“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)

‘Black Sheep’ Of Sweden’s Nobel Family Called By Ba-Ba (Sathya Sai Baba)

There are many instances that show how Sathya Sai Baba, far from his being, as he claims, all-knowing and all-seeing, has behind him a trail of egregious blunders and unfulfilled predictions, promises of cures, and much else. Below, I quote the mess he made in the would-be Nobel Peace Prize incident. Repeatedly, he hangs his claims on their own petard. His apologists are too blinded to see, not the ‘Glory of Puttaparthi’ but the absurdity of Puttaparthi.

One of Sathya Sai Baba’s many hugely expensive and major Sai propaganda efforts has been the setting up of Sai Global Harmony via WorldSpace International Satellite Radio Service. It broadcasts 24/7 to many countries. A director of WorldSpace is Dr Michael Nobel, who, contrary to long-uncorrected statements (in Wikipedia and in various promotions) by Sai Baba activists, is NOT the son of the Nobel Peace founder Alfed Nobel – who died in 1896! But he, though widely considered ‘black sheep’ of the Nobel family, has answered the Ba-ba call of Sathya Sai Baba who, absurdly, told the Australian journalist Howard Murphet that, historically, when Jesus, the Lamb of God, called ‘Ba-ba’, he was referring to Sathya Sai Baba! The Nobel ‘black sheep’ is making more than a bleat or two of his own, for he has extended his international satellite broadcasting corporation to send Sathya Sai Baba propaganda across the air-waves of the world. 

Michael Nobel is a great grand nephew, although Alfred Nobel, were he here today, might not feel too grand about the descendant who has been repudiated by the Nobel authorities.

The director of Sai Global Harmony is Dr G. Venkataraman, who is also deputy world chairman of the Sathya Sai Organization. See: Sathya Sai Baba’s ‘Minister of Propaganda’ – Dr G. Venkataraman and:  Sathya Sai Baba’s Deputy Head, Dr G. Venkataraman, Speaks of “Mr Idi Amin” .

G.Venkataraman (retired Indian nuclear scientist, left).  K. Chakravarthi (Secretary of Sathya Sai Central Trust, sacked by Indian Administrative Service, IAS, for embezzlement, right).

 

Nobel Foundation and Head of Nobel Family Repudiate Michael Nobel

 

I quote from the Wikipedia entry under ‘Nobel Foundation’:

“In 2007 Dr Michael Nobel (born as Michael Oleinikoff), a great grand nephew of Alfred Nobel, attempted to start a prize called the “Michael Nobel Energy Award” that would award innovations in alternative energy technology. The plan was announced at nanoTX 07. The Nobel Foundation quickly reacted by threatening legal action for “clear misuse of the reputation and goodwill of the Nobel Prize and the associations of integrity and eminence that has been created over time and through the efforts of the Nobel Committees”. The Director, Michael Sohlman, of the Nobel Foundation and the elected Head of the Nobel Family disapproved to the institution of the so called ‘Dr. Michael Nobel Award’ as well as the Nobel Charitable Trust and Nobel Family Benevolent society.  Michael has (as of June 2008) not abided to the advice of the Nobel foundation and the Nobel family head, but continues his efforts to establish a new prize in his own (taken) name. ^“

New York Times Exposes Sathya Sai Baba Man, Michael Nobel

Michael Nobel has been exposed by the New York Times:

“…the organizers received a disturbing fax from The Nobel Foundation in Sweden. It advised them that Mr. Nobel had been voted out as head of the Nobel Family Society at a meeting in August of 2006 “mainly because of his unauthorized activities and involvements in the name of the Nobel Family Society.” And it threatened legal action against those involved in creating “The Dr. Michael Nobel Award”, as Mr. Nobel had indicated it was to be named.” (The Nobel Prize that Wasn’t – New York Times ). 

Sathya Sai Baba Exposed In Serious Error Concerning Nobel Prize Personnel and Process

“Aerodrome has come. Super Speciality Hospital has come. These things are not even in big towns. More, more, more, more will come. To show this to the whole world, it (Sai Global Harmony Channel, a satellite digital radio channel set up to broadcast Swami’s discourses, bhajans, etc.) begins within this month. To bring about these changes, numerous people will be involved. I am also telling you a few names.”

