Bhagavan Sathya Sai Baba in world media

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The spiritual master can do no wrong?

Those who remain believers in Sathya Sai Baba as a ‘Master’  have some revealing thoughts. They speak of what they have heard about him on the negative side as ‘rumours’. They concentrate only on their own marvellous experiences and claim they feel bliss, love and benefit from its healing. They all know they are sorely tested, but they hang onto the idea that it is for their own good and is ordained by the ‘Master’, when actually it is all their own minds or psyches which bring about everything they experience. They are duped by the idea Sai Baba promotes, that human minds fight against knowing the truth (which is for them the indoctrinated ideas they have from him), while – ironically – they are unknowingly fighting the factual truth, that Sathya Sai Baba is a great abuser of faith and people! They cannot afford to investigate seriously for many reasons, loss of what keeps them hoping, investment of prestige and the risk of losing the only friends they in most cases have left (other devotees). They have often material investments – in property in Puttaparthi or the ashram too, and some are more or less trapped there because they impoverished themselves in donating to the cult (which misuses and embezzles the money as much as it does any good with it). They cannot bring themselves to believe those who testify to sexual abuse, claiming it is all imagination, invented tales etc. They like to believe it is all some kind of healing or esoteric teaching.

They are comfortable enough with themselves as disciples, which counts most for them – their own spiritual salvation and hopes of bliss and liberation,. Not least therefore do they ignore those many once-respected ex-devotees – who some of them no doubt once knew: upright persons who – despite their own deepest wishes – were honest enough to look at the facts and sooner or later discovered Sai Baba’s true nature. To believe that it makes no difference whether a person is moral or immoral, to accept that a person who goes against dharma can be a Master, is to be living in a hall of mental mirrors, because truth, goodness, right action and non-abuse are certainly necessary to any worthwhile moral teacher or guide through life.

I have met many people who have convinced themselves into thinking they are self-realised (and I used to joke mildly about it too, but they never realised I was pulling their legs and leading them on  to see how self-deluded they were). It is the done thing among many Sai cultists to give at least the impression that one is happy and even experiences ‘divine love and bliss’. I have got to know many through the decades who assert such things, but not seldom on closer acquaintance they turned out to be privately depressed, even suicidal!

The reigning doctrine among remaining followers who have learned about Sathya Sai Baba’s recognised ‘genital oiling’ – instances of which are evidently countless – is that it is a kind of healing. What it heals is not stated… but it is assumed that it is the turmoil of having a sexual urge. Can those who were subjected to it have been healed of something – for some believe this themselves, without going into any reasonable detail as to what this consisted in, including some who think and think it ‘healed’ them without really knowing from what? (Post factum, one is faced with the choice: ‘healing’ or ‘abuse’… it is easy enough to see how much easier and less embarrassing the former explanation is to choose). It is well-known that all young men have problems because of testosterone and shortage of sexual opportunities or fulfillment – the ‘raging hormones’ when suppressed can famously cause sexual thoughts of all otherwise unwelcome kinds, so that guilt and frustration combined cause great mental unbalance in the premarital years of ‘Sturm und Drang‘. By seeing Sathya Sai Baba as God Incarnate, or at least as having some ‘divine qualities’ (which is a general condition of getting as far as a private interview) the internal pressure this creates is to want to regard the oiling as beneficial by the one involved (though with some notable exceptions). Some believe they must have been cured of their sexual problems, which would itself be a great relief to many young men. It gets harder when Sai Baba repeats this ‘ceremony’ time and again in successive interviews. Why? How much such ‘healing’ can one need – or take on? Believing one is well is always more conducive to the subjective feeling of health (or healing) – unless or until a serious condition cause a physical crisis, where belief is a hindrance to getting the proper treatment or operation.

Like the actual defender of sex abusers, Gerald Moreno, many hang anxiously onto the idea that the purpose of these oilings is not grooming for possible sex, though they cannot explain it (as Moreno could not). That oiling in the pubic – or on the membrum virile and/or the sensitive perineum – is not a part of any Hindu scripture or tradition, but this fact is ignored totally.

Sathya Sai Baba can’t escape the sex abuse testimonies
Khushwant Singh video clips: genital oiling, lingams, followers
Gerald Moreno: homo-erotic fantasies, latent homosexuality
The Gerald Moreno dossier
Author admits genital oiling by Sathya Sai Baba

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Yaani Drucker: ‘The Ego’ misunderstood and the doctrine of self-nihilation

During my 18 years as a leader in the Sathya Sai Organization I tried to strike the balance between the excessive pronouncements and impossible requirements of Sai Baba on correct behaviour and the crying needs of fellow devotees – some weak or often disturbed persons – who sought help and succour from the organization (which was supposed to be the extension of Sai Baba’s world mission). The contradictions between the teachings and the rules, the manipulation and jockeying for position by the VIP leaders plus the paradoxes between Sai Baba’s own words and actions were eventually too much to manage and finally broke the back of all the best – most active and generous – people in our organization here and many in other countries. Once the true facts about Sai Baba emerged from 2000 onwards, all of these left in disgust and as wiser people. The doctrine behind it all looked more and more shabby and divorced from reality.

One crucial anomaly in all ‘spiritual’ doctrines which aim to remove the individualised self in favour of the imaginary One Divine Self is that they require far too much concentration on one’s own salvation…i.e. on and for oneself. The paradox is that, to rid oneself of self (or ‘ego’ understood as the seat of selfishness), one has to cultivate oneself, examine oneself, improve oneself and concentrate overwhelmingly on one’s own practices (‘spiritual sadhana‘). This ‘sadhana‘ can include doing good service to others, but one engages in it primarily out of motivation for one’s own future imagined good… ‘liberation’ from the world and its cares in some unknown realm of being filled with consciousness and bliss. To rationalize the necessity of this selfish pursuit of one’s own ultimate interests, it is said that it is best for all humanity that people become self-realized, it will eventually introduce an age of Truth and goodness etc. (even though they will have died and are out of contact with the world forever – which further gives rise to ideas of otherworldly contacts, communications with spirits and the dead, ghosts or whatever you want to have to rest assured).

