G. VENKATARAMAN – CHIEF PROPAGANDIST FOR ‘GOD’

Ex-nuclear physicist Dr. G. Venkataraman is keen to imprint on his readers that, in studying anything about science, they are observing “The Glory of God”. This is, of course, an assumption and is not even a testable hypothesis, being a vague (undefined and indefinite) conception which is entirely non-operational.  It is wrong to write about science from the viewpoint of a “true believer” in Sathya Sai Baba as God the Creator Incarnate, as Venkataraman does.

Dr. Venkataraman takes after Sathya Sai Baba and all others who try to convince through ‘sham reasoning’. Philosopher C.S. Peirce explained this as “pseudo-inquiry aimed not at finding the truth but at making a case for some conclusion immovably believed in advance”.  Trying to foreshorten science to fit onto the Procrustean bed of religious belief, forcing personal and subjective interpretations onto scientific facts and theories – while presenting oneself as ‘a scientist’ while one is writing mainly as a believer is to disqualify oneself completely as a serious thinker.  When the patina of well-known scientific facts is stripped off, only preaching what Sai Baba has claimed remains. 

Science and Belief in God To accept Sathya Sai Baba as a universal teacher also means accepting ‘Creationism’ (see here ), That is a totally discredited quasi-theory, banned from education by a 1987 Supreme Court ruling. Venkataraman’s attempt to misuse science to support his belief in God does not befit anyone who truly bends to the scientific spirit. Among the millions of scientists today, believers in a God creator and regulator of the universe are in a minority which is gradually decreasing.  As Professor Dawkins, a world-famous scientist as a foremost geneticist and evolutionary scientist and also as a non-believer in religion, has pointed out in his super bestseller The God Delusion – hardly any truly notable scientists today believe in God. (read his 1’st chapter here http://richarddawkins.net/godDelusion#firstChapter ). Dawkins writes: “The only website I could find that claimed to list ‘Nobel-Prize-winning Scientific Christians’ came up with six, out of a total of several hundred scientific Nobelists” [The God Delusion paperback –  page 126].  Another interesting research shows how scientists in general are far less religious than average [ http://www.livescience.com/history/070629_religious_scientists.html ].

Einstein was not a religious believer in God
Venkataraman has promoted many famous scientists in his popularistic series (see my previous blog here) – as if this thereby lends credence to his main contention: to believe in God. Religionists – especially Sai followers in their endless hagiographies – try their utmost to allege that many scientists are believers, particularly referring to the incomparable Albert Einstein. However, Einstein wrote: “It was of course a lie when you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly” (see here). “The idea of a personal God is quite alien to me and seems even naïve.” [Albert Einstein in a letter to Beatrice Frohlich, December 17, 1952; Einstein Archive 59-797; from Alice Calaprice, ed., The Expanded Quotable Einstein, Princeton, : Princeton University Press, 2000, p. 217. ] Einstein used the word God occasionally but never in the religious sense or as a Creator [as in ‘God does not play dice’- an analogy for causal determinism, in which Einstein did believe].
SEE ALSO

Dr. G. Venkataraman’s delusions and cynical cover up
Donations to Sathya Sai Central Trust misused by/for directors etc.
Slander by Dr. G. Venkataraman & Joe Moreno
Atomic physics Puttaparthi style. Deeply intriguing

 

Dr. G. VENKATARAMAN – THE MOST GULLIBLE PHYSICIST ALIVE?

Dr. G. Venkataraman writes in Part 4 of his 7-part series entitled “In Quest of Infinity” on his Radio Sai website “You know, when I think about it all, I am simply wonder struck. On one side of it is God who has created the Universe in which all these wonderful things happen. On the other side, there He is in human form in Parthi, going about as if He is not aware of any of the mysteries in the Universe” View excerpt scanned from that page (click here to view the scan and comments) Source page on radio-sai

Dr. G. Venkataraman reviews at length developments in our scientific knowledge of the cosmos… though nothing scientific that is not found in hundreds of books and other media. Venkataraman was a physicist working for the Indian government’s nuclear programme. However, he has copied his information on astronomy from other scientific authorities. Yet he does not once attribute anything he reports to its originators or to other scientific sources! He has even plagiarised text from such as the  Dennis Dutton website, without any mention.