They are giving the Nobel Prize to many people. The man who gives the Nobel Prize (Chairman of the Nobel Prize Committee) is coming here on the 22nd November. The ones who will show this to the whole world, TV people, are all coming here on the 22nd. Who called them? Who invited them? If all things like these are seen, all sorts are coming here. No one has invited them at all. No one is giving them (a special) welcome. Yet they themselves are coming. What is the reason? That Chaitanya Jyothi (meaning Swami Himself) is here and It (He) is pulling them!” (Applause) [From Premsai translation. The Premsai editorial clarifications are in round brackets]

• To be continued

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

The Sathya Sai Baba Organization has tried to stem a major exit from congregations via an entity it internally refers to as ‘the waverer’s committee’.  This wealthy and highly authoritarian organization, which seeks to infiltrate mainstream civic, religious, education and political venues, will not be so frank as to show the waverers the following videos. For the Sathya Sai Organizations recruiting drives in luxurious venues, See: ‘Secret Swami’ Cult Recruits At Prime Public Venues. For the dangers posed in its infiltration of unsuspecting communities, while concealing its agendas, and often from its own rank-and-file, See, Sathya Sai Baba Sect and Its Hidden Agendas. A Caution

To carefully go through these stark video revelations that expose Sathya Sai Baba cheating with his (so-called) miracles is to see why his chief defenders like Dr G. Venkataraman and Gerald Moreno have raised profound smokescreens and engineered such markedly distorted ‘pictures’ of hundreds of former Sathya Sai Baba devotees. Many of the latter, from many countries, spent deeply dedicated years of their lives serving him. Some of these were leaders such as Terry Gallagher (Australia), Stephen Carthew (Ph.D Program Candidate, Australia), Al Rahm (USA), Richard Nelson, Rick Raines (USA), Timothy Conway Ph.D (USA), Dave Lyons (USA), Serguei Badaev (Russia), Artur Wisniewski (Poland), Britt-Marie Anden (Sweden),  Robert Priddy (Norway) …. Although it is men who in real fact lead the Sathya Sai Organization, prominent women leaders who have left after years of work on behalf of the organization include:  Shirley Pike, Sharon Purcell and Elena Hartgering (both deceased), Lori Kaplowitz, Ella Evers, and many others …. Shirley Pike and Elena Hartgering have a long professional background as very qualified, experienced mental health counselors, as are a number of former devotees who have very carefully studied the accounts of Sai Baba’s sexual abuse survivors – and some have had personal contact with the terribly stricken individuals and their families and others who know them well.

Despite extraordinary attempts to blacken their names, such former devotees have spoken out on behalf of the many boys and young men Sathya Sai Baba, has sexually abused, and large numbers of other individuals abused in a variety of shocking ways. Four individuals were killed in Sai Baba’s bedroom on June 1993 – when he was in control of the cirumstances at the Puttaparthi ashram – and the circumstances extensively covered up by successive Indian central, state and local governments. Former devotees have been attacked libelously, stalked, themselves and their families harrassed (including those who have had nothing to do with the exposure of Sai Baba and his cult), and constantly disparaged. The fact that Sai Baba devotees who have known, respected and loved those who have left the organization having investigated the facts bear a great weight of failed conscience. They know perfectly well that their earstwhile co-faithful are not, and have never been, the devils Sai Baba has said that they are. I add that most Sai devotees do not actively attack former devotees – because, simply, they are not like this. However, some who are prominent followers, and close to Sai Baba himself, have been long engaged in the attacks on the Internet supporting their proxy, Gerald Moreno.

The BBC, DR and other footage is a valuable resource for those who, in their families, friendhip circles, professions, communities and so on are deeply concerned and wish to have evidence by which to confront those who have been attracted by the Sathya Sai Baba sect. Although approaches through reason and evidence frequently will not work with members who are blinded to the facts, there are many others who have successfully been shown the facts before they got around to joining or else those who having joined are nonethless still of a mind capable of questioning.

For Longer Video 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)

Video Clips

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

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

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

BBC Footage Exposes Fake Sathya Sai Baba Miracle

Michael Goldstein explodes with anger (710kbs) (i.e., the world chairman of the Sathya Sai Organization. The BBC’s hidden camera caught Dr Goldstein in a display far from spiritual. Though the BBC’s team asked 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)

Reading (With Links to Video Clips)

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

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

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

Articles At: https://barrypittard.wordpress.com Referring to the BBC’s ‘The Secret Swami’

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

BBC Hidden Camera in ‘Secret Swami’. Ethical?

