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Sathya Sai Baba, born as Sathyanarayana Raju on 23 November 1926 with the family name of "Ratnakaram", is a controversial South Indian guru described as a godman and miracle worker by his followers. The Sathya Sai Organization claims an estimated 1,200 Sathya Sai Baba Centers in 114 countries worldwide. The number of Sathya Sai Baba adherents is estimated sometimes as around 6 million, and followers cite "50 to 100 million." Based on his own claims, followers consider him to be a reincarnation of the saint Sai Baba of Shirdi, however this has been strongly disputed.

Several allegations including sexual abuse, deceit, murder and financial offences surround Sathyanarayana Raju. A BBC documentary notes that such controversies have persisted for at least 30 years. According to the BBC, "The scale of the abuse has caused alarm around the world... Governments around the world are deeply concerned and are beginning to take action warning their citizens about Sai Baba." The website of the American Embassy in Delhi, in what they confirm is a direct reference to Sai Baba, warns Americans visiting Andhra Pradesh of a "local religious leader" who reportedly engages in "inappropriate sexual behaviour" with young male devotees. The embassy states "most of the reports indicate that the subjects of these approaches have been young male devotees, including a number of U.S. citizens."

Biography

Sathyanarayana Raju was born to Peddavenkama Raju and Eswaramma in an agrarian family in the remote village of Puttaparthi, located in Anantapur district, Andhra Pradesh. Biographer and devotee Schulman wrote in 1971 that "for any episode of Baba's childhood, there are countless contrasting versions and, at this point, the author discovered that it was no longer possible to separate the facts from the legend".

An official four-volume biography was written by devotee Professor Narayana Kasturi under the guidance of Sathya Sai Baba. The biography recounts an anecdotal incident where a cobra was found in the bedclothes of Sathya Sai Baba shortly after he was born.. The book claims that the incident led to him becoming known as "lord of serpents" among the villagers. Devotee Arnold Schulman contradicts the story, stating that Sathyanarayana Raju's sister who claims to have been present at his birth recounts the cobra was found outside of the house, several hours after Raju was born, a sight not uncommon in the village. The young Sathyanarayana, the biography claims, was a vegetarian and was "known" for his aversion to animal cruelty.

At the age of eight, Satynanarayana Raju attended higher elementary school in Bukkapatnam.. After that he joined another high school at Uravakonda. The biography claims that on March 8, 1940, Satynanarayana Raju started behaving "as if a scorpion had stung in his foot". He exhibited strange behavior after this and entered a coma state. After some time, he got up and his behavior worried his parents - he did not want to eat but, the biography claims, kept silent for a long time, and some times "recite verses". In May 1940, he proclaimed himself to be a reincarnation of the fakir and saint Sai Baba of Shirdi (d. 1918) and subsequently took the fakir's name, Sai Baba. Baba purportedly taught them his bhajans (devotional songs that are sung out aloud in praise of minor Hindu deities or in praise of sai baba himself). Sai Baba claimed himself to be an "avatar". Sathya Sai Baba is listed in the 1942 school record of Bukkapatnam. In 1944 a mandir for followers of Sathya Sai Baba was built near the village which is now called the "old mandir"(old temple). The construction of Prashanthi Nilayam, the current ashram, was started in 1948.

In 1958, Sanathana Sarathi, the official magazine for the followers of Sathya Sai Baba, was published for the first time.

Sathya travelled only once outside India to visit North East Africa in 1968.

Sathya Sai Baba had two sisters, one older brother (the late Seshama Raju) and a younger brother (the late R.V.Janaki Ramaiah).

Sathya Sai Baba established three temples (referred to as a "mandir") in India. The first center, established in Mumbai, is referred to as either "Dharmakshetra" or "Sathyam". The second center, established in Hyderabad, is referred to as "Shivam". The third center, established in Chennai, is referred to as "Sundaram"..

Sathyanarayana Raju has been confined to a wheelchair since 2005 and reportedly his failing health has forced him to make fewer public appearances.

Beliefs and practices of followers

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Sathya Sai Baba gives discourses on religious topics in his native language Telugu to devotees. Twice daily, devotees engage in worship of Sai Baba by conducting rituals such as aarti and singing devotional songs in front of his picture. Sai Baba has said that his followers do not need to give up their original religion. His followers view his teachings as syncretic (uniting all religions). Some famous sayings of his are, "Help ever, hurt never" and "Love all, serve all".

