The nature of cults and the Sathya Sai Organization

One may well ask what goes to make a cult. There are of all kinds, from religious to political groupings, from personality idolisers to despotic ruling cults. So as to clarify some of the questions on cultism and its various degrees and characteristics, I have written a paper covering some main issues, click here.

Further, to exemplify a religious personality cult, I have listed documented reasons why the Sathya Sai Organization is a cult, despite the (very weak) claims by devotees (such as Rita Bruce) that it is not a cult.  The Sai hagiographer, Rita Bruce, shows the nature of a cultist true believer in numerous ways, as I demonstrate in ‘A Typical Sai Supporter’ The credulousness and lack of common sense, sound judgement she exhibits well illustrate some of the extreme distorted views held by Sathya Sai followers, not untypical of the kind of deranged world-views of many other cults. Added to this is the dishonesty of partaking wilfully in the cover-up of facts known to her about Sathya Sai Baba’s widely reported sexual abuses and spreading of untruth and rumour. 

Hundreds see Sai Baba on the moon

Much has been made of the failure of Sathya Sai Baba to appear on the moon, as it was announced that he would by his close servitor Anil Kumar from the veranda of the Prashanthi Nilayam temple on October 3rd 2007, as widely reported:-

However, it transpired that Sai Baba was applauded by hundreds of devotees who were gathered to view this amazing phenomenon of his appearing on the face of the moon (date unknown) , if the video on YouTube is what it claims to be!!

SEE THE SAI BABA MOON VIDEO HERE!

Only problem is that, in this case it was not SATHYA Sai Baba who they were applauding, but the entirely different looking SHIRDI Sai Baba (who left the body early last century) !

One has to wonder… is are these highly elusive lunar appearances of the nature of a competition between opposed religious camps of followers? Or are they simply delusions which are related to mental derangement through indoctrinated beliefs, and thus closer to lunacy even than lunar worship? Do devotees see what they want to see, or do they simply mindlessly repeat what others have said they see, as they do with all manner of unbelieveable ‘miracles’ that hearsay claims Sathya Sai baba has performed? It’s up to you to decide!

This is a popular topic, and many comments have had to be made due to the hunger and thirst of devotees for proofs of miracles… though unfortuantley there has only been bogus evedence, falsified images and demonstrationsof credulousness that would have amused the famous Rorschach considerably.

There’s plenty more where the above came from! See below…

Sai Baba ‘postpones’ moon appearance!

Sai Baba alleged mystical moon miracles galore!

Faked Man in the Moon Sai Baba image

Photos supposedly showing Sathya Sai Baba on the moon???

Sai Baba on the moon videos - which show nothing”!

Sai Baba’s appearance on the moon - failed cover-up

More Sai Baba Moon madness

Sai Baba moon travel mantras

Sai Moon Man

Sai Baba - spiritual search for ‘the Self’

Students of spirituality and philosophy are invited to peruse the convolutions of Sathya Sai Baba’s spiritual teaching with the aid of a philosophical analysis of his eclectic collection of numinous Indian ‘spiritual’ ideas. Serious and somewhat informed comments welcomed!
Philosophy for rank amateurs!
A medley of attractive but vague and inconsistent ideas
Sai Baba’s hall of smoke and mirrors
Where Sai Baba deception works to protect himself 
Further references to Sathya Sai Baba’s published discourses which promote his ‘mirror’ confusions and solipsism 

Robert Priddy (see Wikipedia) is a retired philosopher , having lectured widely for decades and published on the subject, including the specialities  philosophy of science, logic, semantics, the history of philosophy, and the sociology of knowledge. He is also the former leader of the Sathya Sai Organization in Norway.

Sai Baba’s philosophy sandbox - from the pompous to the asinine

Trying to be deep and appear to be wise, Sathya Sai Baba has pronounced:-“Whatever is not in man cannot be anywhere outside him. Whatever is visible outside him is but a rough reflection of what really is in him.”
(Sathya Sai Vahini - paragraph ii)

COMMENT: Therefore, one can never know anyone else, only oneself. That this can only be false is evident, because it means that, in the case of every individual, ‘only I exist, all else is only my false imagination’. It is absurd that only one individual exists.

And also, in Sathya Sai Speaks we read: “…the world is but a mental image of the individual.” ( Vol.9. p.168 )
and:- “the world is a structure raised on one strong pillar, ‘I’. For, when this ‘I’ is dormant during deep sleep, there is no world as far as you are concerned.” (Vol. IV Ch. 48).
Further on the same lines:-
“Good and ill seen in others is only one’s own reflection and What is outside is a rough reflection of what is within”.

COMMENT: So the world does not exist, except as a mental image of one person! And so that person must be the greatest narcissist imaginable! And Sai Baba fits the bill of a full narcissistic personality! This is extreme advaitic otherworldliness gone completely askew! And this is about the worst philosophy on record, the idea being refuted by every major mind the world has known since Socrates onwards.

