Sai Baba Molested me #1
From: http://www. network54. com/Hide/Forum/106920
Date: November 13, 2001 at 7:49 AM
By: John Bright
For me personally the Sai Baba debate is over. The bottom line is this: I am an American. I lived continuously in Sai Baba's ashrams from 1994-1996. Like most devotees staying at his ashrams, I followed him wherever he traveled. (his ashram at Puttaparthi, Brindavan, and Kodaicanal etc. )
I was completely ignored by Baba for most of the two years until 1996 when I was called for an interview with a group of fellow American devotees. During the main interview he granted me a private interview. During this private interview he sexually molested me. There was no room for misinterpretation on my part and Sai Baba wasn't trying to activate my kundalini or any of the hundreds of other rationalizations and denials that devotees and believers in Sai Baba come up with. Also, this wasn't a matter of an impure, egoistic, finite mind of a mere mortal misinterpreting a pure god-man whose actions are born of of an infinite mind so vast and complex that it is beyond the capability of the limited finite human mind to accurately judge or understand. His actions were for his own sexual gratification. (If he is activating my kundalini why would he try to get me to put his erect penis in my mouth) Another point here:If not a blade of grass moves without his will why couldn't he simply activate the kundalini of us young men (and in some cases boys) by his mere sankalpa or will or thought-power. And as for the argument that he does it to give the devotees the pleasure of human interaction with the divine, this simply doesn't hold water. Anybody who has had this happen is usually severely traumatized and leaves Sai Baba forever.
I admit that it is hard to believe these stories of sexual molestation when you read what Sai baba teaches (universal love, harmlessness, feed the poor, help ever hurt never). In fact if I hadn't had my experience I probably wouldn't believe them.
When I returned to America in 1996 after my traumatic episode with Sai Baba I spent at least two years trying to heal and to hold on to some form of sanity. I didn't try to tell any devotees of Sai Baba what had happened to me because I knew that to do so would be futile. A devotee is told to not harbor negative thoughts and to snuff them out immediately and any thought contrary to the thought that "Sai Baba is God" definitely qualifies as a negative thought in an ardent devotees mind. It wasn't until I saw the September-October 2000 issue of Nexus magazine that I truly entertained the possibility of reaching devotees and convincing them of the truth of what I had experienced. In that issue was an article titled: Sai Baba: Guru Gone Wrong? For the first time I read the Findings report by Faye and David Bailey;in it were similar experiences to my own. I knew for the first time I had credible evidence to back up my story. I knew that there would be a chance after all of convincing devotees of what happened to me should I choose to try.
The first and only attempt to date came when I went to see an old Sai friend. I asked him if he had heard the stories in nexus magazine and he said he had. To my surprise he didn't seem phased by it or even disturbed. He also acknowledged that he was aware of the critical stories of Sai Baba on the web. He said that he saw a lot of anger in them. I then , without going into detail, let him know that I had similar experiences. He said that he viewed Sai Baba a little differently than most people; that to him Sai Baba was not God but an advahut (a highly advanced spiritual being who is still nonetheless climbing the spiritual ladder to perfection) the gist of what my friend continued to say was that we all, including himself, have sexual appetites and that people have their own sexual preferences. The meeting was cut short because he had an appointment and I left by simply saying that he interpreted these things differently than me. I moved to another city and have not spoken to him since, though I hope to some day. I left a little bit stunned-where had I gone wrong? As I drove home I thought that my friend may have thought I was attacking the right to choose A homosexual life style. This wasn't the case. I was attacking a man who claims to be God, who claims to be free of all worldly desires but who at the same time regularly molests young men and boys against their will. Even if I accepted the premise that he was an advahut that still didn't excuse Sai Baba's activities. Part and parcel of advancing spiritually (at least in eastern spirituality) is the shedding of bodily appetites and worldly desires. Yet Sai Baba's sexual appetites outweighs the sexual desires of the so-called average man mired in the world of Maya (illusion) or Samsara. If he is an advahut then by definition one would certainly expect him to have gained more self-control over his bodily desires than the average man. So any way you look at it the advahut argument just doesn't fly.
So that ended my first and only attempt (at the time of this writing) to speak to a fellow devotee about my experience.
I must admit I understand the denial of a devotee or true believer in Sai Baba probably better than anyone. I was the worlds worst when it came to denial until I was sexually molested by Sai Baba. I refused to listen to anything even remotely critical of him. If someone tried I would walk away and if I couldn't I would tune them out to the best of my ability.
If you try to tell an ardent devotee an experience like mine they will either believe that you are a deliberate liar or they will say that your impure mind has projected it impurity on Sai Baba's selflessly pure acts. There is simply no way to win with a true believer (I know I was one).
