INDIAN GOVERNMENT IN MAJOR BATTLE ON RAMA MYTHOLOGY

Many of India’s backward classes - but also educated politicians of the Bharatiya Janata party - are in uproar over a government plan to cut a canal through the shallows separating Sri Lanka from India (to facilitate shipping and save millions). The Archaeological Survey of India, backed by the Indian government, holds that the belief is based solely on the Hindu mythological epic Ramayana. Scientists and archaeologists say the Ram Setu (Lord Ram’s bridge) - or Adam’s Bridge as it is sometimes called - is a natural formation of sand and stones. So many and such disruptive protests have caused the government has had to back down so far. Read about this unusual case on the BBC website here It is a case of earth sciences against religious mythology and legend.

How can people really believe that Hanuman’s monkey hordes actually built a bridge across to Sri Lanka, or that Hanuman, the monkey God, jumped the entire narrows or carried a mountain on his back? One might well ask, and at the same time wonder how it is possible that so many people believe equally fanatically that the Christian Bible is literally true! But these religious obscurantist beliefs are part of the fundament of both Christianity, Judaism and Hinduism, indoctrinated from the cradle onwards. One such indoctrinator is none other than Sathya Sai Baba, the self-declared God Almighty (Rama himself come again)! The “higher education” offered by his ‘deemed’ university is everywhere permeated with indoctrination in Indian myths as real events! See here:-

TOP SAI BABA LEADER SPILLS THE BEANS

Leonard Gutter - a psychologist businessman responsible for the Sai Baba Organization in Latin America - claimed on TV, “There are thousands and thousands of cases and proofs of the legitimacy of Sai Baba’s materializations”. This was on a TV programme Zona de Investigacion, Azul TV in Argentina, directed by Alejandro Agostinelli see here. http://home.hetnet.nl/~ex-baba/engels/articles/divinesin.html Comment: There are certainly not thousands and thousands of proofs, since no independent or scientific investigations have ever been carried out, since Sai Baba famously does not allow them. On the other hand, there are many videos showing sleight-of-hand and scores of accounts of this by former (and even current devotees).
Gutter claimed that Sai Baba’s powers violate the laws of physics. These are not the only laws he violates, as Gutter inadvertently gave the game away about Sai Baba’s false valuta. Here is a translated transcript of the Leonardo Gutter interview:-

Gutter: Some young men from Argentina went there with one way tickets. He told them to return to their country to live and study. The young men told him that they had no money for the return ticket and Sai Baba stretched his hand an what was amusing was that one kid had to give each a bill…The bills were stuck together, like a photo that has just been developed…and he would give one to each…when he finished distributing them…

Interviewer Cristina: Are these regular legal bills?

Gutter: Legal bills. When he finished distributing them, the one to whom he owed 300 dollars had 300 more than the other one.

Interviewer Cristina: How can you be sure that the money that Sai Baba materializes is legal?

Gutter: Well, the people who have received it, has used it and they have not had any problems. They’re legal …

Interviewer Cristina: But, money has a serial number?

Gutter: It is absolutely incomprehensible. They are absolutely normal…The only difference is that they look as if they had just been made. The investigator Basava Premanand took Sai Baba’ case to court years ago because of violation of the Gold Control Act that restricts the making, possession, sale and transfer of gold.

Cristina: But where do they come from? If you explain this at a bank, they are going to say that you are laundering money…

Gutter: It’s incomprehensible… Once, people from the government of India, from the tax department, came to see him because Sai Baba not only materializes money, but precious stones, necklaces, rosaries and then they came to question why Sai Baba makes gifts of these to many people who leave India. Sai Baba gave these two persons an audience. He stretched his hand and in front of them appeared a small mound of precious stones and when the inspectors saw this they fell at his feet and asked for forgiveness…” The Judge at the Court, Y.V. Anjaneyulu, a Sai devotee, rejected the case presented by Premanand because those articles “were materialized through spiritual powers”

(see Premanand and the Gold Control act here)
Comment: Leonardo Gutter must suffer from some cognitive disorder to make such blatant claims of thousands and thousands of proofs, especially since the exposure world-wide of Sai Baba’s hidden sexual proclivities and his undeniable murder cover-up involvement. As a psychologist, clearly, he is not using the least psychological insight when he naively accepts accounts from all quarters, including the sheer rumour of the tax inspectors. When I was a follower, I heard at least two other incompatible variations on that ’story’. One was from IAS official, V. Ramnath, who told that Indira Gandhi had sent some of her people to question Sai Baba about the origin of the gold he was reportedly giving away. It was claimed that ‘Swami graciously admitted them and let them put their questions.’ In reply, Sai Baba allegedly said ‘Look out there’, pointing to the park outside the window (this was in Delhi). Indira Gandhi’s officials saw a mountain of pure gold in the park. They immediately did their pranams at his feet and apologised profusely.

This just shows again what a vast rumour mill surrounds Sai Baba [and he is the miller too - spreading the more fantastic 'stories' about his own miracles through 'confidential' private interviews]. That his top officials like Mr. Gutter must believe everything he claims is a required axiom of Sai faith - not one has ever dared to contradict Sai Baba either in private or in public on the smallest issue! To be a blind believer and totally obedient to his whims is the test Sai Baba sets before selecting his top officials! Doubtless that is why David Bailey - a great favourite of over 100 interviews - nonetheless never became a Sai official, for he had an independent mind and eventually exposed Sai Baba on a grand scale (see ‘The Findings’ ) and also here .

