Al Drucker expropriated others’ work to himself

On April 1st. 1985, Sai Baba gave an interview for ‘foreigners only’ (see scan of e-mail on the right) . Around 40 foreign ‘April Fools’ attended (many of them accepted this label, also surely because Sai Baba calls most people fools, especially ‘learned fools’ like scientists, academics and scholars). Part of the interview was taped and was later transcribed by Eileen Weed and a lady called Anna. They gave the transcript to Drucker for polishing. But Al Drucker stated that he had transcribed the interview (“compiled from notes taken by me”). This is what Sai devotees (especially his wife Jan – aka Yaani or Jaani) call ‘ego’, in imitation of Sai Baba who applied this to almost all and everyone except himself. When I once asked Sai Baba what he meant by ‘ego’, he replied “Me and mine”! The label, however, did fit Drucker in that instance, though it is better called  ‘selfish egotism’ but Sai Baba’s language abilities did not stretch that far). Self-indulgent and self-promoting is more like the ticket, both for Sai Baba and the Druckers, who continually confused what he call ‘ego’ with virtually anything enterprising other than devotees’ service offered to Sai Baba. Since Drucker was famously thrown out of the ashram and organization, they have both presented themselves as ‘self-realized’. There is a huge disconnect between the humble, confused, questioning, cowed Drucker in the interview and the role he played in the ashram and continues to enjoy… a kind of top-dog vip devotee who takes it upon himself to organise, speak, give advice and warnings to devotees and to missionize in the manner of other God-botherer sects and cults.

The interview itself was entirely routine and standard, but is interesting in how well it shows that Sai Baba wouldn’t (i.e. more likely ‘couldn’t) answer any spiritual questions directly and lucidly, but just went off through his well-known platitudes, round and round in devious and ever-decreasing tautological circles. He made sure always to put his questioners down as an entirely unrealised and body-entrapped persons, (his famous psychopathological technique). It also shows the pathetic attitude of Drucker, who put a number of the more articulate questions. All the questioners, including him, exhibited the intellectual equivalent of abject sheep in their self-effacement and general confusion about Sai’s (ever vague) teaching, demonstrating their unquestioning indoctrination (which was always called ‘faith’).

In the interview for April Fools someone asks the best way to relate to the world. The answer SB gives is the usual impossible didactic indoctrination, which sounds more like persiflage to any non-affected person. The body is an impermanent bubble, all relationships are impermanent, the mind is a mad monkey, you are in 100% body consciousness… and so on. Think only about God, in yourself, all around, all is one, nothing else exists. Develop self-confidence (tough for mad impermanent monkeys to do?). Rise to the highest level only through love, then live in that Unity. One question was “Is everything predetermined” and the non-answer was that there is no time or form for the Atma (true self) which is everywhere. I can but comment that if it is everywhere, then it is also nowhere to be found. One does not meet up anywhere with it in any shape or form, because it has none. It is ‘ever-beyond-reach’ of the embodied person, so perhaps the only way to try to get to it is to get rid of the body (entirely?) as many suicide cases at the ashrams may indicate. These airy theological inventions are difficult to understand, because they contain no substantial meaning to be grasped, but they do serve to confuse, mislead and cow the individual who thinks Sai Baba is divine. They are an insult to human intelligence, but it takes a lot of experiences, knowledge and good critical thinking to get through the labyrinths of drawn-out and often sophisticated speculative nonsense to see them for what they are. (See the source here) Here are a few more examples of this absurdity:-

One person asks if there is no “higher being judging and guiding me”. SB avoids any direct answer, as usual, and waffles on about the bliss of the true self (Atma) which has no qualities like anger, hunger, desire.  Next “what is reborn in reincarnation?” SB: “… reincarnation relates only to the body” The Atma has no reincarnation. (All crystal clear, eh? But not to a mad monkey, of course).

Next: “How can we love something we can’t understand?“! Excellent question but SB says develop self-confidence, get self-satisfaction, then sacrifice the self and then self-realisation comes. So that is what this devious guru gives as an ‘answer’. Next: ‘is self-confidence confidence in the self?’ SB answered ‘Yes.. unwavering love for the divinity within you. Don’t do what you like, but like what you do’. He was ever drawing on his stock of these trivial and ambiguous catch phrases which are devoid of any sound advice.Another ‘small example’ :- Asked ‘shall we tell these things to others?’ he replied with “First do some sadhana. First do. Then be. Then you can talk. Do good. be good and see good. Do everything with love. After you develop your self-confidence and love for God then you can share your experiences with others” The same old manoeuvre – his endlessly repeated slogans instead of any truly intelligible answer. But Alvin Drucker evidently figured that he was well-qualified to talk as he gave lectures to visitors prior to and after that session! So it goes on…

Note too that the Drucker couple were thrown out of the Brindavan ashram in 1994 and banned from the Sathya Sai Organization when I was there because Sai Baba refused to allow that Drucker could marry Jaani (aka Yaani). Various Indian devotees from UK and USA were over the moon that Drucker had been given his marching orders, which just shows the brotherliness in that snake-pit of jealousy. Later, Jaani has made much of the fact that she was brutally raped in her shrine room on Shivarthri night! Those who believe that Sai Baba bilocates (as he claimed himself on several occasions) and even in  other physical forms than his current ‘incarnation’ might wonder  if it was not Sai Baba himself  who assumed the body of her attacker in teaching her that wonderful divine lesson for which she praised him so much in her spoutings about the mysterious significance of the rape in leading her towards realization! Surely, it can’t get much more wacky and non-realized than that, even though the airy arguments are that her diatribes are an expression of the other-worldly fantasy of  ‘all are one’ and ‘everything is love’.

The process of gradual engulfment in a religious cult from which there is less and less way back as time goes on, as in the case of Al Drucker and many others of his ilk, has been explained in the anti-cult literature, such as in the excellent book The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies — How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them as Truths. By Michael Shermer. (Times Books; 400 pages; $28. £19.99. Buy from Amazon.com). The book “presents the evidence for Mr Shermer’s central claim: that, instead of shaping belief around painstakingly gathered, soberly judged evidence, people most often decide upon their beliefs first, and then use an impressive range of cognitive tricks to bend whatever evidence they do discover into support for those pre-decided acts of faith.” This is most evident in devotees like Drucker whose brains have been constantly programmed with Sai thought-deadening doctrine and purposely mind-killing ‘mantras’ over many long years, allowing little else to enter that could re-direct the ingrained neuronic gridlock. It is obvious to us, not even noticeable to them.

Good friends of mine in UK at the time, who had been thrown out a prominent role of the organisation and were disaffected by Sai Baba, visited Al and Yaani Drucker’s ‘self-realization’ group in 2002 in which they were studying ‘A Course in Miracles’ and ‘The Power of Now’. At first they were quite inspired, not least because it was not like the empty drawn out discourses without any spiritual guidance, only admonitions and vague abstractions about God’s bliss. It would be hard to run a course that was less inspiring than the daily feed at Prashanthi Nilayam! They were themselves asked to conduct some courses, so the went back after 3 months. But the experience began to drag… there was too much evangelizing of the Druckers’  approach. They sent me the glossy brochures Al Drucker made, which showed a group of mostly middle-aged ladies looking very ordinary and some rather like the ‘lost souls’ one sees floating around ashrams. These people were mostly all claiming the be self-realised, and this did not exclude Al Drucker. So all claims by Yaani that her husband never claimed that are not true! As a self-promoted ‘self-realized being’, she certainly is a very confused person, as she writes self-justifying mails projecting what devotees would only call her ‘ego’ – i.e. not what any supposedly ‘self-realized’ person according to the spiritual theory and hype speculation would be capable of doing. 

Sir Jimmy Savile and Sathya Sai Baba

See this very valid comparison of how Sir Jimmy Savile and Sathya Sai Baba got away with massive sexual abuses.

