There can be a major difference between telling facts truthfully and knowing what is true. Someone can be truthful about their subjective experiences, while these experiences may remain very far from penetrating to the truth of things. Not only may the experience be the result of framed and mind-distorted perceptions but it may conflict with the evidence both of systematic investigation, collective experience, factual knowledge and reason. However, untruth and deception can be discovered and revealed.
In the case of Sathya Sai Baba, very considerable investigation is invariably required to remove or dispel mere appearances, the more so when secrecy is always the order of the day concerning his actual behaviour most of the time. Faced by concerted conscious deception, cover-up and deceit, it is very hard to get to the true state of affairs. Here one can see how - during my early days at Sai Baba's ashrams - I was puzzled by much of what I observed, and did not begin to see that my intuition of something being wrong was correct... I was already too impressed by paranormal experiences, Sathya Sai Baba's charisma (his carefully-cultivated false charm) and the subtle and extremely positive propaganda in which I had been inundated.
Most Sai followers base their faith in Sathya Sai Baba on some personal experiences, whether or not they have met him or had an interview. The experiences which are of the most striking kind - and which are most desired by devotees - are those which appear to break the laws of nature, so-called leelas and 'miracles'. Those which are most prominent are alleged healing miracles, especially as an apparent 'visitation', as a vision or as a dream. Phenomena experienced include seeing or sensing the physical form of Sathya Sai Baba in some way, other sensory phenomena such as noticing the odour of vibuthi or nectar (amrit), especially having these or other substances form on one's pictures of Sathya Sai and so on.
Though some experiences are shared (like the physical manifestation of vibuthi etc.), the meaning one gives them is personal and private. Basically, all experiences are subjective in that they are selectively perceived and interpreted. One comes to Sathya Sai with one's head filled with stories and testimonies of people which one has reckoned are accurate and reliable, and one's heart is ready to accept almost anything. Their and one's own experiences are still only 'appearances of objective reality'… for reality is vastly multi-perspectived so that what appears so from some angles is often shown to be quite otherwise from others.
The simplest kind of example of difference between appearance and reality is the famous stick that appears bent when in water, but is 'in reality' not so. But the most complicated examples of the gap between what appears to be true and what is true are those practiced on us by our own kind. Both deceptions of many kinds have even taken centuries to penetrate and expose, those which rely on half-truths being among the most impenetrable. Common and well-tried knowledge may not be adequate to explain what one experiences, but if it is rejected in favour of explanations which cannot be tested in any way, then delusions easily begin to take over.
The number of books about experiences with Sathya Sai Baba run into the hundreds. Many of them describe experiences of what we might just as well call 'miracles', in that they appear at the very least to break all commonly known physical laws. I have detailed accounts of some of the more remarkable reports elsewhere. Some see specific 'visions' that are - or seem to be - caused by him, while others in the same room report seeing something else or, more often, nothing at all unusual. This occurs continually without any observable preliminary signs of hypnosis or similar techniques being used. Still, there is no doubt that nearly all the followers of Sathya Sai Baba are psychologically very much predisposed to suggestion, but how this is brought about by Sathya Sai Baba is itself not fully known, nor is it open to genuine investigation. However, comparable known experiences are induced by hypnotists (such as seen on TV) , by hallucinogenic medicines or drugs and uncommon states of hallucination in high fever, extreme thirst, excessive blood loss and various suchlike physiological conditions. There are many recorded examples of persons who can 'imprint' perceptions on other persons' minds, such as those who practice intensive development of the so-called chi energy. The Polish psychic Wolf Messing, once famous as a stage illusionist, was in fact capable of such 'imprint' on an impressive scale... enough to prove to a very worried Stalin, for whom he demonstrated his abilities under the intense scrutiny of his top security staff, that paranormal powers were genuine. Wolf Messing discovered this power by chance and developed it - any also great telepathic abilities - from there. (Incidentally, he did NOT believe in God, according to his autobiography).
