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Big Cult Trumps At Law. Is But A ‘Bookshop’
2008-06-07 03:06:00
The issue of the Alaya Rahm law case against the directors of the Sathya Sai Society of America is dealt with at this place: Alaya Rahm’s Lawsuit vs Sathya Sai Society of America - Joint Statement by the International JuST Group and the Rahm family Sathya Sai Baba’s Organization Lost Chance For Independent Adjudication The Rahm case was lost on a technicality. The Society is but a bookshop! Lawyers and others in various countries since consulted are nonplussed that the Alaya Rahm’s pro bono attorney, William Brelsford, appeared not to see this coming and preempted it. Thus, a neat piece of lawyering in the cult’s long-term setting up of its organs paid off for them. But not for the truth, which the members go about proclaiming with such beatific smiles on their faces! Here was an opportunity for the facts - wherever they may have led - to get out into the open. It is no frivolous thing for a family (or anyone) to embark on a course so potentially fraug...
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BBC Hidden Camera in ‘Secret Swami’. Ethical?
2008-06-06 00:39:00
Was it ethical for the BBC to use a hidden camera in ‘The Secret Swami’? It used it in the case of a highly elusive chairman of a world organization, Dr Michael Goldstein of Covena, California, that faces grave questions in India and many countries around the world. The Sathya Sai Organization, despite many claims not to recruit or fund raise should certainly be scrutinized by a public and its government, political and institutional organs, which it most definitely cultivates at both peak and local levels. Sanctions for the unusual use of hidden camera were obtained by the producers from top echelon BBC management and legals. Despite the alarums and excursions of Dr G. Venkataraman (and informally allied Sai Baba proxy defenders on the Internet whose libels and slanders are deemed by top lawyers in three countries to be extreme, widespread and highly actionable), the BBC had every just cause to shoot clandestinely. The extensive lack of accountability, transparency a...
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Robert Priddy: May 31, 2008 Update
2008-06-01 01:57:00
In the News section on his main website Robert Priddy, former head of the Norwegian Sathya Sai Organization, has recorded (May 31, 200 updates: Recorded talk with V. K.Narasimhan during 70th birthday of Sai Baba (Notable Indian newspaper editor and editor of ‘Sanathana Sarathi V.K.Narasimhan’s) view on numbers attending (FAR below Sai Baba’s estimates) and on his having to edit out Sai errors from the journal, plus Sai Baba’s private directions to Central Coordinators concerning the organization and the price of rooms for delegates to his conference, who were originally invited for free logding etc. Sai Baba’s teachings and education in academic isolation Through political clout, Sathya Sai Baba got his Institute of Higher Learning recognised as an University. However, the whole social and academic environment is based more on fixed values and indoctrination than any kind of educational research or dialogue, being a law unto itself isolated from the w...
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Pope’s US Visit. Is US to blame for abuse crisis?
2008-04-30 03:21:00
The headlines are going up: Pope blames US for abuse crisis. Of course, we shall need to see whether his statements exactly reflec t the headlines. (See BBC News reference below, Pope attacks US sex abuse record) If they are accurate, it may appear as a type of papal and Roman Catholic hierarchy self-absolution? Surely, the responsibility needs to be taken as a whole by the ‘Captain’. There can be no blame shifting, as decent Roman Catholics themselves have attested, when they were ready to buck an incredibly powerful heirarchy in a courageous coming out against sexual abuse within their church. A Suggestive Historical Counter-factual Let us alter the scenario. Suppose this: that, decades ago, a Pope had said: We are getting shocking reports of sexual abuse. We shall move against this iniquity with the utmost urgency and thoroughness and compassionate professionalism - compassionate, above all, for the survivors of this great and abominable abuse. It ...
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V.P.B. Nair. B.Premanand. R.Priddy: Sai Baba Bedroom Killings
2008-04-07 04:38:00
The more media, institutional, academic and other third party investigators become aware of the sheer extent of the evidence of criminal cover up by successive Indian governments over the years of the Puttaparthi police killings in Sathya Sai Baba ’s bedroom - the better. Libel and Slander Replace Due and Proper Third Party Investigation Researchers will see that what has regretably too often fallen to the lot of former devotees, and also other critics of Sai Baba (most notably B.Premanand), should have been investigated according to well-laid canons of independent, fully accountable probes by government, parliament, police, judicary, media and so on. Instead, there has been, from Sathya Sai Baba ‘down’, the attempt to  ridicule, demean, and slander those many former Sai devotees from countries right round the world who have attempted to raise questions properly to be asked - when serious and sustained allegations are made - of any organization. The way in whi...