To overcome the ego by such doctrines, one must think of oneself as not oneself but as being God omnipotent (and also omnipresent and omniscient as a result). This is tough if one finds does not posses these qualities at all! However, plenty of self-styled ‘Masters’ claim to do so (perhaps the Druckers too?)! It may all done with the very best of intentions, [however misguided] – but definitely not by all who do it to earn a fortune, power and everything they can get! This ambiguous ”self-cultivation’ is nothing short of narcissism, or seeing oneself only in the mirror of one’s self-enhancing thoughts. Most persons with some professional experience of psychotherapies naturally regard this as an ‘escape mechanism’ or ‘denial of reality’, to flee the world in wishful thinking. It is well-known, too, how reality has its own way of impinging – even brutally smashing the hall of self-distorting mirrors – sooner or later. Common sense and proper information show how anyone can be threatened by debilitating illness, by senile loss of memory or dementia, accidents causing strokes and other brain damage. What then of one’s imagined ‘self-omnipotence’? We see many indubitable signs of the reduction to incoherence and absurdity in the self-proclaimed omnipotent, omniscient Divinity – Sathya Sai Baba, the ultimate narcissist, as I and others (see here) have documented from his own words in many web pages.

In the zealous atmosphere where most followers are trapped in very subtle indoctrination and a largely self-programmed belief structure, no inquiring mind can survive untroubled for very long. Either one goes along with the rationalization process which operates at full steam throughout the Sai movement or one questions more and more when disturbed by observable and reported events. Living there is mentally stifling – and intellectually unfruitful. This is not least so in the colleges, which was one of the hardest tests I had to face – one shared by my friend V.K. Narasimhan. I did my best to seek answers to remove doubts and then to raise questions that might lead further, but the doctrine of Sai Baba is set in stone as God-ordained, perfect and beyond any human criticism or even proper understanding (he claims). Unfortunately my efforts in many Sanathana articles to explain away anomalies were embraced readily by those starved of explanations of worrying events and answers to conflicting or wild Sai Baba statements … eventually I had to say no to Narasimhan’s pressing requests for yet more articles.

Incidentally, Narasimhan told me repeatedly, latest in 1998 when Al Drucker partook in the Paduka ceremony there, that he disagreed fundamentally with Al Drucker about the advaitic teaching he professes, having seen it as one of the worst of all ideological influences on the Indian psyche and society. Its pernicious effects were, he insisted, the main cause of the disinterest of so many Indians in worldly conditions and especially in their fellow sufferers’ plight… with their “it is all due to karma, but never mind, the Unitary One God is working out his great design” Really?

My wife makes the following remarks on this subject of ego-removal:

“Those who think of themselves as being one with the divine must necessarily divide the self into two parts – the divine self (atman) and the human ‘incarnation’ (jiva) which is regarded as selfish and ignorant of its divine origin, blinded by illusion (maya) into thinking of itself as a separate being. The fact that the human self is experienced as being the real one doesn’t matter, for the teaching says it is an illusion. This splitting off of part of oneself and denial of one’s real perceptions tends to undermine the whole psyche and personality, and it creates a dependency on the spiritual teacher/master or whoever claims to be able to perceive this ‘Truth’.  Many wish to be perfect, full of bliss and untouched by pain, sorrow or difficulties. In order for that to happen – the doctrine insists – one has to be constantly focused on the divine self and identifying with it. So much better than to have to identify with the human ego-self who makes mistakes, suffers, and is generally far from perfect and blissful…. How nice and convenient to reflect on the divine self, perfect and beyond reproach, and not to have to bother about reflecting on – or be responsible for – one’s human failings!

No wonder that there are so many who have symptoms of suffering from ego-mania in ‘spiritual’ groups, being hardly capable of serious self-reflection, unable to recognise faults they have – and with exaggerated ideas of themselves. So as to keep up this self-image the doctrine of ‘positive thinking’ is applied, for it leaves no room for critical thoughts to disturb their focus on the ‘divine self”… while the actual human self is overlooked or even shunted off as an illusion, a negative disturbance”

My wife put things very aptly!
By extension or inference, the doctrine runs that one should never criticize others either, as their true selves are equally one with the divine and thus beyond reproach. All others are ideally represented as being “brothers and sisters”… whoever they are, whatever they have done or are doing! This is all very well as a wishful dream, but it is not at all in the world all live in! Genuine concern for others as they actually are (not as imagined to be) and normal conscience have no place in that scheme which cannot distinguish between good and bad. Such belief systems would deny other people’s experience of sexual abuse as something bad, because of one’s own denial of the world and human self as real.

It is pitiful really, that this unnatural splitting of oneself in two – the real vs. the unreal self, or the sacred vs. the profane self – is seen as bringing one closer to oneness, not only with the divine self but with all ‘creation’ (or, rather, only with the divine essence of creation, not the time-space universe). This is dualism, of which no consciousness can ever totally be free (there must be consciousness of something). The actual ‘creation’ we live in and perceive is portrayed as illusive, unreal (maya), and only the supposed and unseen, unknowable creator is real. All that kind of thing is existence turned upside-down in fantasy, as often symbolised by the Yggdrasil tree (of Norse mythology) which is inverted and has its roots in the sky – as if it could exist and sustain itself in that way. (Likewise all surreal extras in the form of clouds, cuckoos, green pastures and non-stop hymn-singing ghostly choirs?)

Meanwhile, as my wife heartily agrees, others have to put up with these people who mentally shut off the parts of themselves that don’t fit into their ideas of their ‘divine’ selves, and who then start preaching their (deeply ingrained and soon subconscious) self-deception to others. They think they know the one truth, and cannot and will not modify their thoughts, beliefs or behaviour based on worldly facts or any well-meant input or feedback from others. The most deluded cases – every adult will have come across at least one – believe they know everything, know God or even are God and are fanatically engaged in wanting to bring salvation to everyone for their own good, whether they want it or not. These God-botherers – not leasy Yaani Drucker and her kind – who want to save others from themselves are soon shunned by all people of experience and character because they are truly insufferable.

