Sathya Sai Baba’s Tips To Keep Ageing Away

Who in the West, and well beyond, has not heard Bob Dylan’s 1974 song ‘Forever Young’?

After 60 His Body Would Never Age – But …!

Some of the Sathya Sai Baba’s core, oft-proclaimed virtues are named in the Bob Dylan song, but quite apart from grave difficulties in living up to these, Sai Baba has also failed in his prophecy of looking – after his 60th birthday – forever young.  A few lines of the Dylan song run:

May you grow up to be righteous,
May you grow up to be true,
May you always know the truth
And see the lights surrounding you.
May you always be courageous,
Stand upright and be strong,
May you stay forever young,
Forever young, forever young,
May you stay forever young.

But, as so commonly, Sai Baba, in word and action falsifies what he superabundantly preaches.

“Desire to which you are too fondly attached breeds anger and its nefarious brood. Discard it and you can have perpetual youth! The Aanandha that the Aathman can manifest will keep age and ageing away!” Discourse of Sathya Sai Baba, Prashanthi Nilayam, 22 Feb 1971. Published by Sri Sathya Sai Books and Publications Trust.

“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.

This was what he wanted people to believe:-

But …!

On his 60th birthday, he promised to look like this, forever young, as it were:

Now he looks like this:

Sathya Sai Baba said would not age. But …!

How many failed prophecies of his do Sai Baba’s millions of devotees have to hear before they start to think critically? That so many of them are scientists, judges, engineers, teachers, politicians, diplomats and so on is cause for real concern. If India does not act to curb superstition in its elites, will it not become the enduring laughing-stock of the world, especially as it, along with China, attains superpower status?

What Sai Baba devotee did not see the early signs of his physical demise? Like the balding at the back of his head, the thinning and greying of his hair? In early 1998, along with horrified and gasping thousands, I saw him fall headlong as he was about to mount the small step leading to the verandah near the entrance to his Puttaparthi interview room. Faith, like the experience of ‘being in love’, is blind.

Although they do not allude to it, Sai Baba’s officials can no longer conceal his declining mental health nor his increasing physical decrepitude. They do not broadcast – and literally in the case of Dr G. Venkataraman’s international propaganda transmissions over Radio Sai Global Harmony – that he has said that his body will not age after he is 60 years. But his official organisation’s videos become increasingly revealing – see http://www.saicast.org/festivals.htm and click on “Christmas Day 2005 morning”. Here, it takes no doctor to note the “stone-face,” (Is it e.g., Parkinson’s disease?), the indecisive bodily movements and the general sense of dithering mental confusion.

One can note, for example, his poor efforts at using the knife to cut his birthday cake. Reports are increasing of his doing strange things, sometimes in full view of the public, like walking in circles muttering away to himself. Here is an Indo-Norwegian devotee report Oct 17, 2006,

“Swami has problems in moving, has had five fractures in 2003, 2004 and 2005, and only one was cured. According to Swami’s close friends, he has become very emotional recently, often sitting in tears …”

Examination of recent photos on an official website show the way in which select students surround him at closer quarters than hitherto and with great vigilance, their faces and body language clearly anxious lest he topple over. Here, too, one observes the immobile face.

On stage before February 2004’s Mahasivaratri crowd, the BBC cameras (in footage that would later become part of ‘The Secret Swami’, which has been seen in over 120 countries around the world) show Sai Baba looking increasingly sick. He produces the lingam, and the materialization trick demonstrated by Professor Narendra Nayak is easy for the viewer to spot, the lingam being concealed in Sai Baba’s handkerchief. In the ensueing documentary, the BBC journalist Tanya Datta comments:

“To the alarm of the crowd suddenly Sai Baba collapsed. His huge coterie of staff swung into action. There was panic. An organisation used to tight control seemed to have lost its grip. Sai Baba was hastily wheeled off stage.”

Later, he is carried hobbling back, with officials claiming that he manifested two more lingams offstage. To the audience, a shaken Sai Baba makes a preposterous claim “Out of the stomach emanated Shiva Lingas of the weight of three tonnes. That’s the reason why some strain on the face and the body”:
http://home.hetnet.nl/~ex-baba/engels/movies.html

One can go a deal further back to find other such inane statements. He has made the most garbled, contradictory and unscientific statements about magnetism.

In his public discourse March 13, 2002, he told thousands that his divine magnetism holds him to the ground, impeding his feet and hand movements:

“So when I put My foot down, the whole foot stuck to the ground. It is a little hard to lift a foot that is stuck. Wherever I walk, it sticks there. Whatever is held, it sticks to My (sic) hand. This magnet is not in everyone like this. This magnet is so powerful only in Divinity.”

A native Telegu speaker has kindly translated for me a revealing section of a report. He writes:

‘The translation of the relevant part from the second-last paragraph in the news item from Eenadu, Monday 22, January 22, is as follows:

“Lacking in Clarity: There was a lack of clarity in Satya 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”.

Note: Eenadu is the largest circulated Telugu newspaper in Andhra Pradesh and boasts a daily readership of over 10 million.

 For Online Viewing and/or Dowloading

The Secret Swami (BBC Television) Broadband 154 MB

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

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

Sai Baba Cultists’ Gull Wider Communities

BBC Cameras Catch Sai Baba Cheating With Gold Sivalingam. (Film Clip)

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

The BBC’s ‘The Secret Swami’ (Sai Baba). Revealing Footage

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)

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“The Secret Swami” – BBC Film Footage and Transcript

For media and scholarly researchers and others interested in concentrated examination of the issues presented in the BBC’s one-hour documentary, here are some key resources. Those networks beyond the one which led the exposure of Sathya Sai Baba and his core officials can, for convenience share these links with your own channels in local and national media, and mainstream institutions in your communities with which the Sathya Sai Organization attempts to link itself.

From Exbaba.com

SATHYA SAI BABA ‘THE SECRET SWAMI’

PHOTO & VIDEO GALLERY

SATHYA SAI BABA IN EXCEPTIONAL FILM SHOTS. FILMED IN 2004 AT SHIVARATHRI

VIEW THESE EXCERPT TRANSCRIPTS AND VIDEO CLIPS FROM

THE BBC TV DOCUMENTARY ‘THE SECRET SWAMI‘:

THIS DOCUMENTARY CAN BE BOUGHT DIRECT FROM THE BBC MARKETING DEPT.
AS A VHS VIDEO. FOR A FRANCHISE TO SHOW IT ON INDEPENDENT TV STATIONS,  CONTACT THE BBC.

1) SATHYA SAI BABA’S ‘PRODUCTION’ OF THE GOLDEN LINGAM

2) HIS COLLAPSE AFTER THE STRAIN & HIS EXPLANATION AFTERWARDS

3) DR. MICHAEL GOLDSTEIN DISCUSSES THE SEX ABUSE ALLEGATIONS AGAINST SAI BABA

4) DR. MICHAEL GOLDSTEIN STATES THE SAI ORGANISATION’S FAITH ABOUT SAI BABA

5) ISAAC TIGRETT DISCUSSES THE SEX ALLEGATIONS AGAINST SAI BABA

6) INDIAN EX-MINISTER OF EDUCATION, M.M. JOSHI, ON THE SEX ALLEGATIONS AGAINST SAI BABA

7) INTERVIEW WITH THE EX-HOME SECRETARY OF ANDRHA PRADESH

8) VERY CLOSE DEVOTEES TESTIFY – SAI BABA’S SEX ABUSE AND DIRE THREATS ETC.

