ANYATHA SARANAM NASTHI 'Other than you refuge there is none'
by Smt. Vijayamma
reviewed by Robert Priddy(Privately published, 1999: Vijamma W/o K.S. HemChand, Opp. Brooke Bond, Main Road, Whitefield, PH #8452553 Bangalore, 560066. India.
e-mail <asn_vijayamma@hotmail.com>)The most important book from the pro-camp published about Sai Baba since the millennium is surely 'Antatha Saranam Nasti' ('Other than you refuge there is none') by the elderly lady Vijyamma, who was with Baba in his youthful days when the well-known major miracles he reportedly performed reportedly took place. It first came out in Telugu in 1996 & is translated.
Assuming that the personal witnessing of the major miracles recounted were actually experienced by the authoress as described, they often exceed in detail those indirect accounts of Baba's earlier years of Prof. N. Kasturi in his authorised biography of the first 50 years of Baba's life. A variety of other indicators point to the genuineness of the author's memories. The clear dating of visits to - and other contacts with - Sai Baba is helpful and makes clear that the authoress and her family have had a lot of very close access to Baba since October, 1945, even before the opening of the first temple (Paatha mandir). There is no other book in English so far that relates at first hand so many events and meetings with Sai Baba over such a long period of time.
The question of accuracy of these accounts, however, is another matter. One problem of evaluation is - for those readers who are not already convinced followers of Sai Baba as the major divine avatar of the age - the thick layers of devotional praise and encomium which overlay most of her writing. A few samples of the highly imaginative hyperbole: "Sai beamed like the perfect full moon with the sixteen phases shining among the myriad stars, and set out grandly like the sun, the massed divine lustre rising on the Meru Mountain solemly, like a furious elephant!" and "Just like Lord Vishnu, He radiated the brilliance of countless suns."
Her devotion is remarkable, but considering the many and sometimes extreme trials through which she was put by Sai Baba, it will be regarded as very misguided by most people who do not need someone to worship. Still, one undoubted value of this book is that the authoress does not flinch - as nearly all devotees do - from telling in credible detail about some of the most deceitful and heartless behaviour by the young Sathya Sai Baba.
When one sees beyond her constant euology and excessive praise for his charisma and charm, she describes an extremely mischievous youth, a rebel against authority who was followed everywhere in Puttaparthi by a 'troop of young monkeys' including herself [and a photograph of the very young Sai Baba together with her family and herself as a young girl proves that she was there]. No one could tell what he would do next, such as talking to elderly people about their sex life and generally acting without regard for people's feelings or any conventions.
He has also put his closest followers through terrible difficulties that are interpreted by the faithful as tests of faith or character. He often made close followers tell untruths in which he instructed them, just so to bring out trouble between people!
Some would take this as spiritual teaching, but a more likely interpretation is that he was learning to manipulate others and use the supposed ‘divinity’ which his grandfather, Subamma and superstitious villagers had inculcated into him from his earliest years. One can see that his parents were unable to set boundaries for him and how he was already showing the telltale signs of an ego out of control Vijayamma avoids the 'political correctness' of most followers in her telling how Baba was often very angry and punished people physically, pinching girls and lady's ears often so they were often red, giving cuffs, and inflicting painful pinches of the thighs of boys and men. At the same time, he was able to charm back many of those he offended. This push-pull manipulation of people is a typical trait of the psychopathic personality, and it can be learned very early on by gifted persons of cleverness and charm. It becomes a way of life, and everything is eventually subjugated to extending and reinforcing this power over people. In short, one can interpret his uncontrollable behaviour as that of a budding psychopath, a person with a lot to prove. This can be caused by early traumas of an unknown (possibly sexual) kind and also by often being ostracized and beaten up by other boys (as even Kasturi reports took place).Most interesting and rationally challenging is the account of Sai Baba's various exorcisms of possessed persons - mostly women - brought to him before the opening of the new temple in 1940 when he would have been between 16 and 19 years old (since his stated birth year is 3 years later than that recorded by British officialdom). In these exorcisms, he would literally thrash the demons out of them, terrifying all onlookers. This is learned behaviour, of course, for it does not happen where there are no ‘role models’. It is a powerful way of controlling weaker people and creating an aura of mystique around the exorcist, as is also well known to and practiced by many Christian religionists. The young Sathya Sai’s 'victims' were always extremely relieved and grateful afterwards, as also occurs in many exorcisms. The depend on the belief in demons which enter the body of the supposedly ‘possessed’. Asked, "Do demons really exist, Swami?" he replied "Yes! Those who committed suicide, those killed in accidents, those who met with an untimely death, all these will be roaming around like ghosts." (p. 41)
The most telling incidents Vijayamma relates are the treatment meted out to Vijayamma's own well-behaved son at the tender age of three, weekly-repeated physical beatings on his back in view of others for no stated reason or observable fault in the boy. Baba took care of this boy’s education too, and he was a close to him in later life, a fact that may well be interpreted in view of the many accusations of sexual abuse on boys and young men that have surfaced on a wide front since 2000. See excerpts from her book on this and a discussion of them by a Swedish psychologist.
The major miracles allegedly observed by Vijamma were many and it is curious that she has not published her account before she did, even though she was interviewed at length by Prof. Erlendur Haraldsson in the 1970s. She has said that envy among Sai followers of her and her family was very severe and hard to bear, so this may account for her relative silence. The events she desribes are so far in the past and undocumented and not borne out by other evidence that the accuracy of her subjective accounts must be in considerable doubt, also due to her totally uncritical and rationalizing apologism. Unfortunately, in his book 'Miracles are My Visiting Cards', Prof. Haraldsson appears to have reproduced many of her claims without incisive questioning of her claims nor offering any critical analysis or direct supporting evidence for her testimony.