Rewriting events with slant – Sathya Sai Baba officialdom

The Akhanda Bhajans continued through the night and the next morning, Bhagawan arrived in Sai Kulwant Hall at 6.20 a.m. After going around the hall granting Darshan to everyone, He took His seat on the dais. Around 6.45 a.m or so, one could sense that something was in the offing as Bhagawan was showing signs of physical pain and restlessness – indications that there may be ‘Lingodbhavam’. The pace of the Bhajans kept increasing every minute in anticipation, but it was not until 8.25 a.m. that a beautiful golden lingam emerged from Bhagawan’s mouth. Then out of immense love and compassion, He moved amidst devotees holding the lingam so that everyone could have a close glimpse of it. from http://srisathyasai.org.in/Pages/Events/shivaratri_06_report.htm

Who can say that he moved among devotees “out of immense love and compassion”? It cannot be seen on his face, which is expressionless – even stony – these days most of the time. This eulogy is merely ‘politically correct Prashanthi speak’, mimicking his own constant self-promotion as ‘infinitely loving and compassionate’.  Where was his compassion when four of his devotees were shot down in cold-blood by police in his bedroom in 1993 while he stood by and indirectly conferred with the police through his younger brother?

Moreover, he did not himself ‘move among the crowds’, he was pushed in the invalid chair which this “omnipotent God”  always has to use nowadays. The so-called ‘lingodbhava‘ has since 1990 been an utter farce where the use of a large towel which he raises to his face time and again is the key to this less than perfected magician’s trick. Nowhere is this more evident than on the 2004 BBC documentary filmed close-up.

Click for video clip to see how a 'magician produces lingam objects from his mouth more clearly than Sai Baba!

The neutral BBC team were invited by the ashram authorities to make what they expected to be a promotion film about this self-style God Incarnate, but they denied BBC further access as soon as they asked a critical question! This naturally set the journalists searching for answers elsewhere and they eventually had to present him as a sex abusing fraud producing powerful evidence on how his many alleged crimes are covered-up by aggressive Indian politician devotees and not least the International Chairman of the Sathya Sai Organization. D. Michael Goldstein, who was interviewed and expressed strong denial and also spoke of himself as a ‘consummate professional’ doctor who said he can see on a boy’s face where there has ever been any sexual abuse! A consummate ignoramus and deceiver is more like it!

See also Sathya Sai Baba collapses and later explains that the small gold lingam weighed 3 tons!

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

Lingam regurgitation by street fakir – video clip

In the above very brief streaming video clip (only 312 Kb), you can view the common feat of producing lingam-type stones from the mouth by fakirs and street illusionists. This one was filmed by a German crew I watched filming in 1990 at Brindavan ashram. The German commentary stated that Mustapha, the magician, earns his money as a ‘wonderful artist’ who genuinely brings out a stone from his mouth.

The world-famous stage illusionist, Harry Houdini, performed it, having practiced by swallowing balls attached to a piece of string. Later he would and re-gurgitate them without any aids. Quite large objects can be kept in the stomach or throat for at least several hours. The regurgitation can be stimulated by massage, even by vomit-inducing pharmaceuticals. Sathya Sai Baba was seen to swallow a lot of water before he brought out his lingams (none larger than the illusionist managed).

Sai Baba has always claimed that his lingams are produced in his stomach. They are of all kinds of material, from stone to crystal to gold… which variety alone makes their production in his stomach beyond all likelihood!  The film evidence suggests that he used to regurgitate them from his throat or stomach. More recently, when he gagged for some time, he was seen to cover his mouth with a large towel and only then let it seem to emerge from his mouth.

Due to the massive testimony by many hagiographic writers, combined with film evidence which seemed genuine, I came to believe around 1984 that the lingam productions were most probably real. Doubts about it were never really quite removed, however, and since then I have looked into the matter much more closely. The BBC film ‘The Secret Swami ‘ produced the most compelling filmatic proof of fraud by Sai Baba (see clip here and here).

