Avoidance of vital issues, like sex, AIDS by ‘Universal teacher’

The taboo subject of ‘sex’
While promoting himself as the ‘Universal teacher; Sathya Sai Baba avoids the issue of human sexuality almost totally.  This is very revealing as no sensible advice is given by him on one of mankind’s most basic needs and drives – other than in a few words to preach chastity, also praising this as best within marriage. He has never discoursed on human sexuality. Nor does he answer any central questions which bear on sexuality. There is nothing whatever ‘spiritual’ about avoiding the issues connected with sexuality. The sexual impulse is the source of so many personal, social and other problems in the world, and is one which a liberated person should be able to address in an enlightening way, especially if that person were actually ‘omniscient’, which Sathya Sai Baba has repeatedly claimed he is in discourses and in countless statements in interviews.  Instead he occasional nearly broaches the issue by preaching monastic and sex-repressive ideals of a fundamentalist religious kind. This is more Catholic than any recent Pope (misguided and obscurantist indoctrinators as they are), reminding more of an extreme hypocritical Victorianism.  All this is a parody  of spiritual guidance to mankind by this ‘Divine Know-all!

Satya Sai Baba’s secrecy and his attitude that strongly suggests guilt and shame feelings about sexuality means that questions about sex and important matters like birth control, condoms, AIDS, homosexuality and lesbianism and other sex-related issues are evidently far too sensitive for this widely accused homosexual abuser of young men and boys! By contrast, a far more enlightened educative approach towards unavoidable and irrepressible human sexuality has changed the world and is increasingly adopted is by a growing majority in most modern countries. The Sufi mystic and famous poet Rumi, to whom Sai Baba has referred as a spiritual saint, regarded sexual desires in youth as ‘letting one’s feathers grow out’, without which dangerous problems can be caused later. (The Essential Rumi, p. 64).

That Sai Baba cannot touch on sex discussion strongly suggests that his real views would awaken astonishment and would cause many to fall away from his movement and might also draw more attention to his own very widely testified sexual proclivities and preferences. He lists lust as one of the seven or cardinal sins, without explaining what kind of lust even, though he always claims to have no bodily desires.

Sathya Sai Baba talks about sexual desires to young men in secrecy the privacy of his inner ‘private’ interview room, admonishing them for contact with girls and masturbation . This is reportedly the introduction to oiling of their lower stomachs and genitals, and subsequently – according to numerous testimonies – to outright sexual advances and practices. Many factual and convincing accounts by a wide variety of young men indicate clearly that Sathya Sai Baba has tried to change them into homosexuals for his own gratification! It has also emerged that Sai Baba jokes with very close confidantes like Col. Joga Rao about sex, who was given to telling constant barrack room dirty stories, which I learned from V.K. Narasimhan who complained how he had to put up with them when forced to share a room with Joga Rao!

In India 2.3 million persons are known currently to be living with HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) which causes AIDS by damaging the immune system cells until the immune system can no longer fight off other infections that it would usually be able to prevent. It takes an average of 10 years to develop AIDS from HIV infection.  The shame attacked to this (and all sexual illnesses and to sexual deviance in Indian culture) means that the  hidden figure of AIDS and HIV sufferers may be considerably higher. The authorities in power, many of whom worship Sai Baba, long argued that it would be offensive to speak to people about sex and AIDS, condoms etc., but experience by independent organisations show this to be wrong. Many leaders still hold puritan and repressive views on sex, sex information and education and as a class the also remain out of touch with the population – their sufferings and needs – from whom the live as far as possible in physical and social isolation.

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Interview with Sathya Sai Baba – 2002

Sathya Sai Baba gave an interview to Russian ladies. It is mostly the same in content as thousands of interviews, the same words to the same questions. The same superficial and flawed answers, but this time introducing a couple of new howlers of the kind only Sai Baba can manage in all seriousness. Why the website saibabaofindia.com posts such rubbish would be a mystery, but evidently those responsible do not realise the absurdity:-

See the following on-line information:
Cancer in Wild Animals
Cancer also occurs in wild animals. Some well documented examples of cancer in wild animals include facial tumors in Tasmanian devils, fibropapillomatosis in sea turtles, and genital carcinoma in sea lions. (See here)

There are research programmes around the world into animal cancer, such as: Research program on cancer in animals and birds at Cornell University
The Secretary of Agriculture shall conduct a program of basic research on cancer in animals and birds at appropriate facilities within the Department of Agriculture or by grants to other qualified research facilities.

Many wild animals suffer from tuberculosis too, like rhinos and wild boars etc. but Sai Baba is unaware of the fact! See here

“Fish is therefore gets poisoned” writes the pidgin Sai-students of saibabaofindia.com. Sai Baba concludes that, because there is marine pollution (from bombs?), fish is not good. One may perhaps ask, “All fish, swami?” and “Are all the oceans so polluted?”

