The Findings are something
that both David and I never thought or knew existed,
and although neither of us could have ever even
imagined that one day we would be compiling them,
the unthinkable has happened.
The Quarterly
From : UNITED KINGDOM
Source: David Bailey
Subject : PERSONAL EXPERIENCES
I have written
this because so many rumours (often completely
untrue) have spread about Faye and myself, as
to why we moved away from Sai Baba. I know that
what you are going to read here may cause you
deep distress. The situation I am about to reveal,
is certainly not something we could ever have
imagined possible.
I only ask
you to read it all, while accepting that these
are my personal experiences. I share with you
my truth. No more, no less.
There have been
many sleepless nights as I grappled with the
task of what to do and how to cope with this
indisputable factual information, in the light
of my responsibility to the many, many people
who read my books and heard me speak.
The following
findings are a result of my heart-aching research,
over a period of three years
Vibhuti
During darshan,
Sai Baba carries vibhuti in tablet form between
the third and fourth fingers of his right hand,
with spare tablets in the hand holding up his
robe. He crushes a tablet when required, and
transfers tablets during the taking of letters.
I have watched this happen innumerable times.
Once on the mandir porch he dropped a tablet
in front of me, and told a member of the Trust
to "Eat it Quickly!"
Tablet-palming
can be clearly seen on many videos, if slowed
down to frame-by-frame viewing, including in
our wedding day interview video, used at the
beginning of "God lives in India" This video
has been removed from sale by the Trust.
Australian television,
in it’s programme ’60 MINUTES’ (their equivalent
of ‘PANORAMA’) showed how these ‘B grade’ conjuring
tricks are done.
Vibhuti tablets
explain why vibhuti distribution runs out in
the interview room before everyone has had some.
All powder vibhuti
is produced by roasting cow dung with sandal
wood, and manufactured vibhuti bought elsewhere,
is then double sieved by ladies of the ashram
seva dal, before being packaged for interview
room distribution.
Use of vibhuti
on open wounds consistently causes infection
in them; a fact commented by Faye to me when
she was called to deal with people having these
infections in the ashram.
Jewellry etc
All are worthless
trinkets. Some are bought in Puttaparthi village,
but mainly they come from Bangalore and Hyderabad.
I made it my business to meet one of the jewellers
concerned and have this information verified.
I was told by
Sai Baba and also by members of his inner circle,
that my ‘materialised’ ring with it’s huge stone
was a sixty-four faceted diamond of great commercial
value. After leaving the ashram in December
1998, I damaged one of the clasps on the ring
and took it to a jeweller in southern India,
many hundreds of kilometers away. This stranger
immediately recognised it as a ‘Sai Baba’ ring.
He told me that the metal it was made of was
not gold, also that the stone was a valueless
zircon, and under it there was a piece of silver
paper to make the zircon glitter, which was
why the back of the ring was solid. He informed
me that these hard backed rings are especially
made for Sai Baba. As he took the stone out
to repair the damaged clasp, sure enough, a
piece of silver paper fell out, and the stone
thus revealed was seen to be a zircon.
The then Sai
organisation co-ordinator of Ireland was with
Faye and me at the time, and another lady who
had a Baba ring in which a face (attributed
to Baba because of the black head of hair round
a small ‘face’), could be seen. The jeweller
showed us how these are made. A piece of coloured
glass has a small piece of silver paper behind
it so that at certain angles it reflects the
colour of one’s own face. This is surrounded
by a circular ring of black enamel to give the
impression of hair. He lifted the stone out
of the ring and proved this also, was so. The
Irish co-ordinator took photos of the rings.
On his return to Ireland, he resigned and left
the organisation.
When Sai Baba
decides to give someone a robe in the interview
room, he does so as a cover to get further trinkets
from his store in the back room. More than a
few times Faye and I have heard the sound of
a drawer being opened and the tinkle of metallic
things being moved. He returns with them hidden
under the robe (and we have watched him transferring
trinkets from under the robe on his lap to his
right hand - it’s just so obvious when you look)
before waving his hand while faking a materialisation.
His velvet chair contains objects hidden in
the sides. We have seen them there and then
observed his sleight of hand as he brings them
out of hiding.
But, well before
I was aware of these things, I began to have
some doubts about the authenticity of Sai Baba’s
claims of divine manifestation. During my second
interview, one of the first things I noticed
which bothered me was that someone asked him
to repair a broken chain on a japamala, and
another had lost a stone from a ring. He did
nothing at the time, but said "No, no, I will
change for new one tomorrow". I found this very
perplexing. Why, if he could create anything
at will, which is what I had been told, did
he not blow on these things and repair them
then? I now know why. He cannot.
Healing
I have not seen
him do a genuine healing on anybody in all my
time of being close to him, and having had innumerable
interviews. I have seen him tell people to stand
up, and get out of wheel chairs, but the effect
is not lasting. He generally ignores the sick
and frail ones, giving out as reason, their
karma.
The Australian
‘pink twins’ continue to use wheel chairs, in
spite of Sai Baba’s claims of healing them and
their claims of being healed. A sad case for
me is Maynard Ferguson. Over three years of
deterioration in his hearing; during several
interviews with him and his wife, he, his wife
and myself asked - pleaded with Swami, to heal
him. Every time, he promised to do so, but now
Maynard is very deaf and has to rely on two
powerful hearing aids to help him. As a fellow
musician I know what this must mean to him in
his heart.
Once Faye and
I had an interview in the company of an elderly,
rather frail Indian gentleman who used to sit
on the verandah near me. He asked Sai Baba for
help for his failing health. Swami, behind his
back shrugged his shoulders at us, saying in
what we both thought was a rather an unfeeling
aside ‘And what can I do? Cancer. Too far gone,
too far gone.’
Faye has had
her own experience of him giving health advice
she trustingly followed, which nearly caused
permanent damage to her, before she at last
resorted to western medical treatment for her
complaint.
The German co-ordinator
whom I visited in the super speciality hospital
after he’d had a stroke, was eventually taken
back to the verandah, but Swami did not heal
him. The elderly man has gone back to Germany,
and some two years later is little improved.
I believe
any healing claimed by Sai Baba is in fact,
a personal inner healing activated by the person
himself or herself.
Miscellaneous
musings
The mandir ceiling
is now covered in gold leaf. I was shown a piece
of this gold leaf which had fallen from the
ceiling. I ask myself, ‘Why, in a country of
such appalling poverty, does he allow this escalating
show of opulence to occur? The mandir at my
last count had one hundred and sixty-seven chandeliers
instead of the original thirty-six. What on
earth for? Sai Baba now has several luxury cars
supposedly ‘gifted’ by rich devotees. Why is
more than one necessary? This is reminiscent
of other cult leaders such as Rajneesh.
I know Sai Baba
doesn’t live only on rice and chappattis as
he claims. His evening meal consists of six
to eight different dishes prepared for him every
night, and Faye and I have shared the ‘left
overs’ several times, having gone with someone
to collect the remains of the meal from his
rooms. He claimed to Faye that he ‘Drinks no
tea, no coffee. Only hot water’ - yet has drunk
coffee with me.
During the preparation
of the 1997 Christmas Day students’ programme,
I was in interview with the students, and we
were discussing with Swami, the music and story
of Jesus’ birth which the boys were going to
present. When ‘We Three Kings from Orient are...’
was mentioned, Sai Baba directed that this song
not be sung, saying ‘No, no, no! There were
no kings. They did not exist.’ Yet in his January
1996 discourse he said ‘When Christ was born,
three kings came to see the infant.’
It is claimed
by a few people that different lights can be
seen around Sai Baba.
Everybody has
an aura, which one can learn to see. There is
a book by Mark Smith for example, called ‘Auras
- See them in 60 Seconds’. The existence of
this light does not confirm divinity. There’s
only been a handful of people around the world
who claim to have seen Sai Baba’s aura. Anyone
who has made this claim to me, has been an ardent
devotee.
I have been shown
photographs with unrecognisable light shapes
on them, and been told by the presenter that
these represent Sai Baba, Krisha, Gopis and
others. What would be the point of divinity
appearing in this indistinguishable way? And
what proof can it be of the said divinity? According
to Kodak laboratories, light emissions on photographs
are caused by intermittent camera malfunction
and/or film idiosyncrasy, and the most common
emission colours are orange and white.
The Super
Speciality Hospital
I know that one
wing has never been opened, supposedly through
lack of funds.
Yet, we are told
that just one of the many
donations given for the building was US$ 49,000,000.00
(forty-nine million US dollars!).
This converts
to approximately ST£ 30,000,000.00 (thirty
million pounds sterling!)
Names of many
other large benefactors are listed in the hospital
reception area, making the funds donated for
this complex absolutely mind boggling.
In relative terms
money can buy five times in India what it can
here.
I question what
happens to these huge amounts of donated money.
A doctor I sat
near on the mandir porch, who works in this
hospital, told me never to let anyone I cared
about go there as the sanitation is disgusting
and the lack of aseptic technique, appalling.
This allegation has been repeated numerous times
in correspondence we have received, by people
who have seen through the hospital.
The Renal department
is now also closed.
There is bad
publicity regarding allegations of theft of
a kidney and subsequent current legal action
being taken in India. (see page 28).
In 1997 Australian
national television ‘60 Minutes’ critically
investigated the super speciality hospital,
and Sai Baba’s claims of divinity.
Details for obtaining
this video are as follows :
‘God Botherers
Segment’ - Ex: 60 Minutes Tx: 24/8/97
9 Network Australia
Archives Division
4 Cleg street
Artarmon NSW 2064 Tel: +
9439 4500 Fax: + 9906 4415
AUSTRALIA
The Water
Project
It has been claimed
that all seven hundred and fifty villages in
the Sai Baba Water Project are now receiving
water. This I believed until I was shown a Telegu
newspaper with a front page feature article
showing photos of villages with no water, broken
pipes, no pipes, pipes and no tanks, and many
with nothing at all. The headlines translated,
read
‘SAI BABA WHERE’S
OUR WATER? YOU’VE CHEATED US AGAIN!’.
I went to some
of these villages within the project radius
and found for myself that the report was correct.