9) SOME CLOSE BEDFELLOWS OF SATHYA SAI BABA

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At this blogsite – Call For Media and Government Investigation – https://barrypittard.wordpress.com – see the articles:

• The BBC’s ‘The Secret Swami’ – A Revision
• BBC’s ‘The Secret Swami’ and British Press Praise Sathya Sai
• Probed On Male Sex Abuse, Sai Baba Evicts BBC TV Team
• Sathya Sai Baba Chief, Dr Goldstein, Explodes. “I am the consummate professional” (See Film Clips)
• Cameras Catch Sai Baba Cheating With Gold Sivalingam. (Film Clip)
• Right Hand. Sleight Hand. Watch Sai Baba Cheat With Sacred Ash (Film clip)
• BBC Footage Exposes Fake Sathya Sai Baba Miracle
• Sai Baba No Shiva. Gold From His Gut Is Regurgitator’s Trick
• BBC and Other Film Footage Shows India’s Top Guru Sathya Sai Baba Faking Miracles
• Sleight Of Hand. The Sleightness of Sathya Sai Baba (Exposing film clips)

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A list of but a few of the Sathya Sai Baba critics who have been attacked in an attempt to prevent proper third party investigation of Sathya Sai Baba and core leaders of the Sathya Sai Organization:
Robert Priddy, Barry Pittard, Timothy Conway Ph.D (author and scholar), Brian Steel (author and scholar), Kevin R.D. Shepherd (author on religion and philosophy), Serguei Badaev, Al Rahm, Alaya Rahm (BBC testifier to sex abuse), Tal Brooke (author), Duncan Roads (journalist, editor of Nexus) Conny Larsson (Swedish actor subsequently active in criminal/drug rehabilitation), Mick Brown (UK journalist and author, Daily Telegraph), Ojvind Kyro/Øjvind Kyrø (Danish journalist and television producer with DR, Denmark’s national broadcaster), Vir Sangvi (Indian newspaper Editor and journalist), (the late) Marianne Warren Ph.D (academic and author), M. Alan Kazlev, Mary Garden (Australian author), David Bailey (former top Sai Baba favourite), Faye Bailey (David Bailey’s wife), (the late) Elena Hartgering (accredited abuse counsellor), Basava Premanand (famous sceptic honoured by the Indian Government), Alexandra Nagel (academic), John Purnell (Roman Catholic priest), Terry Gallagher former head of Sathya Sai Organization of Australia), Stephen Carthew (former spiritual convenor, Sathya Sai Organization, South Australia), Sanal Edamaruku (President – Indian Rationalist Association), Reinier van der Sandt, Hans de Kraker, Marc Andre Saint-Jean (author and publisher), Lisa Tice, Diana Scott, Dave Lyons, Gabriel Merrun, Sanjay Dadlani, Afshin Said Khorramshahgol, Ullrich Zimmermann, Jens Sethi, Dennis Hanisch, Keith Ord, Jesper Andén, Jed Geyerhahn, Sharon Purcell, Satch Purcell, Greg Gerson, Mark Roche, David Paul, Karen Tilley, Paul Throne, Marcus Martenson, Veronica Isacsson, David Juliano, Rosalia Malagelada de Neves and many more.

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General

Excerpt From Public Petition (With Barry Pittard’s comments)

(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)

Reply To Sathya Sai Baba Defender

A former devotee received a note from one clearly upset at dissent from Sathya Sai Baba. Its mood is fairly typical of emails former followers receive. It may be noted that, apart from a minority of former Sai devotees who don’t know their manners, there is a strong commitment among Sai Baba’s leave-takers to courtesy (just as, indeed, there is among Sai devotees too). The recipient responded as follows:

“Every group, from every land, contains those who seek the ‘tinsel and trash’. I am sad to see you single out any race, such as when you specify Westerners.

Many wonderful people, who have now left him, have spent decades in Sathya Sai Baba’s service, and in the utmost devotion and service to him, including those who held very high positions in the Sathya Sai Organisation, and they have left his side.To equate them with the voices of hatred and anger and so on simply does not state the facts.

Because some persons speak out of hatred does not mean that all former devotees do so. In the same way, it would be wrong to judge genuine Sai devotees by the hatred aimed so cruelly at those who have spoken out. It is not wrong to expect that serious allegations be aired. Will truth, or Sathya, flourish in an atmosphere of suppression and the lack of accountability? It is accountability that a great many organisations in democratic countries regard as a vital practice?

There are many former devotees who have been extremely libelled and slandered, and who have refused to deal hatefully with the matter. Most remain silent, so you will not, of course, have heard of them. It is,therefore, most inappropriate to judge of those whom you do not know. Have you, as dispassionately as you best may, attempted to read through the evidence? Is automatically damning of a different point of view a healthy thing? The abundant fact is that, although Sai Baba and his officials have sealed themselves off from normal processes of enquiry, there are many evidences of great duplicity, including of the sort that comes from examining of official Sathya Sai-related documents published over many years. There are many terribly contradictory statements, and misstatements of historical fact, as well as prophecies that have clearly not come to pass.

However one may interpret the accounts of miracles, there remains the fact that many good and decent individuals and families around the world have been profoundly shattered by what has happened in regard of their young male children, as well as other shocking experiences at the ashram.That focus on the miracles can so obscure normal and healthy concern for human beings is greatly saddening. One might have thought, given that many Sai devotees know how badly these individuals and families have been affected, that compassion would have been the first of all responses”.

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General

Excerpt From Public Petition (With Barry Pittard’s comments)

(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)

“What about the miracles”? Response To One Drawn By Sathya Sai Baba

Sometimes, a clearly decent and civil email comes from those not in agreement with one’s stance. Offensive mails seem to be the lot of those who, no matter how civilly, speak out asking for proper investigation into the worldwide allegations against Sathya Sai Baba.  One is happy to respond to polite queries, and to save one’s precious energy by not responding to those who are rude. Interesting, by the way, is how the genuine-sounding emails typically – unlike quite a few of those which strike one as having an agenda to draw one into reaction – contain a genuine email ID.

Recently, a writer, who had witnessed inexplicable phenomena occurring at a Sai devotee venue, asked me:  what about the (Sathya Sai Baba-related) miracles that are happening around the world? I responded in terms close to the following. I shall now include some relevant links:

The question is fair. It is one that many who have left Sathya Sai Baba have pondered over. I have not seen any satisfactory explanation. Typically, there is a quality of manifestation that cannot be explained. In my view, these phenomena are far removed from phenomena of the Ouija Board type, what to mention many another variety studied by parapsychologists.

I think that neither devotee nor non-devotee explanations can do justice to phenomena about which, in the scientific, rational sense, we can say very little. There is that arresting statement in the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein’s ‘Tractatus’: “Whereof we cannot speak, thereof we must be silent”.

Yes, the cry by some that there is trickery in many homes and other places where these phenomena occur is mistaken. There are too many householders etc., and the many who know them, of decades, of known integrity for this to be correct. I have had, over the years, my own experiences in such homes (in three of which, in markedly different places, I dwelt for some time).  However, from the point of view of those who have either suffered directly from or else carefully investigated Sathya Sai Baba’s abuses, there are two markedly different situations:  one of them delightful – the manifestations, experienced by a number of us; but the other terrible indeed. There is the joyful. There is the terrible.

The happy faces of those as they experience such phenomena is very different to the pain in the whole demeanor of those individuals and families who have suffered at the hands of Sathya Sai Baba and, in some cases, of those close to him, including in his educational wing. Those who have suffered – in regard to sexual abuse of boys and young men AND in other ways – feel very differently to those who undergo the delights of feeling their faith affirmed by the presence of honey and ash coming out of the pictures, and other sorts of phenomena. In any event, when it comes to Sathya Sai Baba’s own apparent physical performance of miracles, the truthful enquirer may have to watch video footage from various sources, including the BBC, without side-stepping. See my article:

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

The fact is that individuals and families from many parts of the world have been shattered. Sathya Sai Baba and his ashram authorities, further assisted by successive Indian governments, have initiated extreme cover up:

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

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

Indulal Shah and Indian Government Cover Up

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

Facts about murders, huge ashram financial ashram scams, as well as the widespread, serial sexual abuse of boys and young men have been profoundly suppressed. To these more obviously shocking facts, one must also consider the many contradictions and anomalies that have been uncovered by close examination of the Sathya Sai literary canon. One thinks especially of the work of Brian Steel and Robert Priddy.  See, e.g.,:

Recent Research on the Claims of Sathya Sai Baba (B.D. Steel website)

Sathya Sai Baba Deceptions Exposed (R.C. Priddy blogsite)

Sathya Sai Baba In Word And Action (R.C. Priddy’s extensive website)

Any truthful, consecutive thinking needs to consider the importance of this type of critical work. Those who continue to speak out are motivated by very old-time personal, ethical habits of speaking the truth irrespective of the attacks that come. Many who have left his side are very far from the manner in which he and various devotees would depict us. It is simply not true that we are liars, disgruntled, dissenting for the sake of money, and so on. He and his core leaders know it too well.