Outright plagiarism by a man given many Indian awards. This shows a lot about the system in India and how dishonest academics benefit from it. Both text and an image at http://media.radiosai.org/journals/Vol_05/01MAY07/04-SFI.htm were ‘lifted’ from denisdutton.com/einstein_eddington.htm by Prof. G. Venkataraman, without acknowledgement. He also took the following images, all  without acknowledgement:- ‘The Big Bang’ image from science.hq.nasa.gov/universe/science/bang.html ‘An Expanding Universe’ from http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/Phys-SNAP-dark-energy.html ‘The Periodic Table of Elements’ is from http://www.scientificpsychic.com/health/chemistry.html (on which he has even imposed the logo of Radio Sai! ‘The Chandra Telescope’ images come from starbulletin.com/2000/01/14/news/story1.html and from http://whyfiles.org/223orbital_astro/images/chandradiag.jpg The images of white dwarfs are falsely sub-titled “www.radio sai” but they are taken  from http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/Images/science/hubble_m4wd.jpg He uses copyright images from the Anglo-Australian Observatory at http://astro.ic.ac.uk/Research/Stellar/images/aat050.jpg

This failure to cite any references in articles on science or academic subjects is regarded as dilettantism by scientists and scholars. The innocent and uneducated may well believe that Venkataraman  discovered such things himself, when he is simply promoting himself as if he were an authoritative researcher. This marks him out as bogus. In addition to this absence of basic scholarly standards, he has a pretentious main agenda. He presumes to inform us of 1) The Cosmic origin of man.  2) Man’s Cosmic connections. 3) Man’s Cosmic responsibilities, and 4) Man’s Cosmic Destiny, no less!
These (contra-feminist) titles alone reveal that he is setting himself up as some kind of ‘spiritual mouthpiece’, misusing science as a mere tool in an attempt to inculcate religious belief – preferably  faith in his Lord and Master, Sathya Sai Baba, as the Incarnation of God Almighty in this Age.

Venkataraman posts his various lessons and lectures on the website he directs, and he receives no peer comment, let alone criticism, from within the Sai Baba movement, and such is not permitted at all! At the Sathya Sai educational institutions – where servile respect for elders and what they teach is an unbroken rule, no teacher or student would ever are to put a critical question to Sai-luminaries.  Protected from any critical debate and intellectual inquiry in the passive circle of co-admirers of Sathya Sai Baba, Venkataraman is able – with his Lord and Master holding the chain behind him – figuratively to bark down anyone in his vicinity who might dare to question his undigested and highly doubtful views. However, the wider world of genuine research and discussion – where excellence arises from rigorous peer review and disputation – will not be impressed in the least.

Dr. Venkataraman writes – as if he knows directly and authoritatively – of God and his existence etc. (actually – he really thinks he knows God personally as Sathya Sai Baba!) All the signs of pseudo-philosophy on a wholly belief-driven agenda are there, for he only parrots Sathya Sai Baba’s beliefs and propaganda without any critical thought whatever, even when they are wholly preposterous and in conflict with the most established scientific and historical fact (see overview here).

Evidently, far too much now depends on it for him, evidently – prestige and pelf, employment and perks. Sai Baba is his God and patron, and Venkataraman is his beneficiary (having received from Sai Baba an expensive new Japanese car paid for by funds donated by well-meaning followers who thought the money would go to raise the poor instead! (such as myself, alas, having once contributed enough to buy a number of cars). Venkataraman did not refuse to accept the brand new Japanese vehicle as a personal gift from his Lord (who says he has no money or property anyhow) and so becomes yet more of a  consumer than before…  one who immorally accepts what amounts to a bribe for allegiance paid for by money donated for the good of the poor, unhealthy and uneducated! Under Sathya Sai Baba’s direction, he willingly compromised himself. [Four other Sai-VIP’s accepted identical free cars].

See also

Dr.G. Venkataraman – physicist ‘explains’ Sathya Sai Baba Dr. G. Venkataraman rambles on denigrating scientists and science and promoting Sathya Sai Baba – as God descended to earth – and his most spurious speculations (‘teachings’) about an invisible beyond.

G. Venkataraman’s out-dated and fallacious ideas – part two  Propagating Sai Baba’s anti-scientific views, Dr. G. Venkataraman – former physicist – attacks science and scientists in general for the usual sins that religionists hold them to be committing. These I refute at some length, as called for.

See four-part article ‘The Sathya Sai Organization’s Deception and Propaganda Exposed’ refutation of Dr. G. Venkataraman’s mendacious and confused attack on Sai dissidents

Dictator Idi Amin – Sai Baba’s warm recollections The gullible ex-scientist Dr. G. Venkataraman enthuses over Sai Baba’s relations with most gruesome dictator Idi Amin, with crocodiles and more!

Dr Venkataraman, a victim of emotional blackmail?

