Criticizing the irrational, malicious "defense" of Baba by J. Jagadeesan
by Timothy Conway, Ph.D -- March 12, 2001Dear Friends,
J. Jagadeesan, a longtime Sai devotee and prominent Southeast Asian Sai organizational leader and author of Sai literature, in October, 2000 issued a revised "Open Letter" to his Sai Brothers and Sisters. In this letter, he at-tacks those critics of Baba who are concerned about the extensive allegations of criminal sexual behavior. [Note that many of Jagadeesan's same words and ideas are reiterated by Baba in his 2000 Christmas discourse.]
I have already written extensive critical analysis of the written views of prominent American Sai devotee Jack Hawley and author Ram Das Awle. Because Jagadeesan, like Hawley, is such a hugely prominent figure in the Sai movement, his views deserve to be carefully examined and challenged where they err. Hence I present the follow-ing critical response to his open letter to the Sai community.
--Timothy Conway==========================================
From the desk of J. Jagadeesan (Malaysia) Date : 30th October 2000
Open Letter - Revised Version!
a) All Malaysia Leaders of Sai Centres and Youth Coordinators
b) All Youth Coordinators and copied to all Central Coordinators / Zonal leadersRe: The Sai Movement - The Future - The External Threat (Revised Version)
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Recently, I sent an open letter to all Malaysian SAI leaders and youth coordinators on the subject of "The In-ternal Threat" of how behaviour among members, youth and/or leaders can undermine the work done by the or-ganization and the good name of SAI. Subsequently, I addressed the issue of "The External Threat" to the SAI movement. Since this has been well received as useful, I am taking the liberty to send a Revised Version of this letter to all who may be interested.
The "INTERNET" has become both a curse and a blessing! A blessings for those who seek to advance the boundaries of knowledge and to communicate good and noble thoughts to all at the click of a button, and a curse to all who use this incredible technology to indulge in filth and negativity! I am specifically referring to the spread of negativity about Bhagawan Baba by forces that have their own agenda of Action!
Unfortunately, since youth are the ones who most extensively use the Internet, they are often both the perpe-trators and victims of this insidious campaign to malign the name of one of the noblest beings, who has walked the earth -- nay -- a Being of Divine Majesty who walks this earth. Let me put this to you in the crudest terms possi-ble, for I have no better way to demonstrate to you the grossness of the actions some are taking! If you see faeces on the ground, would you take it and hand it over to your friend? And after handling the dirt, even if you wash your hand the smell lingers on...at least in your memory![NOTE FROM TIMOTHY CONWAY (hereafter abbreviated as "TC"): notice how Jagadeesan, rather than address the serious charges made by a growing number of people willing to testify in a court of law to the truth of what has happened to them with Baba's sexual predatory behavior, instead simply equates these people and other truth-seekers with "faeces-handlers." This is an attempt to smear (no pun intended) the reputations of those who are trying to uphold Dharma and the laws of the land that would protect children and young adults from sexual abuse.]
[J. Jagadeesan, hereafter abbreviated as "JJ":] That is why I urge all -- "do not read the filth that is being transmit-ted -- for even if you doubt and reject every word, the stain will remain and affect your peace if not your devo-tion". Just click "delete" or toss it into the waste bin!
[TC: In other words, says Jagadeesan, collectively stick your head into the sand and go into pathological de-nial in the face of the serious charges about Baba.]
[JJ:] If you hear someone hurling vile accusations about your father and mother would you pass this on to your friend?
[TC: What if your father or mother was a chronic child abuser? You are, under law, actually REQUIRED by the "MANDATED REPORTING" RULES to report such allegations of child molestation and abuse. Otherwise you are an accomplice to the crimes if/when they are prosecuted in a court of law.]
[JJ:] Yet this is what some adults and youth are doing! Some do it in mistaken innocence of a gossip monger, who even though he / she does not believe in the gossip, feels a sense of "self glorification" by being the one to pass on the gossip...with a conniving whisper "have you heard of this?"
[TC: None of the serious investigators is a "gossip monger."]
[JJ:] There are yet others, whose faith is weak, who have been involved with SAI, at a superficial level even for a long time! Others having possibly been denied of a miracle or favour from SAI, or ignored by Him after consider-able personal attention, eagerly take up this filth and pass it on to others -- hoping that others will also equally deny the Divine force and majesty of SAI!
