AUTHORS OF SAI
BABA HAGIOGRAPHIES,
WHOSE PRAISES SAI BABA ENJOYS READING Jega Jegathesan - 'Journey to God' series Sathya Sai Baba has stated to his servitors
like V.K. Narasimhan that he loves to read books by authors who praise
him, not only to the skies, but to above the highest heaven. He ‘showers
grace’ upon those who write only massively rose-coloured accounts of himself.
Other books about him that do not go so far are much less popular with
him! The incredible eulogies that he received from such writers as Kasturi,
the Balus, John Hislop, Howard Murphet (see more at foot of page!), Samuel
Sandweiss, Peggy Mason, Phyllis Krystal, Joy Thomas, Rita Bruce, J. Jegathesan, Birgitte Rodriguez and many
more are to his taste, as his responses to many of the authors clearly shows.
I admit that I was deceived at the time I wrote my book about him, but
events transpired which forced me to re-evaluate nearly everything about
him and to think critically and investigate thoroughly, which I have done
for years now. Such paeans of praise as his favourites gush
forth are part of the devotional set-up for virtually all gurus; expressions
of blind faith, attempts to please in the hope of receiving their own
spiritual salvation. Yet those written for Sai Baba are still in a class
apart in sycophantic worship of his holiness and entirely positive over-emphasis
of the fantastic. At the same time, Sai authors generally – and especially
most of those noted above - were consciously involved in drawing the wool
over the eyes of all readers about unfortunate events at the ashrams well
known to them from many visits, and they never report serious incidents
or any of the minor and major crimes that they all know to have taken
place there. This they consider irrelevant to the divine mission of God
the Father himself, in which they all explicitly believe. Often they act
out of anxiety not to do anything Baba dislikes and only to see, hear
and speak only what is good, especially about himself, as he often specifies
in discourses. To a former insider of the Sai movement who knows something
of the various trials and tribulations of the authors, the books are mostly
noteworthy for what they do not tell or consciously suppress! Anything,
however remotely, that could sully Baba’s image is prejudged automatically
as 'scandal and rumour mongering' and is omitted. From experience, I am inclined to the opinion
that most of them behave thus out of the blindness of the faith that Baba
has inculcated in them, and out of the huge social and political naivety
about India common to them all, rather than from ill motives. However,
this also makes most of them almost pathologically uncommunicative about
their own psychologically unavoidable but very private doubts and anxieties
which most of them claim never to have, but which are noticeable none
the less to observers of human behaviour in the grip of ideology, religious
belief-structures and cult movements. The book I wrote about how I came to Sai Baba
(‘Source of the Dream’), in which I certainly also
exaggerated Sai Baba’s qualities and intelligence, was an arrempt to follow the dictum of supposed Indian masters to write entirely positively and to avoid any kind of critical and derogatory claims. This is also the stated ideal of Sathya Sai Baba, (even though he is often highly derogatory about various professions and specific human groups in his discourses). That book was still not quite
to his taste. Firstly, I did not set out to flatter him by capitalizing
every reference to him (i.e. no ‘His’, ‘He’, The Divine Lord, Lord Sai
etc. ad. inf.) nor did I use the gushing, excessive adjectives used by
his favourite writers to characterize him and everything connected with
him. Worse still, I was so unreservedly daring as to point out that he
makes mistakes about facts, with examples, which does not agree with his
own self-evaluation, for he reckons he is perfect in all ways. But though
I pointed out how fallible he is in various things, I then tried to rationalise
it all away by cleverly contrived reasoning (a rather standard practice
there, for I too was under the spell then). Finally, though I nevertheless
gave him masses of praise as 'The Universal Teacher, and headed chapters
with overblown titles like 'Sai Prema Supreme' etc. (far more than I now
consider decent), I did not go completely over the moon with it, which
is evidently what he requires for his full satisfaction! He eventually signed a copy (the stamp of authentication) at an interview in 1994 if perhaps somewhat grudgingly (who can tell?) "With love, Sathya Sai
Baba". See here for selections from the text of 'Source of the Dream' with my present comments on the text. In the private interview with my wife he advised me to 'Write, write!' (which I
continue to do, evidently to his chagrin now). That Sai Baba accepted my book was largely due to V.K. Narasimhan, who had spoken to
him of it repeatedly in the most glowing terms because he considered it more accurate and properly restrained (and documented) than most other books about Sathya Sai Baba, and virtually forced a
copy on him one day by leaving it on his footstool in his room at Brindavan!