Apologist for Sathya Sai Baba

Atomic physics Venkataraman-Puttaparthi style. Deeply intriguing

Dr. G. Venkataraman’s delusions and cynical cover up

Money, Morality and Sai-worshipper Dr. Venkataraman

Dr. G.  Venkataraman writes a lot about scientific discoveries in his series on the heart-to-heart website which he runs in connection with Radio Sai, but he writes from the standpoint of a religious believer and preacher of morality. There is therefore not much head-to-head communication in it, and – though he reproduces information of a popular scientific kind well enough, the bias is quite a-scientific in spirit. Take for example, his article “4 M’s – MAN, MONEY, MYTH AND MORALITY By Prof. G. Venkataraman“.
He firstly dwells on how science has affected technology – simple, well-known high school level stuff.  Economists who were his audience must have been bored stiff with a patronising lecture on such elementary events in the rise of industrial technology known well enough to any educated person.However, he summed up the whole thrust of his lecture as follows: “My central point was that when man goes avidly in quest of wealth, he quickly loses discrimination and begins to swallow all kinds of myths. This results in man abandoning scruples, if not wholly, at least in substantial measure, and in turn that leads to disaster. In other words, my pitch was that nobody, economists included, can afford to ignore Morality in the larger scheme of things.”
What’s the point, one wonders… it is unclear whether he means that they should not invest in exploitative companies, or rather abandon economic realities and the profit motive and wealth creation generally? It’s anyone’s guess.

The pot calling the kettle black! 

Venkataraman has lost all his scruples about sexual abuse allegations and murder cover-up by Sai Baba, he is comfortable with all of it! (See here!) So morality is certainly ignored in his scheme of things, at any rate. He also tells what everyone knows anyhow, how scientists made the atomic bomb and states, “Overnight, scientists lost their innocence and became putty in the hands of those who had money to throw.” Well, G. Venkataraman is one of those very persons, for – like his more accomplished former colleague Dr. Bhagavantam – he worked for the Indian government on developing atomics which backed up India’s nuclear capacity! Now he is preaching against this… and he is one of the guilty!

His agenda is definitely unscientific, for it is religious moralising, as is clear from his words here: “Swami puts it all neatly and crisply. He says we must first have Love for God followed by a fear of sin. If these two are present, then Morality in Society would automatically follow.”

This has been preached for centuries in the Christian world (love and love of God have been a Judeo-Christian concept altogether until very recent centuries) but now we are told by Sai Baba that the world is ever more imbued with evil in this Age of Kali! This is really simplistic empty talk which provides no practical solution to the vast world problems with which science and economy are struggling to cope. Add to this that Venkataraman has swallowed quite other types of myth than consumerism; those connected with Sathya Sai Baba – which are of a megalomaniacal sort! More on the issue of Venkataraman’s  compromised position coming soon

RELIGIOUS FRAUD AND WHITEWASH IN INDIA

 

[The following account is based on an excellent editorial which deserves further mention see here (http://www.exbaba.com/shortnews/Cybernoon_com.htm]

A. R. Kanangi (Editorial Saturday Nov. 04, 2006) wrote about superstition being a crutch. He said that there is only a thin line between superstition and faith and that people who are frightened and confused about life and death want a crutch, even if it is shaky. He believes that the new law on superstition is necessary and that it will stop some horrible, cruel practices. As to Sathya Sai Baba, Karangi called him a ‘Clean Cheat’ (but how clean a cheat one can be is anyone’s guess). He considers that, had the bill on superstition been passed 45 years ago, “Satya Sai Baba would have attracted arrest”. He notes how Sai Baba was successful in cashing on the gullibility of people in claiming to be an avatar endowed with supernatural powers. Yet he states that “What he actually did was some cheap tricks like getting watches and kumkum from nowhere

One has to agree with the editor that today there is a unique phenomenon in people who derive mileage from superstition and fears in the minds of innocent, gullible people to make it big themselves. Ironically, once their own survival is ensured, “they start colleges, hospitals, charity institutions, industrial units and other enterprises. They use the huge money they get from worshippers as well as from foreign sources to build a township.” He notes how people then forget about the cheating and exploitation and give them a clean chit, imagining that they did not misuse the funds but used them for collective good. The editor concludes that their tricks and fraudulence are then rationalised as having been done in view of a definite goal.

Dirty Money Washed Fresh and New? This way of mentally turning fraud and crime into acts having positive ends is practiced by Sai Baba in taking dirty money so as to put it to good use (what Mahatma Gandhi eschewed as ‘blood money’). He has accepted donations from so-called ‘liquor barons’ and Indian criminals such as Bangarappa and also has accepted out-and-out Mafia money.  Antonio Craxi (brother of the Mafia-connected Prime Minister Bettino Craxi) visited Sai Baba and was later exiled from for massive fraud. Antonio reputedly gave Baba millions so as to try to wash off his own guilt, according to his enemies like Pietro Marena, who eventually successfully usurped Craxi’s position as leader of the Italian Sathya Sai Organization. V.K. Narasimhan told me he had never in his life heard such verbal abuse as Craxi used against other Organisation leaders!). Who knows all the dirty money that may be flowing in and out of the unaccountable tax-exempt ‘God-whitewash’?