Failed Clandestine Political Lobbying by the Prashanthi Council

The Argentinian journalist and TV director Alejandro Agostinelli wrote: “Goldstein read a letter in which Sri Athal Bihari Vajpayee, Prime Minister of India, manifested being hurt by “the wild, reckless and concocted accusations made by certain vested interests and people against Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba … [who] is revered globally as an embodiment of love and selfless service to humanity.” Goldstein refused to give copies of the letter to the press. “We are still waiting for it to be subscribed by dignitaries of the whole world,” he said. They were to get signatures from the President of El Salvador and Guatemala, as well as Al Gore, former vice-president of the United States.” [Translated from: "Gatopardo" Magazine
Feb 2002 No. 21 Yr XX - PP. 44-61 & 120-121, http://www.gatopardo.com]

The Failure of the Lobbying of Dignitaries: The dignitaries of the whole world” were very prominent by theit total absence from the signatories on the Indian PM’s letter! Al Gore was then running for the Presidency of the US, so he was very wise to keep his hands clean. he has continued to do so, even though a former schoolfriend of his - Isaac Tigrett (former Hard Rock Cafe Owner) has tried to convince him of Sai Baba’s alleged Godhood. The Presidents of El Salvador and Guatemala did not sign, not any other foreign dignatory. However, there is no doubt that a major campaign to get such persons to sign was undertaken… but it failed completely.One notable fact about the letter from Vajpayee - it was not based on any evidence whatsoever. It has been challenged through the Freedom of Information Act by Basava Premanand, and the result is that no evidence of the former Prime Minister having investigated the allegations in any way is forthcoming. Instead the authorities gave Premanand the bureaucratic run-around in a transparent cover-up attempt, a telling, indelible blot on the claim to democratic openness of the Indian Govenment. (See documentation here).The head of the International Sathya Sai Organization, Dr. M. Goldstein, together with Dr. William Harvey, flew to Argentina to partake in a follow-up TV programme to one where sexual abuse by Sathya Sai Baba was testified by three former devotees (Zona de Investigacion, Azul TV - Read the full account by Alejandro Agostinelli here .

Secret Lobbying of prominent people to gain influence and respectability
Drs. Goldstein and Harvey are both members of the so-called ‘Prashanthi Council’, a body of confirmed total believers chosen by Sai Baba to promote him wherever and whenever they can. This ‘Prashanthi Council’ is a clandestine affair, which contacts professors, politicians and the rich and famous in the attemt to induce them to attend the various propaganda meetings held by the Sathya Sai Organization and - if possible - to get them to visit Sathya Sai Baba. This council does not respond to any mails asking valid questions about Sathya Sai Baba, such as the formal appeal sent by the JuST Group (see here). It maintains a regular ‘muerta’ - a wall of silence. The reason for this is not least that in October 1999, Sai Baba said “Anyone found talking in the Verandah should be sent out immediately, whosoever it may be. …I will never call such people for interview again. Only those who observe silence are good people. Silence fosters purity. Therefore observe silence at all times.”
Many attempts have been made to induce prominent political personages to visit Sathya Sai Baba, former PM of the UK, Tony Blair, was invited to visit Sai Baba [http://home.hetnet.nl/~ex-baba/engels/articles/blairbaba.html] by the Sathya Sai Organization of UK (see here), but he turned down the offer, as a letter of his proves. A group of UK Conservative politicians visiting India were sidetracked and railroaded to Prashanthi Nilayam without realising what it was all about. Rumours that Hilary Clinton was to visit spread when she travelled from Madras to Bangalore in 19 , but she never did. Former International Chairman of the Sathya Sai Organization, Indulal Shah, managed to arrange a presentation at the White House (weird attempt to induce Bush to support Sai Baba?).

Prime Ministers and some Presidents from states like Nepal, Sri Lanka, Mauritius have visited Sai Baba, as well as the infamous former Italian PM, Craxi, and the Duchess of York known as ‘Fergie’. Even Charles, the Prince of Wales and a chief target of many attempts even since the 1960s to get him to recognise Sai Baba, formerly expressed to Sai officials - including V.K. Narasimhan by letter - his desire to visit, but this never happened. Since the exposure from 2000 onwards, Prince Charles cannot ever afford any kind of public association with such a controversial and suspect figure as Sathya Sai Baba. The list of partly successful and also numerous failed attempts to hi-jack dignitaries could be extended considerably… but enough for now. Sathya Sai Baba has reportedly said he will rule the world for 48 hours, and has in a public discourse announced that the Sathya Sai Organisation will contain the entire world! This is certainly the intention, at least…

Faked “miracle”: crucifix given by Sai Baba to Dr. Hislop

The crucifix given to John Hislop was supposed to have been materialized by the paranormal powers of Sai Baba.

 

For hundreds of thousands of readers, My Baba and I by Dr. John Hislop, [1985: Birth Day Publishing, San Diego] has been one of the principal introductory books on Sathya Sai Baba. It is translated into many languages. The title was chosen by Sai Baba and the book deals with Hislop’s prolonged and intimate experiences of Baba’s teachings, some miracles (notably that of the famous Crucifix materialised for Hislop by Baba on Mahasivatratri, 1973. This occurred on a car trip to have a picnic. These trips were arranged by his servitor, Colonel Joga Rao (who did not believe in Sai miracles, but who evidently conspired with Sai Baba to facilitate the fraudulence. Joga Rao’s reason for this reportedly was that Sai Baba would thereby become able to get funds to help the poor etc.. Sai Baba took a twig [certainly enclosed it in his hand as he always does] and blew on it, and when he opened it the crucifix was seen.

