Sathya Sai Baba

Sathya Sai Baba (born circa 1923-1939 under the name Sathya Narayana Raju) is a popular but controversial Indian guru who has followers and Sathya Sai Baba groups in many countries. When he was in his teens he claimed to be the reincarnation of the fakir Shirdi Sai Baba and subsequently took the fakir's name. He says that he is an avatar (incarnation) of Shiva and Shakti and an embodiment of love with divine powers like omniscience and omnipotence.

In his ashram he manifests daily vibuthi (holy ash) and small objects like rings and watches, seemingly out of nothing and from nowhere, that he claims to materialize. His followers attribute many other miracles to him. He preaches a rather traditional but syncretistic form of Hinduism with a strict morality. At the same time he teaches the unity of all major world religions and says that they all lead to God. His followers and the organizations that he founded are involved in many charity projects.

Critics like the skeptic Basava Premanand and ex-follower David Bailey think that these materializations are done by sleight of hand and believe that he has inappropriate sexual relations with young men and boys.

History

Sai Baba was born between 1923 and 1939 as Sathyanarayana Raju, in or across the river from the village Puttaparthi in the state Andhra Pradesh of India. Devotees honor his birth day as 23 November 1926. His mission started in the early 1940s.

Many visitors to Puttaparthi were stimulated by stories of miracles allegedly performed by Baba. He then became even more popular due the character and integrity of those who told their own tales in print on their return to their native place. These stories attracted early spiritual seekers from the West, such as Americans, John Hislop, Arnold Schulman, psychiatrist Samuel Sandweiss, as well as the Australian Howard Murphet, all of whom visited the guru, examined him and his teachings and activities, and then wrote books about their experiences. In turn, these books inspired other spiritual seekers to also visit and examine Sathya Sai Baba in person.

The Guru became increasingly popular and by the late 1960s westerners started to visit him. Devotee numbers as of 2004 are estimated to be well over 1 million, predominantly in India and people of Indian ethnic origin. In Nordic countries and the Netherlands, numbers fell after 2000 due to negative publicity about Baba.

At present several hundreds of books have been published about Sathya Sai Baba

Teachings

Main article Beliefs and practices in the Sathya Sai Organisation

Primary teachings are:

*Love - for all.

*Service - to others.

*Put a ceiling on your desires.

*The world is an illusion (maya), only God is real.

*Every person is God in form, though most do not experience this as their reality.

*Meditation – Baba teaches two techniques, ‘’ so ham’’ (a concentration technique) and #8216;’jyoti’’ (a Light meditation).

*Inclusive acceptance of all religions as paths to realizing the One (God).

*Ahimsa (non-violence), shanti (peace), dharma (right conduct, living in accord with natural law), and satya (truth).

Practices

His popularity (despite opponents, see section below) and the donations by followers have enabled Sathya Sai Baba and his organizations to build an ever-increasingly big ashram near the once poor and isolated village of Puttaparthi.

Sathya Sai Baba resides much of the time in his main ashram called Prashanthi Nilayam (abode of peace) at Puttaparthi. In the hot summer the guru leaves for his other ashram called Brindavan in Whitefield (sometimes called Kadugodi), a town on the outskirts of Bangalore.

He is an excellent orator in his native language Telugu, and also speaks passable Tamil. He claims to be the Kali Yuga purna avatar (full divine incarnation of this era) of Lord Shiva and Shakti. He says that he is omniscient, omnipotent, able to create matter from mere thought. He also stresses he is free from desires. He preaches love and the unity of all religions. Sai Baba claims to be pure divine love. This claim is scientifically supported by Dr Frank Baranowski of the University of Arizona, an expert in Kirlian photography, who says that any love in a person shows a blue colour in their aura and that the blue of Sai Baba’s is “practically limitless” -- and far larger than that of a hundred other Indian holy men whose auras Baranowski also photographed.

Baba asserts that he is a self-realized master, an avatar of God, and a reincarnation of Lord Rama, of Sri Krishna, and of Shirdi Sai Baba. Many of his followers say he is the primary avatar of our times.

Sai Baba has left India only once for a visit to Uganda in 1968.

He can be seen in person to perform what he claims are miracles daily in the form of materializations of small objects, for example jewelry such as bracelets, rings, watches and especially vibhuti (holy ash) and kum kum. He says that he can heal diseases of his devotees sometimes by his spiritual power and sometimes by taking on the disease himself. There is anecdotal evidence that supports this claim. Followers attribute many miracles to him which they witness in his presence and in their own countries, like spontaneous vibhuti manifestations on the pictures of the guru in their homes, and bilocation the appearance of Sai Baba in their own presence while he is also in another place. Followers also report that he has materialized out-of-season fruit several times. He says he performs these miracles to attract people and then to transform them spiritually.