We have come to see the twistings and procrustean stretchings of what we have stated, by certain pro SSB activists. What is more, certain key officials know very well the terrible facts. There is also the appalling lapse of memory by those we long knew as co-workers and loving friends. It is good that my correspondent is “still continuing reading”. This is exactly what, typically, the devotees would not do, and are told not to do by Sathya Sai Baba himself in regard to our material on the Internet and elsewhere. He says to question, and yet heads a very autocratic worldwide organization. He says it is THE divine institution on earth, through which the whole world will be saved from its greatest perils ever to confront it, and this mostly within his own lifetime. Yet so many of his promises and predictions have failed, as can be seen by a great deal of proper documentation from official Sathya Sai publications of discourses (See Further Reading, below).

I may add that there have been those such as Buddha, Ramakrishna and many other spiritual teachers who have been very specific about the obstacle to the spiritual path that is posed by the mind’s attention to miracles.

Further Reading

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

Sathya Sai Baba’s Promise To “Clean Up” His “Own Back Yard (India) Unfulfilled

‘World Avatar’ Sathya Sai Baba’s Troubled Trail

Sai Baba – Miraculous or Disastrous?

Many Power Brokers Follow Failed Prophet Sathya Sai Baba

Sai Baba To Be Seen In Moon? But Where Was Moon?

Why Do Prominent Sathya Sai Baba Sect Critics Persist?

BBC Cameras Catch Sai Baba Cheating With Gold Sivalingam. (Film Clip)

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

When ‘Divine’ Magnetism Becomes A Dead Weight

Learn how sleight-of-hand is done:

Sleight Of Hand. The Sleightness of Sathya Sai Baba (Exposing film clips)

Sathya Sai Baba Green “Diamond” Proved A Fake – ‘Materialised’ For Robert Priddy, Exposed By Top Danish Diamond Expert

For Viewing

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)

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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)

Robert Priddy’s Ten Top Posts on Sathya Sai Baba, Jan 2009

It is quite instructive to survey Robert Priddy’s current ten Top Posts posts out of his great many articles on his blogsite at: http://robertpriddy.wordpress.com

Below are the titles, accompanied by a quote from these. 

Extract from Wiki Encyclopedia:

Robert Priddy (born 1936) is the British author of the book Source of the Dream – My Way to Sathya Sai Baba, a book about the Indian guru Sathya Sai Baba. Priddy wrote many articles from 1988 to 1998, in Sanathana Sarathi, the official magazine of the Sathya Sai Organization^[1].

He researched and taught philosophy and sociology at the University of Oslo 1968–1985. While at the University of Oslo, Priddy translated an academic paper by Hjalmar Hegge from the original Norwegian.^[2]

In 2000, after resigning as an official in the Sathya Sai Organisation^[3], Priddy wrote End of the Dream: The Sathya Sai Baba Enigma (published in India by Basava Premanand), a work critical of Sathya Sai Baba. He maintains critical websites^[4] on Sathya Sai Baba, and occasionally contributes to Indymedia releases.^[5]

Robert Priddy is now retired.

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Sai Baba bomb claim demolishes his credibility

Posted by robertpriddy on December 7, 2008

Some days before the horrendous Mumbai terrorist attack, where grenades and bombs were used, Sathya Sai Baba pronounced “India will never have any such attacks” – but India did, and has had many such attacks (see below). This is another stupendous gaffe by the self-proclaimed Omniscient Omnipotent Creator of the Universe!

• Former Sai-follower exposes sex abuse on US TV

In three lengthy on-line TV interviews (at the US portal blip.tv.com) the former Sai Baba follower, Ullrich Zimmermann, gives a thorough description of his experiences with Sathya Sai Baba. This delivers a major blow to any wishful doubts entertained by the faithful that Sathya Sai Baba practices sex on male devotees.

• Sathya Sai Baba – murders and fraud exposed

Posted by robertpriddy on October 19, 2008

Some new postings:-

Miracle Man or petty magician? Will the real Sai Baba please standup The meeting between P.C. Sorcar Junior and Sathya Sai Baba has now become the stuff of legend, and Dr. Bhagavantam reportedly denounced Sai Baba as a fake towards the end of his life.

Sai Baba and the News Media- ‘The Week’ coverage of the murders in Sai Baba’s bedroom, with elucidatory diagrams and many comments
How Sathya Sai Baba and his officials reacted to the press inquiries into the 1993 murders

Sex, suicide and the guru – Sathya Sai Baba Three articles by one of The Times feature writers, Dominic Kennedy, which expose the nature of Sathya Sai Baba and related suicides.

• Sai Baba postpones moon buggy ride

Posted by robertpriddy on October 4, 2007

TV broadcasts were made and, when the allegedly omnipotent and all-knowing Sai Baba did NOT appear on the moon (due to unpredictable weather). Instead he was trapped for about one hour in his car amid the uncontrollable crowds, which also caused closure of the airport. The Vishvarupa Darshanam ceremony has to be “postponed” because, according to Sathya Sai Trust officials, of “non-cooperation of devotees and the cloudy weather”.

Sai Baba postpones moon buggy ride

Posted by robertpriddy on October 4, 2007

Waning popularity! This was no doubt another in a long, long line of calculated ‘rumours’ for the grinding minds of devotees who can’t find out what’s going on and are dead keen to know anything… But why Sathya Sai Baba went to the airport is truly a mystery in itself, for he knew he could never appear on the moon.

• Why build moon rockets when Sai Baba has mantras?

Posted by robertpriddy on October 20, 2007

Well, moon visits by Indians is nothing new at all, as all assiduous students of Sai Baba and his intimate knowledge of all events that have ever taken place must surely realise? The Prime Minister and ex-President Kalam must surely have read their Sathya Sai Baba on several former Indian moon visitors like the legendary Hiranyakasipu and others. Sai Baba’s scientific advisor, Dr. G. Venkataraman, has never commented on these matters, and one must wonder why. Does he NOT believe his Lord and master’s assurances, perhaps?

• Sathya Sai Baba Miracles – with photos

Posted by robertpriddy on June 6, 2008

One of the much publicised mahimas (i.e. ‘major miracles’) is one where Sathya Sai Baba supposedly appeared in the sky in the late 1980s to save an airliner over the South Atlantic ocean.

• Undiscovered Photo of Shirdi Sai Baba

Posted by robertpriddy on July 4, 2008

Recently there appeared on some websites what was claimed to be a recently discovered photo of Shirdi Sai Baba.It is clearly a photo of that much revered Indian ’saint’.

One must not confuse Shirdi Sai Baba with the would-be usurper of his name and fame, Sathya Narayana Raju, who took over the name of Sathya Sai Baba around the age of seventeen (not 14 as is the official version – for his claimed birth date does not agree with the facts. See a thorough examination of this issue by the scholar Brian Steel here.

Though numerous Shirdi Sai Baba followers have also visited Sathya Sai Baba, the official line of the Shirdi Sai Sanasthan is that Sathya Sai Baba’s claims are bogus and fraudulent.

• The fall and fantasies of Sai Baba supporter, Isaac Tigrett

Posted by robertpriddy on October 5, 2008

One present exception to the current harassment of Westerners at Prashanthi Nilayam is Isaac Tigrett.  He is now living in the ashram having fallen on hard times, now being said to have been sitting in a VIP chair on the ladies side of the veranda, hob-nobbing with Indians and avoiding anyone outside his clique. He is apparently now also needing the services of the Puttaparthi Hospital which he donated to Sathya Sai Baba.

Tigrett’s support for Sai Baba was made clear by him on the BBC documentary, The Secret Swami, where Tigrett states he considers him to be a sexual abuser (see here). Should Sai Baba go out and murder someone, Tigrett opined, it would make no difference to his spiritual journey as a devotee! What kind of man is this?

• Sai Baba’s failing health

Posted by robertpriddy on September 9, 2007

On this photo from a year or so ago, there is already a decidedly ga-ga look on Sai Baba’s face. Instead of the usual, where he cuts the ribbons, he is ‘assisted’ (he is actually holding onto the hand of his helper!). Likewise, videos also show him unable to cut his birthday cakes any longer.  Rumours that he is non compos mentis have become yet more persistent, having begun with accounts of his apparently senile behaviour already three years ago (including one from a recently-disaffected US resident in India who had been editing some of the Puttaparthi magazine ‘Sai Impressions’). He was heard to be giving instructions about events that were not scheduled and never took place, talking confusedly and sometimes garbling his words.

Shirdi Sai Baba and Sathya Sai Baba

Drawn by deep alienation from Western materialism, and the attraction of a timeless Indian spirituality, especially in regard to respect for other beings irrespective of race, caste or creed, I lived for a number of years around Sathya Sai Baba.

