Letter from Barry Pittard to Palm Springs Conference
Date: 11-26-03
Posted: Tuesday, November 25,
2003
Author: Barry Pittard
Reference: http://home.hetnet.nl/~ex-baba/engels/letters/glentoprophet.html
Dear
Organizers and All Speakers, Palm Springs Conference March 12-14, 2004
at: http://www.greatmystery.org/ps2004conference.html
Glen
Meloy of California USA has been recently
in touch with you, asking that each of the key organizers and speakers
at the Palm Springs Conference is well-alerted to the worldwide
concern of a great many former devotees of Sathya Sai Baba.
Glen
Meloy was a highly respected, deeply
dedicated Sathya Sai Baba devotee for twenty-six years. I myself was a
lecturer in English for two years (1978-79) at the Sathya Sai Baba
College in Whitefield, one of India’s most prestigious colleges, and a
devotee for twenty-five years. Like so many others, I have been unable
to ignore the overwhelming evidence that Sathya Sai Baba has for many
years been a serial sexual molester of boys and young men, as well as
facing other allegations of serious crimes. Glen
Meloy and I have been closely associated with getting
affidavits and other testimony to governments and law enforcement
agencies in India and other countries around the world, including the
CBI New Delhi, FBI, Scotland Yard, German Chief Prosecutor's Office,
French National Police, Australian Federal Police, etc. In India,you
may imagine the immense effort that we have to expend to attempt to
overcome the vast protection afforded to Sathya Sai Baba and his
multi-billion rupee/dollar empire by leading power brokers, and the
hazard to life and limb posed to those courageous enough to speak out
against him and his immensely powerful organization that covers up for
him.
One of
the saddest commentaries on some speakers and writers on spiritual
issues is that they have been less than honest in acknowledging their
responsibility by noting the good professional and community standing
of those many former Sathya Sai Baba devotees in making these
allegations. Instead, they persist, despite the vast amount of
evidence against him in leading world media, in published books and on
the Internet, in speaking favorably about Sathya Sai Baba in their
talks and writings.
At
every step, those international coordinators such as Glen
Meloy (USA), Lionel Fernandez (Mexico),
Robert Priddy (Norway) and me (Australia)
have made it very plain that we are often able to refer influential
speakers and writers to experts in their own fields who are
knowledgeable about the evidence against Sathya Sai Baba. One example
is that we have a number of highly-credentialed sexual abuse
counselors in different countries who are well familiar with the
cases, and entirely convinced that SSB is in fact a sexual molester of
the most serious sort, not to mention a great many other spiritual
anomalies of a most tragic kind. There are also, from various
countries, courageous young men (and other accusers who have grown
older) who are ready to give their direct testimony to relevant
professionals who are in high standing in regard to their sensivity
and ethical and moral character.
Can the integrity that is
evident on former SSB websites such as
www.exbaba.com
and
www.saiguru.net
elude detection by those who read the typically responsibly written
testimony found there? Please consider viewing and signing the
petition that has been signed by hundreds of persons in good standing
in their professions, trades and wider communities at:
http://www.petitiononline.com/saibaba/petition.html.
You may also read the profoundly central - and by SSB and his apex
leaders profoundly unanswered - questions raised by a strong coalition
of former devotees (JuST Seekers of Truth) in the letter ‘Towards
Public Accountability and Due Investigation: A Formal Open Appeal to
‘The Prashanthi Council’
at:
http://www.saiguru.net/english/articles/100prashanthicouncil.htm. For
an update and overview of the last four years of organized effort by
(mainly) former devotees to bring world attention to the accusations
against Sathya Sai Baba, see:
http://www.saiguru.net/english/news/030925index.htm.
Welcome too is the
emergence of critical, prolific scholarly writers with their own
Sathya Sai Baba Exposé websites: see, Robert
Priddy (Norway),
http://home.no.net/anir/Sai/enigma and Brian Steel (Australia)
http://bdsteel.tripod.com/More/index.html. For an overview of
critical materials, you may consult, In the Shadow of Sathya Sai Baba
at:
http://www.saiguru.net/english/last_updates/shadowindex.htm. Under
"Studies" on the
http://www.exbaba.com
site, there is a navigator to: "'Important studies from critical
authors since 'The Findings.'"
I would
much value the thoughts of you and your experts on the following
questions:
-
How
may whole communities enact who care
for the safety and protection of our young from the trammels of
false gurus?
-
How
may those who seek to expose fraudulent spiritual teachers best
reach out to those who are not fraudulent and encourage them to be
honest and forthright enough to speak out in the face of such
major cases of spiritual perfidy?
-
Would you ensure that a copy of this letter gets to each of your
staff and speakers and assure us that your organization and its
speakers will do nothing to add to the interest in Sathya Sai Baba
which may inspire others to visit him?