My questioning local businessmen in the area
revealed some interesting information. General
opinion concurred that the project had been
set up because the ashram had many problems
with it’s own insufficient well supply; one
of which was constantly recurring gastric disturbances,
particularly with foreign devotees.
Request for permission
to lay a water pipeline to the ashram fell on
govt.’s deaf ears, the response being that unless
villages along the proposed line could also
be supplied, permission would be withheld. Hence
the huge global fund raising, which also perplexed
me - having been indoctrinated with the ‘no
fund raising’ policies given out by Sai Baba.
Within twelve months an effective pipeline to
the ashram and a selection of villages was established,
and then the work stopped. At my consternation
at being of told this scandalous situation,
the village elders simply shrugged their shoulders
saying "What can we do?"
Financial
Problems
As Faye and I
travelled around the world, speaking to Sai
Baba groups, after almost every meeting people
would come to us asking for help because of
the financial trickery they had experienced
at the ashram. In particular, over giving many
thousands of pounds, dollars, marks or whatever
for a unit there, and never getting one, let
alone being given a receipt for the money. Then,
when eventually disheartened, they attempted
to retrieve their money, they were told there
were no records of the transaction. We heard
this story many times.
It is a common
practice at retreats and meetings, for new devotees
to be told that Sai Baba does not need donations.
This happened
at Downe House Public School (nr. Newbury),
where a series of weekend retreats were held
during school holidays. However, when the new
devotees had been to more than one weekend,
they were taken aside individually and given
a bank account number at the Bank of India in
Andhra Pradesh, to which donations can be sent.
On some occasions,
with particularly gullible targets, a printed
paragraph was given - to be inserted into a
will for donations to be made. Such people were
also told that sending money to the Sathya Sai
Medical Trust in India was inheritance tax effective,
as the Indian Trust is a registered charity
in the United Kingdom. This of course is untrue.
Such donations do not attract inheritance tax
relief. The above allegation of fraud is supported
by a statement from a lawyer and others who
were personally involved.
Not surprisingly,
Downe House has since banned any further Sai
Organisation meetings on it’s premises.
Personal problems
We spoke to people
who had written dozens of letters over serious
personal situations and had had no response,
and no change in the situation. Desperate and
despondent, these people turned to us as their
last hope, asking us to intercede for them with
Sai Baba, whom they believed was omnipotent
(but not, seemingly omniscient).
Sexual problems
Concerned mothers,
and young men of various ages would ask to speak
to me in confidence about intimate incidents
they had had with Swami. They told me about
alleged sexual activity, each story replicating
the previous one. Swami would take these young
men and boys into the private interview room
alone with him, then insist that they take their
trousers down and he would massage them, often
masturbating them, and/or insisting on oral
sex and sometimes collecting their semen in
his handkerchief.
This left me
speechless! I knew of the book written by Tal
Brook in the 70’s called ‘Lord of the Air’ where
he detailed the sexual harassment he had undergone
with Sai Baba, but this book had always been
dismissed by long established devotees as a
collection of mischief making lies told by an
angry young man. And yet Faye’s own son had
been kissed repeatedly on his cheeks and the
corners of his mouth when alone in the inner
room with Sai Baba, and also sexually touched.
And when it was obvious to Sai Baba that this
behaviour was unwelcome, he began berating the
young man in subsequent interviews with Faye,
calling him ‘Mad dog! Hard hearted!’ and so
on. At the time this seemed incongruous; it
was only after we began travelling the world
that the inconceivable and incomprehensible
began to make itself clear.
When I asked
various co-ordinators about these many disturbing
incidents reported to me in our travels, I was
told that Swami was ‘raising kundalini’. I questioned
this in my mind. If he was capable of doing
anything, why did he have to physically touch
the boys, especially when they were unwilling?
And what about when he had them actively engage
in sex to him? It seems that an ongoing, serious
and untenable infringement of basic human rights
is being scurrilously perpetrated, in the name
of ‘divinity’.
I didn’t ever
hear any stories about girls having their kundalini
raised in this way.
On my last visit
to Puttaparthi, a male student came and asked
me for help, on behalf of some of his fellow
students, because they were desperately in need
of someone to stop Swami sexually abusing them.
I was told how Sai Baba had for years been demanding
that these particular boys have oral sex, and
group sex for his pleasure. Their details matched
what I had already been told so many times round
the world. I asked him if this was an acceptable
practice in India, and his look of horror as
he denied it, spoke volumes.
Then he asked
me a question I couldn’t answer.
‘Sir, why
do you think ex-students tried to kill him in
’93 ...?’ (!!!)
I turned to several
long time devotees on the verandah for explanation
of these nefarious activities, and worried them
with questions and suppositions until in the
end they realised that I had found the truth,
and then admitted that these things do happen;
and then - agreed with each other that it was
for his pleasure and nothing to do with kundalini
raising.
Different national
co-ordinators I spoke to, both in India and
after we returned home, continued for a time,
to deny that it happens. But when it became
obvious that I was
not going to
leave this issue alone, a couple of them telephoned
me to say that yes I was correct and they had
known of this for years. ‘But he is God, and
God can do anything he likes.’ (!!!)
Early in 1999
a young Swedish man returned from a visit to
the ashram and made a full statement to his
co-ordinating committee about his sexual experiences
with Swami during six interviews. Within hours
of this revelation, one of the top officials
of Sweden’s Sai organisation was on our doorstep,
asking why we had left Sai Baba. He and his
wife, both really lovely people, were absolutely
devastated to hear the young man’s story confirmed.
After saying brokenly ‘I cannot be part of this’
he went outside and sat on the steps in our
front garden and sobbed his heart out. He had
been a devotee for more than twenty years, and
his wife had written two books on Sai Baba and
another was already at the point of being printed.
He went home
to resign his position from something he had
given years of his life and his love to, and
she cancelled her book and withdrew the others
from the market. Within days there was public
confirmation - that these things I had spoken
about through the year to a small number of
serious seekers of truth - were indeed happening
to others as well.
Soon after,
the Sai school in Sweden closed.
Due to this courageous
young man’s statement, the unmentionable began
being mentioned, then mentioned increasingly
loudly, by increasing numbers of young men.
The Swedish publicity began a flurry of exposures.
Swedish film star Conny Larsson revealed his
own experiences, which are included in this
fact file. Our phone ran hot with young men
from all over Europe sharing their pain.
One teenager
rang from France and confided that he had wanted
to commit suicide ever since his own experience
of sexual harassment, as he couldn’t live with
the thought that he must be gay. He said he
was very relieved to hear that there were other
victims.
The Education
in Human Values system was developed by Dr.
Gokak, at one time a member of Sai Baba’s professorial
board. Sai Baba has not written any part of
this system. Dr. Gokak left Sai Baba some years
ago.
Schools and
colleges.
I was led to
believe that the schools and colleges in Puttaparthi
and Whitefield had been set up to give free
education to local children. This is not the
case. Last year the fees at the lower grade
schools were 20,000 rupees per child for one
year, plus books, plus uniform plus accommodation
if required.
The village school
is government run, and as are all village schools
throughout India, and is free - parents pay
only for books and uniform.
Assuming that
the college boys I taught were local lads, I
was amazed at their learning capacity, until
I discovered that these boys were brought in
from all over India and had to pass very strict
entrance exams, needing 85-90% pass marks. As
one of the tutors said to me -
"Sai Baba takes
only the best. They’d have to try, to fail".
One of my concerns
with these lads, was that they had no career
officer to guide them as to where they may find
a job, and they would return after leaving college
and ask me for advice about how to get employment.
This occurred regularly over the five years
I interacted with them.
Peggy Mason
Peggy, a professional
journalist who wrote for spiritual magazines,
went to see Sai Baba with her husband Ron Laing
and had a number of interviews during their
short stay. Both she and Ron were enchanted
with Swami (as indeed I was at first), and this
one visit was the basis for their subsequent
writings.
In December 1997
on our way to Gatwick airport to leave for India,
we collected a letter written to Swami by Peggy.
I gave the letter
to him during the next afternoon darshan.
The following
morning I received a fax to say that Peggy had
died.
A few days later
I had an interview in the company of the editor
of the Sanathana Sarathi, and he told Swami
that Faye was now editor of Peggy Mason’s magazine….
SB : "Yes, yes.
It’s in very good hands, now make it go! How
is Peggy Mason?"
Me : "She has
merged with you".
SB : "Yes. She
lives near you in England?"
Me : "She lived
eighty miles from me, but she died a few days
ago Swami. She is with you!"
SB : "Yes, yes,
her husband was a good man. When you go home,
give my regards to her".
Me : "She is
dead Swami. Dead! She has merged with you!’"
SB : "Give her
my love when you get back to England".
Me : "I cannot
Swami, because she is DEAD!"
SB : "Oh ?? Oh....."
In another interview
a few days later, (this time with Faye) Swami
seemed very confused and spoke randomly without
making coherent sense for a minute or so, and
ended by telling all in the room that Peggy
Mason had played the trumpet very well during
the Christmas celebrations just completed in
the ashram. He was not making a joke and we
were both nonplussed and very disturbed, and
everyone else there also looked puzzled and
somewhat concerned about these ramblings, as
they had all heard Maynard Ferguson play trumpet
on Christmas day
On two occasions
he called us into the private interview room
and questioned me intently about someone in
the outer room. Then after we had both returned
to the outer room he repeated everything I had
just told him, no more, no less, while implying
he was getting the information by ‘tuning in’.
This possibly
explains why he thought I was American in the
first instance, even referring to me in his
discourse as American. Perhaps someone had given
him incorrect data...?
My greatest difficulty
at this time, was finding someone other than
Faye, to talk to about all these disturbing
findings. Everyone I knew from the west had
had much less interactive experience with Swami
than I had. During my six years of being devoted
to him I had had over one hundred close encounters
in the way of interviews and work sessions,
and been very involved with him during my times
of teaching the students in the male college.
For most devotees,
a visit to the ashram means sitting in the darshan
lines looking on, wishing and hoping for interaction,
whilst listening to the stories others tell.
This is very different to being ‘in there’ -
seeing how things work behind the scenes.
