Donors and Would-be Donors Beware (Sathya Sai Central Trust Example)

As the years pass, more evidence emerges of the very non-divine manner in which Sathya Sai Baba and his financial wing collect vast funds – particularly from wealthy donors. As with scams the world over, there are methods of ‘spotting’ – in this case, by ashram staff of visitors most likely to donate large sums. The admixture of ‘miracles’ – such as Sai Baba’s ‘materializing’ of expensive rings or pendants etc., for the wealthy – is central to setting up of these traps. This operation involves the participation of the registration office, as well as Sathya Sai Baba’s close servitors, many of them wealthy or those who have given away their wealth to him.

Criminals and police forces often refer to this type of spotting as finding the ‘mark’ or victim to be set up.

Donors and Would-be Donors Beware

There are two classes of individual, and in some cases institutions, who have every reason to be looking at these issues. First, those who have already been donors to Sathya Sai Baba’s exchequer, among whom there are those who have serious misgivings about how they were misused. Second, those who are contemplating donation to the Sathya Sai Central trust.

In the first group, there are those who have been far too busy with their business enterprises or professions to have time for deeper reflection on their experiences. It needs to be remembered that deeply emotional, religious or spiritual commitments are far from straightforward and rational. Donors have given, in some cases in many millions, thinking they have found an impeccable cause. However, some are at the stage where they are handing over their prime responsibilities to others in their enterprises, retiring, etc.  The photos below are just a very few examples of that for which of the Sathya Sai opulence, they have already handed over! (For more revealing photos, see bottom of this article).

In August 16, 2003. the Rediff news agency reported:
“The largest recipient of foreign contribution was Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust — Rs 88.18 crore (Rs 881.8 million)”

The Torment of Awakening From The Dream Splendid

Coming out of the dream splendid can be an emotionally tormenting period, whether one is rich or not. Again, irrespective of status, the wide tendency for individuals is to clam up, and let as few as possible know that one has made some bad choices.

To those wishing to reflect intellectually on their own experiences of donorship, or for those who may be contemplating giving money to Sathya Sai Baba’s organization, I point to the article (4700 approx words) of Robert Priddy, retired academic and former longtime leader of the Norwegian Sathya Sai Organization:

‘Donating to Sathya Sai Baba and His Bottomless Trust Or Other Institutions. How donations are encouraged and devotees are manipulated – with negative experiences reported’

QUOTE

“In my participant-observer sociological study of the International Sathya Sai Organisation, recorded mainly in 2000, I concluded that one of the main functions it actually fulfils, although in theory it should not, is to channel money from the widest possible catchment area of devotees in rich countries. This was implied by the collected data and analyses of its various practices which I interpreted on the basis of my wide-ranging experience – and increasing distaste – of how matters were handled at Organization meetings I attended in various countries. In stark contrast to Sathya Sai Baba pretends, his organisation contributes, indirectly and increasingly more and more directly, to the funnelling of donations in huge amounts into his account and under his control. Why does Sai Baba ‘allow’ this discrepancy between his word and action? The simple answer would be because money is a necessary ingredient of improving education, health and living conditions for the poor. To support this, Sai Baba points to the institutions like colleges, hospitals and village projects he has provided (as if it were not all from his devotees). So why then does he constantly boast that he has no connection whatever with money – saying as but one example, “Where money is present, there I am absent”? Obviously, it is a very clever device to hide the real situation and seem to put him apart from other money collecting ‘men of god’. Money gurus awaken much skepticism, especially among Westerners nowadays, it being known very widely that so many have been defrauded”.

Subheadings in this article:

Sizing up likely donors, and diamond gifts to soften them up?

What is Sathya Sai Baba’s actual relationship to money?

True Believer Devotees as Easy-Touches for Money

Soliciting Devotees for Major Funds

Ashram apartment ‘donors’ – deceptively called ‘owners’

Donors Recruited under False Pretenses

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Further Reading

Can We Trust The Central Trust?By Serguei Badaev.  (Ex-President of Sai Org. Moscow Centre and ex-deputy National Coordinator and National SSEHV Coordinator, Russia)

“It is not the Sathya Sai Organisation which is the owner of all the property and estates we can see in Prashanthi Nilayam and Brindavan (Sai Baba’s ashrams in Puttaparthi and in Whitefield correspondingly). There is another organisation which prefers to stay in a shadow. It is Sathya Sai Central Trust (the SSCT), which can be regarded as the highest authority in the Sai Baba movement except Sai Baba himself”

…………………………………………………………………………………………….

The money behind Sai Baba By Hari Sampath. 08-04-2001. (Member of Sathya Sai Baba’s Security and Intelligence Wing between 1992 and 1995)

‘Secret Swami’ Cult Recruits At Prime Public Venues. By Barry Pittard

QUOTE

“The easiest way to look for the source of Sai Baba’s ‘immunity’ from investigation and what exactly all this scam is about is to just take a look at the staggering amounts of money involved, and approximately estimate how much money does Sai Baba actually have?”

……………………………………………………………………..

Barry Pittard at ‘Call For Media and Government Investigation of Sathya Sai Baba’

‘Secret Swami’ Cult Recruits At Prime Public Venues

Sathya Sai Organization: World Communities Need To Treat This Sect Cautiously

India’s ‘Emperor’ Sai Baba. By His Lavish Spending Ye Shall Know Him

Sai Baba, Kubla Khan, Citizen Kane, Bill Gates et alia

……………………………………………………………………..

General

Excerpt From Public Petition

(Note: The above articles contextualizes. Or you may prefer to proceed straight to the Petition):

Public Petition For Official Investigations of Sathya Sai Baba and His Worldwide Organization

There is a Spanish version available:

PETICIÓN PÚBLICA PARA INVESTIGACIONES OFICIALES DE SATHYA SAI BABA Y SU ORGANIZACIÓN A NIVEL MUNDIAL)

Gerald Moreno’s Attacks On Individuals and Institutions Critical of Sathya Sai Baba

How could any Sathya Sai Baba devotee – of those many who are decent and sincere – bear to read Gerald Joe Moreno’s writings? The constant welter of the latter’s strident, vituperative and demeaning posts to the Internet can, even at a quick glance, be gauged by the titles of but a small portion of his links, which, for convenience, we have posted here:  Partial List of Gerald Moreno’s Vast Postings Contra Sathya Sai Baba Critics. See also: About Gerald ‘Joe’ Moreno’s Chameleon and Deceptive Websites.

Another instant indictment are the ‘hot’ language of his titles and the brief Google or other search engine entries for his work, as they pass by in even the most desultory of searches. The preponderance of his curse-words is striking. That the international Sathya Sai Organization stands by in deep shadow and allows both prominent and rank-and-file members to support Gerald ‘Joe’ Moreno’s onslaughts – so incredibly far from the conduct that Sathya Sai Baba advises, not to mention teachers of all the main faiths and ethical systems – does not speak well of the unhappy pass to which that organization has come.

