Priest Abuse. Long-denied Justice Catching Up In Australia

The gradual, but terribly long-delayed, victory of those activists who have spoken out about sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church is happening. Unfortunately, organizations which also have long histories of perpetuating cover up frequently evade scrutiny. The Sathya Sai Organization, with its immense wealth and international outreach, is but one of many.

I commend this Australian material (below) from our respected national broadcaster, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. I have excerpted this article of last night, which is accompanied by video footage.  No percipient reader in the world can now doubt that the Vatican has been furiously enaged in massive efforts at damage control. It cannot now of course deny its incredibly appalling record.

The notion of ‘coming clean’ – which in certain parts of the Roman Catholic Church is beginning to occur – becomes the more strange when one considers that the dirt and the hiding of the dirt have been endemic for so long. In this light, the notion that we now live in 2010 becomes strange too. Even slight reform is long-time coming when there is the throttling grip of autocracy. It is singular how those very institutions which most preach the virtue of truth-telling, and acting with compassion, are most bereft in this quality.

Just as many have left Sathya Sai Baba because of the widespread and compelling evidence against him – of serial sexual abuse AND other profound spiritual and moral betrayals – so too are many leaving the Roman Catholic Church.

These many religious institutions have abysmally failed to be truthful about, and genuinely responsive to, the widespread sexual and other abuses in their folds. Sathya Sai Baba has long said that he will reform and harmonize all the major faiths before circa AD 2022.

Yet  he and his international Sathya Sai Organization are today in serious plight. There has been a great dwindling of  foreigners attending his Puttaparthi ashram. We have dependable reports from close up that he has for some time been physically and mentally ailing seriously. He has made a regular serious of gaffes, most embarrassing to his minders.  His predictions have often failed. He has made egregious mistakes about science and history. See:

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

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

Sathya Sai Baba’s Amazing Predictions

Sathya Sai Baba’s Tips To Keep Ageing Away

Sai Baba Is God Says Top George Bush Doctor

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

Prophecies About Sathya Sai Baba As God Avatar, Miracle Maker and Saviour of Mankind (Extensive article by Robert Priddy)

In regard to interface with other religion, one can find no evidence that he has made any notable impact on the various Faiths that he earlier announced that he would reform from top to bottom. Thus, he is increasingly revealed as suffering from megalomania. Thus his so-called ‘Sarva Dharma Chakra (depicting the Faiths he has said he would cleanse and unite) remains at best but a pretty drawing (and pretty offensive to many) and a hollow pretense. 

 

 

 

Sathya Sai Baba - Forever Young?

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  Archbishop’s handling of abuse claims challenged

By Stephen Crittenden and Suzanne Smith. ABC, Australia

 

Archbishop Philip Wilson is widely tipped as a possible successor to Cardinal George Pell. (AAP: Alan Porritt)

• Video: Archbishop under fire over alleged abuse cover-up (Lateline)
• Video: Extended interview: Stephen Kilkeary (ABC News)
• Video: Extended interview: Peter Gogarty (ABC News)
• Video: Archive: Calls for a Papal apology (ABC News)
• Video: Archbishop investigated over alleged abuse cover-up (7pm TV News NSW)
• Map: Newcastle 2300
• Related Link: Document: Letter from Bishop Clarke to Fr McAlinden 1995
• Related Link: Document: Statement against Fr McAlinden 1995
• Related Link: Background Briefing: What is wrong with the Catholic Church?
• Related Link: Archbishop Wilson’s statement to the ABC
• Related Link: Broken Rites

The Catholic Archbishop of Adelaide, Philip Wilson, is coming under increasing pressure to explain what he knew about clerical sexual abuse when he was an office-holder in the NSW diocese of Maitland-Newcastle in the late 1970s and 1980s.

Archbishop Wilson has just been re-elected as chairman of the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference, and is widely tipped as a possible successor to the Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell, if Cardinal Pell leaves Sydney to take up a senior post in the Vatican.

The Maitland-Newcastle diocese has become notorious as perhaps the epicentre of Catholic clerical sexual abuse in Australia. Four serious paedophile priests have been jailed since 1997. Father Vincent Ryan’s crimes led to a $6 million compensation payout to victims – a record for the Catholic Church in Australia so far. Father John Denham is due to be sentenced later this month, and the compensation settlement with his victims is expected to be even larger. Yet another priest, Father David O’Hearn, is due to stand trial in the next two weeks.

Now a victim of convicted paedophile Father James Fletcher, who died in jail in 2006, says Archbishop Philip Wilson was a priest living in the bishop’s house in Maitland when Fletcher was also living there in the late 1970s, and that Philip Wilson should have been aware that he was being sexually abused in Fletcher’s upstairs bedroom.

Peter Gogarty says Philip Wilson regularly saw him in Fletcher’s company as he was being taken upstairs to Fletcher’s bedroom, and after he came back downstairs. At one point, when Bishop Leo Clarke became suspicious, Gogarty was banned from being in the bishop’s house, but Fletcher continued to sneak him in the back door. Peter Gogarty says Philip Wilson should have intervened.

“Jim started sneaking me in the back door in the kitchen in the back of the house, straight past the common room where I would regularly pass Philip Wilson and then up the stairs to his bedroom,” he said.

Conveniently for Jim Fletcher, Peter Gogarty was attending a school right next door to the bishop’s house. He says the abuse would occur at lunch time and many afternoons after school. He says he has spoken to Archbishop Wilson over the phone in recent years about what the archbishop thought was going on.

“I asked now Archbishop Wilson what he thought was happening at the time. Did he know that Bishop Clarke had banned me from the house? His response was, no, he didn’t know anything about that, and that as far as he was concerned Jim was a good bloke and he didn’t think Jim was up to anything untoward,” he said.

Peter Gogarty says he can’t accept this explanation from Archbishop Wilson.

