Sathya Sai Baba’s ‘Narasimha avataric’ rage

At one of several talks in the old lecture room for foreign followers at Prashanthi Nilayam in January 1985 by Sai Baba’s biographer and closest devotee for decades, Professor N. Kasturi, he related a most telling experience he had when he had returned from a tour of North India holding talks about Sai Baba. One day he had been called in to Baba, who came and stood very close to him so that – as Kasturi enthused – that he felt Baba’s hair tickle his chin.  Sai Baba told him to go on a tour of North India to Sai groups and tell of his experiences. Before he came to meet Sai Baba, Kasturi had used to tour about and hold religious talks at which he also sang, so he asked of he should do likewise. Baba said his voice was like a crows, so definitely no singing. Instead he said ‘Dance!’, a yet more unlikely act for the aged and stooping Kasturi, who understood the message: nothing else but talks.  

Upon his return to Prashanthi afterwards, and having done as told under an exhausting but exhilarating schedule, Kasturi found that he was persona non grata. When Baba saw him he looked at him like “a raging lion” and totally ignored him thereafter. He could not get near him even to ask why, nor were messages he tried to send through others answered in any way. He was denied entry by Baba’s servitors to any darshan in the compound or lectures at the auditorium, having to sit on the ground outside. This went on for weeks, and Kasturi told us openly of his suffering of great anguish and being constantly and unexpectedly overcome by tears. Apropos this: in his ‘official biography’ of Sai Baba (in Sathyam , Sivam, Sundaram Vol. 1),  Kasturi reported accounts he had heard of the young Sai Baba terrifying some fractious villagers when he was but a teenager by raging and growling like the ‘lion-man avatar’ Narasimha. Many of ever-uncritical devotees took this as proof that he was the avatar of all avatars in the main Indian pantheon, as he actually claimed himself! I also once saw him with a raging lion-like face one day in the late 80s when he was looking at some people on the veranda. Kasturi vividly evoked the near terror he felt from the raging anger and how he later received very unpleasant scowls whenever Sai Baba caught sight of him. He could find no reason however much he searched his soul.

Eventually after weeks of his suffering, when several close devotees had asked Sai Baba to relent, he at least spoke to Kasturi, but in most disapproving tones. Kasturi went like a lamb to slaughter and humbly asked what his crime was. In fact, and in any sane evaluation, it was nothing but a mere bagatelle but not for Sai Baba,  who reprimanded him for considering himself as a “big man” who condescended to “give interviews” like himself. The fact was that Kasturi’s hosts wherever he travelled in North India had been flooded with requests to meet Kasturi in private, and they had set up times for them to meet him in a private chat. Kasturi, who was grateful for the special hospitality he was receiving, went along with their pre-planned schedule… ostensibly out of a sense of duty (which he probably also sometimes felt onerous). THAT alone was his great sin! Sai Baba emphasised most angrily that it was only He who gave interviews! This shows not only how the supposedly ‘humble’ Sathya Sai Baba saw himself as far superior to Kasturi, but also that he probably felt his authority may be undermined by a ‘second-in command’. This is the known policy of all dictatorial rulers – to eliminate those who grow too popular and credible and who might spill some beans or worse of not kept well under the yoke. After all, Kasturi was vastly more educated than Sai Baba and also far more pleasant a person to be with since he was frank and unassuming, always friendly and responsive (Sai Baba would only notice people and engage them strictly on his own terms). What remained of Kasturi’s will was thereafter as if castrated  and he became more like a lamb than ever. One can read a (considerably watered-down) account by Kasturi in his autobiographical book ‘Loving God’, where he accepted the punishment as a means to soften him and reduce his ego! Already almost totally trapped and dependent on his guru for everything, he rationalised everything SB said or did, daring not to say ‘boo’ to a goose while credulously hoping that it will lay the golden egg.  However, as will be seen here, Kasturi was tested yet further later on and it was nearly the last straw…

This incident exemplifies Sai Baba’s manipulative methods of the classic psychopath, sociopaths or narcissistic power-brokers… having charmed and praised people and wheedled their way into their trust, then to cow them and keep them totally in line… even through naked fear. Then finally becoming charming and forgiving again… a push-pull or punishment-reward relationship. The victim invariably defends his oppressor, even to the extent of turning black into white, continuing and even extending self-deception through lack of personal resources to break free or weakness of character.
Concerning Kasturi’ biography of Sai Baba, Eileen Weed commented:-

“Well, I only read it in the 80’s and since then haven’t touched it, but from what I remember it was more a flowery literary work showing off Kasturi’s love of adjectives! I imagine that he wrote most of it from fantastic stories told by him, fancied up even more.