See also Sathya Sai Baba and Absurdity – Revealed in His Officials’ Documents

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Sai Baba’s Personality Cult Explored

WHAT IS A CULT On the general issue of cultism and a critical discussion of the indicators of charismatic cults – political, social, and religious -and the Sathya Sai Baba sect as a cult

THE FUNDAMENTALIST ‘GURU TRAP’ EXPLOITATION PART 1 a many-sided system of control over persons exercised by gurus, swamis, godmen, masters, saints, avatars as exemplified through Sathya Sai Baba

THE FUNDAMENTALIST ‘GURU TRAP’ EXPLOITATION Part 2 reference to ‘ The Guru Papers’ by Kramer and Alstad – on gurus’ narcissism, authority and power and control and manipulation (as in Sai Baba)

THE GURU TRAP AS CATCH-22, THE NO WIN SITUATION How most traditional Indian gurus and swamis to attract, indoctrinate and entrap. Two Indian Swamis – Ambikananda and Sathya Sai Baba

‘SPIRITUAL DOUBLETHINK’ IN SPIRITUALITY AND RELIGION How one becomes indoctrinated through a ‘doublethink’ system of dual interpretation – worldly vs. otherworldly.

THE ‘MIRROR TRAP’ IN SATHYA SAI BABA PROGRAMMING – used by Sathya Sai Baba to avert scrutiny of himself and confuse followers into self-programming of his doctrine. This idea is the mechanism of denial used by devotees – that Sai Baba is only what we imagine him to be

SYSTEMATIC MISINTERPRETATION OF SATHYA SAI BABA’S WORDS AND ACTS how followers learn ‘correct’ interpretations of Sai Baba’s words and actions from others, the standard but often highly mistaken answers to all doubts

DEVELOPING PERCEPTIONS & INTERPRETATIONS OF SATHYA SAI BABA Some of the ways in which one is drawn to and held by the charisma and social environment of Sai Baba, how perceptions of him are ‘trained’ and ‘purified’ to conform with group expectations.

DISEMPOWERMENT THROUGH WORSHIP OF GURUS – EG. SATHYA SAI BABA – IN 6 PARTS A series of articles studying in depth effects of mental, emotional and social dependencies:-
THE NECTAR THAT TURNS TO OPIUM –  ESCAPISM IN A SPIRITUAL GUISE
PROJECTING ONE’S INHERENT POWERS – MISUNDERSTOOD SELF-DENIAL –  ‘SAI GROUP THINK’
PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF FUNDAMENTALIST TENETS

ON GETTING OUT OF DELUSION TO THE TRUTH how conditioning by one’s own belief entraps in delusions

WHY THE SATHYA SAI ORGANIZATION IS A CULT Point-by-point rebuttal – with documentation- of Rita Bruce’s arguments on the question

THE CULT OF SATHYA SAI BABA How I came to break out of the subtle and widely woven web of deceptions that kept me and millions deceived, and how difficult such a step can be.

A TYPICAL CULT SUPPORTER – RITA BRUCE How deluded a Sai hagiographer came to be

GENERAL QUESTIONS OF BELIEF, MENTAL TRAPS, FAITH AND DOUBT How religious or spiritual faith can mislead, induce bizarre experiences and its severe consequences like suffering, derangement, war, genocide, and debasement of the human spirit

SATHYA SAI BABA’S MASSIVE ABUSE OF TRUST That Sathya Sai Baba has seriously beguiled his followers and abused people’s trust and faith in him

SATHYA SAI BABA’S JUDGEMENT OF OTHERS documented instances of Sathya Sai accusing others of sins of which he is guilty himself

Sathya Sai Baba Birthday Celebrations

The largest crowd ever at Prashanthi

Having seen how events like murders, suicides, accidents and various epidemics take place and are covered up immediately at Sathya Sai Baba’s ashrams, virtually disappearing from any kind of record of events, I refer to some events at Sathya Sai Baba birthday celebrations, as recorded in my diary notes through the years.

1) At the 60th Birthday celebrations of Sathya Sai Baba at Prashanthi in 1985 there was a virtual epidemic of stomach ailments, especially among Western visitors. This was denied officially, no doubt so as not to put anyone off visiting as a result.

One Western doctor who was present estimated those foreigners affected could amount to 80%. Many people who had been there confirmed that many were affected. Also, the usual throat and chest infections due to excessive clouds of dust – up to at least 2-3 metres high during the main celebrations which obscured objects even at short distances! That there had been any kind of epidemic, however, was publicly denied as baseless rumour in Sanathana Sarathi. One contributing cause of the excessive infection rate was the new Western canteen, where the refuse was dumped outside it upon which masses of flies bred which easily entered the canteen, then without any netting on the windows. [This was confirmed by Al Drucker to foreigners who cleaned up the canteen afterwards – including myself].

2) During the 65th Birthday celebrations in 1990, the dust clouds were reported by returning visitors to have been very bad and many throat and chest infections occurred. There were also very serious crowd crushing incidents due to vip cars which severely disrupted the routes of pedestrians.

3) During the 70th Birthday celebrations in 1995, a very large proportion of visitors suffered throat & chest infections, though probably fewer than during the previous two major birthdays, as the dust was not as thick and pervasive. I was present and contracted a severe throat infection and influenza like illness. Some half-dozen devotees, among them were crushed and lost consciousness at the entrance to the Hillview Stadium, where my wife and two friends were in severe danger of having the breath crushed out of them by the moving crowd, a very scary event. These problems were caused by the President of India’s Black Berets security forces and the bungling police under their orders. They closed the gates against the tide of a vast crowd and threatened the use of batons on the foremost of the devotees. This was not the first time the Black Berets and police showed such stupidity, all of whom who behaved as if ordinary people were cattle and of no account whatever.

