SATHYA SAI BABA AND THE DALAI LAMA

Though I am no follower of the Dalai Lama's teaching, I cannot but recognise how he has lived out non-violence and 'dharma' (i.e. righteous actions) in all he has done all he has done since his inauguration as the spiritual head of Tibet. He is accessible in many places without people having to kow-tow to him (though his Tibetan Buddhist followers often choose to) and he answers questions very directly and frankly and in intelligible, accurate ways. Sai Baba is entirely imperious - as can also be seen often in his facial expression, and he keeps everyone waiting and most of them almost endlessly. He hardly ever gives a straight answer to any honest question, if any at all, and he is known to all without exception as being incapable of receiving the slightest bit of critical questioning form anyone (with the exception of his favourite editor, V.K. Narasimhan and possibly some of his former very closest servitors - but ONLY in private).

Sathya Sai Baba gives precedence and blessings to all royalty and top politicians, whatever crimes some of them may have committed, and he even entertains even known criminals who visit him. He always gives pride of place to such VIPs over all those thousands of volunteers who work selflessly to boost his name and works, both in India and from many countries in the West. One may ask why... the answer is obvious, the desire to grasp as much personal fame, power and protection as he can. He is besotted with the idea of his own world fame.

Humility in word and deed - a striking comparison

Compare this to the Dalai Lama, who bows to everyone he meets, and if they bow lower, he bows yet lower. He circulates among all people without discrimination, and treats the humblest peasants as his equals. He necessarily seeks to meet and influence world politicians, but no one can claim that it is for his own fame or name (except the lying Chinese leadership), but because he is the main hope for protecting the people and culture of Tibet. He gives talks all around the world in public places, where he fields questions in from anyone under the cameras of the media (as Sathya Sai Baba NEVER does, for fear of embarrassment - no doubt). Sai Baba is unapproachable unless he invites it, while the Dalai Lama is quite otherwise in attitude, as can also be seen in his whole bearing.

Interestingly, Sai Baba has never one mentioned the Dalai Lama in public. Not a word of support or recognition. Sathya Sai Baba - despite his claims to the contrary - is NOT revered and/or respected worldwide by a majority of people as is the Dalai Lama. It would be fitting for Sai Baba to bow to the Dalai Lama, but he bows to no one... he is too high and mighty for that! Yet some of his most zealous followers write about him as having great humility! This is just because of his empty words, while his actions (and also his endless stream of self-praising words) show he has massive pride in himself, the God Incarnate. He willingly accepts that others bow to him, as everyone bar none is expected to do, if they get near him. Sathya Sai Baba blesses life-size golden statues of himself and blesses costly museums to glorify him as the God above all others, while the buildings his devotees finance and run as hospitals have his images and words blazoned all over the place. The Dalai Lama blows no such trumpets for himself, not allows such a fuss to be made of himself.

"Why fear when I am here?" is a much-flaunted statement of Sathya Sai Baba, but the Dalai Lama makes no such megalomaniac and unfulfilled claims. He has never been heard to boast that his actions have helped saved so many Tibetans from total cultural elimination. Sai Baba sweepingly berates just about everyone in the world at regular intervals from his platform, but the Dalai Lama never uses such language, even about the despotic Chinese invaders of his country. He is amazingly open to dialogue with them (despite their black lies) and has no ill-will against China are the Chinese, having gone against violent demonstrations and asserted that China should have a successful Olympic Games.

Non-violence (ahimsa) in word and deed - a comparison

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!

