Sathya Sai Baba: “See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil”

One of Sathya Sai Baba’s well-known prescriptions is the famous ‘three monkeys’ aphorism: “See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil”. This penny proverb is hundreds of years old (origin not known) and is a key to much of Sai Baba’s ‘teaching’ on correct behavior. He has several variants of this like “See only good, hear only good, speak only good.” and “See good, be good, do good” or “Always speak softly and sweetly”.The monkeys proverb is often represented by three monkeys covering their eyes, ears, and mouth respectively with their hands. No one can avoid seeing people act in bad ways, immorally and criminally. If one calls anything ‘evil’ (as the aphorism names it), then it can only refer to actions of those kinds. The phrase is often said of people who don’t want to be involved, which fits with Sai Baba’s unrealistic teaching about avoiding attachment to friends or even family, and never criticizing others.

Like so many such penny proverbs, is not only vague but also impossible in actual life.The advice not to see, hear or speak ‘evil’ is taken by some to mean one should never criticise or condemn anything anyone does as wrong. It implicitly admits that evil is perceptible and hence even that it occurs… only one should ignore it entirely. Sai Baba also frequently insists it is wrong to criticise anyone. This advice is not only misguided but plain dangerous! Without criticism and condemnation the law could not operate and total social anarchy would take over. No advances in scientific or other forms of knowledge, or in social and political life, could be made either. The practically impossible demand is a simplistic and extreme form of the Pollyanna principle.The predominant focus in many news media is often investigate and to report matters which are not good - on immoral and criminal actions. This critical and investigative attitude is the necessary social function of the press as the fourth branch of government.

More insidiously dangerous, however, is the likelihood that, by following this self-styled ‘divine, sublime advice’, one will even come to view immoral and criminal acts as not being such at all, but as being blameless. Yet worse, on the same principle if really followed one may tend to see them as inherently good. This tendency is well exemplified by those who condone Sai Baba’s widely testified sexual abuses of many young men as being the will of God, or at best, something the true meaning of which we cannot understand. Another version of the three monkey’s aphorism - worded differently - by Sai Baba is “Hear, see, speak only good”. This is equally vague and open to ambiguity, and is therefore also easily taken in most unfortunate ways as already noted. On the best possible interpretation it could mean to forget and ignore what is not good (even though one has heard otherwise).

This leads on to the kind of absurd variant of extreme ‘positive thinking’ in speaking and writing only positively about everything. This comes fully to expression in the hagiographic literature about Sathya Sai Baba by his devotees, where one finds lavish and excessive praise of him and his acts without a single honest word about his failings and faults like broken promises, proven lies, meretricious claims, or many criminal acts of which he stands accused.The three monkeys’ aphorism - though vague and misleading - was probably originally intended to curb excessive negativity as in undue criticism of the libelous and slanderous kind.

At best, the three monkey’s aphorism has some relevance to that part of the media concerned mainly with ’sensational’ scandal, the so-called ‘gutter press’.The three monkeys’ aphorism ought to be rejected in favour of a much more useful and practicable ‘human value’. This can be expressed as “Hear, think and speak constructively”. This also necessarily involves the recognition of facts and a minimum of frank comment and open honesty between people about things both good and bad. This, however, is anathema to Sathya Sai Baba and all who belong to his Sathya Sai Organisation, as is shown by the dismissal of office-bearers who try to correct bad treatment of foreigners by staff at Sai Baba ashrams, who speak out about the many ills there, who ask about inconsistencies between word and action, or about murders, sexual abuse and various other such crimes there. See other vague and absurd ‘teachings’ of Sathya Sai Baba analysed click here