Many  Sathya Sai Baba’s followers strive for the qualities of truth, right conduct, peace, love and non-violence. Perhaps those who do read Moreno’s writings are those whom Sathya Sai Baba has often said are his devotees in name but not in nature. Of course, he and his leaders could well set a better example.The ‘Bhagavad Gita’ speaks of venality and corruption in a leader, but so too, also immortally, does the great English poet Geoffrey Chaucer, in his ‘Canterbury Tales’, in his depiction of the Parson in the General Prologue. (See Here for the more of this magnificent portrait):

This noble ensample to his sheep he yaf,
 That first he wroghte, and afterward he taughte.
 Out of the gospel he tho wordes caughte,
 And this figure he added eek therto,
 That if gold ruste, what shal iren do?
 For if a preest be foul, on whom we truste,
 No wonder is a lewed man to ruste;
 And shame it is, if a prest take keep,
 A shiten shepherde and a clene sheep

Independent British Scholar Kevin R.D. Shepherd’s Meticulous Research and Commentary

I see that Robert Priddy has just blogged drawing attention to the independent British writer on philosophy and religion, Kevin R.D. Shepherd. Priddy writes:

“After having been attacked by the constant would-be character assassinator, Joe Moreno, Kevin R.D. Shepherd responded in civil and reasoned terms. He was only attacked more despicably and unreasonably by Moreno. In stark contrast to this unqualified uneducated full-time cyber persecutor and person abuser Moreno, Shepherd is the accomplished author of numerous philosophical and books and critical analyses, including coverage of Shirdi Sai Baba and his self-appointed ‘reincarnation’, Sathya Narayana Raju. He has just released a new set of web pages at http://www.kevinshepherd.info “

I have just written on an aspect of Kevin R.D. Shepherd’s extensive work here:

Kevin R.D. Shepherd Exposes Sathya Sai Baba Defender Gerald Moreno

Posted by Barry Pittard on August 24, 2009

and also since noted that Brian D. Steel has very recently amended two articles to include, as he notes in an email,   “references to three more of Kevin R.D. Shepherd’s contributions, the latest from his splendid new website”:

Brian D.Steel Updates References To Kevin R.D.Shepherd Writings

Posted by Barry Pittard on August 25, 2009

————————————————–

General

Excerpt From Public Petition

(Note: The above articles contextualizes. Or you may prefer to proceed straight to the Petition):

Public Petition For Official Investigations of Sathya Sai Baba and His Worldwide Organization

There is a Spanish version available:

PETICIÓN PÚBLICA PARA INVESTIGACIONES OFICIALES DE SATHYA SAI BABA Y SU ORGANIZACIÓN A NIVEL MUNDIAL)

Would Serious Sathya Sai Baba Devotees Read Gerald Moreno’s Attacks?

How could any Sathya Sai Baba devotee – of those many who are decent and sincere – bear to read Gerald Joe Moreno’s writings? The constant welter of the latter’s constant, strident, vituperative and demeaning posts to the Internet can, even at a quick glance, be gauged by the titles of but a small portion of his links, which, for our convenience, are posted here:  Partial List of Gerald Moreno’s Vast Postings Contra Sathya Sai Baba Critics. See also: About Gerald ‘Joe’ Moreno’s Chameleon and Deceptive Websites.

Another instant indictment is the ‘hot’ language of his article titles. Revealing too are the brief Google or other search engine quotes for his work, as they pass by in even the most desultory of searches. The preponderance of his curse-words is striking. One of his chief blogsite’s photo distortions of some critics of Sathya Sai Baba are enough to portray the mentality of one who has won the support of many Sai Baba followers:

Sathya Sai Baba Man Joe Moreno’s Diabolizing Photo Alterations of Sai Baba Critics

………………………………………………………

Robert Priddy

In regard to the outstanding writing of the independent British author on philosophy and religion Kevin R.D. Shepherd, Robert Priddy has just posted

New exposé of Sai Baba’s front man, Gerald Joe Moreno

————————————————–

General

Excerpt From Public Petition

(Note: The above articles contextualizes. Or you may prefer to proceed straight to the Petition):

Public Petition For Official Investigations of Sathya Sai Baba and His Worldwide Organization

There is a Spanish version available:

PETICIÓN PÚBLICA PARA INVESTIGACIONES OFICIALES DE SATHYA SAI BABA Y SU ORGANIZACIÓN A NIVEL MUNDIAL)

Brian D.Steel Updates References To Kevin R.D.Shepherd Writings

Brian D.Steel, who has written in-depth on matters of Sathya Sai Baba-related bibliography, has just sent a note. I think that these references below can be read as a resource in company with my blog of yesterday: Kevin R.D. Shepherd Exposes Sathya Sai Baba Defender Gerald Moreno

Brian Steel writes:

I have just amended 2 articles to include references to 3 more of Kevin R.D. Shepherd’s contributions, the latest from his splendid new website:  http://www.kevinrdshepherd.info –

1. Evidence of an Internet Activist in Action: Gerald ‘Joe’ Moreno:

http://bdsteel.tripod.com/More/joe_morenos_mo.htm

Kevin R. D. Shepherd:
‘Sathya Sai and Wikipedia’, www.citizeninitiative.com/sathya_sai_and_wikipedia.htm
‘Kevin R. D. Shepherd in response to Gerald Joe Moreno’, www.citizeninitiative.com/sathya_sai_and_wikipedia.htm#response
(Added on 25 August 2009)
‘Wikipedia, Moreno, Google (2008)’, www.kevinrdshepherd.net/html/22__wikipedia___moreno__google.html
‘Pro-Sai Activist Gerald Joe Moreno’, www.citizeninitiative.com/sathya_sai_and_wikipedia.htm#activist
‘Internet Terrorist Gerald Joe Moreno (2009)’, http://www.kevinrdshepherd.info/internet_terrorist_gerald_joe_moreno.html

2 Diversionary Tactics by an Internet Demagogue: http://bdsteel.tripod.com/More/internetpropaganda_jm.htm

Kevin R. D. Shepherd:
“Sathya Sai and Wikipedia”
‘Kevin R.D. Shepherd in response to Gerald Joe Moreno’
(Added on 25 August 2009)
‘Wikipedia, Moreno, Google (2008)’, www.kevinrdshepherd.net/html/22__wikipedia___moreno__google.html
‘Pro-Sai Activist Gerald Joe Moreno’, www.citizeninitiative.com/sathya_sai_and_wikipedia.htm#activist
‘Internet Terrorist Gerald Joe Moreno (2009)’, http://www.kevinrdshepherd.info/internet_terrorist_gerald_joe_moreno.html

Kevin R.D. Shepherd Exposes Sathya Sai Baba Defender Gerald Moreno

Certainly, prominent critics of Sathya Sai Baba and his sect number those who take more scholarly or, to say the least, civil approaches in writing on these topics. Nonetheless, it is good to find an independent scholar who has spent real time in studying these issues. One finds that he too, has come under aggressive, defamatory, unprincipled attack from Gerald Moreno. It is something that others of us who have written on the Sathya Sai Baba issue have become well used to.