Across the globe, local Sathya Sai Baba groups assemble to sing bhajans (devotional songs in praise of Sai Baba) often accompanied by rhythmic clapping of hands, to do collective community service (called seva), and teach "Education in Human Values" (Sai Sunday School). While devotees claim that the movement is not missionary, some analysts assert that it is cultish in nature. Bhajans are sung at nearly every meeting with the names of the traditional Hindu deities as well as saints and prophets of other religions occasionally replaced by Baba's name. Hindu chants are sung out aloud with the deity's name replaced by Baba's name. Among all practices, the ritual worship of Sai Baba as a God takes the central place.

According to the Sathya Sai organization, Sathyanarayana Raju has written several articles on religious topics, later collected by the trust in the form of books, titled "Vahinis" (vehicles). There are sixteen vahinis.

Sai organization claims to advocate five values: sathya (truth), dharma (Hindu word for right conduct), ahimsa (non-violence), prema (love for God and all his creatures) and shantih (peace).

Other claimed teachings are:

• Service and charity (seva) to others.
• Love for all creatures and objects.
• Putting a ceiling on one's desires is sadhana.
• Celibacy after age of fifty.
• Vegetarianism, moderate and sattvik diet.
• Abstinence from drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes, and taking drugs.
• Meditation (dhyan). Baba teaches four techniques: repetition of the 'name of God'( "Sai" or "Sai Baba") , visualizing the form of God(often on sai baba's physical form), sitting in silence, and jyoti (Flame/Light meditation).
• Importance of bhakti (devotion) to Sai Baba.
• Developing "prashanti"( vaguely translates to carefree-ness) and eschewing vices of character.
• Japa (ritual chanting of Baba's name) and other sadhana (spiritual exercise) to foster devotion.
• Highly committed devotees use the phrase "Sai Ram" as a salutation.
• Conducting pooja or aarti( a form of ritual worship) twice daily in front of Baba photos.
• At the ashram frequent "yagnas" or ritual worship involving ritual sacrifices of vegetable matter and ghee to a pyre is conducted for the baba.

Ashrams and mandirs

The daily program at Sathya Sai Baba's temples usually begins with the chanting of "OM" and a morning prayer (Suprabatham). This is followed by Veda Parayan (chanting of the Vedas), nagarasankirtana (morning devotional songs) and twice a day bhajans and darshan (baba walks around or is wheel-chaired around amongst the gathered devotees) Particularly significant are the darshans during October (the Dasara holidays and November (the month of Sai Baba's birth). During darshan Sathya Sai Baba walks among his followers and may interact with people, accept letters, "materialize" and distribute vibhuti (sacred ash) or call groups or individuals for private interviews. Interviews are chosen solely at the Sai Baba's discretion. Followers consider it a great privilege to get an interview and sometimes a single person, group or family will be invited for a private interview. It is claimed by the Sathya Sai Organization that meeting him has spiritual benefits.

Criticism and controversy

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Some critics of Sai Baba have been met with strong and often violent opposition from devotee circles, especially in India. Sanal Edamaruku, the leader of the Indian Rationalist Association, said that the Indian media is scared of Sai Baba's political influence, emphasizing that critics of the movement are often attacked by devotees.

Basava Premanand, a person who has exposed gurus in the past, concluded in his research that Sai Baba is deceptive and sexually abusive. To date, Basava Premanand has sustained injuries for severe beatings, survived four murder attempts, and has had his house burgled three times.

Conny Larsson, a former devotee of 21 years claims to have been sexually abused by Sai Baba. He later broke away from the movement, outraged at witnessing the Baba's behaviour of a sexual nature with a young boy. Once outside of the movement, Larsson expressed worry over being mistreated by current followers of the movement, and said that devotees circulated slanderous accusations that he was a pedophile.

Peter Pruzan, a devotee, stated that he believed that the guru is not a pedophile nor does he perform conjuring tricks. In an interview with an Asian Voice correspondent, Mr Ashok Bhagani, a trustee of the Sai Organization in the UK, said that he believed the allegations in the Secret Swami BBC documentary were baseless and have never been proved. The secretary of the Puttaparthi ashram, K. Chakravarthi, refused to comment on the accusations. A spokesman for the BBC told Asian Voice that they had made attempts to gain the cooperation of the Sai Baba organization in the making of their documentary, but that they had refused.

Reports of materialization and other miracles

In some books, magazines, filmed interviews and articles, Sathya Sai Baba's followers report miracles and healings of various kinds that they attribute to him. Claims have been made by devotees that objects have appeared spontaneously in connection with pictures and altars of Sathya Sai Baba. None of the described incidents have been independently verified and several critics have questioned the occurrence of the miracles described by devotees.

Documentaries produced by the BBC and the Danish Broadcasting Corporation have analyzed videos of the supposed miracles and suggested that they can be explained as sleight of hand tricks. In the 1995 TV documentary Guru Busters, by UK's Channel 4, Sathya Sai Baba was accused of faking his materializations. A videotape was provided which suggested that magician's tricks were being utilized. The same videotape was mentioned in the Deccan Chronicle, on 23 November 1992, on a front page headline "DD Tape Unveils Baba Magic".