I know that Kasturi was fiercely loyal, no matter what – don’t know the reasons, maybe he felt just stuck like Narasimha Rao did. Once his daughter told me a story of something terrible Swami did to Kasturi. I forgot further details, but it had to do when Kasturi‘s only son died. Swami had told Kasturi to do something like take him to a certain doctor, Kasturi did it but the son died anyway: later, sai told everyone that Kasturi did not follow his (sai’s) advice and that is why the son died. At that time, it seems Kasturi was boiling with rage and ordered his entire family out – his wife, daughter, grandsons etc. – and ordered them never, ever to see sai again. ‘Only I will stay, you should never come again because of the this terrible deceit sai did to us, telling such a lie.‘ Well, the family never listened and didn’t go away, but what struck me with the story was that Kasturi himself wanted to remain serving sai, though he was totally hurt and boiling insidel Maybe he didn’t want to experience more lose-face and lose the only reputation he gained in all those years.

Just imagine a father’s tragic despair when his god lied to everyone so sb could save his own face.”
(Eileen Weed aka ‘Divya’ – November 25,2012 e-mail To: Robert Priddy copy of Email to my Parents: June 6, 2005)

More on the death of N. Kasturi and Sai Baba’s lying account
Professor N. Kasturi as Sai Baba follower and his official biographer 

On the psychopathic nature of gurus, incl. Sai Baba

also Hidden fear of the avatar

Baby Sai Baba not rocked by cobra in cradle

 

According to one of the official Sathya Sai Baba web sites, a cobra appeared under the cradle of the newborn baby but the child was untouched, as follows:-

“Soon after Satya’s birth the baby was placed on the floor on top of some bedclothes. The cloth around the baby began to move in a peculiar way. The women attending his mother immediately looked under the cloth — there was a live cobra! But the snake did not harm the child. Sai Baba of Shirdi (the previous incarnation of Satya Sai Baba) often appeared to his followers in the form of a cobra. The cobra also is one of the many symbols of Shiva.” Source- http://bhagavat-katha.exactpages.com/saibaba.html

This account was refuted by a report from Arnold Schulman, the Hollywood screenwriter who wrote in his 1971 book ‘Baba’ (Viking Press, New York,), see below.

In recent years I corresponded with an Indian ex-follower of Sathya Sai Baba who had gone to Puttaparti because he knew some Sai students from his country who had been sexually abused and he wanted to investigate the facts. He became completely convinced that it was true, which is also why he contacted me, though he did not wish to have his name publicised due to his position in that society. Many ex-followers do not wish their name to be connected (through the web, for example) with Sathya Sai Baba, whose name came to be a stigma in their eyes and a possible millstone around the neck in wider society. Thus a bogus name is inserted in the scan that follows, which is just one of his discoveries that deserves to go on record.

CLICK IMAGE TO ZOOM IN

 

The elder brother of Sathya Narayana Raju aka Sathya Sai Baba. Sesham died in 1986

If this were not enough, Arnold Schulman, who visited Sathya Sai Baba to investigate if he could be what he claimed – and ultimately remained unconvinced – wrote a book in 1971 entitled ‘Baba’ (Viking Press, N.Y.) As Schulman noted:
“One of Baba’s two sisters, however, who claims to have been present at his birth, says that the cobra was not found under the blanket, butseveral hours after Baba was born a cobra was seen outside the house, a sight not uncommon in the village.”

This contradicts several “official” accounts of the cobra event in three very populatr books on Sai Baba’s birth and  early years: 1) ‘Baba Satya Sai’ by Ra. Ganapati. 2) ‘Easwaramma – The Chosen Mother’ by N. Kasturi, and 3) Volume I of ‘Sathyam Sivam Sundaram’, also by N. Kasturi. Schulman also wrote this revealing paragraph: “For every story of Baba’s childhood there are any number of conflicting versions and, at this point, the writer discovered, it is no longer possible to sift out the facts from the legend. For one thing Baba has forbidden his family and devotees to talk about his childhood and ‘they all live in terror of Baba,’ as one of his most devoted followers told the writer. ‘When they do something wrong,’ the devotee said, ‘he won’t look at them or speak to them for days and it’s agony for them …”

The following interesting comment from Cate Murray was received (click on 1 comment below):-
My mother, who died a Sai devotee, tried to publish a children’s book titled, “The Lonely Little Cobra” about a pariah cobra who finds love, companionship, and fulfillment with the baby Sai. Thank God she was unable to publish another book of Sai propaganda!

