Slanderous Devotees, a possible comparison

What is particularily interesting is the very similar behaviour between that of the slanderous devotee, and of an emotionally immature mother, when told by her child of sexual abuse by her spouse, who turns on the child who is the victim, not on the spouse who is the perpetrator.

In each case, people so identify with the spouse, or the guru, or the authority figure, and are so emotionally weak within themselves, and have so many repressed issues and unresolved complexes, that the only thing they can do is attack the one who brings the message. Because for them to face the reality of the message, the dissilusionment, the realisation that the one they loved and adored and worshipped and elevated on a pedestal is actually a very immoral human being, would be too much to bear. So they lash out, and it always at the weakest person, the victim. Because being so emotionally weak and immature, these people are bullies as well, and a bully will never attack one who is in a position of power.

And that is what makes the abusive and slanderous devotee tick. Just as much as it makes the wife (usually a very passive person who adores or depends on the husband or is absolutely terrified of the thought of life alone) who is in denial regarding their partner's sexual abuse of their child or children.

Repressed sexuality and obsessive-compulsive personality

The following is not intended as a professional diagnosis. It is my own, unstudied, subjective opinion. I have no training as a psychiatrist or a social worker, and I am not saying that this explanation is true or false, and indeed I may be totally in error in my speculations. As always on these and other pages, it is up to the reader to come to their own conclusions.

Gerald "Joe" Moreno denies that he is a devotee, and in fact (and to my surprise) eventually reveals himself to be a gross materialist. Why then has he put so much energy into attacking those people who have reported sexual abuse on the part of Sai Baba? I can only guess here, but two possible explanations present themselves. One might be that, if there are issues of an absent or distant father, for Moreno Sathya Sai Baba could be a much loved surrogate father figure (just as for Catholics the Pope is the "Holy Father"). Another, perhaps more likely (or else additional), explanation, is that he could possibly be a pretend homosexual lover. This seems strange, but Moreno received an oiling and massage at the hands of Sai Baba, although he claims it was non-sexual. Sai Baba, according to the various reports and allegations, gives oilings to young men in the process of making advances on them. For most male devotees having Sai Baba, who to them is a figure of great devotion, revered as an avatar, acting like this to them is deeply traumatic and causes huge emotional scars. For Moreno, it is possible that on a certain level he enjoyed it. However his strongly puritanical personality (look through his website for frequent allegations concerning pornography or sexual mis-conduct on the part of ex-devotees; why this obsessional interest on Moreno's part in porn?) means that he could never admit this is the case, even to himself. Thus he feels a strong affiliation with Sai Baba, without quite knowing why. Interestingly, Sanjay Dadlani external link reports reports that Moreno observes complete celibacy on Sai Baba's direct and personal order to him (this despite Moreno being a materialist and in his words a non-devotee) and has agreed that his psychosexual state is asexual, "effectively stating that he harbours no attraction or sexual desires towards women" The implications being that Moreno's puritanical hang-ups lead him to deny his sexual feelings for Sai Baba or indeed for any man. Note that in no way am I saying that there is anything wrong with being homosexual! What is at issue here is not sexual orientation, but a disturbed and repressed attitude to sexuality, possibly expressing itself in an antagonistic form towards ex-devotees.

Add to that his obsessive-compulsive personality, and one has the profile for a rather atypical slanderous devotee. Atypical both in that slanderous devotees of other gurus do not appear to have sexual issues of this sort (or maybe they do; I don't yet have enough information on this), and that I know of not one other slanderous devotee who would go to such obsessive lengths and create such a detailed researched web of allegations against their victims. Yet all this research and obsessive detail is based not on secure facts, but on lies, innuendo, exaggeration, jumping to conclusion, and quoting out of context.

It is the sheer detail in Moreno's site that fools gullible people; certainly it fooled me, so that for quite a while I went along with him in believing these lies (full story here). Another reason is that I had unwittingly become caught up in a war between slanderous devotees and ex-devotees, on the side of the devotees. Not knowing why I was being attacked on one page by someone I didn't know, and being a naturally trusting person who assumes that other people are as honest and sincere as I am, I naturally (and foolishly) did not question Moreno's statements, and even got to the stage of badmouthing some people without really knowing them, because of the misinformation he had provided, and my own gullibility. Not all people are so naive, but I am more trusting than most. I hope therefore that in setting up these pages I can set the record straight, and help other sincere people who likewise do not know the full story about Sai Baba, the various allegations, the ex-devotees and the slanderous devotees, from being fooled the way I was.

(by M. Alan Kazlev)

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