I refer to the independent British author on religion and philosophy Kevin R.D. Shepherd.

Kevin R.D.Shepherd. British author and scholar, Philosophy and Religion

His older website –  http://citizeninitiative.com/ –  cites academics of renown who have supported his work, such as the eminent British psychologist, Robert H.Thouless, (1894-1984) who wrote the best-selling “Straight and Crooked Thinking”. Shepherd has just put online another website – http://www.kevinrdshepherd.info. It deals with topics on which he has written widely – philosophy, religion and psychology. Although Kevin Shepherd has never had affiliation with Sathya Sai Baba or his worldwide movement, nor friendship with former followers of Sathya Sai Baba, one section deals with Gerald ‘Joe’ Moreno, a highly aggressive, vituperative, defamatory pro Sathya Sai Baba defender, who works with assistance – they in the background – from prominent as well as rank-and-file Sai Baba personnel in different parts of the world.

The Attack of Scurrility Upon Urbanity

It is an extraordinary state of affairs when writers who have spent their lifetimes in civil, academic and urbane discourse are set upon – especially by those who would presuppose a moral highground of love, light and spirituality.

The title of one of Moreno’s nest of attack sites is: Sathya SaiBaba – Love, Light and Spirituality. If anyone can find much of these qualities at that and at his other sites (via which, complexly and interactively, he constantly manipulates search engine ratings), I shall be most surprised. See:

Sathya Sai Baba Love, Light and Spirituality Exposed

Below, I have included a number of readings relating to individuals of a serious and civil sort who have been set upon by Moreno.

Kevin R.D.Shepherd writes in his introduction to the several sections:

“Certainly, Moreno  can  be  interpreted  as  the exact opposite of  the benign  sentiment  quoted. Joe  Moreno  of  New  Mexico  has  been  described  as  a  web  harasser and  internet  terrorist, a  role which he  has recently  demonstrated  in  relation  to  an  outsider, namely myself  (who  has  never  been  a  devotee  or  an  ex-devotee). See my Web Tactics of Pro-Sai Activism (2009).

The  sectarian  blogger  has  mistakenly  identified  me with with ex-devotees. I am not one of that unfortunate category.  Those  people have frequently expressed their grievances on the web, and in a variety of  forms.  I  do  not  agree  with  all  the  idioms  and  strategies  visible  in  that  field.  In particular, the  blog  domain  is  foreign  to  my  own  disposition”.

A glance at Kevin R.D. Shepherd’s index appearing on his new website where he deals with Gerald Moreno is instructive in and of itself, indicating the sheer range and aggressive severity of Moreno’s preoccupations:

CONTENTS   KEY

5.1         Harassment   on  Google  Search
5.2         Hate   Campaign  of  Gerald  Joe  Moreno
5.3         Offensive   Descriptions on  Google  Search
5.4         The   Findhorn  Foundation  Misattribution
5.5         Misleading  Tactic  of  Gerald  Joe  Moreno
5.6         New  Age  Confusions  and Sectarian   Misinformation
5.7         Defamatory  Sectarian   Blog
5.8         Self  Publishing  as  Distinct from  Vanity  Publishing
5.9         Web  Harassment   Requires  Exposing
5.10       The   Militant   Sectarian  Campaign  of  Gerald  Joe  Moreno
5.11       Penetrating   the   Blog  Underworld
5.12       Duplicated   Items  on  Pseudonymous  Blog
5.13 The   Reductionist  Anti-Guru  Label
5.14       The   Anti-Sai  Complexity
5.15 The   Proof  of  Internet  Terrorism
5.16       The   Sheilawaring  User  Name

A Philosopher Sleuth Vs An Unprincipled Sleuth

For those with an interest in the ever-pressing topic of the nefarious manipulation of Internet technology by obscurantist forces – I might point my readers to the latter section, 5.16. Dated July 2009, it is a lucid exposition of  a few types of deception characteristic of Moreno, who has made a speciality of cyber attack via manipulation of search engine characteristics and methodologies. Step by meticulous step, Shepherd lays bare some of the Moreno modus. Screen captures, date-spotting and and forensic revealing and exposition are of Kevin R.D. Shepherd’s essence here. The alert reader can distinguish between sleuthing sprung of philosophical skill and habit and Moreno’s roughneck sleuthing which would hunt for shaky pegs on which to hang endless distortion and fabrication. Shepherd speaks of Moreno’s “prolific imagination”, commenting that “The conflatory and distorting tendencies of Joe Moreno are extreme”.

Select Further Resources

Kevin R.D. Shepherd

The Sathya Sai Baba Cordon in Wikipedia

Kevin Shepherd’s detailed discussion (not that writings of this scholar are at virtually any time less than detailed, though the style is engaging and incisive) of Moreno’s aggressive tactics in the ‘Sathya Sai Baba’ article on Wikipedia. For this incessant misconduct, senior administrators banned Moreno. Shepherd writes:

“ In March 2007, Gerald Joe Moreno (alias SSS108) was banned indefinitely from Wikipedia after transgressing against one of the administrators who had warned him. The official report relates that he was voted against unanimously by the six arbitrators in the case. See the Wikipedia file Requests for arbitration/Sathya Sai Baba 2. The vote meant that he was banned from editing the Sathya Sai Baba entry and related articles or talk pages.Two of his colleagues (named elsewhere as Lisa de Witt and Simon Brace) were also banned in this manner”.

……………………………………………………….

Alan M. Kazlev

Gerald “Joe” Moreno’s Google infovandalism

Alan Kazlev, yet another writer who is typically guarded in his use of words, has applied the term “infovandalism” to Moreno’s cyber attacks:

“We tend to assume that information found online will be reliable. That Google provides unbiased search results, that Wikipedia is a decent alternative to Brittanica. My experience with the abusive and totalitarian Sai Baba follower Gerald “Joe” Moreno has shown me one example of how Google and other resources like WordPress and Pipl can be manipulated.

So extensive is the disinformation and biasing of the original search results that the term “infovandalism” may appropriately be applied. All three screenshots were made on the 2nd April 2008. Doubtless results will change with time. Note that although Google has a complaints form, they don’t seem to have acted on this matter”.

