The following comment was disallowed by me when it arrived. I have decided to post it and the subsequent exchanges as an example of some of the very antipathetic and unbalanced comments and e-mails I receive now and again from devotees of Sathya Sai Baba. I include the subsequent e-mail exchange, which should illumine how indoctrinated this follower is. If he should have changed his mind about Sathya Sai Baba and informs me adequately, I will delete this 'history'. (Robert Priddy)
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A new comment on the post #3041 “Book reveals ’secrets’ of Sathya Sai Baba” is waiting for your approval
http://robertpriddy.wordpress.com/2009/01/29/book-reveals-secrets-of-sathya-sai-baba/
Author : kwhitburn (IP: 193.130.71.68 , 193.130.71.68)
E-mail : whitburnkarl@yahoo.co.uk
URL :
Whois : http://ws.arin.net/cgi-bin/whois.pl?queryinput=193.130.71.68
Comment:
Not an easy site to find, which is for the best, some sites are best left out the back door, such as your work Robert. I am not one to abuse so I shall keep this formal, civil and polite. The only thing surprising about your article is the effort and time you have taken to construct it, a man of your apparent intelligence should have better things to do, maybe not. There is so much here, so much documentation, hate even.
I have no idea what abuse you have had in life but is it really necessary to try a one man mission to play it against someone else? You could have saved time and visited a psychiatrist. If we looked at all spiritual figures in history then we can all make sites like this, Krishna and the battle on which he wrote the Bhagavad Gita, murderer? Jesus bringing the dead back to life, Witch? Or even Mary, pregnant without sex, a whore? Or God, an unforgiving man who enjoys killing when not happy? What do you say about Buddha or any others I can mention?
The issue is all deeply holy people have their detractors, people who need to find a purpose in life, we all need a purpose or we have no excuse for existing, I am glad you have found one. Many people who see Baba go with open hearts not closed eyes, and all the accusations in the world will not change the 100+ million people who follow him, as they are not cynical old men trying to find a reason to exist or live. I was not angry or upset by your extensive research, like many other people I know that there are countless sites like this that exist, the universe is duality, North needs a South, magnets need positive and negative to function, there is a top to every bottom, a man for every woman and evil where there is extreme holiness. These sites can make all the claims they want, I travel to see Baba every year and will go every year, I will go for my dose of such pure love and energy that I am energised for another year. To see Baba is like having a cleansing shower the like
of
which fills you with joy and happiness for the rest of your life. When I die I shall die happy in the knowledge that I was blessed to live in the same age as Baba and I will also die knowing that you, and other like you, will one day have to face your deeds.
Sai Ram and god bless
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From: Robert Priddy
Date: 29 January 2009 20:40:45 GMT+01:00
To: whitburnkarl@yahoo.co.uk
Subject: your comment disallowed
Hi Karl,
Sorry you couldn’t find my web material easily, for hundreds of thousands have. Might you have an in-built psychological avoidance mechanism? You imply a big assumption about me, which is false. I have not suffered any abuses in my life of any serious nature, certainly not sexual, as perhaps you believe and seem to imply. I have known numerous psychiatrists, psychoanalysts and psychologists since I began my studies, originally in psychology in 1960 at age 22 – I am now 72 years old. I knew Ronald Laing, David Cooper and other well-know professionals in the area on a friendship basis. I have also been involved professionally with the study and critique of psychoanalysis, of C.G. Jung and am well acquainted with most other figures in the field of psychology, psychiatry and therapy. I have worked in therapy and group therapy with disturbed adolescents in Norway and in Sweden. So I need no psychiatric help, I can assure you.
I have received massive support from numerous young persons sexually abused by Sai Baba, and many families, also from former devotees (hundreds), so your feedback makes no impression on me whatever. Many are still in India and can be murdered, as more that you could believe have been already. You are a believer in Sathya Sai Baba, of course, and therefore you cannot think outside the box you are in. I was a national Sai Org. leader for 18 years and I know the entire dance involved. If you read my book (Source of the Dream) you would know how I became involved. That involvement was complete as I intended to discover everything that might be of benefit to the world – not least my own purpose in life. I did discover the truth about Sathya Sai Baba, which you evidently have not. I am telling you this for you are a young person and you will have plenty of occasion to reflect back and know that you were warned.
As to what you think remarkable, here is part of the answer (from my highly-visible blog site). Why do I concern myself so much?
“So that Sathya Sai Baba’s deceits, fraudulence, lies and many abuses shall not remain unchallenged but are thoroughly refuted… for now and the future. I have voluntarily devoted much of my retirement to refuting them. I rely on the soundest of independent evidence, public documentation of facts and Sai Baba’s own words and actions, widespread testimonies, investigations with former devotees and other serious commentators, and not least my very extensive recorded notes and saved materials from the time I was a follower. My level of work is pitched to the general public, but also to serious researchers (which I why I list sources and documents so thoroughly).”
Sincerely,
Robert
PS I have long since written some books as you now suggest – incl. on on psychology (’The Human Whole’ on-line).