The documentary Seduced By Sai Baba, produced by Denmark's national television and radio broadcaster Danish radio was aired in Denmark, Australia and Norway. The documentary carried interview in which former long-term devotees who recount experiencing sexual violations in the hands of the godman. The documentary also carried exposés of how the purported miracles are done by the godman.

In April 1976, Dr. H. Narasimhaiah, a physicist, rationalist and then vice chancellor of Bangalore University, founded and chaired a committee to investigate supposed miracles and other supernatural activities. Narasimhaiah wrote Sathya Sai Baba several letters in which he challenged Baba to perform his miracles under controlled conditions. Sathya Sai Baba said that he did not consent to Narasimhaiah's challenge because he felt his approach was improper, and that his the spiritual nature of his abilities was not within the realm of science. The committee did not produce any evidence to support the miracles, and was dissolved in August 1977. Narasimhaiah considered the fact that Sathya Sai Baba ignored his letters as one among several indications that his miracles are fraudulent.

The retired Icelandic psychology professor Erlendur Haraldsson investigated Sathya Sai Baba and documented the guru's reported miracles and manifestations through first-hand interviews with devotees. Haraldsson's research yielded many testimonies of various objects being materialized. Haraldsson said that the largest object claimed by some devotees to have been materialized that he saw was a mangalsutra necklace, 32 inches long, 16 inches long on each side. Haraldsson believed that healings do not play a prominent role in Sathya Sai Baba's activities.

Dale Beyerstein, Professor of Philosophy at the University of British Columbia, expressed that there is sufficient evidence against believing in materialization of objects by the Baba. Bayerstein opines: "The overwhelming evidence - given the film analysis, the loose anecdotal nature of the claims etc. all point so definitely in this direction. Moreover the widespread claims of sexual hanky panky and the evidence of association with the gold business - although not conclusive - must be seriously entered into the overall picture."

The magazine India Today published in December 2000 a cover story about the Baba and the allegations of fake miracles quoting the magician P. C. Sorcar, Jr. who considered the Baba a fraud. Basava Premanand, a skeptic and amateur magician, asserted that he has been investigating Sathya Sai Baba since 1968 and emphatically believes the "guru" to be a cheater and charlatan. Premanand sued Sathya Sai Baba in 1986 for violation of the Gold Control Act for Sathya Sai Baba's purported "materializations" of gold objects. The case was dismissed, but Premanand appealed on the ground that claimed spiritual power is not a defence recognised in law. Premanand later said that he could duplicate some of Sathya Sai Baba's acts using sleight of hand and the production of a lingam from his mouth.

The British journalist Mick Brown discussed in his 1998 book that Sathya Sai Baba's claim of "resurrecting" the American Walter Cowan in 1971 was probably untrue. His opinion was based on the letters from attending doctors, provided in the Indian Skeptic magazine (published by Premanand). A letter from Dr. Vaz, Cowan's attending physician, states that "He was perfectly conscious in bed. At no stage had I pronounced him dead then or later." The doctor states that, on the other hand, with medication, he was showing "rapid improvement". According to Dr. Viz, "That morning Mrs. Cowan requested me whether there was any objection for Sai Baba, his spiritual guru to pray for him in the room for which I said he was most welcome and I was there when Sai Baba was offering prayers. Mr. Cowan was conscious then and also right through." He states that he is "surprised" that the story has gone through such and that to all who had interviewed him, he had "emphatically given the correct version that Mr. Cowan was not dead at all at any stage and he also had a normal recovery here." Mick Brown also related, in the same book, his experiences with manifestations of vibuthi, from Sathya Sai Baba's pictures in houses in London, which he felt were not fraudulent or the result of trickery. Brown wrote with regards to Sathya Sai Baba's claims of omniscience, that "skeptics have produced documentation clearly showing discrepancies between Baba's reading of historical events and biblical prophecies and the established accounts."

In October 2007, Baba reportedly announced that he would "appear on the moon" and asked devotees to proceed to the local airport. The miracle failed to happen and the baba and his devotees turned back after waiting for an hour. Police officers found it difficult to disperse the utterly disappointed crowd and no explanation was offered by the Sai Trust for the failure of the miracle. Rationalists claimed the publicity was an attempt to boost the Baba's waning popularity.

