Sathya Sai Baba

Sathya Sai Baba
File:SAISAI.jpg Sathya Sai Baba in the 1990s

Sathya Sai Baba (Template:Lang-te), born Sathyanarayana Raju on November 23, 1926 with the family name of "Ratnakaram", is a controversial South Indian guru, religious leader and orator. He is described by his followers as a godman and miracle worker.

The Sathya Sai Organization reports that there are an estimated 1,200 Sathya Sai Baba Centers in 114 countries world-wide. The number of Sathya Sai Baba adherents is estimated to be somewhere around 6 million, although followers cite anywhere from 50 to 100 million". He is considered by his followers to be an avatar and the reincarnation of the saint Sai Baba of Shirdi.

Allegations of sexual abuse, deceit, murder and financial offences surround Sathyanarayana Raju. A BBC documentary notes that such controversies have persisted for at least 30 years. According to the BBC, "The scale of the abuse has caused alarm around the world... Governments around the world are deeply concerned and are beginning to take action, warning their citizens about Sai Baba."

Biography

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Sathya Sai Baba addresses his followers

Sathyanarayana Raju was born to Peddavenkama Raju and Eswaramma in an agrarian family in the remote village of Puttaparthi, located in Anantapur district, Andhra Pradesh.. Kasturi's biography stated that when the child was born, musical instruments in the household started creating music on their own. The child was very lively and the pet of the village. The young Sathyanarayana, Kasturi's biography states, was a vegetarian and was "known" for his aversion to animal cruelty.

At the age of eight, Satynanarayana Raju attended higher elementary school in Bukkapatnam.. After that he joined another high school at Uravakonda. The biography says that on March 8, 1940, Satynanarayana Raju started behaving "as if a scorpion had stung in his foot". He exhibited strange behavior after this, and entered a coma state. After some time, he got up and his behavior worried his parents - he did not want to eat, remained silent for extended periods of time, and purportedly recited ancient shlokas. In May 1940, he proclaimed himself to be a reincarnation of the fakir and saint Sai Baba of Shirdi and subsequently took the fakir's name, Sai Baba.

In 1944, a mandir for followers of Sathya Sai Baba was built near the village, which is now called the old mandir (old temple). The construction of Prashanthi Nilayam, the current ashram, was started in 1948.Today Puttaparthy has undergone enormous change. It has been transformed from a small village to a world pilgrimage center. Sathya Sai Baba's efforts have resulted in a deemed university with three campuses and two super specialty hospitals that cater to the needs of the poor free of cost.

In 1960, Sathya Sai Baba said that he would be in this mortal human form for another 59 years. In 1963, during a discourse, Sai Baba made statements declaring himself a reincarnation of Shiva and Shakti. He also claimed that Sai Baba of Shirdi was an incarnation of Shiva and that his future reincarnation, Prema Sai Baba, would be a reincarnation of Shakti. He publicly repeated this claim in 1976. Baba's biography states that Prema Sai Baba will be born in Mysore State.
"He said, "I have been keeping back from you all these years one secret about Me; the time has come when I can reveal it to you. This is a sacred day. I am Siva-Sakthi," He declared, "born in the gothra of Bharadwaja, according to a boon won by that sage from Siva and Sakthi. Sakthi Herself was born in the gothra of that sage as Sai Baba of Shirdi; Siva and Sakthi have incarnated as Myself in his gothra now; Siva alone will incarnate as the third Sai (Prema Sai Baba) in the same gothra in Mysore State."

Sai Baba has established three temples (referred to as a mandirs) in India. The first center, established in Mumbai, is referred to as either Dharmakshetra or "athyam. The second center, established in Hyderabad, is referred to as Shivam, and the third center, established in Chennai, is referred to as Sundaram..

Since 2005, Sathya Sai Baba has been confined to a wheelchair, and his failing health has forced him to make fewer public appearances.

Virtually all existing accounts of Sathya Sai Baba's life are based on the writings of the late secretary of Sai Baba, professor Narayana Kasturi. Kasturi wrote a biography, which Babb described as "hagiographic", depicting the life of Sai Baba not as a development of the person but as revelations about himself. . Individuating details are missing in the biography and the childhood is modeled after the life of Krishna.

