Warnings against Sathya Sai Baba impostors

Both in India and around the world there are many who try to claim association with Sathya Sai Baba or his institutions for their own ends, not least  to obtain donations or to gain popularity, status etc.   Interestingly, his warnings that all these claims are bogus were repeated at intervals against ever new claimants in the monthly journal Sanathana Sarathi (see scans of some of these warnings below – click on the thumbnail images).  Sai Baba and his officials were very active trying to ensure that all the money flowed to them alone, which was fair enough where his name was being used to attract funds.​

Sai Krishna	Srirangapatnam
		General K.A. Taylor

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Sathya Sai Baba always claimed that he never conveyed any kind of spiritual illumination, ‘shaktipat‘ or kundalini awakening teaching. It is admitted by his officials that he did oiling of the genitals of boys and young men (and many claim he did a lot more besides,  none of whom report having benefited from this by way of any illumination! On the contrary. many of those who are free to inform the public because they live outside India have provided evidence on oath and affidavits of being sexually abused.

Seekers of boons, powers, endorsements…  While many of those who want to be healers have good motives and even the wish to help others selflessly, quite a few claimed that Sai Baba has confirmed their having received powers to heal others from him in interviews. There is some evidence that he says this too, but then again a lot also seems to be wishful thinking. To cap it all, Sai Baba (at least outwardly) denied that he gave any powers to anyone,  and he NEVER confirmed that he has blessed anyone with healing powers. nor did he endorse anyone as a healer! Despite this, he frequently ‘produced’ so-called lingams of various shapes, colours and sizes which he gave to devotees and told them that they contained healing powers and were to be used to help heal other people.

Many others say that Sai Baba spoke (or speaks) through them. To ‘channel’ Sai Baba is a favourite among clairvoyants, New Age mini-gurus and even ordinary followers who have some feeling of his presence have claimed this. Sai Baba repeatedly warned:-  “Take it from Me, I am not given to such absurdities! I do not use others as My media”  (Sathya Sai Speaks new ed. Vol. 2, p. 167). In 1997, after putting the matter of the misuse of Sai Baba’s name to him in person, Dr. Michael Goldstein, the current head of  the Sathya Sai Organisation in the Western hemisphere, appealed and warned  everyone that Sai Baba “has not conferred upon anyone special powers to lead us, to heal us or to solve our problems. Swami has not given anyone special authority to intervene in our lives. Swami has not appointed anyone to be an intermediary in our heart-to-heart relationship with Him. Let us not be gullible in accepting such false claims.”