Killings in the ashram

On 6 June 1993, six deaths happened in Sai Baba's ashram. Four devotees, aged between 25 and 40 years and all resident in the ashram, went to Sai Baba's residence armed with knives. As they approached they were stopped by four of Sai Baba's attendants. In the struggle that followed, two of his attendants were killed and the other two injured. Hearing the commotion Sai Baba escaped through a back stairway and raised the alarm. Heavily armed police arrived at the scene. The men then locked themselves in Sai Baba's bedroom and refused to give themselves up. The police claimed that when the room was opened the men charged at them with daggers, and were subsequently shot by the police.

A Central Investigation Department report stated that the official police report contained inconsistencies. V.P.B. Nair, Former Secretary to the Home Minister of Andhra Pradesh, also expressed that the official police report contained inconsistencies.

R.R. Gogineni, the Former General Secretary of the Rationalist Association of India, stated that all the people killed were part of the inner circle of Sai Baba, and among them was Radha Krishna Menon, the personal assistant who had apparently been caught on video "passing the necklace clandestinely to Baba."

Sanal Edamaruku stated the initial purpose of the men trying get to Sai Baba was apparently to threaten him to stop abusing children or to murder him for doing so. Based on his research, he stated: "A policeman who was working at the police station in Puttaparthi at that time told me that the men had come there and said to Sai Baba: 'Now there will be a bit of a stop to these sexual assaults on small boys.' Sai Baba then locked them in - he was angry – locked them in, went and pressed the alarm button for the police. The police came and they received the go-ahead from Sai Baba to take over the matter ... could hear the boys up in Sai Baba’s bedroom and living room for four hours. And later the police thought it so dangerous to let them out to the people who were waiting outside that they quite simply executed them after four hours of interrogation."

The Hindu reported that commenting upon the murders at the time, the International Chairman of Sai Baba’s Organization and a member of the Sathya Sai Central Trust, Indulal Shah, stated to pressmen: “…the matter is purely internal and we do not wish to have any law enforcement agency investigating into it.”

A previous case of alleged murder related to the ashram was reported on 20 February, 1987, when the body of a student at a college run by the Sathya Sai Trust was found in a semi-charred state. While the case was dismissed as suicide, Narendra Nayak, writing in the Indian Skeptics Journal, opined that the "powerful force around the Baba got the inquiry turned into a farce." He notes that circumstantial evidence did not support suicide being a plausible cause of death.

Reports of sexual abuse

Former members of the Sai Baba movement have registered their concerns with the FBI, Interpol, the Indian Supreme Court and other agencies. A large number of male followers have reported indecent sexual behavior on the part of Sathya Sai Baba.

Alaya Rahm, who was brought up as a Sai Baba devotee by his parents, says that he was abused by Sai Baba. Mark Roche, who first heard of the Baba in 1969 and had devoted twenty-five years of his life to the movement, claimed to have been sexually abused by Sai Baba.

In 2001, a Californian man named Glen Meloy (who had spent 26 years in the movement) was reported to have been organizing a class-action lawsuit against Sai Organization leaders in America. His faith was shattered when he was shown excerpts from the diary of his close friend's 15-year-old son, detailing several incidents of molestation. According to The Times, a complaint was lodged with India's Central Bureau of Investigation on March 12, 2001 but there has been no apparent result.

Hari Sampath, an Indian software professional now living in Chicago and a former volunteer in the ashram's security service, is petitioning India's Supreme Court to order the central government to investigate Sai Baba. His greatest concern is for Sai Baba's Indian victims, who generally have a much more difficult time speaking out than Westerners do. During his time at Prasanthi Nilayam, he said, many students at the ashram's college told him they were pressured to have sex with the guru. "I've spoken to 20 or 30 boys who have been abused, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. There are 14-year-old kids made to live in his room and made to think it's a blessing. In most cases, their parents have been followers for 20 years and are not going to believe them," Sampath said by phone from Chicago. "Westerners have little to lose by coming forward. The Indians have to go on living among Sai Baba devotees." Sampath also wants the American government to intervene, on the grounds that "American citizens have been knowing about this abuse and taking American boys to Puttaparthi and feeding them to him."

In 2000, both UNESCO and Flinders University withdrew their sponsorship of an education conference in Puttaparthi because they were concerned with allegations of sexual misconduct by Sai Baba. According to a BBC reporter, so many western devotees have undergone genital oiling by Sai Baba that they have come to believe it is some religious ritual. Indian writer Khushwant Singh reacts to this by saying that this genital oiling is not part of any Indian tradition and that there is no basis to the claim whatsoever.

After Conny Larsson, a Swedish film star who once traveled the world speaking of Sai Baba's miracles, went public about his coerced sexual relations with the guru, the Sai Organization in Sweden was shut down, along with a Sai-affiliated school. A cover story in the weekly magazine India Today reports that following a story in Brtain's Daily Telegraph, "Labour MP Tony Colman raised the issue in Parliament. A former home office minister, Tom Sackville, also took up the matter, saying, 'The authorities have done little so far and that is regrettable.' There is a movement now to urge the British Government to issue warnings to people wanting to visit Baba's ashram."