……………………………………………………….

B.D. Steel

Diversionary Tactics by an Internet Demagogue. The pro-Sathya Sai Baba Campaign of Gerald (‘Joe’) Moreno. Brian Steel, December 2007 (Updated March 2008)

For brief introductions to select writing of Brian Steel, see my articles:

• Sai Baba Researchers’ Huge Debt To Scholar Brian D. Steel

• Brian Steel Demythologizes Early Foreign-led Sathya Sai Baba Myths
• Brian Steel On John Hislop’s 27 Years as Sathya Sai Baba’s Spokesman
• Brian Steel On Sathya Sai Baba’s Credibility Gap. John Hislop Contributions

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Timothy Conway Ph.D.

Al Rahm

In regard of Moreno’s extraordinary ability to contort and misrepresent facts, and his attacking style, two writings that would invite the description: grace and self-restraint whilst under fire are by Timothy Conway Ph.D. and Al Rahm (both former prominent leaders in the Sathya Sai Baba movement):

The crucial John Hislop letters, Sathya Sai Baba, & Sathya’s defender Joe Moreno

Al Rahm’s Explanatory Letter

…………………………………………………………

Robert Priddy

(Former longtime leader of the Sathya Sai Organization, Norway, author and retired academic, University of Oslo, Norway)

Joe Moreno – massive internet abuse

The Gerald Joe Moreno dossier – part 1

Moreno’s deception re David Bailey Phone Conversation

Sai Baba Proxy Attacker of Ex-followers and the Media

…………………………………………………………

Barry Pittard

(Former lecture in English: Sri Sathya Sai College, Whitefield, via Bangalore, Karnataka, South India)

Sathya Sai Baba’s Former Devotees. A Personal Note

…………………………………………………………

List of Notable Former Devotees Who Have Honorably Spoken Out – Despite Attacks Upon Them

The list also excludes many who are known or understood to have spoken out but of whom we lack proper documentation. Many who have spoken up were prominent leaders in the Sathya Sai Organization – who, the moment the stood forth, became non-persons – demeaned, shunned, defamed. Some outspoken individuals have been:

Britt-Marie Anden, Serguei Badaev, David and Faye Bailey, Stephen Carthew, Timothy Conway Ph.D, John and Ella Evers, Terry Gallagher, Hariram Jayaram, Conny Larsson, William Lo,  Dave Lyons, Glen Meloy, Alexandra Nagel, Richard Nelson, Roy Pendragon, Shirley Pike, Sharon Purcell, Reidun and Robert Priddy, Al Rahm, Marisa Rahm, Alaya Rahm, Rick Raines …  (For latter family, See: Alaya Rahm’s Lawsuit vs Sathya Sai Society of America – Joint Statement by the International JuST Group and the Rahm family and Al Rahm’s Explanatory Letter), Diana Scott (Payne), Brian D. Steel …

……………………………………….

General

Excerpt From Public Petition

(Note: The above articles contextualizes. Or you may prefer to proceed straight to the Petition):

Public Petition For Official Investigations of Sathya Sai Baba and His Worldwide Organization

There is a Spanish version available:

PETICIÓN PÚBLICA PARA INVESTIGACIONES OFICIALES DE SATHYA SAI BABA Y SU ORGANIZACIÓN A NIVEL MUNDIAL)

New Zealand Lawyer Exposes Official Cover Up of Killings In Sathya Sai Baba Bedroom

Long before worldwide allegations of Sathya Sai Baba’s serial sexual abuse of boys and young men began to surface in earnest – circa AD 2000 – notable individuals shocked by signs of cover up – started to analyze situations, and leave the Sathya Sai Baba camp. For an example of early investigators, see the article (I include it below) by Warren C. Pyke LLN (Hons.) LLM (VUW), Barrister, New Zealand 3-3-1993: Sathya Sai Baba Murders Evidence (A New Zealand Barrister Analyses Police Evidence).

Another earlier investigator of various serious allegations against Sathya Sai Baba was Terry Gallagher, an agricultural scientist and businessman who, in consequence of his findings, resigned as head of the Sathya Sai Organization in Australia. See: 

Terry Gallagher’s Testimony

I have recently blogged on an outspoken, retired senior Indian policeman,V. J. Ram, whose work as a detective won him a Presidential Medal.

Ram refers to appalling instances of the Sathya Sai Baba official ashram and Indian government cover up of the killings. See:

Senior Indian Policeman (Rtd) Speaks Out About Sathya Sai Baba Murders Cover Up

See, too, testimony to the BBC of former Home Secretary of Andhra Pradesh (Sathya Sai Baba’s State in South India):

Film Clip of V.P.B. Nair making his statement

Quote:

Tanya Datta (BBC): Velayudhan Nair rejects the police version of events. He should know. Until two thousand and two he was Home Secretary of Andhra Pradesh and in charge of the state police. On coming to office he examined the files and found that the original police report was riddled with lies and inconsistencies. This was later exposed by a CID investigation.
VPB Nair: Two or three daggers cannot be a match to roaring guns. So this story of the police being attacked and the police shooting in self-defence is totally baseless.
Tanya Datta: So are you suggesting that the police executed the boys that night?

VPB Nair: In absolute… this is absolute cold-blooded murder.

Serious Issues Raised By New Zealand Lawyer

Document by:  Warren C. Pyke LLN (Hons.) LLM (VUW), Barrister, New Zealand 3-3-1993.

I COMMENT ON THE Remand Report of the Superintendent of Police, CID Cuddapah. Assuming that his findings have not been materially contradicted, which is the position as I understand it, his report clearly calls for a thorough and impartial inquiry into the deaths in Sai Baba’s room. Any one of the following grounds would be sufficient in my opinion, but combined the case for such an inquiry is overwhelming.

