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| The ] ] ''']''' despite of having millions of followers, he is the subject of many '''allegations''' made by his critics, mainly ex-devotees and skeptics, and the subject of intense controversy. | |||
| ==False claims of miracles== | |||
| One of Sathya Sai Baba's most long-standing critics is the Indian ] and ] ]. To date, Premanand has been unable to succeed legally and claims that he was even arrested by the police in ] for a demonstration in the village. | |||
| In ] Dr. ], who was a member of a private ''miracle committee'' set to debunk all superstitious ] belief, publicly challenged Sathya Sai Baba to perform his miracles under controlled circumstances, a challenge which Sathya Sai Baba ignored.{{fn|3}} The controversy that was the consequence of this incident helped make Sathya Sai Baba even more well known in India.{{fn|4}} Sathya Sai Baba said in one of his rare interviews that he found the attitude of the committee improper.{{fn|5}} In ] another skeptic, Dr. Dale Beyerstein from ], published an extensive literature study of Baba's claims, miracles, and clairvoyance in which he wrote as his conclusion that Baba's extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence that Baba did not supply. {{fn|6}} | |||
| ==Unresolved murders in Baba's private quarters== | |||
| On 6 June, ], six members of the main ] ] were killed in Sathya Sai Baba's house. Four of them, visiting assailants armed with knives, first killed two house residents and were then shot dead by the police. Initial reports by the police and media provide conflicting views. Two members of the plot escaped and were later arrested and freed. Basava Premanand then went to court accusing the police and the government of destroying evidence. The appeal was dismissed as lacking in evidence.{{fact}} | |||
| ==Sexual abuse== | |||
| Perhaps the most scandalous accusation by Western ex-members, first voiced in print by ] in 1976, is that Sai Baba is a ] and that he ] male followers during private interviews.{{fn|8}} | |||
| In and after the year ] the allegations against the guru became more strident, mainly because a ] musician, David Bailey, and his wife, Faye Bailey, became ex-followers and then published their experiences and opinions as well as those second- and third-hand tales of other ex-followers in a document called '']''. This document was soon published on the Internet and an Expose Committee was formed in secret. While in some cases these young men are willing to talk to serious enquirers, to date none have even attempted to move their complaints to a court of law. | |||
| ==Not an ] of Sri Shirdi Sai Baba== | |||
| Researchers on Sri Shirdi Sai Baba's life history such as claimed in their magazine ''SaiBaba'' that Sathya Sai Baba is not an avatar of Sri Shirdi Sai Baba. | |||
| == Myth making == | |||
| School records reveal two different birthdates for Sathya Sai Baba. Kasturi states that the boy was a relatively normal child until he was stung by a scorpion in ], after which he declared that he was a reincarnation of ] of Shirdi{{fact}}. According to Kasturi, he started his mission on 20 October, 1940. The book contains many miracle stories about the Guru. Research by the ] critic ] has concluded that the mission did not start on 20 October 1940 but rather began in ].{{fn|5}} | |||
| In ] the American playwright ] visited the Baba and tried to verify the stories about the guru's youth but heard contradicting stories from the older villagers, as published in his book called ''Baba''. A possible reason for the contradictory stories was probably due to Schulman's account that he needed interpreters to interperet other interpreters, as in the case of his interview with Baba's sister. Schulman concluded that what the translators claimed Baba's sister said may well have been quite different from what she actually said {{ref|schulman_baba}}. | |||
| ==Political, governmental and parliamentary responses== | |||
| The Indian President ] and the former Indian Prime Minister ] visit the ashram and pay respect to Baba. Vajpayee wrote a letter when he was still the PM that is published on the internet, also signed by two former Supreme Court Justices, saying that Sathya Sai Baba is innocent of sexual molestations and that the accusations are concocted and malicious. | |||
| In the year 2000 ] withdrew its co-sponsorship of an educational conference at ] and stated the reasons, in a press release issued on 15 September, as "''Certain decisions were taken by the ISSE without consultation, such as plans to hold some of the sessions at the Ashram of the Sathya Sai movement in Puttaparthi, and the inclusion of some speakers in the conference programme without their previous consent. Furthermore, the Organization is deeply concerned about widely-reported allegations of sexual abuse involving youths and children that have been levelled at the leader of the movement in question, Sathya Sai Baba.''" In the year 2005, Barry Pittard, an anti-SSB activist, criticized the UNESCO for removing the press release from their site . | |||
| MP Tony Colman of the ] asked in 2002 whether a travel warning was appropriate due to the reports of sexual abuse. Since 2002, neither ] nor the Parliament ever issued a travel warning against Sathya Sai Baba, nor has the British Government released any official statement regarding this matter. | |||