Serial Pedophile Issues and Comparisons: Sir Jimmy Savile and Sathya Sai Baba

See also “It was good while it lasted” for Sathya Sai Baba too

Sathya Sai Baba reported as wanting to die in 2006

See comment added by Eileen  October 29, 2012 at 2:59 am 

Yes – excellent post, quite a find! Though I am sure there are MANY other such incidents, if the students would only open up and speak about them. What a massive WOOL pulled over so many eyes, all because of the brainwashing not to share anything “negative”.

Did Sathya Sai Baba read ‘Mein Kampf’?

Information about Sai Baba’s reading material  has emerged, see scan of e-mail from ‘Divya’ (Eileen Weed) on the right.

Sai Baba was definitely interested in Adolf Hitler, as he spoke of him in an interview once. Presumably he read at least some of his copy of Mein Kampf (maybe in English, which he knew to some extent). That he had a copy was the kind of fact, when met by devotees, is almost automatically discredited and then eradicated from their thoughts. I did just this myself when I was a follower, and not least when first I heard at the ashram that Sai Baba had spoken positively about Adolf Hitler. That was known to a number of US followers, having been in Alvin Drucker’s group when he obtained an interview for Jewish US devotees. I later met Marge Hendel, who was present at that interview and confirmed the main facts to me while she was living here in Oslo. Sai Baba had said – when asked about Adolf Hitler – that he was also a good man who had set going positive changes and, further, that he repented of his sins before his suicide!  This preposterous claim of repentance is totally false, being refuted by Hitler’s own final statement just before his suicide, as confirmed fully by his personal secretary who wrote down his dictated lengthy and vituperative declaration against the Jews and the entire German populace.

It is unlikely that Sai Baba recognised his own agenda in the ‘big lie’ theory that Hitler attributed to the Jews, though most ex-devotees can see more and more clearly that Sai Baba was an adherent of the biggest lie possible, that he created the universe!  In Mein Kampf, Hitler wrote: “All this was inspired by the principle–which is quite true within itself–that in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation. For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying. (Mein Kampf, vol. I, ch. X)

The above describes very well the tendency of a large portion of humanity to accept unquestioningly what is accepted widely in their environment, however much it conflicts with what one can observe and whatever independent sources take issue with it. One example alone should serve to prove this; that Hitler succeeded for so long. It could hardly be clearer, in retrospect, in the case of Sathya Sai Baba himself, though the devotees’ deceived and then deeply self-programmed minds and emotions – along with other important attachments – prevent them from taking in anything they do no want to believe. They cannot see that Sai Baba was actually mad – madness being used here in a looser connotation to characterise a man adrift from normal human experience, however many other symptoms of mental derangement he showed, from psychopathic charm-and-rejection, egomaniac claims and intense self-enhancing narcissism (cunningly cloaked as its opposite ‘love all, serve all’).

Please note the comment that came from   a Dutch ex-follower “In one of my interviews, Sai Baba was asked about Hitler, since, according to Sai Baba, everything is Gods (i.e. His) will. His answer was ‘Hitler played his role perfectly!’
Bas Engelbarts”

Further, I received an e.mail from a former student who remains anonymous (for reasons of security) who tells:-

Sai Baba deconstruction by Srikanth Uppuluri

A brilliantly succinct and entirely correct evaluation of Sathya Sai Baba’s main agenda – to appear to be good and be doing good – is found at Sathya Sai Baba is unfathomable, incomprehensible? He relied on the widely-held assumption that people who appear spiritual and preach spirituality always appear to be good, but what good he seemed to do was not done by him,  but by others who he used to bolster himself.

Sai Baba used every means to hide his real agenda and clandestine activities including such statements as “I warn you not to comprehend me.” is also made clear in this testimony of  Srikanth Uppuluri in his blog: Sathya Sai Baba’s inscrutability and dark side – A confirmation

Isaac Tigrett is in the Building

Tehelka fell for the propaganda: Sai devotees no longer contribute at all so generously, nor do hardly any of the 1,200 centres have much more than a handful of members; the pressure is on everyone to keep up the centres at least on paper.

 What with his claims to be Sai Baba’s living will, and his vast plans for a spiritual centre in the forests of Coorg (which he cooked up together with the ailing and failing Sai Baba in his senility, there is evidently much interest among his cult survivors in Isaac Tigrett. The otherwise respectable and critical media outlet Tehelka.com recently published an article which presented Tigrett as a “trendy new heir” who plans a “new boom town”. The interesting omission by Tehelka is that Tigrett no longer has the millions he once had and moved to India because he was almost broke (see report below). Tehelka wrote: “When quizzed about how he intends to get land for the project, Tigrett says, “Sai Baba told me not to worry about anything and to focus just on the planning. He said he will bring the money, people and the place. He told me that I would know when to begin. I just kept it in my head and it kept evolving.” So he will be relying on donations of land, capital investment and the like. There has certainly been a thriving market for spiritual hogwash and seems to survive at present, witness Sri-x-3 Ravi Shankar, the hugging mother, the continued expansion of the Osho ashram and org., the spate of Sai Baba emulators (see the Guru Gallery) 

The facilities and technologies Tigrett plans to develop are no doubt seem very cool to  all manner of ‘spiritual aspirants’ and ‘alternative practitioners’  to New Age visitors seeking ‘different’ holidays (i.e. “holy days”?) where they can meet the kind of people they would flock together with and enjoy ‘sattvic’ food (no more Hard Rock beef fare), the “phenomenal vibes” of the kind Tigrett believes exist in holy places and not least cheap living (if billeted outside Tigrett’s complex, one thinks).  Apart from Sai Baba survivors one can imagine how many would fancy meeting all the kind of social drop outs and dreamers such a place would attract: would-be ‘healers’ of all descriptions, clairvoyants, tai-chi types, mediums & channellers, astrologers, yogis (not forgetting yoginis), sadhus and disciples, number mystics, believers in all the wildest Hindu ‘spiritual masters’ of the ages, and no doubt individuals from the entire religious lunatic fringe peddling all manner of speculative baggage and doubtful goods (genuine ‘crystal skulls’?)… you name it! Hey, man, far out, man! The very name of the project “The Mystic Inn of the Seventh Ray” (which goes back to the  totally unfeasible mythology around the reincarnating Count of St. Germain) gives away the core loopiness of it all.

Considering that Tigrett has been cold-shouldered by all those who have usurped the mantle and monies of Sai Baba’s spiritual projects, despite his claims to be the “living will” of Sai Baba (that is some tall self-serving usurpation of the divine, is it not?). It seems high time to re-post a blog which a lady in the ashram put on wordpress in 2009 but which she withdrew (from fear of harassment). It gives the flavour of the one-time beefburger king, ladies man, former drug and drink abuser:-

Posted by prashanthi on April 25, 2009

Isaac is in The Building

 A little bit about the mystical, magical, elitist and his colossal ego.

Issac Tigrett came to live in the Abode of Perfect Peace late in 2007. He claims to have been swindled out of all of his money and was broke. Broke? No, I don’t think so. Even now he seems to be able to find money to buy a horse for his daughter who is living in her newly acquired flat in Sai Towers. Another gift from her finacially strapped father.

Isaac is a tall, obese, balding man with an attitude. His scanty hair is dyed jet black, combed back and tied in a small pony tail. Beats me how he manages to get so few hairs into a pony tail, and one wonders for how many more years he is going to manage to retain his old image of a wannabe rock and roll star. Isaac Tigrett seems stuck in the past. This maybe due to him having such a fantastic lifestyle back then. Although he has been given the best chair on the Sai Baba’s veranda, this concerned him greatly at first, as it was on the women’s side. His seat is, never the less, the envy of the veranda men, most of whom sit on the floor and towards the back of the veranda. Issac’s chair is placed directly where Sai Baba accesses his car. No one has darshan like Isaac does. Having said that, he still seems to be hankering over his old life style. I suppose like most of us, we hope living with Sai Baba will bring peace and joy to our troubled lives, but the truth is that living near such a powerful guru is going to be difficult. The guru will be on your case in no time.