“I think, how could a man living in a house with another man not even be remotely curious as to why his house-mate was taking at least one boy up to his bedroom, and there may have been others……” (Rest of article continues at ABC link above)

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Further Resources

Wikiedia. Catholic sexual abuse scandal in Australia (This article indicates updating)

 

Clergy questioned by police

The priests and Catholic church hierarchy who have been questioned by police regarding allegations of sexual abuse of children by clergy in the Maitland-Newcastle diocese.

Justice Catching Up With Australian Priest Abusers

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Barry Pittard on an assortment of cover ups

More Testimony To Male Sexual Abuse By Sathya Sai Baba

Sathya Sai Baba’s Tips To Keep Ageing Away

Nityananda Scandal. Police Seize Indicting Material. Why No Raids On Sathya Sai Baba?

Typical Testimony of Sathya Sai Baba’s Sex Abuse of Young Males

Is Heat Too Much For Swami Nityananda, Under Fire By Sex Abuse Allegations?

Boy Scouts of America – Sex Abuse Revelations. Who Next?

Sexual Abuse Priests. What?! The Pope Never Knew?

Why Nithyananda Sex Scandal Investigations and Not A Sathya Sai Baba Probe?

Roman Catholics’ Deep Concern At Pope’s Apology. But He Is Way Ahead Of Indian ‘Pope’ Sathya Sai Baba

BBC Transcript ‘The Secret Swami’ (Sathya Sai Baba’s Frauds Exposed)

Standing Up To Cultic Monoliths. (Sathya Sai Baba Organization Example)

Reply To Yaani

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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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A Garden and A Home

I am in a reflective mood. It has been Christmas. Or is it still Christmas? Various dear kin and friends have dispersed until we meet again. My reader may forebear that I pause from other concerns and share a thought or so.

The Christmas-New Year holidays are often said to be a time of family togetherness. In the West where I live, this notion is repeated  – often bravely and grimly – by those whose homes are far from together. One of my greatest experiences was to be with Indian families on pilgrimage. This intensified, and made yet more visible, the extent in that society of family bonding and cooperation, whatever may be the social lesions at large. India and other very old societies have much to show us recent arrivals in these matters. 

Much wisdom is available in all the cultures. It is singularly unwise that any of us should detain ourselves in quarreling about differences. A great question to be raised is whether all of our countries can arrest the madness for materials. And to be wise in the manner of arresting, too. Whether that perennial wisdom can be valued, experienced, harnessed and applied is perhaps the question of all questions.

The lovely family bonding I saw wherever I traveled in India sprang from time-honoured roots that respect each of the different stages of human life – long before modern industrialization put greed rampant. Before memory was made so forgetful. Before the heart (which one of my philosophical friends says cannot be proved to exist) was made a shrinking thing. So that shining machines and elegant systems and contending theories of State could claw and chew to pieces all that is natural and kindly. When I returned to the West after several years in India, the breakdown of the family was even more advanced. To a character in one of my writings, I gave the following song:

A Garden and A Home

I saw just how my Grandpa loved her well

He quipped that he did in case she would give him hell

Long-time I watched to see if his love was craft

But he never forgot her heart, and to make it laugh

 

I asked Grandma – is it true – does young love go?

Her face grew flushful, and she crooned: “Oh no!”

She smiled when I asked how it was that their love had grown

“It’s because we keep a garden and a home”

 

        Because they kept a garden and a home – that’s what she said

        Because they kept a garden and a home

 

I looked all around, saw all of my friends, my foes

And we’d all known how thorns are grown with the rose

But then we’d hide, and the thorns we philosophied

Our homes divided, and our kids denied

 

        How can a rose tree grow in a garden home? I ask

        If even one can grow, won’t someone make it known? At last

 

I live in a house – I suppose it’s some kind of home

I poured cement so roses are unknown – Not grown!

And in cement no lover ever smiled

And in cement no smiling rose grows wild

 

        And I’ll admit that I don’t feel at home in my home

        I will admit that I don’t feel at home at home

 

Though I asked: Grandma, is it true – does young love go?

When her face grew flushful, and she crooned: “Oh no!”

How she smiled when I asked how it was that their love had grown!

She said: “It’s because we keep a garden and a home”

 

        Because we keep a garden and a home

        Because we keep a garden and a home

        Because we keep a garden and a home

        Because we keep a garden and a home

Note:  This song is protected under provisions of:

The Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) 

India – Timeless and Timed, Eternal and Venal

India is, often well-nigh invisibly, ‘bound’ to timelessness. The West, all too often and too visibly, ‘shackled’ to time. Both vistas can be gifts – a sense of timelessness because it helps us to raise our eyes above the deceptive fascinations of the material. A sense of time, because pragmatism is not all bad.

Sathya Sai Baba, now ravaged by time, as we all must soon enough be, and in a decrepitude easily visible from his photos, and in a series of cranky actions that he would never formerly have made the mistake of committing at least publicly, has had more than enough time to keep his promise that he would first “clean up (his) own backyard, India.  See:  Huge Sai Baba Gaffes and: Sai Baba To Be Seen In Moon? But Where Was Moon? and: ‘World Avatar’ Sathya Sai Baba’s Troubled Trail

Some Sathya Sai Baba apologists assert that the wide social cross-section, including ‘the elites’, that follows him is yet another proof of his divinity. It is a version of the old, badly flawed argument from numbers, humorously used in the old Broadway song: ‘Fifty Million Frenchmen Can’t Be Wrong’:

 In Viva la France
They’re full of romance
You’ll find policemen with embroidery on their pants.
And when they start to sing the Marseillaise
They sing it forty different ways
Fifty million Frenchmen can’t be wrong

Though there are timeless strains within Indian culture which aim to transcend the boundaries of caste and parochialism, it is hard for many of her citizens to be exempt. In very different ways, they face the same bugbear we know too well in the West – in our case, rooted in an expected safety but false comfort, but, nonetheless, in both cases, the absence of critical faculties – especially self-critical faculties.

