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Sathya Sai Baba (born Sathya Narayana Raju on November 23 1926 -or later than 1927- with the family name of "Ratnakaram" ) is a South Indian Guru often described as a Godman and a miracle worker . According to the Sathya Sai Organisation, there are an estimated 1,200 Sathya Sai Baba Centers in 130 countries world-wide . The number of Sathya Sai Baba adherents is estimated between 6 million to 100 million . Several hundred books and media articles have been published about Sathya Sai Baba.

Sathya Narayana Raju was born into a poor agrarian family in the remote village of Puttaparthi located in Anantapur district, Andhra Pradesh. In the 1940s he proclaimed to be the reincarnation of Shirdi Sai Baba and subsequently took the Fakir's name. Sathya Sai Baba claims that he is the second in a series of three Avatars (incarnations) of Shiva Shakti (the future incarnation being Prema Sai Baba ). He claims that he is an embodiment of love with divine attributes such as omnipresence, omniscience and omnipotence. .

Sathya Sai Baba teaches the unity of all major world religions and says that they all lead to God. He preaches a foundation of five basic human values: Truth, Right Conduct, Peace, Love and Non-Violence. Sathya Sai Baba's followers report many, sometimes spectacular, miracles of various kinds which they attribute to him. He is observed to allegedly manifest vibuthi (holy ash) and small objects (rings, necklaces and watches) daily. Sathya Sai Baba explained the phenomenon of manifestation as an act of divine creation, but refused to have his materializations investigated under experimental conditions because he felt that the approach used by critics was improper . Critics claim that these materializations are done by sleight of hand.

available online: "All this helps explain why there has never been any official action against Sai Baba in India, despite the dozens of ex-believers who insist that his claims to divinity mask a wholly human craving for the bodies of the ashram's young men and boys. The stories are endless, and endlessly alike, concerning mostly boys and men from their midteens to their mid-20s."
Reference 2: Velde, Koert van der in Trouw newspaper Downfall 6 Sept. 2000 Dutch original Ondergang
Reference 3: UNESCO press release issued on 15 September 2000, "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." available online
Reference 4: Brown, Mick Divine Downfall article in The Telegraph UK Newspaper (28 Oct. 2000): "In April, Glen Meloy - a retired management consultant and a prominent Californian devotee of some 26 years standing - received a letter from an American woman who had read The Findings on the Internet. Her 15-year-old son, she said, had also been abused. Included in the letter was a four-page statement from the boy himself alleging multiple sexual abuse."</ref>. In the India Today magazine (dated December 2000) no complaints had been filed against the Guru, by any alleged victim, in India . It was also reported, in this same India Today magazine, that the coterie that surrounds Baba dismissed the allegations by denouncing them as "Anti-Hindu" attacks made by foreigners . According to Mick Brown, due to the public disclosure of allegations, there was a rash of defections from Western countries and Sweden . In face of the allegations, the Sathya Sai Central Trust is still the largest recipient of foreign donations (as recently as 2001 ) and Bill Aitken and Michelle Goldberg both expressed the opinion that the allegations have not seemed to impact the Guru's following .

Sathya Sai Baba's followers and the organizations he founded are involved in many service projects around the world. He is providing free education through his schools, free healthcare through two state-of-the-art hospitals in Puttaparthi and Bangalore and two water projects serving thousands in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Puttaparthi, where Baba was born and still lives, was originally a small village where one can now find an extensive University complex, a World-Religions Museum (Chaitanya Jyoti), a Planetarium, a railway station, an airport and more. High ranking Indian politicians, like the current President Dr. Abdul Kalam, Manmohan Singh (Former finance minister and current Prime Minister), and Atal Vajpayee (Former Prime minister) have been official guests at the ashram in Puttaparthi. Some quarters of the Indian government consider Sai Baba to be a "national treasure" .

History and origins

It has been suggested that History and origins of the Sathya Sai Baba movement be merged into this article. (Discuss)

See Main article History and origins of the Sathya Sai Baba movement

Sathya Narayana was born into a poor agrarian family in the remote village of Puttaparthi, located in Anantapur district, Andhra Pradesh, India, as the son of Pedda Venkappa Raju and mother Eshwar Amma. According to professor Narayana Kasturi in his book Easwaramma, who also wrote Sathya Sai Baba's authorized biography, Sathya was born and conceived through a Virgin birth. After recovering from an unexplained illness in his teens the young Sathya claimed to be the reincarnation of the Fakir Shirdi Sai Baba in the 1940s. According to his own assertion and the biography by Kasturi (which the British journalist Mick Brown of the The Telegraph called a hagiography), he stopped going to school in the town of Uravakonda on October 20, 1940 to start his mission. However, he is listed in the 1942 school record of the nearby village Bukkapatnam. Though the exact year on which he started his mission full-time is uncertain, it is a fact that in the 1940s he took the fakir's name. Kasturi's biography mentions several miracles by and signs of divinity of the young Sathya. According to Howard Murphet, in his book Sai Baba Man of Miracles (see picture) , the young Sathya was a vegetarian and was known for his aversion to animal cruelty and compassion for the poor, disabled and elderly. According to Kasturi and to Sathya Sai Baba himself, the young Sathya composed bhajans spontaneously (even as young as 8 years of age) and was talented in drama, dance, music and poetry. In a discourse in 1963 he claimed to be a reincarnation of Shiva and Shakti in 1963. . In the same discourse SSB said that Shirdi Sai Baba was an incarnation of Shiva and that his future reincarnation Prema Sai Baba would be a reincarnation of Shakti. In contrast, Kasturi’s biography/hagiography stated that Shirdi Sai Baba was to be Shakti incarnated and that Prema Sai Baba was to be an incarnation of Shiva.

In the late 1960s he attracted Western spiritual seekers and became increasingly popular. One of those spiritual seekers was the Hollywood screenwriter Arnold Schulman, who wrote in his 1971 book called Baba 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." According to Schulman, contrasting versions about Baba's childhood may be due to the fact 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 said may well have been quite different from what was actually said

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

Beliefs and practices

It has been suggested that Beliefs and practices in the Sathya Sai Organisation be merged into this article. (Discuss)

Main article Beliefs and practices in the Sathya Sai Organisation

Miracles and ashrams

Sathya Sai Baba resides much of the time in his main ashram called Prashanthi Nilayam (abode of peace) at Puttaparthi. In the hot summer Baba leaves for his other ashram called Brindavan in Whitefield (sometimes called Kadugodi), a town on the outskirts of Bangalore. He regularly visits Kodaikanal. He has left India only once for a visit to North East Africa in 1968.

He is a prolific orator about religious topics in his native language Telugu and he is regarded by some as an excellent speaker. Apart from his claim to be Shirdi Sai Baba, Satya Sai Baba also asserts that he is an Avatar of God, a reincarnation of Lord Rama, of Sri Krishna, the Kalki purna avatar (full divine incarnation), Lord Shiva, and Shakti. But he also says that everybody else is God and that the difference is that he is aware of this and others are not. He says that he is omniscient, omnipotent, and able to create matter from mere thought. He also stresses he is free from desires. Sai Baba claims to be pure, divine love.

Sathya Sai Baba can be seen in person performing what followers believe to be miracles daily in the form of materializations of small objects, for example food, jewelry such as bracelets, rings, watches and especially vibhuti (holy ash) and "kum kum" (the red-colored powder used by Hindus to make the ritual mark between the eyebrows). He says that he can heal diseases of his devotees sometimes by his spiritual power and sometimes by taking on the disease himself. . There is numerous anecdotal evidence that supports this claim. Followers attribute many miracles to him which they claim have witnessed in his presence. There are international claims, from Sathya Sai Baba's followers and neutral observers, that vibuthi, kumkum, turmeric powder, holy water, brass statues of deities, sugar candy, fruits, herbs, amrita (a fragrant, nectar-like honey), gems and coloured string spontaneously manifest on the altars and pictures of Sathya Sai Baba in the privacy of their own homes.

The Icelandic psychology professor Erlendur Haraldsson wrote that he did not get Sathya Sai Baba's permission to study him under controlled circumstances but investigated and documented the guru's alleged miracles and manifestations by interviewing witnesses first-hand and compiling results from a questionnaire given to a sampling of 29 people, including 7 former followers. According to the people that Haraldsson interviewed, and the results to his questionnaire, many extraordinary miracles were attributed to Sathya Sai Baba such as levitation (both indoors and outdoors), bilocation, physical disappearances, changing granite into sugar candy, changing water into another drink, changing water into gasoline, producing objects on demand, changing the color of his gown into a different color while wearing it, multiplying food, healings, visions, dreams, making different fruits appear on any tree hanging from actual stems, controlling the weather, physically transforming into various deities and physically emitting brilliant light. These people also claimed that Sathya Sai Baba materialized many substances from his hand such as vibuthi, lost objects, statues, photographs, Indian pastries (both hot and cold), food (hot, cold, solid and fluid), out of season fruits, new banknotes, pendants, necklaces, watches and rings . Haraldsson wrote that the biggest materialized object that he saw was a mangalasutra necklace, 32 inches long, 16 inches long on each side . Haraldsson wrote that some miracles attributed or performed by the Baba resemble the ones described in the New Testament, but also with some differences. According to Haraldsson, although healings certainly figure into Sai Baba's reputation, his impression is that healings do not play a prominent role in SSB's activities as in those of Jesus

One important practice in his ashrams is darshan (spiritual sight). During darshan Sathya Sai Baba walks among his followers. He may listen to a few chosen persons, accept letters, or materialize and distribute vibhuti (sacred ash of Lord Shiva). Sathya Sai Baba claims that his darshan has spiritual benefits for those who attend it and this is consistent with Hindu beliefs regarding spiritual preceptors. Usually people wait hours to get a good place for darshan. Sathya Sai Baba sometimes invites people for a group interview with him in a room in the 'ashram's mandir' (Hindu temple). Sathya Sai Baba says he performs these miracles to attract people and then to transform them spiritually. He also makes assurances of divine protection to his devotees. Followers report help from Sai Baba in difficult or dangerous situations as well as in dreams. Followers consider it a great privilege to get such an interview. Sometimes a person from this group is invited for a private interview. When asked about the divinity of Sathya Sai Baba, many of his followers readily attest to it by accounting anecdotes about the numerous miraculous occurrences and strange coincidences they have experienced.

Teachings

Sathya Sai Baba preaches love and the unity of all world religions and asserts that people who follow him do not in the least need to give up their original religion. He even discourages it. His teachings are sometimes seen as completely syncretic (uniting all religions) and sometimes as Hindu. He teaches among others a rather traditional form of Hinduism that has come from many sects and movements including advaita, often drawing from other religions like Buddhism, Sikhism, Islam and Christianity. One of the Christian influences can be felt in the institution of regular Sunday School sessions for devotees. Sai Baba often makes discourses on important religious figures such as Hindu saints, Jesus Christ or Buddha and putting into practice the values they taught. He says that he has come to restore faith in, and encourage the practice of the teachings in the Vedas. Several books and discourses by him, such as the book Ramakatha Rasavahini teach the literal interpretation of Hindu mythology and advocate the practice of Hindu Dharma.

Across the globe local Sathya Sai Baba groups assemble to sing bhajans (Hindu devotional songs), study Sathya Sai Baba's teachings, do collective community service (called seva), and teach Education in Human Values (Sai Sunday School). Baba's movement is not missionary and Baba discouraged publicity for him in a public discourse in 1968. 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.

Sathya Sai Baba organisation advocates the five basic human values. These values are sathya (truth), dharma (right conduct, living in accord with natural law), ahimsa (non-violence), prema (love for God and all his creatures) and shanti (peace).

Other primary teachings are:

• Service and charity (seva) to others.
• Love for all creatures and objects
• Putting a ceiling (limit) on one's desires.
• Developing virtues of character like compassion, patience, sense control etc.
• Everything that has been created is maya (illusion), only God is real.
• Every creature and object is God in form, though most do not experience this as their reality.
• Vegetarianism
• Detachment from the material world
• Meditation - Baba teaches three meditation techniques, focus and concentration on the chosen name and form of God by repetition, called japa; repeating the soham mantra; and jyoti (inner concentration on light).
• Inclusive acceptance of all religions as paths to realizing the One (God).
• Importance of bhakti (devotion) to God and japa and other sadhana (spiritual exercise) to foster this devotion.

Organizations

Sathya Sai Baba is the figurehead to a number of educational institutions and charitable hospitals, most notably the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning and the Sri Sathya Institute of Higher Medical Sciences, located within or near the main ashrams and Anantapur town. These organizations provide free education and free health care to the public. They are private, non profit institutions and their admission criteria are not published, admissions being decided on individual merits as decided by Sai Baba or his executives. Many of the patients are devotees from India and abroad.

The trust organization has made large contributions to drinking water projects for the whole of the Anantapur district in Andhra Pradesh and Chennai.

His Educare (formerly called Education in Human Values) programme seeks to found schools in all countries with the explicit goal to educate children in the five human values and spirituality. Schools have already been founded in Toronto, Zambia, Australia, the United States, and several in India. A highly successful pre-school in New Zealand has been studied as a model for public New Zealand schools to follow .

All the local Sai Samithis (Sathya Sai Baba groups) are part of a hierarchical structure called the Sathya Sai Organisation. The chairman of the organisation is Michael Goldstein of the USA. The logo of the Sathya Sai organization is a stylized lotus flower with the text of the five human values, highly influenced by not only Hinduism but also Jainism and Buddhism, in its petals. This text version has replaced the old logo with the symbols of the 5 or 6 world religions in the petals.

The Sri Sathya Sai central trust was founded in 1972 and is mainly involved in charities such as the Rayalaseema water project. The trust has tax exempt status and is a major recipient of donations from abroad though Baba and his organizations never solicit donations. All donations and expenditures are recorded which are documented by the bank holding the sums .

The Sri Sathya Sai Books and Publications Trust is the official publisher of the Sathya Sai Organisation. It publishes the international monthly magazine called Sanathana Sarathi. In various nations similar publication trusts maintain in their own native language.

Opposition, controversy, and allegations

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SSB has been and still is the target of criticism by skeptics, ex-followers and other critics that question his claims to perform miracles and other paranormal feats. For example, in 1976 the physicist rationalist and then the vice chancellor of Bangalore University Dr. H. Narasimhaiah who founded and chaired The Committee to Investigate Miracles and Other Verifiable Superstitions publicly challenged Sathya Sai Baba to perform his miracles under controlled circumstances, a challenge which Sathya Sai Baba ignored. He justified this by saying that the approach by Narasimhaiah was improper . The committee exposed a boy called Sai Krishna as a fraud, that the committee alleged had Sathya Sai Baba's patronage . Sai Baba said, in one of his rare interviews with the press, that he had absolutely no connection to the exposed Sai Krishna and that there are people who masquerade as devotees who attempt to make money using his name . According to Erlendur Haraldsson, the formal challenge from the committee came to a dead end because the negative attitude of the committee was obvious and perhaps because of all the fanfare involved. As a result of this episode, a public debate raged for several months in Indian newspapers

In the 1995 TV documentary "Guru Busters", by UK's Channel 4, Sathya Sai Baba was accused of faking his materializations and a videotape was supplied alleging fraud. The same videotape was mentioned in the Deccan Chronicle, on November 23rd 1992, on a front page headline "DD Tape Unveils Baba Magic". Erlendur Haraldsson stated that he and his associates carried out a careful analysis of the videotape shown in the "Guru Busters" documentary and mentioned by the Deccan Chronicle. Haraldsson stated that the videotape's quality and resolution left much to be desired and limited the inferences that could be drawn from it. Haraldsson claimed that Dr. Wiseman took the video to a company that specialized in coroporate fraud, and which possessed some of the world's best equipment designed to enhance poor quality videotapes. According to Haraldsson, after the videotape was enhanced using a three-fold process, the resulting tape contained no firm evidence of fraud. The same company analyzed several still frames from the videotape, enhanced and enlarged them and the images still did not reveal any further information .

The magazine India Today published on 4 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 believes the guru to be a cheater and charlatan. Premanand also displayed, in the 2004 BBC documentary Secret Swami, that he could duplicate some of the same acts that SSB presents as miracles; such as materializations by sleight of hand and the production of a lingam from his mouth. However, one must note that Premanand's lingams were much smaller then Sai Baba's (Sai Baba's lingams are larger then a lemon).

The British journalist Mick Brown discussed, in his 1998 book "The Spiritual Tourist", that the letters, from attending doctors, provided in the Indian Skeptic magazine (published by Premanand) about SSB's claim of resurrecting Walter Cowan, as described in the books My Baba and I by the follower John Hislop and in SSB's authorized biography by Kasturi, was probably untrue . In this same book, Mick Brown also related his experiences with manifestations of vibuthi, from Sathya Sai Baba's pictures in houses in London, and felt that these miraculous manifestations were not fraudulent or the result of trickery .

On June 6, 1993 four people who were armed with knives were killed after they had intruded in Sai Baba's bedroom. The intruders had killed two aides of Sai Baba. The incident was widely published in the Indian press. SSB claimed in his 1993 Gurupurnima discourse on July 3 that jealousy among his followers was behind the incident, without giving a detailed explanation of the events . The former Secretary of the Home Minister of Andhra Pradesh, V.P.B. Nair who came from of a police background expressed in the BBC documentary his belief that the four assailants in 1993 had unnecessarily and illegally been shot by the police. Both Premanand and Nair wanted the case to be re-opened and believed that it had been silenced to prevent revelations about illegal practices by Sathya Sai Baba and his organizations. According to Kevin Shepherd, the former national leader of the Sathya Sai movement in Norway Robert Priddy expressed the opinion that SSB was an accomplice to the 1993 murders, among others based on information given to him by his friend V.K. Narasimhan.

The debates about Sathya Sai Baba were fueled by a document published in 2000 called "The Findings" , written by David and Faye Bailey (former followers who together wrote three books on Sathya Sai Baba ), in which they described their disillusionment with the guru . The Findings led to a flood of allegations and fierce debates on the internet about the guru . According to an article in salon.com in the year 2001, a great part of the Findings contains testimonies of sexual harassment and sexual abuse . Apart from that, Faye wrote, in The Findings, that an unnamed college student requested David's help to stop SSB from sexually abusing other students . The Findings contain allegations of fakery, claims that SSB does not heal sick people and allegations of financial irregularities with charity projects, such as the Super Specialty Hospital and water project . David Bailey previously wrote, in his two books about SSB, that he personally witnessed manifestations, healings, miracles and was saved from a nasty car accident by Sathya Sai Baba .

SSB is alleged to give "oilings" between the scrotum and anus, on the genitals, above the genitals, on the chest or on the head. One must note that this is a Hindu ritual that was and is practised in some schools of yoga. It is said to be done in order to awaken a flow of kundalini power to the energy centres in the human body. The testimonies of sexual abuse of young men were shown in TV documentaries, including "Seduced by Sai Baba" by Denmark's national television, and documentary film "Secret Swami" by BBC. The India Today article referred to a signed affidavit in their possession by the Jens Sethi, a German man, who claimed to have been sexually abused as an adult by the Guru. The magazine wrote that although Sethi filed a criminal complaint in Munich, he did not file one in India. The TV documentary "Seduced By Sai Baba", produced by Denmark's national television and radio broadcaster Danish radio aired in Denmark, Australia and Norway. Al Rahm said in the Secret Swami programme that he talked with the highest leader in the USA (Dr. Michael Goldstein) about the alleged sexual abuse of his son by Baba, who was 18 at the time. According to Al Rahm, the leader responded by saying that he hated the idea of having wasted 25 years of his life and that he accepted SSB's statement "Swami is pure" as the truth. Dr. Goldstein, the International Chairman of the Sri Sathya Sai Organisations, stated in the BBC documentary Secret Swami, that although he felt that Sathya Sai Baba was not above the law, it was against his "heart and conscience" to believe the allegations because he had personally observed Baba interact with students very frequently, in very informal circumstances, and he had never seen anything inappropriate, ominous or anything indicative of fear or apprehension . Isaac Tigrett, a prominent follower and co-founder of the Hard Rock Café, stated in the documentary that his admiration for the Baba will not change even if the charges of paedophilia and murder were proved beyond all doubt . According to the journalist Michelle Goldberg of salon.com the fact that the Baba has high ranking Indian politicians as his supporters and the charity works done by the various organizations 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. In the India Today magazine (dated December 2000) no complaints had been filed against the Guru, by any alleged victim, in India .

Kennedy Dominic, a journalist for The British newspaper The Times, reported in August 2001 that three men had died after placing hope in Sathya Sai Baba. According to the Times articles Michael Pender, an HIV infected man who overdosed on drugs more than once, complained to a friend that he had been repeatedly sexually molested by the guru. Pender apparently committed suicide in a hostel for the homeless in North London. Aran Edwards, a British national, was described as "quite an ill person, mentally unstable and needed orthodox help", by David Bailey. Edwards was encouraged to write letters to the guru to help solve his "psychological problems". Edwards had never traveled to see the guru first-hand. David Bailey said that he eventually told Edwards, "Wake up. He doesn't even read these letters." Edwards was so distraught about the situation, he decided to commit suicide. Edwards was found hanging from a staircase in his home in Cardiff, London. Andrew Richardson, another British national, hurled himself off a bank building in Bangalore, India. Two letters were found on his body in which he said he was in a deep depression. He expressed a desire to see Sai Baba and Mother Teresa.