Dr. John Hislop readily believed what Sai Baba told him, namely, that the crucifix was made from a piece of the original wood of the Cross. Of course, no carbon dating was done – for it would surely disprove that. Serious scientists would not bother to go to such lengths to disprove such a cheap trick, and Hislop would never have tried because he worked entirely on blind faith.

However, a magnified photo of the amulet was examined by an art expert emeritus professor and proclaimed most likely to be a commonly manufactured amulet from 19th century UK, with visible small defects due to the mass/casting process. There is a serious defect in the crucifix too, for the nails in actual crucifixions passed through the wrist, because nails through the hand could not support a weight of the body. It also has a hole at the top of the cross, so Hislop asked his Lord and master what it was. Sathya Sai Baba, improvising as usual, told him the cross had been suspended from above!
The same kind of small crucifix is available from shops and markets in India for a small amount of money. The hole is quite evidently for a locket chain so it can be worn around the neck, not for Sathya Sai’s reason - i.e. hanging of the original cross from above. (See “The fake crucifix” and also comments at http://home.hetnet.nl/~ex-baba/engels/articles/premanand3.html).

Piet Vroon, wrote in “Santa Claus in India” in Indian Skeptic 6(4), August 1993: 8-16. an article (which appeared on Saturday December 5, 1992 in De Volkskrant (a Dutch national newspaper, under the title ‘Sinterklaas in India’):-
”The crucifix given to John Hislop was supposed to have been materialized by the paranormal powers of Sai Baba. The question might also be raised as to the plausibility of a true materialization which reproduces such details as air bubbles identical with those caused by techniques of inexpensive mass reproduction, and standard but historically inaccurate iconographic features such as nails through palms.”

Another Version Of Sai Baba’s Remark:  In 1973, Sai Baba produced a small crucifix, gave it to his disciple named Dr. Hislop, and, according to Dr. Hislop, said, “this shows Christ as He really was at the time when He left his body. No writer or artist has imagined him this way before.” [Eastern View, p. 7].  As for the claim Sai Baba makes that the crucifix “shows Christ as he really was at the time he left his body, not as artists have imagined him or as historians have told about him”, and “no writer or artist has imagined him this way before,” the following are comments from Uno Langmann, a highly reputable art, antique, and curio dealer headquartered in Vancouver B.C., and Dr. William S. Dale, Professor Emeritus in Fine Arts at the University of Western Ontario, upon inspection of the full page magnified colour photograph of the crucifix reproduced at p. xi (Plate 2) of Dr. Hislop’s book, My Baba & I:

————

Uno Langmann’s Comments on the Crucifix:

Judging from the photograph, the sculpture would be an ordinary inexpensive crucifixion depiction. The material of the Christ figure would probably be of soft metal such as pewter or lead. Of course this is hard to tell from a photograph. It might be bronze or conceivably silver, but neither of these is likely. The casting is cheap and not very skillful, which supports the idea that the material would be lead perhaps. You can see little air bubbles around the feet which indicates that it was made by cheap plaster of Paris mold. The sculpture is affixed to the wood by small manufactured nails. The rendering of the feet and toes is especially coarse, which also indicates the cheapness of the piece. The wood appears to be low-grade hardwood of some sort. Finally, as to the image itself, it is a typical artistic conception of the crucifixion. I believe I have seen this sculpture image before. I would guess that it’s a medieval European representation originally perhaps 12th or 13th century. At least that would be a period to check. In this miniature reproduction form it would not be a particularly interesting piece.
Uno Langmann, personal communication, 1988

————

William S. Dale’s Comments on the Crucifix:
Dear Friends,

Your letter of February 8, enclosing the material on Sai Baba and the miraculously-produced crucifix, has arrived, and I have studied it with great interest.

From the photograph it is quite clear that the metal figure closely resembles those on crucifixes of the 19th and early 20th centuries (As is normal with these, the suppedaneum is cast in one piece with the figure.) Its small scale suggests that it may once have been attached to a rosary.

Contrary to Sai Baba’s claim, there is nothing unusual about the iconography of the piece. The representation of the dead Christ, his body sagging, his head drooping onto his right shoulder, and his eyes closed, is frequently found in monumental crucifixes after the 10th century. From the late 12th century one foot is placed over the other, and a single nail is used to fasten both to the cross, instead of one for each foot. By the middle of the 13th century the braided crown of thorns becomes a prominent feature, and in some examples the stomach is drawn in, showing the ribs.

As for the statement that this crucifix “shows Christ as he really was at the time he left his body”, it has been demonstrated that nails through the palms of the hands, as in the artistic convention followed here, could not have supported the weight of Jesus’ body on the cross. Instead, it has been suggested that the nails would have to go through the wrists, as the image on the Holy Shroud of Turin seems to indicate.

With mass-produced objects such as this it would be impossible to pin down any single source of inspiration, since it draws on such a long and rich tradition. In any case it seems unnecessary.

Yours sincerely, (signed)
William S.A. Dale, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus

P.S. A good basic reference for the iconography of the crucifix is Gertrud Schiller, Iconography of Christian Art (Lund Humphries, 1972) Vol. 2.

9/11 and Sathya Sai Baba’s claimed intervention!

DR. M. GOLDSTEIN MAKES THE MOST TASTELESS AFFRONT TO 9/11 VICTIMS EVER? 

In a live TV programme on Zona de Investigacion (Azul TV, Argentina), Dr. Michael Goldstein is reported on by the Argentian journalist and TV director, Agnostelli as follows: Dr. Goldstein “gave some news that left the sweating audience mute: On September 11, the devotees that worked at the Twin Towers and the Pentagon didn’t go to work that day or were late getting to their jobs. ‘Thanks to our beloved Bhagavan,’ pontificated Goldstein, ‘all the New York and Washington devotees are safe.’ I shuddered to think that the public might applaud the news. But nobody did. Baba’s divine powers only benefit those faithful to him, or was this news passed on to avoid more desertions?”