Images of those Indian historical figures who have urged their fellows to transcend limitations of race, caste and creed sit upon millions of altars. Pictures of them are ubiquitous in India, on the streets and in the homes. The exaltation of certain human beings into demigods is rife, and virtually as much accorded to political and sporting figures (especially cricketers) as it is to religious figures. I have seen a few very frightening examples of Indian crowds, whether in the name of sport, politics or religion, made up of people whom I knew well to be decent and kindly, turn into a stampeding, frenzied mob.

In an 2008 article – International Cricket And The Secret Swami – I referred to but a small few of many dangerous symptoms revealed within the Indian body politic:

… this effigy-burning aspect of India relates to that part of India that is so ridden by anarchy, political manipulation of mobs, poverty, crime, corruption, nepotism, and casteism, and so often pretendedly democratic. It is the India which long ago Sai Baba promised to bring to ways of peace (shanti) and non-violence (ahimsa), before he left for other countries around the world, saying that he would first “clean up (his) own backyard”. Yet as recently February 16, 2007, in a so-called ‘divine discourse’, Sai Baba said, “I intend to undertake a world tour, shortly.” See, Wealthy Americans Prepare Mansions For “God’s” Visit

How well, for example, in December 1997, I remember the scene where the milling crowds at Puttaparthi gave the Indian cricketers the sort of adulation that one might have thought would have been reserved for Sathya Sai Baba. Many women shrieked no less than men. They clawed at the air towards the cricketers’ busses as though they might rend the veil that separates earth and heaven. But we all shortly watched a very good cricket match – how civilized …. (Mind you, Sathya Sai Baba and his officials falsely billed it as an “international” cricket match. It was nothing of the sort. Sunil Gavaskar, India’s former Test captain, supported by Sai Baba’s ‘lite’ version of Dr Joseph Goebbels, Dr G. Venkataraman, falsely stated “So, the Unity Cup was played with players from all over the world including Pakistan”. See my article: Sai Baba Cricket Match International? Claim Was False and Sai Baba Vs Kerry Packer.

As India edges towards superpower status, and becoming ever more widely visible to the world, this formidable weakness, if not seriously addressed at many educational, political and other levels, will lend to a situation stated by Shakespeare’s Lord Hamlet (though he was speaking of his blighted country’s characteristic drunkenness):

This heavy-headed revel, east and west,
Makes us traduced and taxed of other nations

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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 Topic On CNN-IBN – on his 81st birthday

CNN-IBN ( CNN-India Broadcast News) is an English language Indian TV news channel lauched in 2005. The network is a partnership between Global Broadcast News (GBN) and Turner International (Turner) in India. Rajdeep Sardesai is the Editor-in-Chief of the network.

One may comment:  What debate?!

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE VIDEO ON-LINE
if unavailable, click here

Source:  CNN-IBN TV interviews: “Debate – Sai Baba a Godsend?”

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See Topics posted at ‘Call For Media and Government Investigation’:  Sathya Sai Baba Birthday 2009

Sathya Sai Baba 84th Birthday Celebrations. Will 21st Century India Tolerate The Shame That Is Puttaparthi?

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

Sathya Sai Baba Birthday. Brian Steel Examines Birthdate Issue

For earlier birthday events at Puttaparthi:

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

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

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Barry Pittard’s comments in regard to the Public Petition) -:

Petition For Official Investigation Into Sathya Sai Baba Cult

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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

 

Nobel Peace Prize To Obama. India’s Past Candidate Sathya Sai Baba Long-forgotten

The Nobel Institute has just awarded US President Barach Obama the Nobel Peace Prize.

News of the Obama receipt of the Prize stirs memories of those involved in submissions contra Sathya Sai Baba to the Nobel Institute a decade ago. They cannot but be reminded of the resounding failure of Sathya Sai Baba-disposed forces within the Indian government to nominate the guru for this same prize.

Well-remembered is all the excitement generated among devotees when news that his name was being put forward was announced in Sai Centers around the world. The strange notion of quite how tasteful it was that ‘God’ should receive such an earth-bound award was remote from their consideration. He and his officials badly misrepresented the status of Dr Michael Nobel, a major player in WorldSpace International Satellite Radio Service, which broadcasts Sathya Sai Baba propaganda (Sai Global Harmony) to many countries in the world. See:

Sathya Sai Baba's 'Minister of Propaganda' - Dr G. Venkataraman.

For details of the highly flawed relationship of Sathya Sai Baba and his Puttaparthi officials with the disgraced Dr Michael Nobel and Sathya Sai Baba’s very public mixing up of facts, see my two articles:

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

Posted by Barry Pittard on June 14, 2009

QUOTE

“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 Alfred 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”.

and:

No Nobel Peace Prize For Self-Claimed God of Gods Sathya Sai Baba

Posted by Barry Pittard on June 18, 2009

QUOTE

“Not far short of a decade ago, it had been announced in Sathya Sai Baba centers round the world that Sathya Sai Baba was a candidate for a Nobel Peace Prize. On behalf of our networked group of former followers of Sathya Sai Baba, I wrote to Dr Geir Lundestad, then Director of the Nobel Institute. An exchange of emails ensued, and I provided him with in-depth documentation concerning Sathya Sai Baba and his sect”.

(Photo: But no Nobel Prize for Sathya Sai Baba. Dr Lundestad is on the Left of H.H. the Dalai Lama, recipient of that Prize in 1989).

New York Times Article – Unpleasant Revelations

In regard to the New York Times exposure of Dr Michael Nobel, see:

The Nobel Prize that Wasn’t – 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.”

Further Resources

Sathya Sai Baba as Nobel Peace Prize Candidate

Posted by robertpriddy on June 3, 2008

QUOTE

“Hunger for top international recognition of Sathya Sai Baba thwarted

Sathya Sai Baba ill-concealed hope of being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize was backed by Prime Minister Vajpayee’s Indian Government! The chance of this was strongly hinted at by the Sai Baba himself, saying: in his 18 November 2001 Discourse
“They are giving the Nobel Prize to many people. The man who gives the Nobel Prize 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.” The Times of India reported further (24-11-2001) – making massive factual errors: “Dr Michael Nobel, Head of the Nobel Institution and Director, Worldspace, told the Times of India, the things that Baba has done is simply amazing and this channel will spread his message to the world. He said there would be an explosion of his teachings. I am confident it will have a lasting impact. Dr Nobel said the channel now offers the reach to take his message to billions in the world.”