I had to find
someone who had had the same level of experience
as I had.
I began to look
for Terry Gallagher, an Australian whom, I heard,
had been close to Swami before my time. Terry
had been Central Coordiantor for the Sai organisation
in Australia for three years, and had been given
very preferential treatment from Sai Baba for
a number of years. I traced him to Kiama in
New South Wales, Australia.
I knew he had
left the ashram vowing never to return, and
I wanted to know why? I soon found out. Terry
had discovered the unmentionable inner workings
of Sai Baba as I had now done. Exactly the same...
but more. Terry left, never to return after
the assassination attempt by ex-students in
1993. I wanted to know what Terry knew. I soon
did.
(Terry’s own
experiences - page 14)
Is this why there
are so few really ‘long standing’ western followers
around? Do those who get close, get too close
and discover that the mighty ‘Wizard of Oz’
is just a little magician? In this case, a little
magician who is also a paedophile?
Do they then
discern that ‘God wouldn’t do that’ and leave?
Premanand, another
with a very close connection to Sai Baba some
years before Terry’s time, had also discovered
the truth behind the facade and left. Premanand
now shares his findings on Internet.
Phenomena
There are many
instances of vibhuti etc appearing on pictures
around the world. Very often in homes and temples
where non-stop bhajans are sung, which may well
have something to do with the appearance of
this phenomena. Generally speaking, we in the
west know so little about mind power and the
power of vibration. However some of these appearances
of vibhuti are fake, and can be created by chemical
means.
Some would appear
to be genuine, but my research in this area
leads me to determine that the appearance of
phenomena does not automatically mean it comes
from Swami, or has any divine connection whatsoever.
Whilst in India Faye and I saw many examples
of phenomena. Enough to know that the ability
to do phenomena does not make one divine.
My suspicions
once aroused about Swami’s divinity, gave me
no peace.
Things I blindly
accepted because I had been told they were so,
did not stand up in the light of close scrutiny.
Even the men in power around him, although they
act out a role of subservient adoration when
in front of Sai Baba, play a different part
away from him. On occasions I was with members
of the inner circle, Mr Rao for example, in
the main office. Once, I had been sent by Swami
for something and the reply he gave me ended
with the words "Swami doesn’t know what he is
talking about" (!) Yet they perpetrate the idea
that he knows everything.
Over this questioning
span of many months I have had my share of indoctrination
procedure from those in high places. While at
the ashram, my very first queries brought intense
social interaction from an Indian inner circle
member who, unknown and uninvited, visited Faye
and me in our unit after almost every darshan
for a week, to tell us of the many wonders of
Swami’s miraculous powers. Only later did we
understand why he did this.
Once back home,
when rumours were beginning to fly about our
defection from the fold, I received several
phone calls from long standing devotees from
the VIP lines, telling me that I had a problem.
I had to decide if Sai Baba was God or not.
If he was God, then he could do everything he
wanted to anyone, sexually, fraudulently, drugs,
trickery etc, but of course if I did not accept
him as God, then I had my own view of morals,
and the laws of my land to follow.
For me there
was no choice to make.
I know there
are instances worldwide of people going to Prashanthi,
and coming back with a new lease of life, but
so do people who visit the many other gurus
in India, or Mother Meera, or Lourdes, and so
on. My investigations into mind power find simple
explanations for this.
If even only
a handful of people sit quietly together to
do Yoga meditation, circle work, or just to
meditate, they expect and often get a lovely
atmosphere, and sometimes, healing happens.
Imagine the energy
that might be generated by hundreds of people
sitting quietly focused for an hour or two in
darshan. Amongst these are probably some natural
or trained psychics, and natural or trained
healers, as well as many people sitting still
and focused for a lengthy period, perhaps for
the first time in their lives. Different experiences
are bound to occur. Nothing to do with Sai Baba.
I think
the ‘love-connection’ people experience is simply
one connecting with one’s Self.
When one gets
involved with Sai Baba, a very subtle brain
washing commences. Sitting for hours in darshan
is one of these. When one sees all around with
hands in prayer position, one naturally follows
suite. Once attached and involved, common
sense and logic progressively disappears, until
one reaches the point of attributing every small
act of living to Sai Baba.
Where to now?
No more gurus
for me.
Once more, for
me the true connection with God is inside me.
No more giving
my power away.
To sit still
quietly and talk to God within, I find gets
real answers.
To accept who
I am in this life, and to do my best with my
gifts, knowing that I am part of the Great Picture,
is enough.
Conclusion
If I take any
other subject I look at the pros and cons
fearlessly.
For example where
I shop : Is the price good? Do they sell what
I want?
Or perhaps :
Is this car what I really want? How many miles
to the gallon? Insurance cost, deterioration,
repair bills?
Or : Is this
double glazing well made? etc etc.
I choose from
being presented the true facts. The car sales
man was not knowingly waiting there for me,
to give me an experience I needed for my life.
I gave myself the experience by deciding to
go that showroom.
I consider this
attitude should also be applied to spiritual
subjects.
I spent a lot
of time believing what I was told by others
- that this was a great test for me, and Swami
was doing it to give me an experience.
From my conversations
and observations with Swami I know for myself
that this is not the case. I gave myself the
experience, by listening to very well meaning
people when I first heard about Swami, who in
their turn had not done any research into the
truth, but just believed others.
There are fantastic
stories going round about Sai Baba’s supposed
powers, but in five years searching I have not
found one to be genuine. Always secondhand information.
People repeat these stories in good faith and
then say ‘I know this was so’, but how can they
know? They were not there.
The above is
first hand information.
Disillusion, a letter to the Baileys
From : AUSTRALIA
Source : Terry Gallagher
- a letter to the Baileys.
Subject : DISILLUSION
Dear Faye and
David,
When speaking
to you recently I was so pleased to hear about
your decision not to mention or publish anything
further about Sai Baba in your Quarterly Spiritual
Digest.
The information
you have uncovered about Sai Baba, I have also
found out from personal experience to be true.
What began as
a wonderful spiritual journey ended with total
disbelief and bitter disappointment when we
found out the truth.
Perhaps I should
start at the beginning with a brief account
of that journey.
After reading
a book called ‘Man of Miracles’ I set off for
India (and Puttaparthi) with my wife and three
young daughters, in an organised group for Christmas
1983.
What we found
when we arrived in India was something I had
been searching for all my life. The most beautiful,
peaceful atmosphere, with wonderful people searching
for their own spiritual truth, living in a community
whose whole objective was that of improving
self-awareness and achieving self-realisation,
through the teachings of a living guru - Sai
Baba.
Adjacent to
the ashram and provided free of cost to the
students was a primary school for boys and girls,
and various colleges for boys, where spiritual
teachings were incoporated into the normal academic
disciplines.
We were all
very impressed and motivated towards learning
as much as possible about what Sai Baba had
to teach us.
The celebration
of Christmas came and went, after which our
family was called for an interview with Sai
Baba. As a result of this interview and what
appeared at the time to be the most perfect
environment for students and devotees to advance
their spiritual lives, I made a substantial
donation to the Central Trust to help them fund
their educational programmes.
Upon leaving
the interview I was told by Sai Baba that I
should sit on the verandah of the Mandir in
future, with students from the colleges and
other devotees.
As it turned
out this gave me the opportunity to meet people
and observe events very closely, that I otherwise
may not have had the opportunity to do.
We all had mixed
feelings when we had to leave the ashram and
return to Australia, sad in having to leave
and joy in what we had experienced.
We returned
to the ashram again in 1985 for one month, then
in 1986 we stayed for seven months, at which
time our daughters attended Sai Baba’s school.
It was during
this time that I began to observe things that
made me question what I had experienced on previous
visits. Having a scientific background I began
to observe a set routine that Sai Baba followed
each morning and evening during darshan, and
in particular, how he materialised vibhuti (holy
ash).
I will never
forget the look of anguish on Sai Baba’s face
when he came into the verandah of the Mandir
early one morning and dropped two vibhuti pellets
in front of me, as he attempted to accept a
rose from a college student. There was no vibhuti
materialisation during darshan that morning!
In the months
that followed I observed how he transferred
these vibhuti pellets from one hand to the other,
using the letters he collects from devotees
to disguise his movements. In the many interviews
that followed I also observed more than thirty
instances of rings, ‘diamonds’, japamalas, vibhuti
containers etc, all being produced by sleight
of hand and deception.
At first I kept
this information to myself. I reasoned that
if this was what made people come to see Sai
Baba, resulting in them becoming more spiritual,
what harm could it do! Eventually I told my
wife and children, who also saw through this
‘materialisation’ trickery.
It was the observations
and information that followed on from these
initial findings that concerned me most, especially
those relating to students being sexually interferred
with in grotesque ways by Sai Baba.
We returned
to the ashram several times during the following
years, making further observations and having
these confirmed by college students and long
term devotees living at the ashram. During this
time I was the central coordinator for three
years for the Sathya Sai organisation in Australia.
It wasn’t until
1993, following the assassination attempt on
Sai Baba, resulting in the murder of four college
students and two assistants in the Mandir, that
we made our last visit to India.
The purpose
of this visit was to find the reason why former
students of Sai Baba’s college would want to
kill him, particularly when they had been given
a free education!
The eye witness
accounts were horrific! After bursting into
the Mandir, four students found themselves trapped
upstairs where Sai Baba was staying. Each was
interrogated by police, then one at a time they
were executed!
The stench of
death was everywhere.
I made further
inquiries about Sai Baba having sexual relations
with college boys and male students - some of
these as young as seven years of age - and whether
this was the reason for former students wanting
to kill him. I was told, to my horror, that
this was an acceptable Indian practice!
I felt sick,
and just wanted to take my family and leave
the ashram and India as quickly as possible.
Before we did,
we were all called for interview with Sai Baba
and we told him what we had experienced and
been told.
Sai Baba made
no comment on our accusations and was only anxious
to know who had told us these details, requesting
us to tell him several times! Having had dozens
of interviews over the years, this was the most
stressful and uncomfortable interview our family
had ever experienced.
Sai Baba was
tense and agitated and his body language told
us all, that what we had found out about him
was the truth!
