The ‘Secret Swami’s’ Hidden Costs

In his Christmas 2000 discourse, Sai Baba loudly banged his table in the vast Puttaparthi auditorium, and boastfully pitted the extent of his good works against those of others:

“Have any of them been able to accomplish at least one-thousandth of what Sai Baba is doing? No, no, no!”

He declared,

“No other individual, or no government for that matter, has been able to provide free education or free medical care”

that he has provided.  

In fact, it is his devoted volunteers who perform practically all the services for which he claims credit. Besides, many who have sought these alleged free services report numerous hidden costs in his colleges and hospitals, and many devotees have made considerable donations to the Central Trust in advance of applying.

Even though facing the utmost elusiveness by top Sai Baba officials, media and other investigators can question a range of ordinary consumers of these facilities. It is worth noting that not all parents of students attending Sai Baba’s huge educational institutions, or their teachers, are devotees. Nor are all patients and medical, nursing and ancilliary staff in his vast medical medical centres. Investigators will need to use their skills in getting credible witnesses talking. One would look for those teachers, doctors nurses, etc., who may be ready to speak up to bona fide investigators under conditions of anonymity. Courageous whistleblowers are always somewhere to be found too. Investigators should also document, both on camera and in hard copy, the fear that many have in telling what they know of the dark side of the Sai Baba enterprise.

Further Resources:

• Scan of Excerpts from Christmas Discourse, 2000 (Note: ‘Christmas’ has extraordinarily little to do with the content of this oration. The lack of relevance he gives to themes like peace and goodwill and the deep ironies of the discourse’s upthrust will be apparent to an unbiased reader).

• Incredible claims are reflected even in the title of a Times of India article: Sai Baba Hospital: A Refuge For Millions

• Robert Priddy, former head of the Norwegian Sathya Sai Organization lengthily discussion some donation issues in his article The Multi Billion Dollar Question

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