4) The estimated numbers of persons during each of these celebrations was doubtless much in excess of the actual numbers. Figures of from 1 to 3 million have been suggested for the various birthdays!Sathya Sai Baba stated to several persons (Robert and Rita Bruce, V.K. Narasimhan and others) that 3 million were present, which was a total impossibility. V.K.N. told me several times that Sathya Sai Baba regularly multiplied numbers of actual visitors by 10!

At that festival in 1995, it was estimated by the ashram’s engineer (Mr. Ashok) that, at any one time, not more than 50,000 persons could occupy the Hillview Stadium. The entire accommodation facilities of the ashram and Puttaparthi are less than that figure. Others, however, considered its capacity to be even up to a maximum 2 hundred thousand very closely-packed people.  Even when tents and outside campers are accounted for, the figure of 500,000 persons is reckoned to be much greater than the entire ashram area would permit. However, Baba Himself announced to several Westerners in a brief interview (including Robert Bruce, who informed me of this)that there had been three million at the Birthday Celebrations!

[For the 75’th and 80’th birthdays the capacity was expanded by building tiers of seating around the entire stadium and making much fuller use of the area available. Still, it could not accommodate more than 500,000 at the maximum].

Apart from the infamous murders of 4 young men in Sathya Sai Baba’s bedroom in 18993, a long series of accidents, suicides and murders have been recorded – see some of them listed here.

Among Sathya Sai Baba’s totally brainless claims is a recent one where he stated that the entire world would become Hindu by the year 2030!! See here

Also consider these, a few of his other documented claims:-

“Sai holds the universe in his hand” (Conversations with Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba (1993) by Dr. J. Hislop. publ. Sathya Sai Publications and Book Trust, Puttaparthi.)

“The whole world will be transformed into Sathya Sai Organisation and Sathya Sai will be installed in the hearts of one and all.” (Sanathana Sarathi, January 1999 – page 16)

“My construction will cover the entire Universe.” (Sathya Sai Baba Discourse, October 1961 p. 120, ‘Sathya Sai Speaks’ Vol 2)

Blind persons seek cures from Sathya Sai Baba

“Ulf told us the other night that the blind middle-aged Danish devotee Henning was told by Baba in an interview that he could cure his blindness, but then Henning would have to be blind in the next life! AS DEFERRED KARMA” (from my Indian visit diary notebook, Sunday 1st November, 1998 )

Ulf was Ulf Sviberg, then a very active office-bearer in the Swedish Organization who wore a large white stone set in a gold ring – called a diamond by Sai Baba and everyone else there. But there can be no doubt that it is another of the typical cheap synthetic ‘gemstone’ Sathya Sai Baba gives away which nearly all close devotees insist are diamonds!

I sometimes sat near to a male Danish follower called Henning on the chairs at darshan. He was desperate to be cured of his very long-term blindness and who visited many healers and diverse other avatar claimants in the hope of success. He remained blind, however. So the presumptuous Full Avatar Sathya Sai Baba could not actually cure his blindness (though devotees will say he ‘would not for karmic reasons’ so as to protect their blind faith in this frequent maker of false promises of healing and protection).

Uncured blindness at Puttaparthi

V.K. Narasimhan with one eye blind

There are many cases of blindness Sathya Sai Baba has not cured, and V.K. Narasimhan told me he had never come across a single genuine case of cure in 20 years following every event at the ashram. I also knew a blind Frenchman who I often assisted who was also sorely disappointed after long stays at the ashrams. When I sat beside him he wanted a running commentary on whether Sai Baba looked at him or not. I did not clearly see Sai Baba do so,

Further, I knew a totally blind Indian man in his 40s or so who lived permanently in Puttaparthi who sat on the chairs for invalids every day. I had conversations with him and visited him where he had rooms in Puttaparthi village. He told me that he believed his own brother was planning to murder him, because Sathya Sai Baba had told him that and said it was best for him to leave home and everything behind him permanently, which he had done – poor soul. He had been there for years and had to ask anyone he could manage to get into conversation with for help of one kind or another, while his blindness was still the same despite endless prayers to Sathya Sai Baba.

Sathya Sai Baba could not even cure the blindness in one eye of his own indispensable editor of his journal Sanathana Sarathi, V.K. Narasimhan, despite personally applying vibuti to it when it became infected (See here)! and/or See my notes at the time here

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Sathya Sai Baba teaching on sexuality

Held by devotees and himself to be The Universal Teacher supreme, Sathya Sai Baba avoids giving any teaching on sexual issues or related problems like HIV and AIDS. This is a remarkable and most revealing fact, that he has never discoursed on human sexuality other than in a few words to preach chastity for youth and even praising this as best for all even within marriage! He has nothing constructive to say about the huge problem of sexually-transmitted diseases in India or elsewhere other than avoidance of sexual behaviour. Note that homosexuality is a totally taboo subject for him! See for example this stringent demand, which is totally unrealistic in its monastic repressionism, in the quotation scanned from his journal on the right here:-

Why is sexuality such a taboo for Sathya Sai Baba? The sexual impulse is so fundamental to human life and the sexual drive is the source of so many personal, social and power problems in the world, that any teacher of spirituality worth his salt would give instruction on the complex issues involved.

