Narayana with four arms come to save the world?

A child born with four arms and four legs: The Daily Express writes:

Daily Express headline – click photo to see source

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The child has attracted hordes of visitors and been dubbed ‘God‘ by his parents due to his resemblance to a many-limbed deity. A relative, who has not been named, said: “When he first came out we couldn’t believe it.

“The nurses said he was badly deformed but I could see that this was a sign from God. In fact, this is a miracle, it’s God‘s baby. lndian God’s have extra limbs just like this.”

Thousands of people are flocking to the hospital in Baruipur, a city in India’s eastern West Bengal State, to catch a glimpse of the baby.

Chukka Rao, 67, from a neighbouring village, said: “When we first heard about God Boy we were slightly sceptical. But we came to see because we were intrigued by all the news we were hearing from friends and others. This is truly the son of the Hindu God Brahma, who also has four arms and four legs.”

However, a police spokesman said that the visitors were causing problems. “Hundreds are crying in the streets, hundreds of others are praying and setting up camp here. Some are even panicking and believe this is a sign of the end of the world. I have never seen anything like this in my whole career.”

Medics say that the infant‘s condition is a result of the arms and legs of a twin joining on to the foetus in the womb.

A most tragic birth in India, where so many babies in recent years have been born with abnormalities that remind of the idols og gods Hindus worship. Where else but in India can one consider this a ‘divine blessing’? The degree of religious superstition hinders a large section of the Hindu populace from realising that the cause is absolutely not supernatural but due to biological processes of the kind that have always produced so-called Siamese twins. Both in the human and the animal world.there are continual such abnormalities, double or triple heads, multiple limbs and so on. Fortunately there are some excellent and mon-superstitious surgeons in India who have successfully saved some of the misfosters from being worshipped in a golden cage or the like.
See The little girl who had eight limbs and was worshipped as a deity starts school.

One is reminded of a well-known statement of Sathya Sai Baba, who of course claimed to be an avatar (god descended into human form):- “If I had come as Narayana with four arms, they would have put me in a circus, charging money for people to see Me. If I had come only as a man, like any other man, who would listen to me? So I had to come in this human form but with more than the human power and wisdom.”
(US ed. of Kasturi’s Sathyam Sivam Sundaram -Vol 3 page 309)

In the event, Sai Baba did attract very many worshippers in India (as do almost all who simply don a saffron or orange robe, whether or not they proclaim wisdom)  and his name spread to most countries. However the ‘divine mission’ he claimed he came to fulfil – and which he insisted could not possibly fail – has long since most demonstrably failed in almost every way. Infamously, he even died in 2011, around a decade long before the various times he said he would.

His remaining believers struggle on in the vain hope that another of his prophesies will come about: namely, that he would be reborn as Prema Sai (within a period of 1 to 8 or so years) in South India.

Numerous deluded followers, those who apparently could not wait so long, forcibly declared that he would reappear in his Sathya form in anything from a few days to a few years after his decease and burial (one poor woman with a sick Sai-dependency, Yaani Drucker, eagerly believed he would come back himself by July 2014!!). Other Sai Baba worshippers, including the deranged Isaac Tigrett, hold that he is still among us in a subtle spirit (ghost?) and was ‘visible’ in Kodaikanal this year, but only to those who see through their hearts (not eyes?).  Others have taken a variety of strange alternative claims about when, where, in what form he will return to earth… such a pity that people have to believe in such things.

There are some horrific deformed babies born and there have been a number with extra legs, arms and even two faces (!) in India.

Yaani Drucker’s hypocrisy about academic qualifications & enlightenment

Yaani Drucker made some comments on my blogs. Most of them are so deluded that I can’t be bothered to reply. But two of them required a reply, I though, because of her false and unchecked assumptions about me and the hypocrisy that drips from her… a suppose ‘enlightened soul’! She has taken up with another person who is not only deluded but very nasty and will stop at nothing to try to destroy the character of others… Gerald Moreno.
Here are her comments:yaani9@yahoo.com

75.219.205.160
2010/05/24 at 3:29 pm

Dear Dr. Priddy,

I find it interesting that you stake so much value in the fact that you have earned a PhD.

Sometimes too much information can get in the way of enlightenment. I do not know any PhD’s who have attained, do you? I do know that Ramakrishna, illiterate, Ramana Maharshi, barely literate, and Nisargadatta, also barely literate, all attained. The obvious conclusion is that scholarly learning more probably leads to arrogance, which gets in the way of enlightenment.

I would suggest to stop idenitifying with yourself as any label and come with wholly empty hands unto your chosen form of deity, or formless… this will bring you quickly to your enlightenment.

