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Another thing to watch out for is the "reincarnated dead guru technique." Occasionally pseudo gurus desirous of creating legitimacy for themselves will imply that they are the reincarnation of a past Saint. They argue, "You accepted him, so why not accept me, too?"

A few years back someone was claiming to be the reincarnation of Huzar Baba Sawan Singh. I don't believe the claim is genuine since their teachings are dramatically different from Sawan Singh's and the Sant tradition on a number of fundamental points.

(Just as Shirdi Sai Baba in being a Muslim Sufi and one who lived a poor and simple life, giving charity and instruction and freely accessible was utterly different in belief and deportment from Sai Baba and his gaudy lifestyle and greed for sensual and financial gratification-Corboy)

(The writer resumes)

Does the master have a multiple personality disorder? Would a Perfect Master need to argue with himself?

In any event, in the classic Sant Mat tradition self-proclaimed gurus aren't recognized as legitimate. One cannot simply become a Master by self-proclamation, declaring oneself to be the supreme master of the Western Spiral Arm of the Milky Way.

In this Path there's one Master at a time serving as the Spiritual Head of a specific Community or Mission. When the current Living Master is about to leave the body, they will usually recognize and apoint the new Master.

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Mrs. Hira, then 55, was married to Ryuko Hira, the owner of the HMI Hotel Group, one of Japan’s largest hotel chains. She and her husband also had something in common with the hospital’s top heart surgeon, Dr. Valluvan Jeevanandam. They were all followers of the Indian spiritual figure Sathya Sai Baba.

She had faced long odds of getting a new heart in Japan, where only about 10 percent of residents are registered donors and the wait for a transplant can stretch for years.

On Sept. 30, 2021, the University of Chicago added Mrs. Hira to the registry and obtained an exception that increased her priority level, records show.

The same day, a 19-year-old woman died in the Midwest. The transplant system’s algorithm identified more than 400 potential matches for her heart — including Mrs. Hira.

Patients often wait months to gain priority and for the right organ to become available. But with the exception, Mrs. Hira was No. 7 on the list. Doctors for the patients above her determined the organ wasn’t right for them, and then the University of Chicago accepted. Dr. Jeevanandam performed the transplant on Oct. 3.

(photograph)

Dr. Gabriel Danovitch, a longtime leader of the U.S. transplant system and a co-author of the 2012 policy change on international patients, said that transplant tourism was still very uncommon in America. But he said he was greatly disturbed to hear that an overseas patient had so quickly received an organ and made a donation. “Truthfully, it makes me sick,” he said.

About three weeks after her transplant, Mrs. Hira had recovered enough to leave the hospital. She told her caregivers there that before returning to Japan, she wanted to give them something to remember her. They each received a jacket embroidered with their name, the date of Mrs. Hira’s transplant and the lotus flower symbol of Sai Baba.

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Motion text
That this House, mindful of the many accounts and witness statements of the sexual abuse of the male children of devotees by the Indian guru Sai Baba, calls upon the Foreign Secretary to use the travel advice for India page of the Foreign Office website to issue guidance to British families intending to visit the ashram of Sai Baba about the possible danger to their male children of individual audiences with the guru.

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Sexual Abuse
The most damning allegations against the "god-man", however, concern the sexual abuse of young boys and male adults during private interviews with him.

Damaging rumours have circulated since the seventies of the guru's sexual exploits but have always been dismissed out of hand by the tightly controlled Sai Baba organisation.

We interviewed the Rahm family in America who had been Sai Baba devotees for years. Both father and son stated that they had been subjected to Sai Baba rubbing oil on their genitals.

"He took me aside," said Alaya Rahm, "put the oil on his hands, told me to drop my pants and rubbed my genitals with oil. I was really taken aback."

Sai Baba counted former Indian prime ministers as his followers
Dr Michael Goldstein, chairman of the international Sai Baba organisation, admitted he had heard rumours, but told us that he did not believe them. He said: "My heart and my conscience tell me that it is not possible."

Sai Baba was never investigated on this issue. All attempts to prosecute him failed.

Nor was there any satisfactory resolution to the gruesome killing of four male devotees in 1993 who allegedly entered Sai Baba's bedroom, armed with knives.

The police claimed they had been shot in self-defence.

The lack of any legal proceedings against the guru was perhaps not surprising in light of the level of influence that he commanded.

A previous Indian prime minister, Atal Vajpayee, once issued a letter on his official notepaper calling the attacks on Sai Baba "wild, reckless and concocted".