If you have any piercing questions for me – or wish to know what I may be able to confirm or deny. don’t hesitate. I know Sai baba’s teaching entirely and in depth, and I have covered virtually every false proposition and trick in his book on my many web pages. BTW, the book ‘End of the Dream’ is simply a printed version of some of my web pages, made – not by me – but by the Indian rationalist B. Premanand (seef. eks. the BBC coverage on him -esp. ‘The Secret Swami’).
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On 30 Jan 2009, at 09:30, Karl Whitburn wrote:
I do find it a pity my comment was disallowed. I do believe in freedom of speech and thought you might accept someone who did not agree with you.
Yes i will read your book, both of them, the before and after. Although i can’t see them having any affect. At this point in my life i am going through my worst part of my life ever, illnesses, infections, pills, tablets etc etc and yet i am happy in the knowledge that all is as it is meant to be. My childhood is one that you and many of your learn-ed friends would probably want to study, but again i am happy it is as it was meant to be.
I believe in reincarnation and reaping in life what you sowed in a past life. There might be many horror stories you can relate, i have been in the army and have seen many horror stories myself, but i don’t know who that person was in a past life. If i am to die tomorrow, then so be it, as Gandhi or Yogananda said, the only certainty in life is death, everything else in between is unimportant. As i said, you missed the point of everything you had the chance to see, why should Baba interfere in our karma’s, if we don’t suffer now why he is here, the next life we will have to suffer our same fates when he is not here. I am happy that if i were to die i might be blessed to have my wife by my side, a woman i consider to be a saint.
When Baba looks into your eyes he knows your past, present and future, which i felt when he looked into mine. Only he knows why we suffer the life we suffer. I have followed Baba for 20 years now and my life hasn’t improved much at all, and my health has got worse, but i am happy for all the suffering as in my next life, maybe just maybe i have suffered enough in this one to have peace.
You have countless stories of Abuse, hate, death etc. How many of them are real, well you have judged that already. If you were truly close to Baba you would have accepted these stories in the totality of the universe, instead you are stuck in the here and now and as you were probably doubting Baba already, each new story fuelled your doubt, until we come to this point today. We are both learn-ed people, you have your education and i have mine, i too have been to university twice, have a masters and only did not to a PhD as the funding stopped and i couldn’t afford the money, £18,000, we have both gained a level in life many people would just pray to and yet it is a known fact that it is much harder for an educated person to find is way into heaven (to coin an expression). We always want proof, we always want to have mathematical figures, writings, drawings, things on paper, we never just follow our hearts and see where that leads us.
You are retired, would it not be better to put your energies into something more productive, something more rewarding, revisit some of your books on psychology and read about people will obsessive behaviour patterns, you are obsessively hounding Baba and to what end, in the end you might sway some people, might stop some people following, but from Baba devotees you will just gain hate and anger, surely there is something better you can do for your retirement, why not use your education and skills to help poor people in your country, unemployed people, you have so much more to give and yet you are wasting it. In the end, yes you might be right, i might be totally wrong, who really knows. In the end it could be the other way around, you might be totally wrong and i might be right, but i would rather use my life for some good whatever the truth is than spend it this way.
Maybe all this is a test and you are failing, maybe the ring you were given was so cheap because Baba knew what was going to happen, maybe there are a million different possibilities and reasons.
Anyway, what the heck, i have read articles/items on your site and will read your books, why not, i am open minded.
Have a good day Robert.
Karl Whitburn
P.S. my last email was a bit cynical, apologies for that, i did let some of the items get to me……
From: Robert Priddy
Date: 30 January 2009 15:37:44 GMT+01:00
To: Karl Whitburn
Subject: Re: your comment disallowed
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Hi Karl,
I can sympathise with your situation. I feel confident you are a decent, honest person, which encourages me to reply. I seldom take so much time regarding antipathetic comments, but you do sound willing to communicate, not just rationalise. I never like to learn of people suffering as you do, of course. However, your self-consolation that it is “meant to be” may seem to help, but it is definitely a mistaken view of life. Did you not write that your favourite quote is “Yesterday is today’s history, tomorrow is today’s opportunity”? How can there be opportunity if everything – like illness – is meant to be? Complete fatalism is strongly supported by Sai Baba (when he does not say the opposite, which he does too!) because it explains away everything as the fault of your previous actions, nothing is chance and all is God’s will… I had to stop working due to serious back problems (which Sai Baba could not, or maybe also ‘would not ‘ cure). I thought like you then, but I persisted in seeking the causes with dozens of experts and in learning the appropriate physiology to find the causes and I know all about it and can live with it without any imaginary solaces. I do not consider a Ph.D has much at all to do with the development of character or personality. Apart from genuine research work, it puts those who can benefit from it in a strong position to express themselves and manipulate society, but this is no guarantee of moral conscience, deep self-reflection or the like. Sai Baba often says that such intellectual education is almost only for job-getting! It is my life experience in several professions – journalism, music, child therapy, research and education – in several countries (apart from the Merchant Marine and the RAF) is what counted most in my maturing. Very early contact with India and Indians was part of what set me off on that never-ending dead end road, seeking “spiritual realization”… but I have learned through a long life that spirituality is only applicable to what one does locally in daily life in action, not just all those milling thoughts and words, nothing more – no “other realms” hoo-ha, sorry! I have done all the meditation, satchitananda stuff too.