[TC: Jagadeesan is basically charging that all who criticize Baba are suffering from a "sour grapes" syn-drome, and this simply is not true. Mature, longtime aspirants who live by an ethics of Sathya, Dharma, Shanti, Prema and Ahimsa instead believe that there are now far too many stories, many supported by sworn affidavits, that something quite terrible has been occurring for at least 30 years -- a sustained pattern of sexual predatory be-havior by Baba toward male youth -- including minors perhaps as young as 8 years old. And I'm not merely talk-ing about Baba's "annointing the perineum" of males, either. No, we are hearing from trustworthy sources persis-tent allegations of pressure and manipulation by Baba to engage male youth, and have male youth engage him, in forced oral sex and masturbation, often to the point of ejaculation.]
[JJ:] This is the pathetic story of the fox that got its tail cut and is now trying to persuade others that a "cut tail" is the fashionable thing to have! In the story of the "fox that cut its tail" the other foxes saw through the insidious plan of the fox and chased him away! Unfortunately, in the case of SAI Centres and SAI devotees, some "SAI foxes" have unwittingly allowed their tails to be cut and they are thus depriving themselves of the greatest chance of a lifetime!
[TC: We have here merely more childish name-calling and misleading analogies given by Jagadeesan to put up a thick smokescreen of fog so that people will not think for themselves and have any empathy for the plight of those trying to conscientiously investigate and expose many dozens of allegations of serious crimes against male children and young men.]
[JJ:] I say all this with certainty, for I acclaim the Divine Force that SAI represents, from the point view of one who was at one time a strong anti-Sai! It is thus not a blind "herd mentality" that I follow -- but a firm conviction from not only my own experience, but that of many other devotees and even beings of the 4th dimension! I have written enough about these in my books "Journey to God" - Parts 1, 2, 3 and 4 to warrant further elaboration.
[TC: This is, of course, no valid defense of Baba whatsoever. Jagadeesan is merely stating that he has a con-viction about Sai, and that he "acclaims the Divine Force that SAI represents." But he does not substantiate any of this. Yes, his books tell some wonderful stories about Baba. But Jagadeesan is begging the question about Baba's shadow side when he simply wants to tell you about the good things regarding Baba. Please realize that criminal pedophiles usually have many wonderful personality characteristics and can accomplish good things, even great things, in the world. This should not distract us from the fact that pedophiles are also committing criminal behav-ior.]
[JJ:] It is an amazing frailty of the human mind, that those who have not transformed their lives despite for years hearing and reading the noble, elevating words of SAI, or reading / hearing noble and divine experience of
others, are able in a trice to be affected by negativity and filth!! What a searing indictment on the human mind![TC: Jagadeesan engages here in more character-assassination of those who take seriously the serious allega-tions. What kind of "defense" of Baba is this by Jagadeesan -- merely engaging in a long-winded harangue of name-calling and character-assassination toward those who are deeply disturbed by stories from trustworthy sources?]
[JJ:] What Does Sai Say? Let me quote to all of you an extract of a letter from Sri Indulal Shah, the International Chairman! I quote. [Shah:] "Some time ago I had circulated a quotation from Bhagawan Baba's divine discourse. I reproduce the same below:-
[Baba:] "Many of you are pained by what some papers are indulging in, regarding me! Many are urging that something should be done about it. But, I am holding everyone back, for that is the best way to deal with both praise and blame. The ocean knows no overflowing or drying up. It is ever full, ever majestic and ever uncon-cerned."
[Shah:] In my 35 years of association with Bhagawan, on several occasions He explains such incidents as "fly on an ear of an Elephant" which is not necessary to be disturbed or Baba reminds us that people will throw stones towards trees only if there are fruits. Let us collectively ponder what is our duty? It is our test on the path of ex-periencing Divinity. What vigil and fences have to be built around our organization? Let us remember nothing happens or moves without His wish. Everything that happens is for good, provided we are conscious of our Duty and personal efforts that should follow."