a) The contradictory eye-witness evidence of V. Jagadish, contradictory that is to the local Police Officer’s statements – the fact that he observed the broken door before the police arrived and was possibly the last independent witness to speak to the deceased makes his evidence significant and most material;

b) The contradictory eye-witness evidence of D. Peddireddy, contradictory that is to the local Police Officer’s statements – he says that he broke the wooden plank that was holding the door and saw the deceased in the room after he did so, once again this is most significant material and corroborates the evidence of Jagadish;

c) The absence of injury to the CI and the nature of the minor injuries to the other Police Constables is inconsistent with their story of a struggle and their need to open fire, but is not inconsistent (I deliberately use a double negative here) with the account of Jagadish and Peddireddy;

d) The position of the deceased after death is inconsistent with the Police version but consistent with them still being in the room after the door was broken, as observed by Jagadish and Peddireddy;

e) The nature of the gunshot wounds to the deceased are entirely inconsistent with the Police Officer’s claim of self-defence but are entirely consistent with a very close range discharge;

f) The fact that the bodies were moved is sufficient to warrant an inquiry as this clearly shows that the crime scene was deliberately altered after the fact;

g) The absence of possession by the deceased of the alleged knives after death strongly suggests that they posed no threat to the Officers, although it cannot be ruled out that the knives were dropped in the alleged melee;

h) The evidence about when the shots were heard: independent and reputable witnesses, Balachandra, Sahani, Vatsava all say 1 a.m., which is consistent with the post mortem report as to time of death; this contradicts the Police evidence by a full 1 ½ hours (11.30 p.m. cf 1 a.m.): this cannot be explained by any suggested error in the post mortem;

i) The number of rounds discharged and the position of the bullets after firing show that some firing was not directed at a specific target. Given the police assertion of self-defence which, if believed, would suggest that the firing would have been carefully aimed so as to avoid shooting their fellow officers (given the confined space), the Police evidence as to the nature of their firing is incredible.

Given the matters outlined in the Remand Report, the failure to further investigate and prosecute the Police Officers involved is a shame and a disgrace to the law enforcement body responsible and to the judiciary who have consistently failed to intervene. No self-respecting and principled law enforcement body or judicial system would tolerate such a situation. In the case of multiple murders, there can be no justification for ignoring.

Warren C. Pyke, (4th Floor, NZI Building, Garden Place, Hamilton, New Zealand).

It is most instructive to read these questionings of the New Zealand lawyer alongside details in the retired senior Indian policeman V.J.Ram’s revelations of years later. These suggest but a little of the huge corruption in which Sathya Sai Baba and his key servitors have for so long been involved:

Excerpt from ‘The Godmen of India’, 2005

Further Reading

The Unresolved, Covered-Up 1993 Murders in Sathya Sai Baba’s Bedroom Revisited. By Robert Priddy – founder member & office-bearer Oslo Centre 1983, Chairman from 1987 while acting national contact-person of the Sathya Sai Organisation, Norway 1987-2000

Indian Newspaper Reports of Killings In Sai Baba’s Bedroom

Attempts – all to no avail (and with no written or spoken response back to us) – were made by a representative international former devotee group (JuST) to obtain reasonable answers from Sathya Sai Baba’s peak organizational body. See here:

Open letter to the Prashanthi Council – Michael Goldstein, G. Venkataraman

Formal Appeal to the Prashanthi Council

Sathya Sai Baba Man Gerald Moreno and Fact-Changing

Surely one of the worst cases of Internet defamation is that of the Gerald ‘Joe’ Moreno. It is known that he cooperates with certain who are around Sathya Sai Baba, and both prominent and rank-and-file members in general. There is evidence that his recipient list is several (it is said, fifteen plus) thousand.

The Sathya Sai Organization has to face many hard facts. Any lack of courage will not help. One of these facts is that organization members support Moreno, who constantly uses language of a kind that Sai Baba’s own discourses abundantly inveigh against. This participation by members more than suggests a desperation by many of his devotees to see their guru defended at any cost. The ‘Sathya’ – or Truth – that he allegedly stands for has been thrown to the winds.

I direct my readers to an article just posted by Robert Priddy, retired academic of the University of Oslo and former head of the Sathya Sai Organization in Norway. See his professional Wikipedia entry. His highly-organized and excellently linked main website is: Sathya Sai Baba In Word And Action. He writes:

… “the pro-Sai extremist Joe Moreno claims that ‘anti-Sai activists’ withheld the transcript of the second part of a phone conversation which David Bailey had with Thomas Wiehe of Sweden. This is entirely untrue. Both parts of the phone conversation were transcribed from the start (see here and here), and both were on-line too here and here).” Source: Moreno’s deception re David Bailey Phone Conversation

Posted by robertpriddy on August 17, 2009.  See also Priddy’s article:

The Gerald Joe Moreno dossier – part 1

Moreno’s Incessant Attacks on Many Who Have Stood Forth

That so many who are now former devotees spent decades of their lives in the utmost dedication to humble and devoted service within or beyond his Sathya Sai Organization counts for nothing. Often at first hand in their (then) own Sai centers and amongst their extended network of Sai Baba devotees country-wide and world-wide, many investigated the allegations against Sathya Sai Baba of sexual abuse of boys and young men, and many other serious, sometimes criminal allegations, such as the ashram and Indian government cover up of the killings in Sathya Sai Baba’s private quarters. See:

Senior Indian Policeman (Rtd) Speaks Out About Sathya Sai Baba Murders Cover Up

Further discussion of the executions at Sathya Sai Baba’s ashram in 1993

New Zealand Lawyer Exposes Official Cover Up of Killings In Sathya Sai Baba Bedroom Killings

However, some went further, and looked e.g., at the issue of the killings in his private quarters in 1993 and the massive ashram and government cover up that came into play. Indeed, there was an earlier flurry of leave-taking from his fold than the large exodus furthered by major media exposure circa 2000 and after.

Gerald Moreno and his Sathya Sai Baba Organization helpers do terrible injustice to the primary victims of abuse and murder and other crimes, and to these many who became deeply concerned about the compellingness of the allegations have long been widely respected in their own wider communities. As indeed they had been respected – and in some cases topmost leaders – when in the Sathya Sai Organization. They acted very far from the disgruntlement that Sathya Sai Baba and his leaders mendaciously tell their membership.

Many members have stood aside stifling their consciences. They have perpetrated a great injustice. They have let so many of those whom they for so many years loved and honored be execrated and defamed. History will not be forgiving of them. Perhaps, as occurred in examples like Nazi Germany, their own children will one day confront them.

Those who have dissented have acted with the responsibility and sense of duty that belong to conscience and good citizenship everywhere. From that moment they stood apart they have been reviled, shunned, and made subject to endless false witness. That the Sathya Sai Organization allows its members to work in with Gerald Moreno will continue for long to bring it the utmost discredit. Although the title of his main sites is: ‘Sathya Sai Baba Love, Light and Spirituality’, its extreme use of disgraceful language portrays its very lack of these qualities. See my:

Sathya Sai Baba Love, Light and Spirituality Exposed

Readiness of Former Devotees to Subject Themselves To Media and Juridical Processes

There are many former devotees who have long stood ready to cooperate with police forces and major institutions such as UNESCO. See: The Case of UNESCO’s Missing Media Advisory in democratic countries and well reputed investigative media such as the BBC, Times of London, The Telegraph, The Guardian, The Age and others in India, Europe and Canada.