Sai Baba was losing his foreign followers fast, so In 2000 he produced a golden lingam without warning at Shivaratri and said that everyone who had seen it actually emerging would be ‘liberated’ (not have to be reborn ever again). This attracted all the blind believers again and for several following years brought in much larger crowds than usual at Shivarathri.  To make sure everyone saw it. he even once put it back in his mouth after it ‘came up’ the first time!

Houdini on Regurgitating Objects at Will

“A number of years ago, in London, I watched several performances of one of these chaps who swallowed a hatful of stones, nearly the size of hen’s eggs, and then jumped up and down, to make them rattle in his stomach. I could discover no fake in the performance, and I finally gave him two and six for his secret, which was simple enough. He merely took a dose of powerful physic [emetic–ed.] to clear himself of the stones, and then was ready for the next performance.

During my engagement in 1895 with Welsh Bros. Circus I became quite well acquainted with a [Japanese] of the San Kitchy Akimoto troupe and from him I learned the method of swallowing quite large objects and bringing them up at will. For practice very small potatoes are used at first, to guard against accident; and after one has mastered the art of bringing these up, the size is increased gradually till objects as large as the throat will receive can be swallowed and returned.”

Houdini, Miracle Mongers and their Methods, Coles 1980, (reprint), pp. 160-161.

“In order to produce an effect such as the production of the lingam, all that is required is the swallowing of the lingam ahead of time, and its regurgitation at the appropriate point in the ceremony. Note that the description of Sai Baba’s swallowing of water prior to the regurgitation, and the churning of the stomach muscles both correspond to the standard hatha yoga technique described by Swami Satchidananda.

The reader interested in further information which bears on this might enjoy reading the Chari article referred to above. In it Chari describes a scientifically studied street performer who makes his living doing regurgitations. He is able to swallow as many as 10 live snakes at a time, and regurgitate them in a `reptilian ball with a diameter of about 5 inches’ (Chari, op. cit., p. 168).”

 

See also: Sleight Of Hand. The Sleightness of Sathya Sai Baba (Exposing film clips)
Sathya Sai Baba’s ‘divine magnetism
Sathya Sai Baba: lingam photos-liberation from rebirth
The magnet of Sathya Sai Baba’s ‘lingam’ miracles

Sathya Sai Baba: lingam photos-liberation from rebirth

Promises of liberation? In common with most other Indian gurus, Sai Baba has promised liberation from the cycle of rebirths to a number of his followers… sometimes in private, sometimes in public. That this is a much sought-after boon is perhaps hardly surprising, not least when considering the longing for salvation that is a driving force in much religion, frequently doubtless stronger even than the desire to be physically healed of serious chronic or fatal illness. This makes a bond with very strong binds!

Black lingam allegedly manifested by Sathya Sai Baba

Since 1999, Sathya Sai Baba again produced Shiva lingams from his mouth during Shivarathri (after over 20 years of not doing so in public) and has said that all those who see one actually emerging will get liberation. This is a guarantee he had announced on a few occasions during past Shivarathri celebrations and again after the Shivarathri celebrations in 1999.

The promise of being free from the necessity of being reborn certainly exerts one of the most powerful psychological bonds there is, in this case to the guru. It has long been part and parcel of the guru-disciple relationship in India. To keep believing in the guru, obeying him implicitly in all things, is apparently most often ‘part of the deal’, but the guru’s promises may only be conditional… for who can ever tell? This definitely applies to Sathya Sai Baba’s promises of liberation too, judging by the people I know who imagine they can be granted such a boon, or actually believe that they have been promised it.

