Sathya Sai Baba: Encyclopedia II - Sathya Sai Baba - Opposition controversy and allegations

Sathya Sai Baba - Opposition controversy and allegations

Main article Allegations against Sathya Sai Baba

Because of SSB's extraordinary claims, his popularity, and his reputation as a prolific miracle worker, he was and is one of the favorite targets of criticism by rationalists and skeptics. For example, in 1976 the physicist rationalist and then the vice chancellor of Bangalore University Dr. H. Narasimhaiah who founded and chaired The Committee to Investigate Miracles and Other Verifiable Superstitions publicly challenged Sathya Sai Baba to perform his miracles under controlled circumstances, a challenge which Sathya Sai Baba ignored. The committee exposed a boy called Sai Krishna that, according to the committee, had SSB’s endorsement as a fraud. SSB said in one of his rare interviews with the press (Blitz magazine September 1976) that he had no connection to Sai Krishna and that he found the attitude of the committee improper and that the committee did not understand spiritual life. As a result of this episode, a public debate about SSB raged for months in Indian newspapers.^[14] The Canadian skeptic Dr. Dale Beyerstein concluded in 1994 in his extensive literature study of SSB's claims and miracles that SSB's extraordinary claims needed extraordinary evidence and that SSB provided insufficient evidence to support them.^[15] The 1995 TV documentary "Guru Busters" by UK's Channel 4 accused the guru of faking his materializations. The magazine India Today published on 4 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. The skeptic and amateur magician Basava Premanand asserted that he has been investigating SSB since 1968. He also asserted he was a member of the Sathya Sai Organisation between 1968 until 1974 and showed in the 2004 BBC documentary Secret Swami that he could produce some of the same acts as SSB that the latter presents as miracles, such as materializations by sleight of hand and the production of a lingam from his mouth by regurgitation. Critics such as David C. Lane and SSB’s former followers have footage of his alleged materialization on their websites that they consider at least suspicious and at most evidence of fraud. ^[16]

In 1986 Premanand and K. N. Balagopal, a rationalist advocate in the Supreme Court of India, filed a court complaint against Sathya Sai Baba for allegedly violating the now repealed Gold Control Act that imposed restrictions on the "manufacture, possession, sale and transfer of gold" since Sathya Sai Baba "materialized" gold ornaments to be given to devotees. High Court Judge Justice Y.V. Anjaneyulu, a follower of SSB, dismissed the complaint citing that an article materialized by spiritual powers cannot be said to have been manufactured, prepared or processed. [17]

On June 6, 1993 four people who were armed with knives were killed after they had intruded in Sai Baba's bedroom. The intruders had killed two aides of Sai Baba. The incident was widely published in the Indian press, but the main body of Indian journalists investigating the "ashram murders" were unable to obtain more than very sparse information on the Central Trust's accounts and dealings. SSB claimed in his 1993 Gurupurnima discourse on July 3 that jealousy among his followers was behind the incident without giving a detailed explanation of the events. [18] The former Secretary of the Home Minister of Andhra Pradesh, V.P.B. Nair who came from of a police background expressed in the BBC documentary his belief that the four assailants in 1993 had unnecessarily and illegally been shot by the police. Both Premanand and Nair wanted the case to be re-opened and believed that it had been silenced to prevent revelations about illegal practices by Sathya Sai Baba and his organizations.

Another critic, ex-devotee and retired researcher/lecturer in philosophy, University of Oslo, the former national coordinator of the organization in Norway, Robert Priddy, has pointed out on his homepage and also in the book End of the Dream published by Premanand that Sathya Sai Baba's assertions on many subjects exhibit basic ignorance of physics, [geology]], religious history and much more. For example, Priddy claims Sai Baba's 'teaching' on magnetism differs greatly from generally accepted science, being wholly incommensurate with many simple and basic known facts. Priddy had previously written for the Sanatana Sarathi magazine and wrote a positive book about Sai Baba claiming vibhuti had healed his cat and his mother was visited by Sai Baba which resulted in a healing of her chronic pain.

