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Sathya Sai Baba on November 23 1926 — or later than 1927 — with the family name of "Ratnakaram", and is a controversial South Indian guru controversially described by his followers as a Godman and a miracle worker. Several controversies including of homosexual abuse , deciet and economic offences surround Sathyanarayana Raju. A BBC Documentary notes that such controversies have persisted for at least 30 years . The website of the American Embassy in Delhi, referring to Sai Baba, warns Americans visiting Andhra Pradesh of a "noted godman" who reportedly engages in "inappropriate sexual behaviour" with young male devotees.

According to the Sathya Sai Organization there are an estimated 1,200 Sathya Sai Baba Centers in 114 countries world-wide. The number of Sathya Sai Baba adherents is estimated sometimes as around 6 million, and followers cite "50 to 100 million." He is considered by his followers to be an avatar and the reincarnation of the saint Sai Baba of Shirdi, however this has been strongly disputed.

Early life

Sathyanarayana Raju was born to Peddavenkama Raju and Eswaramma in a poor agrarian family in the remote village of Puttaparthi, located in Anantapur district, Andhra Pradesh. An official four-volume biography, called a hagiography by the Daily Telegraph, was written by Prof. Narayana Kasturi According to the biography, a cobra was found in the bedclothes of the baby shortly after Sathya Sai Baba was born which the book claims led to his being identified as the "Lord of Serpents, Shesha" by the villagers. However, the Hollywood screenwriter Arnold Schulman contradicts this story by reporting that Sai Baba's sister denied the presence of a cobra and that "the cobra was not found under the blanket, but several hours after Baba was born a cobra was seen outside the house." He also affirms that "for any episode of Baba's childhood, there are countless contrasting versions and, at this point, the author discovered that it was no longer possible to separate the facts from the legend". The young Sathyanarayana, the biography claims, was a vegetarian and was "known" for his aversion to animal cruelty and for his compassion for the poor, disabled and elderly. According to Sathya Sai Baba himself, the young Sathya spontaneously composed bhajans (as young as eight years of age).

At the age of eight, Satynanarayana Raju attended Higher Elementary School in Bukkapatnam.. After that Sai Baba joined another High School at Uravakonda. On March 8, 1940, Satynanarayana Raju started behaving as if a scorpion had stung in his foot. He exhibited strange behaviour after this and entered a coma state. After some time, he got up and his behaviour worried his parents - he didn't want to eat, he would, the biography claims, keep silent for a long time, and some times "recite ancient verses". In May 1940, he proclaimed himself to be a reincarnation of the fakir and Saint Sai Baba of Shirdi (d. 1918) and subsequently took the fakir's name, Sai Baba.

The biography goes on to claim that on 20 October 1940 at the age of 14, Sai Baba "threw away his books and announced", "My devotees are calling me. I have my work." He then spent the next three days under a tree in the garden of an excise inspector (government officer) and many people gathered around him. Baba taught them his bhajans( devotional songs that are sung out aloud in praise of minor dieties). Sai Baba claimed himself to be an "avatar". Sathya Sai Baba is listed in the 1942 school record of Bukkapatnam. In 1944 a mandir for followers of Sathya Sai Baba was built near the village which is now called the "old mandir". The construction of Prashanthi Nilayam, the current ashram, was started in 1948.

In 1958, Sanathana Sarathi, the official magazine for the followers of Sathya Sai Baba, was published for the first time.

In 1963, during a discourse, Baba made statements claiming to be a reincarnation of Shiva and ]. He also claimed that Sai Baba of Shirdi was an incarnation of Shiva and that his future reincarnation, Prema Sai Baba, would be a reincarnation of Shakti. He publicly repeated this claim in 1976. Baba's biography states that Prema Sai Baba will be born in Mysore State.

In the late 1960s Sathya began to gain notoriety among Western spiritual seekers and reports of homosexual abuse covered of young male devotees have been covered by many documentaries including BBC's "The Secret Swami". Sathya traveled only once outside India to visit North East Africa in 1968.

In 1960, Sathya Sai Baba said that he would be in this mortal Human form for another 59 years. In 2003 Michael Goldstein, an official of the Sathya Sai Organisation, reported that Baba had suffered an accident that injured his hip. As of 2008, he is wheelchair ridden.

In a BBC documentary sai baba is recorded saying that his ill health his because "three ton siva lingas" "emerged from stomach."

Sathya Sai Baba had two sisters, one older brother (the late Seshama Raju) and a younger brother (late R.V.Janaki Ramaiah).

Beliefs and practices of followers

Ashrams and mandirs

Puttaparthi, where Sathya Sai Baba was born and still lives, was originally a small village where one can now find an extensive University complex, Chaitanya Jyoti (a World-Religions Museum that has won several international awards for design), a spiritual museum, a Planetarium, a railway station, a hill-view stadium, an administrative building, an airport, an indoor sports stadium and more. High ranking Indian politicians, like the former President Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee have been official guests at the ashram in Puttaparthi. On Sathya Sai Baba's 80th birthday celebration, it was reported that well over a million people attended, including 13,000 delegates from India and 180 other countries.

Sathya Sai Baba resides much of the time in his main ashram called Prashanthi Nilayam (abode of highest peace) at Puttaparthi. In the hot summer Baba leaves for his other ashram called Brindavan in Kadugodi, Whitefield, a town on the outskirts of Bangalore. Occasionally, he visits his Sai Shruti ashram in Kodaikanal.

Sathya Sai Baba established three primary mandirs in India. The first center, established in Mumbai, is referred to as either "Dharmakshetra" or "Sathyam". The second center, established in Hyderabad, is referred to as "Shivam". The third center, established in Chennai, is referred to as "Sundaram".. Sundaram is famous for its bhajan group and they have released 54 volumes of cassettes and CD's as of now, with the 54th volume having bhajans sung by Baba.

The daily program at Sathya Sai Baba's ashrams usually begin with the chanting of "OM" and a morning prayer (Suprabatham). This is followed by Veda Parayan (chanting of the Vedas), nagarasankirtana (morning devotional songs) and twice a day bhajans and darshan(appearance of Sai Baba to devotees). Particularly significant are the darshans during October (the Dasara holidays and November (the month of Sai Baba's birth).During darshan Sathya Sai Baba walks among his followers and may interact with people, accept letters, materialize and distribute vibhuti (sacred ash) or call groups or individuals for interviews. Interviews are chosen solely by the guru's discretion. Followers consider it a great privilege to get an interview and sometimes a single person, group or family will be invited for a private interview. It is claimed by the Sathya Sai Organization that, people who receive such interviews may be startled by the materializations and the disclosures that Sathya Sai Baba as a clairvoyant reveals of their own lives. Sathya Sai Baba claims that his darshan has spiritual benefits.

Purported "miracles"

In some books, magazines, filmed interviews and articles, Sathya Sai Baba's followers report miracles and healings of various kinds that they attribute to him. Some of Sathya Sai Baba's devotees claim that he relieves his devotees by transferring their pain to himself. His purported 'miracle', works involve alleged vibuthi creation (hindu holy ash), and sometimes food and small objects such as rings, necklaces and watches.

Claims have been made by some devotees to the effect that vibuthi, kumkum, turmeric powder, holy water, Siva lingams, statues of deities (brass and gold), Sugar Candy, fruits, herbs, "amrita" (a sweet, sugar-water like substance), gems, colored string, writings in ash and various other substances "spontaneously appeared" on the walls, furniture, pictures and altars of Sathya Sai Baba . Note that these things are always seen "spontaneously appeared" while the process of "spontaneous appearance" has never been documented as been witnessed by any of these devotees.

Documentaries such as BBC's "The Secret Swami" and "Seduced by Sai Baba" telecast on Dutch national television have analyzed videos of purported miracles and state that they are but mere sleight of hand tricks. The dutch documentary "Seduced by Sai Baba" shows Sai Baba using the magician's trick of palming in to "create" sacred ash. It shows Sai Baba hiding a compressed ash pill is between the fingers while deviating the audiences' attention and then crushing it down to ash while moving the hand around to keep the crushing of the pill from being seen.. The BBC documentary "The Secret Swami" draws attention to sai baba resorting to magician's tricks to "materialize" a "golden lingam" from his mouth.

The retired Icelandic psychology professor Erlendur Haraldsson wrote that he was not allowed by Sathya Sai Baba to study him under controlled circumstances. Nevertheless, he wrote, he investigated and documented the guru's alleged miracles and manifestations through first-hand interviews with devotees and ex-devotees. Haraldsson's research yielded many testimonies of reported miracles. Some of the reported miracles attributed to Sathya Sai Baba included levitation (both indoors and outdoors), bilocation, physical disappearances, changing granite into sugar candy, changing water into gasoline, changing the color of his gown into a different color while wearing it, multiplying food, healings, visions, dreams, making different fruits appear on any tree hanging from actual stems, controlling the weather.

These devotees and ex-devotees also claimed that they witnessed Sathya Sai Baba materialize many substances from his hand such as vibuthi, lost objects, statues, photographs, Indian pastries (both hot and cold), food (hot, cold, solid and fluid), out of season fruits, new banknotes, pendants, necklaces, watches and rings. Haraldsson wrote that the largest allegedly materialized object ( claimed by some devotees as "materialized") that he saw was a mangalsutra necklace, 32 inches long, 16 inches long on each side. According to Haraldsson, although healings certainly figure into Sai Baba's reputation, his impression is that healings do not play a prominent role in Sathya Sai Baba's activities.

Sathya Sai Baba has explained the phenomenon of manifestation as being an act of divine creation, but refused to have his materializations investigated under experimental conditions. Critics claim that these materializations are done by sleight of hand and question his claims to perform miracles and other paranormal feats. In April 1976, Dr. H. Narasimhaiah, a physicist, rationalist and then vice chancellor of Bangalore University, founded and chaired a committee "to rationally and scientifically investigate miracles and other verifiable superstitions". Haraldsson stated that Narasimhaiah wrote Sathya Sai Baba a polite letter and two subsequent letters that were widely publicized in which he publicly challenged Baba to perform his miracles under controlled conditions. Sathya Sai Baba said that he ignored Narasimhaiah's challenge because he felt his approach was improper. Sathya Sai Baba further said about the Narasimhaiah committee that "Science must confine its inquiry only to things belonging to the human senses, while spiritualism transcends the senses."

According to Erlendur Haraldsson, the formal challenge from the committee came to a dead end because the negative attitude of the committee was obvious and perhaps because of all the fanfare involved. Narasimhaiah stated that he considered the fact that Sathya Sai Baba ignored his letters as one among several indications that his miracles are fraudulent. As a result of this episode, a public debate raged for several months in Indian newspapers. Narasimhaiah's committee was dissolved in August 1977.

According to a 1994 article written by Alexandra Nagel, a critic of the guru, the 1992 work of the Canadian skeptic, Dale Beyerstein convincingly negated supernatural stories of all kinds circulating about Sathya Sai Baba. In the 1995 TV documentary "Guru Busters" , by UK's Channel 4, Sathya Sai Baba was accused of faking his materializations and a videotape was supplied alleging fraud. The same videotape was mentioned in the Deccan Chronicle, on November 23 1992, on a front page headline "DD Tape Unveils Baba Magic". Erlendur Haraldsson stated that he and his associates carried out a careful analysis of the videotape shown in the "Guru Busters" documentary and mentioned by the Deccan Chronicle. Haraldsson claimed that, in his opinion, the videotape's quality and resolution left much to be desired and limited the inferences that could be drawn from it.

The magazine India Today published in December 2000 a cover story about the Baba and the allegations of fake miracles quoting the magician P. C. Sorcar, Jr. who considered the Baba a fraud. Basava Premanand, a skeptic and amateur magician, asserted that he has been investigating Sathya Sai Baba since 1968 and emphatically believes the "guru" to be a cheater and charlatan. Premanand sued Sathya Sai Baba in 1986 for violation of the Gold Control Act for Sathya Sai Baba's purported "materializations" of gold objects. The case was dismissed, but Premanand appealed on the ground that claimed spiritual power is not a defence recognised in law.Premanand also displayed, in the 2004 BBC documentary Secret Swami, that he could duplicate some of the same acts that Sathya Sai Baba presents as miracles; such as materializations by sleight of hand and the production of a lingam from his mouth. The BBC documentary mentions that even some of Sathya Sai Baba's critics believe the claims of paranormal powers.

The British journalist Mick Brown discussed in his 1998 book that Sathya Sai Baba's claim of "resurrecting" the American Walter Cowan in 1971 was probably untrue. His opinion was based on the letters from attending doctors, provided in the Indian Skeptic magazine (published by Premanand). In this same book, Mick Brown also related his experiences with manifestations of vibuthi, from Sathya Sai Baba's pictures in houses in London, and felt that these miraculous manifestations were not fraudulent or the result of trickery. Brown wrote with regards to Sathya Sai Baba's claims of omniscience, that "skeptics have produced documentation clearly showing discrepancies between Baba's reading of historical events and biblical prophecies and the established accounts."

In October 2007, Baba reportedly announced that he would "appear on the moon" and asked devotees to proceed to the local airport. The miracle failed to happen and the baba and his devotees turned back after waiting for an hour. Police officers found it difficult to disperse the utterly disappointed crowd and no explanation was offered by the Sai Trust for the failure of the miracle. Rationalists claimed the publicity was an attempt to boost the Baba's waning popularity.

Recently many videos, such as this have come up exposing how he does his tricks.

Teachings

Sathya Sai Baba gives "discourses" on "religious topics" in his native language Telugu to devotees. He asserted that he is an avatar of God in whom all names and forms ascribed by man to God are manifest.

Robert Priddy, retired professor of philosophy and sociology( at University of Oslo ), national leader and founding member of the Norwegian Sathya Sai Organisation, who resigned in 2000 on discovering, what he calls "a deep cover-up of murders and sex abuses", characterizes the teachings as "nothing less than sheer deceit." He states based on two decades exposure to the teachings that they are self-conflicting, devoid of substance and often plain deceit. In his writings points to several self-conflicting, ludicrous claims made by the self proclaimed guru. Priddy states that Sai Baba's doctrine is mostly a simplified form of traditional Hindu moralism

Sathya Sai Baba preaches in his discourses "love" and the "unity of all world religions" and asserts that people who follow him do not need to give up their original religion. His followers view his teachings as syncretic (uniting all religions), but scholars say that his teachings is just a form of simplified, "watered-down" Hinduism "plus some imported Christian values and ideas already well-known in India" such as "service" - amounting to a grand hodge-podge of conflicting elements and sweepingly vague directions. Priddy describes this as a kind of 'religious cash-and-carry'. He opines that because its horizons do not stretch beyond a simplified Hindu-oriented world view, it fails signally to engage more than a tiny handful of semi-Muslims, Buddhists, Christians etc. (Westerners are all classed as 'Christians' at Sathya Sai Baba ashrams - be they Jews, Mormons, agnostics, disinterested... or whatever).