A very frank comment, generous to readers. This reminds me to point out the believe-anything mentality of most devotees I have known through the decades. The hagiography around Sai Baba is full of imagination and fantastic interpretations of the most commonplace events and statements etc.  Professor Kasturi, who I met on several occasions and interviewed, was evidently a very naive person without any known research qualifications, though he once held a teaching post as professor of history (without having a Ph.D). In his ‘official biography’ he hardly mentioned the elder brother – who was the only properly educated member of Sai Baba’s family and was well-placed to have known most of what happened. Kasturi only refers to him in passing in connection with Sai Baba’s schooling and the (among devotees) ‘famous’ letter ‘correcting’ his elder brother in which he boasted about himself. Most likely Sathya would have warned Kasturi not to listen to his elder brother, whose evidence would probably have destroyed the entire childhood mythology.

It is clear from all Kasturi wrote that he had no idea about research, historical or otherwise. He never even achieved an Indian Ph.D., nor did he publish a single research paper, though he was employed for years in a teaching post as ‘professor’ of history. He was instead a born believer in Indian mythology, having been a lifelong follower of the supposed ‘avatar’, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa before he found Sai Baba. The method of his information’ about the birth and childhood of Sai Baba shows an agenda to promote his every claim, never to question anything in the least. His flowery adulation in every other paragraph of the ‘official biography’ ‘Satyam, Sivam, Sundaram’ (Volume 1 being the source of the cobra story) shows his total belief dependency, as do the various incidents in which Sai Baba punished him relentlessly for mistakes of the most minor nature (as detailed in his autobiography ‘Loving God’). As my colleague Professor Erlendur Haraldsson expressed to me when first I met him in Bangalore in 1989 and referred to Kasturi’s writing in a positive way – one cannot rely on Kasturi for accuracy in anything. Haraldsson had then already properly researched the famous (or infamous) claim by Sai Baba of having resurrected Walter Cowan from the dead and had definitively shown from the doctors involved that no such thing had ever occurred and no death certificate had ever been issued. The ‘reporting’ by Kasturi on countless incidents are put in doubt by other sources, for example the incident when young Sai visited shepherds (who he called ‘dacoits’) and his gaping mind-boggled account of the alleged self-healing of Sai Baba in the ‘Shiva-Shakthi’ incident, to mention just two of many similar cases. One has to admire, if nothing else, the chutzpah in Sai Baba’s words to Kasturi when he wanted to publish the first volume of ‘Satyam, Sivam, Sundaram’ to the effect that the time was not ripe and that people would think that he and Kasturi had cooked it all up together. That is the most likely explanation indeed, as the world will also judge…  if it should ever become more widely known!

See Kasturi as chief subservient grinder of the Sai Baba rumour mill

Sathya Sai Baba and longevity

Sai Baba's deluded translator, Anil Kumar

Sathya Sai Baba’s translator and wilful spreader of untruth, Anil Kumar, that Prof. N. Kasturi lived for 100 year

They Lived For 100 Years “Bhagavan was telling us the other day that those who lived here with Him lived for 100 years, every one of them. He gave an example of Professor Kasturi. When Bhagavan went to see him, He asked him to go for a health check-up. Kasturi answered, “Swami, I’m fine. Why should I go for a health check up?” Bhagavan told him just like that: “Go! Have your blood pressure checked. That’s all!” Kasturi went there and Bhagavan went to the hospital to see him, giving Kasturi instructions for the rest of the things to follow. The caretaker of the Mandir in those days was Kutumba Rao. (Swami must have given him instructions to arrange for a cremation procession.) He asked, “Swami, why do you want me to arrange to carry a dead body?” Swami said, “No, no, no. Don’t ask. Just follow My instruction.” As Kutumba Rao was making the procession arrangements, the news came that Kasturi expired. That’s it. Kutumba Rao had not been aware of Kasturi’s impending death.Bhagavan was also telling us the other day about Kamadhani, who also lived for 100 years.” This was on the web site http://www.internety.com/anilk2002/30_06_2002_(e).htm After my exposure of the facts it was removed from the Internet