According to Michelle Goldberg, the fact that the Baba has high ranking Indian politicians as his supporters and the purported charity works associated with the baba help to explain why he has not been brought into a court of law in India. The Indian consulate website states that crime victims must file charges with the police. Goldberg notes that Sai Baba's charities have reportedly been plagued though by "rumors of chicanery and worse."

In an article that was published in the India Today magazine in December 2000, it was stated that no complaints had been filed against Sathya Sai Baba by any alleged victim, in India. The magazine stated they are in possession of an affidavit signed by Jens Sethi (an ex-devotee) and reported that he filed a complaint with the police in Munich.

The Guardian and DNA note that a travel warning was issued by the US State Department about reports of "inappropriate sexual behavior by a prominent local religious leader", which officials confirm is a direct reference to Sai Baba. The Guardian further expressed concerns over a contingent of 200 youths travelling to the Baba's ashram in order to gain their Duke of Edinburgh Awards.

"Sai Baba was my God -- who dares to refuse God? He was free to do whatever he wanted to do with me; he had my trust, my faith, my love and my friendship; he had me in totality", says Iranian-American former follower Said Khorramshahgol. What Sai Baba chose to do with him, Khorramshahgol says, was to repeatedly call him into private interviews and order him to drop his pants and massage his penis.

The Daily Telegraph reported, in October 2000, of the allegations. The article touched upon the testimony of several ex-devotees and their children who shared their experience of sexual abuse by the baba. Koert van der Velde, a reporter for Dutch newspaper Trouw, noted that Sathya Sai Baba apparently started forbidding his devotees to not look at the internet after the allegations arose. In the years 1999 and 2000, Sai Baba has repeatedly belittled internet and technology and discouraged its use.

The BBC states that "The scale of the abuse has caused alarm around the world. In Sweden a Sai Baba school closed down after disturbing revelations from a young boy." The Swedish wing of the organization also closed down shortly following the allegations and exposés.

Political row

In January 2007, Sathya Sai Baba found himself embroiled in a political row after his remarks opposing the proposed partition of Andhra Pradesh as a "great sin", claiming that there was no demand from the people to bifurcate the state into Telangana and Andhra states. The comments caused an outcry among pro-Telangana activists who angrily voiced their protests in street marches and attacks on the Sivam building, Sathya Sai Baba's temple in Hyderabad, which was staffed by a few followers. Shouting anti-Sai Baba slogans, the protestors pulled down a large picture of the holy man and trampled on it before taking it outside and setting it on fire. An effigy of Sathya Sai Baba was also reported to have been burnt, and twenty protestors were arrested following several police complaints.

A number of political figures criticised Sathya Sai Baba including K. Chandrasekhar Rao, leader of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi and former Union Minister, who suggested that Sathya Sai Baba should restrict himself to religious functions and not involve himself in politics. Sai Baba's followers responded by calling a 'bandh' in which shops and business establishments were shut down to protest against the remarks of the Telangana leaders, and effigies of the critics were set alight. K. Kesava Rao, President of the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee, maintained that Sathya Sai Baba's comments had been "misinterpreted" and that the remark was not political. Digvijay Singh, Congress secretary-general, disagreed with suggestions that Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy could have instigated Sathya Sai Baba to make his statement, and confirmed that his party approved plans for the creation of a separate Telangana state. "With due respect to Sai Baba we can say that the work for setting up the second state reorganisation commission will go on," he said.

Raising of funds

Central to the activities if the Sai organization is raising of funds which, the organization claims, are used for charity. According to an article by the Indian news-agency Thehelka, all donations to the Sathya Sai Central Trust have been given tax exemptions and the total value of the Sai Baba's recorded assets, movable and immovable, both within the country and abroad, is Rs 5,000 crores (approx. 1 billion USD), "give or take a bit". The article states that every year, the Sathya Sai Central Trust is bloated with donations worth approximately Rs 65 crore. It also has about Rs 130 crore in fixed deposits (FD) and other term deposits all over the world. The trust has so far raised about Rs 385 crore in the form of loans for some of the Sai Baba's projects.