Apart from teaching the unity and equality of all the religions, Sathya Sai Baba also talks about the role of women (especially mothers) in society. He has stated that mothers build society. That is why he teaches respect for parents, especially for the mother. He also said that the level of a nation depends on their respect for women.

Across the globe, local Sathya Sai Baba groups assemble to sing bhajans (Hindu devotional songs) often accompanied by rhythmic clapping of hands, to read Sai Baba's teachings, do collective community service (called seva), and teach Education in Human Values (Sai Sunday School). Some claim Baba's movement is not missionary while others assert that it is completely cultish in nature. Bhajans are sung at nearly every meeting with the names of the traditional Hindu deities as well as saints and prophets of other religions occasionally replaced by Baba's name. Hindu chants are sung out aloud with the diety's name replaced by Baba's name. Among all practices, the ritual worship of Sai Baba as a God takes the central place.

Based on Sathya Sai Baba's teachings, his organization advocates the five basic human values. These values are sathya (truth), dharma (right conduct, living in accord with natural law), ahimsa (non-violence), prema (love for God and all his creatures) and shantih (peace).

Other claimed teachings are:

• Service and charity (seva) to others.
• Love for all creatures and objects.
• Putting a ceiling (limit) on one's desires is sadhana (Spiritual discipline).
• Celibacy after age of fifty.
• Vegetarianism, moderate and sattvik diet.
• Abstinence from drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes, and taking drugs.
• Detachment from the material world.
• Meditation, preferably at 3:00 or 4:00 A.M.
• Meditation (dhyan). Baba teaches four techniques: repetition of the 'name of God'( "Sai" or "Sai Baba") , visualizing the form of God( often on Baba's form), sitting in silence, and jyoti (Flame/Light meditation).
• Inclusive acceptance of all religions as paths to realizing the One (God).
• Importance of bhakti (devotion) to God ( Baba ).
• Developing virtues (prashanti) and eschewing vices of character.
• Japa(ritual chanting of Baba's name) and other sadhana (spiritual exercise) to foster devotion.
• Reverence for parents, teachers and elders.
• Sense control
• Highly committed devotees use the phrase "Sai Ram" as a salutation.
• Women should strive to realize stri-dharma, the inherent virtues of womanhood.
• Conducting pooja or aarti( a form of ritual worship) twice daily in front of Baba photos
• At the ashram frequent "yagnas" or ritual worship involving ritual sacrifices of vegetable matter and ghee to a pyre is conducted for the baba.

During a period of popularity, in 2000-02, some Indian newspapers published segments of his 'discourses'.

Many analysts opine that the teachings are in essence a personality cult, encouraging blind faith, devotion, and fear-inducing belief on Baba. The practices of devotees center around worship of Sai Baba's person, name and form. The standard fall-back position for 'explaining' every awkward and nasty fact about Sathya Sai Baba is: "We human beings cannot understand Swami's Divine actions", "The ways of God are inscrutable", and a dozen other such excuses for anything he says which is recognisably untrue, vague, ambiguous, self-contradictory, improbable, untoward, or at odds with his own teachings or other words to the same effect.. Prof. Erlendur Haraldsson refferring to Sai Baba's psychology states: "Boasting, and illusions about one's true characteristics is a part of such a psychological makeup, and in Sai Baba this is to a psychopathological degree unless one assumes the split-personality model to explain him which I find tempting."

Controversies and reports of criminal conduct

Murders in ashram

On June 6, 1993 six deaths happened in Sai baba's ashram. Four young devotees, all close to sai baba, entered the ashram armed with knives. Some say the purpose was to meet baba and warn him of corruption in the ashram other say it was to kidnap or murder him. As they approached they were stopped by four of sai baba's atttendants. In the struggle that followed, two of his attendants were killed and the other two injured. Hearing the commotion sai baba escaped through a back stairway and raised the alarm. Heavily armed police arrived at the scene. The boys ran and locked themselves up in sai baba's bedroom. What followed is highly disputed. The police version claimed that when the room was opened the boys charged at the police with daggers so they were all shot dead. A Central Investigation Department report states that the official police report is riddled with lies and inconsistencies. V.P.B. Nair, Former Home Minister of Andhra Pradesh, who comes from a police background, states that the police report was riddled with lies and that the killings of the four boys were "absolute cold-blooded murder" . He points out that two or three daggers are no match for armed police so the story of all four boys being shot-dead in self-defence seems far-fetched. He notes that several inconsistencies were present in the police reports. Commentators note that for armed police to disarm the assailants would have been elementary. Priddy notes, "the youths could have been disarmed or - at worst - shot to disable them, if they had actually threatened the police"

Another witness to the murders was a 14 year old boy 'Subbapayya' who happened to be in Baba's room when the assailants entered. The Indian Express (13-6-1993) states that according to police reports, the boy, in his early teens, was in Sai Baba's room when the assailants knocked saying there was a telegram for Sai Baba and he opened the door. They attempted to attack him, but the dagger only penetrated his shirt and he escaped unharmed. He bolted the door and alerted Baba to the impending danger. However, writes the Express, "what sounds illogical is that if Subbappayya had closed the door and bolted it from behind, how could the alleged assailants enter Baba's personal chambers after attacking the four guards on the ground floor? There are no indications of the alleged assailants or somebody applying pressure on the doors to open them. The police have taken Subbapayya's torn shirt into their possession... The investigating officers are tight-lipped to the question as to how the assailants could get into Baba's chamber." The CID interrogated Subbappayya twice, despite the ashram authorities demanding they present a valid authority to do so.

Analysts such as Basava Premanand also state that the there too many inconsistencies in the official story. All four boys had been shot at several times - which would be absolutely unnecessary if the purpose were to just disarm them. He notes that abrasions and marks apparently inflicted by beating were found on the boy's bodies which are also inconsistent with the initial police reports. One of the boys, Jagganatham had been shot through the palm and two places in the chest at close range. Another of the purported assailants, Suresh Kumar, had been shot in the left eye( to the brain ), right thigh and left wrist.

British Broadcasting Corporation's investigative journalist Tanya Dutta states, in the BBC documentary "The Secret Swami": "Some police officers were arrested but never charged. The case was eventually dropped. Sai Baba has always had a close relationship with the police. Even today, senior officers are special guests at the Ashram. With friends in such high places Sai Baba seems to be untouchable. Any attempt to investigate the goings-on at his Ashram - even, murder - appear doomed to failure. Critics say police connections ensured that Sai Baba wasn’t even interviewed, despite being one of the witnesses to the events of that night. Indian journalists were censored and their stories suppressed."