Relevant articles:-
Reply To Claimer of Enlightenment (Yaani Drucker Correspondence) Part 2
Barry Pittard Replies To Sathya Sai Center Rape Survivor’s Note To Him
Dangerous to Rationalize Rape. A major Sathya Sai Baba Follower’s Example
The Spiritual Search – a philosophical analysis of advaitic solipsism and social narcissism

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Jaani Drucker, The Truth, open inquiry and truthfulness

Having noted the exchange of views between Barry Pittard and Jaani Drucker (aka Yaani Drucker), I am prompted to provide some more detailed examination of the issues at stake. With her self-promoted superior insight into The Truth (as if it were something hypostatized and ontologised) Jaani Drucker rejected Barry Pittard’s questions without answering them, writing “When you are determined to find denial and resistance, there is no honest debate or discussion possible. You have already closed your mind.” This is a typical cult-defensive reaction where questioning itself is viewed as something negative.

If anyone has closed their minds it is surely Jaani [Yaani] Drucker. How can one tell? Because she has not had anything new to say except continually to preach that she has the TRUTH and is – by implication – self-realized, all the while parroting nothing but the ideas of Sathya Sai Baba – where these concur with ‘The Course in Miracles’ (better called ‘Pollyanna Positive Prayer and Preaching’). This is more of a dogma than a doctrine for it is closed to any basic modification and is isolated from all further development and – above all – criticism. In general it is an extreme form of religious puritanism as found in the Judaic Talmud, the Old Testament and the strictest Hindu doctrines.

In continuing to promote and defend Sathya Sai Baba, Yaani acts as if her supposed Truth is so precious as always to have to be attended by an unquestioned bodyguard of supporting liesºº… those which have been exposed on a large scale by many former followers, not least Barry Pittard and myself. Al Drucker admitted – when pressed – to the former Central Coordinator of the UK Sathya Sai Organization, that many parents had complained to him of sexual abuse by Sai Baba while Drucker was resident at the ashram. Jaani is no doubt also well aware that Sai Baba has escaped justice only because the entire Indian system of corrupt topmost politicians and judges who worship him have protected him from all accountability! This is part of the body of lies the Druckers prefer to condone, supposedly to protect their Truth, which would need not protection or even promotion if it really were that immutable and powerful.

Those who have invested their prestige in Sai Baba and his teaching on the ego etc., like the Druckers, live largely within a community of persons and ideas divorced from all research, informed debate, the stringency of peer review because the doctrine they embrace is that the Truth, as preached by advaitists and Sai Baba among them, is immutable, requires no modification or development. They can reject without informing themselves of the entire world-wide advances in human psychology by hundreds of thousands of practitioners and researchers garnering experience from all corners of the globe and the human psyche… none of it could ever upset a figment of the ordained and immortalized Truth of their favourite religious speculations, static and stagnant as it has been for centuries! It’s main method of persuasion is repetition. One can only sustain this claim to total knowledge within the cocoon of ashrams or circles of New Age type persons, for it cannot stand the slightest buffets of well-informed intelligence based on tried and proven hypotheses by a global host of professionals.

If we look a little into this supposed Truth, we find it depends on the ‘death of the ego’. The doctrine of ‘ego’ that is most central to Sai Baba and I understand also to the would-be self-realization group run by the Druckers is really nothing more than a long harangue against selfishness (Me and Mine). This naked and stark belief – that selfishness is the root of ALL evil – is dressed up in portentous ideas about the ‘true egoless self’ within (and hidden from) all mankind . The belief posits the wishful dream of a total awareness of selfless unity within divinity, described in highly fanciful terms like ‘the golden womb’, the Heart and so on. Now, a doctrine of self-denial – if moderated by common sense and free of dogmatic certainty and absolutism – would not be unwelcome. Yet the anti-ego dogma is lacking in realism or practicable and compassionate humanism. It is actually very naively formulated in reducing the entire personal ‘ego’ to something far less than it is: a dynamic psychic development necessary to life as we know it. There is conceptual confusion involved – the word ‘ego’ is misapplied by Sai Baba, imitated uncritically by Jaani, to include one’s entire identity ‘as a separate being’, which again is seen as being blinded by ignorance (of the Truth of its own nature) and dominated by egoism in the form of selfishness and greed.

The human ego is to be understood as a dynamic development of every psyche through coping with the demands of the environment (others) and instinctual urges (survival, sex, fear, power, suppression, dominance, sex, hunger etc.). The ego, as psychologically understood, balances and reacts properly to the external and internal demands impinging on the person and is a very necessary achievement without which one cannot avoid one or another form of cognitive disorder up to and including severe and chronic mental illness. Looking after oneself and one’s own interests is the very basis of being human, without which one cannot even recognise or appreciate the same unavoidable need in others. Pursuing self-interest is unavoidably important, both for individuals and societies. It is the excess of such pursuits – greed of all kinds, economic and social insecurity, excess in power-seeking and all the related ills we all know so well – that are the problem. The self-realization through death of the ego brigade do not recognise this… they consider they have progressed beyond such needs (but often I have noted the actual consumption of goods and services are above average among the most outspoken ‘Ceiling on Desires’ advocates).

This fails to recognise the vast achievements of ego psychology (which it almost entirely rejects as illusory worldly untruth). It is not based on the slightest research – it cannot be tested (except by sacrificing one’s entire life – a fool’s risk). It is a puritanical and typically Indian religious doctrine – such as Sai Baba’s advice ‘Die Mind’ (one of his many execrable poor puns), which he symbolizes by giving away diamonds (all synthetic stones, yet more symbolically!). Obviously, undue selfishness is a trait without which the world would surely benefit, but taking it to the point of self-annihilation (i.e. killing the ego, ‘killing the mind’ – such as through prayers and mantras) is probably only for those who are ultimately tired of the whole of their own lives.