He teaches a rather traditional but syncretistic form of Hinduism that come from many sects and movements including advaita, occasionally drawing from other religions like Buddhism, Sikhism, and Christianity. In spite of his claim to be a reincarnation of Shirdi Sai Baba, a spiritual leader who blended Islam and Hinduism in his teachings, he teaches no Muslim or Christian rituals. He says that he has come to restore faith in, and the practice of the Vedas.

One important practice in his ashrams is darshan (spiritual sight). During darshan Sathya Sai Baba walks among his followers. He may listen to a few chosen persons, accept letters, or materialize and distribute vibhuti (sacred ash of Lord Shiva). Sathya Sai Baba claims that his darshan has spiritual benefits for those who attend it. Usually people wait hours to get a good place for darshan. Sathya Sai Baba sometimes invites people for a group interview with him in a room in the ashram 's mandir (Hindu temple). Followers consider it a great privilege to get such an interview. Sometimes a person from this group is invited for a private interview.

Across the globe local Sathya Sai Baba groups assemble to sing bhajans (devotional songs), study Sathya Sai Baba's teachings, do collective community service (called seva), and teach Education in Human Values (Sai ''Sunday School''. His followers generally do not proselytize. Bhajans are sung on nearly every meeting.

Organizations

He has founded a number of educational institutions and charitable hospitals, most notably the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning and the Sri Sathya Institute of Higher Medicine, located within or near the main ashrams and Anantapur town. [8] These organizations seek to provide free education and health care to the public.

His Educare (formerly called Education in Human Values) programme seeks to found schools in all countries with the explicit goal to educate children in the five human values and spirituality. Schools have already been founded in Canada (Toronto), Zambia, Australia, the United States, and several in India. As all these operations are public, activists online often use that information to email nearby citizens of what they see as a danger. In this way, the school in Denmark was blocked.

Sathya Sai Organisation official logo

All the local Sai Samithis (Sathya Sai Baba groups) are part of a hierarchical structure called the Sathya Sai Organisation. The chairman of the organisation is Michael Goldstein of the USA. The logo of the Sathya Sai organization is a stylized lotus flower with the text of the so-called five human values, highly influenced by not only Hinduism but also Jainism and Buddhism, in its petals. These values are sathya (truth), dharma (right conduct), ahimsa (non-violence), prema (love) and shanti (peace). This text version has replaced the old logo with the symbols of the 5 or 6 world religions in the petals.

The Sri Sathya Sai central trust was founded in 1972 and is mainly involved in charity such as the Rayalaseema water project. The trust has tax exempt status and is a major recipient of donations from abroad though Baba and his organizations rarely explicitly solicit for donations. All donations and expenditures are a matter of record which are legally documented by the bank holding the sums. [9] The trust organization has made large contributions to the drinking water projects for the whole of the Anantapur district in Andhra Pradesh and Chennai.

The Sri Sathya Sai Books and Publications Trust is the official publisher of the Sathya Sai Organisation. It publishes the international monthly magazine called Sanathana Sarathi. In various nations similar publication trusts maintain in their own native language.

Sceptics and Opponents

Main article Allegations against Sathya Sai Baba

Sceptics say claims about Sai Baba are unproven or false. They say that his “miracles” are performed by sleight of hand; his devotees have imagined his bilocation “appearances”; his reincarnation claims are dubious and unverified; his teachings are unoriginal and unremarkable; and that his charity projects are but a front for money-laundering and other personal gain. Some ex-devotees including the American Glen Meloy accuse him of being a cult leader who uses mind control, and propaganda and who has created a personality cult to garner money and fame. Other critics say that school records revealed several different birth dates for the boy (under his original name Sathyanarayana Raju) and suggest that he invented the 23 November, 1926 day of birth because on 24 November, 1926 the Indian guru Sri Aurobindo said that the Divine had descended on earth. Another critic, ex-devotee and retired philosophy professor Robert Priddy from Norway has pointed out that Sathya Sai Baba's assertions about magnetism differ greatly from generally accepted science. (Devotees, however, suggest that it may be science, not Sai Baba, that is ignorant.) There are also critics who allege that he has sexual relations with young men and boys among his followers, and has done so for more than sixty years. Meloy (and others) say that some thirty-odd ex-devotees have notorized petitions that they have had a sexually unwelcome unpleasant experience with Sai Baba at his insistance (contrary to Baba’s claim to be a desireless avatar). No court of law has verified any claim of sexual abuse by Baba. Supporters of Baba say the allegations are baseless rumours created with the malicious intention of sabotaging the Guru’s work. A critical front page article in December 2002 in India Today magazine was called "A God accused". An even more critical TV documentary "Seduced By Sai Baba", produced by the Danish national TV station, has been aired in Denmark, Norway and Australia. The New York Times published a rather positive article on the guru. [28] Critics include the Indian atheist and skeptic Basava Premanand ("Lure of miracles" and "Divine Octopus") [10], and the Welsh ex-devotee musician David Bailey who compiled the (“The Findings”) in the year 2000. This document shocked followers worldwide.

