Sai Slurs, Part Six
Sai Slurs /
Part One / Part
Two / Part Three /
Part Four /
Part Five
/ Part
Six /
Part Seven /
Part Eight /
Part Nine
Posted: Thursday October 23, 2003
Author: Barry Pittard
Email:
bpittard@beachaccess.com.au
You cause beat-ups in the sensationalist press
This Sai Slur is on a par with the statement of
Indulal Shah, recently replaced by Dr Michael Goldstein as world
convener of the Sathya Sai Organisation, who circularised its
leaders (September 18, 2001). Of the media which reported the
allegations, he said that it has “a strong propensity for
sensationalism. A whiff of scandal always helps their sales and
therefore they do not even pause to verify the truth." In fact, for
the last four years, we have repeatedly approached the media with
the best reputation for careful research and reporting, such as The
Times of London, Daily Telegraph, The Age, and broadcast media such
the BBC, DR, ABC, SBS, etc.
The reaction from organised Sathya Sai devotees
afforded yet another sign that they are beginning to lose their
nerve and strike out wildly for survival. Last year, Thorbjörn
Meyer, Central Coordinator for Europe and Co-coordinator for Russian
Speaking Countries, hired a top Danish lawyer in court actions
against Danish Radio, the Danish national television broadcaster. A
senior contact in the company has told me that at least ten threats
of legal action were presented before and after "Seduced" was aired,
and that none of these was able to stop it. “Seduced” has since been
shown at least three times in Norway, and - again by
successful former devotee efforts to promote the documentary to one
of the world’s major broadcasters - will soon be seen in other parts
of the world. Promptly, the municipal authorities rescinded the sale
to Sai Baba devotees of the famous castle Arresødal in Copenhagen,
which was to have been used as a Sai international school. Though
money is supposed to speak all languages, an injection of US $6
million did not speak Danish! Happily, Øjvind Kyrø's Director, Steen
Jensen, and Danish Radio stood by Øjvind Kyrø's professional
integrity in this penetrating documentary. Suddenly, Thorbjörn
Meyer's case rapidly disappeared from the courtrooms of Copenhagen.
Leading member of the Sathya Sai Organisation and wealthy
businessman,
Jørgen Trygved hired Denmark’s foremost lawyer thrice tried and failed
to keep the documentary from being aired.
The same
Jørgen Trygved
was also Chairman of the ‘Sai international
school’ fund board, so ignominiously defeated by the civil
authorities of Copenhagen.
The history of cover-ups shows a remarkable
pattern: a cover-up, once exposed, redounds to the discredit of the
initiators at a cost far greater than would have attended the prompt
admission of the initial misdeeds. In passing, let us pay tribute to
the dauntless conscience-driven efforts of others who have quit a
teacher and called the teacher to public account. To name a
few teachers often regarded as disgraced beyond recall - Balyogi
Premvarni, Kriyananda, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Premananda,
Muktananda, Rajneesh, Yogi Bhajan …, not to mention very many
non-India related ones. We see precisely the same patterns in their
remaining followers as in the typical responses of Sathya Sai
devotees, both on and off the Internet. For example: