Parapsychologist Erlendur Haraldsson Under Fire For Suppressing Vital Evidence About Sathya Sai Baba

 

The last mentioned link, especially, may severely contribute to the permanent academic and social discrediting of the Icelandic parapsychologist, Professor Erlendur Haraldsson. The Wikipedia entry on Haraldsson states that he “is a Professor emeritus of psychology at the Faculty of social science at the University who, despite having retired from his former post at the University of Iceland, continues to be an active academic”.

The readings cited above suggest, in various of Haraldsson’s writings terribly flawed researches but also in serious disconnects between what he has divulged privately, and what he has written publicly, including in his latest book:  “Modern Miracles: The Story of Sathya Sai Baba: A Modern Day Prophet” (2013, ISBN 9781908733252).

He certainly has been active in traveling around the world, hosted by Sathya Sai Baba devotees avid to hear his allegedly learned confirmations of Sathya Sai Baba in 1980. It delighted them to hear such a noted academician say how remarkable was Sathya Sai Baba, a great spiritual being, ‘true to his nation’.  See:  Erlendur Haraldsson (1980), “Golden Age”, Sri Sathya Sai Books and Publications, Prasanthi Nilayam, Andhra Pradesh, 255-256. This year, Haraldsson has given university lectures on Sathya Sai Baba in the UK. We regretted that we were not able quickly enough to get academics along who were prepared to question him in a rational, scientific way.

For several years, Haraldsson and Robert Priddy, retired academic philosopher and social scientist (Oslo University, Norway), and for many years head of the Sathya Sai Organisation in Norway, were friends. During a plentiful exchange of emails, Haraldsson made frank disclosures that, as we compare the emails and other reputable testimony as viewed alongside his public writings, are very different indeed to what he has stated to the world at large, and this in books published in (according to a note on Haraldsson’s website) 17 languages and in many editions.

Recent photo of Erlendur Haraldsson as guest of Robert Priddy in Norway

Priddy says that, after his repeated sharing with Haraldsson important and highly credible data (including television footage from the BBC and India’s national broadcaster Doordarshan) that e.g., showed Sai Baba faking of miracles, he felt that Haraldsson’s continued suppression of his real views (which have long had a readership of many thousands of Sathya Sai Baba followers around the world) and his sweeping dismissals of palpable contrary evidence were so serious a professional and ethical affront that he, Priddy, has now released the traffic of emails.

‘Modern Miracles’ by Haraldsson and peer reviews August 5, 2015 An authoritative peer review of Dr. E. Haraldsson’s revised book ‘Modern Miracles’ (2013) has been published in the Journal for Psychic Studies.

See:

• Miracles Are My Visiting Cards – Haraldsson
• Erlendur Haraldsson Breaks his Silence on Sathya Sai Baba’s Final Decade review and critical comments  by Brian Steel
• To Psychic Researcher Professor Erlendur Haraldsson, Sai Baba Sexual Abuses Are Only “Squibbles” – Part 1 by Barry Pittard
• Erlendur Haraldsson, Ph.D – A Parapsychologist Fails To Admit Badly Flawed Data (Article 2) by Barry Pittard
• Professor Haraldsson’s Final Verdict on Sathya Sai Baba and his Western Critics by Chris Dokter
• List over the extensive mail exchanges between EH and RP