The letter copied below was
from: Al Rahm. Date: 2004-11-15 12:27 a.m. to: Joe
Moreno ('This day he is in Denial City, next day he
will regret his Huge Stupidity'). The latter
says that he is not a devotee but has sites on the
web that show beyond doubt that he is highly partial
to SSB.
Sometimes pointing to genuine mistakes (which are
not sinister, as this critic would often have it),
he has typically leaped to most unfair,
out-of-context, erroneous conclusions, virtually
trying to set himself up as a sort of one-man
ombudsman. With no sensitivity to how sexual abuse
survivors (and other close parties, such as
families) feel, he has, e.g., demanded that they
send their affidavits to him.
Mr
Moreno has raised questions about the validity of
much former devotee testimony, and Al Rahm's
response is surely a model of restraint in the face
of one who shows great insensitivity to the feelings
of many SSB survivors. This adversary daily
excels himself in assailing many individuals whose
goodness only bigoted SSB activists would ever dare
to slur. It is right, as Mr Moreno says - but no
differently to many former devotees who also ask for
it (but sensitively, patiently and lovingly) - that
issues about factual evidence be clarified. But it
will be clarified with police, abuse counsellors,
and legal representatives - in preference to Mr
Moreno.
Cc.'d
recipients of the letter below were former
devotees: 1. Rick Raines. Before
leaving the Sathya Sai Organization, he was a
Regional president in an area comprising Texas,
Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana - the South
Central Region of USA. He was a member of the
national council, reporting to Dr Michael Goldstein. 2.
Glen Meloy, 26 years a devotee, was
a close personal assistant to Mrs Elsie
Cowan,
member of the
first Advisory Board of the Sathya Sai Baba Society
for USA, and Co-Manager, Sathya
Sai Book Center of
America, Tustin, California. 3. Barry
Pittard, 25 years a devotee, taught English
for two years at the Sathya Sai College at
Whitefield, 1978-1979.
Al Rahm. Brief Background:
In a
sworn affidavit forwarded to the FBI, the State
Department and other relevant agencies, dated
Tuesday, October 31, 2000, Al Rahm writes: "By
the year 1999 I had been a devotee of Sai Baba for
26 years. I started and lived in a Sai Baba
community in Northwest Arkansas. I was one of
5 regional officers in region 10 of the Sai Baba
Organization of the United States. I had
started the first Sai School in the United States at
the personal direction of Sai Baba in interviews
that took place in 1997. The school was a
501c3 non-profit by the name of School of Human
Values. I was travelling to regional
conferences all over the United States along with my
family as a guest speaker and we also sang
devotional music. The crowds would often be as
large as 500 or more people."
Faithfully, Barry Pittard. December 6,
2004.
Joe
Moreno, and others, contacted me to clarify what
appear to be inconsistencies in Alaya’s testimony.
All of Alaya’s testimony and the testimony of his
family is true. The inconsistencies are merely
editing issues. Perhaps the following will
explain for you.
Alaya
was born into a family who taught him from birth to
believe that Sai Baba was a fully conscious,
physical manifestation of god, or otherwise known as
an avatar. Alaya’s first personal contact with
Sai Baba was in a family interview with his parents
when he was 8 months old. Alaya was again in
an interview with his family when he was in the
second grade. He did not have any private time
with Sai Baba on either of those occasions.
When he was 16 years old he went to India with a
friend along with Wilma Bronke’s group. On
that trip Sai Baba called him into a private
interview and on that occasion Sai Baba began the
sexual contact by rubbing oil on Alaya’s genitals
and kissing on the mouth and attempting to cause an
erection in Alaya. When Alaya returned from that
trip with a robe and a ring that had been given to
him by Sai Baba we asked many questions about every
detail of his interview. He told us that there
were some things he could not tell because Sai Baba
had told him never to tell anyone. I suspected
that this must be the oil treatment since I had
received a similar treatment when I was 18 and was
also told by Sai Baba never to tell anyone.
Also, the leader of the Litestorm group, who I was
staying with at the time asked me if Baba had made
me oil and rubbed it on me. I said yes and he
told me that it had happened to all the guys in the
group. He said, “Welcome to the club, Swami
does that to help get rid of sexual desires in us.”
That was in 1974 and it was 1979 before I had
another interview with Sai Baba. I was married by
then and had a child. I had no further experiences
involving oil or touching by Sai Baba and so I
accepted the oil experience as sort of a doctor
patient relationship and thought no harm was done.
After
Alaya’s return from his first private interview in
1995 I privately asked if he had received the oil
treatment from Sai Baba. Alaya was surprised that I
knew. He admitted it to me and we agreed to
keep it to ourselves. I asked him if he felt that
there was anything sexual in it and he said no, that
it was like Baba was a doctor doing his job. He did
not mention to me at that time that Sai Baba had
kissed him deeply or tried to cause an erection.