Arnold Schulman, a devotee, tried to verify some stories from Katuri's writings. He came to the conclusion that "for any episode of Baba's childhood, there are countless contrasting versions and, at this point, the author discovered that it was no longer possible to separate the facts from the legend.”

Beliefs and practices of followers

Main article: Sathya Sai Baba movement

Further information: Bibliography of Sathya Sai Baba

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A clip from BBC Documentary The Secret Swami in which Sai Baba is recorded telling his devotees:"Out of the stomach emerged siva lingas of the weight of three tons. That is the reason why some strain on the face and body."

Sathya Sai Baba gives discourses on religious topics in his native language Telugu to devotees. Twice daily, devotees engage in worship of Sai Baba by conducting rituals such as aarti and singing devotional songs in front of his picture. Sai Baba has said that his followers do not need to give up their original religion. His followers view his teachings as syncretic (uniting all religions).

Anthropologist Lawrence Babb states teachings "are not what is most important about his cult" but the "extremely strong emphasis given to the 'miraculous'." He reiterates, on the basis of his research that: "On this point let there be no mistake: Sathya Sai Baba's miracles are crucial to what this cult is all about." Babb states that in the purported teachings, "[..] there is little relatively to dwell upon, or at least nothing very distinctive. His philosophical views are simplistic, eclectic, and essentially unoriginal."

According to The Times: "Sai Baba's teachings, however, are a collection of banal truisms and platitudes. The most famous utterances he has made in a six decade-long career as a living god are "Help ever, hurt never" and "Love all, serve all". Few are likely to argue with such a simplistic and universal moral code. He broadens his appeal further by allowing devotees to continue practising their own religion while paying homage to him."

Across the globe, local Sathya Sai Baba groups assemble to sing bhajans (devotional songs in praise of Sai Baba) often accompanied by rhythmic clapping of hands, to do collective community service (called seva), and teach "Education in Human Values" (Sai Sunday School). While devotees claim that the movement is not missionary, some analysts assert that it is cultish in nature. Bhajans are sung at nearly every meeting with the names of the traditional Hindu deities as well as saints and prophets of other religions occasionally replaced by Baba's name. Hindu chants are sung out aloud with the deity's name replaced by Baba's name, and the worship of Sai Baba are all known happenings.

According to the Sathya Sai organization, Sathyanarayana Raju has written several articles on religious topics, later collected by the trust in the form of books, titled "Vahinis" (vehicles). There are sixteen vahinis.

Sai organization claims to advocate five values: sathya (truth), dharma (Hindu word for right conduct), ahimsa (non-violence), prema (love for God and all his creatures) and shantih (peace).

Other teachings are:

• Service and charity (seva) to others.
• Love for all creatures and objects.
• Putting a ceiling on one's desires is sadhana.
• Celibacy after age of fifty.
• Vegetarianism, moderate and sattvik diet.
• Abstinence from drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes, and taking drugs.
• Meditation (dhyan). Baba teaches four techniques: repetition of the 'name of God'( "Sai" or "Sai Baba") , visualizing the form of God(often on sai baba's physical form), sitting in silence, and jyoti (Flame/Light meditation).
• Importance of bhakti (devotion) to Sai Baba.
• Developing "prashanti"( vaguely translates to carefree-ness) and eschewing vices of character.
• Japa (ritual chanting of Baba's name) and other sadhana (spiritual exercise) to foster devotion.
• Highly committed devotees use the phrase "Sai Ram" as a salutation.
• Conducting pooja or aarti( a form of ritual worship) twice daily in front of Baba photos.
• At the ashram frequent "yagnas" or ritual worship involving ritual sacrifices of vegetable matter and ghee to a pyre is conducted for the baba.

Claims of materialization and other miracles

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Denmark National Television documentary analyzing one of the most common purported "miracles" of Sai Baba. The documentary also draws attention to many videos where he is seen hiding the compressed ash pill between his figners before doing the "materialization" of ash.

