Some citizens in India see exactly what's going on.
But it does seem the moderators of these sites delete most comments that are critical of Sai Baba.


----------QUOTE-----------------
[timesofindia.indiatimes.com]
Concerned Citizen (Bangalore)
10 hrs ago (01:38 PM)
This Sai Baba is a complete fraud. Unfortunately, there is far too much ignorance in our country (even among the so called educated ones as is evident by some of the comments). People will blindly be mesmerized by cheap magical tricks as long as he calls them "miracles of god". And regarding charitable works ... Ha ha ... if you take 100 rupees from public, you better give 5 rupees back as charity otherwise public will lose complete faith in you. The Tata's and Ambani's do charity as well (much more than Sai Baba) - but everyone knows they are crooks with politicians on their payrolls. People call them crooks because they don't attribute anything to god. If they did, they would probably be worshipped more than this fraudster Sai Baba. BTW - during his younger days (20 years or so back), Sai Baba had several allegations about pedophelia and sodomy made by several boys in the boys-hostel that he runs. Not much different than the altar boys who faced the same at the hands of many christian priests. All these so called "religious men" are the biggest parasites of earth.
----------------------------------------------------

Been to the Puttaparthi Ashram a few times 2006/08. Witnessed the almost fanatical blind devotion of the 'true followers' and also the seedier side of the goings on with gun wearing guards and aggressive security to touch on two things.
Went with a devotee who invited me along at a vulnerable time in my life (turns out that they were more needy than me!). Thankfully I eventually started to see through things despite being a bit awestruck and emotionally overwhelmed at first.
On subsequent visits I looked at things carefully and objectively deciding that this wasn't for me and not getting sucked into some of the nonsense and mental fear used to control.
Decided not to go again despite making some good local friends from outside the Ashram.
I could see that Sathya Sai was an ageing old man who seemed barely interested in doing Darshan although for many years earlier in his life I am sure he would have loved the euphoria of mass adulation by the crowds -giving him the wow factor as much as them.
To see all the vast opulence and indulgence is not acceptable to me and is a real eye opener when a few miles away people are scratting around just to feed themselves.
Have done research on Sai Baba of Shirdi and he was nothing like Sathya Sai in his life style - I can appreciate and admire Shirdi Sai and give him a big thumbs up (even though some of the stories will be enhanced a bit)
Sathya Sai quotes something like "I am not the form" but many many people rely on seeing just a fleeting glimpse of him to get by. He is mortal whatever gets said and is unlikely to get to the 96 years he quoted even if he gets through this current health crisis.
I wonder what will happen to all those people so utterly devoted for many years to his physical self and how they will cope when he is physically not there. There are a lot of emotionally fragile people out there, therefore I hope the Trust have a good safety net for them and look after them (when they can find time from squabbling over wealth and power control).
Let's see how things unfold.
Blessss you all

Thanks for the info.
Yes, very interesting about the Sai Baba gun-toting guards, and the rest of it.

Even in the west, a lot can be learned from going to Sai Baba satsangs, and analyzing the videos, audio, and books. But one has to be very careful, and have training in the methods of how these sects operate.

What is going to happen now?
Because there is such a deep line of official corruption, its going to be business as usual. If Sai Baba dies, whoever grabs control of Sai Baba Inc, will try to keep it going, with videos, websites, and the rest of it.
They will just concoct more Stories, that this Sai Baba Ascended little early but will be back, and can be communicated with by coming to the ashram, etc.
Probably start rumors about apparitions, and bogus miracle healings, and promote it like that.
The Sai Baba tourism is big business.

Even now some are saying Sai Baba stopped the radiation from Japan, and that killed him! They can say anything it seems.

Then one assumes they will wait for a few years until I think they said 2020-2028, and then pick a child to be the "reincarnation" of Sai Baba, and whoever has taken over, can then do what they want for 20 more years as the kid grows up unti 2048?
They will just stick the kid up on stage, and start the entire fiction all over again.
And whoever is running it, can keep the cash-flow coming for decades.

Its a massive corrupt industry. Sai Baba's handlers know its corrupt, and the senior politicians and authorities know its corrupt.
And what they do is kick-back a small part of the "donations" to fund some projects for some people. Now if those were audited, the financial corruption would be unreal. And beyond that, who knows where most of the $$ goes?
Clearly, the local justice system has been bribed or "persuaded" (an offer they can't refuse) to leave Sai Baba alone, and not pursue any charges against him.

Its one of the dirtiest deals running anywhere.
But a lot of the citizens in India are aware of this type of deep corruption, there have been many movies and articles about it, in general.

Who can investigate corruption, when the system that is supposed to investigate it, is corrupt?
And one assumes the local media is also on the take, and/or afraid of starting a riot by ever saying anything.

The sad thing is, the most devout true believers, have already rationalized this as a TEST, and their belief won't be shaken. Its truly scary how so many people can be so easily duped.
Perhaps that is why the politicians like Sai Baba, to learn how to do it!
But its very scary, as its very clear, that simple "words" right now, could start a mass riot, or possibly even armed conflict, as the belief is so fanatical.
Perhaps that is also why the local politicians like Sai Baba Inc, not just for the cash-in-hand, but for the power over the people.