For those people who know little or nothing about Isaac Tigrett, he is the first person to have given Sathya Sai Baba an over-sized check to the tune of between 40 million and 54 million US dollars. I am not quite sure how many millions he gave, but it was a large check. Apparently he wrote the check one day, just before darshan. Baba took it in no time, taking the check from him personally as he walked by Isaac later that day. The check was intended for a hospital to serve 500 poor people. I believe the check was given sometime in 1989.

I have no idea why Isaac would give over 40 million dollars for a small hospital to serve the poor. 40 million dollars, in those days would have built 5 -6 hospitals with plenty of change left over. Up until the time of writing the check, Isaac had not received an interview. After his huge donation, he became a firm favourite. He has retained that title ever since.

[In an interesting talk he gave to Sai Baba devotees after giving the donation] Isaac explains in full, how he came to meet Sai Baba and his experiences with him. In that talk, he comes over as a really nice guy, a person full of compassion and care for others. Sadly, Isaac Tigrett has changed. He now appears to be a bitter, unsmiling, unfriendly elitist figure with a haunted expression upon his face. The Sai Baba honeymoon period with Isaac seemed to have ceased within months of his arrival. He does not mix well with ordinary Sai devotees anymore. (2009). He is aloof and cold, and avoids former acquaintances. His once “Love All – Serve All” moto used to be in every Hark Rock Cafe, but seems to have crumbled into a sad and broken mantra of the past. If love was ever his victory march, and Sathya Sai Baba his business manager, then Issac must feel let down.

The First Few Months in Puttaparthi

When Isaac Tigrett first came to live at Prashanthi Nilayam, he appeared happy enough. He was living outside in Sai Towers Hotel. By all accounts, he was approachable and spoke casually with the devotees. In fact, he seemed happy. He ate his meals with others, often enjoying long conversations with friends who held him in high esteem. He has reportedly said he was happy to have less responsibilities, and he believed he had done the right thing by coming to live in Sai Baba’s Ashram. I was not there at the time so have little info. His first few months in Puttparthi were reported to me by several others who were there.

Commonly reported among Sai Baba followers:

He had his breakfasts out in the village. I was told he spent much of his time discussing women. He reportedly told the same story every day to other men who joined him at the table. He boasted that Sai Baba had told him ‘no women’ in an interview several years back, yet Isaac found himself, on his return home, to be sleeping with two women at once. I am not sure that ‘at once’ meant just that, or he had two affairs going on concurrently. Isaac married again several years ago. His new wife, whose name was Kate, joined him on a visit to Sai Baba at Brindavan some 3-4 years ago. In an interview with Sai Baba, Isaac introduced his wife, Kate, to Sai Baba who referred to her as Cake. Anyway the marriage didn’t last long and I am not sure that “Cake” – did not end up with more than her full share of Isaac’s Cake.

Another interesting tale from Isaac. One morning in Mid. December. 2007, he began yet another conversation with his friends, about a dream that he had the night before. He said that he had dreamed of a clothes line full of washing and behind the line was a naked woman. Isaac is loud, his words are easily overheard in a small restaurant where visitors gather. I am not sure he is altogether aware of how often his bravado is overheard and repeated. ”

Eventually Sai Baba told him to move into the Ashram. He was ’gifted’ an extra apt. next to his old one on the top floor of the South Prashanthi complex. He has, since that time, had it completely refurbished and painted purple in the hallway. It looks like something from a Harry Potter movie. Isaac, himself, is also such a character, he reminds me of one of the Wizards in the Harry Potter books.

Issac’s chair on the ladies side is placed up against the pillar on the veranda. He faces out on to the wheelchair ladies. Due to Isaac’s awkwardness about the placement of his chair, a retired ashram gentleman now sits quietly to the left of him. Sometimes other important guests are given chairs close to Isaac’s. Isaac is no longer the only man seated on the women’s side on a chair. Yet in a recent talk (Jan 2009), he gave to Dallas Sai devotees, he claims he is.

During Isaac’s First Year on the Veranda.

Isaac was pretty punctual in attending darshan during his first year on the veranda. He came almost every morning at around 8.30 and again at around 4.30pm each afternoon. He sat quietly meditating most of the time. Sometimes he appeared to sleep. I am sure he was trying to avoid the ladies seated close by who faced him. Yet Isaac’s attempts at sadhana and sannyasin seemed to fall apart after a while. He couldn’t help himself when it came to a pretty face. It became common knowledge that Isaac’s large cold eyes wandered over the women seated for darshan. He would sit watching several ladies he was attracted to, even while Sai Baba was sitting inside the Mandir. Although Isaac is aging, I suppose he has not lost entirely his attraction to women nor the need to be with one. Yet despite his prominent position on the veranda, he comes across now as a man wearing golden handcuffs. He has been given orders, he states, “that Sai Baba has told him no women”. During February, 2008, he had a crush on a visiting Danish woman whom he made friends with. But to give him his just dues, he ended it very quickly.

Towards the end of 2008, Isaac came later and later to Darshan, often arriving after Sai Baba was already seated in the Mandir. Seems like Issac was growing tired of the constant long waits in the heat where he looked bored and fed up.
Why is Isaac Seated on the Ladies’ side?

Many of the ladies enjoy discussing the reasons why Isaac is seated on the ladies’ side. Some of the reasons given are as follows: Issac Tigrett seems to have difficult relationships with women and therefore he is meeting his demons face on. Others say that he is there to bring up the women’s stuff. Well, I find that one a bit hard to swallow. As mentioned before, he is an aging and fat man with a grumpy personality.

Also reported among followers:

”Issac himself believes he is seated there to act as bait for evil. I expect he means he is bait for the evil in women. Perhaps he sees all women as evil? Having married several who have taken him for a ride, perhaps he has a right to such an opinion.”

The aging Isaac does have a problem with some of the younger women living around the ashram. Some claim to have received messages from Sai Baba indicating that Isaac is to marry them or something like that. One lady actually approached Isaac with her Sai message. He replied. “Sorry Maam – I have not received the same message.”

To be fair to the women that claim ”they are receiving messages concerning Tigrett, Sai Baba often uses telepathy to convey his instructions. I am not sure all the women who claim they are hearing something about Tigrett are making it up. Perhaps they are ’receiving’ their messages from the Sai Source itself. If so then Tigrett should be aware that, he too, is having his ego button pressed by Sai Baba. After all Tigrett would be the first to admit that people receive messages from Sai Baba.

He himself reported that when he was staying in a hotel in North India during 1972, a voice came into his consciousness telling him to visit Sai Baba. Isaac had no idea where the message was coming from, he looked behind him and saw a photograph of Sai Baba of whom he had not heard of. He decided to follow the dictates of the ‘received ‘message and went to Brindavan Ashram, where Sai Baba walked up to him and offered him vibuthi and uttered the very same words as he had conveyed in the message, that Tigrett had heard in North India. For more about the ‘messages’ – see Isaac Tigrett’s talk, posted in the links.

He held pujas in his apt. for many months after his arrival. They were later closed to the public because too many women turned up. I believe the pujas are still continued but by invitation only. Isaac being Isaac, felt the general public women were only attending out of curiosity or to make friends with him.

