We have evidence that responsible Malaysian devotees (some
of them now former devotees) have tried to present to Jegathesan accusations about sexual
abuse by Sathya Sai Baba of young Malaysian males, but that he, the leader of the Sathya
Sai Organisation of Malaysia, has refused to heed them. (As many other world Sai
leaders have so shamelessly done).
If you have a strong stomach, you can access
Jegathesan's Open Letter to All Malaysia Leaders of Sai Centres and Youth
Co-ordinators (National, Regional and Centre Levels), October 7, 2000. It is
at:
http://www.snowcrest.com/sunrise/Dvjaglet.htm
Here he speaks of our former devotee efforts as 'the
External Threat', 'filth and negativity'. We wage an 'insidious campaign', and our
actions are 'faeces on the ground'. In almost the same breath, he
says: 'Just examine silently those who have 'dropped out' or turned against
Sai, and you will discover this truth! Do not condemn them! Do not vilify them.' He
then proceeds to vilify us. Besides repeating his master's voice of the angry Christmas
discourse, 2000, we are Judases, but Brother Jegathesan (as he likes to be called)
outmasters the master, generously adding that we resemble the Puranic demons - Ravana and
Hiranyakasipu.
Barry Pittard
----- Original Message -----
From: Barry Pittard
To: Cc: X, Y, Z
Sent: Tuesday, April 01, 2003 6:54 AM
Subject: Re: Confusion
My Dear Jega,
I did not foresee this unexpected opportunity to send you Love across the great divide
which has separated so many good sisters and brothers.
How well do I remember some of our first meetings. A year after we first met at Whitefield
(it must have been 1979), you brought to my room in West Prashant a fine, earnest,
mainly young (but of course, we were all young then, I nearly forgot!) group of men from
Malaysia (and I think one or two from Singapore). I was then lecturing, for two
years, at the Whitefield college. We lost touch over the years, although I would
sometimes bump into Mani or others and they would tell me of you and your work, most
recently your relief activities in North Korea. I last saw you at Prashanthi
Nilayam, Christmas 1997, on the stage of the Poorna Chandra. Our eyes met, we nodded
briefly, but you were surrounded by people who wished to speak to you.
I shall copy below my Open Letter to A.B. Vajpayee. I trust that
you will note especially the content that relates to the integrity and goodness of so many
former devotees. They are rapidly increasing in number and I have had much contact with
many of them from many parts of the world, and assure you that their dissenting
witnessings are not in the least what you have called "faecies on the
ground." For some sensitive souls, this is a very hurtful, cruel
and untrue statement. Others were simply puzzled that you could say such a
thing.
In fact, we are on very firm ground, loving ground,
compassionate ground, and stand for fearless truth and righteousness which allow us to
withstand being called slanderers, paedophiles, cawing crows, demons, Judases,
blasphemers, disgruntled, and so on. We have simply had to cop it all, and not least from
those who respected and loved us through the many years of our faithful devotion to Sathya
Sai Baba, and utter commitment to service activities. The fact that former
devotees are still acknowledged with respect in their professions, trades and
wider communities is a sure indicator that many Sai devotees, because of a myopia, have
taken leave of their commonsense.
You say that there is "is a lot of confusion", Jega. However, the duty of a
citizen is to report a crime, and it is for the judges and juries to decide
whether they are confused or not. How can you allow yourself to be involved in
such an incredible coverup, Jega? It is not right, and it will all burst at the
seams, and come out. I know that good people have tried to open your eyes to the
abuses, but that you, like so many - Hislop, Goldstein, Harvey, Bozzani, Ramanathan,
and many other leaders - have turned these victims or their families away
from your compassion.
On a spiritual level, it is, of course, of paramount
importance to eliminate the nasty, faultfinding tendency. Although, I shall enquire
- is calling people's actions "faecies on the ground" a prime example
of non-faultfinding? But a very real confusion arises when spiritual desiderata is
mixed up with another vital arena of our humanity - the need to think critically.
Along with this is the extremely important duty of a citizen to report what he or she
believes to be a crime, ever more poignantly so when it comes to protecting minors.
In a note to me, an American friend and former Sathya Sai
devotee and senior office bearer Timothy Conway, Ph.D., has clarified the confusion of
truth levels which I have in mind. He writes:
" In the classic Hindu and Buddhist spiritual
traditions, the great sages commonly distinguish between the absolute, non-dual level of
truth (paramarthika satyam) and the conventional human level of truth (vyavaharika
satyam). The sages warn about confusing these two levels so that, for instance, one
inappropriately undermines the conventional level of morality and ethics by saying
‘there is neither good nor bad, only the One.’ Without distinguishing these
levels, we would never have any criteria by which to judge certain behaviours and policies
as unjust or evil, and movements such as those led by Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King
Jnr., Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, et al., would never have any rationale for getting
started. "
Much Love,
Barry Pittard, Australia