Sai Baba EXPOSED!

10 April 2006

Why Fear When Sai Is Here And Does Nothing?

One of those English bhajans was playing in my head which just drove home how impractical and disingenuous the Sai Movement is with some of it's creative legends. "Why Fear When I Am Here" - yes, why indeed?

One of it's verses goes like this:

"Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, Allah
All came to this land.
All of them brought the message of love,
'Love Your Fellow Man.'"

Aww, sweet. Except for the tiny fact that it is not only historically incorrect but spiritually incorrect too. Fair enough, Krishna lived in India. Buddha lived in India too. Apparently Jesus visited India too if you believe certain stories, but Allah? Aren't we stretching things a bit here?

Neither Allah nor the Prophet Muhummad touched Indian soil, and when the "message of love" (aka Islam) finally came to India, hmmmm, I don't think most Indians were too concerned with with embracing their fellow men when they were forced to convert to Islam or face death. According to one account, the Prophet Muhummad is reported to have said: "Two groups of my [followers] Allah has protected from the hellfire: a group that will conquer India and a group that will be with Jesus, son of Mary."

By all accounts (and I know there'll be some debate on this) but on the whole, the Islamic invasion and subsequent Mughal rule of India was not a good thing. Apart from forced conversion, around a thousand years of genocide, temple violations and destructions, scripture burnings, and other crimes against humanity were perpetrated freely. As Sai Baba himself writes:

"Until the ravaging Muslims sprang on this country no one in this land of Bharath [India] knew what was meant by violence. It is only when foreign hordes fell upon them and resorted to violence that the people came to know how intolerant man can be." - Sathya Sai Vahini

And there sit the white-clad devotees singing bhajans about it to Sai Baba, as if a part of India's oppressed history is a very good thing. This just goes to show what kind of activities the Sai Organisation are engaged in when minimising Indian history in the name of love and piece, especially in a country like India which is a political powder keg and where Hindu-Muslim relations are strained and sensitive at even the best of times.

09 April 2006

Shirdi Sansthan Nullifies Reincarnation Claims

According to a recent article in the Mumbai Mirror, the Sai Baba Sansthan Trust (Shirdi) are cracking down on 'imposter' temples who try to con gullible devotees and trade off Shirdi Sai Baba's name in various creative ways. At the end of the article comes a message from the (Shirdi) Sai Baba Trust which, among other things, states the following:

• Please do not believe anybody pretending to be a reincarnation of Shri Sai Baba.

• Shri Sai Baba has no disciple, nor an heir and nobody is seated on his aasan.

Interesting. Despite reports that the Shirdi Sansthan are "warming" to Sathya Sai Baba and/or his devotees on account of the large number of Sathya devotees who visit Shirdi (as reported by Marianne Warren in her book, 'Shirdi Sai Baba in the Light of Sufism'), I think it's safe to say that the official position of the Shirdi Sansthan is that the Old Baba never reincarnated himself and thus Sathya Sai's claims of being his reincarnation are patently false.

Of course, this is not to say that reincarnation for the Shirdi saint is impossible. However, considering that he made several statements about being active from his tomb even after his death, the case for reincarnation appears to be thrown into doubt.

04 April 2006

"Sai Krishna" LIE Surfaces Again

I just came across the blog of Raghav Subramanian, where he claims the following:

"I took Baba's photo in my camera & Baba Appeared in his Avatar when the photo was developed & printed. In Lord Krishna's form. I'm really delighted to share this photo with all of you. this photo was taken in the year 2000."

See it here.

There's just one small problem with this; the fact that I've already dealt with this issue. I've told him this by registering a comment. Go and see it and his possible reaction quickly before there is a chance he deletes my comment and advocates censure with this shameless example of mischievous pro-Sai propaganda.

For the record my comments are as follows:

Really, Raghav? Are you sure this is not an April Fools fib?

I was there in a devotional Sai group when this photo was declared as having been snapped by a certain Luther Christ from Australia, who also claimed to have snapped Baba in darshan and returned home to find this "miracle photo" when developing the film.

While Sai devotees were stunned at this picture's beauty, I knew that this was a very poor composite using an ISKCON picture as a source.

Read all about it here:

- The "Sai Krishna" Picture Imbroglio PART ONE

- The "Sai Krishna" Picture Imbroglio PART TWO

- The "Sai Krishna" Picture Imbroglio PART THREE

Sai Baba exhorts his devotees not to lie, and 'Truth' is his first human value.