Towards the end of 2008, he became even more aloof. He sold his flashy red sports car which had given him a high profile. Everyone knew where Isaac was due, to the bright red sports car. He now walks though the ashram and takes rickshaws when he needs to go outside. He is seldom seen outside of darshan times. Seems like he has put himself in a corner, not a happy situation for a person who wants to be a true ‘chela’ of his Master.Isaac’s mantra: “I see God in everyone I meet.” He even mentions that in his latest talk given in Dallas Texas. Yet Isaac avoids almost everyone living in and around the P.N. Ashram, giving most the cold shoulder

Isaac Tigrett’s announcement of secrets Sai Baba told him – video added

Isaac Tigrett profile: he believed in Sai Baba’s sexual abuses and more

Sai Organization cold shoulder Isaac Tigrett and Sai Baba’s secret message?

Sai Baba & Tigrett at the Mystic Inn of the 7th Ray!

Isaac Tigrett gets bad press in USA

Isaac Tigrett & a fake ‘crystal skull’ Sai Baba ‘materialized’

Keith Crichlow, Isaac Tigrett and ‘mystical number seven’!

Puttaparthi declines yet further – Tehelka.com

Further late news on Tigrett to be posted here soon

scanned excerpt from Tehelka.com:-

Sai Baba darsan at Prashanthi Nilayam

A French lady whose name is protected, had a web log in 2009 where she described some prominent persons and wrote a number of insightful articles about Sai Baba and his ashrams. She soon deleted the blog due to harassment after we warned her about the unscrupulous activities of some of our detractors. Since she was living at – or frequently visiting – the ashram, she deemed it better to desist. The two blogs posted together below give a good picture of conditions at that particular time or phase of ashram life.

One statement by ‘Prashanthi’ (her blog posting name) gives the general orientation she held at that time:-

“Sathya Sai Baba “shows every sign of being a Tantric guru. Yet we are not sure he is perfected in the morality dept. He remains an enigma. His claim to be the Avatar of the age is rarely mentioned anymore, not even in his Ashram. Can a powerful guru lose his way? Or is it due to the organisation that he, himself created, that has grown into such a monster, that he no longer can control? Or has he just grown old and tired and has given up? I don’t think we will ever learn the truth. For the time being Sathya Sai Baba is still giving daily darshans. But for how much longer we do not know. Personally I don’t think he will be giving public darshans for long.”

---

Posted by prashanthi on April 22, 2009

The internet today has a number of websites and blogs pertaining to the life of Sathya Sai Baba and his followers. Most of these sites are written by men who concentrate upon the negative side from a male perspective. There is little on the internet that gives much insight into women who follow Sai Baba. We have so few stories, that one would think the ashram was entirely a male province.

In this blog, I am hoping to correct this view. I am not writing to denounce Sathya Sai Baba but to present an honest view of the ashram as it is today.

Let me describe the ashram and Puttaparthi as it now in 2009.  The one time small village of Puttaparthi has grown into a huge town, crowded with mostly Muslim and Tibetan souvenir shops, there are also many cafes, Internet cafes, healers of various and dubious practices, travel agents, a supermarket, various electrical dealers, tailors and hotels. The streets are dirty and awash with vendors selling fruits, flowers, and cheap souvenirs. Beggars seated in rows take up most of the sides walks. On the odd occasion you might see the bullock carts and the donkeys that were so much part of Puttaparthi years ago.

Wherever  you walk in Puttaparthi you will  never be alone, but faced with a deluge of people, rickshaws, cars, trucks, tractors, buses, motor bikes all heading in your direction.  There is constant noise from honking horns from  the rick shaw drivers, along side that of  cars, loud speakers blaring Indian music. Pollution and dust from road traffic  enters your eyes and nose until they sting. Many visitors have taken to wearing face-masks to protect themselves.

To  enter the ashram, you’ll need to go to the Ganesha gate situated in the main street, where seva dal are waiting to body search you if deemed necessary or to search bags. This is where the real ordeal begins. Many of the walkways are now roped off and cannot be used.  Visitors are directed by seva dal, who stand guard at every turn in the ashram.  The feeling of being watched is sometimes uncomfortable. At the front of the  entrance to the ashram stands the Ganesha Shrine, now always crowded with Indian tourists.

The temple at the front of the ashram is heavily guarded by seva dal.  All  the charm of  by gone years has disappeared completely.  At Darshan times, bhajan music blares out at ear splitting volumes, making it impossible to linger. The ear splitting speakers are placed all through the ashram, which gives the place a feeling of a fairground rather than an ashram. There is nowhere to go to escape the noise.  Towards the back of the ashram there are the apts., roundhouses,  office buildings, bookshop and  a vegetable shop,  ice cream  stands, also other stalls selling tea and coffee. There is also a large supermarket.  The  Western Canteen and a North Indian Canteen are in this general area too. In front of the Western Canteen, there are a number of very ornate temples dedicated to Indian Gods.   Perhaps the most peaceful venue in the ashram are the gardens, that begin, by chance maybe, at the ladies toilets and mandir through the buildings to the  supermarket. The gardens are beautiful. Perhaps the best thing about the entire ashram.  There one can sit with some sense of tranquility.

 A Very Ropey Ashram.
In recent years, string and rope have been used by the milage to keep people as far away from the darshan area  as possible. It is used down the men’s side of the huge, and gaudy Sai Kulwant hall,  to stop anyone from standing too near the Sai Kulwant wall. Not only is there rope, seva dal volunteers and police to stop you, they have introduced yellow painted parking-type lines on the ground, to prevent visitors from putting one toe over the  edge. The edge meaning about 2 feet away from the wall.   If by chance you do, beware, the seva dal will be on you in a flash. Huge crowds of mostly Indian visitors stand outside the Sai Kulwant hall, waiting for Sai Baba to appear. Once he does, they move forward in a crush-like frenzy to get a glimpse of him through the wrought iron railings running the length of the Sai Kulwant hall wall.  Visitors and regulars alike,  also gather at the back of the temple to have a  glimpse of Sai Baba through the ornate brick-work facade. That too is roped off and heavily guarded by seva dal to make sure the ladies do not get too close.

Token Lines on The Ladies side.
Since  last year, token lines have changed considerably. There use to be two rows of ladies to one token line number now there are three.

For people that don’t know. There has always been a token line system operating in the Ashram. Number one token means you are lucky and have been chosen by Sai Baba to be seated in the front. There are often up to 15 lines nowadays.

The rule in the ashram is for ladies and men to line up around  3 p.m. – 3.30 p.m. each afternoon for the purpose of taking a token number. There is usually a half hour wait before the Seva Dal will open the Sai Kulwant Hall  gates on the ladies’ side, to ready themselves for the task of frisking and searching the ladies for anything that might be of danger. At risk items include: pens, books, sharp objects, cameras, mobile phones, plastic bags  and a host of other things too long to mention here.  Then the ‘ropes’ are put in place for the ladies to walk through on their way to being frisked. Now there are 3 lines of ladies to each token number, therefore 3 lines of rope is used. It is a humiliating experience, having first to take a token number, then to be lined up like a herd of cattle to be frisked and searched by seva dal  volunteers. I  have often lost money from my purse while passing through the frisking and searching process.  Ladies are required to open their small purses so they can be searched, which often means their money falls out in the crush to get through the ordeal to a good seat.  Also  cushions and floor seats are searched, often more than once.  There must be at least 10 young seva dal girls working on the frisking as well as the senior Security women.

Number  one token line, is of course, special. These ladies will be seated towards the front where Sai Baba will eventually appear in his wheelchair, often after 5 p.m and sometimes as late as 6 p.m.  These ladies will see him, while many in less fortunate token line rows, will not. In front of the token line ladies, the staff  seat the chit ladies.

These are Indians, dressed in posh saris, trying to look important.  They have their ways and mean of obtaining chits from the ashram managers to allow them to be placed in the front. There are usually about 100 or more each day. These ladies are seated much later than the token line ladies. They, being ever so important, do not like the long wait in the darshan area. Not even for the Guru they claim to adore.  These ladies  sit clutching their letters and bits and pieces in readiness for  Sai Baba to bless. And yes he usually does.  Maybe not each and every  front line lady will be lucky. However a fair amount of these ladies will  receive attention from Sai Baba. Token line people will not be so lucky. They will be too far back to reach forward with their letters. During the past two years token line ladies are usually not lucky enough to have letters taken. Perhaps once in a while, during bhajans in the Mandir, Sai Baba will be wheeled down the centre aisle, where he will reach out for letters.

