I can still remember the face
of my mother as she sat in rapt attention, listening to a Sai Baba
devotee recounting one of her experiences of the God man’s awesome
capabilities. The lady was cleaning her home when she spotted a
spectacled cobra in her living room slithering towards her baby. On
an impulse (Oh Yeah!) she ran to the stereo set and switched on a
recording of Sai Baba’s devotional songs. The snake, she claimed,
exited the room immediately and disappeared into the garden. She was
convinced that the God man had come to her aid and hoped that my
mother would realise the truth and join the ranks of millions of
followers all over the world.
My mother did accept a small
packet containing holy ash created from thin air by the saint
himself, but she was not ready to buy into the pitch. And she even
joked that the devotional song must have been so darn bad, even a
creature like a snake with little or no hearing abilitiy had to run
out of the room for dear life. My family members are especially wary
of normal people claiming to be the reincarnation of God on earth.
But I cannot say the same about the rest of my countrymen and
millions of others around the world. When the stone idol in the
temple has proved to be a boring option, people are turning to self
appointed Gods to address their burning issues.
There are scores of men and
women, claiming to be spiritual healers, who have the answer to all
the problems in the world. What starts of as a small ashram grows
into a multi million-dollar industry! With the constant flow of
tax-free donations from inebriated folks their pockets grow fatter
and fatter. The fact that these fraudulent people utilise a small
proportion of their income to build hospitals or educational
institutions is seen as having earth-shattering consequences and
illegal activities guised as philanthropy escape the scrutiny from
authorities.
In India several incidents
have proved that there exists some form of hidden alliance between
God men/women and government authorities. This is evident from the
eagerness of the Police and other agencies to destroy incriminating
evidence connecting many of these ashrams to murders, illegal organ
trade and sexual offences, as in the case of the murder of six
inmates of Prashanti Nilayam in Satya Sai Baba's bedroom. All were
part of the inner circle of Sai Baba, among whom was Radha Krishna
Menon, the personal assistant who was caught on videotape passing a
necklace secretly to Baba during one of his materialisations. It was
alleged that assailants killed two of the dead in an attempt to
murder Baba. The police claimed to have shot the other four
assailants (who were armed only with knives) in self-defence.
The current craze in India
happens to be Mata Amritanandamayi, fondly known as Amma or mother.
The mystic, dressed in a white sari, hugs and kisses her devotees
who are instantly cleansed of all sorrows. A close observation of
some of her tactics sheds light on the strategy adopted by these
demi gods to lure in susceptible individuals.
Sceptics and non-believers are
dragged to prayer meetings (the size of which is enough to convert
the doubter) by relatives or friends. The apprehensive look on their
face is an easy give away for the God man/woman who then proceeds to
invite the ‘now petrified’ individual to the stage and ask them
about their well being. The victim is now thoroughly convinced that
he/she was not randomly picked up from the crowd, but spotted by the
saint with his/her divine binoculars. These unscrupulous people also
employ other forms of brainwashing to trap their unsuspecting prey.
Often people are pressured
into believing in the supernatural abilities of people like Mata
Amritanandamayi. With a strong public relations wing generating a
constant stream of articles, pamphlets, books and videos, these
figures achieve cult status in a matter of years, to the extent that
newspapers run special supplements on a regular basis to advertise
appearances and prayer meetings. Some serious political clout does
not harm their business either. The presence of the President, the
Prime Minister and other high-ranking officials at inaugurations,
prayer meetings and anniversary celebrations is now taken for
granted.
To get more insight into this
phenomenon let’s look at the case of the God man Sai Baba to whom I
was referring earlier in this chapter.
Sai Baba: A Case Study
Lets take at a brief look at
the biography of this self-styled saviour who has taken human form
to restore Dharma.
Sri Satya Sai Baba was born
Satyanarayan Raju in 1926 in the village of Puttaparthi, Andra
Pradesh, India. At the age of 14 he had a series of strange
experiences, which his family and others believed at the time to be
demonic possession. Soon after one of these, Satyanarayan asserted
that the spirit of a guru known as Sai Baba of Shirdi, Maharashtra,
who had died more than twenty years earlier, had come into him.
Shirdi Sai Baba (1856 –1918) was admired in his lifetime for his
austere lifestyle and particularly for the miracles that were
attributed to him. During the later period of his life, he claimed
to be God and was venerated as such by his followers. Satyanarayan,
who appropriated the name Satya Sai Baba, likewise claims to be God.