There are different groups of Sai Baba devotees: the truly ardent (or the true believers) like I mentioned above. They will refuse to listen to anything negative about Sai Baba and if they must listen they will tune out all that you say. (I fell into this group)
The next group will listen to negative statements about Sai Baba and they will make a pretense of objectivity, but they still operate on the premise that:"Sai Baba just has to be God"; that, right there, is the death-nell of any true openness or objectivity. Like a computer running on a certain program they will throw out any thing contrary to their programming-in this case the programming is that"Sai Baba is God"and anything indicating otherwise is thrown out.
Then there is a third, more rare group, they are truly objective and will genuinely listen to, and consider, new evidence even if it makes them uncomfortable.
For those of you out there who believe in these stories of sexual molestation about Sai Baba and who want to get the word out I believe it is important to understand this denial mechanism present in the minds of those who resist accepting the evidence. By understanding it, it may just help you reach them. Some times even this understanding isn't enough in such cases all we can do is practice the age-old spiritual virtue of patience. Each of these individual horror stories of sexual molestation is like a brick; one, two or three bricks alone, may hardly be noticeable, but as the stories continue to come in and as the bricks continue to pile up, a wall is being built, and a wall cannot be ignored. My story is one of those bricks. Alone these stories are weak but together they are strong.
This is my first time to share my story in any kind of public forum. In a way I am kind of testing the waters with this posting. I am still a little uncomfortable sharing my story and up to now I have been very careful and selective about when and with whom I share it. I didn't really go into any great detail about what happened in the private interview room with Sai Baba in this posting but I may in the future in another posting. I'm not sure yet, but one day I may try to write a polished, complete version of my story. There is more to tell and more details to fill in.
In case this has been forwarded elsewhere I want to say that this is originally appearing as a posting on Craig Hamilton Parker's website on his Sai Baba debate posting board. Though, Craig believes that Sai Baba is who he says he is, he encourages open debate about Sai Baba on the message board and records responses made to each posting. If you are interested his web address is: www.psychics.co.uk
To get to the message board scroll down the home page until you see Sai Baba listed on the menu. Click on the words Sai Baba. This will take you to another page. Click on the Sai Baba message board heading on this page and it will take you to the Sai Baba debate posting board.
When you get there look for the posting that asks the question "is Sai Baba good or evil" and you can read more of my reasons for why he is evil. Also scroll down the posting board and click on the posting:" Sai Baba is a fraud"the posting gives several good links that you can click on that will take you to sites that give damning evidence against Sai Baba.
I encourage you to forward this posting to anyone that might have an interest or to anyone that it might help;I intend to do the same.
Since a significant percentage of devotees of Sai Baba will avoid the completely negative websites like the plague, Craig's site may be just the place to reach those people that need to be reached by those of us who know the truth about Sai Baba.
Before I go I want to thank you Craig for being open enough to allow this open debate despite your beliefs in Sai Baba's authenticity.
However, there are two things that you mentioned that I want to address.
You said that if a person sees Sai Baba as a molester then Sai Baba will become a molester and if we see him as God he will become God. I think I see where you are going with that. There is a philosophy that mind is the builder and that perception and belief create reality;while I believe there is truth in this I also believe that it gets twisted. For example:I may choose not to believe that the sun will rise tomorrow and this belief may prevent me from accepting that the sun will rise tomorrow but my belief will not prevent the objective fact that the sun will rise tomorrow. In a similar way my personal belief that Sai Baba is or is not a molester will in no way change the objective reality. Sai Baba either is or is not a child molester;my personal beliefs doesn't change the objective truth about Sai Baba only my acceptance or rejection of it.
Finally, you mentioned that Sai Baba told a woman in an interview that she would be able to get an interview whenever she wanted in the future because devotees would be leaving him in droves. (When I was in India I heard something along similar lines)You seem to use this as evidence of Sai Baba's omniscience as well as a way to discredit these stories of sexual molestation. I will simply say this; if you were a molester in Sai Baba's position and you knew that the word was getting out or was likely to get out and that people were talking, what better way to cover your tracks and conduct damage control than to say such things. He is killing two birds with one stone-he creates the illusion that his knowledge is born of omniscience when it comes to pass and at the same time he discredits these stories of sexual molestation. His prediction comes not from omniscience but from the knowledge of what he is doing to young men in his private interview room and the knowledge that it is leaking out.
I want to thank you again, Craig for this forum and I wish you and all who read this the best.
I pray that we all will find the Light, Love and Truth that we seek.