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Saudi King Abdullah: Jews, Muslims, Christians Must Diolog
2008-03-30 05:54:00
Sathya Sai Baba, 82 (although records suggest that he is older, see discussion and further links here, The Date of Sai Baba’s Birthday) has long said that he will cause, within his own lifetime, a profound coming together in peace and harmony among the world’s religions.  See, Will World Accept Sai Baba? He Says Yes. Very Soon When one looks at the Interfaith horizon, there are many players, and yet Sai Baba and his global Sathya Sai Organization are frequently conspicuous by their absence. A simple check with the organisational leaders of the Interfaith community will reveal all. ‘Divine’ Decline and Decline of the Showman ‘Emperor’   Sai Baba is now showing significant signs of dotage. His devotees - but not his worried minders! - ignore all the patently obvious signs of decrepitude. They claim e.g., that it is “all Bhagawan’s Leela” and that “Swami is simply testing us”, and display a range of rather saddeni...
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A Host of Sai Baba Hagiographers
2008-02-03 05:24:00
In the heyday of Sathya Sai Baba ’s mission, some devotee writers with various professional backgrounds influenced many, particularly his more educated followers. These included Professor N. Kasturi, Howard Murphet, Dr John Hislop, Dr Samuel Sandweiss, Ra. Ganapati, Dr Satya Pal Ruhela, V, Balu, Shukuntala Balu, Robert Lowenburg, etc. Where Hagiography Fails Ethically The name of William ‘Bill’ Aitken has now to be added to the list of these hagiographical writers on Sai Baba. In coming days I shall be looking at Bill Aitken and Sathya Sai Baba. A Writer’s Dilemma, by the Australian scholar Brian Steel  writing on Aitken’s book, Sri Sathya Sai Baba. A Life (New Delhi, Penguin Books India, 2004. Paperback edition, 2006). The Blind Misleading of Blind Yearning The willingness of those searching, often with a great and aching longing, for peace of mind can conceal from their readers, even well-educated ones, just how hagiographic these works really are.  T...
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William Aitken’s Sai Baba Book. Major Flaws Says Scholar
2008-01-20 00:09:00
The following are some quotes from Brian Steel’s article Bill Aitken and Sathya Sai Baba . A Writer’s Dilemma. Retired Spanish language expert and lexicographer scholar from one of Australia’s top universities, Steel critically assesses a book by William McKay ‘Bill’ Aitken: Sri Sathya Sai Baba. A Life (New Delhi, Penguin Book s India, 2004. Paperback edition, 2006). ‘Bill’ Aitken Aitken’s Methodology Badly Flawed, Says Steel Quotes: Aitken’s style of reporting often shows a judgemental bias in favour of Sathya Sai Baba, somewhat akin to the devotee’s habit of rationalising any doubt or inconvenient information about the guru. Nowhere is this clearer than in the few pages where he makes an attempt to explain away SSB’s clearly documented errors and exaggerations (pp.131-136) This biography contains other errors and omissions which suggest that Aitken was over-selective in his sampling of the vast hagiographica...
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Sai Baba Researchers’ Huge Debt To Scholar Brian D. Steel
2008-01-16 10:48:00
The Australian academic linguist Brian Steel has posted his Research on Sathya Sai Baba and the Sathya Sai Organisation. New Factors for Researchers to Consider, December 2007 Brian D. Steel’s Huge Project Of the ‘New Factors’ section, he notes: “This extensive survey is also an integral section of the third Part of my annotated Bibliography on Sathya Sai Baba”. Far more that offering long lists of sources, the bibliographies include succinct comments in the case of works that Steel deems of special note. His scope is breathtaking. “These three Bibliographies have listed and briefly described three large and diverse corpora of information currently available in December 2007 about the guru Sathya Sai Baba, his 60-year spiritual Mission and his organisation (the Sathya Sai Organisation). By winnowing this enormous mass of varied documentation, researchers should be in a better position to separate fact from fantasy and research from propaganda in ...
