Sathya Sai Baba and the Turin shroud photos

1) Original photo of the Turin Shroud negative image by National Geographic

2) Painting by Ariel Agemian, combined with the image on the Holy Shroud of Turin, scanned it from a three-dimensional card which had both images on it.

Image by artish Aggemian on left - Turin image right

3) Alleged colour photo ‘transformed by Sai Baba miracle’ from the black-and-white version

It was shown on a recent exhaustive Discovery Channel research programme exactly how one can recreate the exact three-dimensional effects as seen on the Turin shroud with technology available at the time of Leonardo (involving stereoscopic mirrors and lenses) . Whatever the truth about it, however, Sathya Sai Baba has exceeded himself in allegedly taking a black-and-white photo of the Turin shroud image, passing his hand over it and thus turning it into the colour image seen above right! As one would expect, there is no documentation of this event, no independent witnesses and even the Australian lady who made the claim that she had handed him the photo and experienced this cannot be found, nor has she deposited any affidavit or other verifiable statement anywhere to affirm this, as far as can be found.

Robert Perry has written an article (‘The Face of Jesus’) on the image on the Sai Baba photo where he traces the original of it – which a painting created in 1935 by an Armenian artist named Aggemian and which is copyrighted in 1979 by VARI-VUE in Pelham, New York. Sai Baba’s alleged ‘manifestation’ is a poor reproduction, but of exactly the same image including the facial dimensions  and every hair in the moustache and beard!

It is not hard to palm a colour photo of a well-known image (which was probably held out to Sai Baba for days on end  – as is the rule – before he deigned to touch it). This gave him time to arrange for the substitute and for palming it at darshan. He uses misdirect of attention quite skilfully often. However, if you believe in Sai Baba, you would have to believe in anything and everything that is claimed about him, because he says he adheres 100% strictly to the truth. He has never denied that story, and it has been spread far and wide throughout the Sai Organization and movement, not least by the fully signed-up believer and devotee, David Jevons of the Ramala Centre in Glastonbury, and on various websites.

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