The extremely puritanical ideals Sai Baba holds up are almost totally alien and unworkable in the modern world, and no less in India. There is nothing ‘spiritual’ about avoiding the issues connected with sexuality. This ‘Divine Know-all’ dare not talk about subjects like condoms, prostitution, AIDS and especially not homosexuality. One may ask why, considering the mass of testimony that he is has been an active homosexual and abuser throughout his adult life.

Sathya Sai Baba avoids any questions about sex if they were a plague (except reportedly in the privacy of the interview room or with close confidantes like Col. Joga Rao with whom V. K. Narasimhan and others have reported Sai Baba would laugh at sexual jokes).

Sathya Sai Baba has a lot to hide. His entire operation and private life (behind closed doors) is entirely cloaked in secrecy and tight security while all his institutions are totally unaccountable to public scrutiny. Only what they choose to publish is known, and this is very sparse material and without details or proper documentation. Everyone who tries to get anywhere near to the facts knows how one is treated, as were the whole BBC team who were invited to the ashram to film, but were thrown out after asking quite normal questions. Sai Baba’s his life-negating puritanical teachings are another telling sign of a concealed sexuality (in this case homosexuality, for which he stands so widely accused, and also pedophilia). He is protected from prosecution by the most powerful leaders in India, who worship him and kiss his feet, but do not know what happens behind his closed doors (though even the for Supreme Court Chief Justice, Bhagwati, and Prime Minister Vajpayee, most ill-advisedly claimed they knew! Without a shred of investigation or examination of the evidence).

See also Sai Baba’s botched ‘miracle’ of transforming India

Sai Baba and the lunatic fringe

Lissen is clairvoyant and an artist, but she does not wish to waste energy by interfering in God’s work, so she began to eat again. (Photo: Kristian Linnemann)

Sai Baba saved Lissen, who once lived only on light!

Under the title ‘Brown rice is the new light’ Michael Jeppersen of the Danish National Newspaper Ekstra Bladet  [17. sep. 2007] describes his meeting with a Danish Sai Baba follower called Lissen Seligmann.
Apropos, the Danish Sathya Sai Organization, led by Thorbjørn Meyer of Handelshøyskole in Copenhagen, has been propagandising for visits to Sathya Sai Baba for many years. Here is a report on one result of such a visit:

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Journalist Jeppersen joined a Biodynamic Consumer meeting in Copenhagen’s Fredriksberg, sat in a circle where participants presented themselves. One was an Indian man who does not eat, drink or sleep. Another was Judith who still does not eat, but unfortunately has fallen ill.  Others have tried to live without food or drink, others would like to, and one went over ‘into the light’ four days previously.
Lissen Seligmann began by telling of the advantages of not eating. One saves money, one needs no breaks for urinating, no more stomach aches, anorexia etc., an advantage to agriculture and the fishing industry and no more hunger in Africa.

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Saved by Sai Baba
Lissen told of her life, educated in business, she got psychic problems then physical problems, then she was saved by the Indian guru Sai Baba. “But if he had been a pedofile, then he would not have had the aura he has, so that’s that” she said suddenly somewhat excited. When she came back from India she began feeding on light for the first time, learning how from a book by Jasmuheen, who lives from small light particles in the air. (The Australian ‘60 Minutes’ TV team, however, monitored Jasmuheen for 3 days when she had to have medical aid).

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Feeding on light and meeting angels
Lissen first had classic symptoms of not eating or drinking: her vision blacking out, a bad taste in her mouth, a desire for fat food, sore legs etc. On the fourth day she met two angels who was shovelling coal into a fire. She asked why they had no wings. They replied: Wings, they are of course for galas.On the ninth day she passed a kidney stone while urinating in the bath. She held out for 3 months until she got to know that she should begin to eat again. Quite simply, she met Sai Baba and a locomotive which drove round five and a half times, and that was that! What happened afterwards is the interesting bit. In March, Lissen stopped eating again but she suddenly had a compulsion to burp, just as when she had been a child! She discovered that the pains in her mucus membrane was frozen tears and that her eye problems came from watching TV and reading.–

Then on April 18th, Lissen had a dream where she learned that she should eat brown rice.Two weeks later she dreamed of a mongrel bloodhound which howled. Her burping compulsion came of that, it was all connected. The hound was bloody, it was old karma, so it was washed and improved. Lissen pointed to her forehead “It is the forehead chackra which makes me a dirty mongrel”…And so on, wrote Jeppersen… until the break. Everyone clapped!
“I am letting it continue” said Lissen, and pointed towards the loft.

NOTE!
Other members of this fanatical lunatic fringe include Lisa de Witt, who claims to have communications from Shirdi Sai Baba, Sathya Sai Baba and Jesus… plus angels. She is the supporter and ‘colleague in ignorant and obsessional denial about Sai Baba’s failings’ of Gerald Joe Moreno, who believes Sathya Sai Baba is at least on a par with Jesus, also with Swami Premananda (in prison under two life sentences for rape and murder, confirmed after appeal to the Supreme Court of India) – all for Moreno qualifying as being ‘vishvarupa’ or incarnations of the Divine (see his http:///vishvsarupa.com site). Moreno is also a believer in the holy power of mandalas (which he produced with IT software and calls ‘art’), the power of crystals (and here he falsely identifies as being what is actually a plain glass ring-holder photographed on my mantlepiece which he has copied and annotated). He also firmly believes he was visited in the flesh by Sathya Sai Baba in his bedroom at night in New Mexico, when Sai Baba was demonstrably in India. (He was paralysed at the time and in great fear – symptom of narcolepsy).  Finally, he denies that Sathya Sai Baba having oiled his “lower stomach” in private in the inner interview room was not a case of sexual molestation, though that act fulfils all the requirements of sexual abuse under Indian (and foreign) law. Moreno has many other ‘lunatic fringe’ traits, such as believing that ‘holy nectar’ (amrit) is unearthly and is manifested by Sathya Sai Baba (as he believes many other objects are).