We left the
interview and returned to Australia.
The following
years were very difficult spiritually, we concentrated
on all the positive aspects we had experienced
over the past ten years and found this comforting.
When we attempted
to tell others about our experiences and the
truth about Sai Baba, no one would believe us,
except those who also had similar experiences,
and mostly - fear prevents them from telling
others!
It has only
been in the past twelve months that former students
and devotees of Sai Baba have begun communicating
with each other, confirming experiences to be
true and supporting each other spiritually and
emotionally when necessary.
I now know the
truth about Sai Baba and sincerely pray that
others too, perhaps through your magazine, will
follow both their logic and intuition to also
find the truth.
Warm regards,
Terry Gallagher
Ex- Central
Coordinator of Sathya Sai Organisation
From : INDIA
Dr
Bhatia, why did he leave?
Source : Name
withheld at request. (Available for investigation
by authority)
Subject : DR BHATIA (HEAD
OF SSH BLOOD BANK). WHY DID HE LEAVE?
Regarding the
notice of expulsion of Dr Bhatia in the Sanathana
Sarathi magazine, please note :
Three young
students from Sai Baba’s junior male college
were called for interview. One of them, a seven
year old boy student, came out of the private
interview room crying.
He continued
to cry for two days, and was unable to eat or
study.
That evening
Dr Bahtia, on duty in the children’s canteen,
was asked to find the cause of the child’s distress.
He questioned
and then examined the child, and found that
he had been sexually penetrated, via his anus.
The child was
taken to Bangalore and re-examined. A second
medical opinion confirmed sexual abuse.
Dr Bhatia had
been involved in sexual activity with Sai Baba
for six years, believing that he was serving
divinity.
He went to Sai
Baba :
- Why
do you do this to such a young child when you
have all of us adults and the older students
to play with?
Sai Baba’s reply
:
- Don’t bargain
with God!
Soon after,
five men went to Dr Bhatia’s home, threatening
his life with knives.
He made his
escape by car, fleeing to Delhi.
Once there Dr
Bhatia was unable to practice medicine because
he had left all his personal papers behind in
Puttaparthi. He wrote asking for them. They
have not yet been released. However, the doctor
now practices at a Delhi hospital.
A promisory
agreement has been offered from Puttaparthi,
that Dr Bhatia’s personal belongings will be
released to him on the proviso that :
he remain mute
about the happenings concerning the little boy
student
he does not
make any legal claims against the Super Speciality
Hospital
he keeps his
sexual relationship with Sai Baba a secret.
A rumour given
out for his ‘dismissal’ was that he was caught
selling blood, another that he was having an
affair within the ashram, and yet another claiming
jealousy between departmental heads at the hospital.
I offer this
for the sake of truth.
Sathya Sai Baba: the good, the bad and the ugly
From : INDIA
Website : http://www.myfreeoffice.com/saibabaexposed/student1.html
Subject : SATHYA SAI BABA
: THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY.
Posted on soc.culture.tamil
by ex-student Meenakshi Srikanth in 1993 after
some students tried to kill Sai Baba but failed.
Meenakshi writes
:
- The
following is a chronicle of my experiences in
the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning
(Whitefield branch). You have my word about
the truth of this article, which has no intention
to pass judgment about the personality under
consideration. Meenakshi warns that the information
may shock.
THE GOOD
: An excellent orator in Telegu; does not have
a radically new philosophy; effectively preaches
age old values. Many followers attempt to practice
the ideals; and there are numerous charity programmes
organised in his name.
THE BAD
: How does he get his following? ‘Miracles’.
A few days after I joined the college, during
darshan time Swami was casually talking about
the power of meditation or some such thing when
all of a sudden he waved his hands in the air
and produced a pendant containing a beautiful
picture of Lord Muruga. I was stunned. I had
not seen anything like that before. I was not
a devotee when I joined the college (my father
asked me to), so this was something that really
shook me. I went back to the hostel and waxed
eloquent about the power of Swami to some of
my seniors.
They nodded
sagely and smiled cryptically. It was not long
before some of them called me aside and said
"Don’t start believing all this stuff. It does
not take much to become a devotee, but it takes
a lot to come out of it". Saying this one of
them waved his hand and produced vibhuti and
another produced a ring. Then they told me all.
The simplicity
of this is going to baffle you, so be prepared
for the gullibility of the common man.
Swami produces
things out of ‘thin air’ by turning his right
palm to face the ground while rotating it (parallel
to the ground) a few times. He then makes a
sudden upward motion (as if he is plucking a
low lying fruit) and gives out whatever he has
produced. The mechanism of doing this is simple.
When he comes out of the mandir, his left hand
will be holding a kerchief or letter or his
flowing robe.
Don’t look at
his smiling face or his overflowing hair. Look
at his left hand: clutched in his hand with
(mostly) the middle finger, ring finger and
the little finger is whatever he is going to
give out that session. Vibhuti pellets (those
of you who have seen him give out vibhuti will
recollect that he makes a powdering action with
his fingers when he is actually delivering),
rings or whatever. Just keep looking at his
hand. There will be a time when a devotee will
fall at his feet or when he will lean forward.
At that time the stuff gets transferred to between
his fingers in the right hand. This would be
visible too (if you are looking for it). Very
soon thereafter, the ‘materialisation’ takes
place.
Right, so you
think this method is so stupid that even a goat
would have found it out by now. Let me tell
you something, just practice this a few times,
and try it on your friends. You will be surprised
by their surprise. I can do this easily now
and have fooled many of my friends. Only I don’t
call myself god and have VIPs fall at my feet.
I have seen
these things happen hundreds of times. I have
received vibhuti, laddu and such myself. In
our hostel there was a coterie (select group)
who knew about all these tricks. We used to
have a ball of a time in darshan line and then
share the hilarious experiences after the show
was over.
Once, Swami
was out of the mandir and was collecting letters.
He had a small silver pendant in his hand which
we had all seen when he had gone past us in
the line. He had transferred it to his right
hand and was just waiting for someone to give
it to, when a devotee from a back row extended
a letter. Swami bent forward and stretched out
his right palm to receive it. It was a fine
Bangalore morning, the sun was out and the pendant
in his hand was gleaming for all to see! We
went black and blue for a second and suppressing
a threatening-to-explode laugh, looked away.
Swami went ahead unperturbed, and gave the pendant
to some important looking guy down the line.
We were talking about this for a whole week
and even thought of writing a letter to Swami
asking him to be more careful.
On another occasion,
a singer had come to Brindavan and we were listening
to him. Swami wanted to give him a watch and
it was in readiness beneath his left thigh in
the sofa on which he was sitting. I was sitting
three rows from Swami and watching him closely.
The song over, Swami shifted a bit on his seat
and the watch was now in his left hand. He bent
forward and moved the watch to his right hand.
I saw this, then looked up and saw Swami was
watching me. I turned red but so did Swami!
He started shifting around a lot and asked one
of the students to change the direction of the
table fan and when the audience was looking
away, put the watch back in his left hand. Now,
the student who was changing the fan was a nervous
wreck with everyone watching him, and whatever
happened, there were sparks flying out of the
socket! Other students set it right, but by
now the watch had gone back below the thigh.
The singer never got it that day (I really felt
sorry for him).
The next morning
in darshan line Swami came near me and opening
his empty right palm, called me a ‘Doubting
Thomas’. I wished I could have asked him to
open the left palm, since I knew he had something
there.
Now, this seems
funny but I got very scared and wrote a very
apologetic letter to him.
There are a
couple of other tricks he does. During Dussehra
he does a vibhuti abhishek of Shirdi Sai Baba.
He gets a pot, turns it upside down to show
it empty, then puts his hand inside and vibhuti
starts flowing out. Even a goat with a rational
mind would figure out what he is doing. Take
a pot, fill it with vibhuti and solidify it
with some water and let it stand. Until you
disturb it, nothing will fall out.
Another thing
he used to do was materialise linga. He does
this by regurgitation (yes!). He makes motions
as if he is trying to get it out of his stomach
and soon enough, has it out of his mouth. You
will find plenty of these if you visit the museum
in Puttaparthi. The way he does this is also
simple. There is always a queue of trusted lieutenants
(secret police?) who stand by him and pass him
white hand kerchiefs on which he would eventually
place the linga.
In one of these
the linga will come and all he has to do is
to take it close to his mouth and make a motion
as if the linga had just dropped into the kerchief.
I have not seen this myself (he no longer does
it) but I have seen videos of this. My point
is, once you have proved that one of his miracles
is magic, the rest don’t need any proof.
Some students
in the college know this and live a life of
forced devotion and false pretence. They have
to, for if they don’t life can get very unpleasant.
The parents of these students are very ardent
devotees, whose lives have been defined by their
devotion to Swami. It would be impossible to
convince them that Swami is not what they think
he is, but only a cheap charlatan doing popular
tricks.
The lives of
these students are truly pitiable. They live
a constant Jeckyll and Hyde life from which
there is no reprieve. But the lives of some
students are more horrible.
THE UGLY
: This I have not had personal experience with
(thank holy heavens for that!) but it is 100%
true because I have heard first hand accounts
of these bizarre things. I have looked at enough
circumstantial evidences along with these witness’
accounts that I have no hesitation in telling
that the following is true.
How do I start
telling this to you, gentle reader? In my very
first few days in our hostel, I had the distinct
impression that something ugly was going on
about which everybody knew but none wanted to
talk. Whenever Swami came to Bangalore, there
always used to be a few students who got interviews
every other day.
These students
were often referred to as those who are ‘in
form’ (a cricket analogy) with Swami. These
students were among the most privileged in the
hostel. They could go outside the hostel (not
normally allowed) as and when they like, and
behave specially. The wardens and lecturers
used to consult them before anything significant
was done in the hostel. These students kept
within themselves for most of the time. I was
preoccupied with my own troubles and did not
keep any close look at these, though I was curious.
When I got to
know about Swami from my seniors, they asked
me if I noticed anything strange about the hostel.
I told them. They smiled and asked me to keep
an open eye, promising they would tell me all
about it soon. It did not take me very long
to find out what was different about these students.
