Barry Pittard On Select Work Of Brian Steel

 

Date: 07-28-07

By: Exbaba Admin

At Call For Media and Government Investigation of Sathya Sai Baba. http://barrypittard.wordpress.com

 
Art.1. "My previous blog was: Brian Steel On John Hislop’s 27 Years as Sathya Sai Baba’s Spokesman. It refers to the article: Sathya Sai Baba’s credibility gap: Contributions by John Hislop. (Brian Steel. January 2009). This latter article, as one expects of Brian Steel, is scholarly and readable. Considerable length and attention to minute detail distinguish his work". 

Art. 2. "Today’s blog note continues my series highlighting – all too selectively – certain aspects of Brian Steel’s work. As I have pointed out, it would be a great pity if – because his opus is vast, and also because most of his work is not blogged but contained on his websites (See details below) – his extremely valuable work were to suffer any eclipse".

Art. 3. "In my recent note Brian Steel On Sathya Sai Baba’s Credibility Gap. John Hislop Contributions, I drew attention to Brian Steel’s scholarly article which deals with a seminal figure, Jack Hislop, in the spread of the Sathya Sai Baba movement: Sathya Sai Baba’s credibility gap: Contributions by John Hislop. (Brian Steel January 2009).

Steel refers to the controversial Walter Cowan ‘resurrection’ in 1971, mentioning the refuting evidence presented by Professor Erlendur Haraldsson, B. Premanand, (the late) Professor Dale Beyerstein.

For decades, these critical points met with no satisfactory explanations from the Sathya Sai Baba camp, and yet a great number of devotees rejoice in this so-called miracle of resurrection, as they do in so many ‘miracles’ of their guru, which, however, keep on being disproved by film footage of excellent provenance:

Right Hand. Sleight Hand. Watch Sai Baba Cheat With Sacred Ash (Film clip)

BC and Other Film Footage Shows India’s Top Guru Sathya Sai Baba Faking Miracles  "

Art. 4. "In some ways, it is regrettable that scholarly habits can limit readership. It is fortunate that Brian Steel writes clearly. Now retired, his background is in academic studies and teaching at a leading Australian university. His fairly lengthy January 2009 piece Sathya Sai Baba’s credibility gap: Contributions by John Hislop deserves to see light of day. One might well think that thoughtful readers who still adhere to Sathya Sai Baba would, nonetheless, still be among Steel’s appreciative readers. They certainly appreciated his writing when he followed Sathya Sai Baba and wrote notable works in that area. Other readers who likely to find value in Steel’s writing would surely include those who have left the Sathya Sai Baba fold who appreciate historic overviews of the movement of which they have been a part. The calmness and balance of the writing are key strengths".