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The BBC documentary The Secret Swami draws attention to another one of the purported "miracles" of Sai Baba. The video draws attention to deceit involved in the act in which he claims to "materialize" a lingam shaped artifact from his mouth.

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A video broadcast on Indian state controlled television in which Sai Baba is seen apparently faking the "materialization" of a necklace.

Claims

In some books, magazines, filmed interviews and articles, Sathya Sai Baba's followers report miracles of various kinds that they attribute to him. Claims have been made by devotees that objects have appeared spontaneously in connection with pictures and altars of Sathya Sai Baba. Sathya Sai Baba's devotees believe that he relieves his devotees by transferring their pain to himself. Daily, he is observed to allegedly manifest vibuthi (holy ash), and sometimes food and small objects such as rings, necklaces and watches.

In devotees' houses all around the world, there are claims from observers, journalists and devotees that vibuthi, kumkum, turmeric powder, holy water, Siva lingams, statues of deities (brass and gold), Sugar Candy, fruits, herbs, amrita (a fragrant, nectar-like honey), gems, colored string, writings in ash and various other substances spontaneously manifest and materialize on the walls, furniture, pictures and altars of Sathya Sai Baba.

The retired Icelandic psychology professor Erlendur Haraldsson wrote that he did not get Sathya Sai Baba's permission to study him under controlled circumstances. Nevertheless, he wrote, he investigated and documented the guru's alleged miracles and manifestations through first-hand interviews with devotees and ex-devotees. Haraldsson's research yielded many extraordinary testimonies of reported miracles. Some of the reported miracles attributed to Sathya Sai Baba included levitation (both indoors and outdoors), bilocation, physical disappearances, changing granite into sugar candy, changing water into another drink, changing water into gasoline, producing objects on demand, changing the color of his gown into a different color while wearing it, multiplying food, healings, visions, dreams, making different fruits appear on any tree hanging from actual stems, controlling the weather, physically transforming into various deities and physically emitting brilliant light.

These devotees and ex-devotees also claimed that they witnessed Sathya Sai Baba materialize many substances from his hand such as vibuthi, lost objects, statues, photographs, Indian pastries (both hot and cold), food (hot, cold, solid and fluid), out of season fruits, new banknotes, pendants, necklaces, watches and rings. Haraldsson wrote that the largest allegedly materialized object that he saw was a mangalsutra necklace, 32 inches long, 16 inches long on each side. Haraldsson wrote that some miracles attributed to Sathya Sai Baba resemble the ones described in the New Testament, but also with some differences. According to Haraldsson, although healings certainly figure into Sai Baba's reputation, his impression is that healings do not play a prominent role in Sathya Sai Baba's activities as in those of Jesus.

Sathya Sai Baba has explained the phenomenon of manifestation as being an act of divine creation, but refused to have his materializations investigated under experimental conditions. Critics claim that these materializations are done by sleight of hand and question his claims to perform miracles and other paranormal feats. In April 1976, Dr. H. Narasimhaiah, a physicist, rationalist and then vice chancellor of Bangalore University, founded and chaired a committee "to rationally and scientifically investigate miracles and other verifiable superstitions". Haraldsson stated that Narasimhaiah wrote Sathya Sai Baba a polite letter and two subsequent letters that were widely publicized in which he publicly challenged Baba to perform his miracles under controlled conditions. Sathya Sai Baba said that he ignored Narasimhaiah's challenge because he felt his approach was improper. Sathya Sai Baba further said about the Narasimhaiah committee that "Science must confine its inquiry only to things belonging to the human senses, while spiritualism transcends the senses. If you want to understand the nature of spiritual power you can do so only through the path of spirituality and not science. What science has been able to unravel is merely a fraction of the cosmic phenomena [...]" According to Erlendur Haraldsson, the formal challenge from the committee came to a dead end because the negative attitude of the committee was obvious and perhaps because of all the fanfare involved. Narasimhaiah stated that he considered the fact that Sathya Sai Baba ignored his letters as one among several indications that his miracles are fraudulent. As a result of this episode, a public debate raged for several months in Indian newspapers. Narasimhaiah's committee was dissolved in August 1977.