They were all gay. Now, kindly bring down those
raised eyebrows my dear reader. All the indications,
body languages, special jokes about husband
and wives etc were there and it did not take
a sleuth’s effort to divine what was going on.
I told about this to my seniors and the fact
they told me was startling to say the least.
Many of these
students were made gay (‘sodomized’ would be
an unrefined word) by Swami, who himself is
a gay. (!)
I did not believe
it when they told me this. But not long after,
I heard the experiences as narrated by students
who had undergone the trauma themselves. Now,
it so happened that a couple of these students
were Tamils, with whom I became friendly quite
soon.
One of them
used to tell me harrowing stories. When Swami
was in Brindavan he used to get the call for
interview at least once in three days. Whereas
a student when he gets an interview is usually
so elated and pleased that Swami has recognised
his devotion etc - this boy, let’s call him
Nandan, always had a grim face as he walked
into the bungalow.
He never attended
classes those days in which he got an interview.
I have often seen him show marks in his chest
and chin and say a flow of choice words of slang.
Nandan often used to get covers (envelopes)
from Swami in public and sometimes he would
be asked to open one. It would contain crisp
hundred rupee notes.
David’s note:
I have seen this happen many times).
There is another
word for giving money for such acts. Nandan
was helpless. He could not go home and complain.
His family and parents were devotees for thirty
years and their very lives had been defined
around Baba. Nandan, since he knew the world,
has been knowing Swami and none else as God.
He was first initiated into doing this when
he was in school. Swami told him that he (Swami)
was the only purusha in the world and the whole
world was his wife. Nandan was asked to think
of himself as Radha, devoted to the Krishna.
Nandan’s whole
attitude towards life is now irrevocably changed.
There was another
boy, Kumar (say), who was called for interview
the first time. He was so elated. That afternoon
a bunch of us went up to him (he was our junior)
and asked him what happened. He had a blissful
look on his face as he spoke. "Swami asked me
if I had stomach ache? I said by Swami’s grace
I don’t. Swami laughed and said ‘Why do you
have to hide it from me? Tell me, do you have
stomach ache?’ I don’t know why but I said yes.
Swami then said he will cure it and produced
sandalwood oil from thin air and rubbed it on
my stomach and below. I will never forget the
experience". We did not need such proofs however.
It was always obvious. Jokes with double meanings,
pattings on the cheek, pinching students.
He had the horrible
habit of putting his hand inside the shirt pocket
and pinching the chest.
Students who
entered this quicksand of destruction, whether
willingly or otherwise, lead an unspeakable
life. Devoted students held them in awe and
the students who knew, either despised them
or pitied them. And they had no recourse.
There were students
who went dangerously close to such a fate and
escaped. My friend Ramana (say), was high on
the hit list when he smartly realised this and
moved out of sight by not attending bhajans
or hiding in the back rows. That was the time
I was on the hit list too, but our guardian
angels intervened in the form of a summer vacation.
Towards the
end of my stay in the place, the disease was
only spreading. I was in Bangalore. In Puttaparthi
(where we used to go some five times a year)
things were far worse in numbers. I heard that
many students there are gay either directly
by the big man or transitively. The atmosphere,
an all-boys place with zero outer world exposure
for a prolonged period during adolescence, is
only conducive to such a thing.
This, in my
opinion is the ugliest part of Swami. We used
to divulge the information about Swami to our
juniors, whether advisable or not. I always
said it should be done if only to make them
realise about this ugly part.
Time
for action
From : INDIA
Source : ‘delta _ 108’ April
1999 (ex-ashram security)
Subject : IT’S TIME FOR ACTION
I know a great
deal about what is happening in Puttaparthi.
I personally know an ex-student who spent eleven
months in Sai Baba’s room a few years back.
He was sent out of college by Sai Baba when
into the first year of his master’s degree,
because he got too close and knew too much,
and because then he didn’t go along with what
Sai Baba wanted.
He told me that
the students in Sai Baba’s inner chamber are
in charge of all the preparatory activities
before darshan and interviews, and have access
to all his personal things.
They are asked
to open all mail addressed to Sai Baba and most
times he allows them to keep the money that
is sometimes enclosed, if it is less than Rs5000.
It is such common practice.
These students
hardly go to classes, and the great Chancellor
doesn’t mind at all! Even staff of the college
and other officials of the ashram are very deferential
to them. They play western music on their stereo
systems, that they are allowed to have. Usually
there are three or four students living with
him at any given time.
The officials
of the Trust know something of this nature is
going on. They are making hay while the sun
shines, and most of them have eaten enough money
after coming, to know Sai Baba is hardly divine.
The way these close people talk about him is
enough to figure out that they are in no way
worried about his ‘divinity’, and have scant
regard or respect for him, which would not be
the case if they had knowledge of any divine
power.
My
account re Sai Baba
From : IRAN /
USA
Source : Afshin Khorramshahgol
- correspondence to David and Faye Bailey
Subject : MY ACCOUNT RE SAI
BABA
Dear Faye and
David, Hello.
Here is a brief
account of my experiences with Sai Baba. I apologise
for the graphic language of this message, but
it is the only way to share my experiences.
I travelled
to India three times, from 1991 to 1993. On
my first visit to India I was already a devotee
of Sai Baba and believed he was God. I had a
total of seven private interviews in the first
two trips. In the first private interview Sai
Baba asked me to undo my pants and drop my underwear.
Since I believed he was God I did as he asked.
He had already ‘materialised’ oil and he applied
it in the area between my penis and anus.
I was told after
the interview by some devotees, that this act
is done by gurus to their disciples to open
a chakra, or source of spiritual energy in the
body of the disciple. However I am not sure
if this is what in fact Sai Baba had done.
My research
since, has not found this initiation ceremony
in any Hindu books or scriptures, or among Hindu
followers of other gurus.
In every private
interview after the ‘initiation’ private interview,
Sai Baba asked me to drop my pants and underwear,
and he would rub my penis. Once he was rubbing
it so hard it was obvious to me that he wanted
me to get an erection.
I was busy talking
to him about my problems, the problems of my
country Iran, and my family’s problems, and
I was asking him for his blessing for all of
them.
I was not interested
in sex or anything, especially with a guy, and
so my penis did not grow, now matter how hard
Sai Baba tried. Finally, he gave up and threw
my penis up and turned away with a very angry
face and mumbled something. When he turned back
to me, he told me to put my pants on again and
the private interview was over.
You may ask
why I didn’t stop Sai Baba doing what he was
doing if it was so obvious to me that he wanted
me to get an erection?
Due to my being
brainwashed, I thought I had to throw out this
thought as it was another obstacle on my way
to reach God. According to Sai Baba, all bad
thoughts have to be thrown out immediately and
replace with good, pure thoughts - and so I
threw out the idea of Sai Baba trying to give
me an erection, even though I knew he was.
In another interview,
Sai Baba asked me to kneel in front of him while
he was standing. He took my head with his right
hand and pushed it hard into his stomach. He
then took my other hand with his left hand and
tried to rub it against his penis.
I did not grab
his penis. I just let him direct my hand to
his penis, using the outside of my hand, not
the palm of my hand. While he was rubbing my
hand on his penis, he was moaning sexually.
In the middle
of this act, I tried to look up to see his face
as I wanted to see his emotions, He didn’t let
me. He pushed my head into his stomach harder,
and this made me stop my desire to see his face
altogether. He finally gave up, realising that
I was not interested in grabbing his penis,
since I wasn’t willing to use my palm to touch
him.
Even this incident
didn’t shake my faith in him. That’s how strong
is the brainwashing in Sai baba’s organisation.
In all the private
interviews that I had with Sai Baba, he would
also hug or kiss me, or ask me to kiss him.
I had come to reason with myself that he was
touching my penis because he was probably healing
me of some disease or handicap. I reasoned to
myself that Sai Baba asked me to kiss him, or
kissed me because he loved me, and kissing on
the cheeks is all right - kissing on the cheeks
between men is okay in my country.
It was not until
I saw a movie that shows Sai Baba cheating,
that my faith in him started to crumble. It
was only after I left Sai Baba (six months after
seeing that movie) that I realised his real
intentions in those private interviews.
I am willing
to testify in any court of law or in any gathering
about the above experiences.
I have been
very active on the internet for the past six
years and I have saved numerous people from
falling into Sai Baba’s evil trap.
Regards, Afshin.
Experiences
of an ex-Sai baba devotee
From : MUNICH/GERMANY
Source : Jens Sethu - A letter
to David
Subject : EXPERIENCES OF
AN EX-SAI BABA DEVOTEE
Hello David
Bailey, I am giving you a thorough account of
my traumatic experiences with Sathya Sai Baba
and hope that this will help people understand
what he is all about. All the details are the
truth and can be seen as testimony. I could
and would testify to the following in an open
court.
I am thirty-five
years old and have been interested in spiritual
matters since my childhood. For a long time
I worshipped Jesus and Padre Pio, then after
reading Yogananda’s ‘Autobiography of a Yogi’
I turned towards the yogi path.
In October 1988
I became an ardent follower of Sathya Sai Baba,
and came to Puttaparthi for the first time in
September 1989. Since then I visited Puttaparthi
regularly every year and was totally absorbed
in the ‘aura’ of Sai Baba. I was fully convinced
of his avatarhood and became so devoted that
I was thinking and contemplating all the time
about him alone.
In 1989 I read
‘Lord of the Air’ by Tal Brooks (a young male
USA ex-devotee who wrote of Sai Baba’s sexual
abuse of him), but I did not believe, thinking
"Tal only wants to decry Baba". I was just ignoring
the facts.
Over the years
I had hundreds of darshans but never an interview.
In 1993 I became a little suspicious about Sai
Baba’s lifestyle and the activities in the ashram.
Every year I could see costly new buildings
and felt an increasing commercialisation was
going on. In 1996 I saw Sai Baba leaving the
ashram in an expensive ‘Jaguar’ and other costly
cars like ‘Mercedes’ and ‘BMW’ of the big class.
But I still believed him to be the Kali avatar
of the age.