Sai Youth: ROCK & ROLL

Sex / Drugs / Rock & Roll

With the final(?) installment of this series I'll close with a description of Sai Youth and their 'rock & roll' development.

At the outset I'll be very clear and say that the Sai Youth are by definition of a young age and so it is not abnormal for them to have hobbies, interests and music tastes that reflect their interaction with the world at large. It is also very common for youngsters to listen to the type of music enjoyed by their peer group even though they may not necessarily like it themselves. Consequently there isn't much to write by way of having a "shock" factor, unlike the recent Sex and Drugs articles, except just to relate my own experiences in this area.

You'd think that Sai Baba, with all of his exhortations to listen to bhajans and to engage in group chanting/singing of the names of God would be impressed with the current crop of the Youth Wing? Nay, he'd be horrified to see his tender saplings nourish their (spiritual!) growth by partaking of gangsta rap, trip-hop, trance, happy hardcore, house, dance, and a host of other styles of music. At least that's what was in vogue at the time of my leaving the Sai Organisation, I have no idea what crap they must be listening to these days.

For those who are not in the know, gangsta-rap is a particularly violent form of hip-hop. The vast majority of gangsta songs concentrates on themes that glorify gang violence, sexual objectification of women, alcohol, drugs, fast cars, and the like. Trip-hop, trance and happy hardcore are types of electronica that can only be understood and appreciated while under the influence of drugs such as Ecstasy or LSD. Dance is, well, dance, a type of electronica that I thought as relatively harmless and enjoyable to listen to until I found out that bands such as The Prodigy were listed in that genre.

Ah, The Prodigy. I thought it was a great day when their third album was released. This band had enjoyed more than it's fair share of controvery in it's heyday, primarily due to their offstage behaviour and drunken/druggie antics. Not least producing songs with creative titles such as:

Their Law
Poison
Firestarter
Smack My Bitch Up

Unsurprisingly, that last track received an instant ban upon it's release - the single (with just one notable lyric that urged violence against women) was never broadcasted on radio, and the music video (which featured graphic scenes of cocaine-snorting, drunkenness, vomiting and lesbian sex) was never aired until at least three years later. Naturally, a ban brings instant notoriety (as if they weren't notorious enough to begin with!) and their third album went straight in at No. 1 in the Dance Chart. I'll admit that I quite liked The Prodigy and managed to acquire a cassette of their album as well as several Indian remixes of 'Firestarter'.

If any of the above was not clear enough, just take a look at a typical picture of the Prodigy's frontman, Keith Flint, which may go some way in explaining exactly why this band was considered extreme and offensive:

Lovely chap eh? Just the type you'd bring home to meet the parents.

The funny thing is that, I played one Indian remix tape in the car of a fellow Youth devotee and all the boys went crazy over it. They were specifically disappointed when the 'Firestarter' music stopped and switched over to the Hindi lyrics. It only left me wondering why they enjoyed it so much. Hey, I was aware of my own "depravity" in listening to The Prodigy, but why is a Sai devotee who has life-size pictures of Sai Baba at home that shower holy ash listening to such a shocking band?

And if that wasn't enough, "Mike" asked to borrow my Prodigy tape. Yes, the same Mike who attempted to initiate the drug deal at the Sai Center. He never gave the tape back either.

It goes without saying that Sai Baba would never approve of these types of music. If he had it his way he'd arrange for his own bhajans to be pumped through the speakers 24/7. Why, whenever he gives a discourse it is broadcast live all around the ashram! You don't even have to attend the event and you can happily catch every word while munching on a veg-roll from the ashram bakery. It's so loud though, I'm surprised that the stray dogs who plague the ashram don't bark back in anger.

It is a common sight to see young devotees at Sai Baba's ashrams even now with walkmans, discmans, and what have you. Although I haven't been there for the last six years, I'm absolutely sure that there will be iPods aplenty. Whenever I had casually asked these devotees what they were listening to, nine times out of ten it would be something 'mundane'. One fellow Britisher told me (in 1994) that he was listening to Bob Marley. Doesn't seem very much inspiration for a spiritual pilgrimage, does it? No wonder Sai Baba spits venom now and then about how his devotees do not follow his teachings.