Sathya Sai Baba and The Dalai Lama

This article gives some reasons why one such as the Dalai Lama was a worthy recipient of the Nobel Peace and Sathya Sai Baba would be well-disqualified

QUOTE

“The Dalai Lama has convincingly lived fearless non-violence in all he does since the 1950s, which gives substance to his teaching of non-violence. Unlike this, Sathya Sai Baba spews out torrents of repetitive preachings about non-violence yet actively covered up the murders in his bedroom in 1993 and got the entire case quashed by his devotees in the Government of Narasimha Rao and then Home Minister S.B. Chavan. Unlike Sathya Sai Baba, the Dalai Lama has never had to conceal himself nearby in a room in his own ashram while four close attendants were assassinated then giving at least tacit approval and later outright public approval of the event!

Has the Dalai Lama ever damned or threatened anyone? Well, this self-claimed “ever-tranquil, totally unaffected” Sathya Sai Baba dropped his guard and showed everyone his hidden hand in his Christmas 2000 discourse … namely, that by damning his critics to constant rebirths in many shameful lives, he is not compassionate or loving of everyone (as he has always claimed before and since, even of his detractors). He would not even risk answering any questions about the murders, so he damned certain pressmen in Andhra Pradesh who wanted to get to the facts. Also in a later discourse, he heavily attacked the Indian press as spreading slander about him (when someone was arrested with a pistol at his Whitefield ashram). One never hears the Dalai Lama speak of the press in such a manner”.

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Sathya Sai Baba’s Questionable Stories and Claims

Brian Steel    May 2008

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Sathya Sai Baba lack of awards

Posted by robertpriddy on June 3, 2008

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

For a spurious Sathya Sai Baba connection in regard to President Obama, very typical of the highly-active Sai devotee imagining that Sathya Sai Baba is influencing world leaders, see:

Does Obama Carry Sathya Sai Baba Photo In Wallet?

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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)

Basava Premanand. Vale. A fighter for truth who lived what others preach

The foremost Indian rationalist, Basava Premanand has died, aged 79, of cancer at Podannur, Tamil Nadu (17 February 1930 – 4 October 2009).

 

Basava Premanand (17 Feb. 1930-4 October 2009). India's most famous Rationalist

Premanand’s close colleague Professor Narendra Nayak has just informed me of his death, and I am deeply saddened. Premanand and I had an extensive correspondence over the years, joined eventually by my trusted colleague, Robert Priddy.

Premanand, the late Glen Meloy of the USA, and I maintained contact during the making of  BBC television’s “The Secret Swami”. See: In Memoriam – Glen Meloy (“Standing up for truth and goodness”). This contact strengthened in the difficulties of international co-ordination, which were considerable.

Amid sadness on receipt of the news of Premanand’s passing, I briefly smiled, as memories began to course back, at how some, but happily by no means all, of the members of the international former Sathya Sai Baba network, got upset by my contacting Premanand – but what a priviledge they missed out on!  This was a man who vividly lived the principles about which some but speak and genuflect, their eyes upraised.

The word “warmth” is one of the words that I cherish when think of Premanand, and this quality shows in the words of a glowing tribute at Glen Meloy’s death, when he said: “Glen’s death was a great shock. I wanted him to live till Sai Baba was arrested … I am missing a great loving friend whom I came to know from the BBC film production.”

With Premanand, Robert Priddy and I worked on some research, analysis and written work. Together, we were able to expose  –  including with  some Interpol and Indian police follow-up  –  an extensive attempt at penetration of the networked exposure of Sathya Sai Baba and core colleagues by one of his former college/university teachers.

Had it not been for the economies of telephony, I feel sure we would have spoken more between India and Australia, but were restricted to emailing. In recent months, I was tempted to try, with the assistance of his aides, to set up a Skype link, but, realising that his cancer had struck back again, thought the better of it. About three years ago, Premanand and I spoke on the phone for about an hour, when he was staying with his sister in Bangalore. His warmth of greeting when he answered the phone was touching and palpable. Throughout the conversation, I was aware of his wide grasp of issues, graciousness, and of a sense of stern purpose  lightened by a gentle humour.

A fire-eating, gurubusting Basava Premanand, who traveled widely in India exposing the corrupt gurus' tricks

I don’t know that Sathya Sai Baba will be arrested. He ails considerably, despite his declaration that he would not age after his 60th birthday.  Premanand was his great and unrelenting foe in India. Alas, the forces of corruption in India, which Premanand so courageously faced for so many years, are almost unimaginable. Of course, to let any notion of mountainous difficulties seep into consciousness would be to ensure that any light in the world snuffs out fast. Premanand had those rare blessings – innocence without naivity, and the warrior spirit that fights for goodness and gentleness. Premanand was one of those voices that cry out in a wilderness of superstition, fear and apathy. However, I learn that there is a feisty younger generation who support his work. So he will not die.

Perhaps attempt to educate and warn, rather than the jail scenario for Sathya Sai Baba, will be the one that triumphs.

I have wondered whether Premanand would have achieved some of his ends if it were not for the terrible dereliction by those calling themselves religious.  A foremost Hindu leader wrote to me:

“There is considerable concern among the Hindu Community, especially among the educated. It is very hard to get any action from the temples as they do not wish to cause difficulties with the Sathya Sai Baba groups. People are starting to distance themselves from Sathya Sai Baba. It’s going to be gradual process of education. The biggest impact it appears was the ‘The Secret Swami’ … it seems it has had a tremendous negative effect on Sathya Sai Baba”.

Perhaps if there were to be a Heaven after all, and Premanand, of course, find himself in its halls, one rather thinks that he would find the company, although illustrious, rather too few.

Goodbye, good man …..

