examination” and “self inquiry”. The boneless Sathya Sai Organization conferences are repetitive to a high degree and devoid of any responses to the grass roots, who are never allowed to express themselves freely. The elliptical or pro forma answers have long been practiced by the ageing authoritarians who are still the top leaders after decades. Any question that gets too near the knuckle is put down by the ‘cast the mote from your own eye’ technique. There is also the threat of falling into disfavour and exclusion from membership without the right to putting one’s case.The inspiration in all these techniques and all the non-answers is Sathya Sai Baba himself, the master of manipulation of an audience, the most clever dodger of issues with his a psychopathic personality, one who cannot admit to his own many repeatedly reported sexual proclivities and actions, including major cover up of crimes in his own bedroom!
See a satirical but genuine analysis of one such ‘interactive panel’ non-debate here.

Famous editor confronted Sathya Sai Baba

There were very few persons who knew Sathya Sai Baba since he began his so-called ‘mission’ to save humanity who dared so much as to question anything he said. One of those was V. Ka narasimhan, the once world faoums editor of the Indian Express group of newspapers, who defied Indira and Sanjay Gandhi over publishing facts about the 1973 Emergency under the threat of tanks!However, VKN was privately often most critical of Sai Baba, but he was also able to confront him to his face over some of his self-contradictions and faux-pas. These he knew well since he had to edit out many such from Sai Baba’s ‘discourses’, which he translated for the monthly journal ‘Sanathana Sarathi’. He told me he was worried that he would fall into disrepute because of the editing he had done on the original texts - for VKN hoped and largely believed that Sathya Sai was an important figure in the reformation of corrupt and calamitous India. Now we know that Sathya Sai Baba reflected many of the faults and ignorance of his own village environment, not least as to sexuality (which he denied he had any part in, but which has been testified by over 25 foreign male victims of his advances, though very few Indians have been able so far to come out and tell their stories, not least because of the murder of four young men in his bedroom in 1993).Read here about V.K. Narasimhan’s criticism of Sathya Sai Baba’s advaita preachings and how he changed tack because of these criticisms.

Personal libel as an attempt to avert serious criticism

An age-old trick is to delude and distract - to attack a person and try to assassinate his or her character so as to avert serious and hard-hitting criticism. This ploy has been systematically applied by defenders of Sathya Sai Baba against former devotees who had to become critics, to try to confuse the record: Sai Baba stands accused in a long series of sexual abuse and pedophilia testimonies and in his cover-up of the murders of four young males in his own bedroom while he stood by! Several persistent whistle-blowers and critics have been named by defenders of the indefensible as fascists, Christian fundamentalists, white supremacists, liars, and deceivers. There is not a single figment of truth in any of those accusations - widely and strategically spread throughout the Internet by fanatical and apparently quite mentally-disturbed individuals, but untruths about critics have also been countenanced by officials in the Sathya Sai Organization, whose members have been shown to have been involved. In one prominent instance, a former devotee of high integrity and standing has been accused as being anti-Semitic and a pedophile to boot! This was a last-ditch fanatical attempt to draw attention away from the results of intensive investigations and the results make public by Barry Pittard, who stands on a lifetime’s record of involvement in social justice issues deeply contrary to any forms of discrimination. (Ironically, he has long and strongly urged former devotees not to waste loving energy on retaliating against the offenders). There is not one jot of evidence that he is anti-Semitic, but plenty to the contrary.See his refutation of the allegations here.

As to the pedophile accusation, even the same offender who made that disgusting attempt to make dirt stick had to creep away - with never a word of apology - from his own statements… for he evidently realised that he was in serious jeopardy. Read about this mendacious person’s defamation here

See also the joint statement by former Sathya Sai Organization leaders directed at the Prashanthi Council, which rules over all Sai Baba related matters.

Barry Pittard’s many revelations about Sathya Sai Baba and his organization and their cover-up of crimes and other deceptions and underhand cultist activities are found here

Sathya Sai Baba materializes money and gold

Sathya Sai Baba are totally befuddled by all his statements about money into not considering what a financial magnet he most wilfully is! His duplicity and disinformation (including outright lies) about money are extremely effective. Rumours are spread by devotees about him materializing money out of thin air (including very large sums), and likewise golden statues and other objects and even once a reported ‘mountain’ of gold. (Read some such accounts here)

Sai Baba claims to be the “master of maya” (delusion). Another fitting word could be “master of disinformation” and king of rumour-spreading, which technique is effective not least because many people already believe what they dearly want to believe and so shut out all disturbing evidence or doubts and sensible thoughts. Some typical ‘Sai stories’ deal with Sathya Sai Baba’s handling of cash, he who claims he has no money etc. These illustrate the technique of building a movement through nurturing a mythology alongside much active & effective disinformation. He is supported by a very influential cadre of Sai followers in government, the judiciary and among rich speculator businessmen.  In a ruling which stands as a permanent blot on the sanity of some of the Indian judiciary, The Indian High Court even confirmed that Sathya Sai Baba himself materializes gold (see report on this here)!