In the same programme, Leonard Gutter, Central Coordinator of the South American Sathya Sai Organizations, said: “Baba’s love encompasses all: There were 50,000 people working at the Towers and only 3,000 died; then Baba saved 47,000, not only devotees. Each person has his own karma: that was the destiny of those who died there.” 
The TV programme’s 1st part is transcribed here.

The sheer callous indecency of these wild conjectures by Dr. Goldstein and Leonardo Gutter towards all those whose dear ones dies in that catastrophe would be hard to surpass. It shows a total lack of judgement and blind faith beyond all reason, not in the least uncommon among Sathya Sai followers and his defenders (as on the Internet). See more about Dr. M. Goldstein here.

The grotesque hard sell of Sathya Sai as connected to 9/11 in the US

Dr. William Harvey, a member of the top policy-making ‘Prashanthi Council’ of the International Sathya Sai Organization spoke at the Sai Public Meeting in St. Louis, September 11, 2005, prematurely - and for no valid calendar reasons - celebrating Sathya Sai Baba’s 80th birthday (11/23) and the announcement of the Mayor that 9/11 is offically Sathya Sai Baba day in St. Louis! (see here) and see the report of Dr. Jack Feely, Regional President, Mid-Central Region US here)

The report stated: “The program was held at the 1904 World’s Fair Pavilion, a magnificent open-air shelter in the center of Forest Park. The 1300-acre park, considered the “Crown Jewel” of the city, was a picturesque setting worthy of a public program about Sathya Sai Baba, the Divine Crown Jewel of the universe.”The Sai Organization announced at great length its many efforts to get publicity, as in the following short example: “Personal letters of invitation went out to 49 professors of philosophy and theological studies of the major universities and colleges in the area, followed up with telephone message reminders. Press releases went to the major TV and radio stations, along with the major newspapers. Quarter-page ads promoting the meeting were put in a widely distributed spiritually oriented newspaper. That same paper accepted a 700-page article about Sathya Sai Baba and His teachings.”

(Comment: Seven hundred pages seems a bit over the top! It would take 49 philosophy professors to do that job on short notice? But how many attended or supported this scandalous misuse of September 11 to propagandise for an Indian fraud accused of sex abuses and murder cover-up? Ah now, there you have it!). The result has hardly been earth-shaking. Naively and without joking, Dr. Feely informed of the selfless service provided to participants as follows: “ Cold bottled water, served to attendees throughout the program, offered physical comfort that added to the spiritual comfort the speakers’ words provided.”

Further links about the Argentinian TV programme, see here and here

See also this new article at http://barrypittard.wordpress.com/2007/09/12/memories-of-911-discredit-sai-baba-and-his-global-cult/

Sai Baba’s political marionettes

     
  

As you see from the above, Sathya Sai Baba manages to dress up India’s top politicians in his own resplendent ‘uniforms’ and parade them like marionettes around his ashrams. The ornate gowns are supposed to be some kind of honour, no doubt, but the end result is that Sai Baba achieves a visible proof of his power over these powerful men. It is suprising that they submit to this public humiliation - as it is in the eyes of foreign observers and almost anyone else who is not a devotee.

Sai Baba has said:

Sathya Sai has many times called all his followers - and all human beings - his puppets, marionettes, dolls… actors on a stage where he is the sole director and so on. Indian Prime Ministers and Presidents let themselves appear as such too… but in fact - apart from protecting him from the law - they hardly ever do what he advises them (as he has complained in private to various devotees,  including the IAS officer Mr. V. Ramnath and Mr. Kaw, the former Air Minister who installed the white elephant Sai airport using public funds).

Early on, Sai Baba wrote an absurd and very long  ’song’ about the human puppet, telling his readership “The song will certainly turn your brain!” The song ends with the declaration “See the Leela grand of Sathya Sai Nath” (i.e. see the miracles of Lord Sathya Sai). If you can be bothered, it may be worth a laugh - see  http://vahini.org/downloads/sandehanivarini.html#dialogueV

Sai Baba’s failing health

On this photo from a year or so ago, there is already a decidedly ga-ga look on Sai Baba’s face. Instead of the usual, where he cuts the ribbons, he is ‘assisted’ (he is actually holding onto the hand of his helper!). Likewise, videos also show him unable to cut his birthday cakes any longer.  Rumours that he is non compos mentis have become yet more persistent, having begun with accounts of his apparently senile behaviour already three years ago (including one from a recently-disaffected US resident in India who had been editing some of the Puttaparthi magazine ‘Sai Impressions’). He was heard to be giving instructions about events that were not scheduled and never took place, talking confusedly and sometimes garbling his words. It is Mrs. Geetha Reddu, the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Minister who is doing the honours of inaugurating the tourist complex in the above photo. No longer is Sai Baba against ’spiritual tourism’ - as was so strongly formerly - and is even for out-and-out tourism and thus now also for his own direct involvement in Indian politics (see Sai Baba Sparks Political Furore)

It is his powerful money and power instinct at work, no doubt! See this excerpt from an official Sai baba webpage which shows how Puttaparthi is being made a money earner through massive injection of public funds:-

In the light of the likelihood that he is losing his marbles and may therefore be declared too unfit to give evidence, he may escape justice and having to face an Indian court for the allegations of child abuse, widespread sexual abuses, corruption and murder cover-up before his death. In any case, he has the full weight of the Indian government behind him, with devotees in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and India’s President, Patil as the last in a long line of such luminaries who worship him. Among his most excessive aberrations from science and reason, Sai Baba believes in black magic (see here), spreads many fantastic rumours about his supposed miraculous powers (far exceeding anything heard of except from the Superman comics) and much else besides.