On 17th January
1996 I got my first interview and he was very
kind telling me nice things like "I will give
you everything" as he touched and stroked my
head. He said "I know you’re not sure about
your life and future and so on. Also unhappiness
from women. I know, don’t worry. Also you have
some bad thoughts, not good". Then he said "I
give you everything according to health, spirituality
and life. Everything. I give you infinite love.
You and me will become one". I touched his robe
and he put his hand on the top of my head saying
"I give you separate interview".
On 20th January
1996 I got the second interview. Already days
before, he had established a strange eye-contact
with me indicating the coming interview. My
wife and I went to the interview and he acted
very disappointed at seeing me together with
my wife. He took me alone into the interview
room and said "She is diseased and much older
than you. Please separate from her". I was really
shocked and replied "She is attached to me".
I asked him
to give her some spiritual instruction, which
he readily agreed to do, but he had something
else on his mind.
Without asking
permission he started kissing me on my lips
for some time, and later asked me to open my
trousers and ‘materialised’ some oil which he
rubbed on the skin above my genitals. I felt
very bad about all of this, but accepted, as
I fully trusted Sai Baba.
Then he took
my wife into the private interview room alone,
and told her "Either you separate from the boy
or I throw you out of Puttaparthi!". He appeared
wild and furious (my wife told me afterwards)
and she shivered all over. When she reappeared
in a very short time, looking red faced and
very scared, nobody dared ask her what happened
in there.
He saw me again
some days later in darshan and asked whether
I had separated or not. I said "Not yet". He
turned away and shouted so all people could
hear "Bad, Bad boy!!!" He was so aggressive
and seemed to radiate such an aura of evil that
I was really shocked. We immediately left and
went to north India for some pilgrimage.
This was a turning
point, but after a time I decided to go once
more to Sai Baba to clarify the matter. At the
end of 1996 I returned to India and got interview
on 4th December. In the interview he said "Where
are you from?" When I told him I was from Germany,
he responded "You are also a Hitler!". Shocked,
I thought to myself "He is not very kind is
he?"
Nevertheless,
in the private room the greedy old man kissed
me again direct and continuously on my lips
for about twenty seconds, and gently stroked
my back. By now I was certain that something
was very wrong.
On 28th December
I was again called for interview and he produced
a golden ring which didn’t fit well on my finger
in spite of his blowing on it. In the private
chamber he said "Come" and again kissed me on
the lips for some time as before. This time
I resisted and he gurgled "Have no fear". I
said "I have no fear". Then he said "This is
a good opportunity, so many waiting for months
and will not get". This baffled me. I’m sure
people don’t wait for mouth kisses in Puttaparthi.
Then his mood
totally changed and I did have some fear. He
commanded me to remove my trousers, unzipped
my fly and went with his right hand into my
underpants. Sathya Sai Baba the ‘divine’ touched
and massaged my genitals unasked. He expected
some erection, but this didn’t happen for I
didn’t feel any sexual excitement, no lust in
the presence of a seventy years old man. I was
really disgusted. Then he had the impudence
to say "It is very weak, don’t waste energy".
When I looked at him I realised the truth about
him and was shocked indeed. Soon afterwards,
without another word, he sent me out of the
room.
Back in Germany
I did intense research on the internet and came
across an article from Jed Geyerhahn and was
very happy to have found somebody with similar
experiences.
As I still had
some luggage in Puttaparthi I returned in November
1999 to collect it, taking with me two internet
pages to discuss with some friends there. Unfortunately
a lady came into possession of the material
and took it to the Puttaparthi police station.
Then I went through several interrogations with
the police there.
A Mr. Reddy
repeatedly asked from whom I got the material,
and what would be the password. I told him India
is still a democracy and I can carry whatever
material I have with me, but he took no heed
of my words. I told him that no password was
needed to enter the net and everyone has free
access to the material there. He sent me to
an e-mail shop, accompanied by a policeman who
waited, but the computers connected with Hydrabad
are very slow, and therefore I could not enter
the website.
Finally the
inspector, Mr. Reddy, took my passport away
and said "Unless you give me the password and
name of the person I declare you guilty and
will not allow you to leave Puttaparthi". He
treated me very badly, like a criminal, especially
during the last interrogation and I had several
witnesses to this incident. All of this because
I had been in possession of two pages which
I had not even written myself.
He then walked
me, my wife and an American friend into the
ashram, and once inside the gate, he again asked
me the stupid question about the password. At
the time I couldn’t understand why he should
do so, but today I know he was showing us to
some people or trustees whom we could not see
or recognise.
I had another
appointment on 1st November with the police,
which was the day I intended to go to Delhi,
but without my passport it would not be possible.
On 30th October, late in the evening, two people
whom I know and an unknown person came to our
unit and one of them warned me that my life
was in danger and I should leave immediately.
My wife and
I left very early next morning, for Delhi. At
Dharmmavaram rail station the police were searching
for us, but we entered the train at Anantapur.
There is a police station near the platform
which we had to pass to enter the train, and
the very moment I saw that I told my wife to
go into the train separately. My wife heard
a group of policemen talking about searching
for somebody and caught the words ‘passport,
Delhi and telegram’. We were in serious danger
but fortunately I was dressed like an Indian,
and escaped identification.
So we escaped
and reached Delhi, and went immediately to the
German Embassy. I got a travel document after
telling them of my experience, and the Embassy
official said a protest note would be sent to
the Indian Government. He told me such an act
is illegal and they knew of similar cases.
I want to inform
you that at the police station in Puttaparthi
the policeman had a bunch of both foreign and
Indian passports in a drawer under a table,
and once I saw them in his hand. This is just
an observation, I don’t know to whom they belonged.
During this
frightening time at Puttaparthi I met an Italian
couple we knew there and tried to tell them
what had happened to me in interview with Sai
Baba. They just closed their eyes and the lady
shouted "Be quiet!! Shut up!! Sai Baba is our
God, and all the bad stories are not true!!"
Then they turned away. These same people had
told me many years before that they could never
find any peace at the ashram, and couldn’t understand
it. But they would not listen to those who know
it better. Nobody can possibly imagine how I
felt while all of this was happening. I suffered
a lot.
I met one ex-soldier
from Ruanda who is very tall and handsome. This
person has also been sexually molested by Sai
Baba and he told me his story. He is married
and his Japanese wife is a fanatical Sai Baba
supporter. They have one child. He totally depends
on her and can see no way to get free from Sai
Baba. He has been given many gifts from Sai
Baba like rings, bracelet, gold watch. Sai Baba
touched his testicles and massaged his genitals
at least twice. The gifts look like payment
for prostitution, but a prostitute and her customer
have a mutual agreement whereas the male devotees
are molested against their will, and they come
for a completely different purpose.
Our strong faith
in Sai Baba has been misused by the same Baba,
through his paedophile behaviour, and this is
the most disgraceful thing he could do.
However there
are many other irregularities waiting to be
clarified. I also want to let you know that
Baba was willing to leave Puttaparthi on 28th
November 1999 for Bangalore for a heart treatment
but he didn’t because of the internet story
about it. This is known to me from the police
inspector who blamed me for having brought the
internet pages to Puttaparthi. I have a good
friend in Puttaparthi who is a shop keeper,
and he had already told me that in November
1999 Baba had two heart attacks and went for
treatment to Bangalore. He also said that most
of the people who know about it don’t believe
that Sai Baba will survive the next two years.
The Trustees
are very concerned and alarmed about the internet.
Further I want
to let you know (in case you do not) that Sathya
Sai Baba was not born in Puttaparthi but in
Karnatakka-Nagepalle village near Puttaparthi.
Baba’s mother came from this place and according
to tradition she has to deliver the child where
she comes from. I know this from a person who
was born in Puttaparthi and lives there for
over forty years. The villager said it is an
open secret, everyone knows it but is fearful
to say it. You see, from the very beginning
Baba and his followers were lying.
Please study
the statement Krishna, a friend of Sai Baba’s
youth, made to Erlendur Haraldsson. Never was
a devotee so close to Sai Baba for such a long
time as Krishna. He spent twenty-four hours
a day with Sai Baba for some time. This was
almost sixty years ago. Eventually Krishna left
Sai Baba and went to Hydrabad. In an interview
with Haraldsson, Krishna said that even in those
days Sai Baba was more like a politician or
chieftain of a feudal system. Krishna also said
"Whatever Baba may have, one thing he has not,
and this is compassion".
I hope that
this nightmare comes to an end and I hope that
by the Grace of the Almighty, all people round
the globe may know about the misdeeds of Sai
Baba, a mighty demon who came in the guise of
a spurious saint, only interested in self-glorification,
name and fame.
He is a master
- of deception.
Yours sincerely,
Jens and Gurprit Sethi
For the sake of Truth - Connie Larsson's story
From: SWEDEN
Source : Magazine ‘Sokaren’
(The Seeker) - 10th January 2000
Subject : Feature article
- with full front page photograph of Sai Baba
FOR THE SAKE
OF TRUTH - CONNIE LARSSON’S STORY
THE SWAMI WHO
DECEIVED A WHOLE WORLD
Conny Larsson
(a Swedish film star) has been very close to
Sai Baba. Today Conny runs a home for young
abusers and criminals near Valdemarsvik, a small
town on the coast of the Baltic Sea in Sweden.
Conny says :
- I went to
his ashram in Puttaparthi. There Sai Baba walked
up to me and said "So you have arrived now".
Later I was invited to Sai Baba for talks almost
every day. He kissed my cheek and was physically
very close to me. That didn’t worry me; even
in Sweden we sometimes do like that.
- But then he
touched my trousers between my legs and started
to massage my penis. "Don’t be afraid" he said
"This is a divine touch". He took out my penis
and touched it, and I touched his penis. He
explained that my kundalini was to be changed.
- Because he
was God, I let it happen. I became a kind of
favourite to him. I had frequent private talks
with Sai Baba.
- We were always
very close physically. He never came that close
to women. He is interested in boys and men from
the age of eight up to thirty.
- When you become
thirty you are no longer interesting.
Conny Larsson
became one of the movement’s spiritual leaders
in Sweden. In 1983 there were rumours that Sai
Baba was cheating with his materialisations
and that he had sexual relations with young
boys. Conny couldn’t believe that this was true.
