Sathya Sai Baba – the paranormal phenomena

The book published by Dale Beyerstein in 1992 questions, in summary form, the paranormal claims made about Indian guru and holy man Sri Sathya Sai Baba and his supposed psychic powers, plus various investigations that have been done of them.

The summary was made for the benefit of 1) those who have heard of Satya Sai Baba through second-hand stories from devotees, but who have not looked into the original sources of these stories; and 2) those familiar with writings of devotees but not by those who have made investigations of his claims.

Contents

1. Editor’s Introduction
   • The Purpose of This Study
   • Claims Made About Sathya Sai Baba
   • Format
   • Acknowledgements
2. Sai Baba: Omniscient and Omnipotent?
   • Omniscience
     1. Sai Baba’s Letter To Hislop, 8-9-69
     2. Sai Baba’s Letter To Hislop, 15-1-70
     3. V.K. Gokak’s Views
     4. More from Gokak
     5. V. Kanu’s Claims
     6. Sai Baba’s Explanations
     7. Sai Baba Claims Omniscience
   • Omnipotence
     1. Sai Baba’s Letter to Hislop, 8-9-69
3. Did Sai Baba Resurrect Someone From The Dead?
   • The Radhakrishna Case
     1. Kanu’s Account
     2. Murphet’s Account
     3. Dr. Gokak’s Endorsement
     4. Mrs. Radhakrishna’s Account, As Reported by Dr. Haraldsson
     5. Diary Record Kept by Vijaya Hemchand (Radhakrishna’s Daughter)
     6. Hislop’s Account
     7. The Rajah of Venkatigiri’s Account, as Reported by Haraldsson
   • The Cowan Case
     1. Kanu’s Account
     2. Hislop’s Account
     3. Dr. S. Sandweiss’ Endorsation of Hislop’s Account
     4. Premanand’s Comment on the Quality of Hislop’s Reporting
     5. Letter from Dr. Vaz (Cowan’s attending physician) to Premanand, 12-7-88
     6. Letter from Harish Khanna. General Manager, Connemara Hotel, to B. Premanand, 17-8-88
     7. Letter to B. Premanand from Dr B. Krishna Rau, 13-7-88
     8. Letter to B. Premanand from Dr. R.S. Rajagopalan, 24-7-88
     9. Dr. Haraldsson’s Hypothesis
     10. Premanand’s Response to Haraldsson’s Hypothesis
     11. Hislop’s Response to David Lane, 17-7-88
4. Does Sai Baba Have Complete Telepathic Knowledge?
   • Introduction
     1. Hislop’s Claim For Sai Baba’s Telepathic Knowledge
   • British Wit
     1. Sai Baba on Winston Churchill
     2. Churchill’s Wit, Represented by Everyone Else
   • Early 20th Century Britain
     1. Sai Baba on Ramsay Macdonald
     2. Biographers of Ramsay Macdonald on the Same Incident
   • Thomas Edison
     1. Sai Baba’s Explanation of Edison’s Deafness
     2. Edison Biographer M. Josephson’s Debunking of this Myth
   • Albert Einstein
     1. Sai Baba on Einstein’s Kindness to a Little Girl
     2. Ronald Clark Debunks This Story
     3. Sai Baba on Judgment of Character
   • History of India
     1. Sai Baba on Alexander the Great
     2. Comment by Dr. Anthony Barrett, Professor of Classics, the University of British Columbia
   • The New Testament and the Life of Jesus of Nazareth
     1. Sai Baba’s Claims About the Time Of Jesus’s Birth
   • The Month and Day of Jesus’ Birth
     1. Clement of Alexandria on the Month and Day of Jesus’s Birth
     2. J.A.S. Evans, Head, Classics Department, the University of British Columbia, on Sai Baba’s Dating Jesus’s Birth at 2 B.C.
     3. Paul Mosca, Professor Of Hebrew, UBC, on Sai Baba’s Dating of 2 B.C.
     4. Paul Mosca’s Comment on Sai Baba’ Claim that Jesus’s Birthday Was a Sunday
     5. Sai Baba’s First Statement About the Meaning of the Star of Bethlehem
     6. Sai Baba’s Second Statement About the Meaning of the Star of Bethlehem
   • The Religious Practices of Judea
     1. Sai Baba on Jesus’s Attitude Toward Temple Ritual
     2. The Gospels On Jesus’s Attitude Toward Temple Rituals
     3. Jesus Endorsing Sacrifice at the Temple
     4. Jesus Endorsing Sacrifice at the End of His Ministry
     5. Paul Mosca’s View of Jesus’s Position on Sacrifice
     6. Jesus and Money-changers, According to Mark
     7. Sai Baba on Temples (1)
     8. Sai Baba on Temples (2)
     9. Paul Mosca on the Temple of Jerusalem
   • Jesus’ Crucifixion
     1. Sai Baba on Judas Iscariot’s Name (1)
     2. Sai Baba on Judas Iscariot’s Name (2)
     3. Sai Baba’s Claim that Jesus was on an Eight-Day Fast Prior to the Crucifixion
     4. Another Version Of Sai Baba’s Remark
     5. Uno Langmann’s Comments on the Crucifix
     6. William S. Dale’s Comments on the Crucifix
   • Indian Classical Music
     1. Mrs. Kamala Sarathy’s Description of Sai Baba’s Knowledge of Music
     2. Data for Alternate Hypothesis, As Reported by Mrs. Sarathy
   • Physical Sciences
     1. Sai Baba’s Knowledge of Geology, and Its Relationship to Chemistry, Physics and Botany
     2. Sai Baba’s Comprehension of the Meanings of Scientific Terms
   • Patent Law
     1. Sai Baba on Patent Law
     2. T. Ganesh U. Pai in Conversation With A Sai Baba Devotee Who Is a Lawyer
   • Sanskrit
     1. Lawrence Babb On Sai Baba’s Knowledge of Sanskrit
     2. Sai Baba on `Dharma’
     3. Joseph Campbell on `Dharma’
     4. The Origin of `Guru’ According to Sai Baba
   • What Accounts for Sai Baba’s Mistakes?
     1. H. Murphet Quoting from Dr. Bhagavantam on Sai Baba’s Attitude Toward Books
   • Knowledge of Devotees’ Lives
     1. Kanu’s Claim
     2. Haraldsson’s Survey of Devotees
     3. Haraldsson on Sai Baba’s Predictions
     4. Premanand’s Account of Ramaswamy’s Audience With Sai Baba
     5. Transcript of Audiences With Sai Baba, By Devotee Annemarie Marwah
     6. Audience with Phyllis Krystal
5. Materializations
   • Lingams
   • Other Materializations
6. Sundry Miracles
   • Introduction
   • Water Into Gas
   • The Seiko Watch Materialization
   • `Petal Calligraphy’
   • Materialization of a Large Glass Bowl
   • Other Materializations
   • Bilocation
7. Healings and Rescues
   • Healings
   • Rescues
8. Does Sai Baba’s Life Fulfil Ancient Prophesies?
   • Did Jesus Foretell Sai Baba’s Arrival?
   • Mohammed’s Prediction of Sai Baba’s Arrival
9. Bibliography