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Sai Baba - Miraculous or Disastrous?
2007-12-31 03:46:00
It may not necessarily be fun for religionists and rationalists to find themselves on roughly common ground. Especially when it comes to the topic of Sai Baba ’s so-called ‘miracles. The Disaster of the ‘Miraculous’ Many religious people place little or no importance on miracles. For example, the Buddha inveighed against them, viewing preoccupation with them as problematic for one’s spiritual growth. Likewise, Sri Ramakrishna and many spiritual teachers of various paths. No matter what Sai Baba may say about his (alleged) miracles being of the relative importance of a flea to an elephant, large numbers of his devotees are extensively concerned with them. No rationalist will surely cede to a notion of the miraculous, and perhaps even if a shower of them occurred would not be too impressed. His or her likely position would be:  whatever the cause, there will be, if there is not already, a non-theistic, non-deistic explanation for the phenomena. Su...

Timothy Conway Ph.D - On ‘The Hislop Letters’
2007-12-18 11:21:00
Before resigning in February 2001 - following his investigation of allegations of sexual abuse of young males by Sai Baba - Timothy Conway Ph.D was a respected leader in the US Sathya Sai Baba movement, and head of the Sai Center at Santa Barbara, California. A key interest interest has been East-West spiritual traditions, and his own commitment has been not to academic expertise alone but to day-to-day practice. As a university scholar on comparative religion, he has long been a popular and respected lecturer, and author of several books. (His very well-written website, see below, gives details of his education and spiritual background, his books and so on) Timothy Conway has just released (December 2007) his clarification of points raised about very indicting letters that were circulated (see dates, etc., in the scans listed below) to peak leaders of the US Sathya Sai Organization by former head, the late Dr John Hislop. This December 2007 update is the first reference in the...
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Renowned Indian Editor VKN. Diary and Letter Scans Reveal
2007-12-03 01:52:00
Robert Priddy, former head of the Sathya Sai Organization in Sweden, and retired academic in Philosophy and Social Sciences at the University of Oslo, Norway, has just released scans of material relating to his close friendship with the famous Indian newspaper Editor , V.K.Narasimhan, who knew him closely for several years. VKN as Narasimhan was affectionately known, with rare courage, stood up to Mrs Indira Gandhi and the Emergency rule she imposed on India, 1975-77. He succeeded Professor P.N. Kasturi as Editor of Sanathana Sarathi, Sai Baba’s official organ, which is distributed worldwide. VKN was well known among those close to Sai Baba as being an almost lone case of one who would regularly and forcefully stand up to him. The committing of this material - a) scanned from the extensive Priddy diaries and notebooks relating specifically and often daily to the time, and b) including exchange of letters between the two men - is valuable. First, it honors an intellectual and ...
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Challenging Historic Deification
2007-11-24 04:15:00
In an age of Internet libel, stalking and various kinds of abuse against dissenters both on and off the web, it is no small undertaking for individuals to speak about their former affiliation with Sai Baba. Strangely, Non-Campaigners Turn Into Campainers Not the least of difficulties in speaking out include considerable inexperience in campaigning - such as dealing with the media, Interpol, UNESCO, government ministries and departments, religious, political and civic organizations, etc. - setting up of websites and adjuncts such as an international petition. There are security problems such as hack attacks, attempts at insertion of viruses, trojans, etc. Cultic Abandonment of Reason and Commonsense There have been attempts by Sai Baba’s cult to denigrate and indeed in a number of cases libel former devotees. In their professions, trades and wider communities, those who have left Sai Baba as a matter of highest principle have long been known (and by many Sai devotees the...
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Abuse Reportage. A Case for Caution, Not Inaction
2007-11-13 00:01:00
From the point of view of those who would defend their guru figure, far better to react and attack than that their idol - on whom they are so powerfully fixated - be exposed to an unfavourable public estimate. Self-fortifying of Psyches That May Crumble Better it is to attack than for the psyche of the attacker - in which is held the profoundly attached image of the guru -  to be subject to crumbling. Determined attackers tend to lack the quality of empathy. They do of course see their opponents as lacking in this, but even strong opponents can respect each other. In some cases, the one greater acceptance that those obsessively attached to a guru or other idol have had in life is with the cult of which they are a part. It is by no chance that many cult members describe themselves a “the family”. (Many Sai Baba devotees refer to each other as “the Sai family). This useage can create an “us” and “them” mentality and promote co-depend...
