Sachin Tendulkar and Sathya Sai Baba’s gold cup ‘stolen’ from the poor

from Tehelka – 7th May CLICK ON IMAGE TO GO TO WEB PAGE

The Cricket Field and Golden Cup. On 30/12/1997 world cricket stars and TV stations were invited to a ‘Cricket Unity Cup’ on an expensively-prepared field in the Hillview Stadium. Some famous players came, mostly Indian, including Sachin Tendulkar, Arjuna Ranatunga, Sunil Gaveskar (a long-term devotee), G. R. Vishwanath, Viv Richards of West Indies and almost unknown Doug Brown (the only UK player). Sai Baba is reported as having said: SB “It will be brought by four boys in a trolley. It is very heavy. It cannot be lifted. It weighs 20 kgs. Pure gold.” A college teacher exclaimed; “1 Crore, Swami!” (i.e Rs.10 millions) SB: “Yes, yes.” Teacher: “Individual cup, Swami?” SB: “Yes, yes. Each player one Cup. 1 Kg. of silver. Round cup, one side ball, one side bat. We can keep fruits on it. It can be used in daily life. Outside they give plate on which they write. After some days it becomes copper. This is pure silver, pure gold.” Teacher: “Swami, it is written in Suka Naadi that Avatar will hoist the Sarvadharma flag; and that will be the turning point for the unity of the world.” SB answered: “Time has come; time has come. Yes, in Suka Naadi it is there, in Sukha Naadi it is there.” Comment: So much for Sai Baba’s confirmation of the Suka Naadi’s failed prediction – yet again!

From where did the 20 kilos of gold come for the Cricket Cup? Since Sathya Sai Baba claimed he had no possessions whatever (except his boys!), he could not have paid for it. (Unless he already had a hidden stash of gold, perhaps). No, ALL the money used so lavishly to try to promote himself through international cricket came from donors to the Central Trust. That money was given on the understanding that it would be used most judiciously for the support of the poor, the suffering, the sick, the uneducated… “not a naia paise wasted“ but NOT to buy cricket stars’ support through lavish gifts. The young Sachin Tendulkar was easily inducted into the beliefs about ´Sathya Sai Baba and has never questioned anything, gladly accepting his share of the cash never intended for him or other rich and famous persons by the donors who gave so unstintingly and trustfully. The other famous Indian cricketers involved then also share the responsibility for figuratively ‘taking bread from the mouths of the poor’. NOW, however, the hidden facts about the Sai Trust and Sai Baba has begun to emerge more widely even in India! Sathya Sai Baba hoarded gold, silver, currency and countless other items in secret caches! The unaccountable, clandestine Sai Trust is under questioning… though the money they have available – and their contacts with huge influence – can yet no doubt buy off any police, politicians or witnesses.

The scandalous Cricket Cup was otherwise a huge and costly failure as the experiment has never been repeated. It is another incidence of the duplicity that has marked Sathya Sai Baba’s relationship to property and money from the start of the Sai Organization. On 11/8/2001, Sathya Sai Baba held a discourse (published in Sanathana Sarathi, September 2001) where he detailed the running costs of the two hospitals, the colleges etc. and how much investment is needed to cover these. This sum – amounting to the interest from 600 crores of rupees (about $120 mill), is perhaps surprisingly little, considering the billions that have been donated to him. Half the interest of this 600 crores goes to the Bangalore hospital, 2/6th to the Puttaparthi hospital and 1/6th to all the educational institutions together. Sai Baba asks rhetorically, “Wherefrom does it all come?” And adds so self-deprecatingly, “However, I am giving it” (p. 264). Does Sai Baba himself have any money to give, then? He has always claimed to be a renunciate who owns nothing. For example, “At a meeting of the Central Trust yesterday, I told the members including Sri Indulal Shah, that I had no interest in property. Do not involve me in any connection with these properties. I do not wish to have any connection with money or property. My only concern is with my devotees. Telling them all this, I signed the papers.“ (1.01.1998, Sanathana Sarathi, Vol. 41, January1998, p. 4).
See http://www.saibaba-x.org.uk/13/Sai_finance_and_deceits.html