The Sathya Sai Baba Cult infiltration of SWARA

Below here is a transcript of the TV coverage of a public demonstration led by the manager, other staff  and numerous clients of the Brisbane institution  SWARA (the Pink Twins’ Sathya Sai Baba service project. The reason for the protest is clear from the content. It resulted in the departure of several of the staff and more clients from the cult-run Sunshine Welfare and Remedial Association.

Infiltrating a Cult
 February 2, 2009: Exclusive footage behind the scenes of an underground cult movement. 
Channel: ACA (A Current Affair) NineMSN

Click above image to see video clip

Below is a full transcript to the NineMSN program with comments and documentation links:

Tracy Grimshaw: Well it was founded as a Government run center for disabled people to learn life skills, now it’s accused of being a front for a bizarre religious cult that started in India.
ACA – NineMSN – A Current Affair: (Confrontation scene with Kelli Vallis shouting “hurry up…hurry up…we have physical violence towards people with a disability”.)
Chris Allen: Is this a cult?
Kelli Vallis: Absolutely. If you look up the definition of a cult, you will find that they fit almost all the criteria of a cult and their behavior, more importantly their behavior, is very cult-like.
ACA – NineMSN – A Current Affair: (Confrontation scene with Kelli Vallis shouting “Security guards are manhandling our clients and they are physically abusing them”.)
Chris Allen: Ugly scenes as disable people are locked out of a center built for them by the Queensland Government.
Kelli Vallis: They are disgraceful people. They’ve taken away their rights and now they’ve actually physically abused them.
Chris Allen: Kelli Vallis is the manger of the center, or was, until the committee which runs it sacked her after she led this protest.
Kelli Vallis: They have been taken over by a cult.
Chris Allen: This is government funded?
Kelli Vallis: It absolutely is.
Moyia O’Brien: That is completely ridiculous. That is not true. The Sai Baba Organisation is not a cult, it is not even a religion. It is a service group.
Chris Allen: Moiya O’Brien is Chairman of the committee which runs the center. She’s also a devotee of Sai Baba, the Indian mystic who claims to be a god.
Moyia O’Brien: I am convinced he is part of God. He’s part of who we are. But he is perhaps a bigger part than what we are.
Chris Allen: Skeptics say Sai Baba is also a big fraud. He claims to produce magic dust and jewels from thin air. But look closely and you can see the ash comes from pellets he crushes between his fingers. And the jewels he conjures up are just sleight of hand. Here he produces a necklace. Look again and you’ll see the fumble under the box. While never convicted of a criminal offence, there have been allegations of murder, fraud and sexual abuse of children. At one stage, the US Government issued a warning about visiting his ashram in Southern India. But that hasn’t stopped millions from believing in Sai Baba, including Moiya O’Brien.
Moyia O’Brien (taken from a video at a Sai Center): Sai Ram. Life is beautiful with Baba. We are all beautiful because he is changing us.
Chris Allen: Moiya is so devoted, she’s become a sort of Sai Baba elder in Australia.
Moyia O’Brien (taken from a video at a Sai Center): How could you not love him? Baba I love you, love and adore you.
Kelli Vallis: People who come here don’t make the choice to be involved in a belief system about an Indian guru who they believe is God incarnate.
Chris Allen: Kelli says five of the seven member committee which runs the center are Sai Baba and that Moiya O’Brien has allowed the group to use the center for prayer meetings.
Kelli Vallis: They have complete control over our service.

Chris Allen: (speaking to developmentally challenged man) Do they try and recruit you, ask you to join up?
Steve (developmentally challenged man): Yeah they did but I said no way.
Chris Allen: Disabled kinds like Steve and Michelle say they’ve been pressured to join up.
Michelle (developmentally challenged woman): Yes they have tried but I’ve just stood my ground and said no it’s not for me.
Moyia O’Brien: That is completely untrue. We have never discussed Sai Baba.

Chris Allen: (speaking to developmentally challenged man) Do they try and recruit you, ask you to join up?
Steve (developmentally challenged man): Yeah they did but I said no way.
Chris Allen: Disabled kinds like Steve and Michelle say they’ve been pressured to join up.
Michelle (developmentally challenged woman): Yes they have tried but I’ve just stood my ground and said no it’s not for me.
Moyia O’Brien: That is completely untrue. We have never discussed Sai Baba.
Moiya O’Brien (switching back to the cult accusation): I completely deny it.
Chris Allen: But you must appreciate that people are going to say this looks like a cult, smells like a cult, it must be a cult.
Moiya O’Brien: Yeah, but it is not necessarily said.

Chris Allen: Even sadder the sight of disabled clients being manhandled by security guards hired by the committee to keep them out.
Kelli Vallis: These people are not to be left in charge or responsible of this organization or the welfare of these people. It’s just disgraceful.
Tracy Grimshaw: And in a statement sent to A Current Affair, the Department of Communities and Disability Services Queensland said it’s now investigating complaints made against that center. We will let you know the outcome.

The report is still available on video here

See also Moiya O’Brien’s deceit about the Sathya Sai Organization

Australian Current Affair Exposes Sathya Sai Baba Cult

Australian Current Affair: ‘Infiltrating A Cult’ (Sathya Sai Baba)

SWARA’s Sai Baba members believe he is God the Creator

Sathya Sai Cult Under Media Scrutiny In Australia

Sathya Sai Organization & the SWARA project

Proxy Defender of SWARA