[Jagadeesan:] If one asks me (i.e. Jega), who will be the one who will bend and break at the first adverse winds of allegations and filth: -- it will be those who have remained in the periphery of the organization and those who have lived on the periphery of the SAI message. Also, those who expect something from SAI, those who want His constant personal physical attention, those who live constantly on the margin of SAI's physical miracles, those who have not lived the message of SAI through Service for mankind and selfless love for all - these are the potential drop-outs!![TC: Jagadeesan resorts again to his only weapon, attacking the concerned, conscientious critics, accusing them of being "on the periphery," implying that only those persons of inferior spirituality will listen to the stories about Baba's sexual predatory behavior. But has it occurred to Jagadeesan, first, that many sincere Baba followers were so turned off by the shallow spirituality, ambitious conceit and lack of empathy among many of the senior Sai Organization leaders (like Goldstein, Jagadeesan, Shah, et al.) that these followers decided not to aspire to-ward greater organizational involvement?
Second, Jagadeesan seems to be accusing the concerned critics of not living Baba's message of "Service for mankind and selfless love for all." I would submit, on the contrary, that many of Baba's critics formerly in the Sai movement were longtime, tireless sevakas and many spent hundreds or thousands of hours serving as Center presidents, vice-presidents, Regional officers and coordinators, etc.
Third, Jagadeesan should pose himself the question: What happened to the increasing number of formerly staunch devotees of Baba, some of them in his college and high school system, who have left over the last year or two because they could not ethically tolerate what they discovered about Baba's behavior?][JJ:] Just examine silently those who have "dropped out" or turned against SAI, and you will discover this truth!
[TC: One does not discover any such "truth." See the points made above.]
[JJ:] Do not condemn them! Do not vilify them - only pray that they find Peace and Love in their lives!
[TC: These words by Jagadeesan are so unbelievably hypocritical it boggles the mind. He has spent most of his entire letter thus far, and will continue to do so over the rest of his letter, condemning and vilifying the con-cerned critics with name-calling and character assassination, and here he tells his readers "Do not condemn them! Do not vilify them -- only pray that they find Peace and Love in their lives!" He doesn't realize that the concerned critics are trying to bring some degree of Peace and Love and yes, HEALING, to the victims of Baba's sexual mo-lestation. The official Sai organization, by contrast, has not brought ANY Peace or Love or Healing to these vic-tims; rather, it has repeatedly tried to cover up the horror and has had the gall to maliciously slander and attack the victims and those who would try to enact justice in this matter.]
[JJ:] Early this year, I released a book called "EVOLUTION - Science of Creation, Life and Living & Spirituality" - perhaps the most difficult challenge in all the books I have been motivated to write! In that book in examining the topic of the human mind, I touched unwittingly (or perhaps divinely guided) on this very topic that is causing so much pain and confusion in the minds of SAI devotees whose faith in yet to be fixed as firmly as the STAR to the crescent moon! I am attaching as an Appendix to this letter a brief extract from that book! For those who have the book, please refer to page 31, section 16 -- "The 3 Forces of the Mind" for a fuller elaboration on this subject of the Human Mind and how it causes turbulence in life!
[Excerpt from Jagadeesan's Appendix reproduced here rather than at end of letter:]
THE 3 FORCES OF THE MIND--This maya which affects the human mind has actually got three forces, or pol-lutants. One is called MALA, which is dirt, "the pollution". The other one is the AVARANA SHAKTI, which can be called the cloak -- "that which (because of the dirt) covers or disguises", and the third is VIKSHEPA SHAKTI - what is projected, "the force of projection". So in the example of the rope and the snake therefore, what is the relevance of the rope and snake in real life? It is this! The darkness represents the mala, the dirt and this creates the AVARANA SHAKTI, the cloak (that blurs the vision). The cloak is our inability to see through the darkness. The rope is an innocent object, but the VIKSHEPA SHAKTI (the force of projection), projects a snake onto the rope:- the moment the mind projects, every emotion is aroused in the person, fear, everything for a non-existent object - only because of his VIKSHEPA SHAKTI - 'Projection'.[TC: What Jagadeesan has done is simply bring out the classic analysis of primordial ignorance by Shankara and his followers in the line of Advaita Vedanta. It has no relevance to the discussion of the Sai controversy at hand. Jagadeesan is just as involved in Mala, Avarana Shakti, and Vikshepa Shakti as any of the critics who might not be perfectly realized Jnanis/Sages.]
[JJ:] If you read the attached -- you will see that this is the science of mind - the mind reflects onto external ob-jects that which its nature -- it own perceptions! If you are aware as to who are the principle perpetrators of these vile accusations against SAI, (and the nature of their minds), you may come to your own conclusions! The other weaker minds only follow in innocence!
