Sathya Sai Baba movement

The beliefs and practices in the Sathya Sai Organisation, founded by the Indian guru Sathya Sai Baba can be characterized as a rather traditional but syncretistic form of Hinduism. Additionally believers have faith in the guru as an purna avatar ( full divine incarnation) of Shiva and Shakti who is predicted in the Bhagavad Gita. In non-Hindu terms, this means that his followers see him as God.

Overview

Most of his followers consider his many teaching as a divine revelation containing many good advices for daily life and sadhana (spiritual exercises). However, followers are generally aware that they can’t put into practice all his teachings at the same time, so many followers just choose from his teachings what they think is most important for them or what takes the least effort.

The popularity and the donations by followers have enabled Sathya Sai Baba and his organizations to build an ever-increasingly big ashram called Prashanthi Nilayam near the once poor and isolated village of Puttaparthi.

Sathya Sai Baba resides much of the time in his main ashram 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 and omnipresent and can create matter from mere thought. He also stresses he is free from desires. He his claims about being an incarnation of God down by saying that everybody is God but that only he realizes and experiences this fully.

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 those who follow his teachings will find themselves exampling their own original faith more fully, i.e. that will make Christians become better Christians and Hindus better Hindus, et cetera.

He says that the will reincarnate again in this century as Prema Sai Baba to finish the spiritual transformation of the world, starting with India, that his previous and current incarnations have begun. [5] He has said that he will die after he has become 93 years old but there is no official statement for the popular belief among followers that he will die when he is 95 years old (96 according to Indian counting). [7]

He 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 these trinkets have symbolic value and offer the owners protection by reminding them of his protecting powers when in danger.

Baba has said that all his acts have meaning and significance. So many followers interpret the acts and saying of the guru as teachings, sometimes even as personal teachings. Some followers, especially in the ashram, attribute coincidences to Baba’s will and try to find a sometimes hidden meaning in them.

He says that he can heals 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. This claim attract physically or mentally ill people.

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.

Several visitors to one of the ashrams have reported that they have witnessed an aura around the guru. These people included the psychic late Frank Baranowski and some other non-devotees. Baranowski said that the aura of the Sathya Sai Baba was much bigger and purer than that of other holy men of India.

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. As a result his teachings stress few changes in traditional Hindu thought or philosophies. He says that a very important way a person can emancipate oneself is through self-less service to ones fellow man (seva).

He stresses the importance of sadhana (Hindu spiritual exercises) and says that there are three forms of meditation that are safe and lead quickly to moksha (liberation from ignorance and from the endless re-births due to karmic consequences). The forms are namasmarana ('remembrance of the name' [of God], usually through repetition), light-meditation (mental concentration on a steady light) and the so ham-meditation (repeating the mantra "so ham" silently-- so means He and ham means I, namely that The Lord and I are one. Baba says that other forms of meditation are a waste of time and can even be dangerous.

Some of his exhortations are to put a ceiling on desires. By this, he seems to mean that followers should not waste time and money. He teaches that the world is just maya , that only God is real and that the seeming diversity of all life is another illusion. All life is one, he says. The meaning of life is to experience this oneness with God and other living beings. He advocates vegetarianism and total abstinence from alcohol.

Sathya Sai Baba teaches the importance of Bhakti yoga (Hindu devotion through selfless service) and that it grows more easily if one has an Ishta-Deva (chosen personal form of the divine). For many devotees the Ishta-Deva is Sathya Sai Baba himself. He teaches a strict morality and the importance of renouncing worldly desires so as to free the intellect of distraction while attuning the conscience to a deeper more personal involvement with the divine nature.

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). Baba says that concentration on the name of God with the help of bhajans will easily lead to concentration on God and to bigger devotion. Bhajans are sung on nearly every meeting. In addition they study Sathya Sai Baba's teachings and the holy books of the various world religions. More obvious to outsiders however is the fact they are often involved in community service that they call seva. His followers generally do not proselytize.

The existing beliefs and practices in the new religious movement are not always endorsed by the guru and his organizations. The reason for this is that the guru and his organizations are quite tolerant and take little effort to refute rumors or distortions of the guru’s teachings. Some followers don’t accept all his extraordinary claims but instead prefer to see him as just a sage and saint who has some siddhic (psychic) powers.

Many of his followers come from tribal superstitious groups but also include the educated middle and elite classes, among whom are some high ranking writers, educators, doctors, and politicians.

References

1. Kasturi, Narayana Sathyam Sivam Sundaram Part I available online in Microsoft Word format
2. Dadlani, Sanjay K. Sai Baba Shiva or Sadhaka? http://home.hetnet.nl/~ex-baba/engels/articles/sanjay.htm and Steel, Brian Arnold Schulman's Baba - an Embarrassment for the SSO? http://bdsteel.tripod.com/More/Schulman.htm
3. Padmanaban, R. Love is My Form
4. Steel, Brian More Circumstantial Evidence about SB's Date of Birth (April 2002) http://bdsteel.tripod.com/More/Dob.htm
5. Steel, Brian 1940-1945: the Need to Revise the Official Sathya Sai Baba Story (2004) http://bdsteel.tripod.com/More/1940.htm
6. Sathya Sai Baba/Sathya Sai Organisation (6 July 1963) http://www.sathyasai.org/discour/1963/d630706.htm
7. Priddy, Robert Information about Sri Sathya Sai Baba of India (1998) http://home.no.net/anir/Sai/Sai1.html

Bibliography

Brown, Mick The Spiritual Tourist (1998) ISBN 1-58234-034-X Bloomsbury Publising
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 [http://www.saibabalinks.org/booksaibaba.htm Many online books
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
Padmanaban, R. Love is My Form Sai Towers (October 2000)
Sandweiss, Samuel H. The holy man ..... and the psychiatrist (1975)
Sathya Sai Baba Many online books
Sathya Sai Baba Gita vahini, online book
Sathya Sai Baba Rama Katha Rasavahini, translated into English by Narayana Kasturi available online
Sathya Sai Baba Sathya Sai Speaks, Volumes I-. Many of these public discourses have been published on the internet Adobe acrobat PDF files
Schulman, Arnold Baba (1971) Out of print but available in some public libraries

Sathya Sai Baba movement

Overview

References

Bibliography

External links

Websites of followers

Websites of critics and critical articles