Since the introduction of Indian village groups to the ashram some 5-6 years ago, the idea of a peaceful sitting darshan is more or less out of the question. When Sai Baba appears, the villagers are instantly up on their knees or standing with their hands held high in the air, to enable them to see and be seen by the guru. There is no thought or care for anyone behind. This is tolerated by the ashram, with only token lip-service instructions for them to behave in a more civilized way. A few lowly seva dal may be seated among the ladies but can do little once they all decide to stand up. Many Westerners seated among these villagers are left with the dilemma of either sitting respectfully or standing up themselves.  Whatever they do there is little chance of a peaceful darshan. It is akin to a football match in optimum frenzy.  As a friend said to me last year, “who would want to sit in there now! – the jungle is here”.  She is right. In addition to their behaviour I might mention, many of these villagers carry T.B. and other diseases.  They cough, hack and spit where they sit. It can be very unpleasant. It is also unhealthy. Colds and virus are spread throughout the ashram at an alarming speed.

Once the ladies are herded  into the dashan area and squeezed tightly together, in often boiling temperatures, there is often a wait of up to two hours before Sai Baba appears. It is hard to go for a drink or to the toilet because there’s a good chance you might not be able to find your seat again. If you can, there is the problem of stepping over hundreds of people to get there.

Many Westerners go late and sit at the very back rather than sit in the crush. This is happening more often, as year by year many of the better seats are restricted to favourites.  Moreover there seems to be a sort of apartheid in the Ashram, where areas of the darshan seating is reserved for Indians only. If Westerners even cross the line by a few inches they will be jumped on by the Seva Dal.

I don’t know what happened to the Sai messages of  years ago. Love all and Serve all  now it is blatantly disregarded.

Sathya Sai Baba’s Darshan on the ladies’ side.
Darshan time is usually around 5.30 p.m. each afternoon. There is seldom a morning darshan anymore due to Sai Baba withdrawing from the public.  Once Sai Baba leaves the top floor of his fortress type abode for the ground floor, the staff inside the darshan hall are alerted.  The staff quickly close the gates to prevent further people from entering. The staff take their seats and the VIPs are ushered in to their chairs.  The VIP ladies rarely bother to show up until they are notified of Sai Baba’s arrival. The “general public”, ordinary visitors sitting behind the VIP ladies, have their view blocked by the tardy seated ladies who have no consideration whatsoever for those seated on the floor.

There is a quotation from Sai Baba’s that  is often displayed in the darshan area. It is Love Ever – Hurt Never.  Recently it was displayed right over the entrance gate. Yet this message is totally disregarded. I have no idea why the VIP ladies have to sit on chairs. Although age and lack of exercise might suggest they are not flexible enough to sit on a cushion . What is also evident about them is their inability to share.  Their all important status of VIP means to see and be seen by Sai Baba.

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Once Sai Baba is on the first floor, a bell will ring in the darshan hall to announce his arrival. The arrival will most likely not be immediate. There is usually a 15 minute wait for the staff to close the gates and to seat themselves in readiness for his arrival.

The VIP ladies, who do not like to wait in the hall, will arrive at this time to sit in their alloted chairs near to the gate where he will enter.

Baba usually arrives during bhajan time. He arrives at the gate entrance where he will linger to take VIPs’ letters or talk to a few for  several minutes. In the VIPs’  there will be seated retired staff, visiting Organisational leaders, and Indian Govt. officials. They sit on the right hand side of the hall. On the left are others’ of VIP status. They include wives, children, extended family of important staff.  Also among these ladies are  the self-appointed ladies, who by some means or another have managed to obtain a good seating position. There are a few ladies there especially chosen by Sai Baba. Why so, no one knows.

Moving along the darshan path, we have the canteen staff seating, then the chit ladies with the ‘general public’ seated behind them. Sai Baba is wheeled along the path, heavily guarded by 5-6 security officers, they too restrict the view  of  Baba who is seated low in his wheelchair. Sometimes Sai Baba stops and takes letters from the chit ladies or blesses them. He then passes on to the men’s side where it is much easier to see him. The men have an altogether better and more fair seating arrangement.  Darshan is usually between 8 to  10 minutes.

The students are next in line for Baba’s attention. They are lined up in front of the veranda, where they are able to give him their letters and talk to him with ease. He is wheeled through the students and then up onto the veranda where he usually stops to talk and to bless to the men seated there.  If there is no interview then Baba will often sit outside in his chair for the rest of the bhajans.

On concert days Baba will sit outside for the duration. Nowadays there are so many concerts, skits, plays and dramas, one gets the feeling that the ashram has become a type of Wembley Stadium, Indian style.

The Ladies’ Dilemma.
Having given here a glimpse of darshan, one has to wonder why so many ladies look lost and sad. They are mostly Western ladies seated in the ‘general public.’  Many of the ladies sitting for darshan will leave disappointed. They sit for hours. Those towards the back probably would not have seen him at all, due to the jack-in-the-boxes placed near the front.

Sitting for hours alone is stressful.  The added stress of not being able to see at all is demoralizing. Many of these ladies have come from all over the world. They are not treated as guests but as a nuisance. In recent years the number of Western ladies has decreased considerably. Still, the remaining few are  treated with disdain. There is no point complaining about the seating because the truth is they don’t want Westerners there anymore.  Apparently Sai Baba was told off during an interview with a govn.minister for allowing too many foreigners to buy flats in Puttaparthi. He was told not to allow anymore to be sold to them.

There is still a hard-core following of Westerners living outside the ashram. They are, by and large, just tolerated. Many no longer attend darshan. They prefer to stand outside where they can glimpse him through the brick facade. There is also a growing number of men and women who do not attend darshan at all. Some claim they have no need to as they get “it” inside. Others have just given up altogether.

In recent years, Puttaparthi has become a social center or meeting place for old-time devotees. These ladies having given years of their time to Sai Baba, now have little else to do with their lives. Many of these ladies are aging. It is not uncommon to find them sitting in cafes during darshan or meeting at the swimming pool outside of the town. They have managed to build a life in Puttaparthi without attending darshan. One would think if Sai Baba were the Avatar of the Age, he would have encouraged his followers to a higher level of consciousness, not leaving them dangling and lost as they seem to be. What to make of this sad situation, I don’t know. I can only think he has taken ’some’ of them as far as he can, and now it is up to them to do the rest. Sai Baba remains an enigma still. There is simply no point trying to understand him.  In fact most people visiting Sai Baba have not changed for the better. Many have reverted to their former habits and old lifestyles. Perhaps many of us, I include myself  here, were drawn to him for the wrong reasons in the beginning. To follow the life-style of a true seeker is very difficult indeed. It requires absolute discipline.

There is too a new type of follower. These are mainly young people hitch-hiking through Asia. They often chose Puttaparthi as a meeting point because it is still cheap. Some of these youngsters are seekers, although unlike the older version, they do not attend darshan often. They are more interested in a social life than a guru. Parties and sex are not uncommon in Puttaparthi. It is all part of the scene.

Of growing importance among followers is Sri Ramana Maharshi’s ashram in Tamil Nadu. Many are making their way there to seek solace.

To sooth hurt feelings and deflated egos.

“People sitting always towards the back are told that they do not need darshan as they are doing well as they are. No need for extra attention.”

“Those closest to Sai Baba have been chosen because they need extra attention and light from him. These ‘devotees’ sit on the veranda or in the VIP section.”

I have heard that the veranda is commonly referred to as “the Alligator farm”, due to the jealously and rivalry between the men who sit there.   