- But in 1986
I finally understood that he was doing the same
things to other boys that he had done to me
many years ago. I got to know the boys and asked
them questions. They all told me the same story.
The swami had oral sex with them, of whom many
were heterosexual (sexually attracted to members
of the opposite sex). The explanation was always
that he was going to change their kundalini.
- You wonder
whether women don’t have the kundalini power.
Conny also became
witness to Sai Baba’s cheating with materialisations.
- I decided
never to tell anybody about this. I thought
he tested my faith in him.
Conny felt worse
and worse about what he had found out. Sai Baba
had been the centre of his whole life for so
long.
- In January
1999 I got in touch with a Swedish boy, who
had six interviews with the swami. I noticed
that the boy was shaken. He told me about the
same things that had happened to me. It was
about masturbation - the swami opened the boy’s
trousers and started to masturbate him. The
boy withdrew but the swami insisted. Afterwards
the boy turned to a medical doctor for help,
but because of his age the doctor had never
been exposed to the swami’s improper advances,
so he told the boy he must have misunderstood
the situation.
- During the
last interview the boy had with the swami, the
boy’s mother was present. She had come to take
her two sons home with her. She said "I saw
how Sai Baba took things out from behind the
cushion and then ‘manifested’ them ‘miraculously’.
Then everything crashed for me". The boy left
the ashram completely broken hearted.
- According
to the latest information from India the shop
is found where Sai Baba buys the things he ‘materialises’.
It’s a shop in Hyderabad.
- Some of us
who have received gold things and ‘diamonds’
from Sai Baba have had them examined by experts,
and been told they are all junk pieces and not
gold; the ‘diamonds’ are zircons and stained
glass.
In Sweden the
Gimle school, which was grounded in Sai Baba’s
philosophy, has been closed because of Baba’s
sexual actions. And Conny Larsson has stopped
a movie about his life, in which Sai Baba’s
importance to him was the core.
Conny points
out that there are leaders in the movement who
have known for a long time what the swami does
with boys and young men. They say it is ‘divine’.
There are also leaders who know about the cheating
with miracles, and protect him. There are strong
interests behind Sai Baba and his reputation
to be an avatar.
What effects
have these unveilings had on Conny? He says
he’s had to change his concept of God.
- Now I believe
in God inside me, and in all human beings.
He adds :
- I feel tired,
and have compassion for all who have believed
in Sai Baba and been duped. But at the same
time I wish to thank all the Sai friends for
our moments together at satsangs, camps and
courses, where we generated love and truth in
spite of the illusion we in good faith, all
lived in.
Conny Larsson
is currently touring many countries at his own
expense, presenting his truth about Sai Baba.
He is prepared to travel, and speak wherever
and whenever he is invited to do so.
Winding
up the Sai organisation in Sweden
From : SWEDEN
Source : A Regional Meeting.
Subject : LETTER TO MEMBERS
ABOUT WINDING UP THE SAI
ORGANISATION
IN SWEDEN
As you know,
some of our young boys have testified that Sai
Baba has molested them sexually. It is a matter
of serious sexual abuse; among other things
oral sex.
Furthermore
it has turned out, that the materialisation
of vibhuti, rings etc is a bluff. It is only
usual magic, built of sleight of hand.
Large scale
economical frauds and misuse of donated means
exisits in Prashanthi Nilayam. There are bad
conditions in the hospital and the water project
is uncompleted and full of problems.
Statements are
supported by serious investigations and personal
testimonies, about which can be read on internet.
Scotland Yard
and other police organisations are making investigations
of other crimes. The information about what
is going on is of that kind.
We cannot hide
behind the statement ‘we did not know’. All
in the Swedish organisation know.
These are hard
words, that hurt us all who have Baba in our
hearts. But since in the organisation there
have been attempts to cover up, tone down and
lessen what has happened and still happens,
we consider it necessary to be very clear and
unambiguous in the formulation.
Naturally everyone
is free to keep having Baba as his/her spiritual
guide and personal image of God, in spite of
what has come out. But is it possible for the
Sai organisation in Sweden to remain?
Our answer is
: For decency’s sake, no.
What can we
say to the person who comes to the organisation
to get information about Baba?
What kind of
message will the organisation give on its homesite
on internet? Can one continue to sell books,
which we know describe false facts?
What can one
tell the person, who has perhaps put his savings
on a journey to Baba, and then comes home telling
that Baba has molested his son, and they have
seen things that make them doubt the authenticity
of the materialisations, and they have heard
rumours of economical irregularities?
Do we answer
with "Well, we already knew. It has been known
for years" ???
He, who
through ‘advertising’ Baba, entices others into
going there or donating money, might have made
himself guilty of the crime of encouraging criminality.
So what will
the leaders of the organisation say on the day,
when the press or police ring the door bell
and want to know?
Do they say
"Of course we knew, but since we have not personally
had anything but good experiences of Baba, we
did not feel that we needed to bother" ???
No dear friends,
let us instead, through a forceful dissasociation,
send the message through the Sai heirarchy to
Sai Baba himself.
-This
is what we have learnt and we cannot accept
it! Stop the sexual violations immediately,
give up the bluff materialisations and get competent
and honest persons to run the activities.
If the unsatisfactory
state of things stops through voluntary action,
it may be possible to save the good parts. Otherwise
the activity will sooner or later be broken
down more violently through other measures from
international police, press, international service
organisations etc. Then all the good which exists
will disappear along with the evil. And in such
a scandal, India as a nation could be damaged.
Through winding
up the Sai organisation in Sweden and spreading
information about that through a statement to
all central coordinators and to other appropriate
key persons, we take our responsibility for
the persons who have been abused and cheated,
and for those who run the risk to be abused
and cheated.
This action
will likely result in other people in other
countries start acting, and taking their responsibility.
We the undersigned,
and many more of us, hereby demand that the
president of the Sathya Sai Organisation in
Sweden calls an extra annual meeting at once,
where the decision to discontinue the association
can be made in a correct way.
If the meeting
comes to the decision that the association should
not be discontinued, a restructuring and complementary
elections to the coordinating committee has
to be made, since some of the members will leave
the organisation and whole centres will discontinue.
Likewise a new treasurer and a new auditor has
to be elected.
This is a tragic
process for everybody. But the work on our spiritual
growth does not stop with Baba, and some of
us have already discussed the forms for continued
meetings for ex-devotees, where meditation and
study circles, retreats and summer celebrations
can be held.
So with, or
without Baba, together or in different groups
: Life goes on.
Kidney Robbery in SSS Super Speciality Hospital
From: INDIA
Web site : http://pc1502.geographie.uni-regensburg.de/html/kidney1.htm
Subject : KIDNEY ROBBERY
IN SATHYA SAI BABA’S
SUPER SPECIALITY
HOSPITAL 12th April 1997
Concerns the
SSH and Mr Balaji (son of Mr Trimakababa Rao)
who donated one of his kidneys for his father.
After transplant surgery, the transplanted kidney
was declared non-functional, due to vascular
occulation.
Balaji’s sister
then offered one of her kidneys. In the meantime
Trimakababa needed dialysis for which Balaji
had to pledge their land and assets to the bank,
plus take loans from friends.
Then Balaji
heard news of a kidney racket in Bangalore,
and began to wonder if his father was victim.
He took his father home to Latur and a sonograhpy
was done on 5/8/95. The transplanted kidney
was not visualised, and a subsequent CT Scan
of the abdomen done on 7/8/95 had similar finding.
Both scans reported
that only the patient’s own diseased kidneys
were visualised.
After his father’s
death Balaji lodged a complaint with Latur police,
who exhumed the body and carried out an autopsy
which revealed that no transplant had taken
place.
Sai Institute Doctors - Court Action News
From : NEW ZEALAND
Subject : SAI INSTITUTE DOCTORS
- COURT ACTION NEWS
Deccan Chronicle 5/11/99
Hydrabad Nov
4, 1999 : Justice G Raghu Ram of the Andhra
Pradesh High Court on Thursday admitted a writ
petition seeking initiation of criminal prosecution
against the doctors of Sri Sathya Sai Institute
of Higher Medical Sciences, Puttaparthi in Anantapur
district, alleging malpractices regarding the
transplantation of a kidney.
The writ petition
has been filed by Balaji Triambak Rao Karavande,
who has alleged that the doctors of the institute
removed a kidney from his body and did not transplant
the same to his father. He informed the court
that after this revelation, he lodged a complaint
with the Latur (Maharashtra) police, who in
time, exhumed his father’s body and conducted
a postmortem, which confirmed that no kidney
transplant had taken place.
He alleged that
the police at Puttaparthi did not register the
complaint and he was thrown out of the hospital
when he confronted the doctors with the relevant
documents.
Did Sathya Sai Baba influence the judiciary in 1996?
From : INDIA
Website : http:/www.indian
skeptic.de/html/is_v01/1-6-1.htm
Subject : DID SATHYA SAI
BABA INFLUENCE THE JUDICIARY IN 1996?
‘Baba said I
need not worry about the Supreme Court case
as he would see that the case is decided in
my favour, and sure enough in the next few days
I heard that we had won in the Supreme Court’.
Ghorpade, Ex
Maharaja of Sandur.
The said judgement
was given on 6/5/1966 by Honorable Justices
K.N Wanchoo, J.C Shah and S.M Sikri.
The above statement
triggered research into the judiciary process,
by investigative journalist B.Premanand, Head
of India’s Rationalist (treating reason as the
basis of belief and knowledge) Movement. This
is detailed in an article on the website given
above.
It was found
that one of the Hon. Justices met Sai Baba when
the case was pending and later the law firm
of one of them was appointed lawyers of Ghorpade
and his business empire.
A Review of Sai Baba's Education on moral Values System
From : INDIA
Source : B. Premanand (Head
of IRM)
Subject : A
REVIEW OF SAI BABA’S EDUCATION ON MORAL
VALUES SYSTEM
Sai Baba’s emphasis
is said to be on the development of the moral
and human values in students, which are lacking
in the present system.
The worth of
the educational reforms can be seen only in
the way in which such reforms can transform
the students admitted in random from different
stratas of society, and how education is able
to transform them.