As seen in so many religious sects – it most often ends in moralism of the most unwelcome kind, sustaining and increasing people’s sense of personal inadequacy, leading to depression and even suicidalism in those who feel incapable of meeting its constant demands. Those who strive to follow the unworldly practices involved get no lasting benefit from the process either (except for possible temporary exhilaration of the kind ‘Now I have solved it all, what to do?’). Those who have made a vocation of it and sunk their prestige in preaching it may manage to keep up the required outward Pollyanna smile.
More to follow shortly…

See also The Ways of the Mind – on the issue by a Swedish psychologist
Strawberry Fields Forever? plus comments on Jaani & advaitic doctrine
Barry Pittard Replies To Sathya Sai Center Rape Survivor’s Note To Him
Dangerous to Rationalize Rape. A major Sathya Sai Baba Follower’s Example
God is everything, in everyone – as a spiritual teaching
Advaita – historical flight into abstraction and speculation

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Religious sex abuse cover-up world-wide, eg. Sathya Sai Organization

It is instructive to look at some present-day examples of what has clearly been an endemic problem of religious institutions and sects worldwide – sexual abuse, especially of children, both female and male.

The Roman Catholic Church has shown itself to be committed to major cover-up of sexual crimes and it continues to hinder prosecutions where it can. The heinous nature of this is matched by Sathya Sai Baba and his protectors, which includes a series of Indian Prime Ministers, Home Ministers and top Supreme and High Court judges. Sathya Sai Baba, if he could despite top protection as ‘a national treasure’ be brought to court and justice, would be liable to vast financial damages, such as which already bankrupted the Catholic Church in many U.S. States, despite it having now cynically insured itself in many countries against financial losses from claimants. (See extent here)

Sky News' report on the wilful deceit by the Pope and the Catholic Chruch over the vast sex abuse scandals worldwide

A two-day summit at the Vatican in Rome with Pope Benedict and 24 senior clergy ended in the Pope condemning child sexual abuse as a heinous crime and a sin against God. As Colm O’Gorman said on Sky News [17-2-2010] “It was nothing more than a rather cynical PR exercise… We don’t need the Vatican to tell us that.” O’Gorman testified that the Pope’s latest announcement is part of a top-level “wilful and deliberate cover-up“. He detailed how history of Catholic sexual abuse and its cover-up goes back to the 1st century AD, but in recent decades has been truly excessive, as three state inquiries in Ireland have shown (eg. the Child Abuse Commission report of 2,600 pages and the Murphy Report). The taxpayers have hitherto footed the £1.4 billion bill for compensation, while the Catholic Church – who should on Christian principles bear this expense – have paid out far less. Further, under the protection of the Vatican, the Catholic Church worldwide has insured itself against possible claims and has “put the interests of the institution, its wealth and its position ahead of the safety of children.” and “The Vatican made a “deceitful and dishonest statement” that it was “a problem in the governance of the national church in Ireland” (O’Gorman).

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Irish victims of clerical sex abuse have asked Pope Benedict XVI for over $1.37 billion in compensation, in a letter that the head of Ireland’s Catholic Church received. (VATICAN CITY – RNS)

As is seen on the image above, the Pope is the centre of a ring-kissing personality cult not entirely dissimilar – though far less charismatic than – that around Sathya Sai Baba, unlike whom the Pope has never been suspected of the oiling of genitals on spiritual aspirants.  As a role model, his total passivity as to getting justice for criminal sexual acts – including widespread pedophilia –  by his criminal officials shows where his true values are. The same applies with far greater force to Sathya Sai Baba, who is himself widely accused and accursed as an abuser of boys and young men on a large scale. The Sathya Sai Organization is unaccountable and ignores all complaints – as once the Roman Catholic Church did until forced into admissions. This makes the organization party to widely alleged criminality and refusal to honour duty of care and mandatory reporting… just like the Vatican! While Sai Baba can hide behind Manmohan Singh and Co., Pope Benedict cannot hide behind Silvio Berlusconi. Indian society is at present far more inclined to cover-up (and thus prolong and virtually condone) the sexual abuse of children, especially when its Prime Ministers and Presidents worship such a person as Sathya Sai Baba.

scan of table from Indian Government research report

It is officially documented by a commission under the auspices of the UN, the Indian Government and Save the Children that fifty-three per cent of India’s forty million children claim to have been sexually abused. That is over 20 million child victims!). See official Government report

The report states: on page 74;-
1. Out of the total of 2211 respondents, 42% children faced at least one form of sexual abuse or the other.
2. Among respondents, 48% of boys and 39% of the girls faced sexual abuse.
3. The prevalence of sexual abuse in upper and middle class was found to be proportionately higher than in lower or in lower middle class.

See also The Vatican still doesn’t get it on child sex abuse
Organized cover-up of sexual practices by Sathya Sai Baba

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Sathya Sai Baba failing – at the mercy of power brokers

Shivarathri 2010 - Sai Baba poorly and grim

Through the last 8 years or so, reports have come to me from various persons who either were still visiting Prashanthi Nilayam, or from ex-students and other disaffected followers who all claim that Sathya Sai Baba is no longer in control of his own affairs, neither on the Sathya Sai Central Trust, nor the ashram nor even his own activities. One recent visitor informed me that Sathya Sai Baba’s hands shake constantly and very visibly. Another states ” He has a disease and is at the mercy of his organization”. These reports concur generally with one another and with the information given us by a very long-term follower who was living in Puttaparthi until fairly recently who stated that Sai Baba’s shows many signs of strange behaviour in public, including statements that he would go here or there later that day, which he never did. He also told an interview group in 2009 that he is now 94 years old! (which suggests he may think he will die soon, while in reality he is much younger than that). See this report, which also strongly indicates that Sai Baba was already in a very difficult position by 2006! Some say he is a virtual dummy whose strings are pulled by the smart operators who hide from the public the facts about his physical and mental condition as best they can. He does not look in the least vital or happy in the more recent images of him that have been released despite the censorship of his keepers.