--)-/--\-(--

For the record, my own tastes in music vary greatly. I am equally at ease with the beautiful Sufi qawallis of Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan to the crash boom bang of heavy rock. As I had missed out on a lot of 'normal' teenage experiences during my time as a Sai devotee, I attended my first rock concert in November 2005 at the age of 27. It was a part of Motörhead's 30th Anniversary Tour and it was definitely an experience that I'll be having again. :-)

30 March 2006

Sai Youth: SEX Update

I just spotted this quote from Sai Baba's latest discourse (23rd Feb 2006):

"Let Me remind you that the teachers in the Higher Secondary School will not hesitate to punish you whenever necessary if you go wrong. They have nothing against anybody, but they are duty bound to put you on the right track. If a teacher shirks his responsibility and condones your bad behaviour without giving a punishment, then he is a ‘guddi guru’ (blind teacher). He cannot be called a Guru in the real sense."

But when the daughter of a prominent Sai devotee gets caught sending love letters to a boy in a school that enforces very strict rules about the mixing of the sexes, she goes unpunished. I wonder why.

Interestingly Sai Baba made a revealing comment earlier in this discourse, which was given to the students:

"Swami will constantly be with such students, guarding and guiding them. I will give them everything. In fact, I am protecting several people in several ways; but, no one has realised this point till today."

No kidding.

26 March 2006

Sai Youth: DRUGS

Sex / Drugs / Rock & Roll

Continuing the series that blows the lid on the activities of the Sai Youth, it shouldn't be any surprise that several members of my Sai Youth group were involved in taking drugs. No real names have been used to prevent embarrassment.

When you are at school and a majority of your friends regularly take drugs, you begin to recognise the signs. And so I could see the signs in several of the Sai Youth members of my local Sai center. I would have thought it was especially embarrassing considering that my center was one of the very popular ones and had a "high performance" reputation as far as seva and other organisational activities were concerned. I didn't know the extent of the problem nor did I knew exactly which drugs were used. I would have assumed that none of the "hard" drugs were being used (such as cocaine, heroin) but several members regularly smoked cannabis.

One day after the meetings were over I was hanging around outside the center with a couple of my Youth classmates. I can't remember how it happened but somehow the subject of drugs came up in our conversation. Through hints and gestures we let each other know that we were all familiar with the subject of regular use of cannabis amongst our peer group and that it was in easy supply, and I ended up being approached to provide them with it!

"Mike" and "Sam", I had known all along, were two of the several loose cannons in the group. Even though their public profile was high in that they made substantial contributions to the running of the center (involvement in seva, active youth membership, etc.) it was well known that Mike was a figure with an extroverted personality. Of course there's nothing wrong with that in itself, and I personally liked him and had a good relationship with him. I met many of the Youth boys at the first World Youth Conference in Puttaparthi (1997), where I had also met Mike and Sam and thus I had known them for several years before this event happened (around 2000 or thereabouts).

When Mike asked me if it was possible for me to acquire cannabis for him, I was actually annoyed by Sam's reaction to the whole conversation. He was blasé about it and didn't seem particularly bothered about this "drug deal" going down in a Sai center. I was even more annoyed because Sam was one of the Active Members - a Youth Committee within the Youth Committee that was responsible for the nuts and bolts of the whole Sai Youth Wing where finance and similar things were concerned. In fact, if I remember correctly, this took place right after an Active Member's Meeting which made it doubly shocking. I found it hard to understand how you can be a member of a select 'elite' group of Sai Youth and appear to have no scruples where everything else is concerned!

As if that wasn't enough, Mike's next remark left me flabbergasted. He told me that if or when I had acquired the cannabis, I shouldn't bring it to the center! In other words, I would have had to arrange to meet him outside Center meetings in order to hand it over to him.

So it would have been okay to give it to him outside the Center but not inside or near the Center because, Sai Baba might be watching and could get angry about it? I was disgusted at the double-standards of these two rascals and quickly took my leave.

"Never take meat, cigarettes, or other intoxicants and drugs." - Sathya Sai Baba

Of course I never acquired the cannabis for him because I never had any facility to do so in the first place. The whole exercise served to show me exactly how the main pillars of the Sai Youth were corrupt to the core. What was the use of coming to bhajan meetings and organising dramas and the like when there is clearly no problem with duplicitously indulging in bad habits? And drugs to boot, which rates much higher on the bad habit scale than picking your nose.