Is it any wonder that the Dalai Lama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize instead of Sathya Sai Baba, whose candidature was actually put forward to Oslo by the Indian Government (not many people know that!). Sathya Sai devoteees have claimed that the son of Alfred Nobel supported Sai Baba for the Peace Prize, but his son is long dead. They were actually referring to he has absolutely nothing whatever to do with the award, which is a 100% Norwegian preserve. Yet Sathya Sai Baba actually said "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." It was Dr. Nobel who went there because he had a contract from the Sathya Sai Organization to set up the 'Sai Global Harmony' satellite radio station!. He has absolutely no say whatever in the Nobel Peace Prize Committee - all are Norwegian politicians only. Even The Times of India reported this claim and reproduced propaganda about billions coming to know the teachings of Sai Baba via TV. It has certainbly NOT happened at all. The Norwegian committee were warned in advance by the Danish film 'Seduced' (see video clips/transcript) in which Sathya Sai Baba is credibly accused of fraud and sexual abuses by several persons, including the actor Conny Larsson (famous throughout Sweden), which was aired on Norwegian National Broadcasting (NRK) three time at top peak viewing hours.

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 Xmas 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.

The courage of putting oneself on the line

The Dalai Lama has real humility and enormous courage - putting himself in the front line - without protection from any troops or gunmen of his own - against one of the worst regimes in history. He is, of course, provided with security by the states he visits, and this can be considerable when international tensions over Tibet are inflamed. By comparison, Sai Baba is protected by the State, which provides a constant presence of armed army personnel in his ashrams and at all public events. On top of this, has had 20 full-time plain-clothes security people since about 1994, costing well beyond Rs. 200,000 a month by now. And who do you think pays? These spies mingle undercover in the crowds, and many of his staff are engaged in spying on visitors and residents on a permanent basis - not least the wheelchair bound Chibber .

V.K. Narasimhan gave me the facts about this already in 1996, claiming the security is NOT for the sake of the devotees, but evidently for Sai Baba himself and anyone who visits the ashrams sees this immediately due to the disposition of the visible armed guards. No one can get into Sai Baba's presence with the tiniest of items that could conceivably be used as any kind of weapon. It is no more to protect devotees than are themetal detectors for all who want to go to get his darshan, the intensive (and for ladies often intrusive) body searches or the fact that Sai Baba hides daily and at night in a fortress-built apartment, said VKN. Sai Baba's former apartment in the Poornachandra had balconies designed so they cannot be scaled and a locked lift to the second floor rooms. He is constantly guarded by additional Israel-trained commandos visibly armed with automatic weapons, sometimes even seen on the roof of his dwelling.

Constant huge self-praise by Sathya Sai vs. the Dalai Lama's great modesty

The Dalai Lama, however, is never patronising nor does he harangue the whole world for being impure and under the sway of inhuman and demonic forces, as Sai Baba does constantly. Sai Baba talks down to people from a position of claimed eminence. The Dalai Lama speaks on the person-to-person basis and never declaims or preaches doctrine or dogma. Sathya Sai Baba is protected from public questioning on all occasions and even in interviews he responds only to questions which enhance him and then very often superficially and patronisingly. The Dalai Lama responds to all questions he is put in public in a straightforward and respectful way... even when he is often asked to respond to the outright lies and libels of the Chinese authorities or speak of the terrible tortures and deaths his people are undergoing.

Sathya Sai Baba is constantly pointing out the works and service for which he claims the honour, while others do all the work and provide the funds for all to which he so selflessly lends 'His Precious Name' and he hardly ever attributes any credit to anyone else, boasting most embarrassingly that no one does1000th of what he does (in his infamous Christmas Day 2000 discourse). Entirely unlike this, the Dalai Lama is never heard to promote his own huge and untiring efforts to help his people and anyone else who wants compassion. His tremendous services are entirely without fanfare and are done with total selflessness. While Sathya Sai Baba celebrates himself and his every birthdays like no other event in the calendar, the Dalai Lama has never to my knowledge promoted his own birthday. The Dalai Lama does not ride in a solid golden chariot or in a bizarre silver-encrusted motorised chariot-cum-jeep like Sai Baba's. Most residents of the ashram dread the birthdays (and many visitors learn to do the same for a host of reasons) but Sai Baba literally thrives on it (V.K. Narasimhan who met him daily told me so). His birthdays are his annual super self-praise events at Prashanti Nilayam, where all that seems to matter is the numbers he can boast about.