BBC Caught UNESCO Head Bowing To Indian Government

Indian Minister Shields Sai Baba on BBC television

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

Guru Sex Abuse Testimony To BBC – After Years of Silence

The Genesis of the BBC’s ‘The Secret Swami’ (Sai Baba)

India A Mature Democracy? BBC Probes

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

Recent Exposure of Sathya Sai Baba Cult in Australia By Channel NINEMSN

(Note: Video footage Links available within these articles)

Sathya Sai Baba Cult Exposure By Major TV Channel In Australia

Australian Current Affair Exposes Sathya Sai Baba Cult

Australian Current Affair: ‘Infiltrating A Cult’ (Sathya Sai Baba)

Sathya Sai Cult Under Media Scrutiny In Australia

BBC Footage Exposes Fake Sathya Sai Baba Miracle

See for yourself how exposing was the BBC crew’s capture in 2004 of Sathya Sai Baba collapsing after pretending to miraculously materialize a gold Shivalingam, and exposure of his dithering performance.  HERE .

Film shot by others at the same occasion by those partial to Sathya Sai Baba was tightly suppressed.

Select Reading

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

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

Robert Priddy

Indisputable facts about Sathya Sai Baba by BBC

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

Typical of cultists (which they deny themselves to be), the key leaders of the international Sathya Sai Organization are highly secretive, authoritarian and unaccountable.

They know:

• That there has been profound cover up of countless responsibly-made allegations of spiritual and moral betrayal
• The quality, and years of dedicated service, of many families and individuals who have gone to them with deeply distressing concerns about Sai Baba’s immoral conduct with boys and young men, cover up of murders in his bedroom, and other crimes.
• That the top echelon exerts strong pressure to ensure that the allegations are not discussed

The BBC’s appellation ‘the secret swami’ was entirely apt. Sathya Sai Baba and his leaders speak constantly of Truth, Right Conduct, Peace, Love and Non-Violence (Sathya, Dharma, Shanti, Prema, Ahimsa).  Many within the Sathya Sai Organization know perfectly well that devotees have often been shocked by the unspirituality, callousness and authoritarian behaviour by many core leaders hand-picked by Sai Baba himself.

These leaders, and their often unsuspecting and decent rank-and-file, would link up with you, smile happily with you, act in a manner that has every appearance of professional and ethical responsibility. They seek to enter into shared endeavours with you in regard to your schools, universities, civic,  religious, cultural and sporting organizations, your municipal, state and central governments, etc. They do worthy works of social uplift, but in fact they have agendas that they keep from you. That is to say,  salient information – that you have every right to know – they keep under tight seals of prohibition as instructed by the guru and his core servitors. They do not tell you that:  Sathya Sai Baba claims to be the fullest incarnation of Godhood ever to have visited earth. Or that he has said he will rule the world before he leaves it circa 2022.  Officials are told not to mention it in their public interfaces.

Just a few of the plush venues in which the Sathya Sai Organization pursues its recruitments (although it will not use this factual word) have included:

Cooper’s Union, New York; Town Hall, Melbourne; Copley International Conference Center, San Diego; Super Dome, Sydney; La Mirada Theatre, Hilton Ballroom (both Los Angeles); Sheraton Hotel & Towers, Chicago; Copley International Conference Center, San Diego; Super Dome, Sydney, etc.

We are reliably informed that the cult has furthered its purposes in nodes of great power such as the United Nations and the White House, and among leading politicians and powerbrokers around the world.

Select Readings

Sai Organization’s Spending Spree In Super Dome, Sydney

 ‘Secret Swami’ Cult Recruits At Prime Public Venues

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

BBC Hidden Camera in ‘Secret Swami’. Ethical?

 Sathya Sai Baba and his Organization Permit Attacks On Ex-followers

Golden Throne of India’s Sathya Sai Baba. He says he will Rule the world soon

              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  

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 international head of what Sathya Sai Baba has called THE divine organization in the world

Dr Michael Goldstein. Love All Serve All

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)

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Wider 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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 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 Baba and his Organization Permit Attacks On Ex-followers

An article at the blogsite of Robert Priddy, former longtime leader of the Sathya Sai Organization in Norway, notes that those who have more recently quit report no cases where Sai Baba or his organization have attempted to stop the libels in which members are implicated.

Sai Cultists Stultify Their Hearts

Many members of the Sathya Sai Organization have for years known, loved and respected those who subsequently have investigated the allegations and anomalies. That they can turn such a blind eye, and so stultify their hearts, and yet still claim to be loving and truthful shows them to be of a group that communities and institutions throughout the world need to be most wary of.

As previously chronicled, Sai Baba’s and his organization’s hidden agenda is that he is to take over the world and rule it before circa CE 2022:

‘Secret Swami’ Cult Recruits At Prime Public Venues

The Secrecy The ‘Secret Swami’ Demands of Devotees

Devotees are told not to mention this projected so-called Sai revolution in the whole world in any of their public interfaces. A very recent example of a major Sai cult leader lying about the religious nature is that of Moyia O’Brien, wealthy director of a Sathya Sai Organization front called SWARA (Sunshine Welfare Remedial Association), when interviewed by a senior investigative journalist Chris Allen in a top Australian television program ‘A Current Affair’. The sacked staff, to whom tribute had hitherto been paid, along with many clients have felt a terrible betrayal by Moyia O’Brien of her late sister Dorothy O’Brien, whom they loved and trusted for her professionalism, quite beside her pronounced qualities of compassion and understanding. Moyia O’Brien promptly summoned violent security personal and the dissenting staff and disable clients were badly shaken by the hideous response that millions of television viewers in Australia were able to see and judge for themselves. Was this the ‘Sathya’, ‘Right Conduct’, ‘Peace’, ‘Love’ and ‘Non-violence’ that Sai Baba and his devotees are forever proclaiming …?

Resemblance of The Sai Autocracy To Common Bullies

How did the cult go about subsequent damage mitigation? As it usually does – by threats against Ninemsn, which succumbed to them, we have been informed by a reliable, well-placed media insider. Other leading media in Australia – SBS, The Age, The Advertiser, (perhaps the West Australian but the journalist is keeping ‘Mum’) and other parts of the world, including the BBC, CBC (Canada), Times of London, Telegraph, Guardian, CanWest (Canada), India Today and others have stood up to Sai Baba’s extremely wealthy and powerful emissaries with their threats. I myself am among those who have been strongly threatened – in my case by Sri T. Ramanathan, recent very pompous and autocratic former head of the Sathya Sai Baba Organization in Australia. One must not so much as eye-blink in the face of these inconscienable figures, who bully like common thugs.

Moyia O’Brien’s mendacious and outright denial of the religious or cultic status of the Sathya Sai Organization is plain to anyone who watches the video segment, which my reader can do by clicking this photo:

Australian Current Affair Exposes Sathy Sai Baba Cult

Further References

Sathya Sai Cult Under Media Scrutiny In Australia

Sathya Sai Baba Cult Exposure By Major TV Channel In Australia

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Revealing Materials

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

See Photos

… of the incredible pomp and lavishness that is funded by vast revenues from around the world that accrue to the Sathya Sai Central Trust in India:

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

See Video Clips

that show two forms of magic – that of delight and wonder;  and that of the utmost cheating for which succeeding generations of Indians will necessarily sheet home blame to Sathya Sai Baba and his fauning underlings for tainting their country which has for so long abounded in wonderful examples of genuine saintliness:

• 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

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

Quite often, among our friends or acquaintances, there is someone who has astonished – or appalled! – us with a few magic tricks.

The Ease of Learning and Performing Basic Magic Tricks

Most children and adult libraries have a selection of books on the how-to of a wide range of magic tricks. These show that, without much ingenuity or skill, most people can pick up a few, with a fundament being, of course, sleight-of-hand, not to mention the use of confederates (But can you always trust them?)

For the clear use of a confederate, you can see Doordarshan’s – Indian national radio and television broadcaster –  video footage showing Sathya Sai Baba’s palming of a necklace from beneath a trophy handed to him by his flunky. This film the then Indian Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, a Sathya Sai Baba devotee, quickly moved to censor:

Censored Indian National Television Film of Sai Baba Cheating

Simple Man-about-town’s Magic Impromptu

A few months ago, I was sitting in a cafe and a local character of little education wandered in. He began entertaining the rest of us with a charming and adept suite of parlour tricks. I chatted with him afterwards. Clearly, he had never heard of Sathya Sai Baba. After my briefly describing Sai Baba’s so-called miraculous manifestation of objects, he immediately sprang into action, and indeed the quickness of the hand deceived the eye – until he slowed things down and also stopped diverting the observer’s attention from e.g., palming and transference of objects. Although he felt honor-bound not to reveal a number of the other tricks that he (the young man) had earlier performed, he showed exactly how Sai Baba produces necklances, pendents and sacred ash, etc.