SSB did not give a detailed public rebuttal to the accusations of sexual abuse. In his Christmas 2000 discourse SSB said that people disseminate false negative stories about him because they have been bribed . According to Koert van der Velde, a reporter for a Dutch newspaper, SSB had forbidden people to take a look on the internet . In the years 1999 and 2000 SSB has repeatedly belittled the internet and discouraged its use . In 2003 SSB had an accident that injured his hip, according to the official of the Sathya Sai Organisation, Michael Goldstein. As of 2005, SSB sometimes uses a wheelchair.

There are a couple of claims that Sathya Sai Baba can change into a woman instantaneously. For example, in a Dutch article entitled "De Wonderdoener", Keith Ord claimed that he personally experienced Sathya Sai Baba literally transform his genitals from male to female. Keith Ord said that Baba was not a hermaphrodite but, from one moment to the next, completely changed from male to female, with the corresponding genitals of each. Keith Ord felt this gender transformation was a type of miracle and expressed the opinion that Sai Baba lives on another level than mere mortals . Alexandra Nagel, in her Dutch article, De Sai Paradox, also related the story of Tal Brooke, as taken from his book Avatar of the night, in which Brooke related an account from a man named "Patrick" who alleged that Baba had a vagina and that he had coital sex with the guru . These puzzling accounts have led Alexandra Nagel to the conclusion that Baba is a hermaphrodite. Nagel argued, in her 1994 Dutch language article, De Sai Paradox, published by the Free University Amsterdam press, that this alleged sex change may be related to Baba's claim to be the incarnation of both the male and female aspects of God, Shiva and Shakti respectively .

According to the journalist Sacha Kester, in a 2003 article in the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant, Sathya Sai Baba is a good example of a swindler. According to Kester, "the sorrow of those who after years of devotion saw through his deception is indescribable. The jewels and watches that he materializes are hidden in his chair. Followers who make large donation are given preferential treatment. He advises ill people not to take their medicine. He invites good looking young boys for a private interview to grope in their underwear and then to invite them to satisfy him orally."

The critical former follower Glen Meloy described him as 'a demented demonic force' . Tal Brooke, an American evangelical Christian wrote in his book Avatar of the Night that SSB is a false prophet and the Antichrist, as (according to him) was predicted in the Bible.

Stances by devotees and proponents

Bill Aitken (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 expressed the opinion that the BBC is ultimately governed by the Anglican establishment and does not criticize public icons like the Queen, who happens to be the head of the Anglican church. Aitken felt that the Church of England can have no objection to programmes that weaken perceived threats, such as the Sai Movement .

In an interview with an Asian Voice correspondent, Mr Ashok Bhagani, a trustee of the Sai Organisation in the UK, said that he believed the allegations in the Secret Swami BBC documentary were completely factless and baseless and have never been proved. Mr Bhagani also stated that when devotees are selected by Baba for a private interview, there is always someone else present in the room, and this is especially the case when women and children meet him . Navin Patel, a biochemistry student at the Sathya Sai Arts College in Bangalore during the 1970s, told Asian Voice that he visited Baba's ashram many times and studied at Baba's college long enough to know the allegations are untrue. Patel claimed the Secret Swami BBC documentary was very misleading and was based on only two westerners who had their own monetary agendas. Patel expressed the opinion that western journalists were bashing Baba collectively .

The secretary of the Puttaparthi ashram, K. Chakravarthi, refused to comment on the accusations. Anil Kumar, Sathya Sai Baba's principal translator, believes that the controversy is part of Baba's divine plan and said that every great religious teacher has had to face criticism in his/her lifetime. Kumar said that allegations have been levelled at Sai Baba since childhood, but with every criticism Baba becomes more and more triumphant .

Thorbjørn Meyer, in a letter to the DR, called the allegations undocumented and untrue. In the Seduced documentary, Peter Pruzan stated that he believed Sathya Sai Baba is not a pedophile nor does he perform conjuring tricks. Pruzan claimed that he personally experienced Sathya Sai Baba's "wholly extraordinary powers" both in Baba's presence as well as in Denmark .

Lewis Kreydick, in a sworn and videotaped deposition , said that he did not believe Alaya Rahm's sexual abuse allegations against Sathya Sai Baba because he had a very close relationship with Alaya during the time the alleged misconduct occurred. Kreydick testified that Alaya shared private information with him that he had not divulged to his own parents. Some of this information included Alaya's sexual activities with girls. Kreydick also testified that Alaya shared all the details to each of the interviews he had with Sathya Sai Baba in 1995 and 1997, and Alaya never made any comments suggesting wrongdoing, impropriety or sexual misconduct. Kreydick said that Alaya was very happy, smiling, laughing and full of self-confidence after his interviews. Kreydick further testified that he was present in some of these interviews in which Alaya was later to claim to have been sexually abused . Kreydick's statements in his depositions are supported by eulogistic talks that were given by Alaya Rahm and his family at Sai Conferences shortly after the alleged misconduct was said to have occurred. The talks were recorded on audio cassettes, distributed through Sai Centers and transcribed .

Self-Dismissed Court Case

Alaya Rahm (an alleged victim who gave was interviewed in the Seduced by Sai Baba documentary, the Secret Swami programme, the India Today magazine and the Divine Downfall interview) filed a court case against the Sathya Sai Baba Society, seeking money damages. The case, Alaya Rahm vs. Sathya Sai Baba Society, was filed in the Superior Court of California on January 6th 2005, County Of Orange - USA, Case No. 05cc01931. Alaya Rahm filed his case 2 days before the statute of limitations was to expire . The plaintiff (Alaya Rahm) self-dismissed his own case on April 19th 2006 and therefore the counter-suit was also dismissed. No offers of settlement were made in this case and no money or other considerations were paid for the dismissal of these cases. This case was dismissed "with prejudice" . This means that all parties in the case entered into a final and binding agreement that would prevent them from pursuing the same matter in any court of law (in the USA or in India).

Parliamentary, governmental and political issues and responses

In an official letter released to the general public, in December 2001, A.B. Vajpayee (the then Prime Minister of India), P.N. Bhagawati (Former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India), Ranganath Mishra (Chair Person, National Human Rights Commissioner of India and Former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India), Najma Heptulla (President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union; UNDP Distinguished Human Development Ambassador) and Shivraj V. Patil (Member of Parliament, India; Formerly of the Lok Sabda & Union Minister) all signed a letter that called the allegations against Sathya Sai Baba "wild, reckless and concocted allegations made by certain vested interests" and that they "unequivocally condemned" the allegations as "baseless and malicious" .

The Indian President Abdul Kalam and the former Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, as well as other Indian dignitaries, visit the ashram and pay their respects to Sathya Sai Baba.

In the year 2000 UNESCO withdrew its co-sponsorship of an educational conference at Puttaparthi 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 2003, Unesco removed this press release from their site.

Former MP Tony Colman of the Parliament of the United Kingdom asked, in the parliament in 2002, whether a travel warning was appropriate due to the reports of sexual abuse . Since 2002, neither Tony Blair 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 indoctrination 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 .

On October 1, 2001 the European Commission answered a question from Lousewies van der Laan, then a member of the European Parliament, 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 United States Department of State, in which neither Sathya Sai Baba or other persons are mentioned, warns US citizens traveling to Andhra Pradesh of unconfirmed reports of inappropriate sexual behavior toward young male devotees by a prominent local religious leader .

See also

• Nārāyana Kasturi - Links and info about Sathya Sai Baba's biographer.