Sai Baba never liked to go against this famous editor and journalist,
who meant so very much to Sai Baba’s renown among the educated and ruling
class of India who all knew and respected VKN greatly. What Narasimhan
particularly liked about my book, as he said to me, was that it was “the
most objective book on the subject yet”. He also wrote a glowing appreciation
of the book which he sent to Samuel Weiser Inc. when it was republished in
1998. They published his review, which can be read here. By contrast, at the same interview he signed
the latest book of Joy Thomas in more than one copy, "with love and blessings" and signed the various photographs and whatever they kept pressing on
him. They have proudly shown me other books signed by him front, back
and sideways - almost. I can just hear the devotees who read this concluding
that I was a victim of 'envy and jealousy', (Sai Baba's automatic explanation
of everything unpleasant). It was not like that, however, for I never
felt the desperation for every single scrap of Sai Baba's attention that
they demonstrated, nor their need to publicise it all so much. Nor did
I want to prove anything about myself. It was of interest to me how Sai
Baba would react to my writing, however. (He said in private that 'What
you are doing is right' and 'Write, write!'. Seems that he might regret
that now!). Moreover, I only feel truly sorry now for Joy Thomas after
what transpired when they moved to Sai Baba's ashram and things all began
to go very wrong for them - the sudden neglect by the Seva Dal, the intolerable
noise in their room which kept them awake most of the night, and the marked
cooling of Sai Baba towards her, ending in Sai Baba's blank refusal to
sign her latest book (it had to be delivered to him by a friend) and subsequently
her reportedly bleeding to death due to serious medical neglect by one
of Sai Baba's favourite devotee doctors. One cannot but feel that the
favourite had played her role for him and now could be discarded! As one could predict, persons given much open
attention and accorded many of Sai Baba's various kinds of privilege,
including VIP status in the Sai movement are always in jeopardy. If and
when they should change their tune, or otherwise seriously displease Sai
Baba, they are figuratively “cast into the outer darkness”, ostracised
socially and are even sometimes threatened by Sai Baba personally. Few people have dared to present Sathya Sai
Baba with anything but eulogy, but one notable exception was Dr. Erlendur
Haraldsson, the Icelandic psychology professor whose descriptive study,
"Miracles are My Visiting Cards" I saw being accepted from the author
by Sai Baba at darshan in 1989. Sai Baba’s none-too-pleased comment was,
'there are wrong facts in it'. Among the facts reported were the serious
allegations from Sai Baba’s previous 'soul brother' Krishna - long since
disaffected – who told about Sai Baba’s personality. Then there were reports
on allegations made against Sai Baba about his homosexuality. Perhaps
most damaging was the account of the doctors at the clinic where Walter
Cowan was brought and was supposedly declared and certified as dead, which
all involved denied to be the case. Professor Haraldsson’s extensive interview
researches among Sai followers in India, also tracing and interviewing
former devotees, was undertaken for the sake of advancing the knowledge
of parapsychology, and did not in any way set out to attack Sai Baba,
rather to the contrary. This book is still an important source for those
who wish to obtain the perspective of an honest and serious researcher,
even though there is much that it evidently leaves unsaid and despite
its having been written before the mass of emerging documentation of fraud
concerning Sai Baba’s early days and an increasing number of witnesses
of fraudulent manifestations. The author's wife, Reidun Priddy, wrote the
following additional comment:- The monthly journal Sanathana Sarathi published from Prasanthi Nilayam has been one prime model for how to write
about Sai Baba. Its first editor was Kasturi for many years until he died,
then VK Narasimhan until his death, and the present one is Anand. They
have all dutifully glorified everything that goes on in the ashrams, never
mentioning anything untoward that happens there. For example, there was
never a mention of the fact that the dome of the Spiritual Heritage Museum
caved in before it opened and three young Americans got killed. Everyone
who was there and knew about it were deeply shocked, but it wasn't supposed
to be mentioned officially in the ashram. Next day at a lecture for foreigners
when something had to be said to answer the questions of many who had
heard of it, Narasimhan tried his best to talk about it without saying
what had actually happened so that those who didn't already know wouldn't
get to know about it either! In other words, the policy is definitely
to keep knowledge of anything 'negative' suppressed as far as it is possible. Another hypocrisy is the reporting of the feelings
and reactions of all devotees present at the various functions around
Sai Baba. Time and again we are told that one and all were transported
to a state of immense bliss etc. It is so blatantly untrue, and how would
they know anyway, those writers who are far from the cramped conditions
of the great mass of people who can hardly see or hear anything of what
goes on! Even for a faithful devotee it is discouraging to read the standard
phrases in Sanathana Sarathi that ring as hollow as any stale indoctrination
institutionalised religion or politics can produce. Just the kind of hypocrisy
that has put so many of us off religion and made us search elsewhere.
How disappointing then to find that Sai Baba loves best this kind of glory
merchandising. The fact is that many devotees, especially from the western
world, yearn for the more quiet type of spiritual life more often associated
with life in an ashram, than one could ever hope to experience at Prasanthi
Nilayam. Maybe this lack explains the need to put such an excessive gloss
on things, the ashram landscape doesn't correspond to the spiritual map,
so anything that might add to doubts that are bound to arise from experiencing
the ashram must be kept hidden. Baba sets the first example, the editors
of SS follow and authors take their lead from this practice to ensure
approval from the one they think is God himself.
Howard
Murphet - earliest promoter of Sathya Sai Baba as the 'Man of Miracles
Smt Vijayamma 'Refuge other thn you I have none'
'Professor N. KASTURI - the 'oficial biographer' of SB and prolific prosyletizer
Dr. John Hislop - his hagiography 'My Baba and I'& 'Seeking Divinity.
Phyllis Krystal - author of numerous books based on Sai Baba experiences and 'teachings'
Peggy Mason 'Sai Humour' and 'Embodiment of Love' etc.
Rita Bruce - hagiographer
Birgitte Rodriguez - Glimpses of the Divine
See a comprehensive, fully sourced bibliography of all extant books by or about Sathya Sai Baba and his movement in English:
"An Annotated Working Bibliography for Research on Sathya Sai Baba. Part 1" by Brian Steel (WORD doc.)
To Part 2 of the Bibliography
To Part 3
To 'New Factors for Researchers'