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Revision as of 19:10, 8 February 2004 by Jay (talk | contribs) (minor formats and re-arranging)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Bhagwan Sri Sathya Sai Baba is an Indian guru who has a global following with devotees from all over the world and Sai Samithis (Sathya Sai Baba groups) in many countries. He was born under the name Sathya Narayana Raju. He claims to have been born on 23 November, 1926 but according to his school register, he was born in 1929. He is an excellent orator in his native language Telugu.
He resides much of the time in his main ashram called Prashanthi Nilayam at Puttaparthi, Andhra Pradesh, India. He also has an ashram near Bangalore in a town called Whitefield, sometimes called Kadugodi.
Beliefs and practices
He claims to be an incarnation of Lord Shiva and a re-incarnation of Shirdi Sai Baba. He claims to be omniscient and omnipotent. Sathya Sai Baba preaches a rather traditional form of Hinduism. His teachings come from many sects or branches of Hinduism. He is said to cure many diseases and materialize rings, vibhuti (holy ash), etc., with spiritual powers. He preaches love and the unity of all religions. He proclaims that love is his form, and the only way man can emancipate himself is through self-less loving.
He has revived the bhajan culture in Hinduism with his compositions. He runs a number of educational institutions and hospitals on charity. He has made large contributions to the drinking water project for the whole of Anantapur district, Andhra Pradesh.
Sathya Sai Baba says that all religions lead to God and that followers should continue to follow their original religions. He says that he will make Christians better Christians and Hindus better Hindus, etc.
One important practice in his ashrams is darshan, i.e., Sathya Sai Baba shows himself to his followers, accepts letters and materializes and distributes vibhuti. Sathya Sai Baba claims that his darshan has spiritual benefits for people who attend it. Usually people wait hours to get a good place for darshan. During darshan Sathya Sai Baba invites people for a group interview with him in a room in the ashram's temple. Among followers it is considered a great privilege to get such an interview.
His followers generally don't proselytize.
Controversy
Sathya Sai Baba is the subject of intense controversy. He has been accused of being a cult leader that uses mind control and propaganda. One of his most long standing critics is the Indian skeptic Basava Premanand who has published several critical books about him.
After the year 2000 the allegations against Sathya Sai Baba became louder, mainly because a Welsh follower David Bailey and his wife Faye Bailey became ex-followers and published their experiences, opinions, and testimonies of other ex-followers in a document called The Findings. This document was published on the internet and a lot of followers became ex-followers after reading it
Some allege that he is a homosexual and a paedophile and has sex with his followers even though he claims to be pure and free of desires. These followers claim that they had a traumatic experience because of his behaviour. Several testimonies of this have been published on the internet. The first one to publish these allegations was the American Tal Brooke in his book Lord of the Air, later extended and called Avatar of the night.
In 1993 there were six deaths at his compound, which critics say have not been properly investigated.
The Australian scholar and ex-follower Brian Steel accuses the Sathya Sai Baba organization of editing the discourses to improve them which is rather peculiar for the discourses of a person who claims to be omniscient.
Ex-followers like Robert Priddy from Norway has pointed out that Sathya Sai Baba?s assertions about magnetism differ greatly from generally accepted science. Robert Priddy also accuses him of having contradictions in his teaching and, in general, having major discrepancies between word and deed in a variety of subjects.
Critics claim that the materializations are fake and done by sleight of hand as, they say, can be seen on footage available on the internet. On the other hand, it is very difficult to find a rational explanation for some of the miracle stories. Some ex-followers believe in the truth of the allegations but at the same time refuse to retract the stories of miracles that they claim to have experienced which they attribute to him. Hence quite a lot of ex-followers believe that he has siddhis or is a powerful demon, or is the Antichrist. Other ex-followers believe that some of the miracles are real but mistakenly attributed to Sathya Sai Baba. Skeptics believe him to be a charlatan and his followers suffering from the true believer syndrome.
The documentary "Seduced By Sai Baba", first broadcast on January 30, 2002, has been screened several times in Denmark and Norway. The 54-minute documentary is from Denmark's national television and radio broadcaster Danish Radio and is extremely critical of Sathya Sai Baba.
Supporters claim the allegations are unproven and manufactured by industry cartels concerned about the effect of his teachings on their operations. According to the followers Sathya Sai Baba is not a cult because it has typical non-cult characteristic like charity, not claiming to be the only way to God and truth, tolerance towards other beliefs, and non-proselytizing.
The United States Department of State has issued a travel warning against Sathya Sai Baba under the section 'Crime in Andhra Pradesh'. The warning however doesn't mention his name explicitly. Critical questions have been asked in the British Parliament and the European Parliament about Sathya Sai Baba.
Sathya Sai Baba says that his followers should not use the internet but focus instead on the innernet (i.e., follow spiritual practices). Critics use this admonition to show that Sathya Sai Baba wants to control the information that followers receive.
The current Indian prime minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee has written a letter in defence of Sathya Sai Baba that has been published on the internet . The current president of India Abdul Kalam visited the main ashram at least twice and made a speech at the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning on 22nd November, 2002.
Quotes
- Hands that help are holier than lips that pray.