The greatest service we can render to the planet is to wake up to the truth of who we are, for in that we expose ego as an impostor for all mankind.

That is why at the moment of my enlightenment I was told, Your aura has just exploded to infinity and you are shooting off sparks of love and joy to all humanity. It is a gift to all humanity to wake up, for we are all one.

Enlightenment is the greatest expression of selfless love. And everyone qualifies – you don’t have to have a PhD, to go for your enlightenment. You just have to be willing to be wrong about everything you taught yourself thus far, probably a tall order for a PhD, thus we don’t see any enlightened Drs.

Have a sweet day.

Yaani failed to recall that her husband, who is a Ph.D. has claimed to be self-realised, like herself. My reply to her was uncompromising, as follows (some typos corrected here):-

Yaani, Enlightenment is not just a sudden personal version of sat-chit-ananda. Your pretentious preaching at me I find laughable and also repulsive. I experienced infinity, intense sweet bliss and paranormal intuition of minds and much more when I was 26. Doctorates meant nothing to me – and never have, not have professorates (Note: Norwegian version of ‘professorships’). I never used any academic title in any of my many articles in Sanathana Sarathi, published books and articles – nor in India where Sai followers have to have letters after their names (Narasimhan once inserted tiles ‘Doctor’ and ‘Professor’ on his own guesswork – neither of which titles I have ever myself used – and so I had him cease to do!). I virtually only took my degrees with a family to support (Continental Magister degree), despite great scepticism about philosophy, psychology and science. (I wrote widely, deeply critically on these subjects in that vein too. From all you write it is perfectly evident to me that you are ensconced in a strong ego, and that you have most certainly not got anywhere near the maximum enlightenment possible. I note you also inform about having taken a BA in psychology… why so? And your husband promoted himself vastly as a Professor and scientist – but he has no academic record that can be found. I only set my record straight once because of attacks by Moreno and de Witt!! You should be deeply ashamed of your support to him (dogs barking, indeed. How unoriginal). You were caught far more deeply in the Sai cult than I, and you cannot liberate yourself or face up to reality (which is patently not in your solipsistic cloud-cuckoo land of bogus ‘oneness’).

I took my university education having a family to support (Continental-style – Norwegian Magistergrad degree), despite my great scepticism about philosophy, psychology and science at that time due to personal experiences of many kinds – and in half a dozen previous kinds of employment world-wide. (I wrote widely, deeply critically on these subjects in that vein too. Do a little research. From all you write it is perfectly evident to me that you are ensconced in a strong ego, and that you have most certainly not got anywhere near the maximum enlightenment possible. In fact your ideas about it are largely deluded and immature. It requires a thorough knowledge of many things concerning humanity, the origins of religion, deep psychology (in practice), and not just some subjective experience which once blew your mind.

I do not intend to continue any correspondence with you because I have seen how hypocritically you treated Barry Pittard. I have no help to offer you either, but you sorely need it. I am not moved by mere sweet words, as I recognise they conflict with the main body of how you react to others. I am not dear to you, you do not know me – I am a real person, not some abstraction of the kind you deal in. I do have very sweet days with my family, friends and existence, without your wishes or help. One often reaps what one has sown (not always though!)
Robert Priddy

Yaanidrucker also commented:- 2010/05/23 at 6:02 pm

Dear Dr. Priddy,

You are a PhD, correct? And by your definition of a cult, you got caught in one. Now your definition and mine differ, therefore I do not think you were so stupid as to get stuck in a cult, however you do. I find that very interesting, despite your complete faith in those PhD who lead the world, who breath that rarified air of enlightened knowledge, that is so superior to the rest of us peons.

I am neither a Ph.D nor a Professor, though I was a professor in the wider general sense, a university lecturer. I have a Ph.D. equivalent – 7 years university studies and thesis, dissertation etc.). Many people have given me these titles, and I have always responded asking them not to do so, I prefer to rely on what I actually write and stand for, not on titles. So Yaani is completely mistaken about my self-evaluations, and she never even met me. She seems to have a problem about knowledge and learning… even though she has announced that she took a BA in psychology herself. As to peons… well, she regards humanity in its virtual entirety as trapped with their egos… while she thinks she is enlightened beyond all measure? What an egocentric self-appraisal!

