Sathya Sai Baba
Bhagwan Sri Sathya Sai Baba is an Indian guru who has a global following with devotees from all over the world and Sai Samithis (Sathya Sai Baba groups) in many countries. He was born under the name Sathya Narayana Raju. He claims to have been born on 23 November, 1926 but according to his school register, he was born in 1929. He is an excellent orator in his native language Telugu.
He resides much of the time in his main ashram called Prashanthi Nilayam (abode of peace) at Puttaparthi, Andhra Pradesh, India. He also has an ashram in Whitefield (sometimes called Kadugodi), a town on the outskirts of Bangalore.
Beliefs and practices
Sathya Sai Baba claims to be an incarnation of Lord Shiva and a re-incarnation of Shirdi Sai Baba. He says that he is omniscient, omnipotent and free from desires. He preaches love and the unity of all religions. He says that all religions lead to God and that followers should continue to follow their original religions. He says that he will make Christians better Christians and Hindus better Hindus, etc.
His rather traditional Hindu teachings come from many sects of Hinduism including advaita. He proclaims that love is his form, and the only way man can emancipate himself is through self-less loving. He stresses the importance of sadhana (spiritual exercises) and says that there are three forms of meditation that are safe and lead quickly to liberation from ignorance and from the endless re-births due to karmic consequences. The forms are namasmarana (repetition of the name of God), light meditation (mental concentration on a bright light) and the so ham meditation (repeating the mantra "so ham" silently). He teaches the importance of bhakti (devotion) and that it grows more easily if one has an Ishta-Deva (chosen deity). For many devotees the Ishta-Deva is Sathya Sai Baba himself. He teaches a strict morality and the importance of renouncing worldly desires.
One important practice in his ashrams is darshan (visit), i.e., Sathya Sai Baba shows himself to his followers, accepts letters and materializes and distributes vibhuti (holy ash). Sathya Sai Baba claims that his darshan has spiritual benefits for people who attend it. Usually people wait hours to get a good place for darshan. During darshan Sathya Sai Baba invites people for a group interview with him in a room in the ashram 's temple. Among followers it is considered a great privilege to get such an interview. Sometimes a person from this group is invited for a private interview. He says that he cures diseases of his devotees sometimes by his spiritual power and sometimes by taking over the disease himself. He claims to materialize rings, vibhuti, etc., with spiritual powers.
He has revived the bhajan (devotional singing) culture in Hinduism. The local Sathya Sai Baba groups assemble to sing bhajans, study Sathya Sai Baba's teachings and the holy books of world religions. Besides they are often involved in community service that they call seva. His followers generally don't proselytize. They attribute many miracles to him that, they say, even happen in their own countries.
He runs a number of educational institutions and hospitals on charity. He has made large contributions to the drinking water project for the whole of Anantapur district, Andhra Pradesh.
The logo of the Sathya Sai organization is a styled lotus flower with the so called 5 human values in its petals i.e. sathya (truth), dharma (path of righteousness), ahimsa (non-violence), prema (love) and shanti (peace). It has replaced the old logo with the symbols of the 5 or 6 world religions in the petals.
Controversy
Sathya Sai Baba is the subject of intense controversy. He has been accused of being a cult leader that uses mind control and propaganda. Skeptics believe him to be a charlatan and his followers naive and suffering from the true-believer syndrome. Some allege that he is a homosexual and a paedophile and has had sex with his followers, and the students from his school and university during private interviews. These followers say that they have had a bad experience because of his behaviour. Several testimonies of this have been published on the internet. The first one to publish these allegations was the American Tal Brooke in his book Lord of the Air, later extended and called Avatar of the Night (published 1976).
One of his most long-standing critics is the Indian skeptic Basava Premanand who has published several critical books about him. He has also dragged Sathya Sai Baba to court alleging his violation of the Gold Control Act.
After the year 2000 the allegations against Sathya Sai Baba became louder, mainly because a Welsh musician, David Bailey, and his wife Faye Bailey became ex-followers and published the experiences, opinions, and testimonies of theirs as well as other ex-followers in a document called The Findings. This document was published on the internet [1] and a lot of followers were shocked and became ex-followers after reading it. For some long-time ardent followers, it took years to recover from the shock. Most ex-followers left silently but some became activists. The activists wrote letters and supported websites to warn others against Sathya Sai Baba. Usually they felt cheated, angry and betrayed and wanted Sathya Sai Baba to stop sexually abusing boys and young men.