Prof. N. Kasturi began his autobiography Loving God with the words “This time, I inhaled the Breath of God on Christmas Day, 1897.” His successor as editor of Sanathana Sarathi, V.K. Narasimhan, wrote (September 1987, p. 260) that “death came to him (Kasturi) on August 14 at noon and that he was 90.” What Narasimhan did not write, but told me, was that Kasturi complained bitterly of his terrible sufferings from throat cancer for the 6 weeks he lay on his deathbed (unvisited by Sai Baba except very near the end). That Kutumba Rao was unaware of Kasturi’s long bedridden suffering and likelihood of impending death is simply not credible!

V.K. Narasimhan, who died March 19th, 2000, did not reach the magic 100 years either. At the age of 87, having lost an eye which Sai Baba was unable or unwilling to cure, and then having lost his wife some years later, my dear old friend Narasimhan passed away on March 9th, 2000, after a lengthy period of much suffering in hospital with water on the lungs.

The extravagant untruthful claim in the above that “those who lived here with Him lived for 100 years, every one of them.” can easily be refuted. A friend of mine, Judge Damodar Rao, who had resided close to Sai Baba for decades, died long before reaching his century. Likewise, the above-mentioned Kutumb Rao, who was Sai Baba’s close servitor and Head of Prashanthi Nilayam Ashram. After being sent away for a period, Kutumb Rao returned to his post in 1989, but suffered from internal cancers. He was sent to Madras and opened up, but closed again as a hopeless case beyond surgery. He suffered much for a long period and died around 1990, many years before he reached 100 years of age.

On the basis of the above, it is also doubtful whether the engineer and servitor of Sai Baba in the 1970s, Kamadhani, lived to 100 years. On November 8th, 1997, Sai Baba referred to the death that day of a genuine centenarian, Swami Karunyananda, who had been with Sai Baba for forty years.

The Sai Baba priest who died prematurely

On the very same day another one who lived with Sai Baba for 40 years died, the pujari of the Prashanthi Nilayam mandir, Padmanabha Shastri. Padmhanabha reportedly did not get at all near to the 100-year milepost! Moreover, Sai Baba stated:

“During the last three months I had been advising Padmanabha Sastri to realise that his is a diabetic patient. ‘The wound in your leg is getting worse. Ultimately amputation may be unavoidable. You are neglecting your leg. Heed my words.’. I was repeatedly warning him, he was consuming sweet things like paayasam and laddus. Today his blood pressure rose to 400 and he had a severe heart attack. You can see what happens when Swami’s advice is ignored.” (Sanathana Sarathi 11/1997, p. 299 & Sathya Sai Speaks Vol 30, page 231)

It is clear that Sai Baba says whatever suits his whims to try to enhance his importance. Since many people believe him to be what he claims, they take seriously all his glib standard promises to persons like, ‘Long life, healthy life, happy life’, or ‘I will heal’, ‘I will look after everything’ or whatever he says… even though many of these ‘divine promises’ simply do not hold up on inspection. The accounts of Sai Baba’s apparently all-knowing interventions and comments which are vague as to checkable information (such as Anil Kumar excels at on the above-referenced website) are not backed by any evidence from the published case notes or written declarations of known doctors, but rather seem to be amateurishly ‘doctored’ texts. One only has the enthusiastic and pre-convinced raconteur to rely on in practically all instances. It is nearly all just a case of more belief for committed believers. In any case, the critical literature is growing replete with documented examples of Sathya’s Asathya.

Sathya Sai Baba warns people about the danger of telling lies, for example:-
“… indulging in falsehood is a tortuous process. One has to take a lot of trouble to cover up one lie with more lies.” (Sathya Sai Speaks Vol. 21, p. 214)

Well, he should know by now as he evidently speaks from experience.