More Comments and Replies on Sai Deceptions

vasudeva007 Says
Aug 18, 4:23 PM

Hi Robert Priddy,
Thanks for answering to my post in detail, I will definitely get hold of Derren Brown’s videos on net and watch them. I am not sure if Baba has some ‘Siddi’ power or have some other skills beyond normal human being.
Well, I would like to know if Baba is a trickster then there must be extensive network involved in his game play, like some place or people involved where these material objects are manufactured or procured and persons transporting these objects. But, to my knowledge no body has found any such network or persons involved. Any comments from your side?
- Thanks
Vasudeva Shenoy

robertpriddy Says
Aug 18, 4:23 PM

Hi Vasudeva, There is no question but that Sathya Sai Baba is surrounded by people who do and tell exactly what they are told. But there have been many reports and I have received confidential e-mails from numerous persons telling how it is all arranged and who provides the trinkets he ‘materialises’. David Bailey reported a visit to a jeweller in Hyderabad who claimed to supply Sai Baba with some of the alleged ‘diamond rings’ he pretends to create from thin air. Incidentally, identical rings (synthetic stones like zircon in white, synthetic sapphires in green, navagraha 9-gem rings etc.) can be purchased in many jeweller shops in South India quite cheaply. The BBC visited another supplier in Bangalore, but did not include the film in their one hour presentation for reasons of space (they reported 80 hours of film on the subject, from which but one hour was used). Students have contacted exposé activists telling of an elderly Indian (named too) well known as being able to enter the interview room door whenever he arrived who for many years carried in the articles to give to Sai Baba on a regular basis.Another student informed me in a private correspondence that Sai Baba has a small vibuthi pellet making machine. Though the source must remain anonymous at present at least, I give a verbatim excerpt from that letter for your interest:

”After the interview swami comes out and stands next to the pillar, and then he goes in. Luckily the interview door room is half open and I could see him going to the window. Then he picks up an envelope and takes out a vibhuti ball from it. Swami usually keeps crisp 500 rupee notes in the envelopes. It was the first time i saw vibuti in them.) He then realizes that the door is open and looks straight at me, then winks and comes out to give that vibhuti pellet to Dr.Goldstein by crushing it.”He also tells of a friend who was doing housework for Sai Baba in Kodai who opened a box (which no one was supposed to touch) in Swami’s apartment which was full of rings of all sizes, brooches, necklaces and more. His friend was devastated and later he saw Sai Baba pretend to ‘materialize’ some of these articles for people on several occasions. We have also been informed how Sai Baba ‘materialises’ the oil he puts on boys’ and young men’s p*n*ses. He has a sponge in a tray of oil hidden somewhere, so he only has to grip it once to get oil on his hands.Satya Purcell has testified to such things (see http://home.hetnet.nl/~ex_baba/engels/articles/sathyapurcell02.html and other of his 6-part testimony) including how Sai Baba has many informants who mingle with devotees, also taxi drivers and others seemingly not connected with the ashram. In this way he can appear to know things it seems no one could.I cannot give a full account here of all that is know about the apparatus around Sai Baba, but there have been numerous informants through the last 7 years. Perhaps we should gather them all together for all to see at one go.

vasudeva007 Says:
August 19th, 2007 at 3:06 am


Hi Robert Priddy,

I just watched some of the Derren Browns videos and they are very interesting. Well spirituality, belief in God are some of the things no one has exact answers. Probably mankind will soon find a rational approach towards these topics. I find it amusing after so many years of training under Baba to love all and server all how some of the devotees still react with rage and anger in regards to any questions related to authenticity/duplicity of Baba. We are living in a world where reasoning is way of life. We are not living in a meta physical world. Come on guys, let’s live by reason and not blind faith.

When I was in Parthi, I use to see this happen all the time, fake materializations(at least to my eye). I did ask my Dad about this stuff and he bluntly put it like this - “You are just a kid, look at all the top scientists, doctors and educationalists who have dedicated their lives and career in serving Baba, do you think you are smarter than all of them”, well I have no answer to that question even now. Neither I was able to ask my question to peer devotees for the fear that I would either be thrown out of campus or run into some serious trouble with concerned authorities. Like many people like me who are skeptical, I always think I shouldn’t have even known about Baba and gotten into this mess. Luckily I never had any personal interviews nor any special relationship with him. If Baba is divine why are such skeptical people gotten into his fold. Instead he should remove such skepticism and show his authenticity for everyone since everyone is embodiment of love as per his oft saying.
vasudeva007 Says:
August 19th, 2007 at 7:05 am
I just read “REQUIEM TO A KINDLY SPIRIT” on VKN written by you. Excellent one.
robertpriddy Says:
August 19th, 2007 at 11:25 am

Thanks Vasudeva, I would comment that I have never heard of any ‘top’ scientist visiting or supporting Sai Baba, no world figure of real intellectual distinction whatever… only unknown American Ph.Ds (they are two a penny there) or Indian apparatchik nuclear science administrators… the same for ‘top’ educationalists… no one of real note in pedagogy or educational research. As to doctors, who are the top doctors is anyone’s guess.As to V.K. Narasimhan - a charming man followed his intensely Sai-devoted wife to Baba’s ashrams and got increasingly trapped in a role which became more and more uncomfortable, but he could not break out. He supported Sai Baba mainly because of the great promise his social projects once held, and put up with a lot he disagreed with for that reason. He was worried that his editing out of Sai Baba worst gaffes would discredit him, the former journalist. He shocked me time and again with revelations about Sai Baba and what goes on at the ashram - for example, that Colonel Joga Rao was known to all old residents never to have believed in Sai Baba’s miracles, but that he would serve him for the good he was trying to do in education etc. That Joga Rao loved filthy barrack room jokes and bored everyone with them, including VKN, and was accepted by Sai Baba (who also shared in the jokes)and allowed free access at any time to the private rooms… that I could not at first believe.