His displays were akin to those of Nils Krøjgaard, the professional Danish conjuror, who is seen in ‘Seduced’, a television documentary (2002) by Denmark’s national broadcaster DR, which exposes Sai Baba. You can see the 53-minute documentary, for Broadband (80 megabytes) HERE. For Dialup (21 mb) HERE. and the transcript HERE.

Goldie Hawn, the famous Hollywood film star is seen sitting, right hand side of the film clip, near to Sai Baba as he performs his trick.

Famous Indian Skeptics Educate Masses About Fraudsters’ Tricks

Courageous Indian rationalists, such as B. Premanand and Professor Narendra Nayak attempt to educate India-wide audiences in demonstrations – ‘Miracle-exposures’ – of the conjuring techniques by which so-called ‘holy men’ like Sai Baba deceive the masses.

Fortunately these days, one is now able to see slowed-down images of Sai Baba as he produces sacred ash (vibhuthi) or other objects. See my blogs of the last few days of March, 2009, which contain relevant links:

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)

Master Magicians or Illusionists

On the other hand, there are master magicians or illusionists who are disciplined in the sense that, for example, a ballet dancer or virtuoso instrumentalist, becomes a consummate practitioner, requiring hours of daily practice. Some magicians risk their lives in pursuit of their craft. A number of them gain, such as the fabled Harry Houdini (see footage at end of this article), almost superhuman personal psycho-physical control. For a contemporary example, see: David Blaine breaks world record on Oprah Winfrey Show for holding his breath

The magic tricks Sathya Sai Baba employs are a pale shadow of these. But they are comparable to what a adroit enough amateur can learn and perform. Do take care, though, as a kid, I once accidently swallowed a coin while trying to master a trick – ah, will the days of half pennies never return?!.

Behold Their Holinesses – the Company of Great Magicians

Imagine how successfully any of the outstanding magicians I refer to below could have set themselves up as ‘holy’ men in India!  Or imagine how, in a socio-economically developing country like India, where there is still a great deal of mystification especially of non-educated and semi-educated, how easy it is for an arch-deceiver such as Sathya Sai Baba – and a great many frauds without his more greatly famed and curious talents – to mislead the public.

Many Indians Disdain So-Called ‘Godmen’ Who Detract From India Greatness

Many Indians of my acquaintance (and I lived in that great country for several years), whether religious, humanist or atheist feel terribly badly about the superstition and corruption to which the socio-economic condition gives rise.

Below, here are a few master magicians. Some of them are teachers by nature and ready to show how some of the tricks are done. The English magician Derren Brown, like the immortal Houdini, is committed to exposing fraudulence.

Note: a) Alphabetical order of surnames is followed. b) Clicking on the name of the magician/illusionist brings up their website

Note: In a forthcoming article:  Formost female magicians! Including:

Dorothy Dietrich
Angela Funovits
Kate Medvedeva
Tina Lenert
Sue-Anne (My own country Australia’s magic star, named (2007) in the book ‘Historias de Magas Antiguas y Modernas’ which surveys the greatest female magicians in history). And, rivalling her for her place –

Cath Jamison, also of Australia

But – for now  –

David Blaine

The New York Times wrote, “He’s taken a craft that’s been around for hundreds of years and done something unique and fresh with it”.

Wikipedia article

Videos

David Blaine – Video

David Blaine teaches the simple fan

David Blaine Videos – Many Metacafe clips

………..

Lance Burton

“Burton is a magic purist whose show is a loving homage to his craft”.

Kathleen Foley. Los Angeles Times. December 3, 2001.

Wikipedia article

Videos

Lance Burton Sleight Of Hand Magic

Lance Burton and The Dove

Magic Secrets Revealed: Lance Burton unveils some mysteries of magic. New secrets featured each month

………..