---

---

See  Public Petition for Official Investigations of Sathya Sai Baba and His Worldwide Organization

Sai Baba promises – part 3

Sai Baba with N. Kasturi

Two of Sathya Sai Baba’s closest collaborators, Prof. N. Kasturi (his official biographer and servitor for over 40 years) and V.K. Narasimhan, who followed Kasturi into the editor’s chair of Sanathana Sarathi and worked continuously for Sathya Sai Baba in that and other capacities for over two decades, both suffered horrible and long illnesses before they died. Kasturi was in a terrible state for 6 weeks before his release (this would not have been known to me had not Narasimhan told me so) and Narasimhan himself lost an eye (Sathya Sai Baba having claimed he would look after him and applied vibuthi etc. when it got infected). Then VKN suffered up to 3 months with his lungs filling with water before dying in March 2000. Such vastly selfless servers were not exactly eased in any way by the supposedly ‘omnipotent and grace-giving’ avatar.

All kinds of weird and fantastic explanations can be invented to explain away such things, but the gruelling facts and harsh neglect remain. (Sathya Sai Baba also made VKN write a lie in the press about the Sathya Sai Central Trust before his illness, which can’t have been all that helpful for the poor man whose former life had been in defense of the truth). These are far from being all the instances of which I know or have heard about from reliable sources. So what are Sathya Sai Baba’s famous “divine guarantees” worth? Let a Dutch lady correspondent of mine of impeccable insight answer this query:

“After my visit to the ashram I was very disappointed re. sb’s attitude towards the invalids. I am having walking problems due to a Guillain Barré spinal disease at the age of 14. I recovered from it apart from a slight right side limp. However, the last 15 years I am loosing strength and balance and need a stick or rollator to stay out of a wheel chair. I used both in the ashram and compared with some of the heavy invalids I counted myself lucky. It struck me that sb never went to that right hand corner where the wheelchairs were, all at the far end. I was on the bench myself and mostly saw the back of him for 4 weeks. If Baba could have cured people and took no notice of the heartbreaking misfortunate devotees, he must have been a heartless so-and-so!!!! I am sure he COULD NOT cure real disabled people at all. He would not willingly have renounced the fame it would have brought him!”

Mr. Kutumb Rao, an Indian ex-diplomat, head of the ashram for many years until the mid-80s, is said to have served Sathya Sai Baba with devoted selflessness etc. He is written about in a number of the earlier Sathya Sai Baba books. Even though he was the first official to speak to Sathya Sai Baba every morning, he was never given the much prized ‘ interview’  during 20 years of service. He had longed for this, for he had never been given any such private attention for himself by Sathya Sai Baba before, which was also a known fact to resident Indian ashramites.  Shortly after he was at long, long last called for the treasured interview, I was told by his colleague, the elderly Head of the Administration Building, Mr. Kanheia Jee, who with his Seva Dal wife Mrs. Kavery, became charming friends of ours. K. Jee said that Baba had not spoken to him until the private interview, when he had taken him alone into the small room and told him simply that a man was on his way to murder K. Rao and he had best make himself scarce for some months. He was told to leave his post to the deputy head of ashram, Mr. Chiranjia Rao, and go to a certain village and lie low there until Sathya Sai Baba sent word. That was that! About a year later, Chiranjia Rao returned and became head of Prashanthi Nilayam ashram for a year or more.

---

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

Sai Baba early history with video

Short VIDEO CLIP (only 420Kb) Basava Premanand tells of Sathya Sai Baba and his family in his early years

The elderly grandfather of Sathya Narayana Raju (who took over the name Sai Baba) was a performer, as Prof. Kasturi stated in his official biography (Volume 1 (Satyam,Sivam, Sundaram). Under his guidance, the family troupe performed in villages around Puttaparthi. Prof. N. Kasturi refers to their activities in village dramas and musical groups, which appears to have been their main employment, since no other employment is ever mentioned. We read-
“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…” also “He could sing all the songs rehearsed at home for the village operas and mystery plays.”

In his religious and devoted fervour, Prof. N. Kasturi always embellished every fact about Sathya Sai Baba almost beyond recognition. “Village operas” sound nobler than “street performances” while “mystery plays” suggests what is now called ‘stage magic’. They were “open air” performances, as Kasturi also makes clear. Though his emphasis is heavily on the religious nature of all this , mentioning that proceeds were distributed to the poor – 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. Kasturi report that Sathya imitated and reportedly improved on the gymnastic feat 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.