SATHYA SAI BABA ON ARISTOTLE, THINKING & INDIGESTION

 REALLY, CONCEPTUAL ANALYSIS CAN BE FUN

“We have to investigate why we lose our health. Excessive thinking, worrying and studying is the main cause for man’s illness. Some students are absorbed in studies all the time, because of which they lose their health. There is a limit to everything, the Greek philosopher, Aristotle, conducted extensive research on the digestive system of man and as a result of too much of thinking, his health deteriorated and ultimately he died of digestive problems.” Sathya Sai Baba. Sanathana Sarathi‘ Jan. 1999, p. 15.

SO DID ARISTOTLE  ACTUALLY DIE FROM ‘TOO  MUCH THINKING’?

Forgive that this is not exactly ‘breaking news’, but intriguing it is! Sai Baba admits that Aristotle studied the digestive system of man and then – in the usual garbled way – failed to make everything entirely clear. Let’s first assume Sai Baba was saying that Aristotle concluded that too much thinking leads to digestive problems and death (“ultimately”)? Then surely mankind today, with our vastly enhanced mental activities, mental professions, mental interests (the media, internet etc.) , must be suffering from digestive problems on an equally massive scale? But where is the evidence for that? In short, there is none. If there were, would it not be a massive medical breakthrough to revolutionise much medicine? It is more likely that Sai Baba confuses figurative ‘mental indigestion’ with the actual physical sort.

Sai Baba stated in so many words that Aristotle himself died of thinking too much, causing digestive problems caused by thinking too much (such as about human problems of thought and digestion)? There is no historical evidence for that protracted surmise, though (as Kasturi probably knew and told him) Aristotle reportedly did die of a ‘stomach ailment’, though not specifically indigestion. It was recorded that it was a ‘disease’ affecting his digestion, but could have been cancer or any number of other infectious ailments. If indeed too much thought was what really caused his death, how did Sai Baba arrive at that conclusion… by paranormal and divine powers, no doubt! Of course Aristotle “ultimately died”, uncontroversial… but was it that overripe peach, that indigestible Kalamata olive that caused his death… or was it from thinking? Or perhaps rather a result of Divine Will, Lord Yama’s inevitable decision (to which deity Sathya Sai also attributed the decision on every human death)? “There is a limit to everything” says Sai Baba… now, really? I read in Sai Baba Discourses many times that the Atma is limitless, that God is eternal and unencompassable. But it is reassuring too, for a limit to Sai Baba and his influence is also therefore promised. His death must be a bit of a limitation on his activities? No??

One must conclude once again that Sathya Sai Baba suffered for not thinking enough about what he said – or claimed to know… or from too much confusion of the mind (and bad dreams, which he also said in another context comes from bad digestion)? That he lost his health was observable to everyone… so was it from too little thinking? Was his digestion not well exercised and still perfect? I don’t know. So I leave it to readers to decide – and see whether their own digestive tracts are over-sensitive to thoughts – or how much they might dare to think so as to preserve themselves for as long as possible…

Super-Rich Indian Gurus who don’t deliver what they promise

Billionaire Non-delivering ‘Spiritual gurus’ The ‘many-billion dollar question’ is not really so much how Sai Baba has generated such huge coffers, for this is almost ‘par for the course’ for Swamis, gurus and temples in India. Tirupathi is reckoned to be the most fabulous as to wealth, and the Puri Temple of Jagannath is not far behind. Sathya Sai Baba may still not have become top of the ‘national treasure’ pile yet. The self-entitled ‘Baghwan’ Sri Rajneesh (aka Osho) had vast sums before he was indicted by the US Government on so many criminal charges that he had to sell of cheaply his 84 tax-evasion Rolls Royces to a second-hand car dealer in Texas and flee justice, yet he still could lord it over most Indians financially when he settled in Pune. The sect of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is likewise in the money beyond any accounting, his people even having taken over an African state’s economy more or less! [One may pause to wonder whether all this – with the massed chanting of mantras etc. – has stopped drug taking, urban violence, terrorism and brought about peaceful communities and a better world, as the Maharishi has many times guaranteed it would? I’d say no more than Sathya Sai Baba’s promises that India would be transformed by now (due to his 1960s students’ taking over important positions) and become the moral and spiritual engine of the world in a Golden Age (which is long overdue after repeated but unacknowledged ‘postponements’ .