Derren Brown

“… a stage act that stretches back 100 years and a future that might be as lengthy”

Andrew Billen. The Times. January 14, 2009. ‘Derren Brown’s Evening of Wonders’

YouTube – Derren Brown shows how mediums work

Mind Control with Derren Brown

Several videos, both shorter and longer, are at Britain’s Channel 4 website:

http://www.channel4.com/entertainment/tv/microsites/D/derrenbrown/index.html

………..

David Copperfield

YouTube – David Copperfield – Thirteen

Doug Henning (The late)

For the magician:

“The hard must become habit
The habit must become easy
The easy must become
Beautiful”

“I consider Jim the most brilliant mind in magic.” Jim Steinmeyer, whom, in turn, the New York Times described as the “celebrated invisible man—inventor, designer and creative brain behind many of the great stage magicians of the last quarter-century.”

Doug Henning’s The Magic Show review, Vimeo.

by Andrew Mayne, magician, illusion designer and filmmaker

Wikipedia article

Videos

Doug Henning On The Muppet ShowDoug Henning presents the Origami illusion

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Harry Houdini (“The Great Houdini”. b. March 23, 1874. Budapest, Hungary. d. October 31, 1926 (aged 52) Detroit, Michigan, USA. Magician, escapologist, stunt performer, actor, pilot, exposer of frauds, historian)

Harry Houdini. Escapist, Illusionist, stuntman, actor, pilot

1. YouTube – Harry Houdini Live!
   	3 min 45 sec – 4 Aug 2007 – Harry Houdini clips with posters n stuff….got clips from houdinitribute.com… ..it’s sooo cooool… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLWhydtd5wI

    

2. YouTube – Harry Houdini
   	8 sec – 11 Jan 2007 – Magician Harry Houdini makes Dr. AM Wilson “vanish” in front of a Vaudville theather. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akkdRYTM0RQ

    

3. Harry Houdini on youtube – The Aerodrome Forum

   YouTube – Houdini flies his Voisin Biplane in Sydney, Australia – 1910

    

4. Harry Houdini Footage From Fantasm Magic – Video
   	1 min 43 sec – 1 Nov 2007 Some Great footage of an early Harry Houdini… Rated 3.96 | 1654 Views | Affiliate Video … escape. Come to Fantasma Magic Headquarters at 421 http://www.metacafe.com/watch/898600/harry_houdini_footage_from_fantasm_magic/

Wikipedia article

Some Further Resources

Indian magicians. Wiki article (which clearly needs Wiki guidelines applied to it) refers to:

P.C. Sorcar Sr “The Father of Indian Magicians”.

P. C. Sorcar, Jr., Gopinath Muthukad P.M. Mithra , Magician Philip, Magician Samraj, Prahlad Acharya , Ashok Bhandari, Ugesh sarkar, Chaitanya Tamhane, Magician Suhani Shah, Solyl Kundu, Indranil Ray, Pradeep Houdino, Magic Leo, Nakul Shenoy, Magician Shado, Escape Arun, Milind kadam, Magician P.R. Akash, Saakaar Sharma, Pratik Shirsat, Sherif Mayika, Magician Roshni, Prince Sil, Magician Susmit Basu, Dharmesh Patel, Prof Jr Shankar

Indian Magicians’ Web Site
P.C. Sorcar Jr.
Magician Philip
Magician Suhani Web Site
Magic Leo Web Site
Magician “Escape Arun”
Magician P.R. Akash
Sherifmayika’ Web Site
The Methods of Hindu Jugglery and Magic. The Indian Basket Trick By Prince Sarath Ghosh. Scientific American Dec. 26, 1914
Prof. Shankar & Shankar Jr.

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Sleight of hand.  Wikipedia

Sai Baba Fraud – Comments and Replies

Posted by robertpriddy on September 7, 2007

Some comments received from Vasudeva S. and replies by Robert Priddy

………………

At ‘Call for Media and Government Investigation of Sathya Sai Baba’ –

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

Derren Brown’s Magic Trumps Sathya Sai Baba’s

Censored Indian National Television Film of Sai Baba Cheating

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

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

Repeatedly, on footage of Sathya Sai Baba’s apparent miracles of the materialization type, an observer – other than one stricken with blind faith – can see the same technique that magicians use, the world over.

Sathya Sai Baba’s Sleight Hand.