I had also a great love for Shirdi Sai Baba (died 1918) which would have flourished whether or not Sathya Sai Baba had claimed that he (the Puttaparthi Sai) was the second link in his self-proclaimed triple divine incarnation, commencing with Shirdi Sai Baba, and culminating with Prema Sai Baba, predicted to appear shortly after Sathya Sai departs in circa CE 2022. See my article:

Shirdi Sai Saint’s Fame Spirited By Puttaparthi

This article contains links to a number writings by scholars who have written about the anomalies and confusions:  the late Dr Marianne Warren, Brian Steel and Kevin Shepherd.

At Sathya Sai Baba’s invitation, I taught (1978-79, as unpaid ‘guru seva’ (‘service to the guru’) at the Sathya Sai College of Arts, Science and Commerce at Whitefield via Bangalore, South India, first in drama and then from the commencement of the 1978 academic year, English in the three-year degree course. Among other duties, like instituting wider cultural activities, I was charged with classes originally scheduled to be led by (the late) Principal Narendra, and this constituted an excellent and demanding experience for a fairly recent post graduate student in, separately, teaching and theatre direction.

In the college, I had unsually wide contact with boys from many parts of the college, and, therefore, of India. Many former alumni are now attaining positions of power and influence, and I thought I could sense a new India stirring – de-shackled from the tragic experience of empire. Nonetheless, despite Sathya Sai Baba’s profound betrayal, the experience of teaching boys of so many Indian backgrounds remains a treasured memory.

Indeed, a key notion concerning their supposed destiny was that they are to be Sathya Sai Baba’s great apostles in transforming the entire world, mostly before he dies circa CE 2022. This conditioning becomes ever more fanciful as one witnesses his painful and rapidly ageing steps, his faltering pronouncements and the failure of so many of his predictions.

See, Sai Baba – A Degenerative Disease? and Sai Baba’s Tip To Keep Ageing Away There are, too, his hitherto unreported strange and apparently senile confusions. See, Sai Baba To Be Seen In Moon? But Where Was Moon? And Sai Baba Fails To Grant Great Moon Vision. Endangers Crowds

Note:  (Former devotee writers on the Puttaparthi Sai Baba, of South India, such as Robert Priddy, Brian Steel  and myself, often – although long habit makes it so easy to forget – remember to use his full name so as to avoid unintentional mix-ups in the wider public mind, or in Internet searches, with that other famous figure).

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Further Reading

Shirdi Sai Baba’s name hi-jacked by Sathya.

By Robert Priddy, former head of Norwegian Sathya Sai Organization.

Excerpt from correspondence between Marianne Warren andRobert Priddy

23.4  Shirdi Sai Baba and Dr. Marianne Warren’s Rejection of Sathya Sai. By Kevin Shepherd, a British scholar

SB’s Claim to be the Reincarnation of Shirdi Sai Baba. By Australian scholar Brian Steel, a former devotee. Steel carefully sifts through documentary evidence that firmly shows the unconvincingness of Sathya Sai Baba’s tall claim.

Revealing Video Footage 

• 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
• BBC Cameras Catch Sai Baba Cheating With Gold Sivalingam. (Film Clip)
• Sathya Sai Baba Chief, Dr Goldstein, Explodes. “I am the consummate professional” (See Film Clips)
• The BBC’s ‘The Secret Swami’ (Sai Baba). Revealing Footage

 

Revealing Materials On Sai Baba Of India

In a surprise visit to Puttaparthi and other official Sathya Sai Baba locales in late 2008, Brian Steel acquired a series of books and audio materials.

There are several notable scholarly and other strengths observable in Brian Steel’s vast opus on the Sathya Sai phenomenon.

Yet again, these qualities come into play in his most recent offering: Recent books about Sathya Sai Baba. Part 2. Different Types of Hagiography Brian Steel, December 2008

By Their Documents We Shall Know Them

One of these strengths is his persistent use of, and great familiarity with, the large load (and, from a critical point of view, lode) of official and other public devotee documents. Through his emphasis on these sources – as distinct from other sources of information – Steel has been able to expose Sai Baba’s astounding array of self-generated myths, failed predictions, incorrect scientific and historical references, and, all in all, a seemingly endless series of contradictions and anomalies, as well as a great deal of highly flawed hagiography. See my article:

Cult Exposure. By Their Documents Ye Shall Know Them

in which I noted:

It is by reference to the conflicted words and actions of Sathya Sai Baba’s leaders that the profound failure of intellectual and moral integrity of his operation at large is made manifest to honest enquirers. Indeed Robert Priddy’s main website is entitled: Sathya Sai Baba In Word And Action

Steel’s Emphasis On SS Org Documents Complements Other Forms Of Analysis

An example of the ‘other sources of information’ to which I just referred are those accounts from many parts of the world where subjects have reported their direct experiences of sexual abuse of boys and young men, of the cover up by the ashram and local, state and central government organs in India of circumstances surrounding the killings in Sai Baba’s bedroom on April 6, 1993, various ashram scams – e.g., those relating to the sale of apartments at the Prashanthi Nilayam, Puttaparthi, and Brindavan, Kadugodi – and so forth.

It is not that Brian Steel gainsays the significance of these other accounts, although I have long thought that he likes to be on the more solid empirical ground, where the often self-exposing, officially recorded words of the so-called God, and of his apostles, can hardly be swallowed back.  Steel has, in fact, continued – although without the fetters of a blind belief which he, like others of us were once weighed down by – in a line of expertise which was his, as an important published writer within the Sai literary canon especially in the Sai bibliographical area, when he was a follower for twelve years of Sathya Sai Baba.

Recently, Brian Steel returned from a surprise visit to Puttaparthi bearing a swag of documents and audiovisual material that, under his critical scrutiny, reveal far more mischief than their devotion-blinded authors surely ever dreamed would be perceptible to commonsense and reason. Their works taken uncritically by devotees will, of course, only reinforce persistent Sai mythmaking, but, if exposed to the world at large, will not be likely to win friends and influence people.

Official Sai Audiovisuals Show Steadily Ageing Sai Baba (Who Said He Would Not Age After His 60th Birthday!)

In his fascinating article looking at some of the material he brought back with him, under the subheading ‘Official Promotion of Sathya Sai Baba – Audiovisual’

Brian Steel says:

I have viewed four of these 60-minute $2 DVDs (purchased at a SSO Centre in India). Three of them, in a series called Spiritual Blossoms (possibly produced for the guru’s 80 th Birthday in 2005), offer DVD versions of short archival clips from many old videos from the 1960s to the 1990s (with an added background bhajan accompaniment – in Part 2 of Volume 3, SSB sings bhajans himself).

The fourth DVD which I purchased in India was With the LORD in the Mountains (www.sssbpt.org, April 2006) This is the official record of SSB’s 2006 visit to his summer centre, Sai Sruti, in Kodaikanal, with his entourage, his students and some devotees (including some foreigners). The footage gives graphic evidence of the steady physical decline of Sathya Sai Baba in the past four or five years. This has brought about major changes in his former flamboyant darshan style, which now consists mainly of wheelchair-bound appearances, with several students constantly hovering in attendance, particularly to support him if he attempts to stand up or move about. His conversation and personal contact with devotees is much more limited and less spontaneous than in his heyday but the DVD shows that in 2006 he was still able to accept many letters and to exchange some words from his custom-built wheelchair. Recent 2008 official website footage (especially from http://www.saicast.org) shows how his physical condition has continued to decline in the past two years and how painful it seems for him to make discourses. His face now remains expressionless for most of the time or seems to display something akin to disorientation.