References and Footnotes

1. Nagel, Alexandra (note: Nagel is a critical former follower) Een mysterieuze ontmoeting... :Sai Baba en mentalist Wolf Messing/A mysterious meeting... :Sai Baba and mentalist Wolf Messing published in Tijdschrift voor Parapsychologie/Journal for parapsychology 368, vol. 72 nr 4, Dec. 2005, pp. 14-17 (Dutch language): "Sai Baba was in 1927 one year old - or not yet born (a discussion exist about his birth year.)" Dutch original: "Sai Baba was in 1927 één jaar oud - of nog niet eens geboren (er bestaat discussie over zijn geboortejaar.)"
2. 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 published by Sai Towers, Prashanti Nilayam, India) ISBN 81-86822-32-1
3. Reference 1: Woodhead, Linda & Fletcher Paul. Religion in the Modern World: Traditions and Transformation. Routledge (UK), ISBN 0415217849: "By far the most famous Godman of today is Sathya Sai Baba" (p. 29);
   Reference 2 Lochtefeld, James G. Ph.D. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism Vol. I ISBN 082393179-x, New York Rosen 2002: From the entry godman, "One contemporary example of such a godman is Sathya Sai Baba"
4. Hummel, Reinhart German article published in Materialdienst der EZW, 47 Jahrgang, 1 February 1984, Translation by Linda W. Duddy and is reprinted by their permission, available online on the website of the Dialog Center, a Christian Anti-Cult Site: " Sai Baba has an unrivaled reputation as a miracle worker. He »materializes« watches, talismans, sweets, flowers, crucifixes, books, photographs, and, above all, holy ashes (vibhuti) with a wave of the hand. Miraculous cures with help from the ashes, or from Baba himself as the surgeon, and even the resurrecting of the dead are attributed to him."
5. Sathya Sai Org: Numbers to Sai Centers and Names of Countries
6. Reference 1: Adherents estimate of 10 million;
   Reference 2: Brown, Mick; Divine Downfall in The Telegraph UK Newspaper (28 Oct. 2000): "The guru Sai Baba has left India only once, yet his devotees across the world are estimated at up to 50 million.";
   Reference 3: Nagel, Alexandra "De Sai Paradox", 1994, nr. 29. published by the Free University Amsterdam, (1994): "Beyerstein (1992:3) estimates the amount at 6 million; Riti & Theodore (1993:31) at 30 million, Sluizer (1993:19) is talking about 70 million and Van Dijk's (1993:30) estimate is "between 50 and 100 million.'"
7. Reference 1: Gurupournima Day, 6 July 1963, Sathya Sai Baba, Sathya Sai Speaks III 5, 19., Available online: "After the ritual was over, they were so pleased that they conferred even more boons on the sage. Shiva said that they would take human form and be born in the Bharadwaja lineage, thrice: Shiva alone as Shirdi Sai Baba, Shiva and Shakthi together at Puttaparthy as Sathya Sai Baba, and Shakthi alone as Prema Sai, later. "
   Reference 2: The Extended Interview given by Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba to the Senior Editor, Sri R.K. Karanjia of Blitz News Magazine in September of 1976, Available online: "The previous Avathar, Shirdi Baba, laid the base for secular integration and gave mankind the message duty is work. The mission of the present Avathar is to make everybody realize that the same God or divinity resides in everyone. People should respect, love and help each other irrespective of color or creed. Thus all work can become a way of worship. Finally, Prema Sai, the third Avathar will promote the evangel news that not only does God reside in everybody, but everybody is God. That will be the final wisdom which will enable every man and woman to go to God. The three Avathars carry the triple message of work, worship and wisdom."
8. SSB as quote in Narayana Kasturi's authorized biography Sathyam Sivam Sundaram Vol 3 page 315: "I am all deities in one. You may endeavour your best for thousands of years and have all mankind with you in your search. But you cannot understand My Reality." page 136
   "God can do anything. He has all power in the palm of His Hand. My Body, like all other bodies, is a temporary habitation; but, My Power is eternal, all-pervasive, ever-dominant." Christmas Day Discourse, Bombay 1970. page 305 "In his speech at the Patel Stadium in Bombay, Sathya Sai Baba said, " I know all that happens to all because I am everyone. This current is in every bulb I illumine every consciousness. I am the inner motivator in each one of you."
9. The Extended Interview given by Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba to the Senior Editor, Sri R.K. Karanjia of Blitz News Magazine in September of 1976, Available online: "However, as I have said again and again, those who want to understand Me are welcome here. It is the spirit of the investigation that is important. Foreign parapsychologists have come here and examined Me in such a positive and constructive spirit. You have seen their reports. They do not write letters or make public demands. Narasimhiah's approach was improper; that is why I rejected it. If it were not so, he would have been welcome."
10. Reference 1: India Today December 04, 2000 A God Accused "As of now, there are no complaints that have been filed in India...Controversy could well be Sai Baba's middle name. He has been dogged by various kinds of allegations in the past-though none of them has ever been proven."
    Reference 2: Goldberg, Michelle, Untouchable? (25 July 2001) in salon.com available online: "All this helps explain why there has never been any official action against Sai Baba in India, despite the dozens of ex-believers who insist that his claims to divinity mask a wholly human craving for the bodies of the ashram's young men and boys."
11. India Today December 04, 2000 A God Accused
12. Brown, Mick Divine Downfall article in The Telegraph UK Newspaper UK (28 Oct. 2000): "There has been a rash of defections from Sai Baba groups throughout the West. In Sweden the central group has closed down, and so too has a school based on the Human Education Values programme devised by educationalists at the Puttaparthi college."
13. George Iype Sathya Sai Trust Gets Most Foreign Donations article on Rediff.com (August 16, 2003)
14. Reference 1: Aitken, Bill, Miracle of Welfare (November 27 2005) Available online: "To add to the chagrin of these voluble detractors, who have criticised his career in print and on the Internet with malicious intensity for at least a generation, is the ongoing booming growth of his mission. The more they rail against the saint, the greater, it seems, is the number of people who flock to have his darshan...Even negative assessments of the Sai movement have to concede that its growth has been phenomenal and that, remarkably, there has been no missionary effort involved. It has increased by spontaneous identification, where individuals have been drawn to the persona and teachings of the Sai saints, a voluntary outpouring of faith that has occurred in an amazingly short period."
    Reference 2: Goldberg, Michelle, Untouchable? (25 July 2001) in salon.com available online: "Given all this, one might suspect that Sai Baba's following would be in decline. Yet when one looks around Puttaparthi, there seem to be enough bright-eyed converts to replace every defector, enough denial to obscure even the most well documented allegations and, perhaps most of all, enough fierce belief to trump ordinary moral judgments."
15. Sri Sathya Sai Baba - A Living Legend - An Embodiment Of Love For All Mankind, Letter from A.B. Vajpayee (the then Prime Minister of India), Available online
16. http://www.sathyasai.org/discour/1963/d630706.htm Shiva Shakthi] Gurupournima Day, 6 July 1963, (Sathya Sai Baba, Sathya Sai Speaks III 5, 19.)
17. Schulman, Arnold Baba 1971, pp. 122-124, ISBN 670-14343-x
18. Sathya Sai Baba's younger brother dies article on 18 Oct. 2003 in The Times of India retrieved March 2006
19. Sathya Sai Baba's brother dies article on 18 Oct. 2003 in The Hindu retrieved March 2006
20. Interview with Sai Baba in the magazine Blitz 1976
21. Public discourse by Sathya Sai Baba on 29 June 1963
22. Reference 1: Nair, Yogas, "Raisins, ash raise eyebrows", The Post April 19, 2006, available online: "Golden raisins falling out of a Lord Hanuman statue, sweet honey oozing from his chest and grey ash scattered on Sai Baba pictures. These were some of the mysterious sights that greeted a Phoenix crystal healer and businesswoman when she arrived at her clothing factory on the morning of Hanuman Jayanthi (Hanuman's birthday) on Thursday...She said the picture of Sai Baba had also "shed tears" which 'tasted salty'. 'I was overwhelmed by everything that was happening. However, I accepted it as a blessing and reaffirmed my faith in God.' She said during auspicious days such as Ganesha Pooja and Shivarathri, kungoo (scared red ash), turmeric, sugar candy and coloured strings, appeared on deities of Lord Ganesha and Shiva...I visited Govender at her factory yesterday (Tuesday) and was greeted by mounds of unscented ashes around Baba's photographs. Honey was "oozing" out of a Hanuman statue and raisins appeared scattered around it. A deity of Lord Shiva also appeared to materialise a blue crystal."
    Reference 2: Brown Mick, The Spiritual Tourist, Ch: The Miracle In North London, pp. 29-30, 1998 ISBN 158234034X
    "I had no idea what to make of the pictures. To have applied the vibuthi to the glass would have been possible, perhaps, although I could not imagine how. The vibuthi was too evenly distributed to have been applied with a brush or sponge. The pictures did not seem to me to have been tampered with in any way. Rather, the vibuthi seemed to have grown on the surface of the glass, just as Mr. Patel said it had. Even if placing vibuthi on the glass might have just about been possible, to have placed it between the picture and the frame, as was the case with some of the portriats, seemed to me to be too complicated and troublesome. It seemed preposterous to imagine Mr Patel and his family bent over frames and sheets of glass, fiddling with ash and screwdrivers. Anyway, why would anyone contrive such a spectacle? There was no apparent profit or gain to be had from it for Mr Patel. A large sign near the pictures urged visitors not to give money, but to 'leave only your troubles'".
    "What other motive could he have had? It had, if anything, caused him considerable personal inconvience. His house was no longer his own. He entertained a constant stream of visitors and enquiries; he was required to maintain the shrine in proper order. He had long ago abandoned any thoughts of installing a snooker-table as he had originally planned. Besides, Mr Patel did not strike me as a man capable of deceit. His manner was humble, self-effacing, patently sincere. 'I am deeply blessed,' he said. Even questioning his account of the miracle I felt mean-spirited, a prisoner of rationalist thought. Perhaps it was better simply to accept it for what Mr Patel said it was, for what it seemed to be - the sparkle of holy ash enlivening the dreary suburb of Wealdstone. I walked away from Mr Patel's house with my head reeling, Austin at my side. His face still wore the same absorbed half-smile I had noticed when he was sitting in the ante-room."
    "'So what did you think?' I asked."
    "He walked along in silence for some moments, mulling it over. 'Well, if it's not a miracle,' he said at last, 'it's a wonderful fairy tale.'"
    "I told friends about the vibuthi-covered portriats; they looked at me in a bemused, eyebrow-arching sort of way. It couldn't be true, because such things simply don't happen, do they? But then they hadn't seen it, and I had."
    "The phenomenon of vibuthi appearing on photographs was not confined to Mr. Patel's house. I began to hear accounts of similar manifestations at houses and temples in Leicaster, in New York, Canada, Australia and, of course, in India. Shortly after the article appeared I received another telephone call, from someone I had nver met, inviting me to another house, also in North London, where vibuthi was said to be manifesting in even greater quantities than at Mr. Patel's."
    "As soon as I stepped inside I was assailed by the familiar sweet smell of vibuthi...The vibuthi was everywhere as material evidence. Its profusion was staggering; its sweet smell penetrated every corner of the house."
    Reference 3: Pillay, Prinella Divine blessing: It's a miracle, says family March 17, 2004 in the newspaper Post South Africa available online
    "In what is being described as a divine blessing, a staunch Sai Baba-devoted Isipingo family is experiencing what they say are miracles in their home - with the formation of ashes and kungum around their prayer place and walls, and the appearance of candy and honey dripping freely from the eyes of a Sai Baba statue. Widowed Rani Naicker, 50, a factory worker of Egret Crescent, Lotus Park, who shares a rented home with her three children, factory workers Sagren, 21, and Kumaran, 24, unemployed Nicole, 25, and her (Nicole's) three-year-old daughter Shenay, said they were blessed a day after the kavady festival in February, when Sagren noticed ashes forming on the top of a poster which featured Sai Baba's head. Since then, the family claims, there has been an overflow of ashes, kungum, turmeric powder, sugar candy and pink sweets, including the continuous dripping of sweet honey from a statue. These have mysteriously materialised. Ashes have also formed on several pictures of Sai Baba, Shridi Baba, Mother Mary and on the frame of a picture of Naicker's late husband, Manny Naicker."
