SELECTED REVIEWS OF 'SOURCE OF THE DREAM'

The following review of the book was sent to the publishers by Sri V.K. Narasimhan of Prashanthi Nilayam, editor of Sanathana Sarathi (The Timeless Charioteer), also former Editor-in-Chief of the Indian Express Newspaper Group and winner of the prestigious Goenka Prize for journalism in India.

"I found [Robert] Priddy's book an excellent study of Sri Sai Baba's life and teachings and a superb guide to an understanding of life in the Ashram. In my view Source of the Dream is the most comprehensive and insightful study of Baba that has been published in recent years. Above all, Priddy has brought out very well Sri Sai Baba's role as a world teacher. The insightful glimpses which he has given of his experiences with Swami make an extremely valuable addition to the literature on Sathya Sai Baba." - V.K. Narasimhan.

Review of the book by one of Britain's foremost researchers into parapsychology:
"Robert Priddy has done an excellent job in presenting an insider's view of one of the most remarkable spiritual leaders of our century. 'Source of the Dream' is clearly written and well documented. It is also notable for its combination of honest accounts of the author's subjective experience and his objectivity of narrative and description. His accounts of his own dream experiences will be of special interest to progressivedream researchers, to whom it is now clear that our dreams convey a good deal more to us than is often thought, including information from across both time and space. This is not only a valuable addition to the literature of Sai Baba, but an excellent introduction to him for those wanting to expand their spiritual horizons."
Guy Lyon Playfair, 2/4/1998.

MY PROGRESS FROM ‘SOURCE OF THE DREAM’ TO ‘END OF THE DREAM’

In my book 'Source of the Dream' there are no facts which are not described as accurately as I perceived them at the time of writing. The key part of this statement, however, is "as I perceived them at the time". Subtle sectarian brainwashing involves not only influencing people's ideas but their perceptions too. The facts were here originally seen through a perspective of doctrine, beliefs, impressions made by people's stories and - not least, through inducing a person to embrace faith (beliefs). Whenever questions arose, rather than pursuing any sceptical investigation of facts, I soon came to take much on trust and in good faith and hence failed to adopt any really critical (or ‘negative’) perspective on events, my own understanding or my experiences and ideas.

This process – entered into due not least to inexplicable events that caused me to be very mystified – soon held me in its thrall and the spell lasted more or less for nearly 20 years when the final turning point came. Prior to that my critical faculties has been straining hard against much that surrounded me, but I retained a (far too) positive and trusting attitude even to explain away the negative facts I met about Sai Baba himself.  Eventually, in 2000, I found absolutely no option but to reject the very fundamentals of the faith I had been nurturing so deeply and hopefully.

That initiated a turnaround in my thinking. I began to be much more realistic, more investigative and sceptical about taking anything I heard - or even myself perceived - at face value. Gradually, it was as if an entire cocoon fell away bit by bit and I emerged into what became a liberating and increasingly comfortable state of mind in that I was no longer under the aegis of any group pressures or delusive doctrinal teachings. The degree to which one's world view can go through a 'Copernican revolution' in a matter of a few years is quite extraordinary... not least since, in many way, I was returning to the philosophical, scientific and commonsense views I had held strongly before - and had never quite relinquished even when at my most
'deluded'.

The experience Sai supporters nowadays cannot get or understand

Ceasing to be deceived by Sathya Sai Baba, as my wife and I had been for nearly two decades, is not at all unlike crossing from East to West during the Cold War. It is a rude awakening when the mentality held by most of those who lived within the confines of the Soviet State - that of the ‘true believer’ – is turned around.
When one realises that one has been deceived at such a basic level, it takes time to re-evaluate everything and assess the damage, what remains and what can still be relied upon. Still, when the figurative ‘Berlin Wall’ falls, as it did for many in respect of Sathya Sai Baba around 2000, the pending liberation is felt too, despite the disorientation that comes.

I am all for liberation in the here and now, psychologically, intellectually and morally. Moral freedom is the ability to follow the call of conscience without having to subject oneself to an overshadowing doctrine or spiritual teacher. This is possible on if one is considerable independent in thought and secure in one’s self-knowledge. I mean embedded, living self-knowledge, not just in embracing some mental abstraction about the ego and the self. 

Now, Sai devotees believe rather that they will be ‘liberated’ from all cares and suffering in some future after-death sphere. That they are not liberated in this way in this life is evident to those of us who have been deep into their ways of thinking but have had enough insight and personal experience not to become finally entrapped in what otherwise is a most attractive movement and teaching… at the outset. See here also how many are attracted to Sai Baba in the first place.

Some people cannot or will not understand that it is possible for other to change so radically, perhaps either because they have been impervious to major change themselves (and thus lose the chance of real self-development) or because they cannot face that the faith or ideology that still enfolds them should be challenged, for it is so personal to them. This is known as the denial syndrome, which is most commonly met. Those who are most strongly gripped within a cherished world-view and all the social, emotional and other connections it involves for the person, are liable to feel and express antipathy to defectors. At worst, they set out to defame and even destroy them as if they can in this way remove the threat to their faith. However, when the threat comes from the original deceptions, and not from those who exposed them, it cannot be erased in that way. If anything, reactions against those who speak out tend to convince the outsider that there must be real substance to the exposures, and they are more inclined to look at the facts and judge the qualification of those who argue them. The ‘true believer’ always loses out, since they are always rigid in their views, unwilling to any compromise and invariably give themselves away as fanatics.

Of course, such persons have set out to attack and try to defame me, digging imaginary dirt and using dirty tricks generally. In the mind of the non-devotee they are of no real consequence, other than to demonstrate the very worst side of the cultish nature of sanguine, over-heated Sai supporters. Despite all the libels and lies set forth against me, I have not posted or published a single untruth, not any statement that has been shown to be untrue by anyone and I stick by every word until I can be shown convincingly to have been inaccurate or mistaken. My self-deconstruction of my own book here is a proof of my willingness to admit mistakes and my former failings to understand quite what I was involved in… a deceit over which I then had no control or means of penetrating.

Robert Priddy

In 2000, Sai Towers Publishing issued a new edition of the book, which was reviewed in their magazine as follows:-

Return to menu index