Kasturi began to investigate Sathya’s childhood and youth only some years after he first met him in 1948. By then, Sathya was 22 years old (though the official school records indicate he was 3 years older) Kasturi gathered stories and based his ‘biography’ of those years almost entirely on hearsay. Those who know the extremely rumour-fulled atmosphere around Sathya Sai Baba, the strongly exaggerated talk and superstitious ideas held about him by uneducated villagers (that is, the great majority of Kasturi’s informants) are aware how blind devotion to Sathya Sai Baba causes suppression of all untoward and unsavoury facts about him. One partial exception to this rule is the book by Smt Vijayakumari (‘Vijayamma’) where she recounts her personal experiences of the young Sathya, herself a blind devotee from childhood.

Sathya Sai Baba – an enigma or a myth

Dr Venkataraman, a victim of emotional blackmail?

One of the many former devotees with whom I correspond privately has commented to me that “Dr.G. Venkataraman lost all his scruples.” Also that he “had a harrowing experience when he lost his son and that is the main reason he is with Sathya Sai Baba who kind of gave him emotional support during the hard times.” Sathya Sai Baba is known to inquire of his servitors about persons coming to him, and so he is able to pretend he knows their problems and gives assurances he will take care of them etc.. But he does not even do this when he gets a massive payback in support, funds or other services… as was seen in the case of the long sufferings and inability to cure some of his staunchest supporters. I knew close devotees of many years of devoted service who died with dreadful sufferings. Ashram head Kutumb Rao (massive incurable cancer), N. Kasturi (6 weeks intense lung pain), V.K. Narasimhan (water on lungs & long choking death see also here V.K. Narasimhan)such as Mrs. Barbara Sinclair, plus two US ladies killed outright and one young American – Michael Oliver – crushed by falling dome in Eternal Heritage Museum in 1992, with 11 hours hell in taxi to Bangalore with 9 fractures and broken cranium before dying en route). Mrs. Phyllis Krystal was never cured of her migraine headaches either, despite her saying she had been (for she was still taking daily large doses of painkillers for headaches after she said that!)

One could make a very long list of Sai devotees who have been let down by Sathya Sai Baba utterly, it would include the head of his Organization in the USA, Dr. John Hislop, who died of brain cancer, Mrs. Joy Thomas who – despite SB’s assurance of no cancer – died of cancer after being flown back to US from The SS Hospital where she wad denied blood transfusion by a prominent Sai doctor (reportedly some Dr. Singh), Mrs. Jegathesan died mysteriously in her bathroom and later her son – who was a Sai favourite in private interviews but committed suicide by jumbing from a 5-storey building in Kuala Lumpur. How can one rationalise as ‘His Grace’ the horror gone through which the King and Queen of Nepal – close devotees who visited Sathya Sai Baba? Both shot down and killed by their son along with others in a regular bloodbath!  I knew several other Sai devotees who died awful deaths within the group I led and more in Danish and Swedish Sai groups with whom I also was in contact.

---

After long observation of those who go to Sai Baba (including while leading several groups to Puttaparthi) expecting some help, physical or spiritual ‘healing’  and the like – it was eventually forced into my attention that any improvement is hardly ever noted, other than a temporary lift of spirits. The number of disappointed people I met during 18 years far outweighed those who benefitted – such as half a dozen blind people hoping for their sight back, and many people from the whole world surviving in the most terrible physical conditions sitting year after year on the hard chairs provided for sufferers and gradually getting worse. Sai Baba preys on people who are emotionally and psychologically wrecked and uses them to further his agenda.”
–
It is a noteworthy fact that a majority of the devotees I have known – particularly those who came to the Centre my wife and I ran for most of 2 decades – were persons who were mostly unhappy, lost, bereaved, difficult to get along with, suffering from chronic illnesses, and often mental unbalance etc. Much the same applied to a large proportion of with those we came to know at the ashrams during well over a year in all attending darshans and mixing with people there on a daily basis. Sai Baba has capitalised on the fact that vulnerable people are those who will be most thankful for any appearance of support, real or imagined… it is one easy way to get donations and testaments. He offers them a chance to buy into the ashram at a high price (without becoming the actual owner of anything) and have a sparse room and kitchen for occasional use where they get preoccupied with getting their daily livelihood working. He has led many to believe that being near him is a kind of guarantee of no further problems and that they thereby get a kind of 1st class ticket to paradise in the next world.