Naturally, those who consider they have achieved this apparent boon will be very loath to relinquish it, such as by refuting anything Sathya Sai Baba says or does. Such a promise by someone one accepts on his own word to be the God Avatar of an entire aeon – once given – ought to be as if ‘set in rock’. However, there are instances where this promise is not to be honoured, according to Sathya Sai Baba’s own (self-contradictory) words. Dr. John Hislop, who passed over in 1996 without taking any medication for his cancer – wrote that he had once seen Sathya Sai Baba bring one linga out of his mouth complete with a 3-legged metal stand. Another time he is said to have witnessed the linga coming from the mouth as a blue light that then coalesced into the object. Despite this, he was told by Swami that he would have to be reborn:-

Baba said: “Another birth is best for you…”
Hislop: “No freedom yet!”
Baba: “Yes, another birth is best. In that you will get total, final liberation”
Hislop: But, Swami, I don’t want to go through youth again. Youth is not a good experience – it is dangerous and difficult.”
Baba: “It will be a better life than this one. Don’t waste time thinking of the future.”
(“Conversations with Bhagavan SSSathya Sai Baba” by J. Hislop. 1996 revised extended edition, p. 227)

Photo of lingam claimed by Sai Baba to heal those who see it!

What does this tell us about Sathya Sai Baba’s ‘guarantee’ of liberation for all those who see the lingam actually emerge from his mouth? It has been pointed out to me that Sathya Sai Baba – being God -may countermand this or any other promise (for one lifetime… or more?) and this could even be a boon… to be reborn, for example, to accompany Prema Sai, as two others who also often saw the lingam emerge, Prof. Kasturi and his closest attendant Swami Karunyananda (both now deceased), were both told they would. But this is certainly not how Baba many times has described rebirth… which he holds to be the greatest tragedy that can befall anyone, to have to cry ‘Koham?’ in complete ignorance of our nature and so forth! He had even once before told Hislop, as recorded in his writings, when he had suggested it could be a boon to be reborn with Prema Sai, that it was definitely not so!

It is frequently described by devotees how Sathya Sai Baba makes promises, but fails to keep them. These broken promises are usually ‘explained away’ somehow by the writer. Sathya Sai Baba has himself sometimes tried to explain them away too. He will promise an interview next day, but ignore this completely when the time comes, and so on again and again. Like many people I have met at the ashrams, I have experienced broken promises by Sai Baba both as regards trivial matters, such as when he promised my wife and I a room in Brindavan, but also as regards several much more weighty matters, one of which was a promise of ‘a healthy life’ and ‘I will look after his health’. However, my chronic back problems have slowly deteriorated, while various other ailments have come (all this long before I began to discover things which made me doubt much and consider Sathya Sai Baba as something quite other than what he claims to be). Why should he promise so much if he doesn’t (intend to) carry it out, or can’t manage it? Does he wish to play on our hopes so as to bind us to his purposes? A question worth asking, also whether this is deceitful and immoral too! Therefore, Sathya Sai Baba’s promises of liberation also look decidedly shaky!

Lingam produced by Sai Baba at a picnic in former days

Sathya Sai Baba has time and again made a great fuss about how “it is impossible for anyone to understand or explain the meaning and significance of Swami.” (Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. 10 new ed., p. 170) and, “In truth, you cannot understand the nature of my reality either today, or even after a thousand years of steady austerity or ardent enquiry, even if all mankind joins in the effort.” (Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol II. Old. ed. p. 90). If this is so, how can one really trust anyone who is so non-understandable, so unpredictable? And who makes greater boasts than any person ever known! Good luck to those who can swallow it all, they’ll most probably need it, but rather them than I!

It certainly seems that Sathya Sai Baba needs to get more and more followers so badly that he now promises to anyone who will come to his ashram at Shivarathri, not the earth, not even heaven, but eternal bliss in some undefined, unproven limbo. It is remarkable that so many so unquestioningly take all these guarantees as more than boasts and entrapments…. but then most people choose to believe just what they want should be true, even though they don’t have a clue what this might involve. However, billions of people – including Muslims, Christians, Buddhists and many another denomination – will obviously never accept Sathya Sai Baba’s claims about this, that is for certain. This does not look tremendously positive for Sathya Sai Baba’s claims about his effect on world affairs!