[TC: By this logic, Martin Luther King, Jr. and the heroic civil rights protestors were all "projecting" their own negativity in condemning racial prejudice and calling certain white supremacists "racist." The French Resis-tance heroes and heroines were all "projecting" their own negativity in condemning Nazi atrocities and calling the Nazis "fascist." And so on. Now, in the present case, those who are deeply concerned about the ethical improprie-ties inherent in Baba molesting children are "projecting" their own negativity by calling what is happening to Baba's youthful victims "sexual molestation" and suggesting that Baba is, according to the conventions of human law, behaving criminally!
Note that, using Jagadeesan's silly logic, he himself, by engaging in this long-winded, verbiose criticism of Baba's critics, is himself "projecting" the entire thing out of his own negativity!][JJ:] "Close Devotees"
Some of you have been stunned by the fact that so called "close devotees" of SAI have dropped out because of this filth that is being spread through their ears and eyes and into their minds! Devotees who have had so many "inter-views", those who have received Baba's divine manifestations (rings, pendants, etc) have dropped out and so our jaws drop in amazement! But, is this so unusual? Who betrayed Christ? Was it His enemies or those closest to Him?[TC: Jagadeesan stoops even lower here, suggesting that Baba's critics are like Judas. But the retort that we concerned critics would issue is this: Was Jesus alleged to have sexually molested hundreds of minors? Was Jesus telling children that, unless they had sex with him, then he would not see their parents? Was Jesus paying children for sexual favors? Of course not. Yet this is what is being alleged about Baba by credible eyewitnesses who claim to have experienced this unseemly side of Baba. So Jagadeesan's analogy falls flat on its face.]
[JJ:] And did not Christ know who would deny and betray him and yet He treated them with love! Who dared wage a war against Krishna - those who were His enemies or those who went to Him seeking His help and to whom He gave His army to? Was not Ravana, the Asura who turned against Rama, close to Divinity, for was it not from the Divine that he received his powers? Was not Hiranyakasipu (the father of Prahlada), the Asura who turned against the Devas and even Narayana Himself, close to Divinity - for was it not Divinity who conferred on him the awesome powers he used, to deny Divinity!
[TC: Jagadeesan is trying to paint all concerned critics of Baba's criminal pedophilia with the same brush, tarring them by associating them with Judas, the demon Ravana, the demon Hiranyakasipu, and the demonic ene-mies of Krishna. This attack strategy by Jagadeesan really stinks -- it is completely bereft of any integrity whatso-ever. Rather than compassionately address the legitimate questions, concerns, and grievances of Baba's critics, Jagadeesan, in knee-jerk fashion, can only lash out with A FURY OF NEGATIVITY THAT IS, ITSELF, DE-MONIC in its lack of compassion, loving-kindness, and understanding. But rather than imply that Jagadeesan is a "demon" (I don't like stooping to his level), I would simply invite him with all my heart to please try to look at this situation objectively and see that Baba's critics aren't the embodiment of some evil, demonic force. Rather, we are only trying to STOP AN ONGOING EVIL: the manipulative molestation of male youth by a guru who appears to have a colossal shadow side involving an insatiable sexual appetite.]
[JJ:] The Puranas and the history of all great souls are replete with stories of those who, once close, than turned against the Divinity they worshipped!
[TC: I could counter that history is replete with stories of sycophantic "yes-men" who came to the defense of people like Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Pinochet, and many others involved in ongoing atrocities.]
[JJ:] How many of you are aware of the vile accusations hurled against the Buddha and Ramakrishna Parama-hamsa, during their respective lifetimes. And even on Jesus Christ even to this present day and age? How many are aware that like Bhagawan Baba (to avoid the chance of worse scandal) these great souls - (Buddha, Rama-krishna Paramahamsa and Jesus) surrounded themselves with only male devotees! And because of this, lower minds concocted their own filth and scandalized these great souls in the one area where no proof is possible, and no amount of denial can wash away the taint of evil, when once the accusation is made!
[TC: Jagadeesan again is speaking in a most irrational way. Jesus, the Buddha and Ramakrishna did not have dozens or hundreds of people stepping forth with persuasively similar allegations of sexual molestation.]
[JJ:] It is perhaps because of this that Islam requires 4 eyewitnesses before a person can be charged for behaviour against norms of morality!