Sai Baba also has often insisted that:-
1) no one can understand him or his mystery, not if all humanity combines in the effort for thousands of years.
2) that God can be know by anyone who practices sadhana and attains self-realisation, because God is in the heart and everyone is God.

COMMENT: Both 1) and 2) cannot be true together, only one could possibly be true - but both could be and are most likely false! In either case, Sai Baba contradicts himself and therefore states untruths!
Besides, Sathya Sai Baba’s ‘mystery’ could not protect him from being ‘outed’ by many young men, nor from what others have demonstrated from his own words his countless deceptions and untruths, and reported of the baseless rumours he has spread privately.SUMMARY COMMENT: Untrained minds with too little knowledge and lacking frankness and honesty - like Sathya Sai Baba’s - are dangerous playthings. Read more on this complex issue ‘Is Sathya Sai only as we imagine him to be? - the Mirror delusion’

plus a deeper analysis of the philosophical fallacies in Sathya Sai Baba Spiritual Search, subjectivism and solipsism

Blind Belief in Sai Baba causes human injustices

Devotees of Sai Baba develop the ability to look and not see so before long their eyes play tricks on them… devotees as if dying of thirst in a desert where they see lakes and gushing waters.  They badly need to temper their naive and foolish idealism with inquiry, critical thinking and standards of human justice. I have seen many cases of people in crisis entirely due to the having invested everything in their belief in Sai Baba, which they cannot give up any longer without a psychological crisis at best. Relatively few of the those most heavily involved - the so-called VIP’s in Sathya Sai Baba’s institutions and Sathya Sai Organization - have had the courage to confront the overwhelming evidence of fraudulence, sexual molestations and murder cover-up. They prefer to keep their heads in the sand as much as possible. No longer being capable of explaining away the huge amount of evidence against Sai Baba, his unfulfilable pronouncements, failed prophesies and unkept promises, they remain silent and increasingly withdraw into the safe ranks of committed believers at the ashrams, the Sai centres and groups.

One small example of the relatively high proportion who have become mentally deranged (or already were well on the way) is an extremely sorry individual - a middle-aged lady from the US called Sylvia we first met in 1987, who many older devotees have encountered. (Surname withheld). She had been at an interview years previously and was ever talking about how she had felt herself to be in a spiritual heaven for days afterwards, but had never since received more than a glance from Sai Baba. She was to be seen for many years at the ashrams outside the compound or in some other prominent place, often loudly shedding tears and even tearing her clothes in sorrow.

Sylvia had become convinced that Sai Baba wanted her (and everybody) to live from hand to mouth like an anchorite. This is not surprising as he has often exhorted people to give up everything, all self and ego etc. However, she had a bank account with very considerable savings in it, as my wife found out while trying to get help to arrange for her to pay some large bill she was unable to do herself. (Firstly she had tried to scrounge from us and others. Eventually the ever-helpful Babu of the Sai Ram Taxi Service, once known to almost everyone who visited Sai Baba for decades, helped her with that particular problem. Through the years, Sylvia’s worsening condition was often easily visible to ashramites, she would beg help and try to scrounge from many.  Some years later when we visited again we found her is a state of extreme dereliction. One foreign devotee after another helped her, finding her a room, new clothes, feeding her… but in each case she exhausted their patience and ended up back in the gutter. Sooner or later, her helpers became angry with her importunities and gave up on her. This sad person was a constant reminder that Sathya Sai Baba does not care for his devotees but neglects them, and she certainly was a total believer and worshipper.

There have been many similar cases of devotees who have fallen into desuetude and dereliction, become broken in mind and spirit after going to Sai Baba and staying there until all connection to their roots were lost. Of course, the ashram keeps no record of such untoward cases… nor do they even report when people go missing or are murdered in the ashram, as I know full well from when I was there and a German lady was cut to death by two Puttaparthi brothers she surprised in her new ashram apartment busy stealing her money. Instead, the ashram sendt all foreigners away post haste (this is standard practice when something has to be covered up). The same occurred during the 70th birthday when some people were reported to us as having been trampled to death in the crush at a main gateway. The ashram NEVER makes know anything like that, it is all covered up. One day the record will be set straight on a much larger scale even than at present, when those with grievances will be able to speak out properly without fearing persecution or worse. During the past 7 years, many such persons have contacted me with their harrowing accounts, including numerous convincingly informing me that they were sexually abused as Sai students - and some also backed by relatives and friends. [I always respect any request of anonymity, which is also why they could inform me]. The VIP followers often know well about many such incidents and the cover-ups, but they keep quiet because it would not be good for Swami’s reputation (or their own positions!). They always hold him to be pure and never implicated, even though he is the absolute ruler of events within his own township.