Refutation of Claims

Documentaries produced by the BBC and the Danish Broadcasting Corporation, analyzing videos of the supposed miracles, suggest that they can be explained as sleight of hand tricks. In the 1995 TV documentary Guru Busters, by UK's Channel 4, Sathya Sai Baba was accused of faking his materializations. A videotape was provided which suggested that magician's tricks were being utilized. The same videotape was mentioned in the Deccan Chronicle, on 23 November 1992, on a front page headline "DD Tape Unveils Baba Magic".

The documentary Seduced By Sai Baba was produced by Denmark's national television and radio broadcaster Danish radio and was aired in Denmark, Australia and Norway. The documentary carried interviews in which former devotees alleged sexual abuse at Sai Baba's hands and that his "miracles" were the result of sleight-of-hand.

The magazine India Today published in December 2000 a cover story about the Baba and the allegations of fake miracles quoting the magician P. C. Sorcar, Jr. who considered the Baba a fraud. Basava Premanand, a skeptic and amateur magician, asserted that he has been investigating Sathya Sai Baba since 1968 and emphatically believes the "guru" to be a cheater and charlatan. Premanand sued Sathya Sai Baba in 1986 for violation of the Gold Control Act for Sathya Sai Baba's purported "materializations" of gold objects. The case was dismissed, but Premanand appealed on the ground that claimed spiritual power is not a defence recognised in law. Premanand later said that he could duplicate some of Sathya Sai Baba's acts using sleight of hand and the production of a lingam from his mouth.

The British journalist Mick Brown discussed in his 1998 book that Sathya Sai Baba's claim of "resurrecting" the American Walter Cowan in 1971 was probably untrue. His opinion was based on the letters from attending doctors, provided in the Indian Skeptic magazine (published by Premanand). Mick Brown also related, in the same book, his experiences with manifestations of vibuthi, from Sathya Sai Baba's pictures in houses in London, which he felt were not fraudulent or the result of trickery. Brown wrote with regards to Sathya Sai Baba's claims of omniscience, that "skeptics have produced documentation clearly showing discrepancies between Baba's reading of historical events and biblical prophecies and the established accounts."

In October 2007, Baba reportedly announced that he would "appear on the moon" and asked devotees to proceed to the local airport.. The miracle failed to happen and the baba and his devotees turned back after waiting for an hour. Police officers found it difficult to disperse the utterly disappointed crowd, and no explanation was offered by the Sai Trust for the failure of the miracle. Rationalists claimed the publicity was an attempt to boost the Baba's waning popularity.

Ashrams and mandirs

The daily program at Sathya Sai Baba's temples usually begins with the chanting of "OM" and a morning prayer (Suprabatham). This is followed by Veda Parayan (chanting of the Vedas), nagarasankirtana (morning devotional songs) and twice a day bhajans and darshan (baba walks around or is wheel-chaired around amongst the gathered devotees) Particularly significant are the darshans during October (the Dasara holidays and November (the month of Sai Baba's birth). During darshan Sathya Sai Baba walks among his followers and may interact with people, accept letters, "materialize" and distribute vibhuti (sacred ash) or call groups or individuals for private interviews. Interviews are chosen solely at the Sai Baba's discretion. Followers consider it a great privilege to get an interview and sometimes a single person, group or family will be invited for a private interview. It is claimed by the Sathya Sai Organization that meeting him has spiritual benefits.

Criticism and controversy

Main article: 1993 Murders in Prashanthi Nilayam

Critics of Sai Baba have been met with strong and often violent opposition from devotee circles, especially in India. Sanal Edamaruku, the leader of the Indian Rationalist Association, said that the Indian media is scared of Sai Baba's political influence, emphasizing that critics of the movement are often attacked by devotees.

Basava Premanand, a person who has exposed gurus in the past, concluded in his research that Sai Baba is deceptive and sexually abusive. To date, Basava Premanand has sustained injuries for severe beatings, survived four murder attempts, and has had his house burgled three times.