[TC: Jagadeesan may not be aware that, at this point in time, a few dozen signed affidavits have been made by a growing multitude of eyewitnesses -- young men and boys -- all willing to state their case in a court of law, that Baba has sexually abused them.]
[JJ:] But these great beings prevailed; for dirt cannot taint the purity of the sky! Dirt flung upwards will ultimately descend on the perpetrators of the filth and the sky continues unperturbed continuing to offer its beauty to the accusers!! Bhagawan Baba has declared as such (refer earlier quotation).
[TC: Jagadeesan is here merely issuing idle threats that "dirt" will come back upon those flinging it. As long as we're talking about "karmuppance," let's compassionately remember that covering up criminal pedophilia brings its own terrible karmic retribution. We critics are actually trying to spare the Jagadeesans and Shahs and Goldsteins long, stiff jail sentences (and, ironically, possible sexual abuse from male inmates and prison guards!) for being accomplices in these ongoing crimes committed by Baba.]
[JJ:] If Jesus who had 11 disciples, had in his last moments, one who denied Him and another who betrayed Him, can one imagine what one can expect of the Sai phenomena, who has millions who revere Him! Only a little intel-ligence is required to ascertain the TRUTH.
[TC: Again, Jagadeesan is using juvenile, faulty logic here, and is also maliciously comparing Baba's critics to so many Judases. Almost all of these critics want nothing to do with money or fame in exposing Baba's ongo-ing molesting of children. They simply, compassionately want to SAVE THE CHILDREN AND YOUNG MEN!]
[JJ:] Has any living being on earth, in his own lifetime motivated so much good and godly work for the needy and manifested so much transformation in millions -- to go beyond self and to serve the poor, sick and the needy?
[TC: This point by Jagadeesan highlights the tragedy we have here: namely that Sathya Sai Baba HAS been a force for so much good. But, in what appears to be the most amazing "Jekyll and Hyde" story in the history of humanity, it now seems quite clear that Baba also has a raging sexual appetite, and he psychologically coerces and manipulates young men and boys to satisfy this sexual hunger.]
[JJ:] Would anyone need to set-up such a huge worldwide edifice of selfless service and human values, would anyone have to set up free Super Specialty Hospitals and free Universities and schools in India and around the world and give life saving water to the poor and the needy, to merely seek opportunities to indulge in the type of filth that is being passed around?
[TC: Jagadeesan's structuring of his question, "Would anyone need to Would anyone have to " is mis-leading. Beyond Jagadeesan's misdirection ploy, the simple fact, most unfortunately, is that Baba, regardless of his "needing" or "having to," IS molesting boys and young men.
Jagadeesan also does not address the serious charges made in "The Findings" written/compiled by David and Faye Bailey, charges also made in other writings and oral venues, that the Supere Specialty Hospital is NOT as "wonderful" as it has been hyped, nor has the water project been anywhere near as "successful" as claimed.][JJ:] Are the vibuthi manifestations occuring spontaneously in hundreds of homes around the world, outpouring of kum kum, honey etc, of people's illness being cured and lives being saved by merely an application of SAI Vibu-thi, a touch of His hand, or a prayer to Him, so much a figment of the imagination OR is this not the greatest manifestation of Divine Power that the world has ever witnessed?
[TC: This is a false argument. I myself and numerous other concerned critics grant that amazing and beautiful things are happening around or through the name/form of Sathya Sai Baba. Jagadeesan sets up a false choice lim-ited by the "either-or" Aristotelian logic: he's trying to force us into thinking that just because amazing things are happening around Sai that THEREFORE Baba must be God and that none of the improprieties are happening. He and other Sai apologists also beg the question as to the source of the miracles around Baba. Is it the personality of the Divine avatar Sathya Narayana Raju doing all these things? Or is it the power of God utilizing the name/form of Sathya Sai? For that matter, it could be Sai Baba of Shirdi who is doing these things through Sathya Narayana Raju, and the latter personality has a shadow side of out-of-control sexual hunger.]
[JJ:] Use your own judgement! Has your life not changed?
[TC: Again, it is easily seen that millions of followers of Sai have undergone profoundly positive transformations by becoming dedicated aspirants and sevakas in the Sai movement. This still does not in any way offset what now appears to be an INCONTROVERTIBLE EMPIRICAL FACT: Sathya Sai Baba has criminally molested hundreds or thousands of male youth.]