What is the most vehement criticism since the year 2000 are the accusations of inappropriate sexual relations with young men and boys among his followers. The major cause of this controversy was the appearance on the internet of a document called The Findings compiled by the Welsh concert pianist David Bailey and his wife who were well-known devotees. ^{[19] [20]} SSB is said to give "oiling" between the scrotum and anus, on the genitals, above the genitals, on the chest or on the head. The Dutch follower W.G.J. van Dijk has attempted to explain the 'oiling' phenomenon in terms of 'kundalini' arousal in a magazine for the members of the Dutch branch of the Sathya Sai Organisation.^[21] Much worse abuses are alleged by young men, all but two 18 years of age or older, in testimonies, also published widely on the Internet and backed up by filmed testimonies in films, including "Seduced by Sai Baba" by Denmark's national television, and documentary film "Secret Swami" by BBC. The India Today article referred to a signed affidavit in their possession by the German Jens Sethi who claimed to have been sexually abused as an adult by the Baba. Sethi complained in a testimony published on the internet that he was treated as a criminal by the Puttaparthi police after he was found with papers critical of the Baba in Puttaparthi. The magazine wrote that Sethi filed a criminal complaint in Munich. The TV documentary "Seduced By Sai Baba", produced by Denmark's national television and radio broadcaster Danish radio aired in Denmark, Australia and Norway. Al Rahm (then under the pseudonym Young), said in the TV documentary Seduced by Sai Baba that he talked with the highest leader in the USA (Michael Goldstein) about the sexual abuse by SSB of his son who was 18 at the time of the alleged incidents and returned for approximately 14 interviews and did public speeches extolling Baba's virtues before he made his claim. According to Rahm, the leader responded by saying that he hated the idea of having wasted 25 years of his life and that he accepted SSB's statement "Swami is pure" as the truth. Goldstein, the International Chairman of the Sri Sathya Sai Organisations, stated in the BBC documentary Secret Swami that it was against his "heart and conscience" to initiate or approve of a proper legal process to investigate the allegations against Sathya Sai Baba. Isaac Tigrett, a prominent follower and co-founder of the Hard Rock Café, stated in the documentary that his admiration for the Baba will not change even if the charges of paedophilia and murder were proved beyond all doubt. The Danish jounalist Ojvind Kyro who was involved in the production of the documentary asserts, as published in Robert Priddy's book "The End of the Dream", that he has in his possession ten signed affidavits of young men from around the globe who claim to have been seriously sexually abused by SSB. He writes that these affidavits are open to see for official investigators and accredited journalists but not for the public. According to the journalist Michelle Goldberg of salon.com the fact that the Baba has high ranking Indian politicians as his supporters and the charity works done by the various organizations associated with the Baba help to explain why he has not been brought into court. The Indian consulate website states that crime victims must file charges with the police. No alleged victims have done so to date. SSB did not give a detailed public rebuttal to the accusations of sexual abuse. In his Christmas 2000 discourse SSB said that people disseminate false negative stories about him because they have been bribed.

Several sexual abuse testimonies claim that Baba can change into a woman instantaneously. These puzzling testimonies have led some to the conclusion that Baba is a hermaphrodite. Alexandra Nagel has argued in her 1994 Dutch language article De Sai Paradox/The Sai Paradox published by the Free University Amsterdam and her 2001 article Sai Baba as Shiva-Shakti: a Created Myth? Or? published on websites of critical former followers that this alleged sex change may be related to Baba's claim to be the incarnation of both the male and female aspects of God, Shiva and Shakti respectively.

Critics, like Hari Sampath say that school records, as also published in the devotee book Love is My Form (2000), 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 to enhance his credibility of his claim to be an avatar, because on 24 November, 1926 the famed Hindu philosopher-mystic Sri Aurobindo said that that was the day the Divine had descended on Earth.^[22] According to the Australian critical former follower Brian Steel, who has written several published positive books about SSB's life and miracles that he as of 2005 rejects on his homepage, the birth date in the school record may simply be a mistake. Moreno (a Baba proponent) published a detailed article about the Bukkapatnam school records, that gives relevant information that has been ignored by critics ^[23].

Additionally, Brian Steel asserted, on his homepage, that he has documented strong indications that the original Telugu discourses by Baba have been heavily edited to improve them. Followers were given the impression, if not explicitly told, that the discourses published in the Sathya Sai Speaks series were the literal translation of what Baba said. ^[24] However, Moreno (a Baba proponent) critiqued Steel for his contradictory positions, regarding the English translations to Baba's Telugu discourses, in which Steel argued that the English translations were "highly edited" and "inaccurate" but then referenced these same English translations as inerrant references to what the Guru actually and literally said in Telugu. ^[25]

Steel also wrote that many authors who wrote or still write positive books about Baba did not fulfil their responsibility of adherence to basic intellectual, journalistic and scholarly standards and hence may unintentionally misguide both followers and the general public. He contends that the claims of Baba about himself fluctuate and are inconsistent. He asserted that has recently discovered a trend to tone down the extraordinary claims that Baba makes about himself which Steel thinks is done to avoid embarrassment and loss of credibility.