I am also confident that you are not to blame for defending what actually is wholly indefensible to those who know and dare to say so. I was deeply involved and believed in many of the things you express. I gave 20 years of my life totally to service, with several large donations which I could not really afford. (I learned too how the money is embezzled on a huge scale and misused in useless building self-promoting projects and other white elephants, despite Sai Baba’s promises not to wast a penny and only help the suffering). In the process I came to learn many things one should not know, which are all reported in complete truthfulness in my many web pages. If I can be said to have an obsession, it is entirely for the truth and for protecting the vulnerable as far as it is in my power. I am apparently better placed than anyone else now alive to tell the facts, for I am also safe from retribution and I feel the duty to all those who I am supporting, weak and defenceless and mostly are. And I bear responsibility too in having worked so hard to promote Sai Baba in books, articles and countless group meetings, bhajans, conferences etc. etc., though it was not I who was deceiving, I am the victim of a massive abuse of faith – as are all believers in Sathya Sai Baba, whatever good they may have felt they got from him.
My knowledge of so many covered-up matters is a burden too, I can tell you… and I bear some public responsibility to right things, havingf promoted Sai Baba in books, articles and countless group meetings, bhajans, conferences etc. etc. I am apparently better placed than anyone else now alive to tell the facts no one wants should come out, for I am also safe from retribution and I feel the duty to all those who I am supporting, weak and defenseless and mostly are. Hundreds have written how Sathya Sai baba has ruined their lives, their finances, their family life and have not helped, healed or done other things as he had promised. We have hoped that a court case would be taken out against those of us who are exposing all this, but no officials or their subordinates dare to, for they know we have the proofs and the witnesses to sink them all. We are not in a position to sue, mainly sue, mainly because it is impossible to sue Sai Baba in India, he is actually fully protected totally by the elite who have sunk their reputations in him. (The 1993 murders incident and the blocking of Premanand and the families of murder victims from justice of any kind is enough proof).
It was my close friendship with an extremely close servitor – editor V.K. Narasimhan – which gradually disillusioned me as to a great deal of the hype which I believed to be inscrutable divine acts. Not until 1996 did he tell me the truth behind the cold-blooded murders of 4 intruder devotees who wanted to set things right in that mafia-type ashram and Trust etc. You can find all the details on the web at any exposure sites (saiguru.net, ExBaba.com, saibabaexposed.com and my various websites – especially http://www.saibaba-x.org.uk/)
I am not in the business of promoting Sai Baba or his Organization in any way any longer, hence very little mention of the much-vaunted projects (educations, hospital, water schemes) to which I also contributed. I know many of the ‘lower ranks’ of his organization (i.e. below Central Coordinators) are very good, friendly, well-intentioned people. I also know a considerable number, mostly ego-tripper leaders, who are definitely not. This applies to most of the VIPs who I knew (those now older than 50 years, say).
With all due respects to you, you can’t expect me to promote on my own blog site statements which would suggest I am a psychiatric case. It is an ad hominem argument. I sometimes do post very negative comments (eg. one death threat) and often reply to them. You have freedom of speech – today the Internet is open to all. I know a great deal about public exposure and I think you should be careful what you publish in case you meet opposition which is more than you may be able to handle.
You advise me to put my energies into something more rewarding. You judge me as wasting my abilities, but you are not in a position to know. You do not even know my current duties, physical condition, family situation and agreed contracts with other people for a start. How would you like it if I gave you unwelcome advice too? I never give it, as I do not presume. After all, I have put most of my entire adult life into truth-seeking, education and service – rejecting money-making – and were my conscience not clear and my conviction entirely unshakable after a lifetime around the world I would not have the strength of purpose or personality to stand up against one of the greatest deceivers alive today. Would you ever dare to utter anything critical against him, even if you could convince yourself that he is not divine?
The ring he gave me I did not desire. He said it was “better than a diamond”! He calls all those gemstones diamonds – I have heard him on several occasions. Not one has been shown to be a diamond. If there are any, why should he waste funds on giving rich and important people priceless gifts. You are a victim of the ‘guru trap’ in believe that anything untoward he does is a ‘test’. This is one of the oldest and most effective ways of keeping people in line as devotees. I have investigated that culture in full and written it up. You write “maybe there are a million different possibilities and reasons” Well, maybe there is green cheese on the moon too! I work with facts and testimonies on a large scale, having escaped the self-programming that defends the guru of any crime and anything because it is due to the devotee’s perception etc. ad infinitum.
I wish you well. I will not be able to reply at any such length again, I have such a backlog of things to do (of which you are unaware)
Sincerely,
Robert
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KARL WHITBURN had a web page where he informed the public that he is from London, was in 2008 aged 39, married, has the occupation of technical trainer, hobbies consisting in rugby, football, running, weight training, nature, beaches, holidays, travel. His latest news was “Am happy in work and life” Favourite quote: “Yesterdays is todays history, tomorrow is todays opportunity”