Now the "legal" robbers will rob the robbers.
Its a free-for-all, and if he who hesitates loses the loot.

the Satya Sai Central Trust, has ONLY TAKEN CASH since 2000.
Its all untraceable, no one knows where the money went, cash disappears instantly.
Its like a giant criminal money-laundering enterprise.
It all makes sense now, the Satya Sai Central Trust is just a gigantic untraceable CASH SLUSH FUND.


And its obvious, the politicians want to take it over for their own financial power, as whoever controls the Trust controls the awarding of contracts, and probably to make sure the financial "black-list / blackmail list" doesn't get into the wrong hands.

At least in the US, the IRS can and will go after the worst offenders.


------------------

[www.ahmedabadmirror.com]
AP govt may take over Satya Sai Trust

With the 82-year-old being critically ill, question as to who will control the trust’s properties worth thousands of crores becomes pertinent; internal power struggle surfaces at ashram

Posted On Thursday, April 07, 2011 at 03:24:26 AM

In Hyderabad The Andhra Pradesh government is considering taking over the assets of ailing spiritual guru Satya Sai Baba of Puttaparthi in Anantapur district.

...

If the state goes ahead with its plans, the Satya Sai Central Trust, which owns assets worth thousands of crores of rupees, will come under State control, just as the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams did in 1966, following an enactment of the Charitable and Religious Endowments Act.

The state government has deputed senior IAS officer L V Subrahmanyam, currently the principal secretary in the state finance department, to assess the financial matters of the Trust.

Chaired by Sri Satya Sai Baba, the Satya Sai Central Trust owns properties across the country and abroad worth thousands of crores and is considered to be the richest after Tirupati.

While the government considers a takeover, the internal power struggle in the Trust has escalated in the past week or so. Sources say there are two persons in the forefront to take control of the Trust: former IAS officer K Chakravarthy, who is the secretary of the Trust, and Baba's nephew Ratnakar.

Chakravarthy's was the Anantapur district collector when the Trust was founded in early 1970s. Ratnakar is one of the trustees.

Sources say competition is tough as Chakravarthy enjoys say in the Trust matters, while Ratnakar maintains good rapport with devotees and people of Puttaparthi.

The Trust owns almost all of Puttaparthi, including an airport and a railway station.
The town’s central attraction is the Prasanthi Nilayam, Satya Sai Baba’s ashram and residence.

The town also has a super-specialty hospital, a stadium, an indoor stadium, educational institutions and a music college.

The Trust also owns a hospital at White Field in Bangalore. The Trust has 1,200 centres across the globe.

The Trust runs drinking water projects not only in Anantapur district and parts of Rayalaseema region, but also in Mahbubnagar and Medak districts in Telangana region.

Though the Trust used to accept donations in kind till the late 90s, since 2000 it started accepting only cash.

The Andhra Pradesh Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions Act of 1987 enables the government take over any religious institution.

The government has no idea about the cumulative value of the assets owned by the Satya Sai Central Trust.

Sources told this correspondent that enumeration of the assets will have to be carried out now. Not to leave any scope for controversy, the government may seek judicial assistance for a transparent enumeration.

“Assets of the Trust had never been valued and most of the details have been kept undisclosed. The audit reports also need to be verified,” the source said.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/07/2011 08:23AM by The Anticult.

Heh, if they converted even a small portion of that cash into gold...oohhh baby.

That is why they are fighting to gain control of the countless millions of dollars stashed by Sai Baba & Co all over the place.


Sai Baba claimed (lied) that he could materialize gold, using cheap magic tricks to dupe wealthy people into large donations.
An Indian Skeptic took it before a judge, as by law Sai Baba should have to pay tax on that gold.
But a corrupt Indian judge, ruled that Sai Baba's gold was "divine" and thus exempt from tax. How can that happen in a modern country?
Now they want to take over the entire Sai Baba Inc.


---------------------------------
[www.indian-skeptic.org]
Satya Sai Baba and the Gold Control Act.

by B. Premanand
Published by INDIAN CSICOP, Podanur 1986

In light of the extraordinary powers claimed by psychics all over the world one wonders how these powers are viewed by the judiary. Can psychics who claim to produce exceptions to the laws of nature get away with claiming exemption from the laws of society? Unfortunately, this sometimes seems to work.

A case in question involves the Indian godman, Satya Sai Baba, who claims the power to materialise any desired object out of thin air. Sai Baba's way of accomplishing this feat is indistinguishable from the way any competent conjurer would do the same. Although he only materialises 'holy' ash for his poorer followers he has a long history of producing gold objects for the wealthy and influential members of his flock. This book lists 89 such objects for the years 1968 to 1978 alone.

Now according to Indian law only licensed dealers are allowed to take part in the production of gold and Sai Baba doesn't have such a license. This fact was brought to the attention of the Regional Office of Gold Control as well as to the High Court of Andrah Pradesh by the indefatigable anti-guru, B. Premanand.