The media and governments

Several media articles have appeared on the guru. One of the most important critical articles was a front page article in the nationwide India Today magazine called "A God accused" on 4 December, 2000. In December 2002 the New York Times published a rather positive article on the guru without mentioning the allegations at all. [28] There was also an extremely critical TV documentary "Seduced By Sai Baba", produced by Denmark's national television and radio broadcaster Danish Radio aired in Denmark Australia and Norway.

The Indian President Abdul Kalam and especially the Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee visit the ashram and pay respect to the guru. Vajpayee has written a letter in defence of Sathya Sai Baba that has been published on the internet. [32]

Views on the guru

Not surprizingly, there are several highly oppposing views on the guru.

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 directly, for example answers to prayers which they attribute to him or clairvoyance during an interview. Hence quite a lot of ex-followers believe that while he has siddhis (psychic abilities) it is only because he is a powerful demon, or is the Antichrist.ws.

Other ex-followers such as David Bailey and Hari Sampath, an Indian national now residing in the USA, consider Baba a cheat and believe that some of the miracles are real but are mistakenly attributed to Sathya Sai Baba. They believe that when a follower prays to Baba while having faith that he is God, God will listen to his prayer, in spite of his mistaken belief.

Skeptics such as Premanand believe him to be an out and out cheater and charlatan while his followers are but gullible at worst, naive at best, and are all suffering from the true-believer syndrome (belief in supernatural explanations for events caused by wishful thinking in spite of proof of natural explanations). He compares Baba’s charity with that of the notorious cult leader Jim Jones who also engaged in charity and gained acceptance from society thereby.

Tal Brooke who is an evangelical Christian sees him as a false prophet, as predicted in the Bible.

Anti-cult activists consider Baba just one of many cult leaders with the usual sexual abuse, false claims about himself, false miracles, propaganda, mind control, and misappropriation of funds to enrich the coterie at the top of the organization.

Finally, the view of the followers on the guru, is identical to the claims made by Baba about himself. They believe that the allegations are just passing clouds that have accompanied the lives of all avatars.

References

See for more reference the other two main articles concerning Sathya Sai Baba.

3. Nagel, A A guru Accused - Sai Baba, from Avatar to Homo-paedophile (August 2001) http://tinyurl.com/2nexl
8. http://www.srisathyasai.org.in/pages/instts/HighLearn.htm
9. Yesodharan, Devi in the India Times http://www.saiguru.net/english/news/031022charitybigbusiness.htm
10. Indian Skeptic http://www.indian-skeptic.org/html/is_books.htm

28. Bradsher, Keith in the New York Times Sathya Sai Baba A Friend in India to All the World (December 1st, 2002) http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/2002/Sri-Sathya-Sai-Baba.htm

Books for Sai Baba

Goldthwait, John “Purifying the Heart” (2002) ISBN 81-7208-339-4
Guillemin, Madeleine “Who is in the Driving Seat?” (2000) ISBN 0-9583617-0-3
Hislop, John My Baba and I ISBN 81-7208-050-6
Kasturi, Narayana Sathyam Sivam Sundaran Part I, II, III & IV available online in Microsoft Word format
Krystal, Phyllis “The Ultimate Experience” ISBN 81-7208-038-7
Murphet, Howard Man of Miracles (1971) 0333-91770-7
Sandweiss, Samuel H. The holy man ..... and the psychiatrist (1975) ISBN 0-9600958-1-0
Sandweiss, Samuel H “Spirit and the Mind” (1985) ISBN 81-7208-056-5
Thomas, Joy “Life is a Game – Play it” ISBN 81-7208-175-8

Sathya Sai Baba Many online books

Books by Sceptics and Critics

Beyerstein, Dale Dr. (1994) Sai Baba's miracles: an overview available online
Brooke, Tal Avatar of the Night [1]
Brown, Mick The Spiritual Tourist (1998) ISBN 1-58234-034-X Bloomsbury Publising
Haraldsson, Erlendur PhD 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 (1997 revised and updated edition) ISBN 81-86822-32-1
Premanand, Basava The Murders in Sai Baba's bedroom
Schulman, Arnold Baba (1971) Out of print but available in some public libraries

External links

Websites of followers

Websites of critics and critical articles