Howard Murphet on the ‘Man of Miracles’

Howard Murphet was once a budding Theosophist, also a devotee biographer of Madame Blavatshy and other discredited theosophists before he stumbled further along his spiritual path until he ended up with Sathya Sai Baba.  After a few years he wrote a book in a popular and sensational style called “Sai Baba, Man of Miracles”. This book was one of the main reasons for non-Indians to be drawn to visit this self-proclaimed God Incarnate, avatar of the age and much more, whose miracles were supposed to be hooks to attract people.

As with everyone who gets to gets at all close Sathya Sai Baba, he has to be  put down in some way in front of other interviewees, and Murphet was often referred to as “Murphet, not Perfect”… not perhaps the most ingenious pun from the Director of the Cosmos! But it raises a laugh and such things keep people in their place. Indeed, not that Murphet ever presumed to admit the slightest critical thought or questioning word to enter any of his many published eulogies of  Sathya Sai Baba and his miracles.

Murphet is nothing if not full of incredulity with fantasy stories, such as when he enthuses about the battle between Light and Dark forces since the “at least the age of Rama”. He pronounces that “World War I was really a forerunner of the next war involving almost the whole of the world and known as World War II…”
How interesting, not many people know that. Murphet also states authoritatively that “The young Avatar, Sathya Sai Baba, was twenty years old when this war ended. His spiritual power had no doubt helped in the victory of the forces of Light.” This is more like hysterics that history. But there is more to come:

“Sri Aurobindo…  stated during the war that if the Axis forces of tyranny and darkness won the war, the divine plan would be set back by a thousand years. So he himself played a powerful part to ensure that victory went to the Allied forces of individual, democratic freedom.” Aurobindo took Hitler literally about the Thousand year Reich, it seems. Murphet also uncritically repeated how Aurobindo meditated hard and managed to change Hitler’s mind so he attacked Russia at the wrong time, so losing the war! Well, not many historians know that, for certain!

Such credulity hardly strengthens Murphet’s  credibility with educated persons, no more does his unquestioning acceptance of hearsay about miracles which he published without more than cursory questioning. He has plenty more like it when he relates other personal experiences around Sai Baba which his mind span into the shape of proofs of transcendental powers in his guru. His writings are confined within the ‘received wisdom’ that controls the minds of the converted.

Murphet also wrote some highly imaginative ideas about Gorbachev. Some while after he came to power, Murphet was at an interview, but did not dare ask Sai Baba about Gorbie. Instead he wrote: “A mental question is as good as a verbal one to Swami. His eyes gave me the affirmative answer but all his lips said was, “Gorbachev is a good man.” I knew then that he had played some wonderful, powerful tune on the akashic strings that had manoeuvred circumstance and brought about the great change.” (ital. above are mine)

In one book, Murphet thought that a speck of light on a photo of ‘the avatar’ he took was caused by his miraculous leela (i.e. divine miraculous sport). Anyone who knows a bit about photography in India knows that such spots occur often on developed prints, the cause most likely being heat during the developing process. Murphet asked Sathya Sai Baba if it as his leela, and for once Sai Baba said it was due to a flaw in the photography.

Read more Murphet imperfections

Pro-Murphet propaganda stuff is found at (see http://www.saibabaofindia.com/howard_murphet_lights_of_home.html)