Conny Larsson, a former devotee of 21 years claims to have been sexually abused by Sai Baba. He later broke away from the movement, outraged at witnessing the Baba's behaviour of a sexual nature with a young boy. Once outside of the movement, Larsson expressed worry over being mistreated by current followers of the movement, and said that devotees circulated slanderous accusations that he was a pedophile.

The secretary of the Puttaparthi ashram, K. Chakravarthi, refused to comment on the accusations. A spokesman for the BBC told Asian Voice that the documentary had gone to great lengths to be balanced and fair, but that as the research developed it became clear that the story was one of a crisis and 'ultimately a betrayal of faith.'.

Allegations of Sexual Abuse

In 2004 the BBC aired the documentary titled Secret Swami in the United Kingdom. The documentary covered the allegations and experiences of former devotees. The BBC team states that they discovered that there are a number of former devotees who have turned away the from Sai Baba claiming that he ruined their lives. In the documentary Alaya Rahm, who was brought up as a devotee by his parents, recounts his experience of being sexually abused by the swami: "I remember him saying, if you don't do what I say, your life will be filled with pain and suffering. And that’s a pretty heavy thing to hear being sixteen and God’s telling you do what I say or your life is going to be full of pain and suffering." In what the BBC states was as "an intimate and powerful" portrait, Alaya's family discusses how they became devotees and how they were betrayed. The documentary also touches upon the experience of Mark Roche. Roche, who first heard of the Baba in 1969 and had devoted twenty-five years of his life to the movement, recounts his experience of suffering sexual abuse in the hands of the Baba. BBC states that "Genuine Sai Baba followers like the Rahm family have had their faith shattered in the most disturbing manner. The man they believed to be God was repeatedly sexually abusing their son. All over the world similar stories are emerging from former devotees. Governments around the world are deeply concerned and are beginning to take action warning their citizens about Sai Baba." According to a BBC reporter, so many western devotees have undergone genital oiling by Sai Baba that they have come to believe it is some religious ritual. Indian writer Khushwant Singh reacts to this by saying that this genital oiling is not part of any Indian tradition and that there is no basis to the claim whatsoever. The documentary was also broadcast in Australia and ,by the CBC, in Canada.

The documentary Seduced By Sai Baba, produced by Denmark's national television and radio broadcaster Danish radio was aired in Denmark, Australia and Norway. The documentary carried interviews in which former long-term devotees who recount sexual abuse at Sai Baba's hands.

Ex-devotees have contacted the FBI, Interpol, the Indian Supreme Court and a host of other agencies, hoping for help in their battle against the guru. A California man named Glen Meloy, who spent 26 years as a Sai devotee, sought to organize a class-action lawsuit against Sai Organization leaders in America, modeled on the one launched against the Hare Krishnas. His faith was shattered when he was shown excerpts from the diary of his close friend's 15-year-old son, detailing several incidents of molestation. The child of devotees, the boy had been raised to worship Sai Baba as a God, and obliged when the master reportedly ordered his disciple to suck his penis. "You've got all these kids who are scared to death to do anything that will do disrespect to their parents, in a room with someone they believe to be the creator of the whole universe," said Meloy, his voice choked with fury. "This isn't just any child abuse; this is God himself claiming to do this." According to The Times, a complaint was lodged with India's Central Bureau of Investigation on March 12, 2001 but there has been no apparent result.

Hari Sampath, an Indian software professional now living in Chicago and a former volunteer in the ashram's security service, is petitioning India's Supreme Court to order the central government to investigate Sai Baba. His greatest concern is for Sai Baba's Indian victims, who generally have a much more difficult time speaking out than Westerners do. During his time at Prasanthi Nilayam, he said, many students at the ashram's college told him they were pressured to have sex with the guru. "I've spoken to 20 or 30 boys who have been abused, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. There are 14-year-old kids made to live in his room and made to think it's a blessing. In most cases, their parents have been followers for 20 years and are not going to believe them," Sampath said by phone from Chicago. "Westerners have little to lose by coming forward. The Indians have to go on living among Sai Baba devotees." Sampath also wants the American government to intervene, on the grounds that "American citizens have been knowing about this abuse and taking American boys to Puttaparthi and feeding them to him."