No, the question without a price tag is still why Sathya Sai Baba, who vociferously disdains ownership and filthy lucre, should be one of the richest persons and biggest property owners in that land of such poverties and sufferings? That he claims to own nothing is just a front for the gullible and his trusting followers, for it is a mere technicality. It is the Sathya Sai Central Trust and he rules over it totally, even signing every cheque, so he has stated himself in 1993. The tax-free charitable Central Trust remains essentially behind closed doors, no minutes revealed and no accountability for the expenditure. Is it’s wealth being properly used? Or squandered on too great a scale to build yet more temples and white elephant ‘spiritual museums’, all clearly designed and decorated so as to trumpet the name and fame of Sai Baba himself. Questions as to the misuse of funds expended in building an isolated Super-Speciality Hospital is cogently discussed in Serguei Badaev’s overview of the Sai Baba Super Speciality Hospitals’ wastefulness. If this had not been so, the answer would have been clear and acceptable.

The putative fact remains, Sai Baba’s monies are also used for gaining influence and political power, and without any visible beneficial effects on politics or politicians. The current state of political dishonesty, disinterest for the poor of India, and scams at all levels in India suggest nothing is changing, the rich get richer, the poor get poorer (certainly relative to each other and to the basic cost of living). Sathya Sai’s much heralded “Divine Plan” for changing India – promised to be soon even in the 1960s to Dr. J. Hislop in the well-known interviews he published is not a fact, but a vehicle of falsehoods and foolishly placed faith. See also ‘How far is it to dharma?‘ Ask devotees about it all and they will tell you “Baba has divinely good plans that no one but He can fathom. We are all but puny minds, how can we possibly know?” That is a great conversation stopper to end on!

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Please go to the Public Petition for Official Investigations of Sathya (or Satya) Sai Baba and His Worldwide Organization

 

India – God-driven or God-forsaken?

The words “God Lives in India” have been bandied about by numerous people, always referring to Sathya Sai Baba (who has proclaimed himself as God, Deity of All Deities). It is a film title, a song title, a book title and so on. Sai Baba has stated that God never incarnates as the Full Avatar anywhere else but in India and then only after many thousands of years, and now he has come as a triple incarnation in this disastrous Kali Age so as to save humanity. The implication – drawn firmly by Sathya Sai Baba himself, is that India is the only world culture to which God would deign to ‘descend’ because it is the ‘most spiritual’ and is the only country in which all genuine and full incarnations of God have ever incarnated (from Vishnu on through Krishna, Rama etc. etc.).

This kind of ‘God claim’ may make many Indians – even its lowly peasants – proud of their country – which possibility is not ignored by vote-hungry politicians and their supporters. It also underpins the absurd extreme nationalism of the Indian rulers, as witnessed in the utterly childish daily face-offs supported by the authorities for decades at the border vis-a-vis Pakistan, just for a start. Meanwhile, much of the callous and grasping ruling class are content to allow huge parts of all cities to be vast and growing slums, and the dwellers are treated by police and the law if they had no rights (which is often the case legally). Consequently, the mafias are often their only remaining line of defense against summary eviction.

In support of a rising New India, with genuine equality rather than bogus spirituality!I write this blog not least in support of the majority population of India, that is, the dispossessed majority of over 600 million of its inhabitants who lack social justice and even have no real equality before the law, being entrapped within a corrupt system, – and I do NOT to support the many corrupted and self-seeking ruling politicians and privileged castes. That India is a land of “the direst calamities” is a fact pointed out even by Sathya Sai Baba (from his insulated luxury fortress-palaces and the benefits of his money-laden tax-free Sathya Sai Central Trust). Sathya Sai Baba’s still far too neglected ‘backyard’ is a ‘flawed democracy’ (as a ‘Times’ of India editorial names it – see here) from which Sai Baba recently stated that he is minded to travel on tour abroad, breaking his oft-repeated promise to clean things up in India before setting foot anywhere else! Such are most of the promises he makes and the otherworldly and moralistic ‘spirituality’ he mostly promotes!

Is [traditional] India a spiritual country?
Judging by the state of human rights and its decadent social practices, corrupt political decision-making and huge injustices and inequalities, India is not a spiritual country at all. It is also plagued by the old guard’s vast militaristic spending, far from Gandhi’s peaceful ideals.  ‘Spirituality’ is meaningless it it is not practiced in daily living and embedded in a society’s practices and practical values in real life. India is rather an overwhelmingly religiously superstitious country in which the goodwill and relative ignorance and powerlessness of the lowly is exploited to the extreme though widespread political and business corruption. This is part of India’s traditional caste-ridden way of life! The violent and consistent suppression of minorities, Muslims, Dalits, indigenous native populations, hiras, bonded labourers, and many other minorities is sustained by callous impassivity and top-down corruption in much of the police, judiciary and governing bodies. Indian leaders, in the main (with a minority of honourable and courageous exceptions), have the most hardened consciences towards the gigantic number of poor and suffering and their crying needs (over 40% being officially regarded by UNO as living below the poverty line). The gap between India’s rich and poor is mind-boggling!

