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The "Bible" (latest version) [Brian Steel] Perhaps to live up to his audience's expectations of spectacular Christmas revelations, however, Baba goes on to announce and to produce what he refers to (XXIX, p.394) as "a book compiled in Britain around 1530 A.D. containing all the information about Jesus gathered during the preceding centuries. The Russians condensed all the material in a small book [in which language?] which they preserved in a place on the Black Sea coast [not named]." The official report continues: [Svaami produced the little book by a circular wave of His hand and held it before the audience.] "This is the book. You can see the cross on the cover page. The book was designed to demonstrate the common features of all religions. What is contained in this book is not to be found even in the Bible. It contains an entirely new account of the life of Jesus." [Bold type added]
During his Christmas discourse in 1996 Baba suddenly produced the "small Bible" and told a story about its medieval origins (1530). Sai Baba claimed that scholars started investigating the validity of the statements made by Jesus Christ. In ca- 1530 AD in Britain, they collected all knowledge that existed prior to one thousand five hundred and thirty years. All that was compiled in one book in England. Russians made it into a tiny book.
 The selfsame tiny bible is found for sale on-line from various outlets. It contains the New Testament and has the same golden cross on a white cover as Sai Baba holds up above!
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Download and watch the video clip from Christmas, 1996 in which Baba suddenly produced the tiny bible (called a "small Bible" by his propagandists). Firstly see the excerpt which begins with him picking up a handkerchief (but it must contain the tiny bible to be 'materialised) for it is visible as a white patch in his right hand just before the clip ends. http://www.saibaba-x.org.uk/video/mini-bible-fraud.mov The end bit is shown very briefly again here. http://www.saibaba-x.org.uk/video/microbibleclip.mov  See short video clip in wmv 1.5MB See short video clip in mov 2.5Mb See longer clip in wmv 9.7Mb See longer clip in mov 13.8Mb Note disclaimer |
The fact that he did NOT materialise the bible can be discerned in a frame-by-frame analysis of the 'hand-waving' in the video.
Apart from Sathya Sai Baba's three conflicting
descriptions of the book's contents, this is a most disturbing performance
because on a video of the 'materialisation', Baba merely seems to pluck the
miniature book (2 and a half centimetres by 3 and a quarter) from below the
ledge of the table he is leaning on. Photographs of Baba holding up the tiny
book were immediately circulated in Puttaparthi.
One of these is on the cover of the Spanish edition of the January 1997 issue
of Sanathana Sarathi (El Eterno Conductor) for that same month. However, the mysterious
book appears to be nothing more than a copy of the "Good News" edition
of the New Testament, freely and cheaply available in
Excerpt from Brian Steel, the original Ch 6 of Sathya Sai Baba: God or Guru?:-
"Although already discussed in detail in Chapter
5, my next example is relevant enough to bear repetition here. At Christmas1996,
Baba suddenly produced the "small Bible" (as it came to be
known, inaccurately) and told a story about its medieval origins (1530). Scholars started investigating the validity
of the statements made by Jesus Christ. They collected all knowledge that
existed prior to one thousand five hundred and thirty years. All that was compiled in one book in
Other alleged details were circulated soon afterwards by Baba's associates and devotees in the ashram circulated the information that Baba had apported the bible from under the noses of the guards at an (unnamed) Armenian sanctuary or temple on the Black Sea. It disappeared shortly afterwards, according to an ashram spokesman, back to its resting place before the Armenian guards noticed its disappearance. (See Sanathana Sarathi, January 1997 or Spiritual Impressions, November 1996)
All very impressive, spectacular even, but the truth that I discovered
one day long afterwards was that copies of an identical work, the miniature so-called Good News New Testament, have been on sale in India
for many years. I bought one from a Sai Baba Centre
in
What is very disturbing here, if my suspicion is correct, is the crassness of the would-be deception and the extent of the inventiveness. The clarity of the publicity photographs of Baba holding up the tiny book is very convincing. (The photograph was even featured on the front cover of the Spanish translation of Sanathana Sarathi for January 1997.) I was left feeling annoyed. why on earth should Baba feel the need to make up such a cock-and-bull story for his listeners, knowing that it (and the photographs) would spread around the world immediately? And why should he assume (correctly!) that it would not be challenged? Equally disturbing is that devotees seem to have accepted it as true. The Emperor's New Clothes again?"
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