Judge Anjaneyulu, however, ruled that the law doesn't apply to Sai Baba because he materialises his gold from thin air. The only objection that Premanand could make against this strange decision was to appeal to the voice of reason: "Defence based on spiritual powers is not recognised in law. If such a defence is permitted, there is not a single offence the commission of which could be met with the penalties and punishments, for the reason that on a plea of spiritual power being raised by the accused there is no way to prove or disprove the existence or non-existence of the pleaded spiritual power." Unfortunately Premanand's words went unheeded.

This book, which recounts Premanand's battle in the courts, shows that in the end there can be no justice without reason.

B. Premanand, Satya Sai Baba and the Gold Control Act. Published by INDIAN CSICOP, Podanur 1986
------------------------------

Keven RD Shepherd--a March 2011 article on Satya Sai Organzation

Dr Shepherd is a fine author and scholar. He has paid the price by being attacked, cyberspace, along with others critical of SSO, namely Timothy Conway, Priddy and Brian Steele.

Notice the bias: one can praise gurus and live a peaceful life.

If anyone attempts to bring accountablity to the guru biz, they are troll attacked, nagged, dumped on.

If you attempt to run Shepherd's name in Google, you will see a multitude of nasty
citations. Study them, identify exclusion terms, and re-run the search to exclude the
trash and you will find and delight in the work of this citizen scholar.

The entire article by Keven RD Shepherd deserves close attention--here is a small excerpt.

[kevin-rd-shepherd.blogspot.com]

Quote

Srinivas describes the allegations in terms of “sexual healing,” a sanitised verbal gesture that is clearly influenced by the SSO (ibid., pp. 252ff.). Indeed, Srinivas states that the conflict with ex-devotees caused Sathya Sai and the SSO “to develop a sophisticated critique of Western thought that has been aired repeatedly in every confrontation with the press, the West, anti-Sai activists, and secular Indians” (ibid., p. 260). Any criticism of the guru is blamed on the evils of Western thinking by the putatively model format of sectarian morality.

Concession to this acute problem attitude is the current state of globalisation theory in anthropology and sociology. In contrast, analytical citizens are not obliged to render subscription or deference to devotionalism and “secrecy” traits. In sectarian programmes, globalisation and secrecy evidently amount to something evasive of accountability.

Tulasi Srinivas, Winged Faith: Rethinking Globalization and Religious Pluralism through the Sathya Sai Movement (Columbia University Press, 2010).

Well it looks as though the 'omnipotent' one is only just hanging on , being kept alive by whatever 'human' means possible, them buying time so that the hoards of corrupt people in the SSB Organization, government and other hangers on can get their goodies syphoned away and try to cover their butts.
The vast un-taxed and un-accounted for wealth and power will be bitterly fought over and maybe those Ashram gun toters might start pulling triggers. Could be very dangerous times looming around the organization and Puttaparthi.
I personally saw the hot-head reaction around the Puttaparthi Ashram a few years back when SSB was away in Chennai and a Chennai politician merely criticised him. A bunch of angry Ashram 'suits' stormed down the main street shouting for all shops to shut, people to leave the streets and then proceeded to have an effigy of the said offending politician paraded back up the street and duly burned in the middle of the road outside the main bus station. So much for 'love all' 'hurt no-one' etc! The complete lock-down was effected for 4 or 5 hours and the locals were quite scared and duly obeyed - was told by a local it was organised by SSB's nephew?
Highly likely that there will be a major uncovering of scams and worse with many people feeling freed when the 'old boy' finally goes - the snatch and grab of funds will show exactly what this cult / mega scam crew are made of.
Many many followers are still in denial of his mortality and must be delusional expecting him to return, will the penny ever drop as to what has been and is going on?
I suppose if you have had a large part of your life totally devoted to something and it disappears you have nothing so you just won't let it go irrespective of the truth.
Do feel sympathy for those who have been totally hood-winked and hope they wake from their daze one day and can have a happy existence.
Let's see how things develop in the next few weeks.
Blesssss you all

SSB was nothing more than a Big Boss like Bal Thackeray of Shiv Sena. Unlike Bal Thackeray SSB found ways to attract Westerners by mastering the techniques of guru theatre and the technology of bliss induction.

Again, for perspective on the context that produced and maintained SSB, get and read Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found by Suketu Mehta. Its now in paperback and easy to find.

Sai Baba's gang operated like an armed mafia in that area?
One can bet, much of the loot is long gone already.

Looks like the corrupt officials want to turn the area into SaiBabaLand, with them managing the cash donations for years to come.

And when Sai Baba dies, the Sai Baba PR company, will come up with some story, that he left the body for reason ______.
The followers will rationalize it somehow in their minds...like its a trick to test their faith.

After the leader of a big cult dies, someone always takes over, and then just markets the dead Guru. They must have tons of Sai Baba media.

In the west, they had these HUGE life-size photo cut-outs of Sai Baba at satsang, with the orange suit and big hair. Years later you still remember it.
Brilliant use of media.

So they will probably put SaiBaba videos up on a huge TV screen, and sadly, that will work on many followers.
All they need is another amateur magician with long sleeves, to throw some ash and trinkets to the crowd.