    "Reference 4" "House of Miracles", Sunday 24 Mar 2002, Durban news, Sunday Times available online
    Devotees and tourists seeking cures for ailments and help with domestic problems have been flocking to a Durban home said to be blessed by the miracles of Sai Baba.
    Kay Pillay, 59, owner of the home in Silverglen, Chatsworth, said the miracles began 11 years ago when honey started forming on a framed picture of Sai Baba.
    "We knew it was the miracle of Baba, because we heard of it happening elsewhere. Soon we saw ash on the walls, kungu (coloured powder), turmeric powder, holy water, brass statues of deities, sugar candy, dates, prunes, cloves and coloured string representing the different deities," said Pillay. He said brass figurines representing deities appeared on auspicious religious days.
    ...Visitors can see honey dripping across a framed picture of Sai Baba, and two red velvet-covered throne-like chairs with a little stool from which ashen footprints lead to a burning lamp. On the floor are offerings of sweetmeats by devotees.
    Pillay said every Wednesday and Saturday Baba's footprints are washed from the carpet and everything is cleaned. The following day, the powder and footprints reappear.
23. 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 published by Sai Towers, India) ISBN 81-86822-32-1; Chapters 7-20.
24. 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 published by Sai Towers, India) ISBN 81-86822-32-1 pp. 43: "Immediately thereafter Sai Baba waved his hand again for two or three seconds, the palm turned down, and then quickly closed it. His arm was approximately horizontal to the ground, which was not a position favourable for allowing an object to fall from his sleeve. We observed at close range as Sai Baba loosened the grip on his fist so that he could hold the large, bulky necklace that appeared in his hand. It was a mangalasutra, a traditional piece of jewelry for a woman given at her wedding. It was 32 inches long, 16 inches each side, and it contained nine kinds of stones arranged in nine groups, each group interspaced by a gold bead. Attached to it was a picture of Sai Baba set in a golden rosette frame an inch and a half in diameter...The necklace was too large to be hidden in a man's fist, particularly Baba's small hand. Its sudden appearance left those present amazed."
25. 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 published by Sai Towers, Prashanti Nilayam, India) ISBN 81-86822-32-1 pages 231, 239-241
26. 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 0140514805
27. Public discourse by Sathya Sai Baba on November 23, 1968 (also published in Samuel Sandweiss 1972 book Sai Baba: The Holy man and the psychiatrist Part II Coming Home) available online on the website of the Sathya Sai organisation: "The Lord has no intention to publicize Himself. I do not need publicity, nor does any other Avatar of the Lord. Avatars need no advertisement"
28. Reference 1: The Extended Interview given by Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba to the Senior Editor, Sri R.K. Karanjia of Blitz News Magazine in September of 1976, Available online: "However, as I have said again and again, those who want to understand Me are welcome here. It is the spirit of the investigation that is important. Foreign parapsychologists have come here and examined Me in such a positive and constructive spirit. You have seen their reports. They do not write letters or make public demands. Narasimhiah's approach was improper; that is why I rejected it. If it were not so, he would have been welcome."
    Reference 2: 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" (first published in 1987, 1997 revised and updated edition) ISBN 8186822321 chapter The Critics pages 204-205
29. 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" (first published in 1987, 1997 revised and updated edition) ISBN 8186822321 chapter The Critics pages 204-205
30. The Extended Interview given by Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba to the Senior Editor, Sri R.K. Karanjia of Blitz News Magazine in September of 1976: Available Online: Karanjia: "Thank you, Baba, you have answered the question beautifully. Now to Narasimhiah's unanswered point regarding the bogus Sai Krishna or Pandavapura exposed by his committee as a fraud and a cheat. He alleges that the boy had your patronage."
    Sathya Sai Baba: "I can assure you there is absolutely no connection between him and Myself. His people have several times attempted to arrange a meeting between us, but we have refused their requests. Of course, thousands of people, as you saw this morning, come here for darshan. There are others also who masquerade as My disciples or make money using My name. As this happens not only here but in other states and even abroad, we cannot do anything about it. They expose themselves sooner or later, as did this boy. I have absolutely no connection or relationship with such people."
31. 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" (first published in 1987, 1997 revised and updated edition) ISBN 8186822321 pp. 206, chap. "The Critics: "In May of 1977 the committee let it be known that it would be going to Brindavan at a certain time in the hope that Baba would receive them. Off they went, in two busloads that included the committee members, journalists, photographers, and some other interested people, their expedition first being widely publicized. The guards at the gate at Brindavan did not let the grup enter the premises, with the exception of the only two women of the committee, Dr Vinoda Murthy...and Dr. Anupama Niranjana. But they would not go in unless all the committee were admitted. Dr. Sundar Rao, an old devotee of Sai Baba, told the committee that Baba had instructed the guards not to let them and their entourage in and that he would not come out of his building until the committee left. There was never any investigation. The only formal challenge from the scientific community in India came to a dead end. Perhaps all the fanfare had not been the wisest way to ensure Baba's cooperation. The negative attitude of the committee was obvious, but Baba might not have participated in any investigation, regardless of how he had been approached. The episode started off a widely publicized controversy that raged in the newspapers for several months."
32. 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" (first published in 1987, 1997 revised and updated edition) ISBN 81-86822-32-1: pp. 295-301: Chap. 31 "Public Reaction": "On Sathya Sai Baba's Birthday, 23 November 1992, the Deccan Chronicle of Hyderabad published a story with this front-page head-line: 'DD TAPE UNVEILS BABA MAGIC'...We carried out a careful analysis of the tape supplied by Mr. Nair. Sai Baba is seen standing on the podium of the hall. Several people are seated at the back of the podium, facing the audience. A large and apparently heavy memento (probably 18 inched by 18 inches at its base) is brought in by an assistant, Mr. Radhakrishna Menon (RM). The memento, held with four hands by Sai Baba and RM, is handed over to the architect who designed the building, Mr. R. Chakrapani. Immediately after he receives it, Sai Baba makes a circular sweeping movement with his right hand, in which appears suddenly gold-coloured ornament or necklace, which he places around the neck of Mr. Chakrapani. This whole sequence of events takes about 17 seconds...The quality and resolution of the tape leaves much to be desired and limits the inferences that can be drawn from it. Dr. Wiseman took the videotape to a company which specialises in investigating corporate fraud. This company posesses some of the world's best equipment designed to enhance poor quality videotape. The technician kindly offered to enhance the videotape in question. The videotape was run thorugh a real time Snell & Wilcox Kudos Noise Reducer. The machine carries out three operations. First, it removes via recursive filters the random noise on the tape caused by repeated copying. Second, it imporves the graininess of the video by median filters and finally enhances any edges on the video through edge enhancement filters. After all this the video is certainly easier to watch, and did not contain much of the random noise present on the copy provided by the Deccan Chronicle. However, the resulting tape still did not reveal further information about the incident. In short, the reason for Sai Baba's hand movements still appears unclear and is open for various interpretations, but the tape contained no firm evidence of fraud. The company also analysed several still frames taken from the video. These were scanned into a computer and run through an Improve image processing system (developed by the Home Office in Britain). Again, the images were enhanced via median filters and certain areas of the frames were enlarged. The resulting photographs show the crucial moment as Sai Baba's hands touch under the memento, but do not reveal any further information...The statement made by the Deccan Chronicle that Sai Baba takes the gold chain form his personal assistant is not corroborated by the tape or the picture they print."
33. Brown, Mick The Spiritual Tourist 1998 Bloomsbury publishing ISBN 158234034 Chapter In the House of God pp. 73 - 74
34. Brown Mick, The Spiritual Tourist, Ch: The Miracle In North London, pp. 29-30, 1998 ISBN 158234034X See Miracles, Claims and Ashrams section.
35. Guru Purnima Discourse, July 3rd 1993, Keep Truth as Your Aim: Available online
36. Shepherd, Kevin R.D. "Investigating the Sai Baba Movement: A Clarification of Misrepresented Saints and Opportunism" (2005) ISBN 0952508931 page 293
37. Goldberg, Michelle in salon.com 25 July 2001: "They're not new, either. In 1970, Tal Brooke published a book called 'Lord of the Air', later renamed 'Avatar of Night', a vivid, detailed account of his mind-blowing days as a questing young acolyte and his total disillusionment on learning of his guru's sexual rapacity. Yet it's only recently, thanks in large part to the Internet, that various victims, their parents and defecting officials from within the Sai Organization have banded together to direct the energy they once poured into worshiping their master toward bringing the man down. It all started with a document called "The Findings," published in late 2000 by long-term devotees David and Faye Bailey, whose marriage was arranged by Sai Baba."
38. "Bailey, David, A Journey To Love, 1996 ISBN 8186822046
    Bailey, David, A Journey To Love Book 2: Love and Marriage, 1988 ISBN 8186822607
    Bailey, Faye, Another Journey To Love: Experiences with Sathya Sai Baba, 1998 ISBN 8186822402"
39. Brown, Mick Divine Downfall in The Telegraph 28 October 2000
    "The Findings is a chronicle of shattered illusions."
40. Brown, Mick Divine Downfall in The Telegraph 28 October 2000
    "In recent months, an extraordinary storm of allegations have appeared - spurred by a document called The Findings Originally published in document form, The Findings quickly found its way on to the internet, where it has become the catalyst for a raging cyberspace debate about whether Sai Baba is truly divine or, as one disenchanted former devotee describes him, 'a dangerous paedophile'."
41. Goldberg, Michelle in salon.com 25 July 2001
    "Most of 'The Findings' consists of testimony of sexual harassment and sexual abuse."
42. Goldberg, Michelle in salon.com 25 July 2001
    "Whilst still at the ashram, the worst thing for me -- as a mother of sons -- occurred when a young man, a college student, came to our room, to plead with David, 'Please Sir, do something to stop him sexually abusing us,'" Faye writes. "These sons of devotees, unable to bear their untenable position of being unwilling participants in a paedophile situation any longer, yet unable to share this with their parents because they would be disbelieved, placed their trust in David; a trust which had built over his five years as a visiting professor of music to the Sai college."
43. Brown, Mick Divine Downfall in The Telegraph 28 October 2000: "It contains allegations of fakery, con-trickery and financial irregularities in the funding of the hospital and over a Sai Baba project to supply water to villages around the ashram, which is habitually trumpeted as evidence of his munificence."
44. "A Journey to Love (page 45), David Bailey: "Another man sat to my left between me and His chair. Swami smiled and waved His right hand in the air and a gold ring with nine stones just appeared from nowhere. 'For you', He said to the man on my left. 'It won't fit', He added, trying to push the ring on to the fourth finger on his left hand. 'Try', He said to the man, and then to several others sitting in the room. No way would it go past his knuckle, so Swami held the ring with his two fingers, slipped it off and blew on it once, then slipped the ring back on...a perfect fit. Then He smiled and waved His hand in the air again. It seemed, in slow motion, that a gold bracelet with a watch in it dropped from the centre of His palm...'For you', He said to one of the ladies. 'Check the time', He added...it was correct!"