Sai Baba Fraud - Comments and Replies

Some comments received from Vasudeva S. and replies by Robert Priddy
-vasudeva007 Says
Aug 18, 1:01 PM Hi Robert Priddy,  I am writing to you after reading some of the material about Satya Sai Baba by you. I have personally seen Baba already having things to materialize in his hand before he actually materialized the objects. Of course I have routinely seen Baba transferring something from left hand to right hand before he creates vibuthi. I have seen this one instance where he had a sugar candy in his left hand before he materialized and gave it to a boy who was caughing. But I do have to say that I have also seen him create things out of no where and by blowing at the objects they get vanished. I am at loss what to beleive and what not to beleive. Are this all the tricks Baba is performing on a doubting being like me? Some of my friends tell me all these are Baba’s leela’s and I should forget about them and one can never understand Baba’s ways. Regards S.

vasudeva007 Says
August 18th, 2007 at 4:21 am Hi Robert,
I am not sure if Baba is geniune or fraud. In terms of materializations definitely I have seen some fake ones and real(??) ones. I have seen objects already in his hand before he materialized them. But also I have seen other way round too, Baba creating things from thin air and vanishing them. It all baffles me. Well, I would like to know if Baba is a trickster then there must be extensive network involved in his game play, like some place or people involved where these material objects are manufactured or procured and persons transporting these objects. But, to my knowledge no body has found any such network or persons involved. Any comments from your side?
- Thanks Shenoy

robertpriddy Says:
August 18th, 2007 at 7:21 pm

Hi Vasudeva,
Think about this - in many cases people have claimed to have seen Sai Baba change physical appearance totally, even several persons together, but at the same time others have been present who have not seen any change at all. This applies to many account of him during public ‘darshan’ - some see haloes, others not and so forth. Now, were these changes (and materializations) real phenomena, then all present would have seen it. Sai Baba does not want anyone to understand his ways, - on the contrary! That is why he has always created a mystery around himself - it began in his childhood! Check out some of my many explanations of these matters on my various web pages from http://home.no.net/anir/SaiWell, I too long thought I saw real materializations in interviews I attended. Now, after a long period of standing back and investigating in many directions - I am far more aware of the tricks that can be involved. I cannot write off the possibility of siddhi powers 100%. Apart from sleight of hand, which has been demonstrated and testified widely in his case, there are other possible causes, subtle suggestion is a tremendous part of Sai Baba’s repertoire - which some call hypnosis. This is not a process of ‘putting someone in a hypnotic trance’ as commonly thought, for it can be worked through powerful suggestion. Those who have long been mentally prepared to experience certain things like materializations (already believe it) and who are not approaching warily or critically are much more easily induced into a state of false perception. Sai followers usually go through a long period of generating faith and also ’self-indoctrination’ before they ever arrive in the interview room.

If you doubt that suggestion can be so powerful as to change people’s states of mind very radically, without more than a few clever words, study the work of UK’s Derren Brown, who can make people picked out of a group on the street or anywhere see and hear things and can find out what they are thinking, exactly what they have on their persons (including written shopping lists). He can very quickly induce a state of drunken stupor in a person (showing just how he does it) and turn it on an off with a few words (even words written on a piece or sent by mobile phone message).Many well-known, respected people and professional psychologists in UK have attested that there is no fraud whatever involve (no fixing of TV sequences or use of stooges). He says openly there are no psychic powers involved, but many techniques he has learned in observing personal psychology, varying means of suggestion, neuro-linguistic programming, misdirection of attention (as in stage ‘magic’ and pick-pocketing, for example) and much else. He explains some of his techniques in detail. He has a tremendous (possibly ‘photographic’) memory too. He has a very wide ‘repertoire’ and much of what he does is more dramatic that Sai Baba is seen to do. But he remains a sceptic about all ’spiritual’ powers, also about mediumism/contacting the dead, which he has reconstructed in a very convincing way, but he explains how and why he is a sceptic. kind of manipulation of perception done by Derren Brown is most impressive and dramatic - and is also intended to be so. My view is exactly the same as to Sathya Sai Baba. He is a showman and manipulator.
Some of Derren Brown’s work is available on YouTube.com (Search ‘Derren Brown’) and DVDs are available of some of his TV series, with masses of background data and interviews proving the genuineness of his non-psychic but very considerable abilities. I recommend:

Mediumism - Derren Brown http://youtube.com/watch?v=G18NfN76bAs
(This is not the best of his demonstrations of mediumism, but it is good enough for that anyhow!)
Discussion on spirituality http://youtube.com/watch?v=2ryYYCe8qg4
Induction of drunkenness http://youtube.com/watch?v=zryGzTbU49I
Zombies shoot-up http://youtube.com/watch?v=cjRAcajFte0
taring competition http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEuKgEjwi6A
Fate? http://youtube.com/watch?v=18HFs4DfoTc

GODS OF GODS ABOVE ALL GODS - SATHYA SAI?