According to The Times:"Sai Baba is being challenged on another more prosaic front. Questions are being asked about the fundraising techniques employed by his followers. Some are accused of targeting vulnerable rich people and claiming that the miracle worker might be able to cure the afflictions of old age." The Times reported on the case of Clarissa Mason, the second wife of the film star James Mason: "When Clarissa died of cancer in 1994, she willed a large part of her late husband's £13 million estate to the cult, although, due to a dispute with Mason's children, Portland and Morgan, who contend that the estate was not hers to will in the first place, it will be some time before the cult can hope to see any of the Mason millions. Clarissa Mason believed utterly in the powers of Sai Baba, filling her house near Lake Geneva with pictures of the "godman". Her legacy has gone to a trust whose beneficiaries are believed by Mason's children to include a follower of Sai Baba." Joseph Edamaruku states: " He raises enormous amounts of money from India and around the world. We do not believe claims that it is spent on hospitals and charitable works."

References

1. ^ Edwards, Linda (2001). A Brief Guide to Beliefs: Ideas, Theologies, Mysteries, and Movements. Westminster John Knox Press. p. 137. ISBN 0664222595.
2. ^ Lewis, James R. (Editor) (2002). The Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects, and New Religions:Second Edition. Prometheus Books. ISBN 1-57392-88-7. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help); Check |isbn= value: length (help)
3. Haraldsson, Erlendur, An investigative inquiry on Sathya Sai Baba (1997 revised and updated edition published by Sai Towers, Prashanti Nilayam, India) ISBN 81-86822-32-1
4. Lochtefeld, James G. (2002). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism (Vol. 2 N-Z). New York: Rosen. ISBN 0-8239-2287-1.
   Hindu religious figure of the type known as avatar, godman (pg 583)
5. Nagel, Alexandra (note: Nagel is a critical former follower) "Een mysterieuze ontmoeting... :Sai Baba en mentalist Wolf Messing" published in Tijdschrift voor Parapsychologie 368, vol. 72 nr 4, December 2005, pp. 14-17 Template:Nl icon
   *Haraldsson, Erlendur, Miracles are my visiting cards - An investigative inquiry on Sathya Sai Baba, an Indian mystic with the gift of foresight believed to perform modern miracles (1997 revised and updated edition published by Sai Towers, Prasanthi Nilayam, India) ISBN 81-86822-32-1 page 55: "They carried the family name of Ratnakara and belonged to the Raju caste "
   *Menon, Amarnath K. (April 12, 2000). "A God Accused". India Today. Retrieved 2007-12-18. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help):
   *Woodhead, Linda. Religion in the Modern World: Traditions and Transformation. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-21784-9. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |month= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
   *Lochtefeld, James G. (2002). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism (Vol. 1). Rosen. ISBN 0-8239-3179-X. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help) Entry: "Godman"
   *Hummel, Reinhart (1984). "Guru, Miracle Worker, Religious Founder: Sathya Sai Baba". Dialog Center. Retrieved 2007-12-18. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help): "People's motives for that journey are often serious or incurable diseases, for Sai Baba has an unrivaled reputation as a miracle worker."
6. The Sai Organization: Numbers to Sai Centers and Names of Countries
   "The inspiration of Sathya Sai Baba's example and message of unselfish love and service has resulted in the establishment of over 1,200 Sathya Sai Baba Centers in 114 countries throughout the world."
7. *Nagel, Alexandra "De Sai Paradox: Tegenstrijdigheden van en rondom Sathya Sai Baba"/"The Sai Paradox contradictions of and surrounding Sathya Sai Baba" from the magazine Religieuze Bewegingen in Nederland, 'Sekten' "/Religious movements in the Netherlands, 'Cults/Sects', 1994, nr. 29. published by the Free University Amsterdam press, (1994) ISBN 90-5383-341-2 reports the following estimates: Beyerstein (1992:3) : 6 million; Riti & Theodore (1993:31): 30 million; Sluizer (1993:19): 70 million; Van Dijk (1993:30) "between 50 and 100 million."
   *Adherents cites Chryssides, George. Exploring New Religions. London, UK: Cassells (1999) (10 million)
   *Brown, Mick (2000-10-28). "Divine Downfall". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2007-03-12. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)"The guru Sai Baba has left India only once, yet his devotees across the world are estimated at up to 50 million."