In 2000 UNESCO withdrew its cosponsorship of an education conference in Puttaparthi, explaining that it was "deeply concerned about widely reported allegations of sexual abuse involving youths and children that have been leveled at the leader of the movement in question, Sathya Sai Baba."

After Conny Larsson, a Swedish film star who once traveled the world speaking of Sai Baba's miracles, went public about his coerced sexual relations with the guru, the Sai Organization in Sweden was shut down, along with a Sai-affiliated school. A cover story in the weekly magazine India Today reports that following a story in Brtain's Daily Telegraph, "Labour MP Tony Colman raised the issue in Parliament. A former home office minister, Tom Sackville, also took up the matter, saying, 'The authorities have done little so far and that is regrettable.' There is a movement now to urge the British Government to issue warnings to people wanting to visit Baba's ashram."

According to Michelle Goldberg, the fact that the Baba has high ranking Indian politicians as his supporters and the purported charity works associated with the baba help to explain why he has not been brought into a court of law in India. The Indian consulate website states that crime victims must file charges with the police. Goldberg states though rumors of chicanery and worse swirl around all these ventures, even Sai Baba's critics admit that he has eased some of the region's suffering. "God or a fraud, no one doubts the good work done by the Sai organization," wrote the Illustrated Weekly of India

In an article that was published in the India Today magazine in December 2000, it was stated that no complaints had been filed against Sathya Sai Baba by any alleged victim, in India. The magazine stated they are in possession of an affidavit signed by Jens Sethi (an ex-devotee) and reported that he filed a complaint with the police in Munich.

The website of the American Embassy in Delhi, in a direct reference to Sai Baba, warned Americans visiting Andhra Pradesh of a "local religious leader" who reportedly engages in "inappropriate sexual behavior" with young male devotees. The embassy stated that "most of the reports indicate that the subjects of these approaches have been young male devotees, including a number of U.S. citizens."

According to The Times Michael Pender an HIV patient went to India hoping that he would be cured by Sai Baba. Later he commited suicide and was found dead in a hostel for homeless in North London. According to evidence posted on the internet, Keith Ord, the son of the person who had first introduced him to Sathya Sai Baba's teachings, Pender had been repeatedly sexually abused by the guru.. The Times also repeated that two other britons commited suicide and one of them wanted the Guru's a cure for his psychological problems.

The Guardian and DNA note that a travel warning was issued by the US State Department about reports of "inappropriate sexual behavior by a prominent local religious leader", which officials confirm is a direct reference to Sai Baba. The Guardian further expressed concerns over a contingent of 200 youths travelling to the Baba's ashram in order to gain their Duke of Edinburgh Awards.

"Sai Baba was my God -- who dares to refuse God? He was free to do whatever he wanted to do with me; he had my trust, my faith, my love and my friendship; he had me in totality", says Iranian-American former follower Said Khorramshahgol. What Sai Baba chose to do with him, Khorramshahgol says, was to repeatedly call him into private interviews and order him to drop his pants and massage his penis.

The Daily Telegraph reported, in October 2000, of the allegations. The article touched upon the testimony of several ex-devotees and their children who shared their experience of sexual abuse by the baba. Koert van der Velde, a reporter for Dutch newspaper Trouw, noted that Sathya Sai Baba apparently started forbidding his devotees to not look at the internet after the allegations arose. In the years 1999 and 2000, Sai Baba has repeatedly belittled internet and technology and discouraged its use.

The Vancouver Sun notes that with "the sex scandal rapidly being unveiled on various Internet sites and in a few newspapers, Sai Baba has told his adherents, whose numbers range from 10 million to 50 million, depending on whom you talk to, not to sign on to the World Wide Web."

The BBC states that "The scale of the abuse has caused alarm around the world. In Sweden a Sai Baba school closed down after disturbing revelations from a young boy." The Swedish wing of the organization also closed down shortly following the allegations and exposés.