By way of interest, the drug problem amongst Sai devotees is not just restricted to the youth. It is open knowledge that drugs such as cannabis (and possibly harder drugs) are available to buy from "agents" in the Puttaparthi and Whitefield villages. The scale of the problem was revealed by Sai Baba himself in an impromptu talk for Western devotees one morning in the summer of 1994.

That is another story in itself so I'll just relate the salient points here: I used to be a regular hard seva worker in the Indian Canteen near the Whitefield ashram and could be found ther every morning and afternoon. One day I decided not to go for some reason - call it an inner prompting or whatever - and I felt tired and decided to go back to my room and have a lie-down after that morning's darshan. Another inner prompting around ten minutes later urged me to get up from bed and go for a little walk around the ashram. As soon as I stepped outside I saw large crowds rushing towards the marriage hall right outside Sai Baba's apartments. I have no idea how much Whitefield has changed since those days so I'm just relating according to my memories.

The sevadal volunteers were forcefully discriminating between Indian and Western devotees, and I was beckoned by one of them and told to go to the marriage hall and to take a seat there. Apparently Sai Baba had decided to give a spontaneous talk just for the Western devotees but it was difficult for me to understand what he was saying. This was not a talk in the normal sense of Sai Baba's habits; Instead of talking directly to the audience in Telugu and having it translated into English by someone else just like your typical discourse, he was just sitting in a chair and telling someone what to say. He had also randomly picked an Italian woman from the audience and have her translate the (English) translator's words into Italian.

Anyhow it was a nice event and a bit of a surprise. I found out from my mother later what Sai had been saying. It basically went like this: "You shouldn't buy drugs from the villagers outside the ashram. Drugs are bad for you and will seriously harm your health. Why are you here in a spiritual ashram if your interest is in taking drugs? There are police patrolling outside at all times, what if they catch you?" And so on and on. I think everyone was very shocked that Sai Baba was even talking about all of this and there were a lot of wide eyes around. "People are taking drugs here? NO WAY!"

In any case this just goes to show that not everyone who comes to Sai Baba "by his willing it" is squeaky clean. Many former drug-takers, even though they are currently devotees, continue to take drugs and not bat an eyelid at their own hypocrisy. Just imagine the fuss if I was in the habit of giving out the real names of the people concerned!

Sai Baba had ended his talk by letting us know that he would give a special discourse just for us Westerners the next day, but as I said earlier it's a whole other story that will make a great blog when I write about it. Stay tuned. :-)

Sai Baba Recharges His Batteries

I came across the Pada website today, which is essentially a site dedicated to exposing (and ranting about) the evils of the Hare Krishna movement. More specifically, I chanced on some interesting information about Sai Baba within one of it's newsletters. Although the incident is hilarious, readers are advised to keep caution before clicking on the link as there is sensitive material there:

On Sai Baba: There maybe someone out there reading this article who remembers the incident. In the late eighties or early nineties, we were visiting friends at Kozhikode (Calicut. India). A mammoth publicity campaign was mounted advertising a festival at which Satya Sai Baba would preside. Along with a group of friends we merged with the milling throngs. A large "Ananta Sesa" had been constructed in the middle of an even larger fountain. "Sai Visnu" was scheduled to "appear" and mount his "Ananta bed", after which he would enlighten all with a discourse on his importance. Lights flashed and the PA system boogied Sai Baba bhajans. It was like a discount-miracle meeting in evangelical America. Soon Mr. Talcum Powder (vibhuti) made his appearance. After brief stops along the way to talk to the chosen (they seemed to swoon with his touch..if they only knew what he had been 'touching' earlier?), he ascended the fountain steps, walked across the bridgeway and mounted "Ananta Deva."

It soon became apparent to the crowd that "Ananta Deva" was not very happy with Mr. Sai Visnu. No sooner had he gone into a recline when his body began to twitch. Up he jumped, but the twitching didn't stop. His afro glowed blue as he hopped up and down in a Sai-disco dance-step unique to Sai Vaikuntha. We realized immediately there was a short circuit, and since Sai Baba was standing on a wet platform he was getting the full DC-current treatment. We can assure all Sai Baba followers; had that current been AC, he would be residing in an urn ....Sai-fry .....pure vibhuti.

21 March 2006

Sai Baba: "Dickhead?" I'll Agree!

Warning! Graphic Language!

I spotted this blog entry that I found absolutely hilarious. Arthayoda (obviously a nickname) is an Indian blogger who described his recent break in Goa. On his return he came across a Sai Baba lookalike (complete with authentic afro). No big deal, until Lookalike started displaying symptoms of megalomania and behaviour not unlike the real Sai Baba!