What the reader must realize here is that a
16-year-old boy who has been born and raised into
this belief thinks of this person, Sai Baba, as god,
tells himself that it must be a great blessing and
there could not be any way that it was sexual.
Baba was saying it was a good luck opportunity and
that he was purifying him. However, in Alaya’s case
it went further. In 1997, in front of the
first international young adult conference in
puttaparthi, Alaya was singled out and called in for
14 interviews in a period of less than 2 months in
front of 20,000 young adults from around the world.
7 of those interviews were with his family but Alaya
was also called privately in each of those as well.
He and his entire family were given rings, watches,
earrings, photos with Sai Baba, robes, silk lungis
etc. etc. etc. Alaya was the envy of every young
adult there and his family was also in a very
desired position. Alaya came out of one
interview with a hand full of cash given to him from
Sai Baba. There was over $1000 in rupees that
Alaya was told to give to his mother to take care of
the room, food, saris etc. and there was $3000 in
crisp one hundred dollar bills for Alaya.
Sai
Baba kept calling Alaya his exemplary boy. He told
Alaya that he had picked out his wife, a daughter of
the Craxi family of Italy. Baba impressed on
Alaya how much money they had and that he, (Baba),
would introduce Alaya to prime ministers and
presidents from around the world. Baba always
impressed on Alaya how wealthy he was going to make
him if he did what he wanted him to. We did
not know at that time what Sai Baba really meant.
We thought he meant if Alaya behaved with exemplary
character and studied well etc.
Sai
Baba told us that all of this attention was being
given to us because we were all great devotees of
Shirdi Sai Baba and that Alaya was the greatest
devotee of Shirdi Sai Baba. Baba instructed us
to start the first Sai School in the US but not to
use his name in it because the US organization would
give us too much hassle if we did. He told me
he wanted me to make a movie and that he would be in
it. He looked over the by laws and photos of
our community and signed them with his approval.
He invited us to sing in the mandir, which we did.
He invited us back to puttaparthi for Christmas.
You can
only imagine the high that we were all going
through. You can only imagine how Alaya felt seeing
his family in the peak of their life. After
all, from his viewpoint, this was their god.
This was what they lived for. This was what every
devotee hoped for. What we did not know at the
time is that Alaya was paying a heavy price for all
of this glory. A price, which he did not understand
and could not tell us about because Sai Baba was
threatening him not to tell, or Baba would never
talk to his mother or family again. How would
you feel? Baba even threatened to cause an
accident and cut off Alaya’s penis if he told.
Remember, this is a boy who believed that Baba had
this power.
We
returned for Christmas and received more interviews,
more money, more stuff, more singing in the mandir.
We returned the next summer; more interviews, more
money, more stuff and so on. By the summer of
1998, Alaya’s mother began to detect a troubled
feeling in him. She assessed that the pressure
Sai Baba was putting on Alaya was too much for him.
For example, Alaya was not to have any friendships
outside of his family. He was to be in school or at
home. He was not to speak with or associate with
girls in any way. He was only 18 and was to
live like this until he was 25 when Sai Baba would
perform his marriage to the Craxi girl. Baba
insisted on these things openly in our family
interviews and told Alaya’s mother and I that we
were to insist and keep him in line. We spoke to
leaders of the US organization who had been devotees
for 30 plus years about these concerns over Alaya’s
apparent hesitation and subtle withdrawal.
They always assured us that we should not be
concerned and that Baba knew what was best.
When we asked Alaya about it he said that he wasn’t
sure he wanted the marriage. He said that he wasn’t
sure that Sai Baba knew what was best for him. By
Christmas of 1999 we began to suspect something was
very wrong. I even told Alaya that if he was
ever asked by Baba or anyone else to do anything
that he didn’t feel was right in his heart, that he
should say no. I told him that his family was with
him and that we didn’t care if we ever had another
interview. Alaya had his last private interview on
our final trip to see Sai Baba that Christmas. In
that interview, we later found out, he told Sai Baba
that he didn’t like his behavior and Alaya left the
interview.
After
our return to the US we became even more concerned.
Alaya did not look happy, he did not want Baba’s
robe in his room, and he did not participate in
young adult programs. Alaya said that he did not
trust that Sai Baba knew what was best for him and
that he didn’t care how much money the Craxis had,
he wanted love in his marriage more than anything.
