Sathya Sai Baba Miracles, truth and misconceptions

Dr. Acharya Yogeesh of the Hindu-Jain ashram was very negative about Sathya Sai Baba’s miracle claims, such as the production of ‘holy ash’ (vibuthi). He is a fairly standard type guru and is not very convincing when he tells that one can “never trust anyone”  except oneself. In fact, he did not forward  any new counter evidence to speak of but he holds that Sathya Sai Baba ‘miracles’ are no different from the tricks done on the streets by performers. On the other hand, he said “…and when I was visiting his ashram one time, I met his family. I think they belong to that category (i.e. street performers) so he is learning those tricks. They are not miracles, they are tricks.” (see YouTube here)

Legerdemain and deception by Sai Baba is a fact
That Sathya Sai Baba uses sleight-of-hand tricks is established beyond any reasonable doubt and this is seen on numerous videos, and it is attested by numerous former followers that he fetches rings, watches and other objects from behind himself on his chair.. and even by some current followers too! Whether all his very many reported miracles are merely tricks, or over-zealous interpretations, or have other causes is still an open question, despite what Yogeesh says.

That Sathya Sai Baba has ‘religiously’ avoided any genuine scientific controls or submitted to test or questions by independent researchers is a well-known fact. Naturally, all open-minded people would ask why he cannot allow such investigations of his ‘miracles’ – or of anything else to do with him – when these matters are so controversial. He insists on blind belief and no investigation of himself whatever! That should be sufficient to show that he is deeply involved in deception, but there is massive documentation from hundreds of persons that he is a deceiver and this is a unscrupulous abuser of people’s trust and faith

Sathya Sai Baba did grow up in a family of village performers and act with them

The grandfather of Sai Baba was a performer, as Prof. Kasturi – made clear in Volume 1 of the official biography of Sai Baba (Satyam,Sivam, Sundaram) and he taught the family who also often performed in villages around the area. Judging by the constant references to their involvement in village plays and wandering musical groups by Kasturi, it seems to have been their main employment. He wrote: “Because the brothers and the father were all extremely interested in the village operas on the legendary histories of India, and since plays were very often rehearsed at home…” and “He could sing all the songs rehearsed at home for the village operas and mystery plays.“

What is meant by “village operas” and “mystery plays” one may guess, most likely Kasturi’s way of making what were itinerant “street performances” seem nobler, for nothing he wrote about his Lord and master was ever less than exorbitant praise and poetic euology. They were “open air” performances, as Kasturi also makes clear. Though the emphasis is put heavily on the religious nature of all this – and that proceeds were distributed to the poor and so forth – no secret is made of money being collected. Further, one notable incident Kasturi records proves that not all Sathya’s performances had any religious content.  One suspects there were other such too. Sathya Sai copied and improved on the gymnastic feats of “…a girl dancer whose stage name was Rishyendramani, who performed a series of gymnastic dances with music. Her highlight was a dance in which she kept time to the music while balancing a bottle on her head” “Sathya’s sisters dressed him as Rishyendraman, complete with hair-do and personal decoration…” and so on.

This incident indicates that much of what went one was described by Kasturi on the basis of hearsay (he was never there at the time) and his blind devotion to Sathya Sai Baba, and that much less savoury was omitted. This  is also proven by the account of the young Sathya given by his contemporary, Smt Vijayamma, herself a blind devotee yet who writes a far less one-sided account of Sathya Sai Baba’s personality and activities from her own experience. See review of ‘Other than You Refuge I have None’ and a very revealing account from that book