THE SAI AVATAR - HIS NAME, FAME AND EXCESSIVE CLAIMS

"Every act should be done sincerely, with no yearning for acquiring personal profit, fame or benefit."
(Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. 12., p. 246)

"Desire [kaama] is the lust for physical pleasure, for power, for fame, for wealth..."
(Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. 13., p.169)

Sai Baba has many times disparaged most strongly those who seek or value name & fame! He said they are "as disgusting as spittle" (p. 147, Sanathana Sarathi May 1987), that world-fame for Sai by publicity is without value (p. 193, My Baba & I, Dr. John Hislop) and has often ridiculed other gurus who seek name and fame (for example p 75, Prema Vahini).

Sathya Sai Baba has also said in a discourse, "I will do anything, even sacrifice my name and fame, if it will lead one devotee towards liberation." This statement makes it evident that he values his name and fame above all else. He'd "even sacrifice my name and fame"! How transparently self-obsessed can a person get? If name and fame are "as spittle", what is so huge about this huge sacrifice of his name and fame Sathya Sai Baba would make? The degree of audacious mendacity to which Sathya Sai Baba goes is almost astonishing, but yet more so is the literal acceptance of all he says on this and dozens of other matters by so many followers. How can any of the much-exaggerated good he does cancel or ameliorate the great infamies of which he stabds accudes?

Most people in the Sai movement take all this unquestioningly and for granted! Sathya Sai Baba has condemned himself with his own words time and again, such as when  If Sathya Sai Baba has no need to seek fame (see p. 64, Sathya Sai Speaks Vol. 11 new ed.), why then does he allow his discourses to be broadcast on digital radio world-wide... or build massively-costly huge buildings in his name, some devoted entirely to spreading his name and fame?

"Every man should show his sense of gratitude to society by rendering selfless service. It was for this purpose that the Seva Organization was started. But even here the Seva Organizarions are being used to promote one's name and fame and not to render service for its own sake." (Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. 30., p. 122).

The Sathya Sai Organisation worldwide, however, puts great effort into spreading the name and fame of Sathya Sai. Just witness the number of websites extolling him by official Sathya Sai Organisation centres! Virtually all group meetings are primarily for praising Sathya Sai through devotional singing (bhajans) and talking about him to newcomers, holding public meetings to spread his name and his word! The inevitable conclusion is that it is Sathya Sai baba above all others who uses the Sathya Sai Organisation to promote his name and fame!

Excessive Claims of Godhood These are so many that it must suffice to mention the most excessive here... that he is God Incarnate, the Deity all other deities worship, the Father who sent Jesus, the godhead at whose feet all prayers to all deities eventually arrive. He claim omniscience, omnipotence and omnipresence, and that he is the same one who embodies as Rama, Krishna and nmerous other divine figures. A sample of the main ones are seen in Sathya Sai Baba's pronouncements about himself and his 'mission' documented here The statement he made that "The only test anyone can apply to a guru, of whatever kind, is whether his words are in harmony with his deeds. Gurus are to be judged by how words are put in practice." (Sathya Sai Baba in Conversations with Sri Sathya Sai Baba by Dr. John Hislop, p.22 old edition., p. 18 new edition) is shown in these pages to be self-refuted by his duplicity and deviousness.

See documented proof of the most monstrous claim he makes, recounted by the ever credulous Professor N. Kasturi - Sai Baba-appointed official biographer

Sathya Sai Babahas famously claimed:- "No one can comprehend My Glory...,The power of Sai is LIMITLESS: it manifests for ever, all forms of 'power' are resident in this Sai Palm...I AM GOD...I AM AVATAR, I have always been Avatar."
"There have been great avatars in the past. But there never were such achievements in such a short spam of fifty years. ALL THESE THINGS WERE DONE SINGLE-HANDEDLY."

Compare that claim to what Mirinalini Mata, direct disciple of Paramahamsa Yogananda, SRF 1978, Cassette No 2402: stated:-
"...There is one quality you will always find in the true guru and that is humility - that humility was in Master. He could speak even about Himself. He could even speak about his accomplishments or even about his qualities, but when he said it - it was not a personality or an ego speaking about God. I don't think I ever heard Master say, 'My disciples.' He would always say, 'The Divine Ones that God has sent to me.' He would refer to them as 'the devotees,' but he never said, 'my disciples, my work, my accomplishments.'
"That 'I, Me, or Mine' just didn't exist in Master. I think that if anyone would to ask us who were around Master, 'How would you judge one who is truly saintly - who is truly divine?' - I would say that if one has not humility that I saw manifest in Gurudev - he is still lacking in spiritual accomplishment. The Guru has no ego. 'The I shall die, than I shall know who who am I.' In the Guru the I has died. There is only God. He speaks only of God. He draws others not to himself, not even to his personality...."

Around 1990, Sai Baba recommended three books to various interview groups. The foremost of these was "I Am That" by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. This book is a verbatim record of very incisive questionings by truth seekers and somewhat remarkable answers by the supposedly 'fully realised' Nisargadatta. It gives some quite original explanations to answer question put to him. Though sometimes vague and rather inconsistent, the answers to questions were not as generalised as the constantly repeated standard teachings of Sai Baba or the narrow set of stock answers he delivers to questions put to him. It is therefore interesting to note the following question and answer:
Questioner: What is realization? Who is a realised man? By what is gnani recognised?

Maharaj: There are no distinctive marks of gnana. Only ignorance can be recognised, not gnana. Nor does a gnani claim to be something special. All those who proclaim their own greatness and uniqueness are not gnanis. They are mistaking some unusual development for realisation. The gnani shows no tendency to proclaim himself to be a gnani. He considers himself to be perfectly normal, true to his real nature. Proclaiming oneself to be an omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent deity is a clear sign of ignorance." (`I Am That` Ch. 43, p. 193) This book was recommended by one who claims just these things. One wonders, did he actually read the book. Most likely not, for he claims to be SO exceptional that he doesn't need to learn anything from anyone!