 

Sathya Sai Baba made it up as he went along

Sathya Sai Baba heralded in “The Golden Age” of mankind and jumped the gun several times. (see The Golden Age (Sathya Yuga)  or here, or  here.) He supposed himself to be the precursor of such an age, and – as often documented – it will begin by his reforming India completely first, then the rest of the world. Sai Baba has told people on occasion that a great shift in human consciousness will come – he did so before the millennium (but nothing happened, not even the millennium bug – thereafter Twin Towers and the war on terror began).

Rumours circulated by Sathya Sai Baba at regular intervals of big changes coming (sometimes disasterous ones!) kept devotees in suspense and/or hope for the future, and still does with those in deep denial of his crimes. Remaining devotees are  incapable of looking back across all the failed predictions and direct lies Sai Baba perpetrated over the decades. For example, the New Zealand devotees, Poppy and Arthur Hillcoat, visited Cherepovets Russia in May, 2005. Poppy said she saw Rita and Robert Bruce just before leaving for Russia, and – as reported on the Russian Forum (screen capture above) – was told by them (LITERAL TRANSLATION):

“Yes, exactly they are. At the conference Rita and Robert conducted a one-day workshop of ‘parenting school’ and a workshop on ‘family and marriage’.
I do not remember exact titles. And it was Rita Bruce whom Swami told about practically instant transformation of people’s consciousness after his 80th anniversary.”

(The infamous ‘Hislop letters’ on sexual abuses of young men by Sai Baba were sent to US Sai-VIPs including Robert and Rita Bruce! Both are in total denial of all the facts they have encountered but ignored so as to “keep their faith”) continues to mislead people around the world by repeating truly absurd claims made to her by Sai Baba in the privacy of the interview room.

Sathya Sai Baba had the stick by the wrong end
It is most likely true, as Herbert Marcuse has said, that “A prerequisite of social transformation is the emergence of a new consciousness” But this did not happen as predicted after the 80^th Birthday (of course), nor after his death in 2011. It can only be a gradual process along with diverse social changes, proper economic planning to lift people from poverty, sickness, ignorance and not least also superstitious beliefs and spiritual guru-dependencies. It will surely require very much increased national and also personal ‘green awareness’ and action on the very pressing issues of ecology, over-exploitation of natural resources, pollution of the earth, air and water and climate change (global warming).
Maneka Gandhi,Vandana Shiva, Arundati Roy still remain far too peripheral to Indian policy-making. Sathya Sai Baba’s contribution to raising awareness of ecological issues is minimal and mostly ill-informed – claiming that the inner workings of Divinity are where it all happens – as already noted on this blogsite.

See also Connie Shaw: Sai Baba’s bogus ‘promise of world peace’and golden age discredited

 

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View ex-follower signatures on the Public Petition for Official Investigations of Sathya Sai Baba and his Worldwide Organization

Miracle: Sai Baba spews out 3 tons of gold: he says

Sathya Sai Baba made a preposterous statement: (Anil Kumar’s translation directly after Sai Baba’s words in Telugu): “Out of the stomach emanated Shiva Lingas of the weight of three tonnes. That’s the reason why some strain on the face and the body.” see the BBC on the failed lingodbhava of Feburary 2004 (photos here) video clip also Sai Baba’s collapse and exit transcript and video clip of his famous explanation here)

But no strain on his hand when he took it from the towel? He must have been VERY strong… but then God IS very strong, isn’t it?
No strain on the wooden table either…  Is there something a wee bit fishy and porky about Sai Baba’s explanation?

It was claimed that there were three lingams in all, one which we saw which came from his hanky, two more he was said to have ‘regurgitated’ in a private room after stumbling off stage! (Really!) Was that ONLY three tons? It’s all so hard to get to the bottom of this somehow… but then it was hard for the world-famous magician Houdini’s public to understand how he had invented the egg-regurgitating trick too!

So how could the Divine Will at the 2004 Shivarathri lingodbhava falter? Why did it all go pear-shaped in public? Was it a Divine Glitch? Or a “Divine test of credulity”?  A sudden reversal of polarity in the Divine Magnetic Power? Or was it that the lingam stuck in Sai Baba’s “magnetic” body somewhere along the line?