The One Hand That Knows What The Other Is Doing (more than just slightly)

Watch Sai Baba’s right hand. It goes beneath the pile of letters (taken from the seated crowds) he holds in his left hand.  Note the swift movement as, with his right hand, he extricates the solidified material from his left. This material has yet to be crushed by the fingers of his right hand.

Quite literally, he is ‘pulling a swifty’.  Had he carried a hat instead of the letters he might have pulled a rabbit out by the ears.

If he were naturally, and without trickery, manifesting the vibhuthi (sacred ash), there would be no need for this frequent characteristic of reaching under the letters.

In short, the solid (pellet) material that is waiting to be crushed into the powder is already in his left hand.

Video Footage of Sai Baba’s Baba’s Fake Vibhuthi Materialization

Right Hand. Sleight Hand. Watch Sai Baba Cheat With Sacred Ash

(1.84 MB)

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For Sleight (or slight) Of Mind, See:

Revealing footage from the BBC’s ‘The Secret Swami’ which reveals the extraordinary anger and lack of Dr Michael Goldstein. He is the world head of the organization which Sathya Sai Baba says is THE divine organization via which he will save the entire world. This statement – among his many prophecies which have already been falsified – does not exactly look as though it is at all likely to be fulfilled. If we could laugh it all off, all might be well. However, it is well-known that Sai Baba has highly committed, highly organized devotees and well-wishers throughout the world, and that they operate locally as well as in many of the highest echelons of world power.

View BBC Video Clips of Dr Michael Goldstein

Dr Goldstein of Covina, southern California, USA, is chairman of the international Sathya Sai Organization. This footage was caught by hidden camera, an uncommon resort that required BBC management and legal sanction at the highest corporate levels (See: BBC Hidden Camera in ‘Secret Swami’. Ethical?)

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

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

Michael Goldstein explodes with anger (710kbs)

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

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SEE my article with links to some of the world’s most famous magicians (or illusionists) using sleight-of-hand far more sophisticatedly than does Sathya Sai Baba. He gets caught out; many devotees who see this react rather like the people in Hans Christian Anderson’s celebrated tale -‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’. I have included the story at this link:

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)

Note: Quite apart from Sai Baba photos and videos, including those unwittingly taken by Sai devotees themselves over the years, there has been the occurrence where devotees who have seen Sai Baba cheating – i.e., using sleight of hand, etc., – have come away terribly confused and upset, and some have lost faith. Others have gone into denial, and said that it was a mere test of their faith by “the Lord”, etc., …..

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Select Reading

Sai Baba – A Fake Avatar’s Fake Materialization

Quote from this article:

Former head of the Norwegian Sathya Sai Baba Organization Robert Priddy (Blogsite:  http://robertpriddy.wordpress.com) writes:

On 31/10/2002, my wife Reidun and I returned from three days in Copenhagen, Denmark, where the ‘green diamond’ Sathya Sai Baba gave me in 1986 (shown above) was examined by Mr. Peter Hertz, the Danish Queen Margarethe’s jeweller, a top Scandinavian expert on precious stones and diamonds. All was filmed in detail by Øjvind Kyrø’s team for Danish TV. The result of the investigation, which took two days, is that the stone is a synthetic green sapphire.Value only about $40 today in super-expensive Denmark. Its value in India today could therefore probably be around $10.

For detailed accounts, see:

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

Sai Baba Fake Diamonds

Film Clip of Sathya Sai Baba's magic

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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)

Censored Indian National Television Film of Sai Baba Cheating

Watch Sathya Sai Baba as he is caught out cheating in the supposed  materialization of a necklace. This is the August 1992 footage taken in Hyderabad by Doordarshan, India’s national television and radio broadcaster.  The Prime Minister of the time, P.V. Narasimha Rao,

a Sai Baba devotee, stepped in and forbade the showing of the film.

Click on this link to watch the clip:

Baba cheating with necklace (1.7 MB)

Keep an eye on:

– the assistant’s hand

– the exchange of the object to be (ostensibly) miraculously materialized

– Sai Baba’s right hand taking hold of the object and then appearing to materialize it.

This was but one case in a great many cases where, all along, heavy government and media censorship have obtained in India in matters detrimental to Sai Baba. His Sathya Sai Organization is extremely widespread and powerful in that country.  The constantly corrupt leaders, irrespective of which party or coalition is in office, have no desire to see cut off the vast wealth in donations that flow to India from abroad from Sai Baba followers and other well-wishers.