Yaani evidently has no idea of how I view and define cults in accordance with world experts on this subject. She could benefit from reading about them! Her view is that only a group one cannot leave is a cult. That is very simplistic. One can even leave the most oppressive cults, but it is the harassment afterwards that is the defining quality. Such as her confidante Moreno’s constant harassment of all Sathya Sai Baba ex-cult members. The Sathya Sai cult is not as extreme in the sense that some are, not unless you are in India and confront them (Basava Premanand was burgled three times (see BBC report) and suffered attempts on his life from Sai Baba goondas (i.e. killer thugs). He was convinced from his evidence that his son and helper was murdered in a Bangalore hospital too! Numerous Indian students have been murdered at the ashrams, and also a considerable number of Westerners, while other Western visitors have ‘disappeared’ from the ashram and have never been traced. Indian ex-students in fear of their livelihoods and even their lives still write to me (for they know I can be trusted, unlike continuing devotees). But for the majority it is admittedly a very subtle kind of cult, relying on voluntary donations (after deep indoctrination). Sai Baba gives people almost worthless rings (claiming they are diamond rings), fake watches, all manner of trinkets – and he gets huger donations in return out of thankfulness – but the donors were thoroughly deceived!

See The Nature of Cults examined

Yaani Drucker: ‘The Ego’ misunderstood and the doctrine of self-nihilation

During my 18 years as a leader in the Sathya Sai Organization I tried to strike the balance between the excessive pronouncements and impossible requirements of Sai Baba on correct behaviour and the crying needs of fellow devotees – some weak or often disturbed persons – who sought help and succour from the organization (which was supposed to be the extension of Sai Baba’s world mission). The contradictions between the teachings and the rules, the manipulation and jockeying for position by the VIP leaders plus the paradoxes between Sai Baba’s own words and actions were eventually too much to manage and finally broke the back of all the best – most active and generous – people in our organization here and many in other countries. Once the true facts about Sai Baba emerged from 2000 onwards, all of these left in disgust and as wiser people. The doctrine behind it all looked more and more shabby and divorced from reality.

One crucial anomaly in all ‘spiritual’ doctrines which aim to remove the individualised self in favour of the imaginary One Divine Self is that they require far too much concentration on one’s own salvation…i.e. on and for oneself. The paradox is that, to rid oneself of self (or ‘ego’ understood as the seat of selfishness), one has to cultivate oneself, examine oneself, improve oneself and concentrate overwhelmingly on one’s own practices (‘spiritual sadhana‘). This ‘sadhana‘ can include doing good service to others, but one engages in it primarily out of motivation for one’s own future imagined good… ‘liberation’ from the world and its cares in some unknown realm of being filled with consciousness and bliss. To rationalize the necessity of this selfish pursuit of one’s own ultimate interests, it is said that it is best for all humanity that people become self-realized, it will eventually introduce an age of Truth and goodness etc. (even though they will have died and are out of contact with the world forever – which further gives rise to ideas of otherworldly contacts, communications with spirits and the dead, ghosts or whatever you want to have to rest assured).

To overcome the ego by such doctrines, one must think of oneself as not oneself but as being God omnipotent (and also omnipresent and omniscient as a result). This is tough if one finds does not posses these qualities at all! However, plenty of self-styled ‘Masters’ claim to do so (perhaps the Druckers too?)! It may all done with the very best of intentions, [however misguided] – but definitely not by all who do it to earn a fortune, power and everything they can get! This ambiguous ”self-cultivation’ is nothing short of narcissism, or seeing oneself only in the mirror of one’s self-enhancing thoughts. Most persons with some professional experience of psychotherapies naturally regard this as an ‘escape mechanism’ or ‘denial of reality’, to flee the world in wishful thinking. It is well-known, too, how reality has its own way of impinging – even brutally smashing the hall of self-distorting mirrors – sooner or later. Common sense and proper information show how anyone can be threatened by debilitating illness, by senile loss of memory or dementia, accidents causing strokes and other brain damage. What then of one’s imagined ‘self-omnipotence’? We see many indubitable signs of the reduction to incoherence and absurdity in the self-proclaimed omnipotent, omniscient Divinity – Sathya Sai Baba, the ultimate narcissist, as I and others (see here) have documented from his own words in many web pages.

In the zealous atmosphere where most followers are trapped in very subtle indoctrination and a largely self-programmed belief structure, no inquiring mind can survive untroubled for very long. Either one goes along with the rationalization process which operates at full steam throughout the Sai movement or one questions more and more when disturbed by observable and reported events. Living there is mentally stifling – and intellectually unfruitful. This is not least so in the colleges, which was one of the hardest tests I had to face – one shared by my friend V.K. Narasimhan. I did my best to seek answers to remove doubts and then to raise questions that might lead further, but the doctrine of Sai Baba is set in stone as God-ordained, perfect and beyond any human criticism or even proper understanding (he claims). Unfortunately my efforts in many Sanathana articles to explain away anomalies were embraced readily by those starved of explanations of worrying events and answers to conflicting or wild Sai Baba statements … eventually I had to say no to Narasimhan’s pressing requests for yet more articles.

