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An
exclusive report in The Times is
causing new trouble for Sai Baba. It investigates
the cases of three Britons, who suicided after
getting involved with the Indian godman.
Michael Pender, 23, student, set his hope in Sai Baba's claimed capacity
to heal him by magic: he was HIV infected. He
lived for some time in the Puttaparthi ashram.
Short before his death, he told friends that he
had been repeatedly sexually assaulted by the
godman. He was in a state of deep depression after
these events and had earlier tried to commit suicide
in the ashram. On 12 January 1999, he was found
dead in a hostel for homeless in Highbury, London.
Blood tests indicated consumption of alcohol and
painkillers.
Aran Edwards, 37, classical guitarist and postgraduate theology student
at the University of Wales in Newport, joined
Sai Baba's Bristol group and started writing numerous
letters to the guru. On 19 April 1999, he hanged
himself from the staircase in his home in Cardiff.
Andrew Richardson, 33, South Africa born British national, made a
pilgrimage to Sai Baba's ashram, booking in for
a week, but mysteriously leaving after only two
days. On September 19, 1996, he traveled to Bangalore
and jumped from the eighth floor of the highest
building, the State Bank of Mysore.
All this may not be enough to book Sai Baba for inciting suicide.
There have been other suicides and suspicious
deaths earlier, which did not cause any official
reaction. Even when in June 1993 four of his close
devotees (allegedly trying to assassinate him)
were mysteriously shot dead in his bedroom and
rumors of sexual abuse were palpable, he was not
even questioned by police. More than judicial
consequences, Sai Baba may face a further serious
blow against his reputation by the new revelations.
Reacting to the Times report, the British Foreign Office has
started to study Sai Baba's activities and considers
issuing an unprecedented official warning against
the guru, sources say. Sai Baba's critics in Britain
urge their government to follow the French example.
In June 2001, France has passed a new law to protect
its citizens from dangerous cults like Sai Baba's.
This law makes any physical, mental or monetary
exploitation of people in vulnerable situations
a criminal offence.
Sai Baba's holy façade started crumbling, when the spell of his miraculous
capacities was broken. This was the work of Indian
Rationalists. As a result of decades of investigating,
exposing and campaigning, the miracle man stands
exposed as a trickster.
"…The Indian Rationalist Association, an
organisation of atheists and doubters which seek
to debunk organized religion and disprove all
miracles … denounce him as the biggest fraud of
the `god-industry'", says the Times report.
As an example for the simple tricks behind the
Baba's "miracles", it describes the meantime famous
Doordarshan episode, which - as part of the documentary
Guru Busters - has been telecast around
the world. (Guru Busters is a documentary
on the work of Indian Rationalists made by Channel
IV of Britain in 1995. See also the article No
more holy ash - Rationalists' campaigns exposing
Sai Baba show results in Bulletin # 8, 27 March 1999).
Mounting allegations of sexual abuse of devotees are slowly catching
up with Sai Baba. After his former American follower
Tal Broke published the Avatar of Night
as long ago as in 1976, a growing list of victims
have come out publicly, opening the flood gates
of cases. They include both, Indians and foreigners,
but all of them are living abroad. So far no case
has been registered against Sai Baba in India.
It is still not very easy to accuse or arrest
a man, who counts several former presidents and
prime ministers among his devotees and commands
an army of top bureaucrats, businessmen and media
persons.
In September 2000, the controversy surrounding
Sai Baba took a new turn: several cases of sexual
abuse of minor children of devotees became public
and threatened to end his divine career behind
bars (see the article Now it is Sai Baba's
turn! By Sanal Edamaruku in Bulletin # 53, 29 September 2000). But once again Sai
Baba managed to keep his head above water.
Saibaba's short affair with the UN, which had promised to uplift
his international credentials enormously, ended
with a bang. The UNESCO, the educational and cultural
agency of the UN, showing a grotesque lack
of reasonable criteria and balanced judgement
in selecting partners, announced to co-sponsor
a conference on "Strengthening Values Education"
at Sai Baba's headquarters at Puttaparthi last
year, but was quick to quit the co-operation,
when the scandal of sexual child abuse broke in
September. It remains a remarkable mockery to
elevate a notorious trickster and spiritual fraud
as a kind of UNESCO advisor and specialist for
educational values, even if the additional aspect
of child abuse was not involved. The UNESCO had
a narrow escape, but the damage was already done.
Sai Baba's "Human Vales Education" program has become something like
an international hit and has been exported into
hundred countries. On the base of this program,
promoted by two Sai Baba charities, schools are
run all around the world. In Britain alone, Baba's
"human values" are currently adopted as part of
the national curriculum and taught in 500 schools.
Now authorities are suddenly concerned about the
guru's "infiltration" of the British school system.
In Sweden, Sai Baba schools have started closing
down.
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