According to David Bailey, the results of the drinking water projects were claimed, but its results are exaggerated and have largely failed to function. The Rayalaseema project was taken over by the Andhra Pradesh State government. According to the American-Iranian Said Khorramshahgol ex-follower, SSB's assertion that betel is healthful contradicts scientific findings.

Additional criticisms made by critical former followers are quackery ^[26], broken promises ^{[27] [28]}, and giving worthless materialized trinkets to devotees that SSB claims are talismans of protections and symbol of the bond between followers and him (Blitz interview 1976), while presenting them as something valuable. ^[29]

In the years 1999 and 2000 SSB has repeatedly belittled the internet and discouraged its use. According to the former follower Alexandra Nagel, this was because he must have felt threatened by the internet.

According to Donald Taylor in his 1987 article Charismatic authority in the Sathya Sai Baba movement in Hinduism in Great Britain, SSB made extraordinary declarations to be God to keep his authority at the center of the movement and he made his claim to get reincarnated as Prema Sai Baba in 1963 to maintain his authority and to prevent a struggle about his succession as long as he lives. [30]

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 some ex-followers believe that while he has siddhis (psychic abilities) it is only because he is a powerful rakshasa or demon, while some claim he is simply a fraud and now totally deny they ever had any paranormal experiences they can attribute to SSB.

Other ex-followers such as David Bailey and Hari Sampath 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.

Sceptics 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 according to skeptic Robert Todd Carroll suffering from the true-believer syndrome (belief in supernatural explanations for events caused by wishful thinking in spite of proof of natural explanations).

Tal Brooke, an American evangelical Christian wrote in his 1976 book Avatar of the Night that SSB is a false prophet and an Antichrist, as predicted in the Bible. Brooke spent a lot of time as a close disciple of Sai Baba, as described in the book. As a young man he packed up all of his belongings and left America for India on a spiritual search.

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.

In 2006 followers of Shirdi Sai Baba in the Ahmadnagar district sued followers of Sathya Sai Baba for use of the name Sai Baba in the court of Rahata. The case is as of January 2006 pending. ^[31]

Sathya Sai Baba - Stances by devotees and proponents

There are some followers who believe that the allegations are just "passing clouds" that have accompanied the lives of all avatars, and are part of the leelas of his life. Some followers say that the allegations have been made by people who are criminals themselves and who try to distract people from that fact by accusing Sathya Sai Baba of being a criminal.

Some devotees and proponents of Sathya Sai Baba remain doubtful about ex-devotee and critic's claims. In contrast, the follower Isaac Tigrett stated, that in his opinion, there was "probably" truth to the rumors against the Swami. Gerald Joe Moreno, a Sathya Sai Baba proponent, contended (on his homepage) that the sexual abuse allegations against Sathya Sai Baba (which are many years old) are made despite no court cases ever being filed, first-hand, in a court of law in India. Although Jens Sethi filed a complaint in Munich, neither he nor any other alleged victim have utilized free, "world class legal resources" to bring Sathya Sai Baba to justice. Although Journalists for the Danish state TV station Danish Radio and India Today claim to be in the possession of affidavits, not even one single affidavit has ever been made public (despite numerous claims to "20", "scores" and "over a hundred" affidavits being in existence and published on the internet).

Bill Aitken (a Sai Devotee, expert in comparative religion and author of the book "Sathya Sai Baba: A life") stated that Sathya Sai Baba's reputation has only increased despite negative stories being published against the Guru, by rationalists, critics and skeptics, for at least a generation. Aitken contended that critics are so distemperate in their dislike that their vituperation comes across as near comical. Aitken also argued that the BBC's programme, Secret Swami, had an advantage for discrediting Sathya Sai Baba because the Anglican Church would not object to programmes that weaken perceived threats, such as Sai Movement. [32]

Critical former followers created an online petition to have Baba and his affiliated organizations investigated by law enforcement agencies. According to Moreno, the petition signatures have never been independently verified and the petition administrators refuse to have an independent organization verify them. Moreno also contends that there are numerous problems with the online petition that include added, deleted and modified submissions as well as fake signatures ^[33].