Other analysts state that Sai Baba was directly involved in the murders. Sanal Edamaruku states the initial purpose of the boys trying get to Sai Baba was apparently to threaten him to stop abusing children or to murder him for doing so. Based on his research, he states: "A policeman who was working at the police station in Puttaparthi at that time told me that the boys had come there and said to Sai Baba: 'Now there will be a bit of a stop to these sexual assaults on small boys.' Sai Baba then locked them in - he was angry – locked them in, went and pressed the alarm button for the police. The police came and they received the go-ahead from Sai Baba to take over the matter, and they could hear the boys up in Sai Baba’s bedroom and living room for four hours. And later the police thought it so dangerous to let them out to the people who were waiting outside that they quite simply executed them after four hours of interrogation."

The incident was widely published in the Indian press. Sai Baba, on July 3,1993, dismissed the reason as "jealousy" among his followers, without giving any more details or explanations of the events. The former Secretary of the Home Minister of Andhra Pradesh, V.P.B. Nair, is now trying to re-investigate the case.The Hindu reported that commenting upon the murders at the time, the International Chairman of Sai Baba’s Organization and a member of the Sathya Sai Central Trust, Indulal Shah, stated to pressmen: “…the matter is purely internal and we do not wish to have any law enforcement agency investigating into it.” Analysts such as Premanand have expressed their outrage at the fact that sai baba was never questioned or interviewed.

Telly Gallagher, who had then been holding the position of 'Central Coordinator of Sathya Sai Organisation' for three years states : "The eye witness accounts were horrific! After bursting into the Mandir, four students found themselves trapped upstairs where Sai Baba was staying. Each was interrogated by police, then one at a time they were executed! The stench of death was everywhere. I made further inquiries about Sai Baba having sexual relations with college boys and male students - some of these as young as seven years of age - and whether this was the reason for former students wanting to kill him. I was told, to my horror, that this was an acceptable Indian practice! I felt sick, and just wanted to take my family and leave the ashram and India as quickly as possible."

Discrepancies

Analysts point to several discrepancies, including:

• The refusal of the ashram and Sathya Sai Central Trust authorities to lodge any complaint on the six murders in Baba’s quarters.

• The video film and colour photo negatives and positives of the bodies and crimes scene asked for by the Puttaparthi police were later impounded by them. (However, despite this, colour prints have survived and have been published). The photos show a blood-stained lathi (police baton), pieces of rope in blood pools around two of the bodies, while the other two bodies have no blood around them.

• Suppression of the news of the murders by the police for 12 hours, of the post mortem reports until after cremation, and of trying to refuse access to the press to the FIR (First Incident Report), which later proved to be wholly uncorroborated and obviously false on many specific counts. The mandatory magisterial probe and the CBI (Criminal Bureau of Investigation) reports were not completed and nothing of substance was made public, while the entire murder investigation was closed down by a confidential Government order, the remaining evidence of which is that no charges have been registered and no official report has ever appeared.

• Refusal by Prashanti Nilayam, Puttaparthi, ashram authorities to allow the two injured attendants (A. Patley and V. Bhatt) whom they kept under heavy security to give evidence (except in secret to the CID) and attempt - by removal of him to a secret location - to cover up the inexplicable and unexplained existence of a boy student in his early teens (Subbappaypa) in Sai Baba’s room who opened the door and gave him the alarm. The CID interrogated Subbappayya twice, despite the ashram authorities demanding they present a valid authority to do so.

• Failure to secure material evidence such as bullets fired by the police, and the concealment of material evidence like photos of actual and alleged injuries, the bedding of Sai Baba and the four assailants who were to sleep on guard at the Puttaparthi mandir (Sai Baba’s residence where the events occurred) that night.

• No explanation as to why the bodies of the guards killed were found on the ground floor, when the assailants had reportedly crept up to the 1st floor and knocked at Sai Baba’s door claiming to deliver a supposed telegram. Nor would the investigators explain how the alleged assailants entered Sai Baba’s quarters when the door had already been bolted from inside (by either Subbappayya or by Sai Baba).

Reports of homosexual abuse

Initial Reports - 'The Findings'

Reports of homosexual abuse of children and young men by Sai Baba have persisted for over 30 years. The controversy was again brought to public attention when two long-term devotees( and authors of three books on Sai Baba, which they had removed from the market upon their discovery of abuse and deceit) David and Faye Bailey, and whose marriage was arranged by the godman, published a document which they titled "The Findings". Part of the nearly 20,000-word piece is given over to evidence that Sai Baba fakes his "materializations", doesn't magically heal the sick, testimonies from several victims of sexual-abuse and testimonies revealing economic foul-play in the organization. In the introduction of the document the two authors urged the reader to "read them all before forming any judgement". "Apart from our separate personal experiences, there are also included experiences of others, chosen from many such, which are an integral part of unveiling this huge, illusory global scam - the biggest hoax in the God business. A veritable mountain of information is now available, far more than I can possibly place before you. My task is to report the findings I do offer accurately, while presenting a cross section of untenable behaviour, lies uncovered and magic exposed", they stated. The revelations in the work were characterized by Goldberg, Michelle, as "self-evident to nonbelievers" but "provoking fierce debate in devotee circles and blazing headlines in the Indian press."

They state that they research began with personal revelations when David noticed rings and other trinkets being palmed or pulled out from the back of the sofa. Faye, who at first refused to listen to David state that later she had her own validation of David's findings - when she witnessed many sleight of hand tricks including crushing of "vibhuti tablets" held between fingers. She states that it came across as a "horrifying revelation" and a "personal catastrophe": "I had given up my life, my marriage, husband, children, home, career and homeland because of my love for Sai Baba - only to find trickery at the epicenter of all I held dear.". She notes "Whilst still at the ashram, the worst thing for me - as a mother of sons - occurred when a young man, a college student, came to our room, to plead with David."Please Sir, do something to stop him sexually abusing us." These sons of devotees, unable to bear their untenable position of being unwilling participants in a paedophile situation any longer, yet unable to share this with their parents because they would be disbelieved, placed their trust in David; a trust which had built over his five years as a visiting professor of music to the Sai college." Later that evening the same person who seemed greatly distressed, returned to David to implore him to not reveal his name for fear of expulsion from college and personal safety. The authors state that they would later find "this interaction and shocking revelation was merely the tip of an iceberg of sickening information."

The document, which the authors state was compiled through "heart-aching research, over a period of three years", goes on to outline several details - including of where and how the vibuti and trinkets are made, where the baba hides them, how the materializations are done, personal, financial and sexual exploitations, etc. In the work, David Bailey notes that " On my last visit to Puttaparthi, a male student came and asked me for help, on behalf of some of his fellow students, because they were desperately in need of someone to stop Swami sexually abusing them. I was told how Sai Baba had for years been demanding that these particular boys have oral sex, and group sex for his pleasure. Their details matched what I had already been told so many times around the world. I asked him if this was an acceptable practice in India, and his look of horror as he denied it, spoke volumes. Then he asked me a question I couldn’t answer. "Sir, why do you think ex-students tried to kill him in ’93 ...?". Others, including Terry Gallagher, The Ex- Central Coordinator of Sathya Sai Organisation,who resigned shortly following the killings, corroborate based on his own experiences, the reports.