   *Edwards, Linda (2001). A Brief Guide to Beliefs: Ideas, Theologies, Mysteries, and Movements. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 0664222595. (venerated by hundreds of millions in India and abroad)
8. Suicide, sex and the guru, Dominic Kennedy, The Times (UK), August 27, 2001.
9. Cite error: The named reference times was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
10. ^ Eamon Hardy, Tanya Datta. Secret Swami (Documentary). BBC News. {{cite AV media}}: Unknown parameter |year2= ignored (help)
11. ^ Michelle Goldberg (25 July 2005). "Untoucable?". Salon.com.
12. Consular Information Sheet - India, Released by the Bureau of Consular Affairs, on January 19, 2007, US Department of State
13. Chennai Online, "Sri Sathya Sai Baba : A living Devil" by Ramakrishnan R, Available online
14. Schulman, Arnold (1971). Baba. Viking Press. pp. 122–124. ISBN 0-670-14343-X.
    According to him, contrasting versions about Baba's childhood may be due to the fact that he needed interpreters to interpret other interpreters (as in the case of his interview with Baba's sister). Schulman concluded that what the translators said may well have been quite different from what was actually said.
15. ^ Brown, Mick (2000-10-28). "Divine Downfall". Daily Telegraph. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
16. Kent, Alexandra (2001). Divinity and Diversity: A Hindu Revitalization Movement in Malaysia. Nordic Institute of Asian Studies. p. 37. ISBN 8791114403. The birth was symbolically marked by a frog in the bedclothes
17. Schulman, Arnold (1971). Baba. Viking Press. pp. 122–124. ISBN 0-670-14343-X. One of Baba's two sisters, however, who claims to have been present at his birth, says that the cobra was not found under the blanket, but several hours after Baba was born a cobra was seen outside the house, a sight not uncommon in the village.
18. ^ Murphet, Howard (1977). Man of Miracles. Weiser. ISBN 0877283354.
19. Babb, Lawrence A. (1983). "Sathya Sai Baba's Magic" (PDF). Anthropological Quarterly. 56 (3). Washington DC: The George Washington University Institute for Ethnographic Research: 116–124. doi:10.2307/3317305. Retrieved 2007-12-18.: "In 1940, at the age of fourteen, he proclaimed himself to be a reincarnation of the celebrated Sai Baba of Shirdi-a saint who became famous in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries."
20. Padmanaban, Ranganathan (2000). Love Is My Form (Vol. 1: The Advent). Sai Towers Publishing. pp. 68, 132–133, 147. ISBN 8186822763.
21. ^ Bowen, David (1988). The Sathya Sai Baba Community in Bradford: Its origins and development, religious beliefs and practices. Leeds: University Press. ISBN 1871363020.
22. "Sathya Sai Baba's younger brother dies" (CMS). Times of India. 2003-10-18. Retrieved 2007-12-20. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
23. "Satya Saibaba's brother passes away" (HTML). The Hindu. 2003-10-18. Retrieved 2007-12-20. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
24. Sathyam, Shivam and Sundaram Mandirs On Official radiosai.org website Available online
25. Sai Baba turns 82, is still going strong, IBN Live. "However, he has been confined to a wheelchair for over two years now and his failing health has forced him to make fewer public appearances."
26. ^ Babb, Lawrence A. (2000) . Redemptive Encounters: Three Modern Styles in the Hindu Tradition. Prospect Heights, Illinois: Waveland Press Inc. pp. 198–199. ISBN 1577661532. OCLC 45491795. LCCN 85-0 – 0. "Sathya Sai Baba is, among other things, considered a teacher by devotees. The devotees' focus is on worship, in singing devotional songs in praise of Sathya and conducting rites invoking and praising Sai Baba - which involve arti - which is performed by devotees in front of his picture, twice daily. He frequently gives "discourses", now compiled in several volumes. He usually speaks in Telugu, and before a Hindi-speaking audience an interpreter is required. One of his most characteristic rhetorical devices is the ad hoc (and often false) etymology. For example, he has stated that Hindu means 'one who is nonviolent' by the combination of hinsa (violence) and dur (distant)."
27. ^ "Suicide, sex and the guru", Dominic Kennedy, The Times (UK), August 27, 2001
28. Knott, Kim Dr. South Asian Religions in Britain page 766, Table 22.1 Principal Sectarian movements in Britain and their primary characteristics in the Handbook of Living Religions edited by John R. Hinnels (1997), second edition, ISBN 0-14-051480-5
29. ^ The Baker Pocket Guide to New Religions, by Nigel Scotland , 2006, ISBN 0-8010-6620-4
30. ^ Babb, Lawrence A. (2000) . Redemptive Encounters: Three Modern Styles in the Hindu Tradition. Prospect Heights, Illinois: Waveland Press Inc. ISBN 1577661532. OCLC 45491795. LCCN 85-0 – 0.