Facts about the actions of people cannot, of course, be tested by reference only or mainly to one's accumulated 'own experiences'. We very often believe our own experiences too hastily and naively, the reason being that they are conditioned in very many ways by our previous experiences, what we have chosen to believe in general, what we are looking for, what we do not want to pay attention to or know too much about. The die of experience is slowly built out from the cradle onwards, where perceptions are still extremely subjective and incomplete. Experience becomes less subjective, narrow, limited and (hopefully) less distorted as one matures. But subjectivity is always the basis and in many people the process of liberation from habitual thought patterns and second-hand knowledge (which constituted at least 90% of what we accept) slows down and stops. Some are so oppressed by this that they 'run into a wall' and may suddenly convert to a new faith which they hope promises a release from their predicament. We often exchange some people's knowledge and ignorance for someone else's different knowledge and ignorance. Nothing is learned by naval-gazing independently of contact and continued interaction with the actual world. In other words, most perceptions we have are heavily pre-conditioned, as are the ways we make sense of them (i.e interpret our experiences). Then, no amount of reliance on one's experience and (often faulty and selective) memory to date can reveal how facts not yet perceived or investigated may or may not be. Should you not already be predisposed to believe some thing, you will probably not easily be able to discover whether it has any real basis.
Perceptions of what is 'not really there' occur all the time, far more often than is realised. This is because we interpret our 'sense data', both at a subconsciously-habitual and at a conscious mental level, according to many different kinds of influences on our minds. When experiences are of the sort beyond the normal run, the person's whole frame of reference, reason and vocabulary can be sorely tested. Confusion, misinterpretation and their often very serious effects then become the order of the day. For example, one comes to believe that one knows Sathya Sai Baba is what he says he is, while it remains a belief, whatever one may say... belief based on subjective interpretations of one's experiences and other people's subjective accounts. One cannot know, for example, that Sathya Sai Baba 'knows everything' unless one can check from knowing everything oneself. One may be convinced, but one can also often later find one was mistaken.
The more subjective interpretations arise in all kinds of 'numinous' experiences, where uncommon perceptions or so-called 'paranormal' events, normally inexplicable events, and so-called coincidences or 'synchronicities' occur. Such may be triggered by many physical and psychological conditions. These range from fever hallucination, extreme physical states (sleep deprivation, hunger, major blood loss) to the effects of chemical agents (so-called 'drugs'), or by affecting a person's perceptions through trances, self-flagellation, tantric yoga and other spiritual practices. This also includes intervention in a person's energy system by a person of abnormal powers, whether from yogic shaktipat (transfer of perceptions by touching of the chest) or various kinds of ritual (eg. such as go under the title 'black magic').
The accumulation of projections and mental derangement. The degree to which either the environment or the mind-set of the person is the more influential will vary very greatly. The tendency to 'project' all kinds of internal states, beliefs, prejudgements etc . onto external events and persons has been experienced by everyone. It is a most powerful psychological function, if not halted leading one further and further - and usually gradually and step wise - towards considerable derangement of the reason and even of one's on-going perceptions. However, the mindset not only is involved in partly 'producing' what one experiences, but also in interpreting it all... and can therefore just as well distort everything systematically. Perceptual projection and interpretation can turn neutral or negative facts into positive ones, as well as vice-versa. The 'rose-coloured glasses' approach can be over-positive... and so just as misleading and potentially dangerous for a seeker as an over-negative approach. But to achieve a clear view, without any distorting glasses is the ideal...
A too negative attitude can produce anxiety, even loathing, repulsion, fear and terror, especially when backed up by a traumatic past, or a nervous or unbalanced disposition. Psychiatric hospitals have innumerable patients who have had visions and heard voices (psychiatrically termed visual and auditory hallucinations), which are often experienced as extremely negative and life-disrupting.
Whether such changes in 'normal' perception are felt to be positive/heavenly or negative/hellish depends to a great extent upon the psyche of the person affected. A concentrated positive mindset is often followed by satisfactory experiences, especially when deeply ingrained over time and backed up by supportive social and emotional attachments. This occurs very often, for example, at much longed-for and often long-awaited darshans and interviews with Sathya Sai Baba.
How far the positive or negative aspects predominate depends also, of course, on the environment (persons present, plus many and variable other environmental conditions according to the person's habits, expectations and tolerance levels and also relates to their entire mental and emotional make-up since childhood).
A relatively very objective and neutral observer will differ from a person who is largely wrapped up in their subjective cocoon of beliefs and desires. The more involved and many-sided this kind of belief/cum/projection grows, the harder it is to penetrate, either from outside or from within! There are, of course, persons who suffer from psychotic and schizophrenic distortions of reality and many who are close to this who are still able to function to some extent in normal society. Victims of mind cults, such as the Sathya Sai Baba movement is, are in a similar position. It seems to be a fact that an unusually high proportion of them also suffer from developing mental illness.
The accurate reconstruction in memory of radically mind-altering experience after the fact, however long or brief, is extremely difficult and is not easily undertaken by many without special skills. Understanding and interpretation of what actually happened, at what level and exactly how, as well as what it meant at the time and can mean for the future, vary enormously with the person involved. It depends on the nature of their experiences, their basic beliefs and attitudes, the qualities and the structure of their psyches, as well as learned skills like reasoning, knowledge, and expressing feelings and thoughts.
Belief divine, doubt demonic? The committed follower has always been taught and has accepted that doubts (but only about what one is supposed to accept) are negative, unproductive, bad and even of a 'demonic' quality, and this is inevitably taken to mean doubt of Sathya Sai Baba in any respect, though Sathya Sai Baba himself has only seldom denounced those who doubt him. However, self-doubt is encouraged to an extreme degree by Sathya Sai Baba in his constant sweeping criticism of all devotees' behaviour and his strong demand for self-examination according to the strictest fundamentalist religious norms. Much of his teaching calls for self-denial, removal of all natural desires and represents a strong form of potentially destructive self-denigration. This diverts one's doubting capacities towards oneself and away from Sathya Sai Baba and his fraudulent practices, ignorance of science and religions like Christianity etc.
The human mind is also prone to making comparisons, reasoning, cross-checking and thinking along many lines of explanation… so doubts of one kind and another inevitably arise. The whole of scientific discovery since the Renaissance is based on systematic, constructive doubting of traditional supersitions and wrong theories. Many `imaginary doubts` also occur and - due to their nature, may be either overcome, or ignored and forgotten or they eventually dissipate. Yet when such doubts are stimulated by observable events or indubitable facts that come to light suggesting that Sathya Sai Baba is mistaken about facts, or in claims or prediction he makes or that he shows signs of being neither omniscient nor omnipotent, the average follower takes recourse to avenues of escape, such as:-
1) Wait and see, give the benefit of the doubt, make no hasty judgments, look on the positive side, ignore bad things, ask whether it affects you personally and is `your business` etc.
2) Set about rationalising the doubts through interpreting the teachings - or some suitable part of them - to dispel the doubt.
3) Resign oneself to the inevitable, to ignorant humility, to general confusion and denial. Seeing the production of holy ash by a wave of the hand daily, and especially getting an interview where great charm is combined by Sathya Sai Baba with remarkable clairvoyance and what many observers consider to be genuine manifestations and apports of objects and eatables, despite many now-known instances of sleight-of-hand now known and his proven fraud in claiming that the baubles he gives away to be unique and to contain genuine diamonds etc. (One actually has to look for sleight of hand consciously and carefully time and again).Throughout the world, many persons gain a hold over people through charismatic charm, a record of helpful unselfish activities, psychic powers, and by the repetition of religious and spiritual teachings little known to them previously. Even without convincing 'mystic powers', many worldly leaders like Hitler, Stalin and Mao won their positions by charisma plus good works for their nations... at the outset.Serious literature about spiritual gurus is full of accounts of such 'masters' from almost every conceivable angle, not least their usual deceptions and - all too often - their sexual deviances. When such a person has managed to convince enough people that he constantly knows everything everyone thinks or feels, they are invariably willing also to believe he must be a holy saint at least, even a deity. Add to the above a simply stated teaching with some common sense laced with positive values and elements of deep insights from the fund of spiritual teaching, and faith is bolstered, even though it also relies on many half-truths and outright deceits. That is what Sathya Sai Baba has done.
"...the obvious fact of the matter: many of Sai Baba's miracles are carefully calculated in terms of their timing and psychology and, therefore, aim to stun the potential disciple to put him or her off balance and, in that way, win over his or her doubt and resistance. They are part of the aforementioned puzzling games and the building of a personal relationship in which Sai Baba holds all the strings in his hand. It is important to see through Sai Baba's purpose in making people defenseless through his demonstrations of power." (from "Guru, Miracle Worker, Religious Founder: Sathya Sai Baba" by Dr. Reinhart Hummel)