It is to be
noted that the admissions to Sai Baba’s institutions
are on the basis of stiff entrance tests and
the final selections are made by Sai Baba himself.
Thus only the best students are selected.
As in the case
of White Field college (closed for 18 months
in 1985 after agitation by students and Kadugodi
villagers), if Sai Baba was not able to control
the best of those students thus selected and
had to close down the college, then there is
something wrong with the educational system
of Sai Baba.
Omnipotence, resolution of problems & contraidications
From : CYPRUS
Website : http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Cyprus/4972/eng/spec_e3.htm
Subject : OMNIPOTENCE, RESOLUTION
OF PROBLEMS & CONTRADICTIONS
There are twenty
three pages of critical discussion about the
above specific issues. For example, in the section
dealing with contradictions.
- In his
discourse, when Sai Baba enters into the specific,
into the particular, or into something that
is not usual to him, there we note the most
clear contrasts and incongruities for an ‘omniscient
and omnipotent’ being.
- Two
thousand years ago, in a region called Palestine,
in the village of Nazareth lived Mary and Joseph.
It was winter. (...) It was the night between
24 and 25 December. Mary gave to the light the
child between midnight and one. There was not
any comfort to make more comfortable that birth.
Christmas
1988 discourse.
But -
- Christmas
falls in the month of March, not in December.
Since it is very cold in December and people
are confined to their homes, they use this time
to celebrate Christmas. Actually, Jesus was
born in the month of March.
Christmas 1998
discourse
Also - (Ed’s
note)
- Some
say he was born on the 15th September. But,
he was born at 3:15am on December 28th, 1980
years ago (the current year was 1979) SSS Vol
XI Chap 3
Sai
Baba on Jesus
From: ITALY
<Website: http://www.bbs?action=m&tid=sathyasaibaba&sid=121733549&mid=12
Subject : SAI BABA ON JESUS
‘(...) In the
beginning even Romans were Jews, not Christians.
It is only after the advent of Jesus that the
term Christians came into use. He (Jesus) said
that he was "Persona" meaning that he was the
spark of Divine. This has been translated by
the British as ‘Person’ which has been termed
‘Purusha’ by Bharatiyas (Indians). Therefore
‘Purusha’ or ‘Persona’ has originated from Roman
language.
24th November
1998 discourse.
What could it
mean ‘In the beginning even Romans were Jews’
?
Surely they
were not Jewish as an ethnic group, nor by their
religion.
Moreover Sai
Baba derives the sanskrit word ‘purusha’.
It’s necessary
to remark that :
- sanskrit is
more ancient than latin, therefore ‘purusha’
cannot derive from ‘persona’
- etymology
of ‘persona’ : from the latin persona (= mask,
then character), maybe from the greek ‘prosopon’
(=mask) through the estruscan ‘phersu’. The
etruscan phersu is perhaps related to Persephone.
Among the derivatives : character, personal,
personality, personify. An interesting etymology
of persona is from ‘per’ and ‘sonare’ (= to
sound through) referring to the theatrical wooden
mask in which the mouth was made to strengthen
the sound of the voice.
Study
of SB's Claims
From : INDIA
Website : http://psg.com/~ted/bcskeptics/sbmir/contents.html
Subject : STUDY OF SB’S CLAIMS
~
OMNISCIENCE
OMNIPOTENCE
RAISING OF THE
DEAD
TELEPATHIC KNOWLEDGE
MATERIALISATIONS
SUNDRY MIRACLES
HEALINGS AND
RESCUES
FULFILLMENT
OF ANCIENT PROPHECIES
This is more
than one hundred pages of in depth study of
Sai Baba’s claims by B. Premanad.
It includes
accounts by John Hislop, VK Gokak, V Kanu, Howard
Murphet, Mrs Radhakrishna, Dr Haraldsson, Dr
Sandweiss, Dr Vaz, Harish Khanna, Dr Krishna
Rau, Dr Rajagopalan, David Lane.
Sai Baba’s statements/versus
accurate verbatim reporting and/or historical
accounts about Winston Churchill, Ramsay Macdonald,
Thomas Edison, Einstein, Alexander the Great,
Jesus of Nazareth, the New Testament, the dating
of Jesus’ birth, dual statements about the star
of Bethlehem, the religious practices of Judea,
Jesus’ crucifixion, dual statements on Judas
Iscariot’s name, Indian classical music, Physical
sciences, Patent law, etc., etc., etc.
Pertinent scholars
are quoted, and research accounts arguing claims
given.
Premanand comments
that the point of the section on theology is
not to dispute Sai Baba’s divinity, but the
evidence he presents for this claim.
He adds that
those familiar with the complete passages from
which the excerpts are taken, will agree that
Sai Baba is referring to the Scriptures to support
his claims. The point in including these passages,
and the corresponding analysis by scholars is
to dispute his accuracy in reading and quoting
the Christian Bible; not in his claimed first-hand
knowledge of the events reported therein, or
his interpretation of biblical passages.
Readers who
agree with Sai Baba’s renderings, and disagree
with the scholars’ interpretations will no doubt
have an explanation for why passages referred
to by Sai Baba cannot be located, or why fifty
generations of biblical scholars have a different
interpretation than Sai Baba of the passages
that are there.
The point in
presenting this material is merely to show that
there are such disagreements.
Editor note
: This study is revealing and illuminating.
Journey
to SB and my personal experience
From: ATHENS,
CYPRUS
Website : http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Cyprus/4972/eng/sto_e.htm
Subject : JOURNEY TO SB AND
MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
This is a large,
comprehensive site recounting the unreal expectations
nurtured by the Sai Baba propaganda machine,
and the subsequent realisation of their unreality,
by a ‘rational and scientific’ Italian called
Paul Holbach. Impossible to create a synopsis
but well worth reading. It is clearly thought
out and profound. Paul’s website deals with
other specific issues such as Sai Baba’s inaccuracies
in discourse, by giving strong research presentation.
Editor note
: David has had a number of telephone conversations
with Paul and considers him a serious and clear
thinking researcher who has broken through the
facade surrounding Sai Baba.
Dr. Bhagavantham and Sathya Sai Baba circa 1972
From: INDIA
Source : Dr Abraham T. Kovoor
Subject : DR BHAGAVANTHAM
AND SATHYA SAI BABA circa. 1972
I was invited
to give a lecture at the Indian Institute of
Technology at Guindy. During a conversation
before the lecture one of the professors at
the institute told me that the majority of youths
who take to the study of science and technology
do so not because they have any scientific attitude
or aptitude, but just because such a course
helps them to get lucrative jobs.
And the reason
why some of the eminent scientists of India
have given up their science, and become devotees
of godmen of that country is because they have
found that they can make more money by being
in collusive devotion to such hoaxers than by
continuing scientific pursuits.
A few months
ago the editor of a mass-circulating weekly
of India wrote me a letter saying that the Editorial
Board of his weekly had decided to publish a
symposium on ‘Sathya Sai Baba - Is he an incarnation
of God, or a Charlatan?’ and wanted me to be
the first contributor to the series.
My article was
serialised in three issues. It was then followed
by two articles countering my thesis by Dr S
Bhagavantham M.Sc, D.Sc, Ph.D, a former scientific
adviser to the Government of India.
Dr Bhagavantham
started his article by saying that in his youth
he was a rationalist like me, but after witnessing
some of the miracles of Sai Baba, he had to
give up his rationalism. He then began to describe
numerous ‘miracles’ said to have been performed
by Sai Baba in various places. There was no
mention in either of the two articles of anyone
having conducted investigations to establish
that they were all genuine miracles and not
conjurer’s tricks. The two articles appeared
to be clear examples of how unscientific even
a good scientist can become if he is a victim
of religio-manic neurosis or avarice for lucre.
In all the miracle
stories mentioned, there was only one that was
amenable to investigation. I quote that story
below.
Dr Bhagavantham
:
- The wonderful
experience, some years ago, of a world famous
watch manufacturer of Japan, while he was on
tour in India, was awe-inspiring. After completing
the Seiko series of watches he made a model
of a more superior type, and kept it in his
safe for further tests. While touring India
he paid a visit to Sai Baba’s abode just out
of curiousity. On seeing the Japanese gentleman
among the devotees Sai Baba materialised a small
parcel from the air and gave it to him. On opening
the parcel he was astonished to see the same
watch that was kept in his safe.
- When
he saw along with the watch, the silk ribbon
and label with the new name of the watch and
the price marked on it, all his doubts about
the divine powers of Sai Baba simply melted
away. He fell prostrate at Sai Baba’s feet and
worshipped him, and since then has been an ardent
devotee.
- On his
return to Japan, he was shocked to see that
the watch he had kept in his safe was not there.
What his personal secretary told him was even
more startling. The secretary said that a divine-looking
person with bushy hair walked into the office
one day, opened the safe and walked away with
the watch.
Does Dr Bhagavantham,
who is the holder of coveted qualifications
in science, think that a thesis of this nature
- to prove the miraculous powers of a man -
by any scientist, will be accepted by an academic
body of scientists if it is not backed by scientific
investigations and fool-proof evidence?
As Dr Bhagavantham
was reluctant to test the veracity of his godman’s
miraculous powers, I decided to do it myself.
With this aim in view I wrote the following
letter to him :
Colombo-6 11/9/73
Dear Dr Bhagavantham,
I read your
story about a Japanese watch manufacturer getting
his own watch that was kept in a safe in Japan,
materialised in India from air by Sai Baba.
My scientific attitude does not permit me to
accept this fantastic story as true without
verification. My doubt is enhanced by the reported
statement by his personal secretary. The first
reaction of a responsible secretary when a stranger
walks into the office and opens the safe, would
be to raise the alarm and to summon the police.
As I feel it is unscientific even for a scientist
to believe this type of story without verification,
I request you to kindly let me know the name
and address of this Japanese so that I may verify
the truth about it. Your failure to help me
to conduct this investigation by withholding
this information, will lead me to suspect your
sincerity and honesty, and to discard all that
you have said about Sathya Sai Baba as utter
falsehood, deliberately propagated with ulterior
motive and vested interest.