Last but not least, you could enter the world-wide competition to provide the solution – please post your answers in a plain brown envelope! Be the goose that lays that golden egg…

In his discourse after the Shivarathri lingodbhava two years previously (13/3/2002), Sai Baba stated: “(Showing the golden Linga to the devotees, Swami said). “As you can all see, this Linga is rather bigger in size. There is a meaning behind this. This is five Tolas in weight. [one Tola is 11.66 grams. 5 Tolas = about 60.0 grams] Every human being possesses five Tolas of gold essence known as Hiranyagarbha… Gold represents energy in man and is the cause of his radiance. The gold content within each body is this size only. It is gold essence in the body that makes the eyes see, ears hear etc.” (Sanathana Sarathi – April 2002, p. 127)
However, the human body cannot possibly contain so much gold! In Wikipedia we find that the amount of gold in the human body is vanishingly tiny

Sai Baba boasts of his gold churning ‘womb’

There is a lot here to figure out! God’s womb… well, we have been told that Sathya Sai Baba is a hermaphrodite, he has himself repeatedly claimed to be the female and male principles (Shakthi and Shiva) in one body. There is something unfathomably queer going on here… a vigorous churning process? And in his divine ‘womb’? But then how can we mere humans hope to understand it – or anything as it really is- as Sai Baba is ever telling us himself (since he says he knows all of it)?

AN HEURISTIC PRESENTATION MAKES IT ALL MUCH CLEARER? Sai asks: “What is the significance of Lingodbhava?” Ironic Reply: Ah! Sir, sir, does it represent the Creation of the Universe? Sai said: ” Linga means a symbol or a sign.” Ironic Reply: But what is a symbol or a sign OF, sir? Sai states: “It symbolises the Formless Divinity” Ironic Reply: You are the Creator of the Universe, as you have often told the crowds. So it churns and churns in your stomach then comes out on Shivarathri night – sometimes twice or even up to nine times in days gone by? Sai explains: ” As you can see the Linga has no distinctive features like eyes, face etc. It has neither feet nor head. Ironic Reply: Cor, really, is that so, sir? Sai vouchsafes: “It can be turned in any manner. Where is its head and where are its feet?” Ironic Reply: Search me, sir!

See Sathya Sai Baba’s fraudulent “production of the Linga through the mouth” here
[Video clips from http://www.srai.org/%5D
Baba cheating with lingam (1,91 MB, with sound)
Baba cheating with lingam (4 MB)
Baba cheating with lingam (5 MB, with sound)
A film clip of the ‘actual emergence’ has been posted on the internet by devotees. One can pause the video and examine each frame separately to analyse the movements. (The film clip appeared originally on kingdomofsai.org. Sai Baba vomited a spurt of liquid twice, only the last time filmed with the hankerchief trick). From before the alleged ’emergence’, Sai Baba is clearly seen to be holding something just about the size of the lingam inside the towel between the thumb and forefinger of his right hand! Now what on earth could that be, one wonders? After the vomit, he lets go of what he was holding in secret and fumbles to extract it with his right hand, taking the lingam from under the towel just where it was being held earlier, and we see a rather confused look of resignation cross his features.
View the most important fragment of the clip)

Magnetic farce – Sai Baba stuck to the ground?

This magnetism “does not come from anywhere outside” but then it is in temples? Sathya Sai Baba made one of his most hilariously absurd claims when he said that Mother Earth was so attracted to his magnetic feet that he could not lift them. [In fact, he had a serious hip problem which he was trying to cover up, until it collapsed entirely]. His magnetism, he said, was so strong his hands stuck to everything! He claims that the golden egg-shaped ‘lingam’ he pretends to materialize in his stomach and which he makes a great show of painfully vomiting forth on the Night of Shiva (‘Shivarathri’ – usually in February) resulted from all the gold in his body ‘churning and churning’. He attributed this to his hugely increased magnetic power (though gold does not magnetise, though he evidently believes it does). Later he tried to extract himself from the laughing stocks into which he had locked himself.

“Worldly magnets attract only iron filings whereas the Divine magnetic power attracts the entire world. (prolonged applause)” (Sanathana Sarathi , April ’03., p.122)

He is still very confused about what is physical and what is divine magnetism. But at Mahashivarathri 2002 he said that magnetic power is ONLY in Divinity (clearly meaning himself, the one whose feet and hands are all stuck up) and then, a year later (16/3/2003) that magnetic power is in everyone and, as seen above, even in flowers and fruit). In earlier discourses, such as on Mahashivarathri, March 13, 2002, for example, he said:

“Since the last two days, in order for this Linga to be formed, My whole body became magnetic.” Also “Even the rivers flow, clinging to the earth, due to the magnetism of the earth. Even the wind blows due to magnetic power. Magnetism is pervading everywhere. All the flowers and fruits that they offer are full of magnetism. So, this magnetic power, which is all-pervading, is shining in that temple. When so many thousands of devotees enter, this magnetism increases day-by-day. It will not decrease. When a small iron piece is kept near a magnet, after a few days even that iron piece will become a magnet. So the individuals who enter into the temple and the things that they offer are all full of magnetism. Therefore, from where did the great powers of the temple arise? It comes from the magnetic power brought from the devotees. Hence, every individual fully has this magnetism. It is this Divine power that arises in temples, attracts all individuals and also reveals all powers. This magnetism contains Divine power. It is said that magnetism is a temple’s nature. In science, they feel that it is pieces of magnet. They call it materialist magnet. This magnetism (Divine power) is shining in every single human being.”

