Sathya Sai Baba & His Teachings

"Actually, one should never seek pardon for the mistake committed. One should be prepared to undergo the punishment. Only then can one be free from defects. When a person commits a serious offence, he is put in jail. He is released only after he undergoes punishment for the required period. Likewise, if you want redemption, you should atone for your sins and be prepared to face punishment for your mistakes. You should exercise control over the senses and see that you do not repeat your mistakes." (Sai Baba, discourse on 5/7/2001 Sanathana Sarathi, August 2001, p. 230)

Comment: Will SB follow his own advice? Does he mean that being a passive (or active?) accomplice to the cold-blooded execution of young men is a mistake? Would he think not exercising control of the senses and repeating the lifelong mistakes of sexual molestationof which he stands so widelyand credibly accused to be a mistake.

One’s good works - however great they may or may not be - can prove simply nothing about grave crimes of which one stands accused. It is best to clear one’s name in frank and open investigation, at least - if innocent! SSB’s attempts to avoid real scrutiny have long since been built into his teachings. One oft-quoted example of this are his words, "Examine yourself and leave me to myself" and many huge claims of the kind: "My truth is inexplicable, unfathomable. I am beyond the reach of the most intensive inquiry, the most meticulous measurement. There is nothing I do not see... " ( p.131, J. Hislop, My Baba and I. San Diego, 1985)

Further to help avert attention from himself, SSB holds out rewards to those who have implicit faith in all he says and does, but only in an invisible world of unknown and unknowable future imaginings. In this way, he has long been able to ward off examination by his followers of what he is and does here and now!

He claims that his life is his message, and we are able to examine that, at any rate! The requirement to follow a nation’s laws is on of the 10 points listed in the Sathya Sai Organisation’s Charter to which all members must agree and follow. Why does SSB avoid this at all costs? Is not the answer transparently clear? SSB claims that he acts only for his devotees’ sake!

So why can’t he do this in submitting to investigations and clearing up all possible doubts? The most obvious answer is that he wanted to protect himself from what would have come to light. Why did he run off when his two attendants were being stabbed to death? Why did he not intervene when those responsible were executed one by one in cold blood on his younger brother’s intervention? Is all this a way to re-establish eternal values (Sanathana dharma)? No, it simply dishonours India's spiritual values.

The whole construction of a ‘spiritual dispensation’ built on the sands of criminal behaviour will surely topple over like a tower struck by lightning in the glare of any future world opinion.