Official Confirmation from the SSO: SSB is Not the Divine Avatar of the Age.   Date: 05-24-04 By: Brian Steel In publicity for various public meetings in Europe and the USA, the official SSO website (www.sathyasai.org/news/2004/la2004.pdf) gives information which describes SSB as "a highly revered spiritual leader and world teacher" who, as a child, "was brilliant in his studies but what made him unique was his extraordinary wisdom and compassion." (Not a word about the Immaculate Conception, the usually alleged juvenile miracles for the benefit of his school companions, or of his 1943 Declaration of being the Reincarnation of Shirdi Sai Baba, or of his claim to be the Purna Avatar. Nothing about the countless alleged miracles and healings which gained him his initial - and ongoing - 'Divine' fame.) Amazingly, not a word in this official publicity announcement identifies this spiritual leader with the widely-touted 'God on Earth' (Avatar) promoted on that same SSO website over the eight years of it's existence and vociferously proclaimed over six decades by the SSO and in hundreds of books by associates and devotees. If I were a devotee, I would be deeply shocked and offended by such cold official revisionism. It is anybody's guess what SSB thinks about this new move, assuming he is aware of it. More independent observers will be less surprised and will draw the obvious conclusions. Meanwhile we await the rumoured imminent BBC TV programme on SSB while wondering to what extent it's filming triggered this extraordinary corporate initiative. Brian Steel May 2004