Photos from 2010 show apparent lack of facial control

The Sathya Sai Organization has long been a battleground for control of its interests, as was told me by V.K. Narasimhan when I had written a book in which I gave what he considered a far too positive picture of the organization (see here). Numerous unofficial reports and statements show that the same applies to the multi-billion Sathya Sai Central Trust, which Sathya Sai Baba has said he leaves entirely in the hands of the directors. Some of the directors have backgrounds which do not inspire confidence, far from it. The institution which controls and funds all Sai Baba interests, the Sathya Sai Central Trust, was made a tax and custom duty-free organization by special allowance of his devotees running the government. As a Charitable Trust it is under no legal requirement to have rules or guidelines. The Board of Directors runs it, allegedly always deferring to Sathya Sai Baba’s wishes. That may have been so many years ago, but years ago, Sai Baba announced that he had nothing more to do with its decisions!  No known guidelines or principles are exist (unless secretly) and it makes available no minutes from its meetings – remaining a closed book in every way to the public, even to donors.

Sathya Sai Central Trust - can it be trusted?

The man who was selected by Sathya Sai Baba to oversee the Rayalaseema Water Project, a Mr. K.Chackravati – a former government worker who had been sacked for major embezzlement! Later he became head of the ashram at Puttaparthi. It is reliably reported that contractor corruption and embezzlement occurred with a large part of the much-trumpeted Rayalaseema Water Project under Mr. Chackravati, who Sathya Sai Baba selected to the Board of his Central Trust. Just to take one more example of a money grubber who obtained a directorship at this multi-billion dollar trough, consider the credentials of D. K. Adikesavulu (see press report scan).

Some of the persons on the Central Trust have records which do them no credit whatever. Even Sai Baba himself had to sack some members in 1995 who he had repeatedly warned about embezzlement, taking kickbacks from contractors Larsen and Turbro etc. including Colonel Joga Rao who bought an apartment block in Delhi he could not explain and ashram head, Mr. Narayanen [former Head of Prashanti Nilayam ashram and former Secretary to the Sathya Sai Central Trust until 1996]  who was dismissed from his posts by Sai Baba having been  found to have an unaccountable luxury villa in Bangalore.

Sathya Sai Baba’s younger brother, Janakiramiah (deceased) was – after having been kept out of the ashram for many years by SB –  given a directorship on the Sathya Sai Central Trust directly after the 1993 murders episode. Janakiramiah claimed it was an assassination attempt on Sai Baba, but Sai Baba himself firmly stated the exact opposite. Janakiramiah was a multi-millionaire property developer and brother owner in Puttaparthi who conspired with then Home Minister S.B. Chavan – backed by the Indian Government of Sai devotee PM Narasimha Rao. In the presence of my friend V.K. Narashihan (SB’s close servitor and editor) they discussed the cover up of the murders (such as the blackmailing of the Puttaparthi police into executing the four entrapped devotees who had intruded into the temple). The Home Minister congratulated Janakiramiah for his role in that, to which the man replied “Dead men tell no tales” and they both laughed at his wit! I cannot doubt that this is fact because Narasimhan told it to me (in almost a whisper) when we were discussing the incident (see scan of my notes made at the time)  and his many problems of living in the ashram due to his increasing doubts about many things which troubled him more and more, and not least the death of his wife.

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Sathya Sai Baba claims of bribery!

Sai Baba lied outright about his accusers taking bribes to betray the guru!

“Some foreigners are trying to bribe them. They are saying, “See, foolish ones! I will give this much money. I will give so many dollars. I will give this many pounds. You write and give some stories against Sathya Sai Baba.” A lying smear – and without a shred of evidence – against the many young men who accuse him of sexual abusing them!

To denounce people in public with an angry face (and most unforgivingly on Christmas Day itself!), beating the lectern before him, he said almost in the next breath: “There is no trace of anger or hatred in Me and hence everyone loves Me“ (Sanathana Sarathi September 2002, page 257f).

“… we should disregard abuse and hold to our righteous ideals firmly.” “Love even those who abuse you. I am a standing example of this.” (p. 267)

but he had taken notice just there!

Sathya Sai Baba contradicts his main tenet!

Sai Baba later refuted the main tenet of his own lifelong teaching: “All beings are sparks of the Eternal Divinity” [page 101, Discourses in Kodaikanal 1998] “… a hard-hearted person cannot be called a spark of Divinity; he is verily a demon.” [p. 323, Sanathana Sarathi, November 2002].

He clearly tried hard to limit the damage he had himself done to his movement (through his own actions) not least to try to stop the loss of foreign donations.

“In the single family of humankind, where is the room for jealousy or hatred? These are all imaginary.” Sai Baba teaches he is never wrong, “doubt only yourself!”
He teaches the absurd pseudo-philosophy of ‘whatever you imagine, is true for you’. This is a trick of mental enslavement and a get-out for himself. Above all, he wants to stop his followers facing the staring facts.

See the unexpurgated literally translated full version published by the (banned) premsai group of students
See the entire infamous Christmas Discourse as published in expurgated version in Sanathana Sarathi here.

As to bribery, Sathya Sai Baba was not in the least bit foreign to it himself. The person who made the original translations from Telugu, ‘Divya’, was present during and after the infamous 1993 murders in which Sai Baba was known to be deeply involved and was present when a massive cash bribes arrived in the apartment of his elder sister… followed by the same amount to many residents in the ashram. This is but one – but very well testified – instance of bribery on a large scale by Sai Baba. See full eyewitness account here

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See Public Petition for Official Investigations of Sathya Sai Baba and his Worldwide Organization
(Spanish version PETICIÓNPÚBLICA PARA INVESTIGACIONES OFICIALES

More sworn testimony on several Sathya Sai Baba sex abuses

The following excerpt from one of the many sworn testimonies about Sathya Sai Baba is a telling account… and the writer names two others who he knew who also told him of Sai Baba’s sexual molesting them… plus reports on a third person too!