    A Journey to Love (page 80), David Bailey: "He waved His right hand in the air, and, slowly, from about 4 inches under His hand, in mid-air, appeared the most beautiful Japamala (rather like a set of rosary beads, with 108 beads) in silver and crystal."
    A Journey to Love (page 65), David Bailey: "Swami waved His right hand in the air in a clockwise circular motion and under His hand in mid-air appeared the most astonishingly huge diamond ring. 'Give me the fourth finger of your left hand. It will fit.' He slid it on and it was fantastic, a perfect fit. I could not believe my eyes."
    A Journey to Love (page 104), David Bailey: "I have seen (and there are countless recorded incidents) of Him touching critically ill people in wheelchairs, with cancer, etc., and they were healed."
    A Journey to Love (page 78, 79), David Bailey: "Swami had called this Indian family along with a very, very elderly lady, who was in a wheelchair. The family started to push her towards Swami, when He apparently said, 'No, walk!' This lady got up from out of the wheelchair, the first time for 15 years we discovered, and walked elegantly up to the interview room and entered inside. This next part I saw. The door closed, and, as Swami had promised He would talk to me, I knew I must wait. I went in and the elderly lady was sitting on the floor. I sat next to her. Swami made some vibuthi for us, and then took the Australians in for their private interview. What happened next was a moment that I shall never forget in all my life. Swami invited the Indian family into the inner room. The two sons came to help the elderly lady up off the floor. 'No no' Swami said, 'Bhagavan here.' He raised His hands in the air, palms pointing down towards her, and I find the following few moments very difficult to put into words. As I was sitting beside her I felt exactly what happened. Energy poured out of His hands in a kind of circular motion, it was not like an elecrtical energy, it was sheer love, so powerful it was almost a glimpse of Heaven. I burst into floods of tears, I couldn't help it, the feeling was so beautiful. The elderly lady got up like a three year old and went into the inner room."
    A Journey to Love, Book 2 (page 52, 53, 55), David Bailey: "...I was so tired, I could hardly see the road ahead. Faye had left for Australia, so I was driving alone. Well, I don't remember driving into the Welsh village - I must have dropped off to sleep. The next thing I knew was the car stopping two inches away from windows of a double glass fronted shop to my left, and a large delivery lorry two inches to my right. This lorry had been delivering lots of plastic dustbins, seed trays, etc. My eyes opened to see all of this in mid air, as I had obviously driven straight into them like one of the old Laurel and Hardy films. This activated my sense of humour, and I immediately laughed, before realising the reality of the situation. My car had neatly parked with expert precision. Two inches either way and there would have been a nasty accident. There was no damage to anything and I was unhurt...If I had taken the train I might have been late, but very much alive!!!! Because of my thoughtlessness I needed the love that flows through Swami to save me, even though my little voice had told me what to do....I held his hand, and when a quiet moment came whispered, 'Swami, thank You for saving my life!' He looked down at me and I melted with the love that poured through Him and He very slowly said, 'Yes...I know.'"
45. Secret Swami Programme, June 2004, Available online
46. Secret Swami Programme, June 2004, Available online
47. Reference 1: India Today December 04, 2000 A God Accused "As of now, there are no complaints that have been filed in India...Controversy could well be Sai Baba's middle name. He has been dogged by various kinds of allegations in the past-though none of them has ever been proven."
    Reference 2: Goldberg, Michelle, Untouchable? (25 July 2001) in salon.com available online: "All this helps explain why there has never been any official action against Sai Baba in India, despite the dozens of ex-believers who insist that his claims to divinity mask a wholly human craving for the bodies of the ashram's young men and boys."
48. Dominic Kennedy , The Times British News, 'I sought peace and couldn't find it' Available online & 'Three die after putting faith in guru' Available online: "The Times has learnt that three Britons have apparently taken their lives after placing hope in India's most popular holy man. One of them had complained of being repeatedly sexually molested by Sai Baba at his ashram in Puttaparthi near Bangalore. Michael Pender, an HIV-positive student, was found dead at a London hostel after taking alcohol and painkillers. He had already tried to commit suicide at the holy man's headquarters. Aran Edwards hanged himself at home in Cardiff after joining a Sai Baba support group and being encouraged to write to the guru to solve his psychological problems. Mr Edwards sent a flurry of anxious letters but was devastated after receiving no replies and being told that the guru did not read his mail.
    Mr Pender, known as 'Mitch,' was found dead after taking tablets in the lonely bedroom of a hostel for the homeless in Highbury, North London. He was 23. ...He tried to commit suicide in the ashram. He had overdosed on drugs more than once. He had some strange, very powerful experiences there...
    'He was quite an ill person, mentally unstable and needed orthodox help. In the end, he wrote a couple of dozen or more letters to Sai Baba. The group had told him this was what to do. He used to ring me from phone boxes pleading with me. There were 35 phone calls, I suppose . . . he was absolutely desperate that I should talk to Sai Baba for him because he was in such a state and had written all these letters which he had sent out and hadn't had a reply. Could I please help because I was Sai Baba's right-hand man?' At the end I said, 'Wake up. He doesn't even read these letters'. He was so distraught about the situation, he decided to commit suicide.' Aran Edwards, a single man, was found hanged from a staircase at his home in Cardiff, on April 19, 1999. He was 37. A suicide verdict was recorded by the coroner.
    On September 19, 1996, Mr Richardson travelled to Bangalore and hired a taxi at the railway station to one of the city's tallest buildings, the State Bank of Mysore. Mr Richardson flung banknotes and travellers' cheques in the air, ran into the bank and up the stairs to the eighth floor, where he smashed a window and leapt 84ft to the ground, killing himself. He was 33. Two letters were found on his body. One to Sai Baba outlined his quest for spiritual enlightenment. The second was a suicide note saying he was in a deep depression: 'I came to India in search of peace but could not find it.' His mother, Deirdre, at her home near Pietermaritzburg, said: 'Andrew wanted to see Sai Baba, but was also heading to Calcutta to see Mother Teresa . . . All he wanted to do was work with the poor.'"
49. Discourse by SSB on 25 December 2000 [http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume33/sss33-23.pdf available online pdf file
50. Velde, Koert van der "The Downfall of a guru, Sai Baba" 6 September 2000 in the Dutch newspaper Trouw English translation:
    "Welcome to the mourners' club," e-mails ex-Sai Baba devotee (worshipper) Leo to his new fellow-sufferers. He does not want his name in the newspaper. "For me it's now been a week since I'm an ex, and that after eleven years." As a result of all the rumors that he heard and in spite of Sai Baba's prohibition, he took a look on the internet. "It was shocking. I could no longer dismiss it as a conspiracy of negative forces and disappointed devotees." He is now in mourning. "Baba was not only my father and mother but also the founder of my world view. I've torn up all his photos."Dutch original Deo ndergang van een goeroe: Sai Baba
    ”Welkom bij de club der rouwenden', e-mailt ex-Sai Baba-devotee (vereerder) Leo, aan nieuwe lotgenoten. Hij wil zijn naam niet in de krant. ,,Voor mij is het nu een week dat ik ex ben, en dat na elf jaar. Naar aanleiding van alle geruchten die hij hoorde, nam hij ondanks Sai Baba's verbod een kijkje op internet. ,,Schokkend was het. Ik kon het niet meer afdoen als een complot van negatieve krachten en teleurgestelde devotees. Hij is nu in de rouw. ,,Baba was niet alleen mijn vader en moeder maar ook de grondlegger van mijn wereldbeeld. Ik heb al zijn foto's verscheurd.”
51. Discourse by SSB on October 15, 1999, Available online (pdf file): "Some of the elders sitting at the Verandah are indulging in gossip; it is finding its way into the internet. (…) Swami has nothing to do with the internet. Not only now, even in future also. You should not indulge in such wrong activities."
    Discourse by SSB on September 26, 2000, Available online (pdf file): "Internet is like a waste paper basket...I have already told you about internet, radio, video etc. We have seen so many people who have been exposed to these media. But, what is their effect? All transient, passing clouds that come and go. It is an utter waste of time. It is all business oriented. That is not our aim. Do not hanker after internet: turn to the innernet. Concentrate on inner vision."
52. SSB in wheelchair
53. Dutch original by Piet van der Eijk under the title "De Wonderdoener" in the magazine HP/De Tijd, dated 31/1/1992, pages. 46-50: English Translation: "Keith, (26), says that when he had been chosen for a personal meeting, Sai Baba said to him that he thought too much about girls. But on another occasion Baba went further. "Suddenly he pulled down my trousers and tried to excite me sexually. He took my hand and put it on his genitals. Then I noticed that Sai Baba was dual-gendered: not that he was half-female half-male, not a hermaphrodite, no, from one moment to the next he changed from male into female, completely with the appropiate genitals. Don't ask me how this is can be, but that is how I experienced it. It must be some sort of miracle too. Obviously Sai Baba lives on another level from mere mortals." This is what Keith Ord tells us and we only repeat it."
    Original Dutch: "Keith, (26), vertelt dat Sai Baba hem zei, toen hij was uitverkoren voor een persoonlijke ontmoeting, dat hij teveel aan de meisjes dacht. Maar op een volgende gelegenheid ging Baba verder. "Onverhoeds trok hij mijn broek naar beneden en probeerde hij mij seksueel op te winden. Hij nam mijn hand en legde het op zijn geslachtsorgaan. Toen merkte ik dat Sai Baba tweeslachtig was: niet dat hij half-vrouw half-man was, geen hermafrodiet, nee, van het ene ogenblik op het andere veranderde hij van man in vrouw, compleet met de geslachtsorganen die daarbij horen. Vraag me niet hoe dat kan, maar ik heb het zo ervaren. Het moet ook een soort wonder zijn. Kennelijk leeft Sai Baba toch op een ander niveau dan gewone stervelingen." Dit is wat Keith Ord ons vertelt en wij geven het maar door."
54. Brooke, Tal, Avatar of the night, ISBN 193004500x, Chap. 8, pp 125-132
55. Nagel, Alexandra (note: Nagel is a critical former follower)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, (1994) ISBN 9053833412 available online: English translation "With this last remark it becomes plausible why Sai Baba's sexual acts, as Brooke and Ord told them, have been largely remained unknown: the majority of the devotees is not open enough to understand the symbolism or to accept it. It is totally unclear whether Swallow knew about Sai Baba's acts with young men and his hermaphrodism. From the way in which she portrayed Baba as an incarnation of Shiva, one could infer that she would have found it normal and appropriate that those events take place. Because Baba shows in his private surroundings his side of the 'supreme lover' and combines this in addidition with Shiva-Shakti, the male-female form."
    Reference: Swallow, Deborah A. 1982 Ashes and Powers: myth, rite and miracle in an Indian God-man's cult. In Modern Asian Studies jaargang 16 (1) pp.123-158.
    Dutch original: "Middels deze laatste opmerking wordt aannemelijk waarom Sai Baba's sexuele handelingen zoals Brooke en Ord ze naar voren hebben gebracht, grotendeels onder de oppervlakte zijn gebleven: het merendeel van zijn devotees is niet open genoeg om de symboliek te kunnen begrijpen of te accepteren. Totaal onduidelijk is evenwel of Swallow kennis heeft genomen van Sai Baba's handelingen met jongemannen en zijn tweeslachtigheid. Uit de wijze waarop zij Baba als een incarnatie van Shiva heeft geportretteerd, zou afgeleid kunnen worden dat ze het niet meer dan normaal of passend zou vinden dat die gebeurtenissen plaatsvinden. Want Baba toont in de privé-omgeving zijn kant van 'opperste geliefde' en combineert dit bovendien met Shiva-Shakti, de man-vrouw vorm." Referentie: Swallow, Deborah A. 1982 Ashes and Powers: myth, rite and miracle in an Indian God-man's cult. In Modern Asian Studies jaargang 16 (1) pp.123-158.
56. Kester, Sacha Sacha Kester “Ticket naar Nirvana”/”Ticket to Nirvana”, article in the Dutch Newspaper De Volkskrant 7 January 2003
    English translation:“Those are according to most Indians real holy men. Lonely souls who retire in the Himalaya, or who wander with their shabby possessions and live from the alms given to them by believers. They do not perform trick, like materializing ash out of nothing, and they are not looking for followers who can pay a lot of money to reach nirvana.