See also previous postings on Sai Baba’s ‘Shiva lingams’:
the magnetism of the lingodbhava here
and proof of faked emergence on film here

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Information on the Public Petition for Official Investigations of Sathya Sai Baba and His Worldwide Organization
See also Devotee attacks on the Sai petition and petitioners

Faked emergence of egg-sized golden ‘lingam’ – filmed proof

Mahashivarathri 2004 – Sai Baba vomits into a towel and collapses

Sai Baba said in public the small gold lingam weighed three tons!http://www.exbaba.com/comments_on/_the_secret_swami/sai%20baba%20glory.jpg”> see video clip from BBC where he collapses

Sai Baba allowed an unprecedented live broadcast in the Indian subcontinent of his so-called ‘lingodbhava‘ (bringing the egg-sized ellipsoidal object out of his mouth after what looks like a painful process of ‘regurgitation’). However, one can most clearly see that NO lingam actually emerged at all this year. It seems to have done so in the past, but Houdini was the first to perform this trick (see below)! In 2004, instead, there was only a small spurt of vomited water,

According to some devotees, the lingam which did not emerge as such was actually formed in the towel from vomited ‘liquid gold’. However, this any colour was due to the poor video quality or manipulation, because on the BBC film of the same incident, only transparent water came from his mouth! It is clear that most devotees will believe just anything they are told by him or his cronies. However, the BBC documentary film makers filmed it all close up and one can see clearly that there was no golden liquid or any golden lingam coming from his mouth, as attended by the BBC film-maker – Eamon Hardy – and his team, but one appears “somehow” in the towel he was holding!

A film clip of the ‘actual emergence’ has been posted on the Internet by devotees. One can pause the video and examine each frame separately to analyse the movements. (Click here for the Indian low quality film-clip of the same event as filmed professionally by the BBC in ‘The Secret Swami’).

From before the alleged ’emergence’, Sathya Sai Baba is clearly seen to be holding something just about the size of the lingam inside the towel between the thumb and forefinger of his right hand! Now what on earth could that be, one wonders? After the vomit, he lets go of what he was holding in secret and fumbles to extract it with his right hand, taking the lingam from under the towel just where it was being held earlier, and we see a rather confused and sheepish look cross his features – like resignation at being caught in the act. It seems that Sathya Sai Baba must have lost his nerve on this occasion, for he did not even try producing the lingam from his mouth this time.

I later learned from a key member of the BBC team who contacted me that Sathya Sai Baba collapsed directly after the faked ‘manifestation’ and was in a dreadful state when he was carried off. Very likely partly a reaction to the stress of being on live TV and of realising he had not managed to pull it off convincingly to conceal his fraud from the cameras. But his favourite, Anil Kumar, reported that Sathya Sai Baba had to go away to ‘produce’ two more ‘atma lingams‘ in private out of sight of anyone! (believe it if you can!). Was Sathya Sai Baba feeling too ill, or too camera shy? Those with perspicacious and open minds can decide the nature of this ‘divine mystery’. However, it is also noteworthy that there was suddenly a significant increase in defections from his movement just afterwards. But despite that they claim (very excessively, no doubt) that from 60 to 100 million are still followers!

Surely only a person whose entire mind is already permeated with unfounded religious beliefs and superstitions can credit this. Interestingly, we can also compare this with the words of Sathya Sai Baba as attributed to him directly by his one-time very close servitor Swami Karunyananda, who lived to over 100 years and spent about 4 decades living within Sathya Sai Baba’s apartment. On p. 367 of the first edition of ‘The Glory of Puttaparthi’ (Bangalore, 1980) by V. Balu, we read:-

Sri Karunyananda also enlightened me about the lingam which Sri Baba used to materialise from his body on Shivarathri day. Sri Karunyananda was near at hand once when a solid gold lingam was brought out by Sri Baba. The lingam was quite big and heavy and the corners of Sri Baba’s mouth had been hurt a little as it emerged! What pain the passage of such a big and heavy substance must have caused Sri Baba as it came out through his throat, thought Sri Karunyananda. Sri Baba quieted his doubts; “When I will its birth, it is born only as a very soft, pliable substance. It is soft as it emerges from the stomach and comes up the throat. It hardens only at the time it is ejected from the mouth.”

