Why Do Prominent Sathya Sai Baba Sect Critics Persist?

Why should so many former Sathya Sai Baba devotees have left him? Why, in the attempt to bring about proper third party investigation, would prominent former devotee critics of him and his sect have persisted. against huge difficulties, for nearly a decade.

The Necessity of Fearless, Articulate Questioning of A Worldwide Sect

In the case of those in the last quadrant of their lives, why would they – after long and dedicated service in their professions, communities and families – not simply enjoy their retirement years? Or, rather, their refreshment years. Why would critics withstand constant attacks on themselves, being stalked, harassed, threatened with lawsuits and in other ways, shunned by those they knew and loved as fellow devotees down many years, and their lives intruded upon by unprincipled fanatics into their lives, and even the lives of those they know but who have nothing to do with the movement of exposure of Sathya Sai Baba and his cult?  Some useful readings here are:

• Moreno: anonymity and the dark – or love, light & spirituality?
• Sai Baba Hatchet Man Picks On A Young Child

The answer is plain to those who have known them for many years. They, typically, speak up irrespective of whether they are a minority. It is nothing new. They do not roll over. They see that there should be the presence of best practice standards of accountability and transparency. Of these, there is, in the Sathya Sai Baba sect, an abysmal lack. The BBC got it right – Sathya Sai Baba IS ‘the secret swami’. See:  The BBC’s ‘The Secret Swami’ – A Revision

Prominent former devotee commentators, such as  Brian Steel, Timothy Conway Ph.D 

Timothy Conway, Ph.D., lecturer and author in Eastern religious studies. Santa Barbara, USA

and  Robert Priddy 

Robert Priddy, Academic Philosopher and Sathya Sai Baba Critic. Former longtime head of the Sathya Sai Organization, Norway

 (the latter two of whom were respected leaders in the Sathya Sai Organization) like many others who join groups such as that Organization, continue to devote themselves to unselfish service. This does not stop, and why should it? To please those who wish to see no proper questioning of their leader and his cult occurs? That is to say, their highly authoritiarian and yet widely influential – outwardly all- sweetness-and-reason cult, the Sathya Sai Organization?

Attitudes of Service To Others

Does not exposing corruption and spiritual and ethical betrayal perpetrated on a phenomenal scale qualify as a service to many others? Why would it not? Who will stand up? Most will not. Some cannot. This one issue is far from the be-all-and-end-all of our lives. Fortunately, years of academic or professional discipline have equipped these critical writers to research, analyse and write quickly, and to balance such activities with an array of life’s other portfolios. The crude, denigrating portrayals of us, can be seen for what they are, at a glance. See the articles:

• Sathya Sai Baba Man Joe Moreno’s Diabolizing Photo Alterations of Sai Baba Critics 
• Sathya Sai Baba Man Gerald Moreno’s Photo Attack On Robert Priddy

Very typically, former devotees do not view the importance of service to their fellow human beings differently to what they did before, during and after affiliating themselves with Sathya Sai Baba. This fact resoundingly testifies to the complicit silence of many Sai Baba devotees who have blotted out from their memories and hearts these long years of deeply committed service of so many former devotees from many countries. I have written of this aspect and closely related issues in these articles:

• Sathya Sai Baba’s Former Devotees. A Personal Note

• Timothy Conway Ph.D – On ‘The Hislop Letters’

• Dissent From Guru Cults Draws Slander and Harassment
• Some Key Cultic Responses To Critics

The Historic Perspective

Prominent writers critical of Sathya Sai Baba and the Sathya Sai Organization have backgrounds that evince a keen interest in the processes of history. On the one hand, there are the more immediate concerns in attempting to stop the human abuses and spiritual betrayals. There is the attempt to expose certain core leaders who have extensively withheld terrible facts from the organization rank-and-file. However, there is a longer perspective. It relates to history. In prominent writers on the Sathya Sai Baba phenomenon, there is a deep desire not to see a profoundly flawed would-be King of Kings and Lord of Lords (poorna avatar) triumph in the mind of many millions, possibly for centuries to come.

Further Reading

• Indisputable facts about Sathya Sai Baba by BBC – by Robert Priddy

Videos Revealing Sathya Sai Baba Using Magician’s Trickery (in supposed miraculous materializations)

• BBC Footage Exposes Fake Sathya Sai Baba Miracle
• Sleight Of Hand. The Sleightness of Sathya Sai Baba (Exposing film clips)
• Right Hand. Sleight Hand. Watch Sai Baba Cheat With Sacred Ash (Film clip)
• Censored Indian National Television Film of Sai Baba Cheating