From first to last, the Sathya Sai Baba Organization which has badly failed, to submit to bona fide, proper fora for accountability and transparency. See:

BBC’s ‘The Secret Swami’ and British Press Praise

The BBC’s ‘The Secret Swami’ – A Revision

Sathya Sai Baba’s ‘Minister of Propaganda’ – Dr G. Venkataraman

Brian Steel, whose important writings on Sathya Sai Baba-related issues are noted for scholarly caution in the use of words, has described Gerald Moreno as an Internet “bully” and “demagogue”. I may add that a psychologist who works with one of Australia’s most respected services, observing some of Moreno’s output, responded, “This is classic bullying”. See:

Diversionary Tactics by an Internet Demagogue.
The pro-Sathya Sai Baba Campaign of Gerald (‘Joe’) Moreno. Brian Steel December 2007  (Updated March 2008)

A joint document by prominent former devotees the 7-person Working Committee of the JuST Group is:

Serious Defamation Attempt By Gerald Moreno Defeated

Gerald ‘Joe’ Moreno Banned By Wikipedia Authorities

A senior Wikipedia Arbitration Committee has banned Gerald Moreno. The independent and respected British scholar Kevin Shepherd has noted:

“In March 2007, Gerald Joe Moreno (alias SSS108) was banned indefinitely from Wikipedia after transgressing against one of the administrators who had warned him. The official report relates that he was voted against unanimously by the six arbitrators in the case. See the Wikipedia file Requests for arbitration/Sathya Sai Baba 2. The vote meant that he was banned from editing the Sathya Sai Baba entry and related articles or talk pages.Two of his colleagues (named elsewhere as Lisa de Witt and Simon Brace) were also banned in this manner”.

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Documents addressed to the Sai sect officials by the international JuST group of former SathyaSai Baba followers

Open letter to the Prashanthi Council – Michael Goldstein, G. Venkataraman

Formal Appeal to the Prashanthi Council

General

Public Petition On Sathya Sai Baba (1)

There is a Public Petition calling for official probing of Sai Baba and his Sathya Sai Organization. (See website details at the end of this post).

The JUST (Just Seekers of Truth) petition is presented by a globally networked group of former followers of Sathya Sai Baba. In the ranks of both devotees and dissenters, there are those who say that Sai Baba is history’s most powerful guru. Some critics regard him as one of history’s arch deceivers – highly charismatic, highly flawed. He may brilliantly inspire good social uplift works, which is why so many earnest and good people are attracted to him, but profoundly conceals, along with his core servitors who keep an vice-like grip on his global organization, what is morally loathsome and criminal.

(Note: You may prefer to proceed straight to the Petition):

Public Petition For Official Investigations of Sathya Sai Baba and His Worldwide Organization

There is a Spanish version available:

PETICIÓN PÚBLICA PARA INVESTIGACIONES OFICIALES DE SATHYA SAI BABA Y SU ORGANIZACIÓN A NIVEL MUNDIAL)

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Sathya Sai Baba On Magnetism. Science or Sai-ence?

Note:  Thursday 7 October 2010.  But two areas in which the blindness of countless followers of Sathya Sai Baba is exposed are of science and history. His comments are extremely ill-informed, and sometimes so absurd as to beggar belief. Here is India’s chronically ailing would-be Avatar of Avatars, the figure who has told us that he will soon be traveling abroad! And who long ago said that in the last quadrant of his life he would be ruling the world!  And who said at the time of his 60th birthday that he would not hitherto show signs of physical ageing! This article from 2009 at ‘Call For Media and Government Investigation of Sathya Sai Baba’ drives home the silliness of it all.

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Sathya Sai Baba is wildly at odds with some of the most basic scientific facts. His jumping between physical and metaphysical notions, vague at best, clash with the physics being taught in his colleges and university – and in any respectable classroom.  He would even have it that gold is magnetic!

Sathya Sai Baba – from ‘Sanathana Sarathi’, April 2002, p. 123

In actual fact, at this time, Sai Baba was having grave difficulties with his hip, which had to undergo a series of operations.

In an early blog of mine in 2007 – A Great Deceiver – Laughable But Still Dangerous – I wrote:  “Sai Baba’s many scientist followers must have to block their ears or don magical-thinking hearing aids when he opines on matters scientific. Some of his pronouncements are comic, to be sure. But the smile disappears from one’s face when considering that Sai Baba’s devotees number many leaders in the top power echelons of politics, government, the sciences, the judiciary, diplomacy, industry, finance, the arts, medicine, and so on.  He speaks, for example, of the nature of magnetism” …..

Since then, Sai Baba’s critical commentators have noted many past and current absurdities. A scholar, Brian Steel, strongly versed in Sathya Sai bibliography, has examined many of these, and I have selected and commented on a number of his writings in articles that contain the links to these extensive writings. Sathya Sai Baba has made very serious scientific and historical blunders.

For Steel’s detailed and sharply contextualized discussions, see

 

on Jesus Christ and Martin Luther .

and:

Sai Baba and Christianity. Some Observations (2002).

In the latter, Steel remarks on the “alarming nature of Sai Baba’s inventiveness”. This piece can instructively be read in concert with his:

On Jesus Christ and Martin Luther .

These grand pronouncements of Sai Baba are sometimes accompanied by cheering from the crowds he attracts – or, perhaps one may say, magnetizes. Those devotees who have a scientific education would, if their faith were to be sustained, need to make some procrustean mental shifts, performing conceptual acrobatics worthy of the adherents of Manichaeism.

Further Reading

See Jorge Reyesvera‘s point-by-point, rational reductio of Sathya Sai Baba’s terribly confused, sometimes downright contradictory, notions of magnetism:

The Omniscient Sai Baba’s Massive ignorance of Physics Exposed (I)

• Be it noted that the source of the discourse that Reyesvera uses is from a provenance long-accepted by Sathya Sai Baba adherents everywhere. A comment on this article reads that this:  “discourse on magnetism by Sathya Sai Baba is from the  Mahasivarathri, 2002 … The following is an excerpt from the verbatim translation of the premsai website’s version of Sathya Sai Baba’s discourse on Mahashivarathri, 13-3-2002, which appears in an edited-down version in ‘Sanathana Sarathi’ – March 2002″.

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General

Public Petition On Sathya Sai Baba (1)

There is a Public Petition calling for official probing of Sai Baba and his Sathya Sai Organization. (See website details at the end of this post).

The JUST (Just Seekers of Truth) petition is presented by a globally networked group of former followers of Sathya Sai Baba. In the ranks of both devotees and dissenters, there are those who say that Sai Baba is history’s most powerful guru. Some critics regard him as one of history’s arch deceivers – highly charismatic, highly flawed. He may brilliantly inspire good social uplift works, which is why so many earnest and good people are attracted to him, but profoundly conceals, along with his core servitors who keep an vice-like grip on his global organization, what is morally loathsome and criminal.