“So when I put My foot down, the whole foot stuck to the ground. It is a little hard to lift a foot that is stuck. Wherever I walk, it sticks there. Whatever is held, it sticks to My hand. This magnet is not in everyone like this. This magnet is so powerful only in Divinity.” See Discourse on Shivarathri Day March 13

He has surely heard that the earth has a magnetic field with North and South magnetic poles? He seems to imagine this is what drags on his feet, or vice-versa. If this had been so, then his food would stick in his gullet and throughout his body. He says he lifts one foot by his ‘divine will (sankalpa)’ despite the massive force, but meanwhile the other one sticks to the ground. But it is unadvisable to lift both feet off the ground simultaneously. Well, this walking in a sea of tar is all entertaining comical Godswallop! The mystery is how apparently intelligent people can swallow it without losing faith in him!The magnetism got so powerful in May 2003 that it pulled him hard down to his bathroom floor and broke his apparently osteo-arthritic hip, so his will (i.e. ‘sankalpa‘) was not enough, it seems. He had to be operated by doctors in hospital and stop giving darshan!

See also http://www.saibaba-x.org.uk/21/magnet0.htm”
http://www.saibaba-x.org.uk/21/magnet1.htm
http://www.saibaba-x.org.uk/21/Magnet2.htm

Fake “diamonds” & cheap baubles from Sathya Sai Baba

Various angles on the synthetic sapphire ring from Sai baba

Bogus ring and silver ‘dollar’ – for Priddy family Alleged ‘green diamond’ stone given to Robert Priddy Dec. 24th 1986, and seemingly ‘materialised’ by Sathya Sai Baba.  Also a silver medallion given to Mrs. R. Priddy likewise.

Ring Sai Baba apparently ‘materialized’ for Robert Priddy Xmas 1986 – siad to be a diamond, but proven to be a very cheap synthetic sappjhire

There are many very well known persons in India who sport Sai Baba greenstone gems believing they are genuine “diamonds”. Such as T.N. Seshan, former President of the Electoral Commission of India, Mr. Indulal Shah – former Chairman of the International Sathya Sai Organization. The current Chairman of the Sathya Sai Organization,  Dr. Michael Goldstein wears one, and also Mr. Victor Kanu of Zambia who runs an authoritarian Sai school there. There are many more wearers. One can see such a ring which was almost identical to the one I wore here – worn by my former friend Mr. Robert Bruce (who has cut me off totally because I am not a believer any more). Robert Bruce told me when comparing our green stones that some supposed ‘expert’ had told him these were worth about 5 or 6 million dollars each! One has to laugh! Many Indian Ministers wear supposed “Sai Baba diamonds” – white or even ruby coloured sometimes. Interestingly, there is NOT ONE RELIABLE DOCUMENT confirming that any such stone is genuine. It may be that Sai Baba actually did give the occasional genuine diamond away to very important Indian leaders who he could fear might expose his fraud (he could certainly afford it).

Bogus green ‘diamond’ worn by the architect of the Sathya Sai Super-speciality Hospital, Prof. Keith Crichlow

Ageing and collapse in Sai Baba’s health

The Three P’s? Since his second hip injury in 2003, and several subsequent bone breakages, it seems that his purity, patience and perseverance have flown, but not pomp, pride and ‘paedophilia accusations. It is of note that photos of Sai Baba have ceased to appear on the official website… except where his features and expression cannot be seen properly. It is said that he is degenerating more and more, can’t speak properly. Considering how much help and hand guidance he has needed for about two years for every simple thing like cutting a cake, the reports on the jungle telegraph that he cannot manage his own basic bodily functions any longer may be true. But his officials would NEVER allow such things to leak out – it would be far too embarrassing and serious for the whole undertaking.

Sathya Sai Baba’s lies about his health etc. can also be examined here.