[JJ:] Perhaps not, if you are still at the level of the SAI form, SAI miracles and SAI bhajans! But, if you are one who has plunged into making the SAI message a part of your life, your own experience, your own awe regarding what good work has been done and can be achieved to benefit all, will be the only witness you need to testify to the Divine grandeur and the transforming power of the Avarthar of the Kali Yuga!
[TC: More fluff. And Jagadeesan has not established for a fact that Baba is the "Avarthar" (sic, Avatar) of the Kali Yuga.]
[JJ:] In the Greek legend, Ulysses had to plug his ears and that of his fellow shipmates, so that the false and tempt-ing voices of the "sirens" would not lead them to disaster, as they searched for the golden fleece! Now in our voy-age for the "golden age", the voices of modern sirens are tempting devotees away from Faith, Belief, Goodness and Love, to hate and negativity! This is the Ying / Yang Phenomena, the eternal battle between good and evil and Divinity stands in the middle, blessing all to work out their own karma!
[TC: We've got yet more name-calling here: according to Jagadeesan, Baba's critics are "modern sirens" try-ing to bring disaster and negativity to the dogmatic true-believer Sai devotees. Also, most unconscionable for a man living within the conspicuous Chinese culture of Malaysia, Jagadeesan completely flubs it when he speaks of "the Ying / Yang Phenomena." For one thing, he mis-spells Yin as "Ying"; he incorrectly uses the plural form of the word "phenomena" instead of the appropriate singular; and then, in the worst mistake of all, he equates the ancient Chinese Taoist polarity idea of Yin / Yang with "good and evil," which no Chinese Taoist would ever do. Jagadeesan is an example of many longtime senior Sai devotees who preach about the beauty and value of all the religions and yet don't actually study any of these religions. Anyone acquainted with the most remedial level of Taoist study would get the Yin/Yang concept right, but Jagadeesan, who has lived his entire life in the region, sur-rounded by Taoist literature and temples, and who has taken pride that he can sing a number of bhajans in Chinese along with his fellow Sai devotees with a Chinese background, makes here a blunder of the worst kind.]
[JJ:] We do not have an ancient Ulysses to plug our ears! The modern Ulysseses are the selfless service and self-less love that SAI has motivated among those who follow His Teachings! These will be the earplugs that must help us to overcome these treacherous times!
[TC: Unbelievable, but true: Jagadeesan actually wants people to have earplugs so as not to hear the disturb-ing news that Sai is involved in criminal behavior. There is a psychological description for this attitude: PATHO-LOGICAL DENIAL. Jagadeesan, like many apologizers for Baba, is so heavily, egocentrically invested in his role as a Sai devotee that he becomes like the stubborn little child who plugs his ears and makes lots of noise so that he can't face the truth that would challenge him to grow up and become a person of true compassion and integrity.]
[JJ:] I pray to all! Do not transmit the filth to others! Do not allow the filth to contaminate your mind!
[TC: If Jagadeesan had lived in Nazi Germany in the 1930s, I wonder which side he would have taken? The side of truth, freedom, morality, virtue, love and nonviolence, or, rather, the side of the Nazis?
Jagadeesan is apparently unaware, like so many other Sai devotees in positions of great responsibility (Gold-stein, Bozzani, Hawley, et al.) that there are MANDATED REPORTING RULES that REQUIRE all adults who have any suspicion of child molestation behavior to EXPOSE THIS BEHAVIOR, PROTECT CHILDREN FROM THIS BEHAVIOR, GET THERAPEUTIC HELP FOR THE VICTIMS OF THIS MOLESTATION BEHAVIOR, AND LEGALLY PROSECUTE THE WRONG-DOERS.][JJ:] If you feel you do not want to follow the SAI path, by all means step aside, but do not incur the sin of coming between God and His devotees, the message of every vahana (vehicle) in a Hindu temple.
[TC: Baba's concerned critics now feel that they MUST come between BABA and his devotees, especially his young male devotees, so that they will not be molested by this sexual predator.]
[JJ:] For those who love SAI, let us do more! Let us manifest His miracles, His "Vibuthi" (Divine Glory) in soci-ety, by we ourselves becoming His Vibuthi, His Divine miracles, by transforming society to Love and Unity, through our own transformed selfless Love and selfless Service. By this means let us achieve inner Peace, Joy and Contentment that is the only promise for all who follow the Path Divine!
[TC: Baba has repeatedly declared that Sai devotees should live according to the laws and rules of their re-spective countries. Thus, concerned critics of Baba's molesting of children have stepped forth, according to the mandated reporting rules, to expose Baba's sexual improprieties.]
[JJ:] For those who ask "Why does He not stop them?" Baba's own words on Page 3 testify! However, let me ask also "Why should He?" Swami neither praises those who praise Him nor condemns those who demean Him - Di-vinity stands in the middle blessing all - those who perpetrate good and those who choose to do evil!
[TC: Actually, in recent discourses, Baba is strongly lashing out at his critics and praising those who defend him. What kind of behavior is this? Not the Sai whom Kasturi and Jagadeesan have described as standing equa-nimiously and compassionately above the fray.]
[JJ:] Is this unusual? Is this not the way of Divinity? Did not Christ know He would be betrayed and crucified? Did not Rama know Sita would be captured? Did not Krishna know that His peace mission to the Kauravas would fail and did not Buddha know that the food offered to him with "false" love was poisoned? Yet those great beings allowed the drama to unfold acting as though they were helpless victims of circumstances! Why? Simply because Divinity has already established a Divine law of Karma - and this must take its course and because "Dharma will by itself destroy those who go against Dharma!" And so it was for Judas, so it was for Ravana and so it was for the Kauravas..and so it will be for all who manifest Evil!
[TC: I am tempted to retort, "and so it will be for all who manifest Evil in the form of molesting children and conspiring to cover-up this serious violation of the rights of children!"]
[JJ:] Let us all pray for them, let us not condemn them. Let us echo the words of a great being and pray - "Forgive them Oh Lord for they know not what they do!"
[TC: Right now it is Baba's concerned critics who are praying "Forgive them Oh Lord for they (those conspir-ing to deny, cover-up and/or rationalize Baba's behavior) know not what they do."
Jagadeesan here again says "let us not condemn them" after he has spent so many words doing just this -- comparing Baba's critics to "demons" and "Judases" and "hatefully destructive sirens."][JJ:] Please reflect on this! Reject what I say if you so choose but first REFLECT and then circulate to whomever you want to and act accordingly.
[TC: Jagadeesan, I must certainly REJECT what you have said because I have spent so many years in fact REFLECTING on all this and have come to the conclusion that it is simply criminal behavior for us NOT to stand up and demand accountability from Baba and from the Sai organization for stories of improprieties that can no longer be glossed over as mere "rumors" or "gossip."]
Sai Ram and God bless!
Yours in service,
J. Jagadeesan
cc Sri Indulal ShahP.S. - Bhagavan Baba does not need my advocacy or defense! I merely write this for the benefit of my SAI broth-ers and sisters and especially youth, who should not, like the people in the Middle East 2000 years ago, crucify a Divine Being, who in later times became a saviour for millions!!
[TC: It is terribly ironic - indeed, shameful -- that Jagadeesan especially mentions "youth" in his closing, since they are the ones who have been victimized by the hundreds or thousands in this terrible, ongoing saga.
As for the idea that we are "crucifying a Divine Being," none of Baba's concerned critics want to "crucify" him. We simply want him to come out of the closet and stop sexually molesting male children and young men. We want accountability, apologies, and amends-making from Baba and from his longtime organizational accomplices.
We also want the entry to the private interview room left open, and we want a chaperon to be present on all occasions that Baba is in the company of male youth, especially minors. We would like to have a non-adversarial mediation session held at Puttaparthi or Bangalore to resolve this terrible ordeal. If Baba is operating from the truly Divine God-Self, this should be no problem. The illustrious Ramana Maharshi (1879-1950), one of India's most beloved sages, had to go before legal authorities to defend himself against a psychopathic accuser. If the Maharshi had to put up with this "indignity" on such a patently trumped-up charge, then surely Baba can step out from behind the shield created by his pathetic, sycophantic yes-men and answer the legitimate charges against him.
You see, this is really about Truth, Righteousness, Peace, Love and Nonviolence -- Sathya, Dharma, Shanti, Prema and Ahimsa. In the end, these Divine characteristics will win out.___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Fair-minded persons can be put in touch with Dr. Timothy Conway by mailing a request for his e-mail address or message to him to this website.