Fake materialisation story of footsteps in vibuthi by dead Sai Baba exposed

Sai Baba devotees post all manner of story, sometimes with photos, of miraculous manifestations they attribute to Sathya Sai. Of these, a number are most certainly not miracles at all, as will be seen below. A pro-Sai baba website masquerading under the title ‘The Sai Critic’ (run by unscrupulous Bon Giovanni who once posted that I was a pedophile etc. – such a cheap tit-for-tat) tried to rationalise away all the many reports from former followers of fraudulent ‘materializations’ by Sai Baba, done by sleight of hand. When the fraud is undeniable even by them, they claim it is him playing with people, testing their faith and so forth.

Click on image to view source

Scan of part of photo taken from Internet
http://aravindb1982.hubpages.com/hub/Vibhuti-manifestation-miracles-in-Puttaparthi

Since the death of Sathya Sai Baba and the collapse of visitor numbers to an infinitesimal level, the ashram and Sai Trust authorities and the most zealous believers have made efforts to report how his miracles continue. This has not always been so successful as excited reports of Sai Baba’s footsteps found in the canteen at Prashanthi Nilayam were circulated. The photo of these had been sent in e-mails and posted on the Internet, but was removed after Kadapa Manner reported that the canteen staff had made them as a design for a festival!

An image of footsteps supposedly made miraculously by the dead Sai Baba (his ghost?) is seen on the right here.

Click on image to see source page

Falsified discourse of Sai Baba by a devotee on YouTube

There is a YouTube video made by a devotee which claims to show the contents of a discourse by Sathya Sai Baba, though no date or reference to any published version of it is given. (Predictions of Sathya Sai Baba – with English Subtitles.mp4)

I have scanned frames from the YouTube video to select many of the assertions shown there — see images here on right.

This YouTube video is a sheer falsification in that it puts together as being one discourse, a string of statements made by Sai Baba from a number of entirely different discourses or other sources given anywhere between 1976 and long after 2000 (when in the infamous Christmas Discourse he first began to fight back against the increasing mass of such credible allegations of sexual abuse against him by young men). The YouTube audio is compiled with different voices from different times too. The falsification is is obviously why the devotee who concocted this disinformation cannot name the origin of ‘the discourse’!

Further, many of the predictions made on a medallion were first reported by the US resident devotee, Alvin Drucker, as having been made to a class of 18 students he was teaching in Ootcamund when Sai Baba entered and took over. That those predictions were ever made then was refuted by all Sai Baba officials, and Sai Baba himself even – after many years of different versions of them being circulated in the ashrams by persons who swore they were made. The reason for the denial was that the list of 38 predictions threatened a massive world catastrophe  had badly scared the students and had spread to devotees all around the globe through they years, without a word of denial from him. Reports that he had told the boys that after a world catastrophe  they would each rule a state in India and he himself would rule the world for 24 hours were also denied, though various parents of the students and other persons claimed that it was true nevertheless. Such was the unstoppable rumour mill and jungle grapevine which always throve at the ashrams in the absence of proper and factual information from its officials and the policy of great secrecy followed by Sai Baba and enforced on everyone at the risk of falling from grace into apparent ‘outer darkness’.

That the contents of the supposed ‘medallion discourse’ come from discourses made on widely differing dates is quite clear from the facts of which I was informed by Eileen Weed in the e-mail below here:-

COMMENTS ON THE STATEMENTS ON THE VIDEO

Firstly, most of the predictions are very obviously not fulfilled, now that SaiBaba is dead! The first part of the video in which he states “This body will last for 46 years” was from June 1976. Now, 1976+46 = 2022, i.e. he predicted he would die in 2022!  Since he was 50 then, another 46 years means he would live until 96! This conflicts with all the various twisted calculations of his life-span measured in lunar years (from his birth), no juggling with calculations based on lunar years will help! Besides, various devotees are now saying they understood he “intended to go early” which conflicts again with the lunar year failed arithmetic.

His boys were never transformed to “leaders of the world” – not even leaders in India, nor are any known to hold prominent positions in India.” India is in a leadership crisis and his students are nowhere to be seen.

What evidence is there for “Very soon, you will see me in your classroom while I am here in the mandir”? None whatever, not did anyone report seeing him giving discourses in the auditorium at the same time as he was taking arathi in the mandir. All sheer megalomania and futile attempts to attract more people! “I have resolved to rejuvenate the ancient cultures of India. This is bound to happen.” No sign of it, unthinkable! See here

“I am intentionally suppressing my Divinity from being revealed to the world” Funny therefore that he was constantly announcing it in discourse after discourse, approving Radio Sai 24-hour world broadcast and running major book and other media outlets, while letting his official staff flood the Internet with the same message. How come?

“But once I reveal My true nature, the whole world will become a Prashanthi Nilayam“. But he can therefore never did that, it appears, and Prashanthi is now more like a ghost town than a regular township!

As to the alleged ‘jealous’ and ‘evil-minded’ critics of him – who were mostly his respected servitors, organisers, donors and many favourite disciples – they discovered the truth about him and left in disgust when they learned of the massive sex abuses and the facts about the murders which it is evident he ordered himself (on the principle of ‘Love All, Serve All’ no doubt?)

““All the allegations made now will only help to maximize the glory of this Avatar” That is counter-intuitive indeed. On can see no signs of glory in the world media, not even world fame in any real sense of the word, despite the attempts to get him the Nobel Peace Prize and many other self-publicizing efforts too numerous to list here.

“It was good while it lasted” for Sathya Sai Baba too

In the Western world there have been rapid developments in the last two decades as regards the seriousness with which the crimes of serial sexual predation is taken. The Catholic Church is now infamous for the number of institutions where sex abuses took place by priests and were covered up by cardinals reaching right up to the upper echelons of the Vatican. The Hare Krishna movement was likewise exposed, and in some countries financially bankrupted through enforced compensation payouts. Increasingly, stars of sport, screen and stage who engaged in sexual abuses – often with minors – have been indicted for their crimes, something which simply did not happen during most of the 20th century. Even most powerful figures in the political world, such as the head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, was finally charged with rape through an unprecedented change in police policy to act upon allegations against the highest elite. Recently we noted here the case of serial sex abuse conviction (30 years imprisonment) of a prominent US sports coach Jerry Sandusky. In the news at present is the case of Sir Jimmy Saville, on whose grave the headstone was engraved with the epitaph “it was good while it lasted”. This would also have been equally fitting epitaph for the grave (samadhi) of Sathya Sai Baba.

The latest rapidly increasing number of sex abuse allegations against the world-famous British Radio and TV star, Sir Jimmy Saville, are being taken very seriously and investigated by a score of police forces in the UK, despite Saville having died one year ago. What is emerging is that many persons had suspicions that he may be a sexual abuser and pedophile and others knew well… but none of them dared to report him, such was his fame and power, and especially within the BBC. Those who did were totally disregarded. The allegations stretch back 40 years in some cases. The prominence and social power wielded by Saville was so considerable that many persons (including medical doctors) had suspicions that he may be a sexual abuser and pedophile and others say they knew it for a fact… but none of them dared to report him, and the BBC paid him enormous sums and reportedly rejected any criticism of him. Unlike Sai Baba, however, he could not list a series of Prime Ministers or State Presidents among his fans and followers. Immediately one must see that Sai Baba was effectively above the law in India, and accusations of sexual abuse and murder were easily quashed by his devotees in government and the Supreme Court of India.