Related Reading

Select writings of Brian Steel

Sathya Sai Baba can be documented by any conscientious reader as having made contradictory statements and egregious historical and scientific blunders. These include his remarks on Jesus Christ and Martin Luther . For Steel’s detailed and sharply contextualized discussion, see: Sai Baba and Christianity. Some Observations (2002). Steel remarks here the alarming “extent of Sai Baba’s inventiveness”. This can be instructively read in concert with his Basic Notes On Sai Baba’s Credibility Problem (2004)

Brian Steel Indexes

• Sathya Sai Baba: The Guru Who Claimed to be God on Earth

• Recent Research on Sathya Sai Baba

• A Bibliography of Apologetic Writings

Barry Pittard On Brian Steel

Brian Steel’s Surprise Visit To Sathya Sai Baba’s Ashram

William Aitken’s Book Fails to Answer Sai Baba Critics

For Brian Steel’s detailed exposure of severe inadequacies of a formost Sai Baba hagiographer mentioned in this article refer to Steel’s:

Bill Aitken and Sathya Sai Baba. A Writer’s Dilemma,

on William Aitken’s book, ‘Sri Sathya Sai Baba. A Life (New Delhi, Penguin Books, India, 2004. Paperback edition, 2006)

Robert Priddy. Similar themes

William Bill Aitken’s base attacks on serious critics

William McKay (Bill) Aitken’s academic shortcomings

Bill Aitken, bogus ‘religious expert’ on Sai Baba

Hasty Cover Up Of Sai Baba ‘No bombs in India’ Blunder

Robert Priddy, former head of the Sathya Sai Organization in Norway, predicted that Sai Baba’s deeply flawed statement (see below) would, once the egregious blunder was recognised, be quickly removed from the Internet. He was right, as he has observed on his blogsite at:

http://robertpriddy.wordpress.com

Sathya Sai Baba’s omniscient-sounding statement is one not only falsified by the terrorist attacks on Mumbai – in which many destructive detonations inside the hotels (in short, bombs, which some pro Sai Baba forces would appear to wish away) occurred quite apart from the guns and grenades that were so horrifically used – but also a long string of bombings in India by terrorists of various hues.

 

Sathya Sai Baba’s Extraordinary, False Prediction

“India is the only place where people are not worried about any attacks.  In America , Germany and other countries, they cant eat well or sleep well. There is fear of bombs always in those countries. But in India, there is no fear of bombs. India will never have any such attacks.” Sathya Sai Baba 22-10-2008.

 

Increasing Unreality Of Some Sathya Sai Baba’s Statements

There is an unreality in Sai Baba’s pronouncements – as there has been in a serious of statements in more recent years, suggesting some degenerative disease. See:

 

Sai Baba-A Degenerative Disease?

 

Sathya Sai Baba’s Tips To Keep Ageing Away

Sai Baba To Be Seen In Moon? But Where Was Moon?

Sathya Sai Baba’s Amazing Predictions

Sai Baba Sparks Political Furore

When ‘Divine’ Magnetism Becomes A Dead Weight

BUT – There Have Been Many Bomb Blasts!

Below is the sadly all-too-revealing Indian cartoon that illustrates the folly of Sai Baba’s statements about the amazing safety of India and the sleeplessness, gastric detonations and general chaos “in America, Germany and other countries”.

When the cult’s charismatic leader is so confused in ways difficult to cover up, it is little wonder that his apologists go to such procrustian lengths in – vainly! – attempting to make him look good – as in the Hans Christian Anderson fable of the emperor with no clothes. Bombs are no longer bombs – unless seen as lotus bombs of his Amazing Grace. Common words stretch heavenwards to some esoteric meaning – except, of course, when the cult leader’s statements turn out correct in the world of the straightforward or in the world of good guesswork. Then there is great devotee rejoicing, and dancing in the streets. Even if real bombs are going off. Even if words sometimes mean what they mean and sometimes don’t mean what they mean …

Robert Priddy’s Accurate (and non-mystical) Prediction

In his article Sathya Sai Convocation Discourse 2008 cut down. Posted by robertpriddy on December 3, 2008, he writes:

There is no doubt that Sathya Sai Baba said the above in his discourse on 22nd November, 2008 – even though the paragraph has been removed from the posting of the discourse on the official site (http://www.sssbpt.org/Pages/83-birthday/convocation_DD_22112008.htm).

He adds:

Further the blog site:  sathyasaibaba-life-love-spirituality.wordpress.com, mendaciously claims to give the “full text” but only contains a foreshortened version!

The same paragraph which was so embarrassing that the official Sai website and the main Sai blogsite removed it surreptitiously was reported verbatim in a post at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/saibabaofindia/message/14926

saibabaofindia woke up and cut out the huge blunder

(Cover-up by saibabaofindia.com)

Posted by robertpriddy on December 5, 2008

Priddy points out that saibabaoindia.com (an unofficial ‘front’ composed of those closely associated with official Puttaparthi) has:

also removed their web page in which they rashly posted what Sai Baba said only days before the Mumbai terror attacks. (The have reposted the Convocation address without the blunder, and on another different URL.

Further Reading

Related posts at

Sathya Sai Baba’s divine foresight on terrorism

Posted by robertpriddy on November 30, 2008

https://barrypittard.wordpress.com

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

Shivraj Patil Falls From Home Ministry

Posted by Barry Pittard on December 2, 2008

Breaking NEWS. A major follower of Sathya Sai Baba, has resigned as India’s Home Minister.

Grave questions have been asked about the competence of Patil and others who were meant to be guarding India’s security.

“No fear of bombs” in India, Said Sai Baba a Week Before Mumbai Terrorist Attack

Posted by Barry Pittard on December 1, 2008

Mumbai Nightmare. Much Love To India At This Time

Posted by Barry Pittard on November 29, 2008

Many from India,

Mumbai Tragedy. The heart is sore for those who have been afflicted

and those of Indian origin who live elsewhere in the world, come daily to this blogsite.

General

The Decline and Fall of the Showman Empire

• Allegations concerning Sathya Sai Baba
• Call For Media and Government Investigation
• Conny Larsson’s website
• 
• <a title="Studies in the teachings, behaviour and associations of the self-claimed God Incarnate, Sai Baba" rel="me" href="http://www.saibaba-x.org.uk/Extensive information on Sathya Sai Baba
• Kevin R.D. Shepherd on Sai Baba issues
• Kevin Shepherd – Citizen Initiative
• Major Sathya Sai Baba exposé website
• Public Petition for Official Investigations of Sathya Sai Baba
• Sathya Sai Baba – word and action
• Sathya Sai myths, stories, deceits
• Sathya Sai Photo Gallery

“No fear of bombs” in India, Said Sai Baba a Week Before Mumbai Terrorist Attack

On November 20, just before the horrendous terrorist strike on Mumbai, Sathya Sai Baba made yet another of his statements which have been tragically faulted by events seen by an aghast world only a few days later (and, in fact, all along, by a long series of terrorist attacks in India – extraordinarily overlooked by Sathya Sai Baba in his reported statement (as see below).

Terrorist Smoke Casts Pall Over India and the World

… While India’s and the world’s self-promised ‘Saviour’ potters and dithers, just as the Emperor Nero fiddled while Rome burnt.

Sathya Sai Baba Statement’s Grisly Falsification A Few Days After

Here is the report of Sathya Sai Baba’s words from a discourse dated November 22 (the day before the vast and opulent birthday celebrations, see links below) – from a well-acknowleged Sathya Sai Baba reporter, R. Satish Naik (who lives close to the Puttaparthi ashram) of the well-organized Saibabaofindia group:

“India is the only place where people are not worried about any attacks.  In America , Germany and other countries, they can’t eat well or sleep well. There is fear of bombs always in those countries. But in India , there is no fear of bombs. India will never have any such attacks”.

Extensive ‘Weeding’ By SSB Editors

Perhaps when it is realized, what an appalling blunder has occurred, the information will disappear, just as Sai editors have so long excised, prior to publishing discourses, glaring embarrassments such as his slips, contradictions, faulted prophesies, etc. I myself when editing for Sai Towers had occasionally a hand in such censorship, and would check with my dear friend, the late V.K. Narasimhan, editor of Sanathana Sarathi what he, at the same time, was excising, prior to publication, in regard to that magazine, which goes worldwide, as does the magazine Spiritual Impressions for which I was doing fairly extensive work.

Select Articles On SSB’s Gaffes, Falsified Statements, etc., at: https://barrypittard.wordpress.com/

Sathya Sai Baba’s Amazing Predictions

Sai Baba To Be Seen In Moon? But Where Was Moon?

Sai Baba Fails To Appear In Moon, IANS Reports

Serial Sex Abuse And Broken Promises of Miracle Healing

Huge Sai Baba Gaffes

Sai Baba Sparks Political Furore

When Disasters Overtake S. Sai Baba’s Promises

Sai Baba – Miraculous or Disastrous?

