Comment on "An Open Letter To
The Followers Of Sathya Sai Baba"
Date: 01-01-02
Document date: January 22, 2001.
By: Shirley Pike
From: http://www.vnn.org/editorials/ET0101/ET22-6521.htmlComment on "An Open Letter To The Followers Of Sathya Sai Baba"
Dear Editor,
I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your compassionate and thoughtful editorial entitled "An Open Letter To The Followers Of Sathya Sai Baba" by Frank Morales. I resigned my position as president of a ten state region in the United States in late May (see attached resignation letter) after learning about the allegations and verifying them to my satisfaction. I have been working with an international group of ex-devotees, many of them the actual victims of Sathya Sai Baba's sexual molestation, for the last six months to expose this "horrific scandal", as you so aptly term it.
The saddest and most difficult aspect of all of this is the damage done to Sathya Sai Baba's devotees and to their faith. Many families, my own included, are torn assunder as some members retain their faith in Sathya Sai Baba in the face of all evidence to the contrary. Those who take a stand against him are shunned, losing a community they held dear for decades in many cases. Not only is the focus of your spiritual life gone, but your friends and family and community are gone as well. Thank you so much for reaching out and offering support to us in this very dark hour. That is true dharma.
Sincerely and God Bless,Shirley Pike,
former president of the North Central Region of the Sathya Sai Baba
Organization of the United States of America.(Note from the editors of www.exbaba.com: We may refer you to the earlier resignation letter mentioned above, that was published on this site on May 28, 2000.)