Terry Gallagher's testimony

 

What began as a wonderful spiritual journey ended with total disbelief and bitter disappointment when we found out the truth. 

Perhaps I should start at the beginning with a brief account of that journey. After reading a book called Man of Miracles, I set off for India (and Puttaparthi) with my wife and three young daughters, in an organised group for Christmas 1983.

What we found when we arrived in India was something I had been searching for all my life; people searching for their own spiritual truth, living in a community whose whole objective was that of improving self-awareness and achieving self-realisation through the teachings of a living guru- Sai Baba. 

Adjacent to the ashram, and provided free of cost to the students, was a primary school for boys and girls, and various colleges for boys where spiritual teachings were incorporated into the normal academic disciplines.

 We were all very impressed and motivated towards learning as much as possible about what Sai Baba had to teach us. 

The celebration of Christmas came and went, after which our family was called for an interview with Sai Baba. As a result of this interview and what appeared at the time to be the most perfect environment for students and devotees to advance their spiritual lives, I made a substantial donation to the Central Trust to help them fund their educational programs.

 Upon leaving the interview, I was told by Sai Baba that I should sit on the verandah of the mandir in the future, with students from the colleges and other devotees. As it turned out, this gave me the opportunity to meet people and observe events very closely that I otherwise might not have had the opportunity to do.

 We all had mixed feelings when we had to leave the ashram and return to Australia- sad in having to leave, and joy in what we had experienced. We returned to the ashram again in 1985 for one month; and then in 1986 we stayed for seven months, at which time our daughters attended Sai Baba's school.

It was during this time that I began to observe things that made me question what I had experienced on previous visits. Having a scientific background, I began to observe a set routine that Sai Baba followed each morning and evening during darshan and, in particular, how he materialised vibhuti (holy ash).

 I will never forget the look of anguish on Sai Baba's face when he came onto the verandah of the mandir early one morning and dropped two vibhuti pellets in front of me as he attempted to accept a rose from a college student. There was no vibhuti materialisation during darshan that morning!

In the months that followed, I observed how he transferred these vibhuti pellets from one hand to the other, using the letters he collects from devotees to disguise his movements. In the many interviews that followed, I also observed more than thirty instances of rings, "diamonds", japamalas, vibhuti containers, etc., all being produced by sleight of hand and deception. 

At first I kept this information to myself. I reasoned that if this was what made people come to see Sai Baba, resulting in their becoming more spiritual, what harm could it do? Eventually I told my wife and children, who also saw through this "materialisation" trickery. It was the observations and information that followed from these initial findings that concerned me the most, especially those relating to students being sexually interfered with in grotesque ways by Sai Baba.

We returned to the ashram several times during the following years, making further observations and having these confirmed by college students and long-term devotees living at the ashram. During this time, I was the Central Coordinator for three years for the Sathya Sai Organisation in Australia. 

It wasn't until 1993, following the (6th June) assassination attempt on Sai Baba, resulting in the murder of four college students and two assistants in the mandir, that we made our last visit to India. 

The purpose of this visit was to find the reason why former students of Sai Baba's college would want to kill him, particularly when they had been given a free education! 

The eyewitness accounts were horrific! After bursting into the mandir, four students found themselves trapped upstairs where Sai Baba was staying. Each was interrogated by police, then one at a time they were executed. The stench of death was everywhere. 

I made further inquiries about Sai Baba having sexual relations with college boys and male students- some of these as young as seven years of age- and whether this was the reason for former students wanting to kill him. I was told, to my horror, that this was an acceptable Indian practice! 

I felt sick, and just wanted to take my family and leave the ashram and India as soon as possible. 

Before we did, we were called for an interview with Sai Baba, and we told him what we had experienced and been told. 

Sai Baba made no comment on our accusations and was only anxious to know who had told us these details, requesting us to tell him several times! Having had dozens of interviews over the years, this was the most stressful and uncomfortable interview our family had ever experienced. 

Sai Baba was tense and agitated, and his body language told us all that what we had found out him was the truth! We left the interview and returned to Australia.

The following years were very difficult spiritually; we concentrated on all the positive aspects we had experienced over the past ten years and found this comforting. 

When we attempted to tell others about our experiences and the truth about Sai Baba, no one would believe us, except those who had also had similar experiences- and mostly fear prevents them from telling others. 

It has only been in the past twelve months that former students and devotees of Sai Baba have begun communicating with each other, confirming experiences to be true and supporting each other spiritually and emotionally when necessary.

I now know the truth about Sai Baba and sincerely pray that others, too, will follow both their logic and intuition and also find the truth. 

Terry Gallagher, Ex-Central Coordinator of Sathya Sai Organisation, Australia

(Source: Terry Gallagher's letter to Faye and David Bailey; The Quarterly, UK; www.myfreeoffice.com/saibabaexposed)