When will the Indian  authorities really begin to take child sexual abuse seriously and not, like most of the populace, turn a blind eye to it, not least the homosexual misuse of minors? With the Prime Minister refusing to look at the evidence against Sai Baba and many prominent persons in government and the judiciary still worshippers of that self-proclaimed God Incarnate of this age, a lot of them will probably have to die off before those who would otherwise speak out will feel free to do so without too much persecution and harassment. No one can doubt that sex abuse generally and of children specifically is one of the big elephants unseen in the Indian room. If they do so, consider this: 

“A study into child abuse in India has found that more than half the children questioned said they had been sexually abused. Researchers spoke to more than twelve thousand children. Two-thirds said they’d experienced physical abuse. India’s Minister for Child Development, Renuka Chowdury, called the findings disturbing and said it was time to end the conspiracy of silence surrounding child abuse. The extremely revealing research was commissioned by the Ministry of Women and Child Development of the Government of India and carried out by independent researchers. It is supported by Save the Children and UNICEF and is a major and authoritative and highly representative social psychological study which goes into great detail and spans the whole of India.” See the whole report in its systematic detail at http://www.wcd.nic.in/childabuse.pdf.

Virtually all known allegations of Sai Baba’s sexual abuses are documented here 

and his involvement in murders are documented here

Sai Baba’s physical and mental degeneration years before his death

The gradual mental degeneration of Sathya Sai Baba began not long after his second hip injury from slipping in his bathroom (in 2002), and the operation which left him crippled (either it was botched by the gang of doctors who operated on him or more likely because he ignored their advice about physiotherapy and exercise). There were increasing signs that he was ‘not all there’, but these were never mentioned by any devotees or officials and were covered up as best as his minders could manage it, as the following testimony shows. It is from an e-mail sent today by the former chief translator (from Telugu to English) of Sai Baba discourses for the ‘premsai’ attempted literal translation group (which was stopped from posting by the Sai authorities because the results were too revealing and clashed with the official, doctored Sanathana Sarathi edited discourses).

Eileen Weed (aka ‘Divya’) who lived years with Venkamma (Sai Baba’s sister) and obviously had more opportunities of knowing what was going on in the secretive ashram and with Sai Baba than any other non-Indian. She lost faith in him finally around the time that his degeneration became obvious to insiders.

Eileen refers here to Barry Pittard’s blog of August 2009 where he summarized some of the evidence of Sai Baba’s senile degeneration (http://barrypittard.wordpress.com/2009/08/02/sathya-sai-babas-slurred-speech-due-to-old-age-eenadu-news-report/)…

Excerpt from an e-mail sent by Divya 11/10/2012

 Pathetically, On Christmas day, 2006, Sai Baba opened his discourse with a Telugu poem, as follows:´ The pompous person with unclear mind, what chance has he of realising the true self? Then, on Jan. 29, 2007, we could read:- from news in Telugu (no longer unavailable on www but see scan below):

SAI BABA’S LACK OF CLARITY IN HIS SPEECH DUE TO OLD AGE   Report from the ‘Eenadu’ – the largest circulated Telugu Newspaper in Andhra Pradesh with a daily readership of over 10 million. Translation of the relevant text:

“Lacking in Clarity: There was a lack of clarity in Sathya Sai’s speech because of his old age. The interpreter struggled much to translate his speech into English. Satya Sai was seated in a special wheel chair which was brought very close to the car, so he could very slowly get into it. At the time of the speech, he stood up with great difficulty with the help of his assistants.”

Sathya Sai Baba was no longer “happy and healthy” – much more visibly unhappy and definitively unhealthy, despite his frequent boastful claims that he would never age and was sustained always in perfect health due to is self-alleged ‘purity, patience and perseverance’.

scan of news in Telugu on-line (no longer on-line)

 

Einstein on God -and some falsifications

Because Einstein occasionally used the word ‘God’ as a ‘creator’ at least figuratively  (eg. ‘God does not play dice’ and other similar statements), religionists have jumped on it to try to convince us that Einstein fully believed in a God who created the universe. Sathya Sai Baba was one of the worst offenders, as one might expect, but he went further than anyone in creating statements which he then attributed to Einstein!

However, Einstein denied he actually believed in any kind of God on various occasions, though he admitted that the human mind could not (at least then) comprehend everything of the mystery and harmony of the universe. Just now (October 23012) a letter he wrote to the philosopher Eric. B. Gutkind (on January 5, 1954, about a year before Einstein’s death) is on auction on-line confirms his actual view in his last year very convincingly. The BBC reported on its contents as the images on the right show.

Some of the Sai Baba invented hogwash about Einstein:-

“Einstein was a great scientist in those days. But even a man like that only contemplated on God, without giving any chance at all for any kind of ego. Many Bharatiyas also went to see Einstein. They told others that after all their works were finished, they must see Einstein before they return.
When they went to Einstein, he took all of them and showed them a reading room. All of them went into that reading room and saw there all of the Upanishads and Bhagavad Githas. This Einstein, who was a great scientist, lived taking Bhagavad Githa and Upanishads as a basis.” (from ‘Divine Discourse’ by Sathya Sai Baba October 25, 2001 – Dasara)

Since Einstein rejected the Bible as containing mostly ‘primitive legends’ , is it remotely likely that he would have based his life and work on the scriptures of India? And here is some more more utter tripe from SB… putting words into Einstein’s dead mouth – making it quote the Upanishads!

 “Einstein said that there is nothing at all in this world, whether objects, forms or experiences. All is only one shakthi (energy/power). Even that shakthi doesn’t have a particular form. Shakthi is only shakthi. After undertaking numerous experiments in these times that are influenced by the Age of Kali, Einstein said: Sarvam Khalvidham Brahma.   All is Brahman (God). (Sanskrit sloka)” (Sathya Sai Baba quoted from his ‘Summer Course’ 24 May, 2002) 

Most people surely tend to assume that an omniscient God Incarnate would be, among many other things, an immensely towering knowledgeable mind. In most of his teachings, however, Sathya Sai Baba does not measure up to even a very modest intellectual standard. To make himself seem educated (which he was not), it suited his purpose to use the names of scientists like Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, when he is not denigrating scientists’ and scholars as “educated fools”. He evidently wanted to shine in the reflected light of great scientists, knowing that the world revered them far more than himself.  He even mentioned physicists like Heisenberg (who he claims sought to unify science and spirituality, which is absurd), and Dirac (who he says found the truth ‘Love ever, hurt never’! Sheer invention). He spoke of ‘”the great scientist Darwin” but only to say he was influenced by his teacher! Actually he denied Darwinian natural selection because he taught creationism – because he held that it was he himself who created everything!

Here below we see how Sathya Sai Baba fell victim to what can now almost be reckoned as an ‘urban myth’:-

The Sai Baba misinformation authorities – led by former atomic bomb physicist Dr. G. Venkataraman – have promoted all manner of untruth about Einstein on radiosai, trying to steal his glory for Sai Baba and Indian culture. Their flagship website contains an article by a devotee who was related to Einstein’s doctor (but Einstein died when the devotee was five years of age). The article rambles on and on about this poor deluded man’s own thoughts, yearnings and hopes concerning his imaginary ‘special connection’ with Einstein! He witnessed Sai Baba telling his audience of Einstein:- “He recounted of how a young Indian physicist during an appointment with Einstein eagerly probed for the ultimate in Western scientific wisdom. What he received from Einstein however, was, to roughly quote Swami, “Every major conclusion I’ve arrived at is contained in your Bhagavad Gita. Look there!”

So the pre-scientific tract ‘Bhagavad Gita’ is equal in stature to both the general and special theory of relativity? I don’t think so, nor does the rest of the properly educated world! Where is the essential E=mc² equation in the Bhagavad Gita… NOT FOUND! nor are any of the ideas expounded in the general and special theories of relativity!

Sathya Sai Baba – the paranormal phenomena

THE ‘OMNISCIENT’ SATHYA SAI BABA’S MASSIVE IGNORANCE OF ATOMIC PHYSICS EXPOSED
Dr.G. Venkataraman – physicist ‘explains’ Sathya Sai Baba
Dr. G. Venkataraman – the most gullible physicist alive?