“The third interview began in exactly the same way, but it was some weeks after the second one; we were all now in Whitefield (Bangalore). Baba took me into his private chamber and immediately, hurriedly, tried pulling my ‘pyjama” bottoms down, but in his hurry he had pulled the cord the wrong way and made a tight knot of it …. It was all very awkward and I felt embarrassed and strange. In the end I had to help him undo the knot because he was very impatient. Then once they were down he went through the same procedure; playing with my genitals, rubbing his hips from side to side while pressing himself very close to me.
There was something different about this interview; it made me feel more uncomfortable than ever, There was an urgency in his manner, and I could see that he was excited; there were beads of sweat on his top lip and his breathing was strained. He pointed his finger at me and said very sternly “Don’t talk. You don’t talk. Okay? Don’t talk”. I was a little startled, even frightened at his manner, but I agreed I would not talk. Then his manner changed again, into bright, breezy swami. He asked me if I wanted to kiss him, while embracing me in the usual way, rubbing his hips from side to side while moving his hands over my body and legs. I felt at that moment that his actions were deliberately trying to arouse me physically, that he wanted me to get an erection, because he kept touching my penis and rubbing. But I didn’t become aroused at all. I just kept arguing with myself mentally, saying that if there was any baseness or bad in what was happening, it was all in my lower mind. As such, I never even became faintly aroused, and I think this both perplexed and annoyed Baba, because he seemed irritated and unsure of what to do next.

Then he pulled me over to his chair close to the entrance of the chamber and I could see his penis, semi erect through the material of his gown. He took my hand and placed it on his penis, and rubbed it up and down, telling me to rub while repeating “Good, good, good” over and over, and visibly becoming more excited. Then he asked me if this is what I wanted … and then clapped his hands over his head saying “This is divine”. Then it was over and I was pushed out again into the other, larger chamber with the other devotees.

After that interview, I was very confused about the whole thing. When I left the mandir I felt queasy and slightly feverish, and instead of going out of the ashram with my friends to have tea and talk about the interview, I went straight back to my room. I felt as if I had a fever or the flu; weak, shaking, nauseous and light headed, I fell asleep for a while and was awakened by my two room mates a couple of hours later, who came to see if I was okay and wanted to know about my interview with Baba.

One was an English boy named Kestrel Boyle and the other an Australian called Edward — I can’t remember his surname because he was born of Bangladesh parents in Australia and it was a rather difficult name.

I didn’t really know what to tell them, or even if I should tell them, so instead asked them if Baba had ever done strange things to them in their private interviews. Edward replied immediately, and in such matter of fact tones that it surprised me into silence. He said “What, you mean playing with your dick? Oh don’t worry about that, he’s done that to me loads of times. It doesn’t mean anything bad – I actually like it, and think it’s good for me.’ Kestrel basically said the same kind of thing, so I didn’t dare say any more, but I wondered what else Baba had done with them.” To read the whole testimony of K. Ord – from which the above is an excerpt – click here

Seriously, would anyone write this, and much more about being sexually abused – and further state the same about other named persons – just out of mischief or ‘disgruntlement’? Obviously not, the legal consequences could have been severe for false testimony and libel against others. The front-line defender of Sathya Sai Baba and anyone connected to him – including the person who wrote the above (Keith Ord) , Gerald Moreno of Las Cruces, dearly wants it to be otherwise as he is in denial about the many detailed reports of sex abuses and the many cover-ups which have taken place.

Moreno (see photo) has described his own sexual molestation incident with Sai Baba, for which the above provides a relevant context – ‘grooming’ for sex. Though he admitted he was in the dark about the reason for what SB did to him, he also claims it was not in any way sexual – though he also reported that his sexual interest fell off considerably afterwards! He is in denial while also admitting being confused. Yet he defended Sai Baba for some years while actually believing him to be a sexual abuser

Moreno also defends the convicted rapist and murderer, Swami Premanand, who is serving a double life sentence for rape and murder! Moreno is in the awkward position of having sunk his entire prestige and years of his young life into supporting these cults and the crimes they have been charged with.  One must ask what his moral values consist in.? Denying all negative reports about Sai Baba and his supporters through avoidance, distortion, and lying attacks on critics is now his fate, it seems. See also Gerald Moreno and de Witt: smear campaign

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PLEASE SEE THE SAI PETITION AND DECIDE WHETHER TO SIGN IT

See Public Petition for Official Investigations of Sathya Sai Baba and his Worldwide Organization

Damning sex abuse testimony against Sathya Sai Baba

In three lengthy TV interviews the former Sai Baba follower, Ullrich Zimmermann, gives a thorough description of his experiences with Sathya Sai Baba (on blip.tv.com in USA), which further prove what  is already widely reported by those involved, that Sathya Sai Baba practices sex on young male devotees.

The frank and detailed account Ullrich gives of his experiences and his interpretations of them for better and worse may be of great help to some of the hundreds of others he claims to know have been through similar sexual experiences with Sathya Sai Baba, whether of lesser or greater degree. His common sense as well as his more esoteric musings may well be helpful to others who have experienced the same or similar violations of their privacy. The question whether this oral sex was sexual abuse or a ‘divine blessing’ is raised, but the factual description of what occurred remains whatever one may think of it.

Ullrich Zimmermann (speaking about Sai Baba in the private interview room “So when he says that ‘always thinking about girls’ and I know and I don’t want to… … he says “Oh. Don’t worry” … … and he materialises an oil and he lifts up my T-shirt and he puts that here.” (he describes the places as “on the kundalini line”). “Then he kissed me on my mouth…” “It was awkward… and it was also not disgusting.” “He is looking at me and I know – knew – in my mind that he wanted me to suck his penis.” “and he took my hand… … to his genitals and it felt through the robe like a female with hair – there was no penis and he took my hand again and it was the male and ‘Suck finger, suck male’…” “So he pushes me down, lifts up his robe…” “His penis is… ….like from a child, no hair, small.” “And I took his penis in my mouth… …it was erect…. I had it in my mouth for a while and it was not like doing bliss, it was not like doing a big job or so – at least there was some movement but it was not like a big sexual act or so, and I didn’t feel ejaculation in my mouth… can’t give the time to the minute, maybe one and a half…” Asked by his interviewer whether Sai Baba ejaculated, Ullrich replied: “I didn’t feel that in my mouth. If you had asked me then I would have said ‘no’ but… I think he did.” “… really very quick. Robe up and the interview was over.” Interviewer: “Well, did you tell anyone about this, your mother?” Ullrich: Yes. I did. .. I was in the taxi back to Bangalore… she had also heard rumours and asked me what happened but she saw me in this happy state and so I told her.. I mean she didn’t experience… view that as abuse at all. She’s a Sai Baba follower and she trusts. And of course, having such an experience I wanted to have answers. After that, talking to other people who are living in the ashram and who are there for years with my knowledge and know about these things to happen anyway – it’s happening on a really big scale.” Interviewer: I mean, it happens every day with some – or – he has a lot of followers so he’s always doing interviews and… Ullrich: Yeah, but I only say my experience and that is I know – I know one person in eye-to-eye who has had that happen to him, also a young German, and I talked to another person who knew a lot of other people – I mean, I talked to a lot of people… Interviewer: But they also thought it was a good experience, or some of them were angry? Ullrich: They were not in anger. I mean, they’re still there. (editor’s note: i.e. in year 2000) They are just confused and for some of them it presses the button more than others but for me the bottom line was what I got, it is white Tantra.