Barry Pittard, Australia

See Wikipedia entry for Basava Premanand

See tributes to B. Premanand by Professor Nayak, Premanand’s successor and president of the Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations, and others:

Basva Premanand (17 February 1930 – 04 October 2009)- The Passing of a Great Man

Sathya Sai Baba and Dr G.Venkataraman: Will They Disavow Their Idi Amin Fondness?

Deputy head of the international Sathya Sai Organization and Head of Sai Global Radio G. Venkataraman’s “Mr Idi Amin” Report (http://media.radiosai.org/Journals/Vol_05/01JAN07/11-prasanthi-diary.htm) stands as an appalling affront to those who suffered at this monstrous dictator’s hands. Note how Venkataraman, on Sai Global Radio, refers to Mr Idi Amin. I may add that it is interesting that Amin claimed to have a direct line to God. Did he have in mind, specifically, Sathya Sai Baba? Perhaps Amin scholars may have something among their files, and can let us all know.

Sathya Sai Baba-Idi Amin Nexus. Fond Memories

Here is what G. Venkataraman wrote:

“The moment of moments came when Swami stood up to give His divine discourse. Swami thrilled one and all with memories of His Divine tour to Africa, namely Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya. Swami related how Mr. Idi Amin was very fond of Him and used to have the darshan of Swami both in the morning and evening. During His stay, he arranged a dinner for Swami and meticulously got all instructions from Dr. Patel as to Swami’s menu and how it should be prepared. On the day of the dinner, Idi Amin’s wives stood in rows on either side and greeted Swami with veneration. Idi Amin himself introduced each of them one by one to Swami.

On the day Swami was to leave, which happened to be Guru Purnima day, Idi Amin was suffering from pangs of separation and started shedding tears pleading with Swami not to leave them.

Not only did Amin but the Africans were all in tears and fell at the feet of Swami praying:

“Bhagavan! Please spend this day with us.” Their devotion melted the heart of Swami and made Him spend Guru Purnima with them. An important miracle happened on this day. The Africans had wished to take photos with Swami.Swami told them that they might silently pray in their heart so that their requests may be fulfilled. To their joy, each of them found a photo of Swami lying beside them”.

Further Reading

Jointly authored

The International Sathya Sai Organization – an accessory to a massive libel and disinformation campaign (Open letter to the Prasanthi Council – c/o Dr. M. Goldstein, Dr. G. Venkataraman and its other members).

Note: This document is signed by the following prominent Sathya Sai Organization members:

Serguei Badaev, Russia 1995-2001 Ex-President of Sai Org. Moscow Centre and Deputy National Chairman for Russia.
Timothy Conway Ph.D, USA. Follower for 22 years; President of the Sathya Sai Baba Center of San Francisco from 1982-4.
Dennis J. Hanisch, USA. Follower for 27 years. Founder member and Vice-President, Seattle Center.
David. J. Lyons, USA. Follower from 1981 to 2000. Ex-President of the Center of Greater New Orleans.
Barry Pittard, Australia. 1976-1999. Former English Lecturer, Sathya Sai College, Whitefield.
Robert Priddy, Norway. 1983-2002. Founder member/Ex-Chairman of Oslo Center & Coordinator for Norway 1986-1996.
Reidun Priddy, Norway. 1983-2000. Founder member and Seva Wing Coordinator 1986-1998
Al Rahm,  Office-bearing member of the SSO for decades. Regional Devotional Coordinator and founder of first Education in Human Values school in the U.S.
Barbara Shocket, USA Follower: 1980-1990.
Dhyani Jo Sinclair, Canada Member and Sai Centre Secretary, 1995-2000

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At ‘Sathya Sai Baba Deceptions Exposed’ – http://robertpriddy.wordpress.com

Dr. G. Venkataraman, propagandist in the limelight

Sathya Sai Baba, dictator Idi Amin and G. Venkataraman

Apologist for Sathya Sai Baba

G. VENKATARAMAN – CHIEF PROPAGANDIST FOR ‘GOD’

Dr.G. Venkataraman – physicist ‘explains’ Sathya Sai Baba.

G. Venkataraman’s out-dated and fallacious ideas – part two.

Atomic physics Puttaparthi style. Deeply intriguing

Venkataraman – the most gullible physicist alive?

Venkataraman, a victim of emotional blackmail?

Money, Morality and Sai-worshipper Dr. Venkataraman

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At ‘Call For Media and Government Investigation of Sathya Sai Baba’ – https://barrypittard.wordpress.com

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

Idi Amin Video Clip. Amin Claimed Direct Line To God

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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)

Susan Boyle: ‘Wild Horses’ Won’t Hold Her Back

There are, of course, more beautiful things in life than writing about Sathya Sai Baba and his movement. Duty can have its own beauty, though it is far from an absolute form of it. The exquisite and stereotype-challenging saga of Scots singer Susan Boyle affords something closer to the absolute. (And those who have come to this page who are simply interested in her can scroll down this page to the information about her).

Though the thought of my own engagement in anything significantly-other in life courts disbelief by a prominent Internet detractor and gross defamer, my work on Sathya Sai Baba constitutes but a minor part of my frequently delightful and deeply fulfilling days. Working quickly, and having other life interests, is native to a number of former followers of Sathya Sai Baba who have stood forth to call for media and government investigation of Sathya Sai Baba and certain of his core leaders.

Indeed, many former devotees, including those active in unmasking him and his powerful worldwide cult, have long had – as has  Susan Boyle (see in the two photos below) – strong responsibilities in regard to family (she dedicatedly nursed her mother for many years), cultural activity – e.g., with involvement in bringing  joy and loving company to those such as the elderly and other marginalized groups – (Susan Boyle was a member of her Church Choir and active in her small Scottish village community), and other worthy pursuits.