Corroborative Reports

Al Rahm, a father of one of the young men who claimed to have been sexually abused by Sathya Sai Baba, spoke with Dr. Michael Goldstein, in the USA about the alleged sexual abuse. According to Rahm, Dr. Goldstein responded by saying that he hated the idea of having wasted 25 years of his life and that he accepted Sri Sathya Sai Baba's statement "Swami is pure" as the truth. Dr. Goldstein further stated that he did not support an investigation of the sexual abuse allegations, although he felt that Sathya Sai Baba was not above the law. He said that it was against his "heart and conscience" to believe the allegations because he had personally observed Baba interact with students very frequently, in very informal circumstances, and he had never seen anything inappropriate, ominous or anything indicative of fear or apprehension. Isaac Tigrett, co-founder of the Hard Rock Café and a prominent follower of Baba, stated in the BBC documentary that his admiration for the Baba will not change even if the charges of child sexual abuse and murder were proved beyond all doubt. In this same documentary, Khushwant Singh stated that Sathya Sai Baba's popularity could not be ascribed to any type of publicity campaign. Singh compared Sathya Sai Baba to Mahatma Gandhi, in that Gandhi never had any publicity but became nationally known through word of mouth According to the BBC reporter Tanya Datta, numerous sexual abuse victims have undergone a genital oiling by Sathya Sai Baba that they believe is part of Hinduism. Singh reacted to this by saying that this genital oiling is not part of Indian tradition.

According to the journalist Michelle Goldberg of Salon.com the fact that the Baba has high ranking Indian politicians as his supporters and the charity works done by the various organizations associated with the Baba help to explain why he has not been brought into a court of law in India. The Indian consulate website states that crime victims must file charges with the police. In an article that was published in the India Today magazine in December 2000, it was stated that no complaints had been filed against Sathya Sai Baba by any alleged victim, in India. The magazine stated they are in possession of an affidavit signed by Jens Sethi (an ex-devotee) and reported that he filed a complaint with the police in Munich.

In August 2001, The Times reported: "Michael Pender, a student, hoped that Sai Baba would be able to cure him of HIV. Like thousands of devotees from around the world, Mr Pender went on a pilgrimage to Sai Baba's ashram in Puttaparthi, southern India, expecting to find magic and divinity. Instead Mr Pender, known as "Mitch," was found dead after taking tablets in the lonely bedroom of a hostel for the homeless in Highbury, North London. He was 23." The article notes Kathleen Ord, who first told him of Sai Baba's teachings, has since destroyed her books and videos on the holy man, stating: "I blame myself in many ways because, if I hadn't introduced them, Mitch would probably be alive now. That's what he went to India for, thinking he'd find a cure...He tried to commit suicide in the ashram. He had overdosed on drugs more than once. He had some strange, very powerful experiences there. There was something sexual that was frightening." Her son, Keith, has given a detailed account of what Mr Pender said in his last weeks about meeting Sai Baba. The guru flattered the British student by describing him as "the reincarnation of St Michael." Mr Ord's evidence, posted on the Internet, states: "He told me that the very first private interview that he had with SB was a sexual encounter.".."After telling me of his experiences, Michael became quite depressed." On January 12, 1990, Mr Pender's body was found by the supervisor of his hostel. Traces of paracetamol and alcohol were found in his blood, but a pathologist found it impossible to determine if they were lethal doses. An open verdict was recorded at an inquest in St Pancras. The Times article goes on to outline two more stories, one of which is about "Andrew Richardson, a British national born in South Africa, did. He made a pilgrimage to Sai Baba's ashram, booking in for a week, but mysteriously leaving after only two days. On September 19, 1996, Mr Richardson travelled to Bangalore and hired a taxi at the railway station to one of the city's tallest buildings, the State Bank of Mysore. Mr Richardson flung banknotes and travellers' cheques in the air, ran into the bank and up the stairs to the eighth floor, where he smashed a window and leapt 84ft to the ground, killing himself. He was 33." A suicide note was found saying he was in a deep depression: "I came to India in search of peace but could not find it."

The Daily Telegraph stated that Sathya Sai Baba rubbed oil on the genitals of a young male devotee. Sathya Sai Baba did not give a detailed public rebuttal to the accusations of sexual abuse. In his Christmas 2000 discourse Sai Baba said that people disseminate false negative stories about him because they have been bribed. Koert van der Velde, a reporter for Dutch newspaper Trouw, claimed in a critical article that Sathya Sai Baba forbade people to look at the internet. In the years 1999 and 2000 Sri Sathya Sai Baba has repeatedly belittled the internet and discouraged its use.

The Guardian and DNA stated that, although Sathya Sai Baba has not been charged over old allegations of sexual abuse, a travel warning was issued by the US State Department about reports of "unconfirmed inappropriate sexual behavior by a prominent local religious leader", which officials later confirmed was a reference to Sai Baba. The Guardian further expressed concerns over a contingent of 200 youths travelling to the Baba's ashram in order to gain their Duke of Edinburgh Awards.

According to The Telegraph, Glen Meloy (an ex-devotee) organized a campaign that concentrated on "e-bombing" allegations against Sathya Sai Baba to various agencies and officials. The Telegraph stated that the most conspicuous success of Meloy's campaign came when, in September 2000, UNESCO withdrew its participation in an educational conference at Puttaparthi, expressing "deep concern" about the allegations of sexual abuse. The Telegraph also stated that despite all the allegations made against Sathya Sai Baba over the years, he has never been charged with any crime, sexual or otherwise.

Video such as discussing the allegations abound on websites such as youtube and metacafe.

Response

Those who have attempted to criticize and expose the deceptions of Sathyanarayana Raju have met with opposition from devotee circles, especially in India. Basava Premanand, one of India's leading fake-guru busters stated based on his research that evidence proves the self-proclaimed "god-man", Sai Baba, is not just a fraud, but a dangerous sexual abuser. His statements enraged some of the holy man's supporters. To date, Basava Premanand has survived four murder attempts and bears the scars from several savage beatings. In 2004, his house was burgled again. He states the purpose of the assailants was to attempt to destroy the evidence he collected against the god-man for 30 years.

Conny Larsson, once a close devotee of Sai Baba for 21 years and Leader of the Swedish Sai Baba organization says he continued to believe in the baba despite having experienced sexual abuse at the hands of the baba. He broke away from the movement, later , outraged on witnessing the baba's behaviour of a sexual nature with a young boy and then the boy's own mother who was waiting outside being deceived by a sleight-of-hand "materialization". Larsson states that when he dared to speak out: "I was threatened that I would be shot when I should go to Poland. And now one has tried a new tactic, from the Sai movement, and that is to send out messages about me saying I am a convicted pedophile. They have, so to speak, turned around the entire problematic and say that what Sai Baba is guilty of - pedophilia – is what I am guilty of. I and the other guys who have dared to speak out – it is us who are pedophiles. And they have send this announcement out across the globe. And Sai followers believe it."

Commenting on the issue, Sanal Edamaruku states: "The media is scared, basically. For example when the big scandal about SB’s sexual abuse on people arose. And look at the Indian media. There was only one newspaper from New Delhi which produced the story. People are so afraid, so scared because he is politically powerful and his influence is so real and he can damage if he is criticised. Anybody (who) criticises is eliminated, or attacked or cornered or isolated. Having a press conference on SB’s 70th birthday, the very next day I found that my car parts were removed in the morning so that I could simply have an accident. It could look like a coincidence. Such things happen several times, but we are not afraid. We are not going to be cowed down by that thing. We’re waiting for that time that people come out openly and expose this cheat."

