I don’t have a high opinion of Sathya Sai Baba (SSB), but I have acknowledged his organisation’s efforts in service to humanity. There are allegations that these too are tailored to benefit SSB and his organization, but we should not consider this due to lack of proper evidence.
One more positive thing about him is the direction he has been giving to the youth. When just one bad friend is enough for a youth to go astray, SSB has been doing yeomen service in guiding the youth to the correct path.
Though other organizations such as the Chinmaya Mission, the Ramakrishna Math and the RSS doing a great job of guiding the youth, I am writing about SSB’s organization because of the negative image he has acquired.
One example of how the youth are benefiting from SSB’s influence is a guy of around 25 years in my flat. Satish says he came into contact with SSB’s organization a decade ago. I haven’t seen a more dedicated follower of a religious organization.
When many of us regard Sunday (or our weekly off) as a day to relax, he wakes up early (at around 4 am) and joins a group chanting bhajans. Later on you can find him distributing rice. He comes home, may be by noon. In the evening, he is off for bhajans/prayers again.
One day, he was coming back home at around 7 am. He said he was coming back from a Veda class. I remind you, he is just around 25.
Now, what makes me wonder is, a guru so powerful, who is able to drive such a devotion into the youth, who has millions of followers all over the world, does nothing to refute/deny allegations against him? The allegations, including sexcapades, against SSB can run into pages. All you have to do is to search for “Sathya Sai Baba is a fraud” in google, you can get thousands of pages. One of the sites that dutifully collects ‘evidence’ against SSB is exbaba.com.
But it is difficult to find any material from the SSB side which replies to these allegations. All you get are stories about miracles, how great he (SSB) is etc. There seems to be no attempt to counter these allegations.
The trouble with the followers (like Satish, for example) is that they regard their guru as God. And any troublesome question is dismissed with a report about some miracle(s) which ‘proves’ the Guru is God.
No attempt is made to logically explain why the allegations are wrong.
There is no point in saying “I am God. These allegations cannot do me anything”. SSB has a duty to explain. Because he is the guide to millions of innocent young devotees like Satish. And the guide HAS to be clean. So, he HAS to wash off the dirt on him.