In support of his claim, Satyanarayan began early on to work the
‘miracles’ for which he has since become renowned and which have led
to a growing number of followers. The ‘miracles’ include
materializing sugar candy, flowers, vibhuti (sacred ash) and other
presents for his devotees. They also include healing the sick and
knowing the thoughts of his disciples whatever be the distance
between them. His followers even claim that Sai Baba has restored
two dead men to life. These ‘miracles’ are adduced as proof of Sai
Baba’s divinity and specifically of his ability to create out of
nothing. Satya Sai Baba has prophesied that he will leave his
present body in the year 2022, when he would be 96 years of age. But
he will immediately be reborn for a third time as an avatar named
Prema Sai Baba. He has specified that this final appearance will
take place in the Mandya district of Karnataka State. (Hughes 2000)
Sounds familiar doesn’t it.
It’s not the first time that humanity has encountered lunatics with
inflated egos calling themselves ‘the creator of the universe’. But
Satya Sai Baba takes it one step further. With each passing year a
growing number of former devotees are coming forward with sworn
testimonies of how the god man sexually abused them. The
embarrassing tales recounted by victims have severely tarnished the
image of the Satya Sai Baba movement in the international arena with
the UNESCO withdrawing its support for a conference on "Strengthening
Values Education" at Sai Baba's headquarters at Puttaparthi last
year. This has come close on the heels of closure of several Sai
Baba schools in Sweden.
The so-called miracles have
also proved to be bogus. Here are some instances of proven fakery:
1.The DECCAN CHRONICLE is a
Hyderabad-based English daily with a large circulation. On 23
November, 1992 it published on its front page pictures from a video
recording of Satya Sai Baba's ‘creation’ of a gold necklace, in the
presence of the Prime Minister of India, Mr. P.V. Narasimha Rao. The
videotape of the event appeared to show unambiguously Satya Sai Baba
being passed a necklace clandestinely by his personal assistant
Radhakrishna Menon, which later Satya Sai Baba ‘materializes’ after
a wave of his hand.
2.Working on behalf of the
Dutch newspaper DE VOLKSKRANT, Piet Vroon was at Puttaparthi to film
Baba at "work". He and his partner reported that they saw Baba
remove rings, necklaces and watches from behind flower vases and
from pillows on his chair. They also detected Sai Baba holding
vibhuti balls in one hand, transferring them to the other hand,
pulverising them and distributing them. Vibhuti was also alleged to
be hidden in his mouth and removed while wiping his face, which Baba
does very often. In his report of December 5, 1992 Vroon's
conclusion is unambiguous: "we just think that he's a trickster and
a cheat."
3.A Committee was set up by
Bangalore University to carry out an investigation. Through its work
Sai Krishna, a 7 year-old ‘miracle’ boy and protégé of Sai Baba, was
exposed as a fraud. Three members of the committee observed the boy
produce sacred ash on July 15, 1976. However, it was no miracle.
They found that the ash was hidden in the boy’s vest and came out
when he pulled a string hidden in his clothes. (Hughes 2000)
Explosives like land mines and
plastic explosives have been unearthed from ‘the abode of peace’
(Prasanthi Nilayam). The Ashram has also been accused of being a
part of an international organ trade racket.
The Marathi language weekly
LOK PRABHA, of January 19, 1996, published an account concerning the
SATYA SAI INSTITUTE OF HIGHER MEDICAL SCIENCES, in which a peasant
from the Latur district of Maharastra was to have received his son
Balaji's kidney in a transplant operation. Whereas the son’s kidney
was removed, a scan carried out later revealed that his father had
not received the kidney. (Hughes 2000)
It is quite clear from the
overwhelming amount of evidence that this ‘incarnation of God’ is a
child molester, serial sex offender, murderer and fraud. Why people
hold such criminals in high esteem is beyond my comprehension. This
particular case also reveals how criminal elements trick humans by
the sleight of hand and brainwash them into trusting them blindly,
before abusing them.
To read about the testimonials
of Sai Baba’s victims and to view revealing videos of his purported
miracles visit
www.exbaba.com. The site contains links to articles and websites
that have investigated the shady past of the God man. I hope that
everyone makes a personal effort to watch the enlightening
documentary Seduced by Sai Baba by Øjvind Kyrø, produced by DR TV in
Denmark.
Bibliography
•Hughes, Louis. Who Is Sai Baba? 2000.
Webpage. Dialog Center. Available:
http://www.dci.dk/en/mtrl/saibabaeng.htm 3
July 2004.
•Kennedy, Ludovic. All in the Mind: A
Farewell to God. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1999.
•Smart, Ninian. The Religious Experience of
Mankind. London: Collins, 1969