Susan Boyle, Wonderful Chanteuse 

Belle Scots Chanteuse Susan Boyle Continues To Delight

Last April, deeply moved, as was so much of the rest of the world (she, by degrees of magnitude, broke all-time records for the number of hits on YouTube), by the Scottish singer Susan Boyle, I wrote of her in relation to having been the target of ageist discrimination not unlike, in its own way, that shown by the Sathya Sai Baba proxy defender on the Internet in relation to Robert Priddy, Brian Steel and myself. See:

Susan Boyle. Unexpected Divine Chanteuse. Sweet 47.

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

Susan Boyle Sings ‘Memory’. Worldwide Audience Not Likely To Forget (See Video)

After some hardships in facing her possibly even  more than meteoric rise to super stardom Susan Boyle has now re-appeared. You can hear this lovely voice and courageous personality singing ‘Wild Horses’ by clicking on Susan Boyle’s photo or the article title below, which is at the music-related website:  http://www.undercover.com.au

 Susan Boyle Covers Rolling Stones Wild Horses – by Paul Cashmere – September 14 2009

The first single from the forthcoming debut album from Susan Boyle is indeed an interesting choice. She has covered the Rolling Stones `Wild Horses`.

The original Stones version was from the 1970 ‘Sticky Fingers’ album.

Boyle has taken the Stones acoustic track and reinvented it into a haunting Tori Amoseque version.

The album will be released in November and last week outsold the new Whitney Houston album on presales alone at Amazon.com.

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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)

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

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

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

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

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

V.J. Ram writes: 

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

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

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

Select Resources (which contain many other links)

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

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

Untoward events at Sai Baba ashrams

Sai Baba ashram news reports

Review of the Murders in Sai Baba’s bedroom issue

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

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

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

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

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

(Spanish version PETICIÓNPÚBLICA PARA INVESTIGACIONES OFICIALES

Prominent Indians Berate India’s Rife Political Corruption

Many are the intellectually extremely dishonest ploys used by those who fanatically oppose the exposure of Sathya Sai Baba and core leaders of his sect.

One of these ruses intended to blacken those who have stood for truth for a great many years of their lives is that former devotees who speak out are “India bashers”. To point out how he and his key servitors have only deepened the corruption that is rife in India greatly displeases them. They do not stop to consider that there are forces – many of them tremendously courageous – who criticise India from within. The fact that Sathya Sai Baba’s  apologists will not face is that Sai Baba has many times said that he and his Sathya Sai Organization are going to save the world, mostly within his own lifetime. He has failed. Many of his promises and predictions have already been categorically falsified. Reliable first-hand reports as well as recent photographic evidence show show that he is in marked decline. See related articles below.

Robert Priddy, former longtime leader of the Sathya Sai Organization in Norway and retired academic of the University of Oslo,

has just blogged most interestingly and with a generous supply of useful authoritative research links, suggesting some poste general election tide-turnings in India. He cites important and respected Indian commentators such as the 10th Chief Election Commissioner of India T.N. Seshan,

and also the British citizen of Indian background, Sir Gulam Noon MBE.

Such commentators can hardly be accused of “India bashing” – they are telling it like it is – likely because they deeply care for the greatness that resides within India, and they stand against her betrayal.  See: India’s election gives some hope. Posted by robertpriddy on July 5, 2009. Priddy writes:

“The problems of the Indian masses have very largely been disregarded by the politicians and the huge obstructive and nest-feathering bureaucracy. The previous Congress-led government was too weak and dependent on other parties to take strong measures to raise the poor or provide them with the facilities which are essential to a minimum of decent livelihood. It is hoped – on behalf of India’s tortured poor and suffering, that this will begin to change, after setbacks in reduction of poverty in the last two decades. India can only benefit from such changes, the alternatives are too terrible to contemplate. There are many diaspora Indians who would never return to India other than for holidays or possibly old age retirement. Sir Gulam Noon, who made a fortune out of Britain’s appetite for Indian food, is one such. In the tabloid press he is known simply as the Curry King. Interviewed on Hard Talk by Stephen Sackur, he was asked if he thought investing in India would be an option for him, considering the credit crunch and the relative immunity of the Indian economy to its effects. In his reply, he made clear his view that – though he visits often and has involvements in India, not least in his charitable institutions, the country is still ruled by criminally-corrupt politicians. This is a major indictment by a diaspora Indian of such notability”.

Further Related Resources

Sathya Sai Baba: India to lead a unified world soon

Sathya Sai Baba – prophecies in the ‘suka nadi’ palm leaves

Sai Baba predictions, promises and prophecies – index

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

Sai Baba Fails To Appear In Moon, IANS Reports

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

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

Sai Baba 83. Has Said He Will Rule World

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

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

‘World Avatar’ Sathya Sai Baba’s Troubled Trail

Sai Baba – Miraculous or Disastrous?

Huge Sai Baba Gaffes

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Video Resources

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

Further Resources

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

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

PUBLIC PETITION

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

IN SPANISH

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

Iran Outrages Show Importance of Film and Other Evidence Against Oppression

The violent suppression by security forces in Iran, just as the oppression practised on a vast scale by China, reminds one of the importance of photographic exposure of various kinds of abuses, and dissemination worldwide.

Who can forget the importance of speedily smuggled photos and the use of fax machines in exposing the massacre at the Tienanmen Square protests of 1989? Or, the use of mobile and Internet technology in recent hours and days in exposing the violent regime in Iran. In this way, a heart-rent world has just witnessed, for example, the killing on the streets of Iran of the 16 years old music student Neda Agha-Soltan. Twitter and YouTube have been able to lead the way.

Importance of Reliable Photographic and Other Evidence 

As a result of BBC, Doordarshan and other footage, fake miracles of Sathya Sai Baba have been exposed. It is by these so-called miracles that he has, along with his powerful charisma, been able to gain such power.  See:

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

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

Note, too, how the BBC in its 2004 documentary ‘The Secret Swami’ caught Dr Michael Goldstein, Sai Baba’s top man, in a rage.