 

Even if you believe only half you hear, you are in deep trouble with the following claims by Sai Baba. Will he go down in history as the Saviour of Mankind from global disaster (as he claims) and human evil? If so, he would necessarily displace Jesus Christ and Christianity, Jehova and Judaism, Buddha and Buddhism, Islam and Allah and Whoever and Whatever? One must certainly hope not - if only for the sake of human rationality and progress in empowering people to improve their lot and that of the world rather than become fixated in prayer to God and his traditional “teachings” about fate and the futility of worldly engagements. His many deceptions - so firmly demonstrated here and elsewhere - and his bogus  ”universal religion” are accepted by a long line of Indian Presidents and Prime Ministers - and also by those of today and much of the Indian Government! It is an enigma… for can they truly believe in the following words of Sathya Sai Baba? They must… or else they’d have to view him as a megalomaniac.

“I am all deities in one. You may endeavour your best for thousands of years and have all mankind with you in your search. But you cannot understand My Reality.” (US ed. of Kasturi’s Sathyam Sivam Sundaram Vol 3 page 315)

“There was no one to understand Me until I created the whole world” (Official biographer N. Kasthuri’s direct quote in ‘Pathway to Peace’ p. 64.)

Sathya Sai Baba said in 1968: “This is a human form in which every Divine entity, every Divine principle, that is to say, all the names and forms ascribed by man to God, are manifest… You are very fortunate that you have the chance to experiences the bliss of the vision of the form, which is the form of all gods, now, in this life itself.” (Sathya Sai Speaks Volume VIII. page 99f)

“God can do anything. He has all power in the palm of His Hand. My Body, like all other bodies, is a temporary habitation; but, My Power is eternal, all-pervasive, ever-dominant.” Christmas Day Discourse, Bombay 1970. (US ed. of Kasturi’s Sathyam Sivam Sundaram Vol 3 page 136)

 “On previous occasions when God incarnated on earth, the bliss of recognising Him in the incarnation was vouchsafed only after the physical embodiment had left the world, in spite of plenty of evidences of His Grace. But, ponder a moment on this Sathya Sai Manifestation; in this age of rampant materialism, aggressive disbelief and irreverence, what is it that brings to It the adoration of millions from all over the world? You will be convinced that the basic reason for this is the fact that this is the Supra-worldly Divinity in Human Form.” (Sathya Sai Baba 17/5/1968. Sathya Sai Speaks Vol. 8, p 100)

 “If I had come as Narayana with four arms, they would have put me in a circus, charging money for people to see Me. If I had come only as a man, like any other man, who would listen to me? So I had to come in this human form but with more than the human power and wisdom.” (US ed. of Kasturi’s Sathyam Sivam Sundaram -Vol 3 page 309)

Further, on the task of the revival of dharma, he says “… who has to take it up? It was said that I have taken up this Form in answer to the prayers of sadhus (noble souls) and others… I have come, because I felt I had to come. I resolved upon this… This campaign will succeed, it will not fail. The welfare of the world will be ensured through the fostering of the Godly everywhere, and more particularly of these ancient reservoirs of the ancient wisdom of this land.” (Sathya Sai Speaks Vol. 3, page 205)

“The Lord is the refuge of all who seek refuge, the saviour of all who have to be saved. He is the Embodiment of Being-Awareness-Bliss (Sat-chit-ananda). He is now at Puttaparthi as the Effulgent Emperor over the region of Truth, Goodness and Beauty.” ( Sathya Sai Speaks Vol. XIII, p 114)

“When dharma declines or rather, when those who have a duty to regulate their lives according to dharma lose faith in it, then, its restoration cannot be taken up by all and sundry… The Lord has come again on this Mission. He has collected the engineers and contractors and the labour for this purpose. He is not set on the task.”Let me tell you one more thing: Nothing can impede or halt the work of this Avathaara… Formerly when the Govardhanagiri (mountain) was raised aloft by a little boy, the gopis and gopalas realised that Krishna was the Lord. Now, it is not one Govardhanagiri , a whole range will be lifted, you will see!” (Sathya Sai Speaks Vol. 3, p. 106)

Sai Baba on two boys reborn as his dogs

From page 114 of Hislop’s book (old. Ed.) and 125 (new ed.)In the early 1970s, Dr. John Hislop interviewed Sai Baba at length.  These interviews were recorded and published in his book ‘Conversations with Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba’ (Sai Publications Trust), which became the authoritative popular source book for many about Sai Baba and his various teachings. It is packed with ‘incredible’ stories and bizarre statements by Sai Baba.

According to Indian scriptural beliefs in reincarnation, ‘merging’ (with the Infinite) is a process which never leads to rebirth. Also, rebirth of former human beings as animals is either rejected as impossible or considered a punishment for horrendous deeds in life. Two so blessed as to be close friends of an avatar could not have such a fate.  Hislop makes clear: “Those childhood companions, they must have been quite special. Was their further destiny unusual also?”, to which Sai Baba replies “they merged in me”.  If these boys had been reborn as dogs and had died under car wheels in the mid 1950s, why did Sai Baba so signally fail to mention it to Hislop? In his Dasara discourse of October 2000, Sai Baba retells the story and contradicts what he had told Hislop. Typical of his forgetfulness and outright fabrications!