(Note: You may prefer to proceed straight to the Petition):

Public Petition For Official Investigations of Sathya Sai Baba and His Worldwide Organization

There is a Spanish version available:

PETICIÓN PÚBLICA PARA INVESTIGACIONES OFICIALES DE SATHYA SAI BABA Y SU ORGANIZACIÓN A NIVEL MUNDIAL)

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Further useful Resources Critical of Sathya Sai Baba’s Understanding of Science and Education

The Case of UNESCO’s Missing Media Advisory

Robert Priddy, retired academic in philosophy and the social sciences, University of Oslo, writes in his article

Sathya Sai Baba followers in education and science :-

“Not one head of any independent University in the world has endorsed Sathya Sai Baba educational ideals or programmes, and – as is well known – a branch of UNESCO withdrew from a planned educational conference under the auspices of Sathya Sai Baba at Puttaparthi once they had investigated what this involved. (See UNESCO’s warning on Sathya Sai Baba here)

Not one Nobel laureate is known to be a follower, as far as can be discovered. Incidentally, Sathya Sai Baba has been forwarded as a candidate for the Nobel Peace prize by the Indian Government, obviously without result, of course. He made clear his  hopes that he would receive it from Dr. Michael Nobel, a grandson of Alfred Nobel, but a person who the Nobel Committee has denounced. See Sathya Sai Baba’s hunger for international recognition “

Senior Indian Policeman (Rtd) Speaks Out About Sathya Sai Baba Murders Cover Up

As the years have passed, the Government of India and the Government of Andhra Pradesh have not been able to silence all police personnel. One who has refused to shut up is a senior, retired policeman V. J. Ram, whose work as a detective won him a Presidential Medal. He has spoken out against the massive cover up of the police killings in Sathya Sai Baba’s private quarters, when Sathya Sai Baba and his brother (the late) Janaki Ramaiah (who was on the Sathya Sai Central Trust) had charge of events soon after the slayings occurred.Those who wish to know more about V.J. Ram’s work are welcome to contact me (my details are obtainable by clicking here – Barry Pittard.  Details are at the foot of the article. One would like to see the V.J. Ram book get a decent publisher, and, as has been the wish expressed by former Andhra Pradesh Home Secretary V.P.B. Nair to the BBC, to see the case revisited. See transcript of Nair’s statement to the BBC HERE. See my articles:

 The BBC’s ‘The Secret Swami’ – A Revision

BBC’s ‘The Secret Swami’ and British Press Praise

It is to their historic shame that major newspaper proprietors co-operated in the news blanket that went into force. Many Indian journalists and editors, politicians from various parties, government officials and others know of the profound extent of the cover up by the then powerful Home Minister S.B. Chavan, a devotee of Sathya Sai Baba, who sped to Puttaparthi from New Delhi to set in motion the suppression of the facts. See

V.J. Ram writes: 

Note:  Long before worldwide allegations of Sathya Sai Baba’s serial sexual abuse of boys and young men began to surface in earnest – circa AD 2000 – notable individuals shocked by signs of cover up – started to analyze situations, and leave the Sathya Sai Baba camp. For an example of early investigators, see the article by Warren C. Pyke LLN (Hons.) LLM (VUW), Barrister, New Zealand 3-3-1993: Sathya Sai Baba Murders Evidence (A New Zealand Barrister Analyses Police Evidence). Another earlier investigator of various serious allegations against Sathya Sai Baba was Terry Gallagher, an agricultural scientist and businessman who, in consequence of his findings, resigned as head of the Sathya Sai Organization in Australia. See:  Terry Gallagher’s Testimony

Robert Priddy on the Police Killings in Sai Baba’s Private Quarters

 Former leader of the Norwegian Sathya Sai Organization and retired academic at the University of Oslo Robert Priddy has written extensively about the police killings in Sathya Sai Baba’s private chamber in April 1963. A very useful and succinct introduction to the events is: Sathya Sai Baba Bedroom Murders

Select Resources (which contain many other links)

 Main article on the murders in Sathya Sai Baba’s private quarters in 1993 and the cover-up

Further material on the bedroom murders of four Sai devotee intruders etc.

Untoward events at Sai Baba ashrams

Sai Baba ashram news reports

Review of the Murders in Sai Baba’s bedroom issue

Murder of German-speaking lady at Prashanthi Nilayam and the follow-up

V.K. Narasimhan on the 1993 murders – as recorded in notes at the time

The Week’s coverage of the murders in Prashanthi Nilayam ashram

Further discussion of the executions at Sathya Sai Baba’s ashram in 1993

 See also Public Petition for Official Investigations of Sathya Sai Baba and his Worldwide Organization

(Spanish version PETICIÓNPÚBLICA PARA INVESTIGACIONES OFICIALES

Sathya Sai Baba Is Fast-ailing

What will the fast-ailing Sathya Sai Baba do? Rub oil or vibhuti on the surface of his multiple infirmities, and do all that he has for so long promised? That is to say:

• Bring the world to him, even before he dies
• Harmonize the world’s major religions
• Save the world from enormous catastrophes
• Lift a whole mountain range
• Travel the world
• Fly through the air
• Put humanity on what he calls ‘the royal road’ to righteousness
• And so much more ….

To listen to his carefully hand-picked and carefully-groomed speakers, his fame has spread to virtually every clime. This claim is patently untrue. Ask people on crowded streets in many countries do they know the name Nelson Mandela, or the late Princess Diana. Or whether they can immediately visualize those such as the Pope, Barach Obama, the late Michael Jackson, and so on, and they will instantly affirm that they do.

Do leaders in the interfaith movement feature him or his emissaries as notable in their publications and websites? And yet the following edifice, sited amid the great opulence of his Puttaparthi ashram, displays his symbol (the so-called ‘Sarva Dharma Chakra’ or All Faiths motif):

Sarva Dharma Stupa, Puttaparthi. In background, the huge auditorium Poorna Chandra Hall

 

Do we see world leaders in politics, religion and so forth beating a track to his door? What do we see?

We see him using visitors to the ashram – not necessarily Sai devotees, either – who are of this or that religion. For propaganda purposes, these individuals are used to give the appearance that educated members of other faiths are accepting his “greatness”. One such use was made of a visiting rabbi from Israel. When I reported on this, Sai Baba’s proxy defender on the Internet stated that I was anti-Semitic. That the Sathya Sai Organization allows its members, some of them prominent in the Sai movement, to assist this effectively conscienceless individual can only still further damage its standing.

Sathya Sai Baba’s official Puttaparthi website shows that he also uses others who have little or no representative power in various faith organizations to make it appear that his evangel is winning hearts and minds in the different faiths around the world. There is a simple test that media, scholars and other investigators can apply:  ask the leaders of the major faiths whether they would lend their organizations’ name and authority to Sathya Sai Baba or his movement. Those Sai Baba protagonists who attack former followers for pointing out the long list of anomalies and cover ups of crimes and spiritual betrayals find it easier to use ad hominem and other profoundly dishonest tactics to deflect forms of questioning commonly regarded as essential to intellectual and moral integrity.

The below – official – text, and many other texts like it, are not likely to stand the test of time. Critical writings of prominent commentators as Robert Priddy, Brian Steel, Timothy Conway Ph.D, and the work of many former Sathya Sai devotee networks – with a most notable activity by the late Glen Meloy and also Hari Sampath and other critics via major world media – have already played a role in ensuring that the Avatar of Avatars – pretendu – has been highly exposed. I may add, from my own personal and close witness that the work of the latter two, although it has had low visibility on the Internet, has been of enormous, indeed incalculable, dimensions.

Further Reading

The BBC’s ‘The Secret Swami’ – A Revision

BBC Hidden Camera in ‘Secret Swami’. Ethical?

Guru Sex Abuse Testimony To BBC – After Years of Silence

Indian Minister Shields Sai Baba on BBC television

Probed On Male Sex Abuse, Sai Baba Evicts BBC TV Team

V.P.B. Nair. B.Premanand. R.Priddy: Sai Baba Bedroom Killings

Exposure of Sathya Sai Baba. Media Source List

Video Resources

The Secret Swami (BBC Television):
(154 MB, Broadband)

Seduced (DR, Danish Broadcasting, Denmark’s national television and radio broadcaster):
(80 MB, Broadband)

http://home.hetnet.nl/~seduced/seduced.wmv
(21 MB, Modem)

Right Hand. Sleight Hand. Watch Sai Baba Cheat With Sacred Ash (Film clip)

BBC and Other Film Footage Shows India’s Top Guru Sathya Sai Baba Faking Miracles

BBC Footage Exposes Fake Sathya Sai Baba Miracle « Call For Media and Government Investigation

Sathya Sai Baba Chief, Dr Goldstein, Explodes. “I am the consummate professional” (See Film Clips)

Raising ever more serious questions about how spiritual is the head of what Sathya Sai Baba has called THE divine organization in the world,

Michael Goldstein explodes with anger (710kbs)

at the BBC’s perfectly reasonable questions about accountability

Dr. Goldstein again reveals his higher self (1.500Kb)

Michael Goldstein and the sexual allegations (2,10 Mbs)

Michael Goldstein admits his view is merely a belief (456kbs)

Sathya Sai Baba Cult Exposure By Major TV Channel In Australia « Call For Media and Government Investigation

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General

Excerpt From Public Petition

(Note: You may prefer to proceed straight to the Petition):

Public Petition For Official Investigations of Sathya Sai Baba and His Worldwide Organization

There is a Spanish version available:

PETICIÓN PÚBLICA PARA INVESTIGACIONES OFICIALES DE SATHYA SAI BABA Y SU ORGANIZACIÓN A NIVEL MUNDIAL)

Sathya Sai Baba’s Slurred Speech Due To Old Age. ‘Eenadu’ News Report

Telegu Press Report Cites ‘Old Age’ Signs In Sai Baba 

 ‘Eenadu’, with over 10 million daily readers in Andhra Pradesh, the state of India in which Sathya Sai Baba lives, has reported of a speech problem he faces.

Sathya Sai Baba’s Lack of Clarity in His Speech Due To Old Age

 “Lacking in Clarity: There was a lack of clarity in Sathya Sai’s speech because of his old age. The interpreter struggled much to translate his speech into English. Satya Sai was seated in a special wheel chair which was brought very close to the car, so he could very slowly get into it. At the time of the speech, he stood up with great difficulty with the help of his assistants.”  (See reproduction of ‘Eenadu’ newspaper page, below).

One of Sai Baba’s many readily falsifiable statements is this:

“The attributes of the Avatars are beyond human comprehension…. Rama and Krishna were ever youthful. Have you ever seen a picture of Rama or Krishna with grey hair?….. Usually old people have wrinkles on their faces … I do not have any signs of old age. (loud applause). There is not a single wrinkle on My face”. Sanathana Sarathi, October, 2002.

That Sathya Sai Baba has made egregious historical and scientific blunders does not inspire confidence in his statements about pre-historical events. See my article: 

Huge Sai Baba Gaffes

He has also proclaimed:

“Many people wonder that I look so young even at the age of 73. The reason is that I have the three P’s in Me. One is Purity, the second is Patience and the third is Perseverance. It is because of these three that I shall remain like this for any number of years to come. (cheers)”  p. 302 Sanathana Sarathi, 11-1998

Various commentators have pointed to Sathya Sai Baba’s ‘turkey throat’ and other signs of ageing and disease in him. His episodes of falling over are well known – in 1998, I observed such an incident at fairly close quarters along with many shocked observers at a Puttaparthi afternoon darshan. There are also close-up, reliable eye-witness reports of his uttering of inanities, his fits of crying, his walking round and round in circles, his blank stare and mask-like face. He has also made some extraordinary faux pas, which were of such a dimension that they could not be covered up, and got into some mainstream Indian media – See:

Sai Baba Fails to Grant Great Moon Darshan

Sai Baba Fails To Appear In The Moon, IANS Reports

Is Indian ‘Godman’ Sai Baba’s Moon Waning Still Further

Sai Baba Sparks Political Furore

Examination of many photos of this octogenarian may prompt the notion that hair dye is used on his hair. 

See videos which reveal Sathya Sai Baba as unable to cut his birthday cakes any longer.

NOTE:  In an article, the context of the critique in regard to Sai Baba slide into senility, I have made it clear to any observant reader that the issue is: that his statements that he would not age are abundantly falsifiable. To interpret such a remark as in any way ageist indicates the cast of mind of a foremost Sathya Sai Baba apologist. Who in all decency and reason would wish to cast aspersions upon conditions that, alas, the flesh is all too heir to? See, Robert Priddy’s article in response to that mischief:

Joe Moreno’s schoolyard tit-for-tat attacks

See too, my article:

Sai Baba Internet Man’s Attacks Based On Age and Physical Appearance

Select Reading

Sathya Sai Baba Tells Untruths About His Health?

Sathya Sai Baba’s Hip Joint Injury and Surgery – 2003. What are the actual facts of the matter?

Sathya Sai Baba Continues To Ail

2006 – Puttparthi Village Without Water? Sai Baba Sits and Cries?

G.J. Moreno’s ’senile dementia’ slurs, avoidances & irrationality

Sathya Sai Baba Man Gerald Moreno – Banned By Eight Wikpedia Editors

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