Being Wary With One’s Donations

Especially, if you have ever donated, or have been thinking about donating to the Sathya Sai Organization, you might consider looking at the following articles. The photographs may well be enough to put you off forever. See:

Sai Baba Exchequer Worth Billions. Many Countries Donate

For a photographic glimpse of the incredible lavish material ’spendour of Puttaparthi’, see:

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

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

Sathya Sai Baba Chariots.

SEE article with links to some of the world’s most famous magicians using sleight-of-hand far more sophisticatedly than does Sathya Sai Baba. Learn how it is done.

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

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

Behold the ‘Shiva Lingam’ (so-called) miracle. The BBC shot this devastating exposure of Sathya Sai Baba fakery for its documentary ‘The Secret Swami’ at the Maha Shivarathri Festival at Puttaparthi (2004).  The carelessness with which Sathya Sai Baba botched his trick may be explicable by reference to other serious mistakes, in the context of his declining mental and physical health. See: Sai Baba To Be Seen In Moon? But Where Was Moon? and Sathya Sai Baba’s Amazing Predictions and When Disasters Overtake S. Sai Baba’s Promises and Sathya Sai Baba’s Tips To Keep Ageing Away and Ageing and collapse in Sai Baba’s health

See related article by Barry Pittard

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

See Also

• BBC’s ‘The Secret Swami’ and British Press Praise
• The BBC’s ‘The Secret Swami’ (Sai Baba). Revealing Footage
• Sathya Sai Baba Chief, Dr Goldstein, Explodes. “I am the consummate professional” (See Film Clips)
• The BBC’s ‘The Secret Swami’ – A Revision
• BBC Hidden Camera in ‘Secret Swami’. Ethical?
• Indian Minister Shields Sai Baba on BBC television
• Probed On Male Sex Abuse, Sai Baba Evicts BBC TV Team
• Guru Sex Abuse Testimony To BBC – After Years of Silence
• The Genesis of the BBC’s ‘The Secret Swami’ (Sai Baba)
• India A Mature Democracy? BBC Probes
• V.P.B. Nair. B.Premanand. R.Priddy: Sai Baba Bedroom Killings

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CONTRADICTIONS AND CONFUSIONS CONCERNING JESUS CHRIST AND CHRISTIANITY

by Serguei Badaev, former President of the Moscow Sathya Sai Baba Centre

……………………………………………………….

The Public Petition

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

About the Petition For Official Investigation Into Sathya Sai Baba Cult

(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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Subscribe in a reader Subscribe to Call for media and government investigation of Sathya Sai Baba

Organization  

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

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

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

God Sai Baba. 83 years

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

………………..

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’s Self-generated Mythos

At the cost of much effort in scanning the originals, Robert Priddy is gradually posting a wide cross-section of his diary material. This he gives in parallel, with his handwritten entries on one side and a typed version, with his current added comments, on the other.

Robert Priddy visited Puttaparthi many times and was one of the main contributors to Sanathana Sarathi, the Sathya Sai Baba’s official publication, which goes worldwide. As a national leader of the Sathya Sai Organization (Norway), he had access to all the internal correspondence of the Sathya Sai Organization and international meetings.

An example of the scanned material is:

Directly recorded notes (September 1990) as always made daily during my visits to the ashrams

For scholars and others who study the build-up of Sathya Sai Baba’s self-generated mythology, Robert Priddy’s scans of his careful diary-keeping over the years is an asset. Noting some early examples of Sai Baba’s mendacity even as self-reported by Sai Baba himself, Priddy writes (referring to our mutual friend the late V.K.Narasimhan, one of India’s greatest newspaper editors):

“V.K. Narasimhan recounted several times for me how Sathya Sai Baba told him about the two boys reborn as his dogs. He told V.K.N in detail how he had wilfully deceived the examiners by cheating on the behalf of the two boys. I always made diary notes directly after these conversations and have scanned a number of pages as further documentation of my various assertions”.

Reference:

Sathya Sai Baba tells how he deceived examiners and more…

Posted by robertpriddy on October 29, 2008

Related material

Sai Baba on two boys reborn as his dogs

Avatar Day Declaration

By Brian Steel:

The University Chancellor and his Schoolboy Stories (Amended)