BLIND BELIEVERS SPEAK OF SAI SATHYA SAI BABA'S
"PURIFYING FIRE" - MEANING THE SACRIFICES IN TERMS OF TIME, ENERGY, MONEY AND OTHER SUBSERVIENCE HE EXACTS FROM HIS FOLLOWERS.HE ALSO SUPPOSEDLY SETS THEM TESTS OF THEIR BELIEF (I.E. OF THEIR GULLIBILITY). ANYTHING THAT HAPPENS TO THEM MUST BE A RESULT OF A LESSON FROM HIM, HE SETS IT ALL UP THROUGH HIS ALL-POWERFUL WILL!! THROUGH THESE "TESTS" HE ALSO FINDS OUT WHO WILL ACCEPT HIS WORDS UNQUESTIONINGLY AND NEVER CRITICISE HIM FOR ANYTHING...

HIS 'TEST' ALSO ENSURES THAT THOSE WHO PASS ARE PERSONS GULLIBLE OR MISINFORMED ENOUGH NEVER TO OPPOSE HIM OR LOOK AT HIM EXCEPT AS GOOD AND LOVING, SO THEY CAN BE USED TO HIS OWN ENDS... ACQUISITION OF NAME, FAME AND POWER, FOR A START.HE CLAIMS TO BE UNIQUELY FREE OF ALL 'EGO', WHILE EVERYONE ELSE ALIVE IS TAINTED BY EGO AND HENCE BY SELFISHNESS. HIS FOLLOWERS MUST STRIVE TO RID THEMSELVES OF THEIR 'EGOS'. THIS LEADS TO THEM RIDDING THEMSELVES OF MUCH OF THEIR INDEPENDENCE, INDIVIDUALITY AND NOT LEAST THEIR COMMON SENSE AND ANY SENSE OF CRITICAL UNDERSTANDINGUS

DOES CONVERSION TO A BELIEF IN SATHYA SAI BABA LEAD TO REAL PERSONAL TRANSFORMATION - OR CAN THIS BE HALF-TRUTH?

It is said that Sathya Sai Baba brings about transformation in people, but - if and when any real and lasting postiive changes do occur (which is extremely hard to prove, because it is all a matter of belief and claims about oneself anyhow) this is actually only self-transformation. A person changes only when he or she wishes to do so of themselves! Sai Baba makes promises of what seems to be a new meaning and a new life, but - as in most religious conversion - it is extremely unusual that the basic character and personality are altered appreciably. Further, it is easily observable to anyone without a Sai blindfold on, that many of his followers come to grief as a result. But all this is surpressed and never mentioned, it is not even taken to be grief as it is called a 'necessary lesson' or the like (karma working itself out, a test set by the all-knoging guru, and so forth.

A persons' behaviour can change, also their thoughts and ambitions... and it may or may not be for the better. However, by following Sai Baba, many have wasted decades of their lives, with much effort and service - only to find out that what they have done has gone to support some of the most wasteful sets of projects pretending to be 'spiritual' and involving much money. Or that promises made to them by Sai Baba have never been fulfilled (and , if not, they also explain this away with the aid of his tricky 'teachings'). The blind and unquestioning belief about himself that Sai Baba exacts - and demands - from his followers has been shown to be a disaster for many, not least those dozens who have stood forth and testified that they have been sexually molested by him. Sai Baba was also a disaster for four of his followers, young men who were executed by the police in Sai Baba's own bedroom on June 6, 1993 on the instruction of his own brother, Janakiramiah, and others who with him were in a position to blackmail the police. who are anyway powerless against Sai Baba with his top political and judicial connections.! It was no less of a disaster for his two attendants who Sai Baba knew would face their ends - according to his own words in a public discourse - yet he allowed this to happen, and it took place even while he was at hand! He then rang an alarm to fetch the police and fled the scene. This man is believed nonetheless to be the total guarantor of safety and protection to his devotees, a person whose actions can never lead to any harm or sufferings!! The murders investigations were quashed by political power involving Sai Baba's devotees in the Government.

Adopting the belief that Sathya Sai Baba is the omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent God avatar of this era initiates a process that can well be called 'self-transformation'. Whether this 'transformation' is beneficial or actually otherwise is a highly pertinent question and the answer can and does go both ways depending on the person and on many kinds of circumstance. Those who believe it has changed their lives for the better may sometimes be right, sometimes just as wrong (self-deceit is a common and ever-present danger with those who have spiritual ambitions!). Those people tend to remain followers... but those who do not think SSB has any positive effect on them, or who find his teachings too trite or who discover other things about him that are hidden from the public, they leave and are seldom heard of again. Their number must be very considerable.

SAI BABA'S SO-CALLED TEACHINGS SET OUT TO CONTROL THE PERSON THROUGH THEIR OWN SELF-PROGRAMMING - TO SEE EVERYTHING THAT IS GOOD AS COMING FROM HIM (QUA 'GOD ALMIGHTY') AND EVERYTHING BAD EMANATING ONLY FROM ONESELF! THIS CLEVERLY ENTRAPS THE BELIEVER AN EFFECTUAL BRAIN-WASHING ABOUT ANYTHING SUSPICIOUS OR EVEN CRIMINAL IN SAI BABA'S BEHAVIOUR - TO LAUNDER SAI BABA'S DIRTY LINEN AND SEE THE DIRTY MARKS AS BEING MADE BY ONSELF (OR ORHTER, ESPECIALLY HIS CRITICS). A GENUINE, TRUSTING SEEKER IS THEREBY SOON....

 

CHANGING ONESELF, BUT FOR BETTER OR WORSE? For all who are not already well versed in the ways and teachings of Indian swamis, though, It always implies radical changes in one's way of thinking and of evaluating most affairs of personal importance, but it is far from being shown that it improves the personality or character in any lasting or deep ways. It seems to subjectively, but objectively seen, the behaviour of the subject mostly tends to remain much as before (even though many obvious external changes can be observed in behaviour and activities, these do not go very deep in terms of improved understanding of oneself, others or improved morality in action etc

The absolutism in SSB's claim that he himself is the 'God of all gods' and 'all gods rolled into one', backed up by a powerful and far-reaching social apparatus, has an unusually powerful effect on the thinking and talk of novitiates who accept this even tentatively, and more so even on those already 'converted'. Though some enthusiastically claim virtual overnight transformation of their entire personalities due to some single event or realisation, any lasting process of changing mentality and way of life can only be very gradual. One has to absorb much information about SSB, his life and his teachings, how to interpret his words and actions, what is expected of his followers and slowly sort these out in one's mind. The process of adjusting to a doctrine and its requirements is time-consuming, though it may have been begun previous to coming to SSB, such as at monasteries, other ashrams or under previous spiritual teachers or gurus. For most Indians, much of SSB's teaching is very familiar, as are the customs at ashrams. Yet the chief difference lies invariably in the renewed sense of meaning and faith and having found the spiritual security of coming under the wing of a being who one believes capable of guiding one's life... even caring for one's health and well-being.

PSYCHOLOGICAL REBIRTH... BUT AS WHAT? There is a quite real sense in which conversion to faith in SSB is experienced by many newcomers as a psychological rebirth, for it very often involves the casting off - at least in part - of one's present opinions and perspectives in favour of doctrines acceptable within the Sai movement. The extensive hagiography makes abundantly clear that this is often experienced as a release from past attitudes and habitual associations. Many feel liberated from their former social connections and norms and from a former way of life and problems associated with them. It not infrequently also leads to more than subjective feelings... such as to certain observable life changes like regular visits to India to live in the ashrams, change of one's occupation, change of home, marriage, and even divorce. The newness of the many outward and inner changes can be felt as inspiring and energising... at least, until the novelty eventually wears off. The daily repetition of the more or less spiritually=oriented activities that SSB prescribes and which his Organisation variously tries to inculcate and practice, and the constantly repeated routines and rituals of ashram life soon assert themselves. To change back to a former attitude is felt to be regression and so one keeps on with the near-monastic attitude, always hoping that some fruits will eventually accrue... if not in this life then perhaps in the next!

Some devotees are genuinely kind and helpful people, yet outsiders observe that more than a few devotees who are attracted to SSB often tend to become spiritually proud and personally overbearing, falsely gushing and inauthentically 'nice' (i.e. sweet talk with less sweet actions). The VIP's are people who SSB has ordained as very important (i.e. to him and his activities, not least as fund-raisers) are mainly of the business class and have sharp elbows and little time for anyone who does not forward their personal agendas, which they all too readily identify as being in accordance with 'the will of God' (meaning SSB).

One could do worse than remember that India is a place with centuries of experience in the business of religion and spirituality and in the subjection of the masses by a priesthood and religion-infused culture. Many Indians, largely the untutored, get carried away... blind religious faith, largely incomprehensible rituals and superstitious interpretations of the most ordinary events and phenomena are almost second nature to most of them. There too, many unfathomable kinds of deception and lies are practiced in the name of money, prestige or even physical survival. This is a fertile place for cults, especially to attract Westerners who have little or no experience of psychic powers, spiritual extremes and who are fascinated by the sheer richness and diversity of a culture they cannot understand much of, often even after many years.