The Decline and Fall of the Showman Empire

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

Sai Baba: I Will Save India Then World. But he’s Failed

On The Incredibly Lavish Birthday Celebrations In A Mostly Torturously Poor and Profoundly Socio-politically Unstable India

Sathya Sai Baba, 83. Health Critical. Some Key Links

Sathya Sai Baba Video. Too Weak To Cut Birthday Cake

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

Sai Baba 83. Has Said He Will Rule World

Sathya Sai Speaks. ‘I Do Not Like This Pomp’

Indian God’s Birthday. Says Will Rule World. Photo

Sai Baba’s Imperial 83rd Birthday Celebrations Photo, Puttaparthi, India

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Sources for the R. Satish Naik’s report:

http://www.sssbpt.org/Pages /83-birthday/convocation_DD_22112008.htm

http://www.saibabaofindia.com/sai_baba_83rd_birthday-update-photos-23rdnov2008.htm

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/saibabaofindia/message/14926

satish Naik
Brahmanapalli Thanda village
Near Puttaparthi
Anantapur
Andhra Pradesh
India 515134
Tel:91-8555-289327

MOB:9440857872

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NEWS JUST TO HAND (Major followers of Sathya Sai Baba are starting to fall from positions of high power). See:

Shivraj Patil Falls From Home Ministry. Sathya Sai Baba Man

Posted by Barry Pittard on December 2, 2008

Sathya Sai Baba Man Falls As Home Minister, After Mumbai 2008

• Bloodied Mumbai defiantly forges on
• Taj Mahal hotel owner: We had warning
• Special report:  Attacks in Mumbai
• iReport.com: Images, reports from the scene

……………………………….

See Robert Priddy, former Norwegian head of Sathya Sai Baba Organization

Sathya Sai Baba’s divine foresight on terrorism

Posted by robertpriddy on November 30, 2008

QUOTE

As to there never being any fear of bombs in India, that is a massive mistake! So far out of touch is Sathya Sai Baba, surrounded by his gunmen and guards in his fortress ashram.  Shivraj Patil and his forerunners have presided over a long series of bomb attacks and terrible massacres of Hindus and Muslims by each other. The fear is tangible in many places, especially in Mumbai these days, of course.

There is nothing remarkable in Sathya Sai Baba making failed prophesies and predictions – he is constantly doing it! There is a regular cornucopia of false predictions, broken promises, and absurd claims of his importance to the world. (See here)

See also my last posting here:-
Shivraj Patil – Sai Baba worshipper – resigns

Sathya Sai Baba Man Shivraj Patil Falls As Home Minister

Sathya Sai Baba Video. Too Weak To Cut Birthday Cake

See video which reveals Sathya Sai Baba, in November 2007, as unable to cut his birthday cakes any longer

High-powered Minister of State, Renuka Chowdhuri, has to cut 2007 for badly ailing Satya Sai Baba

For some time, he has had a mask-like face, suggestive of a degenerative disease.

The Ageless

One Of Many Examples of Sai Baba’s Falsified Statements

“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 Patiene 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 11-1998

Further Reading At ‘Call For Media and Government Investigation of Sathya Sai Baba’

Sathya Sai Baba’s Amazing Predictions

There is no end to his failed predictions. In his February 1 16, 2007 (so-called ‘divine discourse’, Sai baba said:

“I intend to undertake a world tour, shortly.”

Wealthy Americans Prepare Mansions For “God’s” Visit

The guru, perhaps the most wealthy and politically powerful in India’s long history, claims that he will save the world in his own lifetime. He will, he says, preside over the greatest changes ever to occur in history

‘World Hindu’ by 2030. VHP’s Singhal Reports Sathya Sai Baba Told Him

One of India’s most powerful Hindu nationalist leaders, Ashok Singhal, who has an international profile in the Hindu world, has just told an assembly of political and religious luminaries in Delhi of a prophecy he says Sathya Sai Baba shared with him. The Organiser, September 14, 2008, reports …

Robert Priddy – former head of Sathya Sai Organization, Norway – at his blogsite Sathya Sai Baba Deceptions Exposed

Ageing and collapse in Sai Baba’s health

Sai Baba’s health – miracle or self-sacrifice?

Sai Baba says his close servants live for 100 years

Sathya Sai miracle of transformation of India?

Sai Baba’s failing health

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

Sathya Sai Baba has said that the world should come to him with empty hands. On the other hand, he has succeeded in getting many to come to him with their hands full of gold. 

The Golden Age of The World Sai Kingdom Is At Hand

That gold is now flashing more than Disneyland-like at Puttaparthi, as thousands swarm around the golden honey-pot that he has created for the occasion of his 83rd birthday. 

The misspelling in the photo (upper left hand side) of the word ‘sceptre’, do kindly trust, is not that of this blogger, but of a Sathya Sai minion, who will quickly need a spelling tutorial before his master leads the world into the Golden Age. This feat of universal salvation Sathya Sai Baba says he will accomplish before he ‘leaves the planet’.  

Trustfully, as the gerontocracy that essentially leads India dies out, the young India will turn a back on the crass superstition of many of her older generations.  

The gaudiness of all the gold in the Sathya Sai Baba birthday celebrations – mounted aloft India’s anguished land of seething poverty and squalor – will not reflect well in the eyes of the world.
 

The would-be King of Kings, Lord of Lords and his gold sceptre

Sathya Sai Baba has said 

“The success of the task for which I have come will very soon reverberate throughout the world!”
Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol XIV, p. 278. 1979 

“I do not need grand decorations, huge pandals, arches, flags and such paraphernalia … Even a chair is superfluous! … Spend sparing to the minimum needs; do not involve yourselves in expensive luxury. I would like you to spend any extra money that you have for the feeding of the poor or for any similar beneficial object.” Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol VII, p. 100 

He says he will rule the world before leaving it, circa AD 2022

Puttaparthi Prashanthi Nilayam. Modest dwellingplace of the, ahem, Most High

Select Reading 

‘Secret Swami’ Cult Recruits At Prime Public Venues

See photos of some of the luxurious venues where the International Sathya Sai Organization – at times hard-pressed for funds in the face of constant public exposure in the media and on the Internet etc., – conducts its recruiting

Sai Baba No Shiva. Gold From His Gut Is Regurgitator’s Trick

See how the BBC cameras catch out the Shiva pretendu. 

BBC Hidden Camera in ‘Secret Swami’. Ethical?

How the BBC caught Sai Baba’s world chairman in moments of profound 

Will World Accept Sathya Sai Baba? He Says Yes. Very Soon

Indulal Shah and Indian Government Cover Up

Sathya Sai Organisation Misinformation and False Propaganda
Part Two, Part Three, Part Four

By Robert Priddy and Barry Pittard

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

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) 

……………………………..

For information on the highly revealing photo below, see

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

Michael Goldstein’s Chilling 9/11 Remarks

Sathya Sai Anger Mismanagement as demonstrated by Sai Baba’s international chairman Dr Michael Goldstein of Corvina, California, USA. Caught by BBC hidden camera in ‘The Secret Swami’ (2004)

 Further Resources   

 Sathya Sai Baba: ‘Considerable Concern’ In Wider Hindu Community    

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

Will World Accept Sathya Sai Baba? He Says Yes. Very Soon     

Has ‘World Saviour’ Missed His Plane?    

The Decline and Fall of the Showman Empire 

Sai Baba Exchequer Worth Billions. Many Countries Donate 

Self-documented Folly of India’s Would-be God 

The Sathya Sai Organisation’s Deception and Propaganda Exposed.  Article by Robert Priddy (former leader of SS Org., Sweden) and Barry Pittard (former lecturer at Sathya Sai College, Whitefield).  Part One Two Three Four   

Quote:    

 “The foes of the ‘open society’ (Sir Karl Popper’s term) are those who use its very openness to achieve their closed and devious ends. Sai Baba and his highly authoritarian and cultist organisation have such ends, which critics have tried to make known. Its foremost leaders silence all those who question it- and never face substantive criticisms. For the first time – after six years of pained and guilty silence – since hundreds of long-term devotees left it in disgust – the Sathya Sai Organisation has found it necessary to try to defuse the debate about Sathya Sai Baba’s alleged crimes, deceits and fraudulence. Dr. Venkataraman’s tendentious cover-up article expresses untruths which have long circulated within the cult, giving an opportunity to confront him with facts and truth”   

 ——————————————————

 Some 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

 ‘The Secret Swami’ showcased with selected transcripts and brief
video clips   

 The Public Petition   

 Excerpt From Public Petition (and comments)  

 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 Speaks. ‘I Do Not Like This Pomp’

Sathya Sai Baba, who is on the brink of celebrating his 83rd birthday,

has said that he will first rule India (innumerable of whose top leaders bow down to him!) and soon the rest of the world. He also has said, December 14, 1963:

“Let Me tell you this now itself: I do not like this pomp and show. I do not derive any joy out of it. Pomp, such as this, has become a fashion now, even among ascetics and monks who ought to know better. They profess poverty and simplicity and yet, they allow or encourage their disciples to waste much energy and money on pomp and pageantry which serve only to develop the egotism of themselves and their followers. The emphasis on show makes a thing hollow of all meaning.” (Sathya Sai Speaks Vol 3., p 228)

Sathya Sai Baba says he dislikes pomp

He has said:

“In the days ahead, the whole world will be obliged to come to Prashanthi Nilayam” (p. 320 Sanathana Sarathi December 1991)

…………………………….