Can anyone who knows anything about Sai Baba and his circumstances possibly believe his famous statement:-

“Right from a tender age, I never received anything from others. I only give and give and give, I never receive.” (Sanathana Sarathi October 1998, p. 275). Also “Though 56 years have passed, I have not got even one shirt or gown stitched for Me. I am now wearing what is given by a student…” (Sathya Sai Speaks Volume XV. page 312)

He receives everything for free. He does not ’stitch his own gowns’, or prepare and cook his own food, nor earn his keep through anything resembling proper work (mostly he spends his time receiving admiration)… yet he travels in luxury vehicles and chartered passenger jets, has the exclusive use of numerous very luxurious apartments and so on and so on…

Profile of a Sociopath - and Sathya Sai Baba

The following analysis of the indicators of a sociopathic personality can be recognised as applying very largely to the behaviour and statements of Sathya Sai Baba of Puttaparthi.. at least by those who have followed his activities and teachings closely and have become disaffected jan.groenveld@uq.net.au  (Australia - Cult Survival)

A number of cult leaders may exhibit many of the behavioral characteristics of a sociopath–an outstanding ability to charm and seduce followers. Since they appear apparently normal, they are not easily recognizable as deviant or disturbed. Although only a trained professional can make a diagnosis, it is important to be able to recognize the personality type in order to avoid further abuse. These traits also apply to a one-on-one cultic relationship.  

Glibness/Superficial Charm Language can be used without effort by them to confuse and convince their audience. Captivating storytellers that exude self-confidence, they can spin a web that intrigues others. Since they are persuasive, they have the capacity to destroy their critics verbally or emotionally.

Manipulative and Cunning They never recognize the rights of others and see their self-serving behaviors as permissible. They appear to be charming, yet are covertly hostile and domineering, seeing their victim as merely an instrument to be used. He dominates and humiliates his victims.

Grandiose Sense of Self Feels entitled to certain things as “his right.” Craves adulation and attendance. Must be the center of attention with his own fantasies as the “spokesman for God,” “enlightened,” “leader of humankind,” etc. Creates an us-versus-them mentality
Pathological Lying Has no problem lying coolly and easily and it is almost impossible for them to be truthful on a consistent basis. Can create, and get caught up in, a complex belief about their own powers and abilities. Extremely convincing and able to pass lie detector tests.

Lack of Remorse, Shame or Guilt A deep seated rage, which is split off and repressed, is at his core. Does not see others around him as people, but only as targets and opportunities. Instead of friends, they have victims and accomplices who end up as victims. The end always justifies the means and they let nothing stand in their way.

Shallow Emotions When they show what seems to be warmth, joy, love and compassion it is more feigned than experienced and serves an ulterior motive. Outraged by insignificant matters, yet remaining unmoved and cold by what would upset a normal person. Since he is not genuine, neither are his promises.

Incapacity for Love While He talks about “God’s love,” he is unable to give or receive it. Since he does not believe in the geniuses of his followers’ love, he is very harsh in testing it from his devotees and expects them to feel guilt for their failings. Expects unconditional surrender.

Need for Stimulation Living on the edge, yet testing the beliefs of their followers with bizarre rules, punishments and behaviors. Verbal outbursts and physical punishments are normal.

Callousness/Lack of Empathy Unable to emphasize with the pain of their victims, having only contempt for others’ feelings of distress and readily taking advantage of them. Their skills are used to exploit, abuse and exert power. Since the follower cannot believe their leader would callously hurt them, they rationalize his behavior as necessary for their (or the group’s) own “good” and deny the abuse. When devotees become aware of the exploitation it feels like a “spiritual rape” to them.

Poor Behavioral Controls/Impulsive Nature Rage and abuse, alternating with small expressions of love and approval produce an addictive cycle for abuser and abused, as well as creating hopelessness in the victim. Believes he is all-powerful, all-knowing, entitled to every wish, no sense of personal boundaries, no concern for his impact on others. His followers only see him as near perfect.

Early Behavior Problems/Juvenile Delinquency Usually has a history of behavioral and academic difficulties, yet “gets by” by conning others. Problems in making and keeping friends; aberrant behaviors such as cruelty to people or animals, stealing, etc.

Irresponsibility/Unreliability Not concerning about wrecking others’ lives and dreams. Oblivious or indifferent to the devastation they cause. Does not accept blame themselves, but blame their followers or others outside their group. Blame reinforces passivity and obedience and produces guilt, shame, terror and conformity in the followers.

Promiscuous Sexual Behavior/Infidelity Cult leaders frequently practice promiscuity, child sexual abuse, rape and sexual acting out of all sorts. This is usually kept hidden from all but the inner circle. Stringent sexual control of their followers, such as forced breakups and divorces, removal of children from parents, rules for dating, etc.

Lack of Realistic Life Plan/Parasitic Lifestyle Tends to move around a lot or makes all encompassing promises for the future. Many groups claim as their goal world-domination or other utopian promises. Great contrast between the leader’s opulent lifestyle and the followers’ impoverishment. Support by gifts and donations from his followers who are pressured to give through fear and guilt. Highly sensitive to their own pain and health.

Criminal or Entrepreneurial Versatility Changes their image and that of the group as needed to avoid prosecution and to increase income and to recruit a range of members. Is able to adapt or relocate as needed to preserve the group. Can resurface later with a new name, a new front group and a new twist on the scam.

Other Related Qualities:

1. Contemptuous of those who seek to understand him.

2. Does not perceive that anything is wrong with him.

3. Authoritarian.

4. Secretive.

5. Paranoid.

6. Only rarely in difficulty with the law, but seeks out situations where his tyrannical behavior will be tolerated, condoned, or admired.

7. Conventional appearance.

8. Goal of enslavement of his victim(s).

9. Exercises despotic control over every aspect of his victim’s life.

10. Has a psychological need to justify his crimes and therefore needs his victim’s affirmation (respect, gratitude and love).

11. Ultimate goal is the creation of a willing victim.

12. Incapable of real human attachment to another.

13. Unable to feel remorse or guilt.

14. Extreme narcissism and grandiose.

15. May state readily that their goal is to rule the world.