Many other young men from across the world have testified to sexual abuses by Sathya Sai Baba through many years (see here). None came to see any of the sexual interferences of varying degrees of seriousness  as any kind of healing or blessing.

The natural openness and truthfulness of Ullrich is evident in his account of his whole Sai Baba experience – including the sensitive subject of oral sex – is admirable. His bravery and honesty in standing forth with information to help others and from which he can gain nothing himself other than a sense of doing a painful public duty (and attacks from fanatical Sai defenders) cannot be commended highly enough. As his interviewer says, these revelations will come a major shock to those Sai devotees who watch the video, but they will recognise that he describes details of life at the ashrams most credibly.

 
Ullrich Zimmermann emphasizes the big distinction between a ‘guru’ and a ‘teacher’: gurus unempower their followers and steal their freedom, a teacher (giving so-called spiritual guidance) always leaves seekers to decide for themselves and fashion their own way in life. Ullrich followed Sai Baba as a guru, but rejects gurus entirely now, even though there may have been be some clear temporary benefits from such following.

The full-length videos could for years be viewed on-line, but they have been removed. An audio file from the videos will be posted asap. The original URLs were:-
Part One (introductory) –
Part Two (the main account of sex etc.) –
Part Three (reflections)

The International Chairman of the Sathya Sai Organization, Dr. M. Goldstein – along with his defender and fanatical attacker of all critics, Gerald Moreno, – denies that anything improper has ever taken place. He has been exposed as running a despicable cover-up of facts that we have proof were known to him (who actually claims to be a ‘consummate professional’ sex abuse expert) and to many other top leaders, especially his predecessor as US leader, Dr. Hislop, whose famous letters tried to cover up the same kind of allegations in the early 1980s. That Sai Baba has escaped conviction is due to his protection by Indian Prime Ministers and Home Ministers who worship him and to his virtual control of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh and the Supreme Court of India through devotees who preside there. His unaccountable Sathya Sai Organisation cannot be sued in the US, not being registered as an accountable organisation (it operates and sends its donations to India through a bookshop).

In the first part of this series, Ullrich Zimmermann tells how he came to Sathya Sai Baba and got his first interview. Those who have not been involved in visiting Sai Baba will find some interest in watching this. He brings out the way in which he experienced this at the time, not concealing how indoctrinated he was – similar to most devotees – well before he ever saw Sai Baba. His conclusions about it all years after the sexual events (stated in Part Three) – reflect a most critical perspective.

In Part Two of the series: Since the live video interviews are lengthy, they are summarized  for the sake of those who will not have time to watch all of it, with transcripts of portions which are particularly important from the viewpoint of the expos of Sai Baba’s secret and controversial and doings.

Full coverage of Zimmermann’s testimony, with transcripts and discussion – click here

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Why Former Devotees Feel Obliged to Expose Sai Baba

Having for so long contributed to so many people becoming Sathya Sai Baba followers, I cannot escape the sense of duty I have to make known to them – and all comers – what I unavoidably learned about him – his deceptions and widely and firmly alleged crimes – despite all I had accepted and hoped to be true about him.

My promotion of Sai Baba was mainly through running a Sai centre for many years with my wife – and working hard to fulfil all its requirements [without appreciable help from the members or others for most of the 18 years]. It continued through my writings – a positive book (which he accepted) well over a score of articles in his journal or in other official Sai publications. Besides, I devoted 18 years of my life to trying to realise some of the ideals I came to believe that Sathya Sai Baba really stood for (yet no longer can). My nearly two decades in the organization was full of him and his teachings. During that time I practiced his various directions like selfless service and strictly following human values to the best of my abilities.  We visited him on nine occasions and come to know him (5 interviews – plus 5 private interviews total ca. 8-9 hours) and countless darsan contacts. I knew various persons very close to him, and not least because of that I happen to be unusually well placed to expose what I found out about him. In fact, Sathya Sai Baba is the one subject in my later life about which I am most informed, and it is natural that I should not just run away from the matter but instead expose all his countless deceits and alleged crimes. I have a  large catalogue of mails from persons who have been damaged by him, and from families that have been broken up due to his influence, sometimes from very prominent people in the West.

I might have preferred it had I not felt obliged to follow up my exposure of what I came to know about him. I am in no doubt that what I am doing is right in all senses of the word, for I know so many people whose lives have been seriously upset by him, his directives, broken promises, outright lies and taking advantage of them. I have suffered only mildly in comparison with many who write to me. As to those whose faith is challenged by my work in promoting all the testimonies against him etc., they have a choice… to seek the truth at whatever cost to their own feelings and dependency on him, or to continue in an illusion that he is what he claims to be. I am not responsible for any pain they may suffer from realisation of the facts, because I did not do the things I report on… it was Sathya Sai Baba who did wrong, not I. I have not deceived anyone, he most certainly has – and on a massive scale. Those officials who support him in the cover up of everything he does which he not wish should come to light are themselves also responsible for their part in it… As my activity up to now shows, I am fully determined not to allow Sathya Sai baba, his officials, his organization and the politicians and judges who protect him to get away with a total cover-up of all the many allegations of sexual abuse and murder involvement, or to hush up his megalomaniac claims and countless false and ignorant statements… whatever good he may have done or his followers have achieved. The truth shall out!