Marisa and I confronted Alaya in hopes of shaking
him out of his resistance. With great fear and
hesitation Alaya finally told us what had really
been happening behind that curtain in the private
interview room. I asked him why he had never
told us before and he said that he was afraid that
he would be responsible for bringing down the
organization and that his parents might choose to
stay with Sai Baba and that he would be alone
without the family that he loved. He also explained
that he was hoping it would stop and everything
would be all right. But it didn’t stop, it
kept getting worse until all he could think to do
was to stop going to India and never tell us about
it for fear of losing us.
The
abuse was much worse than oil on the genitals. Baba
would get very angry with Alaya because Alaya
couldn’t get an erection for Baba. Alaya
explained that he did not like it and that he liked
girls. He told Baba that he loved him but he
did not want sex with him. Baba didn’t care,
that was what he wanted and he used the excuse that
he was purifying Alaya. On one occasion Baba took
off his robe and lungi and, fully naked, attempted
to pull down Alaya’s pants and climb onto his back
in an effort to have anal sex. Alaya pushed
him off and said no. Baba got angry and put
his robe back on. Then said he would never talk to
Alaya again. Alaya pleaded with him not to be
angry and to please continue to grant interviews and
talk with his parents and sisters.
After
hearing the truth we contacted and met with Bill
Harvey and Dr. Goldstein and told them the entire
story. We thought that they would at least get
the information out to devotees so they would have
the right to choose whether or not they accepted
this behavior of Sai Baba. In time this information
was shared with all of the leaders of the SSB
organization of the United States as well as India.
Now,
many claims have been made that testimony is
inconsistent. For example;
1.
Alaya first said that when Baba first used oil
and kissed him it was not sexual. Later Alaya
said it was sexual.
When he was 16
he convinced himself that it was not sexual and that
is what he believed to be true. Later, after so many
other experiences and a retrospective viewpoint,
when Mick Brown, the Danish Broadcasting Co. and the
BBC interviewed him, he could see that it was
sexual. The BBC film did not explain that.
Only so much could be included in the final edit to
keep within the time limits of the film. We never
got to see any rough edits nor were we consulted
regarding the final edit. As a matter of fact
we didn’t even see a copy until after it aired in
the UK.
2.
Alaya said he received $10,000 and I said several
thousand dollars.
To me several
means 3 or more. I don’t bother counting it
all up. Who cares? So What? It may have
been more than $10,000 in cash.
3.
Alaya talked openly with other American devotee
boys who had similar experiences, or they didn’t
talk because they were afraid that Baba, who was
omnipresent, would know.
Yes, he talked
with American and Indian devotees, at Sai retreats
in the US. One of these boys attended Baba’s school
and was the son of a woman who worked in the
balvikas program in the US. This boy was undergoing
similar sexual pressure and threats from Sai Baba.
His mother always received a lot of attention from
Sai Baba including earrings, praise etc. This boy
was afraid to tell her because Sai Baba would
threaten never to talk to her again. That is the
same technique that Sai Baba used on Alaya (a boy’s
love for his mother). That boy never did tell his
mother that we know of and eventually left Sai
Baba’s school. Other boys who went to Baba’s school
said that there are whole groups of boys who have
sex with Sai Baba and that Baba has boys brought to
his bedroom at night. Alaya and these boys tried to
figure it out together since they could not tell
anyone else, but they were afraid to talk about it
too much because they were afraid also that Baba
might know. They weren’t sure. They suspected that
Sai Baba really didn’t know. Sai Baba often
displayed anger toward the boys. They were young,
they were confused, they were abused, and they were
searching! Don’t get caught up with details
that don’t matter.
The reason that other names, (like Sam Young) were
used in Mick Brown’s article is because we were
fresh into the awareness of the abuse and concerned
about Alaya’s exposure and our family’s. We were
unsure what it would mean to expose our family and
our son to the world. There was even some concern
for safety since reports of Dr. Batia fleeing for
his life were circulating and Anil Kumar was in the
states asking about our family. Yet, we felt it was
important to share the truth. We never
contacted the media they contacted us. We did
however share the true story with anyone who asked.
By the time the BBC contacted us we had had several
years to think about it and we decided to come fully
forward. It took a lot of courage on Alaya’s
part and on ours. We were never paid anything
for any of our testimony. We have nothing to
gain from any of it. We simply did it to share
the truth with those who might have the courage to
hear it.
All of the testimony is true. The editing
often makes it difficult to follow the timing and
remember this took place from the spring of 1995 to
January of 1999.
The most important fact is that sexual abuse has
taken place not only with Alaya but also with many
boys. I personally have been contacted by boys
from around the world since this happened.
Their stories are the same when it comes to the
sexual abuse. It always starts with the oil and then
it escalates. I suspect that it is still going on.
Please don’t get caught up over insignificant
details
Sincerely and Truthfully,
Alaya’s Parents