As to ‘spirituality’, while India’s millions are worshipful and passive, this is also a land of frequent communal carnage (eg. Hindus vs. Muslims) and bomb blasts galore, massive female infanticide, religious killings (of Christians), extreme beggary, horrific mutilations of babies to make them into beggars (as ‘rat children’, ‘spidermen’, diverse amputees) major human organ theft, literal ‘witch-hunts’ and black magic killings, physical and sexual child abuse on a massive scale, millions of children labouring under dreadful condition, and enormous health problems, utter discrimination against widows and many more ills that no truly democratic country wouldcountenance. The seriousness is still very widely denied by Indian politicians, despite many and constant international studies and warnings. Even worse, most of the sufferers are treated as total outcasts by most Indian communities (AIDs, lepers. polio sufferers and many other diseases largely eradicated elsewhere), not least because of the heartless ideas so widely held there about divine retribution as ‘karma’ for sins in past lives. Above all, Sathya Sai Baba has never confronted any of these issues or spoken up to defend the victims or attack the perpetrators!

Benefit of the doubt

The Daily Mail of U.K. wrote an article in 2007 that I am informed has been removed- It “highlighted a number of allegations contained in the Particulars of Claim which were reportedly found to be untrue at Trial. So the article is selective in its allegations and does not make it clear they were not substantiated at trial. When this story was reported it took the information from the particulars of claim but did not have the sight of the other pleadings or for that matter of the Judgement that was finally delivered by the Judge at the end of the trial. After the trial, M*****’s solicitor wrote to the Daily Mail to tell them the claims in this article had been proven to be untrue at the Trial and therefore to remove the article from their website as it was misleading to the public.”

The original blog appearing here has therefore been deleted. 

Dr. H. Narasimhaiah and Sathya Sai Baba

Dr H. Narasimhaiah was an uncompromising rationalist, a friend and lifelong supporter of Mahatma Gandhi and president of the National Education Society. HN, as he was popularly known, originated in 1962 the Bangalore Science Forum to promote the scientific temper. In that spirit it hosted thousands of lectures and showed over 500 films before his death in 2005. His credo was “Do not accept anything without questioning”, though he was never an atheist. His office was adorned with a quotation of Albert Einstein on the wall “Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds”.
Well, Dr. Narasimhaiah was certainly no mediocre mind, for he promoted science in education to such an extent and of such quality that he is generally revered by the Indian intelligensia.

CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE

Science vs. ‘Spiritual’ Superstition
The Deccan Herald reported:”Dr Narasimhaiah stole the limelight when he challenged the Sai Baba to create a pumpkin out of thin air instead of gold rings and watches. (Later a devotee asked Sai Baba to create a jackfruit  – which he did not do), as reported in the Times of India (click on thumbnail scan on the right here or go to source here).  Narasimhaiah had also invited the Baba twice to perform miracles in front of a committee. Dr Narasimhaiah, who had a doctorate in nuclear physics from an American university, was the Chairman of the Kannada Watchdog Committee, and a member of the Legislative Council. He headed the committee which probed banamathi (witchcraft) menace which had reached alarming proportions in North Karnataka. After a thorough investigation with experts from the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences, he came to the conclusion that banamathi was a fear-complex perpetrated by vested interests on psychologically weak villagers.”

Black Magic/Witchcraft in India
Sathya Sai Baba has promoted the belief in black magic on various occasions, which most of the world will admit is very far from being helpful to India! Recently, the age-old superstitions still plague India life to a far greater degree than is publicized. A truly soul-chilling set of horrific reports from the Deccan Herald beyond any possible doubt that the superstition is causing the most horrific deaths around India. So much for the benign dispensation of the self-proclaimed God of Gods, Sathya Sai Baba, who defies science and promotes belief in black magicians etc. Let us hope that the true spirit of inquiry and critical thinking about fantastic claims will spread rapidly as India’s information technology spreads to all corners of the land and India thus becomes further integrated in the global community.

(see also on witchcraft in India by ‘National Geographic’ etc. here)

Religion and Sex Abuse

There’s something truly rotten about virtually all large, moralistic religious organizations where sex is concerned! A ‘tip of the vast iceberg’ of revelations in religious institutions is referenced below (see links).
Last year, a report commissioned by the (US Catholic) Church said more than 4,000 US Roman Catholic priests had faced sexual abuse allegations in the last 50 years in cases involving more than 10,000 children, mostly boys. In the last year at least 300 American priests have been removed amid allegations of child sex abuse.

It always takes decades for victims to summon the strength and means to confront their abusers. Throughout Europe and North America, these abuses are becoming widely know about and the victims receive sympathy and are slowly gaining ground through legal actions. Meanwhile, though India has been shown to be a country where 53% of its children allege sexual abuse (in a major and representative official study, virtually nothing has been done so far. Considering the known parlous state of the police, law and politics in India – especially when one considers how long it has taken to raise cases on any scale in Europe and the USA and with still far too meagre results – it will take more time to root out the deceit and sexual criminals in India to any adequate extent.  Not surprising that Sathya Sai Baba – with the patronage he enjoys, has not been brought to book for the over 30 public allegations against him – not yet. But the modernisation of India is progressing rapidly and global values and laws are developing fast which gives hope that the young professional and entrepreneurial classes in India will eventually be able manage the responsibilities of cleaning out their figurative and literal Augean stables where 40% of the truly poor still have to live out their lives. Fortunately, too, a fair number of swamis (who preached celibacy!) have been jailed in the past decade or so for sexual abuses (sometimes combined with murders).

