King & Queen of Nepal, Sai devotees, murdered by son

King Birendra of Nepal, Queen Aishwarya and Prince Niranjan King & Queen of Nepal, murdered by their son, Crown Prince Dipendra King Birendra of Nepal with Queen and Sathya Sai Baba

Crown Prince Dipendra, son of the King and Queen of Nepal, had a dispute with his mother over his choice of bride. He took a machine gun and killed both his parents his own brother, sister and two other relatives - as well as an unstated (but apparently large) number of others in the palace - in June 2001. Wikipedia states: "The events surrounding the Royal Massacre on 1 June 2001 have proved very controversial in the country. A two-man investigation team appointed by King Gyanendra, and made up of Keshav Prasad Upadhaya, then Supreme Court Chief Justice, and Taranath Ranabhat, then speaker of the House of Representatives, carried out a week-long investigation. After interviewing more than 100 people—including eyewitnesses, palace officials, guards, and staff, they concluded that, indeed, Crown Prince Dipendra had carried out the massacre, but did not draw any further conclusions. Having visited Sathya Sai Baba, paid their obeisance, and received blessings, the King and Queen went on to prove the emptiness of the self-professed avatar's promises like "Never Fear When I Am Here" and that he always protected his devotees from harm. Sai Baba's teaching about violent death is that it is extremely inauspicious and leads to very difficult rebirths.

As his nephew lay in a coma, Prince Gyanendra was named regent; but following King Dipendra's death on 4 June 2001, King Gyanendra ascended the throne." But "On 10 June 2006, the Parliament scrapped the major powers of the King, including his right to veto laws. This ended the idea of a "King in Parliament", and he was reduced to a figurehead".

This was biggest royal disaster since the elimination of the Romanovs by the Bolsheviks. After the bloodbath Dipendra shot himself through the head, but did not die. Bizarrely, he was crowned King of Nepal while on a life support machine! He was well known in UK because he went to Eton, and was very well regarded and liked, eg. by Princess Diana & many others. The King of Nepal is regarded as the incarnation of Vishnu, so this led to some amazing gymnastic attempts at cover-up. The Nepalese P.M. said that "a machine gun had 'exploded' in the palace killing the royal couple" and others denied that the son (by then already king, but in a coma) had done it. Then Dipendra died (or was disconnected?) and the recently hastily-appointed Regent - Uncle Gajendra - was crowned King of Nepal. This clarified the constitutional situation and it seems that the identity of the murderer is no longer denied... but a committee of investigation is being established and t's anyone's guess what they'll arrive at. Just think of the killings cover-up at Prashanthi Nilayam as a precursor. Meanwhile, the poor Nepalese people were in total confusion, shock, disbelief, denial, and revolt.

Both the recently deposed king Gyanendra of Nepal and Sathya Sai Baba are hailed as Living Incarnations of Lord Vishnu
While Gyanendra had to step down as king, he has not stepped down as God Incarnate - or rather he couldn't because he was put on a pedestal long since with all his forebears. His Hindu followers still worship him as such. So which of them is the best contender? Or are they not both bogus gods? The devout King Gyanendra is on record as saying he is a pragmatic person, not a god. Poor man! He is possibly some kind of worshipper of Sathya Sai Baba, as were his murdered relatives and two Nepalese Prime Ministers!

Sathya Sai Baba's claim to Godhood Supposedly, the sage Markandeya recorded a conversation he had with God Vishnu, the embodiment of the preserver aspect of the trinity, who told him how he would take a human birth in order to intervene and set the world on a new course. Sathya Sai Baba has pronounced himself to be that Re-incarnation, come to save the world as Vishnu supposedly promised in recorded Hindu mythology. Sathya Sai Baba declared: "When dharma declines or rather, when those who have a duty to regulate their lives according to dharma lose faith in it, then, its restoration cannot be taken up by all and sundry... The Lord has come again on this Mission." (According to Lord Vishnu's promise, it is held) (Sathya Sai Speaks Vol. 3, p. 106)

Ex-king Gyanendra's claim to Godhood The BBC reported here:-

Three months after King Gyanendra seized political power in Nepal, and nearly four years after the royal massacre which dented the aura of the monarchy, many Nepalese still consider their king to have divine powers, as an incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu.

In conversations with pilgrims here, everyone identified the king with Vishnu, who in the great Hindu triumvirate of gods is the preserver and nurturer. "Vishnu looks after the people," says a female student. "He will take care of them, giving food, shelter, love - everything.

Sudhindra Sharma, a Nepalese expert on religion, says there is nothing in the Hindu scriptures that links monarchs to Vishnu's 10 traditional incarnations. But they do say kings contain portions of deities, and Mr Sharma says Nepalis have linked Vishnu and their kings for nearly 2,000 years. He quotes a Nepali saying: if the king could hear what's going on, he would do something about it; if the gods could see what's going on, they would do something about it. "For the population at large, the idea that the king should act is pervasive," Mr Sharma says.

Hardline Hindus For the ardent monarchist, honorary aide-de-camp to the king, retired general Bharat Kesher Simha, King Gyanendra can do no wrong. "Unless you have some power given to you by the god, you cannot be a king. He is courageous, he is bold, he is wise." He says a Hindu king must protect his people and that, given the conflict with Maoists, he himself urged King Gyanendra to take firm political action. Gen Simha is president of the World Hindu Federation, an international body based in Nepal aiming at Hindu pre-eminence worldwide.

Clashing Claims? Which of them is most righteous, as any good Vishnu should be as Preserver of Life? Perhaps King Gyanendra's bloody massacres of protesters against his rule somewhat weakens his claim? No doubt Sai Baba was not in the least disturbed by his devotee's despotic, murderous behaviour, since birds of a feather flock together. Sathya Sai Baba presided over his ashram where the execution of four devotees took place in his bedroom on his own orders.

A further complication - more slaughter and mayhem: The BBC also reported here: "Gyanendra of Nepal assumed the throne in dramatic circumstances in 2001 after his brother, King Birendra, was killed in a palace massacre. During his six years in power he went from being the country's undisputed absolute leader to a disgraced monarch accused of orchestrating the killings of his own people. Weeks of demonstrations by hundreds of thousands of people secured the end of direct palace rule in April 2006.

The former king (also worshipped as Vishnu) and his queen, murdered by their son, had visited Sathya Sai Baba. Peculiar (two incarnations of Vishnu for the price of one!). Sai Baba's blessings did not save them... or was it maybe King Birendra who blessed Sathya Sai Baba?

Note: A correspondent of mine who is a prominent film music composer in Hollywood etc. wrote me the following, which is rather interesting:-
"since i was engaged to a nepali girl and spent time there, and have seen some of the suffering there, i honestly don't feel bad at all about what happened to the "royal" couple... i hear they have stolen millions from relief organizations...and the king was the 7th richest man in the world in a country that is pathetically poor, mismanaged and really in dinosaurland…