It makes me wonder; exactly how many Swamis are on the planet right now, hidden and waiting to bloom?

For now just read, enjoy, and burst out laughing. :-)

"We passed the security check and sat in the lounge and as i looked up from my phone I could see a Sai baba lookalike (afro and all) walking around the airport lounge with a digicam right under a no photography board. I looked at my buddy and pointed out that this was bad for national security....with the Varanasi blasts and all that. I was told to shut up and count the minutes left to get onto the plane.

"As I painfully bided my time playing games on my phone while being distracted by the predominantly white crowd around me (I had truly grown sick of em). The discount airline that we had picked (I have to learn to stop looking for a bargain) had no shuttle to get us to the plane and we saw tons of people lugging their heavy baggage for 200 metres to the plane in what was about 32 degrees celsius and overhead sun. We got into the flight and were lucky to be seated next to a nice little indian lady reading a newspaper....normal people...how I loved seeing them now.

"Saibaba lookalike was seated in the row of seats right ahead of us.....I was glad I had been lucky. The plane took off and the first words I heard from someone in a thick marathi accent were....I'm Shiva....(as in Shiva the God)....you are lucky to serve me. They had come out of the mouth of Saibaba lookalike who from the point on I shall refer to as Dickhead....and they were being said to this very pretty airhostess. Anyway, what we realised over the next 15 minutes is that dickhead was delusional and believed he was a god (I know this seems far fetched but it is the absolute and total truth and quoted word for word). I couldn't contain my laughter anymore....I mean I had seen so much in the last three days but this guy got the 'Freak'' award in my books.

"There were two german tourists sitting next to Dickhead who asked them if they were Australian.....that didn't draw a response so dickhead asked them if they were christian to which they replied in the affirmative.....Dickhead suddenly switched roles and became Jesus Christ - the second coming. Anyway, this went on all the way to Bombay and I was getting really tired....of course the fact that he was seated next to an emergency door and my buddy having asked me what would happen if dickhead pulled the lever had made me rather uneasy. The airline staff had handled the situation quite well by totally ignoring him and let him let loose quite a few religous and racial remarks and photography inside the plane."

20 March 2006

Why Does Sai Baba Continue To Torture Himself?

In connection with my recent posts on the Lingam Night of 2006, I'm pleased to see SaiCast.Org presenting an video stream of the event. Was nice to see my old friend Kundra in the background though. Although I did not watch all of it (it's about an hour long) I couldn't help but notice Sai Baba's increasing fragility.

Goodness me, this must be the first time ever that he couldn't take the strain of standing while giving a discourse (at 42 minutes, 30 seconds), and had to sit down in his customised wheelchair to continue his talk to it's finale!

As I was watching and flicking forward to see the Lingam Birth section, I couldn't help noticing Sai Baba's pitiful and pathetic physical state. Goodness, being massaged by young male disciples in full public view and sipping water frequently, visibly shivering and shaking, it was actually quite painful to watch. He appears to be exhibiting all the symptoms of Parkinson's Disease, and I actually found myself feeling sorry for the old fellow. Why put himself through such needless strain just to impress a bunch of followers who would believe any old excuse? He should have learnt his lesson on the Shivarathri night of 2004 wherein he collapsed in full view of the television cameras of the BBC and Indian Television.

All my sympathy completely evaporated when Sai Baba unexpectedly vomited forth this year's lingam in an inconspicuous manner. To be fair the footage is quite raw and thready even on a broadband connection and the picture quality isn't at all stunning, not to mention that the film has been spliced together in the Prashanti Digital Studio, so it's not possible to see if Sai Baba is doing any tricky manoeuvres with his hands or if the nearby students are secretly passing it to him as these scenes could have been edited out. I guess the ashram has learnt a few lessons from our Movie Section.

Make up your own minds. Fast forward the film (54 minutes 20 seconds) and just see how the lingam is ejaculated after just a completely casual sip of water which appears to be vomited out just as soon as Sai puts the cup down. Blink and you'll miss it. It looks just as if he spat it out.

I don't believe for one minute that golden egg came out of his body. What do you think?

Sai Baba completed the day's charade by giving away free cars and being surrounded by more young boys after being wheeled around the Kulwant Hall showing the lingam to the crowd. A good night's rest after a hard day's work, whaddya say?