Among the very many Sathya Sai Baba devotees, and especially among those who had only limited contact with him in interviews, their reliance on some kind of claimed ‘inner voice’, ‘inner message’ and such intuitions were very widespread ever since early days. I have met many who claim to have received his instructions through some telepathic or extra-sensory means (even regarding other people and not least myself!). There are any number of books and articles written by such people who claim the content came directly from Sathya Sai Baba. This one can most certainly doubt, not least since some of the more blatant examples have been rejected by Sai Baba himself through notices his journal (Sanathana Sarathi). To take any of these ‘secondary’ sources as genuine is to risk relying on fancy and imaginings and at worst on outright fraud.
One of those who was very well placed to observe these matters and the reactions of Sai Baba against many of them as known to the permanent residents of Puttaparthi was Eileen Weed, also called ‘Divya’, who known to many and to most US devotees as the only foreign follower who bothered to master Telugu and who lived in the ashram in close connection with Sai Baba’s family (living and serving his elder sister, Venkamma, for many years right up until her death, when Divya was the last person to see her alive). Divya wrote letter home regularly and preserved them, much later having posted them on the internet. They make extremely interesting reading for many reasons, not least of which is how they record much that was never told or released by Sai Baba’s staff of censors. Eileen Weed became disaffected in 2005 after two decades, mostly spend at Prashanthi Nilayam. While still a devotee trying to understand and reconcile Sai Baba’s behaviour and words she wrote on the inner voice problematic:-
3 Oct: It seems around here most Indians are interested in each others business to the extreme, foreigners aren’t so much like that. Foreigners concentrate mostly on inner voice and guidance, which many times turns out to be wrong, by the way. Or contradicted by Swami Himself in the interview room. Of the ones who have gone mad here, ALL of them started in this “Inner Message” way. I’m glad I don’t have messages. I just act and if Swami doesn’t approve, it’s stopped (at least I trust it will be!). Also, with people’s messages, they strangely suddenly change according to situation. For example, “inside Swami” will say to stay on longer, He’ll do a miracle with their visa. When no miracle is done (even after days/weeks of confirming “signs” and “guidance” from “Swami”), “Swami” suddenly changes His story and tells them it’s time to go. With these people, I dare not give advice, they won’t listen and will instead turn verbally violent, as if I’m rejecting the true God’s Will. So I listen quietly. Sometimes what inside Swami says is right, but not usually. The question is (since these people are so convinced): is Sai truly giving prankster advice, simply to tease and churn and rid them of karma? Or is it all their ego and mind? Or both? Or neither? Never mind, we leave it to Swami! (see source)
And Divya also makes clear what she knew of Sai Baba’s views on the ‘inner voice’ so many claimed to hear from him:-
Beware of False Messages
As for my own opinions, I have reason to seriously doubt your sanity! One must be VERY careful of inner messages. 80 many devotees have become literally insane because of inner messages & voices! And have been misled by “representatives” with authentic “voices”. With all due respect to your Canadian experiences, I NEVER talked to any psychics and I have NOTHING TO DO with whatever they say about me! How many times has Swami warned us about these sorts of people? You may have nice experiences but PLEASE Beware. How many people here disregard our Swami‘s words and follow so-called “inner messages”! How they suffer, so many, because Swami throws them out of the ashram for it.
There are still many around the world who believe in their ‘inner voice’ and think it is Sai Baba instructing them. It is really their own mind only, and the person’s genuine ‘inner voice’ is the conscience and sense of personal responsibility. The imagined ‘extra-sensory’ inner voice most often conforms with their own desires and is thus a form of self-deception. Relying on such subjective feelings or thoughts as coming from outside oneself is a form of cognitive delusion, well-known in psychiatry. The countless ‘spiritual’ writers and guides who claim to channel the thoughts of spiritual entities mislead countless people the world and over can be safely assumed to be bogus (unless otherwise definitively proved by some means so far unknown to science). See for example Typical Sai apologist – Rita Bruce Sai-VIP
Neurology throws light on ‘hearing God’s word’, ‘channelling’
Mediumism gradually undermined by science
Sathya Sai Baba Deceptions Exposed 