On 6 June, 1993 six inmates of Prashanti Nilayam were killed in Sathya Sai Baba's bedroom. Four of them were assailants armed with knives, who were shot dead by the police. Initial reports by the police and media claimed this to be a failed attempt on the life of Sathya Sai Baba. Later the murders were attributed to internal squabbles in Prashanti Nilayam. Basava Premanand went to court accusing the police and the government for destroying evidence of the murders. The appeal was dismissed by the High Court.
The Australian scholar and ex-follower Brian Steel accuses the Sathya Sai Baba organization of editing the discourses to improve them which is rather peculiar for the discourses of a person who claims to be omniscient.
Ex-followers like Robert Priddy from Norway has pointed out that Sathya Sai Baba's assertions about magnetism differ greatly from generally accepted science. Robert Priddy also accuses him of having contradictions in his teachings and, in general, having major discrepancies between word and deed in a variety of subjects. He accuses the Sathya Sai organization of being unnecessarily secretive.
Critics claim that the materializations are fake and done by sleight of hand as, they say, can be seen on footage available on the internet. On the other hand, it is very difficult to find a rational explanation for some of the miracle stories. Some ex-followers believe in the truth of the allegations but at the same time refuse to retract the stories of miracles that they claim to have experienced which they attribute to him. Hence quite a lot of ex-followers believe that he has siddhis (psychic abilities) or is a powerful demon, or is the Antichrist. Other ex-followers believe that some of the miracles are real but mistakenly attributed to Sathya Sai Baba.
The documentary "Seduced By Sai Baba", first broadcast on January 30, 2002, has been screened several times in Denmark and Norway. The 54-minute documentary is from Denmark's national television and radio broadcaster Danish Radio and is extremely critical of Sathya Sai Baba.
The United States Department of State has issued a travel warning against Sathya Sai Baba under the section 'Crime in Andhra Pradesh' [2]. The warning however doesn't mention his name explicitly. Critical questions have been asked in the British Parliament and the European Parliament about Sathya Sai Baba.
Sathya Sai Baba says that his followers should not use the internet but focus instead on the innernet (i.e., follow spiritual practices). Critics use this admonition to show that Sathya Sai Baba wants to control the information that followers receive.
Refuting the allegations
Supporters claim the allegations are unproven and manufactured by industry cartels concerned about the effect of his teachings on their operations. Sathya Sai Baba himself has not give a detailed rebuttal of the allegations but has said that people who tell bad stories about him have been bribed or do this out of jealously. The followers point to the small number of first hand non-anonymous testimonies of sexual abuse by Sathya Sai Baba.
Besides they argue that a person who has the ability to perform miracles can never be a sinner because from the traditional Hindu literature it is a well known fact that one loses the ability to perform miracles if one has sinned. And after all, even some ex-followers believe him to perform miracles. It may be true that some materalizations are fake but many miracles remain as true as always.
Besides, they argue, one should judge a prophet by its fruits as Jesus said as written in the Bible. The fruits in terms of charity and personal transformation are facts and good. So the guru must be good. The allegations are not proven. So purely based on the weight of evidence one can trust Sathya Sai Baba.
According to the followers, Sathya Sai Baba is not a cult because it has typical non-cult characteristics like charity and tolerance towards other beliefs. Also it does not claim to be the only way to God and truth, and does not advocate proselytizing. Besides cults tell people to abandon their worldly duties and to severe ties with their families which is something Sathya Sai Baba explicitly said not to do.
The current Indian Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee has written a letter in defence of Sathya Sai Baba that has been published on the internet [3]. The current president of India Abdul Kalam visited the main ashram at least twice and made a speech at the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning on 22nd November, 2002.
Bibliography
Books by Sathya Sai Baba
- Rama Katha Rasavahini in Telugu translated into English by Narayana Kasturi
- Sathya Sai Speaks, many volumes (discourses that have been written down)
Books by followers about Sathya Sai Baba
- Sathyam Sivam Sundaran Part I,II & III Biography by Narayana Kasturi
Critical books about Sathya Sai Baba
- The Shambles in Sai Baba's bedroom by Basava Premanand
- Avatar of the Night by Tal Brooke
Miscellaneous
- Miracles are my visiting cards - An investigative inquiry on Sathya Sai Baba, an Indian mystic with the gift of foresight believed to perform modern miracles by Erlendur Haraldsson, PhD
Quotes
- Hands that help are holier than lips that pray.