Sathya Sai Baba ‘maya’ (i.e. illusion) used as the ultimate trickery

The doctrine of most Hinduism is that all perception, everything we experience is ‘maya’ or ‘illusion’ projected by the mind onto what appears to be separate or ‘objective’ reality. On this view, anything a devotee tells about personal experiences can be refuted by the guru on the premise that it is “just a trick of the mischievous mind, the maya of illusion”. In this way, one is side-tracked from all common sense into the guru doctrine of what alone is real – namely the (invisible, unknowable) spiritual or divine realm of the spirit or soul where bliss and love reign supreme… and that towards which the guru pretends to be qualified to lead his disciples.

The ultimate deceit, successful whenever a person accepted that Sai Baba genuinely was Divine or God on earth (etc. etc.), was that everything he did or said was merely a show or ‘divine play’ put on so devotees might relate to him as a human being with human qualities. Thus, he was unaccountable for nothing he did in reality… if he seemed to be angry, to lie, to be hateful, to be heartless, to punish, to be nervous, to act against all decency or to preside over cold-blooded murder… that was only an illusion, the ‘maya’ of the Lord, testing his devotees’ faith in him, their willingness to accept whatever he did or said without criticism or ‘bad thoughts’.  Anyone who spent any length of time at his ashrams would know that this worked perfectly for the huge majority of those present there!

A Sai Baba ashram at the height of his popularity could have up to 300,000 visitors at his birthday. The event was perhaps the biggest exercise in mass projection that was to be found. All who had sufficient belief and aspiration to attain to spiritual experiences were there to relate to the guru, and everything that happened within that environment – or did not happen as expected –  was taken to be set up purposely by Sai Baba himself for the direction and correction of devotees. People there who were mostly so totally involved in the whole narrative about his life and the Golden Age it would bring that they accepted virtually anything, most often third-hand (or n’th hand) rumours, since one could get so little confirmed or denied by him or his official apparatus.

The big question for devotees was – and is – whether Sai Baba did have divine control of the environment and full awareness of each of the thousands there (as he claimed he did). Only fully signed-up ‘blind believers’  accepted that “Swami knows everything and everything about everyone through all time.”  Not to accept this means that the entire ashram showpiece, the entire doctrine of his omniscience and omnipotence is a mere sham. The whole movement is then seen to be a mass projection – a scenario created by the beliefs of those involved, reinforced by constant exercise of these projections onto the figure of the guru which develop the neuronic patterns of the brain into a more and more unrealistic interpretation of the situation and its consequences – painful or pleasurable – for oneself and ones self-image. After some years the pre-structured, unthinking perceptions became immediate evidence of his all-knowingness!

Sathya Sai Baba did have a huge measure of control of the environment nonetheless, but in the mundane sense. That he was omniscient and omnipotent (as he claimed time and again) was impossible to believe once one came to know about the constant mistakes he made, and how many of his plans fell through. He learned a lot about devotees from his staff and many other informers (including those who did not realise they were informing him through letters and talk that was picked up), through his servitors and officials, his security staff, much of it undercover, and through the local police (who were totally under his control. All of these had to be willing to do his bidding whatever it was, including bribery, persecution, violence and even murder! He had a large measure of control over many governmental officials, High and Supreme Court judges and important persons generally who worshipped him, including a whole series of India’s Prime Ministers and Presidents who endorsed him, protected him and worshipped his feet!

A BASIC TECHNIQUE OF DECEPTION USED BY SAI BABA

In order to avert comment and criticism from people, Sai Baba very often SAID things to reverse the facts and draw attention away from the obvious explanation of what was otherwise glaringly observable in his actual behaviour. This ability is what some call ‘chutzpah’; to beggar belief with surprising turnarounds and contradictions that leave most people confused or gaping in surprise. He played upon uncertainty and disbelief in a masterly fashion… calling black white and white black, turning things around to make himself seem above and beyond all criticism, while doing most of the things for which he was ever warning others not to do. For example, he firmly warned against criticising others (i.e. himself thereby criticising those who criticise). He also put people down in interviews with belittling comments which always raised a laugh in the group of interviewees too… ‘you are a mad girl’, ‘you have a mad money mind’, ‘you fight with your husband’, ‘you have a bad temper’, ‘you are mixing with bad people’ and so on. This is quite simply criticism – and not even subtle or realistic, because he repeated the very phrases to almost anyone in interviews . He would comment on a woman’s marital life even  to women who did not have husbands, or ask unmarried ladies ‘Where is your husband?’ ). All that was taken to heart as divine teaching by all believers. (Perhaps, one would speculate, he meant your future husband).

How he managed to keep so many people spellbound in a trance of denial of facts was quite extraordinary. He had been training for guru status it since his earliest years when his grandfather told him (reported Prof. Kasturi) that he was a wonderful and divine soul. Explanations of his charisma must include the ‘aura’ of the massive legend built around him, his use of subtle appeals to spiritual pride with personal flattery and golden promises of grace and salvation. At the same time he dispensed most bitter pills of criticism and ridicule to many who had to swallow them in good faith! He had a set repertoire of ways of replying to questions without actually answering them,  changing the direction normally taken by thought onto a quite different tack and confounding expectations and often using one or another of his stock of English phrases which are supposed to carry unique, deep meaning in each new situation. He also avoided answering people’s questions by speaking to others instead, interrupting the questioner by waving his hand to ‘produce’ a trinket, or staring silently at the questioner and even angrily telling off the questioner!  He could shift his captive audience’s attention at will, using the vague and unspecific to leave people wondering what he meant. This worked well when the person involved was under the assumption that Sai Baba was all-knowing or infallible… it caused the person to search for some explanation in the words, the way they were said etc. that would fit with their own preconceptions so as to find a “solution” with which he could live. The solution was invariably not genuine and only led further into a morass of misconceptions, reinforcing the inability to comprehend so inscrutable a master as Sai Baba insisted all must realise about him.

He played cleverly on devotees’ fears of ‘blasphemy’ in questioning any motive or act of ‘Lord Sai’. He repeated a range of stories and parables that played upon traditional human anxieties about the unknown, death, a coming after-life, some having to spend time in Naraka (hell), divine retribution in the form of rebirth with ‘bad karma’, fear of black magic and demons. Of course, these latter guru-traps are part of the stock-in-trade of nearly all priesthoods from time immemorial in order to gain ascendancy and keep power over people.

Edward de Bono has defined his coined term ‘Lateral thinking’: It “is concerned not with playing with the existing pieces but with seeking to change those very pieces. Lateral thinking is concerned with the perceptional and interpretational part of thinking. This is where we organise the external world into the sensory pieces we can then ‘process’ (i.e. interpret, make some sense of).” This helps one see how Sai Baba manipulated people into thinking that he is not what one sees and hears, and that his reality was something invisible and divine. Most important in his agenda of deceit was confusing people into NOT thinking what he really was and did.

Please note the two important comments (see below)

Telugu Minister insults Sathya Sai Trust members

Some of the Indian media became partly de-hypnotised since the unpropitious death of Sai Baba to publish material which is negative – even insulting – towards the Sai Central Trust and even Sathya Sai himself. Here is an excerpt from Telugu Hub Net (9/9/2012) reporting on what Minister Vatti Vasanth Kumar said:-

Saibaba’s trust used to receive huge amounts of donations in various forms from across the world. No one used to question the usage of funds as people had immense faith in Saibaba. However after his heavenly journey things are not the same.

When Minister Vatti Vasanth Kumar commented that Puttaparthi’s sheen is reducing with less number of devotees visiting the place and promising developmental programs only if devotees increase, one gets the suspicion where siphoning of funds from the trust is already completed and ministers and Govt officials who spent days and nights together when Saibaba was ill and later after his demise, are getting ready to stop motherly treatment since their job is finished. Only God can unravel the secret.