Moreno argued, on his homepage, that "evidence" is cited from mostly anonymous sources or people using a first name or a pseudonym. Moreno asserted that the testimonies of those using real names have startling contradictions which are dismissed or trivialized by critics. Moreno's criticism evoked a reply from Al Rahm (the father of Alaya, an alleged victim), who argued that the contradictions in his son's testimonies were due to heavy editing in the BBC programme. ^[34] However, Moreno considers the contents to two transcripts, in which Alaya Rahm spoke positively about Sathya Sai Baba at USA retreats (shortly after he received many interviews in which, years later, he claimed he was molested dozens of times), reason to question his story. ^{[35] [36]} The Rahm Family has not addressed Moreno's comments about these two transcripts.

Moreno also believes that antagonists to the Guru willfully misrepresent and suppress facts about Sathya Sai Baba, which have been documented on his homepage. An example is when critics call Baba a "pedophile" and a molester of "boys" and "children". The youngest alleged (non-anonymous) victim, was the American Jed Geyerhahn, who wrote, in an e-mail to Dr. David C. Lane (as published on Lane's website), that he was 16 years old on his second trip when SSB allegedly rubbed vibuthi on his genitals. ^[37] However, on the T.V. "Seduced" documentary. ^[38] Jed Geyerhahn stated he was 15 years old on his first trip when SSB allegedly rubbed oil on his genitals. According to Moreno, Jed Geyerhahn completely contradicted himself about the age and time when he received his first oil/vibuthi application on his genitals. ^[39] Geyerhahn perceived the oil/vibuthi application, at that time, to be non-sexual. All other non-anonymous victims were 18 years of age or older when they were alleged molested.

Moreno also contends that there are Christian, White Supremacist, Rationalist and Atheistic movements against the Indian Guru ^[40].

M. Alan Kazlev, who holds a somewhat favorable view about the Guru, wrote on his website that ex-devotees are such a diverse assemblage that they cannot be called a movement; they are a collection of very different people who have either experienced sexual abuse first hand or, more often, hearing stories of such and as a result undergone a crisis of faith and rejected Sai Baba. [41]

Sathya Sai Baba - Parliamentary governmental and political issues and responses

The Indian President Abdul Kalam and the former Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee visit the ashram and pay respect to Baba. Vajpayee has written a letter when he was still the PM which is published on the internet, also signed by two former Supreme Court Justices, expressing that Sathya Sai Baba is innocent of sexual molestations and that the accusations are concocted and malicious. [42][43] Sceptics are confused as to whether Vajpayee's signed statement is based on government information not made available to the public. But it was made clear during the 2004 BBC documentary, "Secret Swami" that some prominent Indian politicians (e.g. Murli Manohar Joshi) have taken the position that the allegations against Sai Baba are false.

In the year 2000 UNESCO withdrew its co-sponsorship of an educational conference at Puttaparthi and stated the reasons, in a press release issued on 15 September, as "Certain decisions were taken by the ISSE without consultation, such as plans to hold some of the sessions at the Ashram of the Sathya Sai movement in Puttaparthi, and the inclusion of some speakers in the conference programme without their previous consent. Furthermore, the Organization is deeply concerned about widely-reported allegations of sexual abuse involving youths and children that have been levelled at the leader of the movement in question, Sathya Sai Baba." [44] In the year 2005, Barry Pittard, an anti-SSB activist, criticized the UNESCO for removing the press release from their site [45].

MP Tony Colman of the Parliament of the United Kingdom asked, in the parliament in 2002, whether a travel warning was appropriate due to the reports of sexual abuse. [46] Since 2002, neither Tony Blair nor the Parliament ever issued a travel warning against Sathya Sai Baba. Nor has the British Government released any official statement regarding this matter.

Tom Sackville, a former Home Office Under-Secretary of State and current chairman of the anti-cult organisation Family Action Information and Resource (FAIR), has expressed concern about the alleged indoctrination of children by devotees who volunteer at public schools and propagate the Educare/Education in Human Values teachings and asserted that this should be forbidden by law. [47]

The European Commission answered a question from a member of the European Parliament about no EU funding going to organizations associated with Sathya Sai Baba, due to allegations of sexual abuse. October 1, 2001. [48] The Commission answered that the Sathya Sai Trust never received, and was not receiving, any funding from the European Commission.

The United States Department of State has issued a travel warning that states "U.S. citizens should be aware that there have been unconfirmed reports of inappropriate sexual behavior by a prominent local religious leader at an ashram or religious retreat located in Andhra Pradesh. Most of the reports indicate that the subjects of these approaches have been young male devotees, including a number of U.S. citizens.".[49]

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Opposition controversy and allegations", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki