Early Sathya Sai Baba Proselytizers

The following article provides background and context relating to the growth of interest in Sathya Sai Baba from within the USA – circa 1965-1970. Brian Steel lists key American followers of this period who had already embarked in actively publicizing him in the USA.

In Sathya Sai Baba, Elsie and Walter Cowan, and John Hislop.  A Discredited 1971 Resurrection Claim, February 2009, Steel relates:

“By 1971, the following Americans had already been attracted to Sathya Sai Baba and were already publicising his name back in USA: Indra Devi and Hilda Charlton (major independent early proselytisers, 1965- ), Arnold Schulman, Charles Penn, Hilda Charlton, Bob Rayman (or Reiman), Elsie and Walter Cowan, Dr John Hislop, Tal Brooke and Howard Levin. (All, except Schulman, became devotees and proselytisers, and Tal Brooke had already become the first ‘defector’ and critic.) 1971 saw the publication of the first books about SSB by foreigners Schulman and (Australian) Howard Murphet. Phyllis Krystal and Dr Samuel Sandweiss would be drawn to meet SSB in 1972, the businessman Isaac Tigrett in 1973 and Robert A. Bozzani in 1974. The 1970s would see a strong general growth in foreign devotee numbers and Sathya Sai Organisation Centres but it was the Americans who were the original driving force behind international recognition and worship of Sathya Sai Baba.

By 1965, with the formation of the first Sathya Sai Samithis (Centres), and later the Sathya Sai Seva Organisation under the capable leadership of Indulal Shah, an effective corporate structure had begun to take shape, to be followed by a rapid expansion in India of SSO Centres and in quick succession, All-India Conferences of members and (a few years later) International Conferences. By 1974, with the inauguration of the Sathya Sai Baba Association of the Americas and Canada, the Sathya Sai Organisation would be launched on a significantly wider international expansion of its activities”.

—————————————————  

For further links and issues, see:

Brian Steel Demythologizes Early Foreign-led Sathya Sai Baba Myths 

Professor Erlendure Haraldsson contests Sai Baba’s claim of resurrection as bogus

—————————————————

General

Information on the Public Petition for Official Investigations of Sathya Sai Baba and His Worldwide Organization 

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

————————————————————