Indisputable facts about Sathya Sai Baba by BBC

Among the many facts that cannot be disputed in the BBC documentary ‘The Secret Swami’ are the following items of major importance:-

1) Sai Baba’s public lie exposes him as a total charlatan

Sathya Sai Baba ‘collapses’ for the BBC

In 2004, while being filmed by the BBC during the Shivarathri festival, Sathya Sai Baba failed to produce the expected golden egg-shaped ‘lingam’ from his mouth and soon collapsed (whether really or feigned). He was helped off into a private room by servitors. On his return he spoke about the incident saying that the lingam (the egg-shaped golden object) weighed three tons. Sathya Sai Baba was filmed making this mendacious and absurd statement (and the direct translation of his words) by the BBC! This alone is sufficient to condemn him as a complete charlatan in the eyes of any unbiased person. Besides, the lingam is seen not to emerge from his mouth – but from a towel he was holding! (See transcript and/or choose a video clip)
Andrew Billen of The Times also wrote: “Producing necklaces and rings from thin air may seem small beer to us, but then we have watched Derren Brown. And there is no doubting Baba’s miraculous ability to raise money to pump fresh water to remote villages in Andhra Pradesh and to build a new, free hospital designed by one of Prince Charles’s favourite architects, Keith Critchlow (worryingly, given his proximity to the Crown).”

Isaac Tigrett worships Sai Baba

2) One of Sai Baba’s foremost devotees and donors, Isaac Tigrett, believes in sexual abuse by his guru. Andrew Billen, of The Times (of London) wrote:-

“One of the richest supporters of the Indian guru Sai Baba – no less than Isaac Tigrett, co-founder of the Hard Rock Cafe – told his interviewer that he was perfectly willing to believe that Baba was simultaneously a) quite likely a paedophile and b) God incarnate.” from The Times (of London) Andrew Billen. Here is a short excerpt of the BBC interview with Tigrett:
Tanya Datta: But even if it was proven to you that Sai Baba was a paedophile and a serial sex abuser, you¹re saying it wouldn’t change the fact that he is your guru. (Tigrett laughs uproariously)
Isaac Tigrett: Absolutely not. Absolutely not. He could go out and murder someone tomorrow, as I said, it’s not going to change my evolution, it’s not going to change the good things that have come out of my relationship down there.
Tanya Datta: Does that mean that some part of you believes there could be some truth to the rumours?
Isaac Tigrett:Oh, absolutely I believe there is truth to the rumours. (See full transcript and/or video clip).

3) Vile sexual abuse and threats by Sathya Sai Baba alleged:
Tom Adair in The Scotsman wrote: “The programme gathered American former devotees who claimed that Sai Baba had abused them, had exposed himself to them, indulged in oral sex and then sworn them to secrecy. This sexual degradation had shaken their faith. These victims included a father and a son who were alleged to have been abused over many years. It was implied that many Indian boys had also been taken advantage of but were too scared to make public statements.”

That the last sentence is true, many former devotees worldwide in good standing in their professions and wider communities can attest, including former prominent leaders in the Sathya Sai Organization. Survivors of sexual abuse of young males by Sai Baba and certain of those close to him have confidentially shared their accounts of abuses and other deceptions not only with others, including qualified and experienced counselling professionals but and also with leading media such as the BBC, DR (Denmark’s national broadcaster, and major newspapers in the several countries. The accounts are deeply saddening and extremely convincing. (see short video clips) Some Sai students have also posted their accounts on the Internet, though mostly anonymously for obvious reasons, not least considering the murders of students that took place and were condoned by Sathya Sai Baba and the ashram.

Karl French of the Financial Times wrote: “Sai Baba is allegedly given to subjecting some of his young male acolytes to a “ritual healing process” in which he rubs oil into their genitals. Those seeking a definition of denial should tune in to hear Tigrett insist that his devotion to his guru would be undiminished even it were proved beyond question that these accusations are well founded.”
Note that they were admitted (in e-mail and/or on National Danish news TV) by leading Danish leaders in the Sathya Sai Organization, who denied that it could be any form of sexual molestation (see here).

Terry Ramsey in The Evening Standard U.K. wrote: “Let Alaya, a young American man who is one of Sai Baba’s former followers, explain about a private meeting he had with the guru while a boy: “He took me aside and put oil on his hands and told me to drop my pants and rubbed my genitalia with the oil. Then he pulled me close and started kissing me hard on the mouth. And this is just one of the milder allegations of abuse. Sai Baba, it seems, has been doing this sort of thing for years, but no one ever dared question him.”

Alaya Rahm tried to get legal redress against Sathya Sai Baba to book via a case against the US Sathya Sai Organization, but since a case against Sathya Sai Baba in absentia was disallowed and since there was no registered organization in the USA, the case had to be withdrawn. Meanwhile, he has not withdrawn a single word of his allegations, not have any of the other 30 or so persons who have made public statements alleging being sexual abused by Sathya Sai Baba. Sathya Sai Baba cannot be sued in India, for he has up to now been protected by the highest authorities from investigation and attempts at prosecution for sexual and other crimes. See Alaya Rahms Lawsuit vs Sathya Sai Society of America – Joint Statement by the International JuST Group and the Rahm family

4) ‘Cold-blooded’ Police Executions in Sai Baba’s bedroom:

Mr. V. P. Nair, former Home Minister of the Andhra Pradesh government

VPB Nair, former Home Secretary, Andhra Pradesh, at the time of the murders (see transcript/video clip)
It is essential to note that any inaccuracies in the film were trivial and do not affect the main thrust of the evidence, which all neutral press observers regarded as very damning.

With gross dishonesty, proxy defenders of Sathya Sai Baba (eg. Gerald Joe Moreno) on the Internet and elsewhere have made much of the small inaccuracies, as they did, for example, in the case of the Paul Lewis article in British newspaper The Guardian [and always do on every issue]. See, The Indian living god, the paedophilia claims and the Duke of Edinburg Awards This technique is used wilfully to mislead and cover-up, since no Sai defender can refute the facts documented by the BBC as pointed out in the above.The same applies to Sathya Sai Baba’s chief propagandist, Prof. G. Venkataraman, head of a Sathya Sai Baba world-wide radio broadcasting network.

Further Reading The BBC’s ‘The Secret Swami’ – A Revision

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Information on the Public Petition for Official Investigations of Sathya Sai Baba and His Worldwide Organization
See also Devotee attacks on the Sai petition and petitioners