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Abuse. Some Reach Out. Many Suffer in Silence
2007-11-09 23:38:00
Many of our witnesses come from various countries and cultures. They testify to sexual and other abuses by Sathya Sai Baba, and the cover up by his core leaders in the Sathya Sai Organization. Many are unready to speak out. Proper Debriefing Is A Sore Need Some accept the importance of professional counseling but so many do not avail themselves of it, even though we do our best to organize properly accredited, culturally appropriate and experienced professional counseling, whether by former Sai devotee or other therapists from wider communities. Where individuals are not able readily to afford this, there has been no demand by professionals for fees. Anger at Abuse e Silence . Understandable, But Helpful? The unwillingness of abuse survivors (a term preferable to ‘victims’, which can be a labeling of people), led one active former Sai Baba devotee to stop good and useful work for the exposé. This person said, “Why are they not standing up for themselves?&rdquo...
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Is Sai Baba’s Governmental Influence ‘Miraculous’?
2007-11-01 01:11:00
Yesterday’s blog, HERE, noted the Indian magazine Business Standard news current report that the Sathya Sai Central Trust is putting Sai Baba ’s Puttaparthi airport up for sale. It was revealing to find an old 1998 Indian Express report that saw corrupt links between Sai Baba’s chief representatives and a then Civil Aviation boss. Most Indian publications have long suffered their publisher’s censorship against reports adverse to Sathya Sai Baba. As the Editor of one of India’s leading newspapers told me: Sai Baba is too powerful, with so many devotees all over India. Likely to have been all too little noticed, then, was a report filed in the Indian Express in February 1998 by reporter Swati Chaturvedi. It points to corrupt origins in the sanctioning of the Sathya Sai airport. What the Swati Chaturvedi article does not mention is that the then Civil Aviation Secretary, M.K. Kaw, is a Sai Baba devotee.              M.K. Kaw, Sai Baba...
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Sai Baba’s Airport Up For Sale, Reports Business Standard
2007-10-31 04:53:00
Stop Press. It is reported that Sai Baba’s airport, which has long had capacity for international flights, is up for sale. Especially when devotees see scenes such as a jumbo jet landing at the Sathya Sai Baba airport from Hong Kong, heavily laden with a panoply of sets and costumes to celebrate the Chinese New Year at Puttaparthi, they cannot but smile. The Kingdom of Sai is surely at hand! See, my article - Will World Accept Sai Baba? He Says Yes. Very Soon Knowingly, they observe - Ah, Swami has promised to physically go abroad very soon. All these devotees coming from around the world, alighting at Puttaparthi by plane, and what with a railhead now all the way up to Puttaparthi, praise be - it cannot be long before the whole world accepts him as Lord of all! Is Sai Baba Flying or Well Grounded But rather, our reports are of greatly declining numbers visiting Sai Baba from abroad. In the face of 7 years of the most intense exposure for former devotee forces both on and ...
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Sai Baba Top Leaders Antidemocratic
2007-10-31 00:02:00
For many years, Sai Baba and the Sathya Sai Organization have avoided critical scrutiny. With rare exceptions, such as retired world and Indian organization head Indulal Shah, and current world chairman Dr Goldstein, Covina, California, USA, his leaders and rank-and-file have long been forbidden to make statements to media.  Not that these leaders say more than a picayune amount (if at times angrily with a rage normally kept behind-the-scenes but caught here by BBC hidden camera), and we can document that they keep crucial information from their rank-and-file. Indeed, it does not speak well of Sathya Sai Organization members that they permit such extraordinary Soviet or Chinese style, authoritarian diktat - all the more reprehensibly so in those countries which are supposed to be relatively mature democracies. No Reputed Scholars Need Apply Well-funded, distinguished scholarly investigation is badly thwarted - no matter whether from one of the top half dozen universities i...
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