In the Seduced documentary, Peter Pruzan, a devotee, stated that he believed Sathya Sai Baba is not a pedophile nor does he perform conjuring tricks. In an interview with an Asian Voice correspondent, Mr Ashok Bhagani, a trustee of the Sai Organization in the UK, said that he believed the allegations in the Secret Swami BBC documentary were baseless and have never been proved. The secretary of the Puttaparthi ashram, K. Chakravarthi, refused to comment on the accusations. A Spokesman for the BBC spokesman told Asian Voice: "The profile of Sai Baba went to great lengths to be balanced and fair, and did not simply concentrate on the negative allegations."..."As the research developed it became clear that the film was about a crisis and ultimately a betrayal of faith. Genuine Sai Baba followers like the Rahm family have had their faith shattered in the most disturbing manner. The man they believed to be God was repeatedly sexually abusing their son. All over the world similar stories are emerging from former devotees. Governments around the world are deeply concerned and are beginning to take action warning their citizens about Sai Baba."..."We were very keen to cooperate with the Sai Baba organisation in the making of this film, offering them many opportunities to take part but they refused. This was in no sense an attack on the faith. I believe the film showed respect for the genuine believers, and it would have been remiss of the BBC not to examine such allegations. A stance we’ve taken when similar charges have arisen within other denominations."

Political row

In January 2007, Sathya Sai Baba found himself embroiled in a political row after his remarks opposing the proposed partition of Andhra Pradesh as a "great sin", claiming that there was no demand from the people to bifurcate the state into Telangana and Andhra states. The comments caused an outcry among pro-Telangana activists who angrily voiced their protests in street marches and attacks on the Sivam building, Sathya Sai Baba's temple in Hyderabad, which was staffed by a few followers. Shouting anti-Sai Baba slogans, the protestors pulled down a large picture of the holy man and trampled on it before taking it outside and setting it on fire. An effigy of Sathya Sai Baba was also reported to have been burnt, and twenty protestors were arrested following several police complaints.

A number of political figures criticised Sathya Sai Baba including K. Chandrasekhar Rao, leader of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi and former Union Minister, who suggested that Sathya Sai Baba should restrict himself to religious functions and not involve himself in politics. Sai Baba's followers responded by calling a 'bandh' in which shops and business establishments were shut down to protest against the remarks of the Telangana leaders, and effigies of the critics were set alight. K. Kesava Rao, President of the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee, maintained that Sathya Sai Baba's comments had been "misinterpreted" and that the remark was not political. Digvijay Singh, Congress secretary-general, disagreed with suggestions that Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy could have instigated Sathya Sai Baba to make his statement, and confirmed that his party approved plans for the creation of a separate Telangana state. "With due respect to Sai Baba we can say that the work for setting up the second state reorganisation commission will go on," he said.

References

1. ^ Edwards, Linda (2001). A Brief Guide to Beliefs: Ideas, Theologies, Mysteries, and Movements. Westminster John Knox Press. p. 137. ISBN 0664222595.
2. ^ Lewis, James R. (Editor) (2002). The Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects, and New Religions:Second Edition. Prometheus Books. ISBN 1-57392-88-7. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help); Check |isbn= value: length (help)
3. Nagel, Alexandra (note: Nagel is a critical former follower) Een mysterieuze ontmoeting... :Sai Baba en mentalist Wolf Messing published in Tijdschrift voor Parapsychologie 368, vol. 72 nr 4, December 2005, pp. 14-17 (Dutch language)
4. Haraldsson, Erlendur, Miracles are my visiting cards - An investigative inquiry on Sathya Sai Baba, an Indian mystic with the gift of foresight believed to perform modern miracles (1997 revised and updated edition published by Sai Towers, Prashanti Nilayam, India) ISBN 81-86822-32-1
5. ^ BBC Documentary: The Secret Swami
6. Lochtefeld, James G. (2002). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism (Vol. 2 N-Z). New York: Rosen. ISBN 0-8239-2287-1.
   Hindu religious figure of the type known a avatar, godman (pg 583)
7. ^ Kasturi, Narayana. Sathyam Sivam Sundaram (Vol. 1). Sri Sathya Sai Books and Publications Trust. ISBN 81-7208-127-8.Available online
8. *Nagel, Alexandra (note: Nagel is a critical former follower) Een mysterieuze ontmoeting... :Sai Baba en mentalist Wolf Messing published in Tijdschrift voor Parapsychologie 368, vol. 72 nr 4, December 2005, pp. 14-17 (Dutch language)
   *Haraldsson, Erlendur, Miracles are my visiting cards - An investigative inquiry on Sathya Sai Baba, an Indian mystic with the gift of foresight believed to perform modern miracles (1997 revised and updated edition published by Sai Towers, Prasanthi Nilayam, India) ISBN 81-86822-32-1 page 55: "They carried the family name of Ratnakara and belonged to the Raju caste "
   *Menon, Amarnath K. (2000-12-04). "A God Accused". India Today. Retrieved 2007-12-18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help):
   *Woodhead, Linda. Religion in the Modern World: Traditions and Transformation. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-21784-9. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |month= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
   *Lochtefeld, James G. (2002). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism (Vol. 1). Rosen. ISBN 0-8239-3179-X. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help) Entry: "Godman"
   *Hummel, Reinhart (1984). "Guru, Miracle Worker, Religious Founder: Sathya Sai Baba". Dialog Center. Retrieved 2007-12-18. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help): "People's motives for that journey are often serious or incurable diseases, for Sai Baba has an unrivaled reputation as a miracle worker."
9. The Sai Organization: Numbers to Sai Centers and Names of Countries
   "The inspiration of Sathya Sai Baba's example and message of unselfish love and service has resulted in the establishment of over 1,200 Sathya Sai Baba Centers in 114 countries throughout the world."
10. *Nagel, Alexandra "De Sai Paradox: Tegenstrijdigheden van en rondom Sathya Sai Baba"/"The Sai Paradox contradictions of and surrounding Sathya Sai Baba" from the magazine "Religieuze Bewegingen in Nederland, 'Sekten' "/"Religious movements in the Netherlands, 'Cults/Sects' ", 1994, nr. 29. published by the Free University Amsterdam press, (1994) ISBN 90-5383-341-2 reports the following estimates: Beyerstein (1992:3) : 6 million; Riti & Theodore (1993:31): 30 million; Sluizer (1993:19): 70 million; Van Dijk (1993:30) "between 50 and 100 million."
    *Adherents cites Chryssides, George. Exploring New Religions. London, UK: Cassells (1999) (10 million)
    *Brown, Mick (2000-10-28). "Divine Downfall". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2007-03-12. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)"The guru Sai Baba has left India only once, yet his devotees across the world are estimated at up to 50 million."
    *Edwards, Linda (2001). A Brief Guide to Beliefs: Ideas, Theologies, Mysteries, and Movements. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 0664222595. (venerated by hundreds of millions in India and abroad)
11. Chennai Online, "Sri Sathya Sai Baba : A living Devil" by Ramakrishnan R, Available online
12. Brown, Mick (2000-10-28). "Divine Downfall". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2007-12-16. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
    
