Sathya Sai Baba’s religious teaching

Sai teaching that he is God and his pick-and-mix ‘Sai religion’: To accept Sathya Sai Baba as an avatar of God is to adopt the dualistic paradigm (dvaita). He considers this an inferior form of understanding(!), yet he encourages it enormously! From his many claims about himself, his constant directions and the practices carried on around him, he is to be devotedly worshipped as God – as a separate ‘entity’ (person/incarnation). Unfortunately for that thesis, Sathya Sai Baba is himself a duality, the limited human being born as Satya Narayana Raju and the adopted the borrowed ‘divine identity’ as Sai Baba. This can be seen throughout his life by anyone who really has open eyes, however much he proclaims that God is One and that he alone is aware of being this Unity etc.

The very voluminous ‘teachings’ of Sai Baba, simply stated and very appealing at first glance, turn out upon closer analysis to be a pick-and-mix menu of many kinds of conflicting doctrines and ideas, virtually none of which are original to him. Hardly a single devotee studies these texts properly nor retains any degree of truly independent questioning or evaluation. Admittedly, the materials are unmanageable for most people with limited time, seeing that it is spread across thousands of documented discourses and numerous books etc. They contain a plethora of sweeping generalizations which largely invalidates them as serious advice, plus any number of factually incorrect – and often hilariously stupid – assertions on almost any subject that can be counter-checked (especially Christian scripture, the lives and sayings of various famous persons, scientists, and the sciences (see here) He also makes ridiculous assertions about health as dependent on piety on history, on Jesus’ life (see here) , and not least as to the achievements of Sai Baba and his movement.)

Sai discourses are packed with self-praise to the highest degree ever seen in world literature and often make absurdly excessive claims and many predictions which have already turned out to be incorrect. Worst of all, Sai Baba fails on many fronts and in countless instances to act fully in accordance with his own words about truthfulness, compassion, and even non-violence. This is extensively documented beyond any reasonable doubt, but is covered up or ignored by his supporters. They are charmed and beguiled through a long process of indoctrination and ashram social training within a more or less closed environment. They learn to see everything connected with Sai Baba as good and to avoid doubts and criticism like the devil. I can assert this with confidence, having lived through it to some extent myself. Questioning this extremely intuitive and crafty psychic is taboo, for he threatens very dire consequences to the unfaithful (in the afterlife, not least).

A new regime of threats from Sathya Sai Baba: Those Sai followers who are well-balanced enough to learn and investigate open-mindedly are still relatively few, it seems. But it does take time and personal courage. I feel that those who stick their heads in the sand do so more because of fear than for love or righteousness… fear of losses to themselves of all kinds. The loss involved would include imagined ‘grace’, if branded a poor devotee, a Judas, and even a demon by Sathya Sai Baba – terms he used against his critics and those who ‘betray’ him in his discourse on Christmas day, 2000, of all days- as if to sneer at and deride the message of forgiveness that Jesus preached, and even during his crucifixion! This reveals more about Sathya Sai Baba ‘s real, hidden nature than most of his utterances! It suggests a colossal disrespect of the core of Jesus’ teaching and the significance of Christmas to Christians!

The vagueness of Sathya Sai Baba’s threats – exactly what ‘sins’ they apply to – appears well-designed to cow devotees into total submission of any injustice and acceptance of any kind of wrong-doing or cover-up by anyone involved in Sai Baba ‘s institutions. We had already been gradually alienated from the Sathya Sai Organization by its practices, many of which from the ideals Sai Baba held up for it in earlier days – and not least due to its authoritarian rules, cronyism and high-handed treatment of people. I see it as a clear duty to state the actual (rather than the imagined). To work for the protection of good-willed but easily misled young persons (especially young men) everywhere, it is necessary to expose and help contain what – despite all good works also done by the good-intentioned in its name – has unfortunately taken on many subtle characteristics of a secretive, misinforming and many-layered power cult, and is therefore a potential social danger.

The following notice from a bulletin board states the overall position well: “The exposé has laid out thousands of separate web pages which document most of the whole gamut of this fraudulent person’s failings in such detail and with such credibility that not one devotee has been able to deal with it, let alone answer cogently or refute anything important in it all. They are silent! And remember, silence is the language of those with something to hide. If Sathya Sai Baba should suddenly actually become really famous, his infamy will by the same stroke unavoidably be known…. the media world, scientists, governments, human rights supporters, well-educated people and not least believing Muslims, Jews, Buddhists and Christians will find all the factual information and reasons ready-made as to why they should not credit his false claims of ‘universality’ etc. The truth will always eventually prevail, and we are therefore confident!”

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PLEASE SEE THE SAI PETITION AND DECIDE WHETHER TO SIGN IT