Prime Ministers and Presidents etc. who have publicly worshipped Sai Baba and turn a blind eye and protected him from all allegations (think of the disgrace for them if he were brought before a court!). So far the authorities of the Supreme Court have managed to throw out a petition against Sai Baba. That there will be a reckoning and that the facts will eventually force themselves on these misguided prestige-minded politicians is most likely, however long it takes. This self-proclaimed God Incarnate will not be allowed to get away with his lies by those still young persons who report having suffered by his hands.

Video report on the Californian sex abuse settlement
US Church sex scandal timeline
Extent of sex abuses in US Catholic Church
US Catholic Church pays out ca. $50 mill. in Washington
Anglican Church of Canada pay out for sexual abuses
Kentucky, USA $120 mill. settlement on child abuse
ISKCON Hare Krishna movement bankrupted in US by sex abuse compensation
Hundreds of sex abuse claims against Pakistani madrassas 
Ireland – NSPCC head in church abuse role
Attempts to ban BBC child abuse investigation TV report
Cover-up of child sex abuse in UK Church
More UK Church sex abuse cover-ups
Australian church sex abuse compensations
UK Catholics – many accusations, no prosecutions
140 men sue Irish Catholic Church
US Archbishop faces fresh abuse claims

‘Spiritual’ Sex Abuse

Sexual abuse has for ages been a feature of churchmen where the doctrine is sexually repressive. However, the huge extent to which this has been taking place in so many churches and sects is only now becoming properly known. After many years of struggle to be believed and to summon the money and expertise to take the guilty Catholic churches in the USA to court, results have begun to be seen. A record compensation of over $600 million in California has just been awarded. But – and this is a very large BUT – not one of the guilty has been brought to book by due legal process… so far. The same applies to sexual abuses as most credibly reported about Sathya Sai Baba, his Organisation having cleverly avoided legal accountability in the US, where he himself cannot be sued.

The protection given by religionists – including many bishops and heads of church communities – to both hetero- and homo-sexual abusers in the Catholic Church, the Anglican Church, The ISKCON (Hare Krishna) organization and in many other sects or ‘spiritual communities’ has been wall-to-wall. This utterly despicable behaviour has often been compounded by making the victims of sexual abuses suffer further personal abuse simply for alleging what was done to them. One US lady who has been raped by a priest broke down in tears on worldwide TV News (22/7/2007) while telling how she was not believed by her very own church community, which ostracised her. This ‘turning a blind eye’ has been very common, also in the Sathya Sai Organization. The hurt is as great as the original sin and the crime is with the scandal-mongers who attack alleging victims of sex abuse, who are either ignorant and opinionated or bitter-hearted individuals.

Some supporters of Sathya Sai Baba post continual vicious attacks against the many who have spoken out about being sexually abused by Sai Baba – and done so against great odds, with the politically powerful Sathya Sai mini-imperium and its bottomless coffers where murders have also occurred in Sai Baba’s own bedroom, quite possibly sex-related. That was never cleared up when the CBI investigation of it was totally quashed by Sai Baba supporters in the Indian Government.

Considering the huge scale of sexual abuse in India – as reported by the Indian Government approved UNICEF and Save the Children research project, the fact that very little progress has been made as regards bringing sexual abusers to book in India is a scandal too.  (See here)

‘Miracle cures’ by Sai Baba?

Sathya Sai Baba and ‘miracle cures’

The hagiographic literature about Sathya Sai Baba’s ‘miraculous’ cures is extensive. Due to the nature of his alleged ‘methods’, no scientific control study has so far been made of any of the claims of miraculous healing from him, either spontaneously or in answer to prayers. He is also reported as carrying out ‘exorcisms’ or driving out demons from ‘possessed’ persons and ‘psychic surgery’. None of this is to say that he, like thousands of others of reported ‘healers’, cannot have been somehow involved in people’s healing processes, most likely as a catalytic agent on whom one concentrates deeply with faith and hope and projects any positive results if or when improvements occur. (For a deeper analysis of these matters, see here)

On the other hand, hundreds of reports have come from persons who have sacrificed and prayed to Sathya Sai Baba constantly for themselves or for another, but all of whom have only got worse! Of course, the handy theory of past bad karma is trundled out to explain away the possibility of a cure in this or that persons’ instance. All evidence that Sathya Sai Baba does not heal, does not keep his word, or is not able to heal people of himself has to be refuted by the ‘true believer’, whose agenda is totally to block out all experience that may lead to another explanation or in any way be interpreted to reduce their hard-held belief that Sathya Sai Baba is a divine healer and God himself.

Even devotees who feel the need to keep up a front despite themselves not having been healed according to Sathya Sai Baba’s promise will convince themselves that they have been helped… and even lie about this, such as Mrs. Phyllis Krystal did about the headaches she claimed Sai Baba cured her of (after being asked point blank in public at the 1990 Sai Baba conference in Hamburg). However, she was still suffering from them for years afterwards, as Lucas Ralli (with whom she stayed when in London) informed me most definitively and to my great surprise. Sathya Sai Baba is one among many thousands who claims the power to heal – claims which of course have never been substiantiated by serious medical researchers under controlled conditions – a list which includes many known and highly controversial names: Mary Baker Eddy, Edgar Cayce, Chico Xavier, José (Zé) Arigó, Yokoshiaki Omura, Billy Graham, Oral Roberts, Kathryn Kuhlman, Peter Popoff, Benny Hinn and Peter Younggren, Stephen Turoff and so on and on…