    Not only hippies travel to India. Nurses, bank clerks, managers, and house wives: everybody who is looking for spiritual food, who has not managed to process the loss of the church or who has devoured books like the The Celestine Prophecy, everybody can buy a ticket to India.
    (..)
    But where to start among the many holy men? There are naked men who stand near a temple and whisper a mantra into your wear if you give them a coin. And there are celebrities who travel through the whole world and have a small office in every big city.
    But here too, answers are difficult to get. “You westerners always get it wrong”, Suranya Chakraverti says. “Either you ridicule a real guru and say that it is all hogwash or you do believe in spirituality and then choose for a swindler”
    A good example of the last category is Sai Baba: the man with the hair cut that would have made the Jackson Five jealous. He has million of followers who believe that he is god himself and the sorrow of those who after years of devotion saw through his deception is indescribable. The jewels and watches that he materializes are hidden in his chair. Followers who make large donation are given preferential treatment. He advises ill people not to take their medicine. He invites good looking young boys for a private interview to grope in their underwear and then to invite them to satisfy him orally. br>’Devastation. Devastation’, writes Hans de Kraker on a website where former follower have published their to stories as warning to others. ‘The facts, the truth, that for which we all travelled to India, is calling us now. The truth is calling for help’
    Thus finding a guru is a precarious matter. In the book Karma Cola a German economist tells author Gita Mehta, “It is my opinion that quality control has to be introduced for gurus. Many of my friends have become crazy in India.” “
    Dutch original “Het zijn niet alleen hippies die naar India trekken. Verpleegsters, bankbedienden, managers en huisvrouwen: iedereen die op zoek is naar geestelijk voedsel, die het verlies van de kerk niet weet te verteren of boeken als De Celestijnse Belofte heeft gevreten, iedereen kan een ticket naar India kopen.
    (..)
    Maar waar te beginnen in dit woud van heilige mannen ? Je hebt naakte kerels die bij een tempel staan en je een mantra in de oren fluisteren als je ze een muntje in de handen drukt. En er zijn beroemdheden die de hele wereld afreizen en in elke grote stad een kantoortje hebben.
    (..)
    Maar ook hier zijn de antwoorden moeilijk te vinden.’Jullie westerlingen weten altijd de plank mis te slaan’, zegt Suranya Chakraverti. ‘Of jullie maken een echte goede goeroe belachelijk en zeggen dat het allemaal zweverig gelul is. Of jullie geloven wel in spiritualiteit en kiezen vervolgens voor een oplichter.’
    Een goed voorbeeld van die laatste categorie is Sai Baba: de man met het kapsel waar de Jackson Five jaloers op zouden zijn geweest. Hij heeft miljoenen volgelingen die geloven dat hij god zelf is en het verdriet van degenen die na jaren van devotie zijn bedrog doorzagen, is onbeschrijvelijk. De juwelen en horloges die hij materialiseert zitten verstopt in zijn stoel. Volgelingen die fors doneren krijgen een voorkeursbehandeling. Hij raadt zieken af hun medicijnen te nemen. En hij nodigt knappe jonge jongens uit voor een privé-interview, om vervolgens in hun onderbroek te graaien en hen uit te nodigen hem oraal te bevredigen.
    ‘Verwoesting. Verwoesting’, schrijft Hans de Kraker op een site waar ex-volgelingen hun verhaal als waarschuwing voor anderen hebben gepubliceerd. ‘De feiten, de waarheid, dat waarvoor wij allemaal naar India reisden, roept ons nu. De waarheid schreeuwt om hulp.’
    Het vinden van een goeroe is dus een hachelijke zaak. In het boek Karma Cola zegt een Duitse econoom tegen auteur Gita Mehta: ‘Ik vind dat ze een kwaliteitscontrole voor goeroes moeten invoeren. Veel van mijn vrienden zijn gek geworden in India.’”
57. Brown, Mick Divine downfall 28 Oct. 2000 available online: "Whether he is divine, 'a demented demonic force', as Glen Meloy now describes him, or simply the most accomplished fakir and confidence trickster, Sai Baba has said nothing publicly about the allegations laid against him."
58. Aitken, Bill, Miracle of Welfare (November 27 2005) Available online
59. New Allegations Of Abuse Against Sai Baba by Payal Nair, Asian Voice, June 26th 2004: Available online
60. New Allegations Of Abuse Against Sai Baba by Payal Nair, Asian Voice, June 26th 2004: Available online
61. Brown, Mick Divine downfall 28 Oct. 2000 available online: "When the Telegraph Magazine contacted K Chakravarthi, secretary of the Puttaparthi ashram, he said, 'We have no time for these matters. I have nothing to say' and terminated the call.'...Sai Baba's principal English translator, Anil Kumar, was more forthcoming. Every great religious teacher, he said, had faced criticism in their lifetime. Such allegations had been levelled at Sai Baba since childhood, 'but with every criticism he becomes more and more triumphant'. Kumar said he considered the controversy 'all part of divine plan. It's a paddy field with husks around the rice. Eventually all the unwanted parts will go to leave the true substance inside.'"
62. "Seduced" TV documentary produced by Danish Radio broadcasted on January 30, 2002 at 8:05 pm. transcript available online
63. Alaya Rahm vs. Sathya Sai Baba Society, filed in the Superior Court of California on January 6th 2005, County Of Orange - USA, Case No. 05cc01931: "Videotaped deposition of Lewis (Kryshna) Kreydick, taken on behalf of the defendents, at 2677 North Main Street, Suite 820, santa Ana, California, commencing at 10:07 a.m., on Thursday, March 16th, 2006, reported by Sharon E. Gonzalez, CSR, No. 4501, a Certified Shorthand Reporter in and for the State of California"
64. Alaya Rahm vs. Sathya Sai Baba Society, filed in the Superior Court of California on January 6th 2005, County Of Orange - USA, Case No. 05cc01931:
    "10:43:37: Well, not right away. But on the trip, we got to be very close, and he told me a lot of things about what he was up to.
    10:43:55: A. Well, we talk about a lot of things. And on the trip, he shared a lot more things. We got to be very close on this trip.
    10:45:45: Q. Did he share with you during that trip that -- and he was 16 years old when he went with you to India?
    10:45:56: A. Yeah.
    10:45:56: Q. Did he share with you that at that time, he was sexually active?
    10:46:01: A. Yeah, he did.
    10:47:03: A. He told me, but now -- it was so long ago, I can't remember. But he was 14 or 15 that he started his occasional relationships. And he was very active.
    10:47:15: Q. Did he indicate to you whether he had shared the fact that he was sexually active with his parents at tht time?
    10:47:21: A. I don't think he told his parents. We were just real close. And I don't even feel good about telling you about this now. It was kind of a personal thing between us. But he liked talking to me and I liked talking to him. And he wanted to know, really, the right thing to do.
    11:04:30: Q. When Alaya came out of that interview, describe for me his demeanor.
    11:04:44: A. Well, he was carrying an orange robe that Baba had given him. And he had gotten a ring there also. And he was very happy.
    11:04:57: Q. Was he smiling?
    11:04:59: A. Smiling, laughing, talking, and full of self-confidence.
    11:35:09: Q. Did Alaya ever express to you during these discussions that he didn't want to go back to see Sai Baba?
    11:35:18: A. No. To the contrary. He was one of the most excited guys to go on this trip.
    11:43:07: Q. And did Alaya tell you about those interviews when you arrived in India?
    11:43:16: A. He told me -- he told me about the interviews.
    11:43:20: Q. What did he tell you?
    11:43:21: A. He told me that it's just been phenomenal how Baba's pulled our group in and given us all the attention. And he already at that time, you know, made some jewelry for them. And given them a lot of attention. He was very happy. He was very happy that I was back there.
    11:43:39: Q. Did he tell you that Sai Baba touched him inappropriately in any way.
    11:43:48: A. No.
    11:43:49: Q. Did he -- did Alaya express any concerns to you, or refuse to talk to you about what had happened? Anything like that?
    11:43:57: A. Not at all.
    11:44:02: A. No. He wanted to bring me up to date. He wanted to fill in what I had missed, okay. And so he told me everything. And then, of course, I was there for all the rest of the interviews. I didn't go into most of the interviews. But after the interviews, we would share what happened.
    11:46:36: A. No. He shared almost every day what happened with Baba because, see, I wasn't in most of the interviews and he was in most of the interviews. So after -- we would get together every day that we had an interview. We were there for six weeks. And he had had 14 interviews in those six weeks. So after the interview, we'd get together with at the Rahm's apartment, and we would just find out from people that were in the interview what happened, and we would share with everybody. Because we were kind of a nuclear family. Then after that Alaya would talk to me in the garden right next to the place, and tell me even more things. Because some of the private interviews he had with Baba, he just didn't want to share with, all the details with his family.
    11:52:22: Did Alaya say, this is a secret. I'm really -- I don't want you to share this with anybody?
    11:52:30: A. No, no. He told me things he wouldn't tell his parents. But that wasn't one of the things that he wouldn't tell his parents.
    11:53:17: Q. And did he seem excited and happy about his encounters with Sai Baba?
    11:53:22: A. He was over the moon about thes encounters. And he loved sharing with me because I loved to hear it with Sai Baba. And I really liked Alaya a lot. And I was happy he was getting all this attention. It was very good for him.
    11:53:34: Q. So you and Alaya would speak privately almost every day?
    11:53:38: A. Every day, yeah, at least. And we'd talk to each other going to Darshan and coming back. We talked to each a lot.
    11:53:46: Q. So you and he spent quite a bit of time alone?
    11:53:49: A. We hung out. We hung out -- we didn't mean to be alone, but sometimes you are alone. We included everybody else, but a lot of times, we were just by ourselves.
    13:48:36: Q. When you heard that Alaya Rahm was alleging that he had been sexually molested by Sai Baba during his '95 and '97 trips to India, were you shocked?
    13:49:16: A. I couldn't believe it.
    13:49:21: Q. Why not?
    13:49:21: A. Well, I just, it was just out of the realm of possibility, as far as I am concerned.
    13:49:30: Q. And was it because of your own personal observations of Alaya Rahm after his interviews with Sai Baba?
    13:49:37: A. Yeah. He was very happy. Nothing was -- and he shared everything with me. We were so close. I don't know what's happened actually."
65. Reference 1: Transcript to USA Sai Regional Conference August-30/31-1997 Available online
    Reference 2: Transcript to the 21st North & Mid Central Region Sai Conference Available online
66. California's statute of limitations Available online: "Present law provides that the statute of limitations is tolled against a sexual perpetrator until the plaintiff's twenty-sixth birthday, or until within three years, after majority, she or he discovers or reasonably should have discovered that incurred psychological injury or illness was caused by the sexual abuse (Section 340.1(a), as amended 1994)."; Alaya Rahm's birthday is January 8th 1979, as stated on court documents.
67. Filed Superior Court of California - County of Orange - Central Justice Center; Apr. 20 2006, Case No. 05CC01931; Trial Date: April 28, 2006, Time: 9:00a.m., Dept.: C15, TO ALL PARTIES AND THEIR ATTORNEYS OF RECORDS: PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that the above referenced matter has been settled in its entirety. The plaintiff has agreed to dismiss his complaint, with prejudice, and the cross-complainant has agreed to dismiss its cross-complaint, with prejudice. No economic consideration has been paid in exchange for either of these dismissals. Dated April 19, 2006. "With Prejuidice" legal definition, Available online
68. Sri Sathya Sai Baba - A Living Legend - An Embodiment Of Love For All Mankind, Letter from A.B. Vajpayee (the then Prime Minister of India), Available online
69. Unesco Press Release, September 2000, Available online
70. Colman, Tony 26 February 2002 Tony Colman SAI BABA AND SEXUAL ABUSE OF CHILDREN Early day motion EDM 886 Sai Baba and sexual abuse of children 26.02.2002 Colman, Tony
71. British law against Sai Baba sought, by Rashmee Z. Ahmed, The Times Of India, September 5 2001: Available online
72. Question to the Commission pdf file
73. United States Department of State website: "U.S. citizens should be aware that there have been unconfirmed reports of inappropriate sexual behavior by a prominent local religious leader at an ashram or religious retreat located in Andhra Pradesh. Most of the reports indicate that the subjects of these approaches have been young male devotees, including a number of U.S. citizens." Available online (Retrieved Feb 2006)