| Tom Sackville, a former Home Office Under-Secretary of State and current chairman of the anti-cult organisation Family Action Information and Resource (FAIR), has expressed concern about the alleged ] of children by devotees who volunteer at public schools and propagate the ''Educare''/''Education in Human Values'' teachings and asserted that this should be forbidden by law. | |||
| The ] answered a question from a ] about no EU funding going to organizations associated with Sathya Sai Baba, due to allegations of sexual abuse. ], ]. The Commission answered that the Sathya Sai Trust never received, and was not receiving, any funding from the European Commission. | |||
| A travel advisory by the ] Department of State, in which neither Sathya Sai Baba or other persons are mentioned, warns US citizens traveling to ] of unconfirmed reports of inappropriate sexual behavior toward young male devotees by a prominent local religious leader. | |||
| ==Debating the allegations== | |||
| Sathya Sai Baba has said in the Christmas discourse of the year 2000 that people who tell negative stories about him have been bribed or do this out of jealousy because of his fame. Besides, he says that it always been the fate of saints and avatars to be exposed to ]. {{fn|23}} Sathya Sai Baba says that his followers should not rely on hearsay found on the Internet but focus instead on the ''innernet'', by which he perhaps means that they should follow their own spiritual practices and leave gossip to gossipers. {{fact}} | |||
| ] (a Sai Devotee, expert in comparative religion and author of the book ''"Sathya Sai Baba: A life"'') stated that Sathya Sai Baba's reputation has only increased despite negative stories being published against the Guru, by rationalists, critics and skeptics, for at least a generation. Aitken contended that critics are so distemperate in their dislike that their vituperation comes across as near comical. Aitken also argued that the BBC's programme, Secret Swami, had an advantage for discrediting Sathya Sai Baba because the Anglican Church would not object to programmes that weaken perceived threats, such as Sai Movement. | |||
| See also ] (major article) | |||
| ==References== | |||
| *{{fnb|3}} Narayana, A in the Hindu http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/mp/2002/04/04/stories/2002040400540200.htm | |||
| *{{fnb|4}} Haraldsson pages 205-211 | |||
| *{{fnb|5}} Karanjia, R. K. in Blitz magazine (1976) http://home20.inet.tele.dk/saibabaofindia/blitz4.html | |||
| *{{fnb|6}} Beyerstein, Dale ''Sai Baba's miracles: an overview'' (1994) http://home.hetnet.nl/~ex_baba/engels/articles/p_holbach/dbbooke/cont.htm | |||
| *{{fnb|8}} Brooke, Tal ''Avatar of the Night'' | |||
| *{{fnb|15}} Meer, Matthijs ''The truth will prevail...a Sai-devotee’s struggle for disenchantment'', Published in Dutch magazine Spiegelbeeld (October 2000) http://home.hetnet.nl/~ex-baba/engels/witnesses/matthijs.html | |||
| *{{fnb|21}} Sathya Sai Baba (23-11-1968) http://www.sathyasai.org/discour/1968/d681123.htm | |||
| *{{fnb|23}} Sathya Sai Baba ''Jealousy root cause of evil'' (3 July 1993) http://www.sathyasai.org/search/volume26/sss26-25.pdf (PDF file). | |||
| #{{note|schulman_baba}} Arnold Schulman, "Baba", page 124 ISBN 670-14343-x | |||
| ==Bibliography== | |||
| *Beyerstein, Dale Dr. (1994) ''Sai Baba's miracles: an overview'' | |||
| *Brooke, Tal ''Avatar of the Night'' | |||
| *Brown, Mick ''The Spiritual Tourist'' (1998) ISBN 1-58234-034-X Bloomsbury Publising | |||
| *Haraldsson, Erlendur PhD ''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) ISBN 81-86822-32-1 | |||
| *Hislop, John ''My Baba and I'' | |||
| *Kasturi, Narayana ''Sathyam Sivam Sundaran Part I, II, III & IV'' | |||
| *Murphet, Howard ''Man of Miracles'' (1971) | |||
| *Padmanaban, R. ''Love is My Form'' Sai Towers (October 2000) | |||
| *Premanand, Basava ''The Murders in Sai Baba's bedroom'' | |||
| *Sandweiss, Samuel H. ''The holy man ..... and the psychiatrist'' (1975) | |||
| *Sathya Sai Baba | |||
| *Sathya Sai Baba ''Gita vahini'', | |||
| *Sathya Sai Baba ''Rama Katha Rasavahini'', translated into English by Narayana Kasturi | |||
| *Sathya Sai Baba ''Sathya Sai Speaks'', Volumes I-. Many of these public discourses have been published on the internet | |||
| *Schulman, Arnold ''Baba'' (1971) Out of print but available in some public libraries | |||
| ==External links== | |||
| ===Official Sathya Sai Websites=== | |||
| * | |||
| * | |||
| * | |||
| * | |||
| * | |||
| ===Websites of critical former followers, skeptics and other critics=== | |||
| * Extensive website that contains scholarly studies and videos of alleged materializations, webmaster Reinier van der Sandt. | |||
| * | |||
| * | |||
| * Multi-lingual, critical website of ex-followers, webmaster Lionel Fernandez. | |||
| * Conny Larsson's English section on the Scandinavian website of critical former followers. Contains writings by ] | |||
| ===Websites to Devotees and Proponents=== | |||
| * by Gerald Joe Moreno - A Pro-Sai Site with a very detailed response to Sai Baba critics, with extensive link references. | |||
| * A Pro-Sai website by Ram Das Awle that attempts to explain the sexual abuse allegations against Sathya Sai Baba. | |||
| * A Pro-Sai website that discusses the controversy surrounding Sathya Sai Baba. | |||
| ===Other websites=== | |||
| * long article by ] on the website of the ] (1984) | |||
| * article on the disagreement and antagonism between apologists and critics on the website of M. Alan Kazlev. | |||
| * biographical overview of the early years from the book ''Love is my Form'' | |||
| * | |||
| {{Hinduism}} | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
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