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Sai Baba caught in cheating about the Christian Bible

    

Sathya Sai Baba pretends that this is a very special tiny Bible – which he was claimed to have “materialized” during his Christmas Discourse in 1996 (but did not let anyone inspect it and it was seen no more after the discourse). Now the reason for its “disappearance” is obvious… for it is on sale in many shops, and can also be bought on-line as in the above capture of details from the website.In fact, this Bible contains nothing but a selection of texts from the Old and New Testaments, including all of the four gospels. >However, that is not at all what Sai Baba claimed it to be:  “a book compiled in Britain around 1530 A.D. containing all the information about Jesus gathered during the preceding centuries. The Russians condensed all the material in a small book [in which language?] which they preserved in a place on the Black Sea coast [not named].”  (Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. XXIX, p.394). The official report continues: Svaami produced the little book by a circular wave of His hand and held it before the audience.] “This is the book. You can see the cross on the cover page. The book was designed to demonstrate the common features of all religions. What is contained in this book is not to be found even in the Bible. It contains an entirely new account of the life of Jesus.” [Bold type added].

This last claim is a complete and utter calculated lie, for it contains no such thing whatever! Someone had obtained a copy and given it to him, no doubt, and – assuming that his followers would automatically believe he had materialized it – he invented a cock-and-bull story about its origin. Did he not carry out this charade – this adharmic cheating – to try to attract more Christians to his sheepfold and give his lagging followers a bit of news, which they always crave?

The researcher Brian Steel writes: “Apart from Sai Baba’s three conflicting descriptions of the book’s contents, this is a most disturbing performance because on a video of the ‘materialisation’, Baba merely seems to pluck the miniature book (2 and a half centimetres by 3 and a quarter) from below the ledge of the table he is leaning on. Photographs of Baba holding up the tiny book were immediately circulated in Puttaparthi. One of these is on the cover of the Spanish edition of the January 1997 issue of Sanathana Sarathi Eterno Conductor) for that same month. However, the mysterious book appears to be nothing more than a copy of the “Good News” edition of the New Testament, freely and cheaply available in India, and overseas. (See Chapter 6)  [Of Sathya Sai Baba: God or Guru?]” ( Check Steels’ webpage)

The Death of Sathya Sai Baba – the end of pomp and pride (update)

Sathya Sai Baba had, as is well known, occasionally prophesied his own death, only he has given different dates for it at different times (see here) , and had even (contradictorily) proclaimed to close followers that he would decide when to die depending on whether his task is complete or not. The exact day – his 95th birthday – was even reported in a public speech by Dr. A Murthy who led at the 1998 World Conference on the Future of Mankind before Sathya Sai Baba! We all now know that not one of his predictions on this held up to the fact – he lived for 84 years only.

Death cuts off the pride and pomp of those who indulge in them! Guess who indulged himself in that! Look at any of the official Sai Baba websites and see the photographs which display pomp galore, tinsel unbounded but also gold and silver trappings, many thrones and chariots – all of which Sathya Sai Baba encouraged and often carefully planned for himself! But see what he says about such things:-

Yet another date was given by Sathya Sai Baba to Karlis Osis and Erlendur Haraldsson, as follows:-

YET ANOTHER CONTRADICTORY PREDICTION! SAI BABA WAS TRYING TO COVER MANY OPTIONS – BUT HE FAILED ENTIRELY AS HE ONLY REACHED 84 YEARS OF AG

Former Minister Nagireddy accused the Sathya Sai Central Trust for the death of Sathya Sai baba – and major cover-up of facts

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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

Puttaparthi properties, hotels and transport

 

The property boom around Sathya Sai Baba ashrams is one of the sustaining factors of the Sai movement, having become the nub of a wide range of dependent estate agencies and all the services and workers which these involve. Hotels close to the Prashanthi Nilayam ashram, such as Sai Towers, have become super rich. The village populations of both Puttaparthi and Whitefield have profited vastly by the letting of rooms and properties, since the flow of foreign visitors has grown to many thousands per month. The Andhra Pradesh State and also Central government have given huge sums to the improvement of facilities – road improvement and bus stations, an airport, a dedicated railway along with major promotion of Sathya Sai Baba and his ashrams as a tourist attraction. (Puttaparthi railway station, Puttaparthi Sai Airport).All this is a question of power and money, which is the dominant factor in Sathya Sai’s activities altogether these days, despite his pretence of being a virtual renunciant and disinterested in any money or property. His younger brother, Janakiramiah, who V.K. Narasimhan told me masterminded through blackmail the execution by police of four assailants who were trapped in Sai Baba’s bedroom,  made a vast fortune from property speculation in Puttaparthi. Sathya Sai took Jankiramiah on the multi-billion dollar tax-exempt Sathya Sai Central Trust directly after this! (Read more ).

All this is one of the most noticeable effects of the Advent of this self-claimed “Avatar of Vishnu” – to boost local business, tourist traffic and donations to his mini-empire… Is this how he is saving humanity from catastrophe (as he has claimed he will)?