13. Kent, Alexandra (2001). Divinity and Diversity: A Hindu Revitalization Movement in Malaysia. Nordic Institute of Asian Studies. p. 37. ISBN 8791114403.
    "The birth was symbolically marked by a frog in the bedclothes "
14. Schulman, Arnold (1971). Baba. Viking Press. pp. 122–124. ISBN 0-670-14343-X.
    "One of Baba's two sisters, however, who claims to have been present at his birth, says that the cobra was not found under the blanket, but several hours after Baba was born a cobra was seen outside the house, a sight not uncommon in the village."
15. Schulman, Arnold (1971). Baba. Viking Press. pp. 122–124. ISBN 0-670-14343-X.
    According to him, contrasting versions about Baba's childhood may be due to the fact that he needed interpreters to interpret other interpreters (as in the case of his interview with Baba's sister). Schulman concluded that what the translators said may well have been quite different from what was actually said.
16. ^ Murphet, Howard (1977). Man of Miracles. Weiser. ISBN 0877283354.
17. Babb, Lawrence A. (1983). "Sathya Sai Baba's Magic" (PDF). Anthropological Quarterly. 56 (3). Washington DC: The George Washington University Institute for Ethnographic Research: 116–124. doi:10.2307/3317305. Retrieved 2007-12-18.: "In 1940, at the age of fourteen, he proclaimed himself to be a reincarnation of the celebrated Sai Baba of Shirdi-a saint who became famous in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries."
18. Padmanaban, Ranganathan (2000). Love Is My Form (Vol. 1: The Advent). Sai Towers Publishing. pp. 68, 132–133, 147. ISBN 8186822763.
19. ^ Bowen, David (1988). The Sathya Sai Baba Community in Bradford: Its origins and development, religious beliefs and practices. Leeds: University Press. ISBN 1871363020.
20. Available online Shiva Shakthi, Gurupournima Day, 6 July 1963, (Sathya Sai Baba, Sathya Sai Speaks III 5, 19.)
21. "Interview with Blitz journalist - September 1976". Retrieved 2007-12-20.
    "Finally, Prema Sai, the third Avathar will promote the evangelical news that not only does God reside in everybody, but everybody is God. That will be the final wisdom which will enable every man and woman to go to God. The three Avathars carry the triple message of work, worship and wisdom."
22. Kasturi, Narayana (1973). Sathyam Sivam Sundaram - Part II: The Life of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. Sri Sathya Sai Books & Publications Trust. pp. 88–89. ISBN 81-7208-127-8.
    