Political row

In January 2007, Sathya Sai Baba found himself embroiled in a political row after his remarks opposing the proposed partition of Andhra Pradesh as a "great sin", claiming that there was no demand from the people to bifurcate the state into Telangana and Andhra states. The comments caused an outcry among pro-Telangana activists who angrily voiced their protests in street marches and attacks on the Sivam building, Sathya Sai Baba's temple in Hyderabad, which was staffed by a few followers. Shouting anti-Sai Baba slogans, the protestors pulled down a large picture of Sai Baba and trampled on it before taking it outside and setting it on fire. An effigy of Sathya Sai Baba was also reported to have been burnt, and twenty protestors were arrested following several police complaints.

A number of political figures criticised Sathya Sai Baba including K. Chandrasekhar Rao, leader of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi and former Union Minister, who suggested that Sathya Sai Baba should restrict himself to religious functions and not involve himself in politics. Sai Baba's followers responded by calling a 'bandh' in which shops and business establishments were shut down to protest against the remarks of the Telangana leaders, and effigies of the critics were set alight. K. Kesava Rao, President of the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee, maintained that Sathya Sai Baba's comments had been "misinterpreted" and that the remark was not political. Digvijay Singh, Congress secretary-general, disagreed with suggestions that Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy could have instigated Sathya Sai Baba to make his statement, and confirmed that his party approved plans for the creation of a separate Telangana state. "With due respect to Sai Baba we can say that the work for setting up the second state reorganisation commission will go on," he said.

Raising of funds

Central to the activities if the Sai organization is raising of funds which, the organization claims, are used for charity. According to an article by the Indian news-agency Thehelka, all donations to the Sathya Sai Central Trust have been given tax exemptions and the total value of the Sai Baba's recorded assets, movable and immovable, both within the country and abroad, is Rs 5,000 crores (approx. 1 billion USD), "give or take a bit". The article states that every year, the Sathya Sai Central Trust is bloated with donations worth approximately Rs 65 crore. It also has about Rs 130 crore in fixed deposits (FD) and other term deposits all over the world. The trust has so far raised about Rs 385 crore in the form of loans for some of the Sai Baba's projects.

According to The Times:"Sai Baba is being challenged on another more prosaic front. Questions are being asked about the fundraising techniques employed by his followers. Some are accused of targeting vulnerable rich people and claiming that the miracle worker might be able to cure the afflictions of old age." The Times reported on the case of Clarissa Mason, the second wife of the film star James Mason: "When Clarissa died of cancer in 1994, she willed a large part of her late husband's £13 million estate to the cult, although, due to a dispute with Mason's children, Portland and Morgan, who contend that the estate was not hers to will in the first place, it will be some time before the cult can hope to see any of the Mason millions. Clarissa Mason believed utterly in the powers of Sai Baba, filling her house near Lake Geneva with pictures of the "godman". Her legacy has gone to a trust whose beneficiaries are believed by Mason's children to include a follower of Sai Baba." Joseph Edamaruku states: " He raises enormous amounts of money from India and around the world. We do not believe claims that it is spent on hospitals and charitable works."

Responses to Criticism

The Pioneer newspaper published an article about the false and smear allegation campaigns on Sathya Sai Baba. Reports from The Pioneer said that an insidious smear campaign against Sathya Sai Baba quietly fizzled out when Channel Nine MSN removed a biased anti-Baba broadcast from its official Website. The Pioneer said the reasons for removing the video were due to legitimate complaints about the disinformation in the video. The Pioneer has published the details of the failed Alay Rahm sexual allegation case on Sathya Sai Baba. Alay Rahm allegations on Sathya Sai Baba gained media attention and was covered in the BBC documentary and later in Seduced By Sai Baba and in Secret Swami. It was also published in Britain The Daily Telegraph and in India India Today.