 

Sai Baba’s head man Dr Michael Goldstein. Showing an example in action of:  ‘Love All Serve All’ 

 Also, Goldstein’s circular to many Sai Baba devotees escaped out onto the Internet, exposing how Goldstein related that Sai Baba had ensured, by his all-knowingness and all-seeingness, that all his devotees who would have been in the places attacked on 9/11, that all his devotees were mystically caused to be out of harm’s way. See:

Sai Baba Saved Devotees From 9/11 Says Dr Michael Goldstein

The tragedies and shocking abuses both sexual and of other kinds along the Sathya Sai Baba path have frequently, of course, not been caught by camera – except, e.g.,  in a case such as the incriminating photgraphic material, resulting, it seems fairly patent, in a death which, for now, will have to be documented by India’s most famous Rationalist B.Premanand and those such as his lawyers. The corruption of many Indian police, who are widely hated and feared in India, has not helped them. Too often the Indian justice system is corrupt from the many of the Judges down. See: 

Sai Baba protected by the Supreme Court of India

Well may the Iranians and other peoples whose human rights have been outraged maintain all efforts to tear aside the cover up, piercing it with the sharp lens of the camera, and using modern technology like mobiles and the Internet to surface their plight. Especially given the Iranian government’s crackdown on journalists, it is good to see the BBC encourage Iranians fighting for their freedom to make contact with it, given their accounts and views.

In the meantime, our thoughts are with Iranian people who have for so long desired democracy to come to their culturally rich and magnificent country.

The BBC has put up the following notice, which some of my readers may wish to spread ever further:

Are you in Iran? What do you think of the current situation? Are you taking part in the demonstrations? If you have any information you would like to share with the BBC you can do so using the form below: Send your pictures and video to yourpics@bbc.co.uk  or text them to +44 7725 100 100. If you have a large file you can upload here. Read the terms and conditions At no time should you endanger yourself or others, take any unnecessary risks or infringe any laws.

No Nobel Peace Prize For Self-Claimed God of Gods Sathya Sai Baba

Not far short of a decade ago, it had been announced in Sathya Sai Baba centers round the world that Sathya Sai Baba was a candidate for a Nobel Peace Prize. On behalf of our networked group of former followers of Sathya Sai Baba, I wrote to Dr Geir Lundestad, then Director of the Nobel Institute. An exchange of emails ensued, and I provided him with in-depth documentation concerning Sathya Sai Baba and his sect. 

(Photo: But no Nobel Prize for Sathya Sai Baba. Dr Lundestad is on the Left of H.H. the Dalai Lama, recipient of that Prize in 1989).

Dr Lundestad emphasized that the policy of the Institute is never to issue any list of candidates, either before or after the winners of the Peace Prize are announced, and that the names of Nobel Prize recipients are announced, while the names of failed candidates are not revealed.

Dr Lundestad’s statements are a far cry from the announcement of Sathya Sai center leaders worldwide. Great had been the rejoicings of devotees, despite the fact that a Nobel Peace Prize – in an odd come-down from the dizzy heights of Heaven – would sit oddly encircling the neck of God.

The fact of the matter is that this was a time when there was great and organized dissent by former devotees. Increasing numbers – including very prominent and respected leaders – were leaving the Sathya Sai Organization. The Sathya Sai Organization had a problem of huge dimensions on its hands.  See:

 

In Memoriam – Glen Meloy (“Standing up for truth and goodness”).

 

Any straw to clutch onto was welcome, or even the hope of a plum from the Nobel Insitute ‘tree’.

 

To the Nobel Institute, we offered, among other compelling evidence, material that referred to UNESCO, Interpol, FBI, Australian Federal Police, and so on. We had witnesses with credentials of outstanding service and repute in their own communities. These came from many professions, trades and cultures. We had decent families who have invested years of dedication and sacrificial service to Sathya Sai Baba. Sathya Sai Baba’s serial sexual molestation of their children, and other grievous abuses, had shattered their lives. The names of most we have not allowed to be publicized, though they have long stood ready to cooperate with well-reputed media, institutes, etc.

 

Moving into Scandavavian waters, we also cited  ‘Seduced’ by DR, Denmark’s national television and radio broadcaster, subsequently shown by SBS in Australia, retitled: ‘Seduced By Sai Baba’, which, as it had done with DR, the Sathya Sai Organization threatened to sue. In a phone conversation with me, when I mentioned the (then) Australian head of the Sathya Sai Organization T.Sri Ramanathan’s threat to sue, a senior Producer with SBS laughed, and said: “Let them!”.  As always, when Sathya Sai Baba’s officials have threatened instrumentalities like the BBC and other leading media, they failed to carry out their threats. It is a behaviour seen in many groups widely deemed to be cults that reveal a strong autocracy, perhaps most famously Scientology.

 

Among other documentation available to the Nobel Institute was that from former devotees from several countries, including sworn testimony, earlier provided for UNESCO, resulting in a stern Media Advisory. Furthermore, UNESCO successfully intervened with a complaint to the Press Trust of India when The Times of India (with a leading member of the Sathya Sai Central Trust on its Board of Directors, ex-Chief Justice of India P.N. Bhagwati) tried to water down the Advisory. See:

 

The Case of UNESCO’s Missing Media Advisory.

UNESCO and Indian Government – Were Up To Tricks

BBC Caught UNESCO Head Bowing To Indian Government

Note:  Puttaparthi officials and the Indian Foreign Minister (himself a follower of Sathya Sai Baba) tried to get UNESCO to suppress the Media Advisory – but were sharply thwarted by the BBC.  

Further Reading

 

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

Posted by Barry Pittard on June 14, 2009

QUOTES

‘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.”

Note:  Sai Baba publicly mistakenly stated that “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”.

‘In fact, Michael Nobel has been repudiated by the Swedish Nobel Committee and exposed in the New York Times.

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. In this article, 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’. 

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UNESCO Media Advisory 

UNESCO WITHDRAWS FROM CONFERENCE

Paris, September 15 – UNESCO has decided it will no longer sponsor nor take part in a conference it had been due to co-organize with the Institute of Sathya Sai Education (ISSE, Thailand) and The Flinders University Institute of International Education (Australia), in Puttaparthi, India, from September 25 to 29. The decision means UNESCO is no longer associated in any way through sponsorship, organization or participation of any kind with the conference on Strengthening Values Education: Innovative Approaches to Teacher Education for Peace and International Understanding.