Some edifying discourses which will no doubt hasten the golden glory of the coming of the Kingdom of Sai:

Sai Baba’s Birthday. Vast, Costly Pomp and Ceremony

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

Sai Baba To Be Seen In Moon? But Where Was Moon?

Robert Priddy

Sathya Sai Baba worshipped by India’s P.M.s etc

Sathya Sai Baba upcoming birthday

Sai Baba’s failing health

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 Further Resources   

 Sathya Sai Baba: ‘Considerable Concern’ In Wider Hindu Community    

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

Will World Accept Sathya Sai Baba? He Says Yes. Very Soon     

Has ‘World Saviour’ Missed His Plane?    

The Decline and Fall of the Showman Empire 

Sai Baba Exchequer Worth Billions. Many Countries Donate 

Self-documented Folly of India’s Would-be God 

The Sathya Sai Organisation’s Deception and Propaganda Exposed.  Article by Robert Priddy (former leader of SS Org., Sweden) and Barry Pittard (former lecturer at Sathya Sai College, Whitefield).  Part One Two Three Four   

Quote:    

 “The foes of the ‘open society’ (Sir Karl Popper’s term) are those who use its very openness to achieve their closed and devious ends. Sai Baba and his highly authoritarian and cultist organisation have such ends, which critics have tried to make known. Its foremost leaders silence all those who question it- and never face substantive criticisms. For the first time – after six years of pained and guilty silence – since hundreds of long-term devotees left it in disgust – the Sathya Sai Organisation has found it necessary to try to defuse the debate about Sathya Sai Baba’s alleged crimes, deceits and fraudulence. Dr. Venkataraman’s tendentious cover-up article expresses untruths which have long circulated within the cult, giving an opportunity to confront him with facts and truth”   

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 Some 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 

‘The Secret Swami’ showcased with selected transcripts and brief
video clips    

The Public Petition    

Excerpt From Public Petition (and comments)   

(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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Brian Steel’s Surprise Visit To Sathya Sai Baba’s Ashram

With a scholar’s eye for detail, Brian Steel, former follower of Sathya Sai Baba and author of significant books related to him, has just returned from a brief visit to Puttaparthi.

For busy readers who may not have time to read the lengthy, although crisply written, article, I shall digest portions, along with a few comments and links to further resources; otherwise you may wish to go straight to the article itself at: Sathya Sai Baba’s ashram in October 2008.

Sathya Sai Dizzyland

Note: For more pictorial evidence of the vast lavishness of Puttparthi – much of it achieved via the influx of foreign funds in the scores of millions (to put the matter conservatively!) – see my article: Sai Baba, Kubla Khan, Citizen Kane, Bill Gates et alia

Brian Steel writes:

“In mid-October 2008, during a three week visit to India, I made a 5-hour visit to Puttaparthi and Prasanthi Nilayam. My visit was timed to avoid the festivals of Navaratri, Dassera / Vijayadashami, so moving around the township and the ashram would be comfortable”.

Where Have All The Foreigners Gone?

“At Prasanthi and Puttaparthi I only saw a handful of foreign visitors, mainly middle-aged and post-middle-aged women. I saw no foreigner of either sex under about 40 in the ashram, in the cafés or in the shops”.

More Sathya Sai Sumptuousness

Ashram Security

“The mandir was empty and closed. Photographs were forbidden and loitering (even to peer inside the mandir, where ramps for the ailing Sathya Sai Baba’s chair were clearly visible) was discouraged by Seva Dal volunteers posted around the perimeter. The number of items prohibited in the mandir has now reached about 20, including books and pens … From the tall surrounding township buildings, for example the Sai Heritage Hotel just past the ornate main entrance to the ashram, photographs were strictly prohibited

Sai Towers bookshop offered up a few purchases of typical recent publications but most of the Sai Towers shelves are now stocked with books by other publishers on other gurus and on general spiritual topics”.

Puttaparthi Airport A ‘White Elephant”

Steel confirms the demise of the airport at Puttaparthi. Many devotees who felt (myself among them when still a follower) felt, with the excitement of anticipation, that the airport symbolised the imminent appearance of Sathya Sai Baba on the world stage – he taking off from the airport, and the leaders of the world flying in at other times to be guided by him. (See relevant article links below). Steel writes:

“Apart from its convenience for visiting VIPs with their own jets (especially before elections) and apart from special charters on big festivals like the 23 November birthday and Christmas, it is rarely used, as taxi drivers confirmed. Nevertheless, for the present at least, Sathya Sai Baba’s expensive airport is still featured on the Indian Airlines map of routes in India (see the in-flight magazine Swagat – Welcome)”.

The massive new airport at Bengaluru (an unpopular politically imposed new name), inaugurated only a few months ago along with its 3,000 acres of land and gardens, will be a blessing (godsend?) for Sathya Sai’s dwindling foreign devotees, especially those from countries in financial turmoil”.

Failure of Promised Moon Miracle Ignored. Myth-making Continues

Brian Steel further confirms information about failure of Sathya Sai Baba’s promised moon miracle contained in Priddy and Pittard articles (see Urls below), pointing to the sale of unreferenced postcards of “Saibaba on Moon” in the roadside shops of Puttaparthi:

“And in a special glossy 15 Rupee booklet of postcards of Puttaparthi Sightseeing (another local website offers ‘Puttaparthi shopping’), the same card, which shows Sathya Sai Baba’s head superimposed on the Moon is dated as 22 October 2007 and is sourced to Richard Margolin of the Manhattan Sai Baba Center”.

Steel also observed the presence of the same type of postcards depicting the hugely-funded projects such as the Indoor Sports Stadium, the Music building and the Chaitanya Jyoti Museum. He comments:

“So the rural town of Puttaparthi (with its 10,000 residents) seems set to become a huge Sathya Sai Baba Memorial venue, perhaps even on the Tirupati circuit”

Evidence of Marked Decline in Sai Baba’s Health

Elsewhere in India Brian Steel was able to acquire an official DVD issued by the Sri Sathya Sai Books and Publications Trust of SSB’s 2006 visit to the guru’s summer retreat (Sai Sruti) in Kodaikanal, on the southern crest of the upper Palani Hills near Madurai, Tamil Nadu, one of India’s the jewel-like ‘hill stations’ (resorts) so beloved of the British colonisers and many others who can afford to retreat there.

Sathya Sai Baba Retreat, Kodaikanal. (Can a semi-retired ‘Avatar’ retreat?)

Brian Steel says:

“The footage is of research interest because it offers official evidence of the steady physical (and perhaps mental) decline of Sathya Sai Baba in the past four or five years. This has brought about major changes in his former flamboyant darshan style, which now consists mainly of wheelchair-bound appearances with many students constantly hovering in attendance, particularly to support him if he attempts to stands up or move about. His conversation and personal contact with devotees is more limited than in his heyday but the DVD shows that in 2006 he was still able to accept many letters from his chair and exchange some words from his wheelchair. Recent 2008 official website footage (especially from http://www.saicast.org) shows how his physical condition has continued to decline in the past two years and how painful it seems for him to make discourses. His face now remains expressionless for most of the time or seems to display something akin to disorientation”.

Further Reading

Brian Steel

Retired academic Brian Steel’s extensive website Recent Research on the Claims of Sathya Sai Baba – with his long-established, incisive and well-researched articles on the Sathya Sai Baba phenomenon. His blogsite, which contains a variety of themes, some related to Sathya Sai Baba – is at: http://briansteel.wordpress.com/

A Brian Steel Sampler: Undermining of the Sai Mythos

Sathya Sai Baba: Questionable Stories and Claims. Part 1

Sathya Sai Baba: Questionable Stories and Claims. Part 2

Fuzzy Dates in the Official Biography of Sathya Sai Baba. A Re-examination

For a detailed, critical examination of the Medhi Moud prophecy countless Sai Baba devotees place great but sorely unfounded faith in, see The “Mehdi Moud” Prophecy Revisited

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Robert Priddy’s blogsite

On Sai Baba’s Failed Moon Darshan

Sathya Sai Baba Deceptions Exposed

Deceiving ‘devotee’ makes bogus image of Sai in the Moon

Oops! Apparently Sai Baba DID appear on the moon?