 

This account has been spread around, such as in the book ‘Sri Sathya Sai Baba – a story of God as man‘ (1985) by former long-term ashram resident M.N. Rao, and so we can all see how Sai Baba has changed his mind about how the lingam is formed, and probably has forgotten how he once explained it.

Further, when Sathya Sai Baba resumed the lingam business again two decades after he stopped the yearly show – when his crisis with the major sexual abuse allegations began and something was badly needed to help slow the thinning out of his followers – he pronounced of the lingam he ‘brought forth’ then: “This lingam will not break even if it is dropped from a height with force. This is Amruthtatwam (symbol of immortality). It is changeless. You cannot see such a manifestation anywhere in the world. It is possible only with Divinity.” (Sanathana Sarathi – March 1999, p. 73). If that were really so, how come that Swami Premananda did exactly the same year upon year up until he won himself a double life sentence for rape and murder in the early ’90s?

Houdini invented the regurgitation trick: The regurgitation of such an object was first performed by Houdini after his careful experiments with a comparable ivory ball (attached to a string at first) before performing it and it since then became known in India as a fakir trick. The trick can also be seen on various films, including a film screened on TV in 1988 ( ‘Das Mysterium Der Shiva – Heilige Männer’ (Ein film von Eberhart Thiem, Helga Lippert, Arno Peik) from a German series called ‘Terra X – Rätsel alter Weltkulturen’).

Finally, if the lingam really is made of gold – which there is little reason to doubt – then it can surely be changed by heating it sufficiently, or putting it under a steam hammer. If not, then Sathya Sai Baba is telling untruths as to what it is supposed to be. If it is so eternal and changeless, then why not clear up all questions by getting an advanced physics laboratory to see if they are able in any way to change one (Sathya Sai Baba has dozens of them)? Yes, why not? Or are they too holy to stand up to any test of truth?

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Information on the Public Petition for Official Investigations of Sathya Sai Baba and His Worldwide Organization
See also Devotee attacks on the Sai petition and petitioners

Sai Baba miracles

Were Sai Baba’s alleged miracles what they seemed or not?

For a start, if one’s faith depends upon believing in miracles as performed by Sathya Sai Baba, then it will waver and fall when such miracles are explained by science or especially when they exposed as fraud. Even in the face of indisputable evidence against miracles, ones dependency on faith that is entirely blind – and all that it involves in social and emotional terms – can be so powerful that one cannot free oneself from it.

Sathya Sai miracles, when filmed, are NOT what they seem

No miracles have been scientifically validated, but in many cases fraudulence has been exposed. Fraud by Sathya Sai Baba has been demonstrated in his case – and testified by numerous former devotees (and even some present devotees). One can see a prime example of this on the film made by the BBC team at Shivarathri in 2004 See video clip of the failed/faked lingam production file size only 700 Kbs. Further to underline the falsity of this alleged ‘materialization’ of a golden egg-shaped ‘lingam’ in his stomach is provided in his explanation afterwards as to why he collapsed – that the golden lingam (which did not come from his mouth at all but from the towel he was holding) weighed three tons!! Yet it was put on a flimsy table without any problem. View Sai Baba’s collapse to cover up his failure file size only 1.6 Mb  View Sai Baba’s collapse (file size 1.6 Mb), and See Sai Baba make his preposterous claim explaining the collapse – file size only 1 Mb

The transcripts of the commentary on these videos is available here

A selection of video clips showing Sathya Sai Baba perform like a bad magician are available here

Alleged miracles are reported in connection with most religions from over the entire globe all the time, and have been throughout history. One example is the Shirdi Sai Baba statuette in Bangalore claimed to have ‘miraculously’ opened an eye. Whether this is fraud or not is hard to determine with complete certainty, probably even for the owner of the statuette (for example, it could have been substituted without his knowledge for a number of possible reasons. Note that I am not claiming this as fact in this case, just pointing out how many possibilities there are).