UNESCO’s withdrawal was prompted by several factors. Certain decisions were taken by the ISSE without consultation, such as plans to hold some of the sessions at the Ashram of the Sathya Sai movement in Puttaparthi, and the inclusion of some speakers in the conference programme without their previous consent. Furthermore, the Organization is deeply concerned about widely-reported allegations of sexual abuse involving youths and children that have been levelled at the leader of the movement in question, Sathya Sai Baba. Whilst it is not for UNESCO to pronounce itself in this regard, the Organization restates its firm moral and practical commitment to combating the sexual exploitation of children, in application of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which requires States to protect children from all forms of sexual exploitation and violence.

‘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

Attacks By Hooligans Against Foreign Students In Australia

In relation to attacks against foreign students in Australia, there are some tough questions. A number of reasons exist why the majority of these attacks have occurred on Indian students, and the issue is complex. The situations are not as portrayed, with a dangerous, irresponsible oversimplification, either by certain sections of the Indian media that are clearly committed to jingoism, hysteria, sensationalism and burgeoning of sales, who gravely misrepresent the view of a great many Indians who live in Australia (See e.g., statement by Federation of Indian Associations of Victoria president Vasan Srinivasan) or by an isolated but powerful and  disgraceful class of radio talk-back hosts who are biggots and their poorly-educated audiences we alarmingly still have in Australia, known as ‘shock jocks’.

No amount of misrepresentation can alter the facts that most Australians do not engage in or approve of racism. Many from some 200 countries who have migrated to this country attest to this fact. The situation is not assisted by those who, whether out of sensationalism or simple-mindedness or agendas of hatred resort to the fallacy of confusing part with whole, branding the behaviour of a few a whole group, who do not think, or feel or act out that for which they are being assailed.

However, the question of whether we in Australia are in danger of being selfish, cocooned, complacent and far too unquestioning of our ‘authorities’ and ourselves is quite another question. It was communities in the suburbs, far more than forces within governments, which won Australia’s great achievements in  forging a multicultural society. Sometimes the word ‘multiculturalism’ has been used but it can be a confusing and systematically misleading term.  The Australian experience – or experiment –  needs to be carefully distinguished from the performances of other countries, and discussed with proper regard for the facts.  One starting-point for those who wish to survey the area is the Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Council, which has many resources both practical and academic. The Council’s website is HERE.

But there is a work undone: those communities especially in the outer suburbs to which many foreign students are driven by their economic constraints will have to do some of it. They will need to rise to an occasion. Or will they expect the police and other authorities to do it for them? To stand by when bones are being broken and lives destroyed does not add up to self-respect and a sense of justice within those in whose midsts violence is happening.

I offer some questions – very preliminary – that I think my fellow Australians will need to consider:

Why have not messages got through to increasingly bold urban hooligans that attacks on anyone are not to be tolerated?

Why are these uneducated hooligans being permitted to sway Australia’s standing in the fellowship of nations?

What is there about our education, justice and parental support systems that allow for the existence of hooliganism?

What, if any, community-based, imaginative, proactive steps are being taken to make foreign students, migrants and refugees to feel welcome, valued and safe in Australia?

If the police are engaged in a losing battle, as in other areas such as drugs, are the Federal, State and Local governments failing in being upfront and in ensuring the widest public awareness and debate?

Why have attacks escalated to such a point where it has taken organized protests by Indian students studying in this country – and giving up their valuable time in which to raise their voices – before there is strong action directed to remediation?

Are outer and working class suburbs embraced by the powerful ethos  in this country which has generated so many distinguished achievements in bringing about Australia’s in many ways successful multicultural society?

What, if anything, has been the responsiveness by police, the three tiers of government, welfare, civic, religious, cultural, sporting organizations, especially in the outer suburbs to the conditions in which many overseas students are economically forced to study, travel back and forth, and reside?

What, if any steps, have been taken to raise public awareness about the enormity of contribution foreign students make to Australia, both in immediate economic terms but in many, and often intangible ways, in regard to the quality of lasting ties of friendship and cooperation internationally?

What, if any steps, have been taken to raise public awareness of the difficulties many overseas students face in regard to finance, language, culture, cuisine, arduous travel times back and forth between residence and place of study, the perils of landlordism, their being forced to take part-time jobs and somehow coping with demanding courses of study, and so on?

Have the police forces examined their own assumptions? For example, how could police possibly know whether many UNreported attacks were racist or not? The notion is absurd.

Are some police authorities refusing to see that a crime can be BOTH opportunistic AND racial?

Many Indian students, supported by their government and by leaders in the Australian Indian community, attest that the police have not been – qualitatively – listening. Why are the police listening now, and why, in certain ways, too late? Young students at this very moment lie bloodied and broken.

What is the accountability of those policemen police who manhandled parts of the crowd, in attendance at what the responsible media has reported as, except for rare exceptions, a peaceful protest by thousands?

Why are the State and Federal Governments and the education institutions at which foreign students study suddenly galvanized? Why not before this?

A question for those who cry racism at every turning: Has it been noticed that extremely few along the path of the march have been reported, on any side, as having been racist or insulting in any way?

A Helpline for Indian students who are victims of crime is available: 1800342800. From 10am to 5pm, and 7pm to 11pm, Monday to Friday.  Hellplines for ALL foreign students need to be provided and made extensively-known through the student fraternity.

Further Reading

Indian Students Attacked In Melbourne Australia: Cricket Star Brett Lee Voices Concerns

Posted by Barry Pittard on June 4, 2009

Attacks Against Indian Students in Melbourne, Australia

Posted by Barry Pittard on June 2, 2009

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UPDATE

From ‘Hindustan Times’ – which shows a sanity lacking in the sensationalists sections of the Indian media

See article details at this Blog: