Sai Baba as an example

 

Date: 06-09-02

By: Robert Priddy

Website: http://www.saibaba-x.org.uk/

An oft-repeated claim by SB, parroted by devotees, is that many kinds of unfair and undocumented accusations have been leveled against Sai Baba through the years, both by sceptics and followers who are dissatisfied or disappointed by unfulfilled expectations as to SB's attention etc. This is based on SB’s own pronouncements about how unfairly all good people have always been treated by their jealous contemporaries, and that he will be no exception himself. His defensiveness  towards all who may leave him is seen in Sanathana Sarathi (11-92, p. 261), "The minds of the so-called devotees are turned in the wrong direction. If their desires are fulfilled, they praise Me. But, once a desire is not realised they go to the extent of even reviling me. Even while they are attempting to understand Me, they harbour doubts from head to foot. Some even leave me, when their worldly desires are not fulfilled." He also takes the sly precaution of warning that he will have to separate "the grain from the chaff", as if it were his own plan that devotees who cease to believe or accept him are rejected by him firstly! Why would this self-proclaimed compassionate avatar wish to

One cannot but note that such predictions are most convenient for those who know they have something to hide that will not stand the light of day but which will probably eventually be discovered. They can then defend themselves by saying, ‘I predicted this all along’. The propensities SB has most apparently been unable to overcome, were reportedly told about to various persons by one of his earliest and closest followers who shared his bedroom for several of his post-pubescent years (the pair of them were known locally as ‘Radha and Krishna’, according to Vijayamma), and it would moreover be hugely naïve to believe that he never had sexual stirrings in the normal way. He has once actually told in a discourse that the sexual instinct is the hardest of all tendencies for humans to overcome. That homosexual relations with minors are evidently quite widespread and tacitly accepted in much of India does not mean that they are openly accepted or practically legalized in the wider society, so guilt and the need to cover up must also be equally widespread. 

"When I am defamed, I never get incensed, for it is only the tree full of edible fruits that is attached by sticks and stones." (Sathya Sai Speaks Vol. 4 p. 184).  Yes, SB ignored his critics as long as they tended to fade away, but now that the allegations of child molestation and homosexual intrusions have stuck to him indelibly at last (and on a global scale), along with powerful evidence that awaken grave suspicions of his involvement in the 1993 murders incident, he was roused and raised his voice angrily while thumping his lectern in the famous Xmas discourse of 2000. "I never get incensed" is therefore demonstrably wrong. He lashed out at his critics as Judases who take money to defame him, as demons and so forth. Despite this, the sufficiently brain-softened devotee will repeat SB’s very convenient words that, though he may appear to be angry or show human emotions, he is actually wholly umoved by everything. So he could easily stand by and hear the cold-blooded execution by rifle-fire of four of his long-serving devotees without any emotion! How convenient for him! But no so convenient for everyone! He can rage like a mad lion (as experienced by Prof. Kasturi and described by other devotees), all while pretending he was as calm as a cucumber. He intimidates his students in various ways (and sometimes their teachers too, as I saw him do in public in 1987).    

One may hold that verbal attacks often tell more about the attacker's thoughts and motives than about the victim. This certainly applied to SB’s dire threats in this case. He has long preached how negative rumours are like boomerangs, but then he sets going the absurdly false rumour that those who accused him did so for money, like Judases! (See PREMSAI under Divine Discourse 25.12.2000). "From the feet to the hair on the head, Sathya Sai Baba is doing service without any selfishness. Can’t even these people with brains understand this? Why are they doing this propaganda? Even this bad propaganda is for money. All these bad thoughts are for money only. Even these bad thoughts are for money only… … Switzerland, America, Japan, Germany, China, Russia our children have entered in all directions. Some foreigners are trying to bribe them. They are saying, "See, foolish ones! I will give this much money. I will give so many dollars. I will give this many pounds. You write and give some stories against Sathya Sai Baba."

This is nothing short of a direct, massive lie, but one which many of his cowed and dependent followers believe. On the contrary, the shortage of SB’s own funds due to fall-off in donations was surely one of the main causes of his bending to the wishes of his anxious coterie to hit back at his accusers. He ranted on: "These types of publicity are shameless. Truly they are not human beings at all. The ones who put obstacles in the way of all sacred works are demons, not human beings. The determined vow of Sai will never change, even if demons like this may be all over the world. (Swami bangs his fist decisively on the table to emphasize His point. The audience applauds for long.)"

A person is judged by both his words and his actions… he who always pretended that he was so even-minded and beyond praise and blame that he never reacted… He has set up himself as the only perfect example for all to follow, but he could not refrain from angry lies and scandal-mongering! His example has since been followed by top Sai-organisation leaders in the USA and Denmark, who have actually demonstrably known about male sexual interference by Sai Baba for decades, which information they have suppressed. In Denmark, the leaders T. Meyer, S. Piculell, and P. Pruzan have maligned victims shamelessly and have failed to investigate the mass of current allegations against SB, which they reject out of hand.