Sai Baba said on October 1st 2000:- “I had two dogs, Lilly and Billy in the Old Mandir. Jack and Jill were born to Lilly. The two were none other than Ramesh and Suresh come again to stay near Me. One would sleep at my head and the other at My feet. They used to get up at My slightest movement.”"The next morning when the driver started the car, he ran over Jack’s spine. From there, Jack dragged itself through the river towards the Mandir. The washerman, Subbanna, who used to look after the Mandir, told me that for some reason Jack was coming whining. I replied that I knew and walked up to the Mandir gate. Crying aloud, Jack fell at My feet and gave up its life. Jack was buried behind the Mandir. Jill too passed away after a few days. I built a Samadhi for them and planted a Tulasi plant over it. It remained for a long time. When I was at Bangalore recently, in order to extend the Kalyana Mandapam, the engineers razed it. Thus after spending their next lives as dogs, they finally merged in Me.” “Without Raju, Ramesh and Suresh refused to sit on the bench or stay in the classroom. Ramesh ran and jumped into a well giving up his life. Suresh kept crying, “Raju, have you left us! Raju, have you left us!” He became mad and was admitted to the mental hospital in Bangalore. His parents prayed to Me to go and see him once. Swami told them, “The present Suresh is different from the earlier one. There is no point in My coming to see him.” After a few days, he too died.”

See full text from the discourse of Sai baba Oct. 1, 2000

Sai Baba’s Divine Eye-in-the-Sky that sees through all?

How many people on average will believe that the above image is a genuine one… how many may suspect it has been manipulated? In the Sai movement the majority almost certainly believe it genuine. It has been on sale since the 1980s and the photographer made a real killing! Life in Puttaparthi was and still is harsh and unforgiving to most of its inhabitants, so a little trick that brings in dollars is the obvious thing. But how could it be so successful? The following scan showing Sai Baba’s claims from Dr. J. Hislop’s book ‘Conversations with Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba can indicate why…

Sathya Sai Baba has often boasted about his all-seeing eyes [correction ‘eye’] (note that he has explained how he is blind in the other after a hair-dryer accident, of all things! Funny he didn’t “see” that the hair dryer would blind him? See Damage-containment for Swami’s All-seeing Eye(s)? http://home.no.net/anir/Sai/enigma/Eye.htm )

 There have been plenty of other photo tricks among Sai followers, not least the widely-publicised photo of an alleged appearance of Sai Baba in the sky beside an airliner that ran out of fuel. This photo is also a dark room concoction – superimposition of two images -  and has been thoroughly debunked by experts… but anyone can see that it cannot be what it is claimed because trees are visible in the sky which is supposed to be high above the ocean! (Read all about it here! http://home.chello.no/~reirob/SkyMiracle.htm )

The earth’s cool liquid soft-centre - Sai Baba’s “wisdom”

Journey to the Centre of the Earth?
Jules Verne was an imaginative writer, imagining a hollow earth. Now Sathya Sai Baba has seriously debunked that theory!

scanned quotation from ‘Conversations with Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba’ by Dr. John Hislop

Mrs. Robert Bozzani (Rb) put the first questions, after Sai had made his ‘mystical statement’ out of the blue (i.e. “At the centre everything is liquid”).  His explanation is the kind of absurdity that Sathya Sai Baba conveys to his students. One must ask how such untrue fantasy can be deemed worthy of any university anywhere. He assures Bozzani that the teaching of all courses at the University will be like that! He identifies chemistry with liquids and physics with solids… most amusing. His ignorant legend-stuffed villager mentality is to the fore here. But his students surely understand far more of the real “full picture” of science better than he does, even before they start their higher studies!

In the 1980s, the Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning was granted the status of being a “deemed University” by Madhuri Shah, devotee and Chairperson of the University Grants Commission. This strange status (not a full university, it seems) was an attempt to raise it closer to the status India’s other centres of Higher Learning.

Miracles: Big Business for the Pope & Sathya Sai Baba

  

“I Believe in Miracles” from the BBC shows how miracles and saints are vital to the emotional and financial power of the Catholic Church. (see here) Six million pilgrims per year visit Lourdes, most of them reportedly hoping for a miracle cure from the Lady of Lourdes, who is said to have cured in 87 cases since her visions of the ‘Immaculate Conception’. Despite that, no cure has been confirmed there by the Committee which decides on this since 1987. This does not stop people believing that they have been cured or that others have. That is the name of the game – involving hope, faith, confession, conviction, desperation and witnessing to the Lord’s power etc.  The funds for eight churches in Lourdes have been gathered and business is booming – all kinds of bric-a-brac from icons to rosaries – and bizarrely not even excluding Lourdes ‘pill boxes’ (to supply the very big market of uncured pill-takers, no doubt). This souvenir business is also very flourishing around and inside Sai Baba’s ashrams in Puttaparthi and Whitefield, which function like Lourdes in drawing thousands from abroad, raising their counterfeit hopes and lifting real money from them. 

While the Catholic Church has recognised 10,000 saints since the practice began, five hundred new saints have been created since the Church reduced the number of miracles required for sainthood from four to two in 1982. Meanwhile, 2, 500 alleged new miracle saints are currently under consideration for canonization. Of all saints so far, 8 are from the USA!  One of these is Mother Theodore Guerin from Haute Terre, Indiana, who cured Phil McCord - who worked at her convent - of blindness after he prayed to her (he says he did so only once too). Compare this to the recent news that has come out about Mother Theresa of Calcutta, who prayed and prayed for her entire adult life but felt entirely deserted by God in every way, but kept on preaching and hoping in vain! (see here ) Some call it faith (but she stated she even lost her belief), others call it being trapped in delusion, the Christian net she had woven for herself and her own prestige. To recognise a cure as a miracle, the Catholic Church has a very strict routine, involving a Medical Board with 21 doctors who must investigate and agree that there are no other possible causes of recovery than prayer to the healing person. Further, before canonization, the proposed saint has to have an impeccable and unchallenged reputation. (That alone cuts out Sathya Sai as a future Catholic saint!)