31. ^ The Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects, and New Religions: Second Edition, Editor, James R. Lewis, 2002, ISBN 1-57392-88-7
32. Hummel, Reinhart "Guru, Miracle Worker, Religious Founder: Sathya Sai Baba" article in Update IX 3, September 1985, originally published in German in ;;Materialdienst der EZW;;, 47 Jahrgang, 1 February 1984 (retrieved 20 Feb. 2007)
33. Angel, Leonard (1994). Enlightenment East and West. Albany, N.Y: State University of New York Press. p. 234. ISBN 0-7914-2053-1.
34. ^ Øyvind Kyrø, Steen Jensen. Seduced by Sai Baba (Documentary). DR. {{cite AV media}}: Unknown parameter |year2= ignored (help)
35. ^ Tanya Datta (17 June 2004). "Sai Baba: God-man or con man?". BBC News.
36. ^ New Allegations Of Abuse Against Sai Baba by Payal Nair, Asian Voice, 26 June 2004: Available online
37. Brown Mick, The Spiritual Tourist, Ch: "The Miracle In North London", pp. 29-30, 1998 ISBN 1-58234-034-X
38. Kent, Alexandra Divinity and Diversity: a Hindu revitalization movement in Malaysia, Copenhagen Nias Press, first published in 2005, ISBN 8791114403, page 125
39. Dale Beyerstein. Sai Baba’s Miracles: an overview
40. Haraldsson, op. cit., pp. 295-301
41. Haraldson, op. cit, pp 204-205
42. Interview given by Sathya Sai Baba to R. K. Karanjia of Blitz News Magazine in September of 1976 Available online
43. Haraldsson, pp 209
44. Haraldsson, op. cit, pp. ??
45. Haraldsson, op. cit, pp. 43
46. Haraldsson, op. cit., pp 231, 239-241
47. Dale Beyerstein, University of British Columbia, Vancouver BC Canada. In reply to a letter sent to him from Dr Elwndur Haraldsson, University of Iceland - October 1985. Letter Reproduced in Several Sourced - including Premanand's research
48. ^ India Today, "A God Accused", 4 December 2000 Available online
49. Brown, Mick The Spiritual Tourist 1998 Bloomsbury publishing ISBN 1-58234-034-X Chapter In the House of God pp. 73 - 74
50. Hislop, John S. My Baba and I 1985 published by Birth Day Publishing Company, San Diego, California ISBN 0-960-0958-8-8 chapter The Resurrection of Walter Cowan pages 28-31
51. Brown, Mick The Spiritual Tourist 1998 Bloomsbury publishing ISBN 1-58234-034-X Chapter "In the House of God" pp. 73-74
52. ^ B.C. Skeptics. "Does Sai Baba resurrect the Dead?"
53. Brown Mick, The Spiritual Tourist, Ch: "The Miracle In North London", pp. 29-30, 1998 ISBN 1-58234-034-X See Miracles, Claims and Ashrams section.
54. Brown, Mick. The Spiritual Tourist 1998 Bloomsbury publishing ISBN 1582340013 Chapter "In the House of God" pp. 73
55. IANS (2007-10-04). "Sai Baba's 'moon miracle' fails". Indiatimes.Com. Retrieved 2007-12-06. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
56. ^ Ruhela, Satya Pal (1997), Sri Sathya Sai Baba and the Press, 1972-1996, M.D. Publications Pvt. Ltd., ISBN 9788175330412, pp. 106–107
57. SATYA SAI BABA. Retelling The Story, Babu R.R. Gogineni Former General Secretary of Rationalist Association of India
58. The Hindu, 10-6-1993
59. Investigate the Murder at Satya Sai Baba's Collage, The Indian Skeptic.May 1998.] Image of body as carried on Indian Skeptic( warning: graphic images ).
60. ^ Padraic Murphy (12 November 2000). "Sex claims engulf empire of 'god' guru". The Age. Melbourne, Australia.
61. Paul Lewis, The Guardian, "The Indian living god, the paedophilia claims and the Duke of Edinburgh awards", 4 November 2006, page 3, Available online '
62. Ginnie Mahajan/Brajesh Kumar, DNA World, "A holy furore rages in Britain", Available online
63. Velde, Koert van der "The Downfall of a guru, Sai Baba" 6 September 2000 in the Dutch tabloid newspaper Trouw
64. Discourse by Sathya Sai Baba on 15 October 1999, Available online
65. Discourse by Sai Baba on 26 September 2000, Available online
66. "Telangana activists upset with Sai Baba". hindustantimes.com. Retrieved 19 February 2007.
67. "Spiritual guru criticised for opposing statehood for Telangana region". gulf-times.com. Retrieved 19 February 2007.
68. "Cong ignores Sai Baba's remarks". timesofindia.com. Retrieved 19 February 2007. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
69. M. Seetha Shailaj (29 November 2000). "Sathya Sai Central Trust: grab as grab can". Tehelka.

See also

• Bibliography of Sathya Sai Baba
• Bibliography of books about Sathya Sai Baba

External links

• Online Resource: Sathya Sai Speaks Series

Template:ModernDharmicWriters

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• Sathya Sai Baba
• 1926 births
• Indian religious leaders
• Hindu gurus
• Hindu saints
• Living people
• People claiming to have psychokinetic abilities
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• People considered avatars by their followers