Footnote: Years of a major slur and libel campaign against me and other critics of SB by Gerald Joe Moreno have caused some of us at long last to respond in some detail to his endless bending of the truth, distorting facts about us and insultingly accusing us of many things which are entirely false.  Because there are so many deceived or deluded followers who know little or nothing other than the stories and propaganda, his many pages are read by some – a tiny proportion of the alleged millions of followers nonetheless. The transparency of his bogus arguments is such that the more who read them, the more seek out our responses, and we are confident that we stand for nothing but the facts and the truth, which will convince those who are not over-indoctrinated. Moreno’s smear and character assassination campaign against dissidents further ensures that the exposé continues with full force, also to expose his dirty tricks.

Barry Pittard, a former lecturer in Sathya Sai Baba’s education establishment and a devotee for 25 years, has recently written a series documenting his leave-taking of Sathya Sai Baba:

Barry Pittard – Leaving the Sathya Sai Baba Cult (Part 1.)- Ex Leaders + Rank-and-File
On Leaving A Powerful Global Cult. Sathya Sai Baba  (Part 2)
On Leaving A Powerful Global Cult. Sathya Sai Baba  (Part 3)

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See Public Petition for Official Investigations of Sathya Sai Baba and his Worldwide Organization
(Spanish version PETICIÓNPÚBLICA PARA INVESTIGACIONES OFICIALES

Can Sathya Sai Baba be deceived? And if so…

Here is a remarkable sentence from the book ‘ANYATHA SARANAM NASTHI’ [“Other than you refuge there is none”] by one of his most devoted lifelong admirers, Smt. Vijaya Kumari (known as ‘Vijayamma)’ reports that Sathya Sai Baba said:-

“NO ONE CAN DECEIVE SWAMI, IF THEY DO, THEY WILL DIE WITH THEIR HEADS SMASHED TO PIECES” (p. 276)

 

Direct quote of Sathya Sai Baba’s words by Vijaya Kumari in her authenticated self-biography.

Not only is it self-contradictory, but  from a self-pronounced “Embodiment of Pure Love” is plain talk! It exhibits either sheer duplicity or serious split-mindedness.  This lady was one of Professor Erlendur Haraldsson’s main witnesses on the various miracles of Sai Baba, being interviewed extensively by him for his book ‘Miracles are my visiting cards’ (also published under the title ‘Modern Miracles’). She is regarded with great reverence in much of the Indian Sai Baba movement due to her having been a child when Sathya Sai Baba was a rampant teenager in Puttaparthi (as she portrays him), leading his gang around and confronting adults with details from their private married lives etc. Her book is worth reading because she tells rather frankly of the younger Sai Baba’s behaviour, including his propensity to tell many untruths, to stir up trouble and –  last but far from least – how he relentlessly and regularly beat her baby son, Prudvi, only 2 years old – and for long periods. The son later became a ‘favourite’ and one can see Sai Baba’s proprietary relationship to him in the photo.

See text where Vijayamma details Sai Baba’s draconian punishments of her baby!

Gerald Moreno is entirely mistaken about my reference to the Vijayamma account. We see, yet again, as in myriad instances, Moreno’s penchant for untruthfulness and tendentious deviance from fact. There is desperation in his mammoth effort to defend his idol. There is his tendency to rationalize anything which would cast Sai Baba in an unfavourable light. For example, Moreno has himself related how Sai Baba “oiled on the lower stomach” (in private), and has given spurious rationalizations of the experience – explanations which any responsible citizen (and especially parents of children) would find objectionable. Adult touching of this kind is against the laws of India just as it is in many other countries. Gerald Moreno blunders and misrepresents me in stating that I am ‘smearing’ Sathya Sai Baba. It is nothing of the sort, for I have reported exactly what Vijayamma has written.

Moreno will most likely pass over the importance of this fact in silence, I expect, as he does with nearly all those undeniable facts about the man he admires so totally as to attack the outspoken Sai-critics full-time including harassing them (and sometimes their children!) in their community and personal lives. He condones everything Sathya Sai Baba says and does, for he never raises the slightest criticism of any of it, rather promoting him through his sickeningly obsequious but also hate-inflamed web log [entitled with unconscious irony “Sathya Sai Baba – Love, Light and Spirituality”]! What he lacks in facts, valid arguments and honesty he makes up for in seeking ever new avenues to spread his constant flow of spiteful disinformation and libel further onto Google – such as the Internet Thesaurus and Zoominfo.com! Meanwhile, I report about him and what he has written himself. HIS is a smear campaign, not what critics are doing! The work of critics such as Barry Pittard, Brian Steel, Kevin R.D. Shepherd stands on its own merits and is far remote from the libelous, defaming and demeaning language which is to be seen on almost any page that Moreno writes.

Moreno claims that I was threatened with a million dollar lawsuit (by a half-crazed Indian called Rebello). He knows this is a lie. I was never threatened, not even by mail – let alone from any lawyer. Let him try the impossible now, to prove his statement… with any genuine documentation. Rebello claims he wrote to a server and threatened them. Even that was never forwarded to me. Likewise, no critic of Sathya Sai Baba has ever been sued, nor even threatened in any credible legal way (except once by an incompetent Indian posing as a lawyer whose bluff was called immediately by no reply), yet Moreno claims to know better! He loves to grab a half-truth and turn it into a full lie, and then to claim that it is critics (whether former devotees or reputable media) who are engaged in falsification. He crafted his wholly untrue account simply so as to try to get oxygen for his libel pages… as he always does, even if the point concerned is utterly trivial, he will post it here, there and often everywhere he can.

Though never threatened legally, however, I have received death threats from Sai followers, as proved by the comment made on this blog site – see the response from a Sai defender on the blog here). The person who made the threat was reported to the Oslo Police… no doubt another Sai coward hiding behind an assumed name and using the e-mail of a large educational institution.

Sathya Sai Baba Man Gerald Moreno – Banned By Eight Wikpedia Editors

Note: Moreno defended Sathya Sai Baba for years while believing him to be a sexual abuser – see his own words and denying all negative facts about him. He is in deep denial, not least having himself been molested or ‘groomed’ through being “oiled on the lower stomach” (in private)

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PLEASE SEE THE SAI PETITION AND DECIDE WHETHER TO SIGN IT