23. Kasturi, Narayana, "Sathyam, Shivam, Sundaram", ISBN 1-57836-077-3
24. Sathya Sai Speaks Vol. I, 31:198; Prashanthi Nilayam (29-9-1960) Sathya Sai Geetha iii Available online (pdf file)
25. SSB in wheelchair
26. "Sathya Sai Baba's younger brother dies" (CMS). Times of India. 2003-10-18. Retrieved 2007-12-20. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
27. "Satya Saibaba's brother passes away" (HTML). The Hindu. 2003-10-18. Retrieved 2007-12-20. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
28. The Star, "Enlightening experience in India", by M. Krishnamoorthy Available online
29. Places to see at Puttaparthi. Referenced from official Sathya Sai Organization website, Available online
30. The Hindu, "A 5-point recipe for happiness", by Our Staff Reporter, November 24 2006 Available online
31. The Hindu, "Warm welcome to PM at Puttaparthi", by Our Staff Reporter, February 12 2004 Available online
32. Deccan Herald: "Sathya Sai's birthday celebrations on" by Terry Kennedy, November 23 2005, Available online
33. The ashrams of Sathya Sai Baba. Referenced from the official Sathya Sai Organization website, Available online
34. Sathyam, Shivam and Sundaram Mandirs On Official radiosai.org website Available online
35. ^ The Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects, and New Religions:Second Edition, Editor, James R. Lewis, 2002, ISBN 1-57392-88-7
36. Hummel, Reinhart| Guru, Miracle Worker, Religious Founder: Sathya Sai Baba article in Update IX 3, Sept. 1985, originally published in German in Materialdienst der EZW, 47 Jahrgang, 1 February 1984 (retrieved 20 Feb. 2007)
    "If the visitor finally managed to meet him, he would be startled not only with materializations but also with disclosures of his own life that Sai Baba, as clairvoyant, reveals"
37. ^ Babb, Lawrence A. (2000) . Redemptive Encounters: Three Modern Styles in the Hindu Tradition. Prospect Heights, Illinois: Waveland Press Inc. ISBN 1577661532. OCLC 45491795. LCCN 85-0 – 0.
38. Sathya Sai Baba Shiva Shakthi, on Gurupournima Day, 6 July 1963, in Sathya Sai Speaks III 5, 19.) Available online
39. ^ Nagel, Alexandra (note: Nagel is a critical former follower) "De Sai Paradox: Tegenstrijdigheden van en rondom Sathya Sai Baba"/"The Sai Paradox contradictions of and surrounding Sathya Sai Baba" from the magazine "Religieuze Bewegingen in Nederland, 'Sekten' "/"Religious movements in the Netherlands, 'Cults/Sects' ", 1994, nr. 29. published by the Free University of Amsterdam press, (1994) ISBN 90-5383-341-2
    English "For example, he materializes vibuthi constantly."
    Dutch original "Vibhuti bijv. materialiseert hij aan de lopende band."
40. Nair, Yogas, "Raisins, ash raise eyebrows", The Post April 19 2006, Available online
41. Brown Mick, The Spiritual Tourist, Ch: The Miracle In North London, pp. 29-30, 1998 ISBN 1-58234-034-X
42. March 17 2004 in the newspaper Post South Africa Available online
43. "House of Miracles", Sunday 24 March 2002, Durban news, Sunday Times Available online
44. India Express, "Sai Baba in a DDA flat?" by Rekha Bakshi, Available online
45. Kent, Alexandra Divinity and Diversity: a Hindu revitalization movement in Malaysia, Copenhagen Nias Press, first published in 2005, ISBN 8791114403, page 125
46. Dutch National Television Documentary: Seduced by Sai Baba
47. ^ Haraldsson, op. cit, pp. ??
48. Haraldsson, op. cit, pp. 43
49. Haraldsson, op. cit., pp 231, 239-241
50. Haraldson, op. cit, pp 204-205
51. ^ Interview given by Sathya Sai Baba to R. K. Karanjia of Blitz News Magazine in September of 1976 Available online
52. Haraldsson, pp 209
53. Haraldsson, op. cit., pp. 206
54. Nagel, Alexandra (note: Nagel is a critical former follower) "De Sai Paradox: Tegenstrijdigheden van en rondom Sathya Sai Baba"/"The Sai Paradox contradictions of and surrounding Sathya Sai Baba" from the magazine "Religieuze Bewegingen in Nederland, 'Sekten' "/"Religious movements in the Netherlands, 'Cults/Sects' ", 1994, nr. 29. published by the Free University Amsterdam press, (1994) ISBN 90-5383-341-2
55. Haraldsson, op. cit., pp. 295-301
56. ^ India Today, "A God Accused", December 04, 2000 Available online
57. Datta, Tanya (17 June 2004). "Sai Baba: God-man or con man?" (html). BBC News. Retrieved 2007-02-24. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
    "In 1986, he was arrested by the police for marching to Puttaparthi with 500 volunteers for a well-publicised confrontation with Sai Baba. Later that year, he took Sai Baba to court for violating the Gold Control Act for claims of producing gold necklaces out of "thin air" without the permission of a Gold Control Administrator.
    When his case was dismissed, Mr Premanand appealed on the grounds that spiritual power is not a defence recognised in law.
58. ^ Secret Swami BBC TV documentary, June 2004, Transcript available online
59. Brown, Mick The Spiritual Tourist 1998 Bloomsbury publishing ISBN 1-58234-034-X Chapter In the House of God pp. 73 - 74
60. Hislop, John S. My Baba and I 1985 published by Birth Day Publishing Company, San Diego, California ISBN 0-960-0958-8-8 chapter The Resurrection of Walter Cowan pages 28-31 available online
61. Narayna Kasturi "Sathyam Sivam Sundaram" Volume I 1961 "Chapter "Moves in His Game"
    "He brought Walter Cowan back from the region beyond death because, as He said, "he has not completed the work he has to do." Sri Sathya Sai Books & Publications Trust, ISBN 81-7208-127-8 "available online
62. Brown, Mick The Spiritual Tourist 1998 Bloomsbury publishing ISBN 1-58234-034-XChapter In the House of God pp. 73 - 74
63. Brown Mick, The Spiritual Tourist, Ch: The Miracle In North London, pp. 29-30, 1998 ISBN 1-58234-034-X See Miracles, Claims and Ashrams section.
64. Brown, Mick The Spiritual Tourist 1998 Bloomsbury publishing ISBN 1582340013 Chapter In the House of God pp. 73
65. IANS (2007-10-04). "Sai Baba's 'moon miracle' fails". Indiatimes.Com. Retrieved 2007-12-06. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
66. Sai Baba Tricks Completely Exposed
67. Babb, Lawrence A. (2000) . Redemptive Encounters: Three Modern Styles in the Hindu Tradition. Prospect Heights, Illinois: Waveland Press Inc. pp. 198–199. ISBN 1577661532. OCLC 45491795. LCCN 85-0 – 0. "Sathya Sai Baba is, among other things, is considered a teacher by dovetees. The devotee's focus is on worship, in singing devotional song in praise of Sathya and conducting rites invoking and praising Sai Baba - which involve arti - which is performed by devotees in front of his picture, twice daily. He is frequently gives "discourses", now compiled in several volumes. He usually speaks in Telugu, and before a Hindi-speaking audience an interpreter is required. One of his most characteristic rhetorical devices is the ad hoc (and often false) etymology. For example, he has stated that Hindu means 'one who is nonviolent' by the combination of hinsa (violence) and dur (distant)."
68. "The Revelation", Sathya Sai Speaks VI, 210-213, 17 May 1968 Available online
69. ^ Critical failings in Sathya Sai Baba's teachings
70. The Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects, and New Religions: Second Edition, Editor James R. Lewis, 2002, ISBN 1-57392-88-7
71. The Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects, and New Religions:Second Edition, Editor James R. Lewis, 2002, ISBN 1-57392-88-7
72. The Hindu, "Day of introspection at Puttaparthi" by Chitra Mahesh, January 4, 2002, Available online.
73. ^ Robert Priddy, The Worship of Sai Baba's person, name and form
74. Knott, Kim Dr. South Asian Religions in Britain page 766, Table 22.1 Principal Sectarian movements in Britain and their primary characteristics in the Handbook of Living Religions edited by John R. Hinnels (1997), second edition, ISBN 0-14-051480-5
75. Public discourse by Sathya Sai Baba on November 23 1968 (also published in Samuel Sandweiss 1972 book Sai Baba: The Holy man and the psychiatrist Part II Coming Home) Available online on the website of the Sathya Sai organization
76. ^ The Baker Pocket Guide to New Religions, by Nigel Scotland , 2006, ISBN 0-8010-6620-4
77. ^ Cite error: The named reference Priddy1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
78. See: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
79. ^ SAI BABA - NO EXPLANATIONS TO MANY QUESTIONS
80. Janakiramiah, Sai Baba’s blackmailing younger brother, Robert Priddy
81. Excerpt from the Indian Express. 13-6-1993.
82. Analysis of 1993 Murders Discrepancies by Robert Priddy
83. ^ Analysis by Bhasava Premanand of the 1993 Murders
84. Interview of Sana Edamaruku for Danish TV Documentary: "Seduced by Sai Baba"
85. Guru Purnima Discourse, July 3 1993, Keep Truth as Your Aim: Available online
86. Quoted from a report in India's leading Daily The Hindu, 10-6-1993
87. The Findings. Terry Gallagher - A Letter to the Baileys.
88. Sathya Sai Bedroom Murders: Severe Anomalies, Robert Priddy
89. ^ Introduction, The Findings
90. ^ Goldberg, Michelle 25 July 2001
91. Police Killings in Sai Baba’s Bedroom At Puttaparthi, Barry Pittard
92. ^ Three die after putting faith in guru. The Times
93. Rao, Manu B.S. Sai Baba lashes out at detractors. Times of India 26 December 2000
    "BANGALORE: Sri Sathya Sai Baba on Monday lashed out at his detractors in a rare display of anger while delivering a discourse on the occasion of Christmas at Brindavana, Whitefield ashram here.
    In an obvious reference to some of what has been written against him in the recent days, Baba said that many have been bought and they speak against him for the money they have received to do so."
94. Discourse by Sathya Sai Baba on 25 December 2000 Available online (pdf file)
95. Velde, Koert van der "The Downfall of a guru, Sai Baba" 6 September 2000 in the Dutch tabloid newspaper Trouw
96. Discourse by Sathya Sai Baba on October 15 1999, Available online
97. Discourse by Sai Baba on September 26 2000, Available online
98. Paul Lewis, The Guardian, The Indian living god, the paedophilia claims and the Duke of Edinburgh awards', November 4 2006, page 3, Available online '
99. Ginnie Mahajan/Brajesh Kumar, DNA World, A holy furore rages in Britain, Available online
100. ^ Brown, Mick (2000-10-28). "Divine Downfall". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2007-12-16. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
101. Youtube Video. Sai Baba Exposed.
102. Sai Baba: God-man or con man?
103. Interview with Conny Larsson, Danish National TV Documentary: Seduced by Sai Baba
104. Interview with Sanal Edamarakku, Danish National TV Documentary: Seduced by Sai baba
105. "Seduced" TV documentary produced by Danish Radio broadcasted on January 30 2002 at 8:05 pm. transcript Available online
106. ^ New Allegations Of Abuse Against Sai Baba by Payal Nair, Asian Voice, June 26 2004: Available online
107. "Telangana activists upset with Sai Baba". hindustantimes.com. Retrieved 19 February. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
108. "Spiritual guru criticised for opposing statehood for Telangana region". gulf-times.com. Retrieved 19 February. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
109. "Cong ignores Sai Baba's remarks". timesofindia.com. Retrieved 19 February. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)

See also

• Bibliography of Sathya Sai Baba
• Bibliography of books about Sathya Sai Baba
• Vishwarupa (the cosmic form of the Divine)

External links

• Online Resource: Sathya Sai Speaks Series

Template:ModernDharmicWriters

• Accuracy disputes from August 2008
• Articles needing cleanup from June 2008
• Cleanup tagged articles without a reason field from June 2008
• Misplaced Pages pages needing cleanup from June 2008
• Misplaced Pages neutral point of view disputes from July 2008
• Sathya Sai Baba
• 1926 births
• Indian religious leaders
• Hindu gurus
• Hindu saints
• Living people
• People claiming to have psychokinetic abilities
• Supernatural healing
• People considered avatars by their followers