Sathya Sai Baba's Presence in Popular Culture

Sathya Sai Baba's name is mentioned on the popular incense Nag Champa.

Bibliography

Books By Sathya Sai Baba

Online Resource: Sathya Sai Speaks Series

Online Resource: Vahini Series Written By Sathya Sai Baba

Selected Books By Followers

• Baskin, Diana "Divine Memories of Sathya Sai Baba" (1990) ISBN 1878599003
• Goldthwait, John "Purifying the Heart" (2002) ISBN 81-7208-339-4
• Guillemin, Madeleine "Who Is In The Driving Seat?" (2000) ISBN 0-9583617-0-3
• Hislop, John "My Baba And I" ISBN 81-7208-050-6
• Kasturi, Narayana "Sathyam Sivam Sundaram" Part I (first published in 1961), II, III, IV Available Online (zip file, 787 kb)
• Krystal, Phyllis "The Ultimate Experience" ISBN 81-7208-038-7
• Mazzoleni Don Mario "A Catholic Priest Encounters Sai Baba" (1994)ISBN 0962983519
• Murphet, Howard "Man of Miracles" (1971) ISBN 0333-91770-7
• Padmanaban, Ranganathan "Love Is My Form" Sai Towers (2000) ISBN 81-86822-76-3
• Sandweiss, Samuel H. "The Holy Man ... And The Psychiatrist" (1975) ISBN 0-9600958-1-0
• Sandweiss, Samuel H "Spirit And The Mind" (1985) ISBN 81-7208-056-5
• Thomas, Joy "Life is a Game – Play it" ISBN 81-7208-175-8
• Schulman, Arnold "Baba" (1971) Out of print. ISBN 670-14343-x
• (Note: Hundreds of English books have been written by followers) Directory Of Books About Sathya Sai Baba on SaiBabaLinks.org

Books by skeptics and critics

• Beyerstein, Dale "Sai Baba's miracles: an overview", Published by Basava Premanand, Podanur, India, (1994)
• Brooke, Tal "Lord of the Air", first published in 1976 with a revised edition was released in 1990. Revised and renamed "Avatar of the Night" (1999) ISBN 193004500x
• Brooke, Tal "Riders of the Cosmic Circuit" (1986) ISBN 0745912176
• Premanand, Basava "The Murders in Sai Baba's bedroom" (2001)
• Priddy, Robert "The End of the Dream", published and edited by Basava Premanand, Podanur, India, (2004)
• Shepherd, Kevin R.D. "Investigating the Sai Baba Movement: A Clarification of Misrepresented Saints and Opportunism" (2005) ISBN 0952508931

Other Books

• Brown, Mick "The Spiritual Tourist" Bloomsbury Publishing (1998) ISBN 1-58234-034-X
• 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" (first published in 1987, 1997 revised and updated edition) ISBN 81-86822-32-1

External links

Official Sathya Sai Baba Websites

• The Official International Web Site of the Sri Sathya Sai Organization
• The Official Website of Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust, Prasanthi Nilayam, India
• The Official Website of the Sri Sathya Sai Books and Publications Trust, Prasanthi Nilayam, India
• The Official Website of Radio Sai Global Harmony - the digital radio channel from Prasanthi Nilayam, India
• The Official Website of the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning (Deemed university), Prasanthi Nilayam, India
• The Official Website of Sai Cast - Streaming Videos Of Sathya Sai Baba, Prashanti Nilayam, India

Websites of critical former followers, skeptics and other critics

• Concerned former Dutch devotees of Sathya Sai Baba Extensive website that contains opinions and videos of alleged materializations, webmaster Reinier van der Sandt.
• Robert Priddy's extensive website about the Sathya Sai Baba and the Sathya Sai organisation
• Brian Steel's website about Sathya Sai Baba
• Allegations concerning Sathya Sai Baba Multi-lingual, critical website of ex-followers, webmaster Lionel Fernandez.
• Sai Baba Exposé: revealing hidden facts about India's biggest guru and his worldwide cult Conny Larsson's English section on the Scandinavian website of critical former followers.

Websites of Devotees and Proponents That Address Allegations

• SaiSathyaSai.com A comprehensive, Pro-Sai website by Gerald Joe Moreno that examines the allegations made by ex-followers, skeptics and critics of Sathya Sai Baba, with extensive links to Pro/Anti Sai Sites.
• A Clear View A Pro-Sai website by Ram Das Awle that gives a devotee's interpretation to the allegations made against Sathya Sai Baba.
• The Sai Critic A Pro-Sai website that discusses the controversy surrounding Sathya Sai Baba.

Other Websites

• Get the latest news and updates live from Puttaparthi
• Anti-Sai Baba Deceptions? Article on the disagreement and antagonism between apologists and critics on the website of M. Alan Kazlev.
• Love is my form Biographical overview of the early years from the book Love is my Form.
• Sai Baba (pdf file) Leaflet dispersed by INFORM (Information Network Focus on Religious Movements), which is based at the London School of Economics. INFORM in an independent charity that is funded by Mainstream Churches. Their Patrons and Governers are Bishops, Priests or members of Orthodox Churches: About INFORM (pdf file).
• Sri Sathya Sai Baba book centre in London, UK - supplier of books, CDs, DVDs, videos and other items

Media Articles

• Extensive Updates about Sai Baba in the media
• The Extended Interview given by Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba to a Senior Editor Blitz by Sri R.K. Karanjia (September 1976)
• A Memorable Patient (pdf file) An article published in the British Medical Journal about a Doctor's experience with a miraculous cure of one of his patients who claimed Sathya Sai Baba cured him. (September 22000)
• Divine Downfall Mick Brown's article about the sexual abuse allegations in The Telegraph newspaper UK (October 282000)
• Free Hi-Tech Health Care In India The Island (Sri Lankan Newspaper) by Dr. A. N. Sataya (November 152000)
• Test of Faith front page article in India Today (December 42000)
• Sai Baba Comes Down Heavy On His Detractors The Times Of India (December 272000)
• Untouchable? Michelle Golberg's major article in salon.com online magazine (July 252001)
• Medicare Miracle The Week India (August 262001)
• Three die after putting faith in guru The Times by Dominic Kennedy (August 272001)
• 'I sought peace and couldn't find it' The Times by Dominic Kennedy (August 272001)
• Suicide, sex and the guru The Times by Dominic Kennedy (August 272001)
• Sai Baba could be put on UK blacklist The Hindustan Times (August 272001)
• A Friend In India To All The World article in the New York Times by Keith Bradsher (December 12001)
• Sri Sathya Sai Baba - A Living Legend - An Embodiment Of Love For All Mankind In response to the allegations against Sathya Sai Baba: Letter from A.B. Vajpayee (the then Prime Minister of India), P.N. Bhagawati, Ranganath Mishra, Najma Heptulla and Shivraj V. Patil (December 12001)
• Sathya Sai School: A Decade Of Quality Education The Times of Zambia by Dennison Chisunka (December 242001)
• A Living Phenomenon The Hindu by V. N. Vedanta Desikan (July 312001)
• "I lost the desire to live" article by Bettina Vilmun, translated from the Danish daily national newspaper B.T. (tabloid) (January 312002)
• In Love With India: Dana Gillespie Hindustan Times by Alka Rastogi (December 262002)
• Sri Sathya Sai 80th Year Of Advent A collection of various articles about Sathya Sai baba on the The Hindu news website. (November 232005)
• Miracle of Welfare The Week's article about Sathya Sai Baba and the controversy surrounding the Guru. (November 272005)
• Sigh Baba article in the Mumbai Mirror Followers of Shirdi Sai Baba in the Ahmednagar district filed a suit, in the court of Rahata, to restrain people from claiming others are a reincarnation of Shirdi Sai Baba. The case is still pending. (January 112006)
• Selfless Seva New India Press by Hiramalini Seshadri (January 282006)
• Raisins, ash raise eyebrows Post (in South Africa) by Yogas Nair (April 192006)

Another bogi wogi bringing disrepitude to India, Oiling between scrotum!! sWAMIJI!!

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