Why build moon rockets when Sai Baba has mantras?

More Sathya Sai Baba Moon Madness

Sai Baba postpones moon buggy ride

On Sai Baba’s Failed Airport

Sathya Sai Airport “white elephant” for sale!

Related

Sai Baba’s tennis stadium another white elephant?

Visiting Sathya Sai Baba ashrams (photos)

Travellers Beware

AT SATHYA SAI ASHRAMS – 1

AT SATHYA SAI ASHRAMS – 2

AT SATHYA SAI ASHRAMS – 3

SATHYA SAI ASHRAMS – 4

SATHYA SAI ASHRAMS – 5

AT SATHYA SAI ASHRAMS – 6

At this blogsite: Call For Media and Government Investigation of Sathya Sai Baba –

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

Sathya Sai Baba’s Amazing Predictions

On The Failed Moon Darshan

Sai Baba To Be Seen In Moon? But Where Was Moon?

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

‘Moon Mission of Sathya Sai Baba’. Re Merinews Article

On Sai Baba’s Failed Airport At Puttaparthi

Sai Baba’s Airport Up For Sale, Reports Business Standard

Sathya Sai Baba’s Amazing Predictions

A decade ago, Sathya Sai Baba informed his devotees that his aircraft is about to take off to bring his mission to the whole world.

That this was stated in no metaphorical sense is well-indicated, for he has told various of his key leaders that he would visit Rome, the UK., Malaysia, southern California.

We know that the wealthy Robert Baskin, a key lawyer to the Sathya Sai Organization, has bought a luxury mansion in southern California, equipping it to receive a visit from Sai Baba. See:

Wealthy Americans Prepare Mansions For “God’s” Visit

The late Howard Murphet, Australian journalist and author of best-selling books on Sai Baba, with whom he was close for years, wrote:

“Swami once, a good many years ago told me that He would not travel abroad until His own house was in order, by that He means India, of course”. Source: Online version, “The Lights of Home”

Can a wheelchair-

bound ‘world Avatar’ travel the world?

Sai Baba’s Back Yard Still in Shocking State

But a badly ailing Sai Baba has not put his own house, India, in order. See:

Has Sathya Sai Baba Moved An Inch To Clean Up His Yard?

Two Indias. Barry Pittard Reflects On India Days

Will World Accept Sathya Sai Baba? He Says Yes. Very Soon

When Disasters Overtake S. Sai Baba’s Promises

Human Rights World Report 2008. India In Sore Shape

CNN-IBN Reports Action On Corrupt Indian Gurus

Indian Gurus Stifle India’s Chance To Excel

India Lead World? Sai Baba Says Yes. Robert Priddy No

Inequality before the law in India

Ageless - Old 'Avatars' never die, but merely fade away

How indeed shall a failed ‘Avatar’ save himself?

Recent Statement

There is no end to his failed predictions. In his February 1 16, 2007 (so-called ‘divine discourse’, Sai baba said:

“I intend to undertake a world tour, shortly.”

But the runway, like his own imagination, would seem to have run away on him. He celebrates his 83rd birthday this November 23rd.

Unlike his physical body, the following quoted words of his have no difficulty in flying around the world to his many devotees. But they represent just one more example of his myriad failed predictions:

‘Swami’s mission has made this turn to face the runway. The 70th birthday was the signal from the tower to accelerate. In the 75th birthday, the airplane will leave the ground’. Sri Sathya Sai Newsletter, USA, 31, Winter 1996-1997, 29.)

Or here again:

“Bhagavan told the group of his students, that His mission can be compared with an aeroplane that is going to take off. Up to 70th birthday his mission would be like an aeroplane going along the take-off track and gaining speed. These days the aeroplane is rushing and speeding up and will take off at the 75th birthday”. Sai Reflections: The UK Sai Organisation. Quarterly Magazine: February, 1997, p.15)

Sai Baba’s Deteriorating Health Affects His Judgment

It becomes increasingly easy to see how Sai Baba’s declining health has deleterious effects on his judgment, leading him into making statements that expose him very effectively. See my article:

Idi Amin Video Clip. Amin Claimed Direct Line To God

Quote:

“Sathya Sai Baba has reminisced on how Idi Amin wept tears of devotion for him, when he visited Uganda in 1968. Actually, Sai Baba goes a step further than Amin, proclaiming that he is the Divine Incarnation surpassing all Incarnations. His devotee propagandists are now fervently downplaying his actual claims by telling the wider public that Sai Baba simply says that “all are God”. Their intellectual dishonesty is patent, for they know full well that he has long and often claimed to have incarnated to save the whole world in his own lifetime, saying that he came as Sri Ram, Sri Krishna, Shirdi Sai Baba, and will return soon after he dies (not that he uses this word!) as Prema Sai Baba”.

See also my articles:

Sathya Sai Baba’s Deputy Head, Dr G. Venkataraman, Speaks of “Mr Idi Amin”

The Last King of Scotland – GOD’S ORDERS and Sai Baba

Quote from my article:

Has ‘World Saviour’ Missed His Plane?

“The late Dr D.J. (Dhirubhai Jagjivandas) Gardhia, a UK citizen formerly of Uganda, who Sai Baba married, was an old acquaintance of mine. He told me at Whitefield in March or April 1998 that Sathya Sai Baba had told him that a) the present round of Gardhia’s visits was the last tour around the world he wanted Gardhia to make speaking at his specific request and b) that he would be visiting Rome, Southern California, Malaysia and the UK. Gardhia shared the same information with many, and it was published in the official UK Sai newsletter” …

But the would-be ‘Avatar’ says:

“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. See

Sathya Sai Baba’s Tips To Keep Ageing Away

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Further Resources – ‘Sathya Sai Baba Deceptions Exposed’ at http://robertpriddy.wordpress.com

Sathya Sai Baba Birthday Celebrations

Posted by robertpriddy on October 29, 2008

Sai Baba’s Mission to Save India

Posted on July 12, 2008

Sai Baba’s health – miracle or self-sacrifice?

Posted on July 11, 2008

82nd Birthday of Sathya Sai Baba

Posted on November 22, 2007

Ageing and collapse in Sai Baba’s health

Posted on August 22, 2007

Sathya Sai Baba Continues To Ail

Mrs Geetha Reddy, Tourism Minister of Sathya Sai Baba’s State, Andhra Pradesh, had to provide a helping hand to the supposed Divine Hand of one who said that we would not see him age after his 60’s birthday. Devotees  honest enough to admit it would have to attest that he has made many mistaken prophecies about them in interviews. He has also made them about himself, including in regard to his health and physical appearance in ensuing years.

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

In October 2007, he precipitated a huge fiasco. 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

Living and Partly Living

Reports keep coming of him exhibiting quite senile behavior, and his minders making – sometimes very absurdist – efforts to cover up for his debility. See Sathya Sai Baba’s Tips To Keep Ageing Away

For long he has avoided public comment on the Indian political scene. However, more recently he made statements of a kind he has gone decades without making. See Sai Baba Sparks Political Furore

In a discourse at his hospital in Whitefield outside Bangalore on June 3, 1995, Sathya Sai Baba said:

“Purity, patience and perseverance. With these three you are bound to acquire good health and bliss. You may believe it or not. But the truth is that these three are responsible for my health (Arogya) and bliss (Ananda). I am always happy. I should like to run but there is no place where I can do so. I can lift anybody at this age.” (Sanathana Sarathi July 1995, p. 173)

Likewise, from Sanathana Sarathi, November 1998, we read:

Follow Me 

Many people wonder that I look so young even at the age of 73. The reason is that I have 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. So, everyone should cultivate these three.

 

Every now and then, he gives an update:

“I do not suffer form any kind of disease because there is no trace of greed in Me. That is why I am always healthy…” “There is no trace of anger or hatred in Me and hence everyone loves Me” (Sanathana Sarathi September 2001, page 257f)

Further Reading

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

When Disasters Overtake S. Sai Baba’s Promises

‘World Avatar’ Sathya Sai Baba’s Troubled Trail

Viewing

The Secret Swami. Broadband

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Call For Media and Government Investigation of Sathya Sai Baba

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