Social projects to offset his known failings? Sathya Sai Baba has inspired the building of two major free hospitals (the first one instigated by Hard Rock Café owner Isaac Tigrett’s donation of $39 million). A number of schools and colleges and other social works of various positive kinds have been inspired by his teaching. Such institutions very likely would not have come about without Sai Baba as a focus for donations and the huge efforts and voluntary input of thousands of devotees. Projects to provide clean drinking water to local villages and in Chennai have been set going by his call for donations to that end, though the main project turned out to be far less effective than claimed by the self-styled ‘omnipotent’ individual. However, he always claims the full credit for all good results, as if only he achieved it all by his own efforts and work… and he seldom mentions the fact that everything is actually done by followers who sacrifice a lot to achieve these ends in his name.
The Spiritual Heritage Museum, though ostensibly to promote all religions and universal spirituality, highlights Sai Baba as its decided centrepiece – the only One Living God the Father and Holy Spirit who rules over everyone and everything. Self-publicity on such a scale (Sai Baba having supervised every detail of the project) conflicts roundly with Sai Baba’s own declarations of wishing and needing no publicity other than personal good work and of not requiring anyone to worship him. In the setting of what is called a ‘museum’, this promotional showpiece made at such expense seems remarkably out of place. The novel attraction at Sai Baba’s 75th birthday – the ‘Chaitanya Jyothi’ building – was an even more extravagant venture solely devoted to glorification of the ‘living avatar’. Sai Baba thus eagerly supports all kinds of initiative and activity that go to increase what is a ‘personality cult’ focussed on himself, by any definition of the phrase.
All Sai Baba hospitals, schools, colleges and other buildings are plastered in many places with pictures and praise of his name, his divinity and so forth. The two large super-costly museums glorify him as a avatar and Saviour of mankind, while photos of him – along with and his penny-proverbs – dominate everywhere, rather like that of Kim Il Sung in North Korea. Critical-minded people, who are relatively unaffected by the propaganda, have raised serious concerns about the actual functioning of these projects and even the underlying purposes (such as to “buy himself free” from other sins of which he is so widely accused). Why all this is used above all for the glorification of the person Sai Baba and the spread of his influence is doubtful in light of his constant claims that he dislikes and shuns all praise and publicity!
Please go to the Public Petition for Official Investigations of Sathya Sai Baba and His Worldwide Organization
Sathya Sai Baba Deceptions Exposed 