Incidentally, Narasimhan told me repeatedly, latest in 1998 when Al Drucker partook in the Paduka ceremony there, that he disagreed fundamentally with Al Drucker about the advaitic teaching he professes, having seen it as one of the worst of all ideological influences on the Indian psyche and society. Its pernicious effects were, he insisted, the main cause of the disinterest of so many Indians in worldly conditions and especially in their fellow sufferers’ plight… with their “it is all due to karma, but never mind, the Unitary One God is working out his great design” Really?

My wife makes the following remarks on this subject of ego-removal:

“Those who think of themselves as being one with the divine must necessarily divide the self into two parts – the divine self (atman) and the human ‘incarnation’ (jiva) which is regarded as selfish and ignorant of its divine origin, blinded by illusion (maya) into thinking of itself as a separate being. The fact that the human self is experienced as being the real one doesn’t matter, for the teaching says it is an illusion. This splitting off of part of oneself and denial of one’s real perceptions tends to undermine the whole psyche and personality, and it creates a dependency on the spiritual teacher/master or whoever claims to be able to perceive this ‘Truth’.  Many wish to be perfect, full of bliss and untouched by pain, sorrow or difficulties. In order for that to happen – the doctrine insists – one has to be constantly focused on the divine self and identifying with it. So much better than to have to identify with the human ego-self who makes mistakes, suffers, and is generally far from perfect and blissful…. How nice and convenient to reflect on the divine self, perfect and beyond reproach, and not to have to bother about reflecting on – or be responsible for – one’s human failings!

No wonder that there are so many who have symptoms of suffering from ego-mania in ‘spiritual’ groups, being hardly capable of serious self-reflection, unable to recognise faults they have – and with exaggerated ideas of themselves. So as to keep up this self-image the doctrine of ‘positive thinking’ is applied, for it leaves no room for critical thoughts to disturb their focus on the ‘divine self”… while the actual human self is overlooked or even shunted off as an illusion, a negative disturbance”

My wife put things very aptly!
By extension or inference, the doctrine runs that one should never criticize others either, as their true selves are equally one with the divine and thus beyond reproach. All others are ideally represented as being “brothers and sisters”… whoever they are, whatever they have done or are doing! This is all very well as a wishful dream, but it is not at all in the world all live in! Genuine concern for others as they actually are (not as imagined to be) and normal conscience have no place in that scheme which cannot distinguish between good and bad. Such belief systems would deny other people’s experience of sexual abuse as something bad, because of one’s own denial of the world and human self as real.

It is pitiful really, that this unnatural splitting of oneself in two – the real vs. the unreal self, or the sacred vs. the profane self – is seen as bringing one closer to oneness, not only with the divine self but with all ‘creation’ (or, rather, only with the divine essence of creation, not the time-space universe). This is dualism, of which no consciousness can ever totally be free (there must be consciousness of something). The actual ‘creation’ we live in and perceive is portrayed as illusive, unreal (maya), and only the supposed and unseen, unknowable creator is real. All that kind of thing is existence turned upside-down in fantasy, as often symbolised by the Yggdrasil tree (of Norse mythology) which is inverted and has its roots in the sky – as if it could exist and sustain itself in that way. (Likewise all surreal extras in the form of clouds, cuckoos, green pastures and non-stop hymn-singing ghostly choirs?)

Meanwhile, as my wife heartily agrees, others have to put up with these people who mentally shut off the parts of themselves that don’t fit into their ideas of their ‘divine’ selves, and who then start preaching their (deeply ingrained and soon subconscious) self-deception to others. They think they know the one truth, and cannot and will not modify their thoughts, beliefs or behaviour based on worldly facts or any well-meant input or feedback from others. The most deluded cases – every adult will have come across at least one – believe they know everything, know God or even are God and are fanatically engaged in wanting to bring salvation to everyone for their own good, whether they want it or not. These God-botherers – not leasy Yaani Drucker and her kind – who want to save others from themselves are soon shunned by all people of experience and character because they are truly insufferable.

Relevant articles:-
Reply To Claimer of Enlightenment (Yaani Drucker Correspondence) Part 2
Barry Pittard Replies To Sathya Sai Center Rape Survivor’s Note To Him
Dangerous to Rationalize Rape. A major Sathya Sai Baba Follower’s Example
The Spiritual Search – a philosophical analysis of advaitic solipsism and social narcissism

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