Statement from Gordon Lord

 

Date: Fri Feb 01 06:39:21 2008

By: Gordon Lord

I was initially attracted to SSB because of the universal appeal of his message. And frankly, given that India is a socially divided / fragmented country with several social classes, castes and other ridiculous divisions, SSB's message and teachings of "All Are One", "Universal Language Of The Heart", "Education In Human Values" etc. seemed very appealing to me during my University years.

However, since 1995 I started hearing about allegations of sexual abuse at the ashram, rampant corruption among the rank and file of office-bearers in the International Sathya Sai Organization, lack of financial transparency such as no published financial statements etc. Fortunately, I was never inflicted by the disease of blind-belief, unlike most people I know, including my own parents, friends and relatives. (Ask any serious seeker of the meaning of life and he or she will most likely tell you that "awareness" matters more than "belief". But most SSB followers I've met in my lifetime don't care about awareness or self-understanding. They are only interested in using the crutches of "belief" all the way to their grave!)

Over the years, the allegations kept increasing and I also happened to personally meet some past students of the Satya Sai Institute of Higher Learning. I heard about cases of sexual abuse from the students too! And then finally, the shooting incident was the straw that broke the camel's back. Four young boys, at the prime of their lives were gunned down (a.k.a murdered in cold blood) by the police personnel that had stormed into the ashram. The local police filed a fraudulent report indicating that the cops had fired in self-defense when the 4 boys charged towards them with knives in hand. A federal investigation team proved these claims were false and charged the policemen with murder. Ask any experienced cop and he or she will tell you that the police training manual does not recommend shooting-to-kill as a response especially when the weapons of the attackers are simple tools such as knives or screwdrivers. Single shots to the leg or the thigh would have immediately incapacitated the attackers, thereby enabling their arrest and prosecution.

However, the fact that the police chose to "execute" the 4 boys rather than arrest them and produce them in a court of law, is a clear indication that they wanted to silence them forever, as dead men tell no tales!

Any decent and civilized human being who ponders over all these events that happened in Prashanti Nilayam would be utterly disgusted at the glaring discrepancy between what the ashram is claimed to be and what the ashram actually is! The word "Prashanti Nilayam" is meant to indicate an abode of eternal peace, but in reality it is the abode of "death" and disgusting brutality.

To this day, there has not been any proper investigation into the murder of the 4 young boys by the police and the perpetrators of this heinous crime are roaming free! And all this is happening in the "abode of peace".

Honestly, it does not matter what SSB is or what he isn't. The real misfortune is that millions of educated people, government officers, scientists, engineers, professors, politicians, bureaucrats, leaders, presidents and prime ministers still throng to this place in millions, even after these cold-blooded murders and disgusting events. Truly, all these "followers" are spiritually, psychologically and intellectually "dead"!

Therefore, it is beyond doubt that none of these mindless "followers" (a.k.a dead people) can help bring about a more peaceful or less chaotic world, regardless of their academic or social or technological capabilities and achievements.