 

Sathya Sai Baba and the exploitation of women

Sathya Sai Baba makes some extraordinary claims here. Bharat (i.e. India) was safe from two world wars simply because of its virtuous women? Firstly, not all India’s women were virtuous, it would seem, since prostitution was very widespread during both world wars and has increased continually since then. Now there is a massive AIDS crisis which also involves women, of course. Secondly, the greatness of Bharat… there is a suggestion here of India’s former supposed glories. India’s greatness today – whatever it consists in – does not exceed that of other countries surely? It’s glory is harder to discover nowadays, even with all due respects.One can applaud the sentiment to respect women and make them happy… but Sathya Sai Baba is known for preferring men to women on all occasions… he spends far more time on the male side during darshan and is always surrounded only by male attendants. In his ashrams – at conferences and festivals – women are relegated to sit on the ground, while important men occupy chairs. After many decades, Sai Baba agreed to have a “Ladies day” once a year. (the remaining 364 days are actually Men’s days).

Lacking democracy and ‘rights’ for women
Sai Baba does not allow women on his Sathya Sai Central Trust, nor can more than a very few ever be seen in leadership positions in his organization, especially in India. See this quotation too:

“Women too are doing all jobs equal to men. In fact, women do work more sincerely with dedication… …They have the work culture better than men.” (Sai Echoes from Kodai Hills, 1998, p. 48-9)This is true enough, and well-deserved praise generally, and especially for dedication at such tedious and unchanging tasks as telephone exchanges offered. Yet it is noteworthy that Sai Baba nowhere has deemed to mention that women in India are very largely much underpaid compared to men, vastly overworked – and those who have to labour also have to run the home and take care of the children almost entirely in India’s male-dominated culture. Sai Baba confirms this himself and would reinforce this double burden on women, as in:-

“Women should realise that, irrespective of their education or position, their foremost obligation is to protect the home. For Indian (Bharatiya) women, the first duty is to reform the home and run it along ideal lines!” Sai Baba at Prashanthi Nilayam on `Ladies day` 19/10/1996. (Sanathana Sarathi, Dec. 1996, p. 334)
More on Sai Baba’s confusion about women here

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

 

India’s state, Hindu nationalism and prayer

India is famous for its glut of temples everywhere and for amount of public prayers, their length too. No one denies that Indians pray a great deal – very much more than Western Europeans, without doubt. One might well say they have all reason, so difficult are the lives of the majority of them. India is beset by enormous problems of lacking social welfare, health care, nutrition, security for disabled or the aged, primitive labour conditions, many having to live on the pittance of ca. $1 per day and so on and so on. So Sai Baba’s exhortation to pray is not working for most people in India, while in Europe most people are doing better and better. Prayer has always served to empower the priesthood and religions generally and it serves to empower Sai Baba (many pray only to him!). Yet it also disempowers devotees who believe it will lead to help with their problems by distracting them from practical remedies, making them into beggars for boons. Because we all know they can, at best, only somehow solve things otherwise.

Sathya Sai teaching on the effectiveness of prayer is bogus
It defies all common sense and reason… we can see how so many pray for years without result. As soon as something good happens, such believers will probably impute it to the one they prayed to, so they remain trapped in the delusion. But consider the example of the Tibetans who, collectively, surely prayed more than any known people in recent times… until the Chinese invaded and everything they cared for was destroyed and those who escaped death were dispossessed and exiled, the country usurped. Were their prayers answered, then? Sathya Sai Baba has also said that God often answers your prayers with other things than you want or expect, but with what is best for you (especially also sufferings “for your own good”). See the duplicitous and completely self-defeating nature of prayer in that? To get what you didn’t pray for! What then of Sai Baba’s “There is nothing in the world that cannot be achieved by prayer”? That little or nothing can be achieved is far more likely (admitted, prayer can sometimes have a temporary psychological effect on the supplicant).

Believers may think that India’s economic surge, which increases living standards for the still small but growing middle class, is due to pujas, yagnas and temple visits? Still, acceptable standards of social care, health care and other social services common in rich countries are non-existent for tens of millions of Indias. Technological improvements are available to those with money, but is otherwise mostly of a very low level. According to international organisations, the country has somewhere in the region of 20 million child labourers, there are countless beggars, sick people and heavily handicapped persons living on the streets and camping out on pavements in most cities in absolute penury and many lepers (treated as ‘untouchables’ and isolated in primitive colonies). Corruption of all kinds has for decades been so endemic at all levels of society that most people there have lost all belief that it can ever be stamped out, it seems. Added to all these well-known weaknesses is a huge educational gap, plus a media information gap due to excessive top-down control of information. “God Incarnate” in Puttaparthi would control what his devotees can learn or discover (especially about himself)… so he advises praying, and even stopping all thought (more on this soon). This can only serve to hinder the growth of knowledge and awareness needed to combat India’s problems.