The Pioneer reported that Alaya Rahm’s had filed sexual abuse allegations against Sai Baba in the Superior Court of California on January 6, 2005. On April 7 Rahm withdrew his lawsuit. Though it gained publicity his claims were not thoroughly investigated until the lawsuit was filed. The Pioneer sought to cast doubt on Rahm's credibility, saying that Rahm and members of his family had publicly provided "enthusaistic praise of Baba" during the time at which the alleged sexual abuse took place. Also it says that during the lawsuit Alay Rahm admitted to daily using illegal street drugs and alcohol from 1995 to 2005 when he claimed his allegations and also during the filming of the BBC Documentary Secret Swami and the Danish Documentary Seduced By Sai Baba. . The Pioneer also reported that Alay Rahm never sought medical or psychiatric treatment for alleged trauma and could not itemise any wage losses. And no other alleged victim came forward to testify in support of his allegations. The Pioneer also reported that no offers of settlement were made and no money or other consideration was paid to Alay Rahm. And under international doctrine of res judicatahm Alay Rahm can never file another lawsuit against Sathya Sai Baba, in the US or in India, for the same claims made in this case.

Sathya Sai Organisation officials and followers response

During an interview with Asian Voice magazine Ashok Bhagani, a trustee of the Sai Organization in the UK, said that the allegations in the Secret Swami BBC documentary were baseless. Bhagani said that devotees never meet Baba alone. . A spokesman for the BBC told Asian Voice that the documentary had gone to great lengths to be balanced and fair, but that as the research developed it became clear that the story was one of a crisis and 'ultimately a betrayal of faith. However, in the Asian Voice interview Navin Patel shared his positive experiences as a biochemistry student at the Sathya Sai Arts College in Bangalore during the 1970s. He said he studied there long enough, and visited the ashram many times, to know that these allegations were untrue. He felt that the documentary was very misleading and was biased and did not interview any Indian or British devotee. Asian Voice also stated that another devotee, Gitaben Shah said that Sai Baba motto is particularly evident in the charitable works that he has orchestrated of building several schools and the Super Speciality hospitals in Puttaparthi and Bangalore, and the large water project he initiated in Bangalore in the 1990s.

Devotee Bill Aitken (traveller) was quoted by The Week as saying that Sathya Sai Baba's reputation has not been harmed by the negatize stories published about the guru. In his opinion, the more detractors rail against Sai Baba, the more new devotees will flock to see him.

In the Divine Downfall published in the Daily Telegraph Prof.AnilKumar, the ex-Principal of the Sathya Sai educational Institute said that he believed that the controversy is part of Baba's divine plan and that every great religious teacher had to face criticism in his/her lifetime. AnilKumar also said that allegations have been leveled at Sai Baba since childhood, but with every criticism he becomes more and more triumphant.

In an official letter released to the general public, in December 2001, A.B. Vajpayee (then Prime Minister of India), P.N. Bhagawati (Former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India), Ranganath Misra (Chair Person, National Human Rights Commissioner of India and Former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India), Najma Heptulla (President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union; UNDP Distinguished Human Development Ambassador) and Shivraj_Patel (Member of Parliament, India; Formerly of the Lok Sabha & Union Minister) all signed a letter which stated as follows "We are deeply pained and anguished by the wild, reckless and concocted allegations made by certain vested interests and people against Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. We would normally expect that responsible media would ascertain the true facts before printing such calumny - especially when the person is revered globally as an embodiment of love and selfless service to humanity. Since this professional ethic has not been observed by a section of the media, we have elected to go public with this signed statement."

The Times Of India article dated 26 December 2000 said that Sathya Sai Baba lashed out at his detractors referring to the criticism printed in a magazine, the newspaper quoted him saying as follows “Jesus christ underwent many hardships and was put to the cross because of jealousy. Many around him could not bear the good work he did and the large number of followers he gathered. One of his disciples, judas betrayed him”. Further it says Baba said “Today there are thousands just as that judas was tempted to betray jesus, the judases of today too are bought out to lie. Jealousy was the motive behind the allegations levelled at him”.

Further reading

• Sathya Sai Baba Movement
• 1993 Murders in Prashanthi Nilayam

External Links

• BBC Documentary on Sai Baba. 'Secret Swami. (Google Video)

See also

• Bibliography of Sathya Sai Baba
• Bibliography of books about Sathya Sai Baba

Look also

• International Sai Organization
• Buddha Poornima in Prasanthi Nilayam

External links

• Online Resource: Sathya Sai Speaks Series