Major contradictions about ‘Divinity’ and more

In a discourse in January 1995, Sathya Sai Baba said: “The good and evil in the world are expressions of Divine consciousness. Man should not be misled by these expressions. Behind all the various actions of the actors, the Divine Director is at work.” (Sathya Sai Speaks Vol.28 new ed., p.1)

Since Sathya Sai Baba has many a time proclaimed himself to be the Divine Director of everything – and if he is therefore responsible in any way for anything good that occurs – he must also be equally responsible for all the so-called ‘evil’. This is the classic and unsolved dilemma of all those who believe in an omnipotent God. For how could he (she or it) be good and at the same time create or ‘direct’ evil actions? To say that whatever this supposed ‘incarnation’ does is an expression of divine consciousness simply avoids the problem with more empty talk. He also states that “none are free from the taint of evil” (Sathya Sai Speaks Vol 3., p.4). At the same time, yet more confusedly, he has sometimes also denied that anyone is either good or bad… or that good and bad even exists at all. In accepting he is behind everything – but is only pure and good in every way, while humans are responsible for ‘evil’ – Sai Baba shows his Janus-face along with many other kinds of duplicity.

Is there only a spark in everyone, or is everyone and everything God ?

Sai Baba often takes two contradictory standpoints [all the better no doubt to draw in more people of differing opinions or beliefs]. Though he has long supported and endlessly proclaimed the ancient Hindu teaching that there is divinity in everyone, his position is not at all as it seems. Among his many incompatible claims… he holds that every person, as well as every single living being, has a spark of the divine within. Much more than this, he often proclaims that everyone and everything IS God, nothing but God, nothing less! If it is not blindingly obvious that this is confused and confusing empty talk, one should click here to read why in more detail. If this were not enough contradiction, he has gone on to pronounce that certain people – those who criticize him – do not even have a spark of the divine in them. with “… a hard-hearted person cannot be called a spark of Divinity; he is verily a demon.” p. 323, Sanathana Sarathi, November 2002

The ‘spark of the divine’ notion is – obviously – in no way an original idea of Sathya Sai Baba – it is found in many Hindu writings before him and is also found widely outside Hinduism. It has become popular among many so-called ‘New Age’ thinkers and self-styled gurus and is even found in corporate culture, books on how to succeed and to lead. It is not an observable fact, of course, and is ultimately no more than  religious imaginings – though the divinity of human beings in any shape or form other than being made in the image of God (if that) is not accepted in most mainstream religions and sects.

Sai Baba has constantly tried in countless ways to make devotees dependent on him so that through him they can supposedly discover their own ‘divinity’. The methods vary from constant prayer to him, repetition of especially his name (as most propitious in this age), singing his name and his self-attributed ‘Glories’, plus worship of himself (written “worship of the Divine Form”). He willingly accepts adulation and worship… and has let countless thousands touch his feet in obeisance. This only leads to one becoming less self-dependent, less able to see one’s own divine nature in any way independently of “Him” Not surprisingly he denies all free will (except for himself), dislikes all independence of himself and ridicules self-reliant thinkers, independent scholars, and genuine intellectuals.Yet sometimes he admits that human beings do possess a degree of free will… for they can choose either to act righteously or not so, and so on. All in all, he gives a pick-and mix a la carte menu of a cacophony of standpoints… everyone can find something they like (and they ignore or forget the rest which clashes). This is typical of many religious organizations – believe what you want!

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Please go to the Public Petition for Official Investigations of Sathya (or Satya) Sai Baba and His Worldwide Organization