Sathya Sai Baba : Suicide, sex and the guru

The reputation of Sai Baba, a holy man to the rich and famous, has been tarnished by mysterious deaths and allegations of sexual abuse In a world of pain and sorrow, a smiling little man in a saffron robe who can cure misery by magic is a bewitching prospect.

To millions of followers around the world, Sai Baba is a benevolent spiritual leader whose hospitals and schools work tirelessly for the advancement of the poor. But an investigation by The Times today discloses that three British men have apparently taken their own lives after becoming followers of the miracle worker. Two of them were encouraged to believe that he could cure their medical problems. One of those also said that he had been touched intimately by the Sai Baba.

This is the same Sai Baba who is adored and indulged by the international jet set. The Duchess of York had the treat of watching him produce a gold watch and cross from thin air when she visited his ashram in India.

The Prince of Wales's architectural adviser, Keith Critchlow, designed a vast, stunning hospital for Sai Baba, which has been compared to St Peter's in Rome and a maharaja's palace. ''The most influential holy man in India today,'' is how the respected architect describes the guru.

The hospital, mostly financed by Isaac Tigrett, the wealthy American founder of the Hard Rock Café chain of restaurants, treats the humble people of the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. So it was with righteous indignation that Sai Baba, in a rare fit of public anger, has turned on the band of disillusioned disciples who are now tarnishing his name.

Jesus Christ, said Sai Baba to a large crowd of devotees, underwent many hardships and was put on the cross because of jealousy. In those days there was only one Judas to betray him, but now there are thousands.
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Detractors are casting doubt on Sai Baba's miracles, suggesting that he is little more than a conjuror with a limited repertoire of jaded tricks. A financial row over the £13 million fortune of the British film actor James Mason, whose widow became a Sai Baba devotee, is smouldering. Most devastating is the suggestion that Sai Baba might have been abusing his power over young male followers by indulging in sexual activity with them.

Sai Baba was born Sathyanarayana Raju on November 23, 1926 in the tiny village of Puttaparthi in Andhra Pradesh.When he was only 14, Sai Baba - already magically producing candles and pencils for school friends - surprised his family by announcing that he was the reincarnation of Sai Baba of Shirdi, a miraculous old Indian sage who died in 1918.

Today Sai Baba's birthplace is home to an ashram that can accommodate 10,000 pilgrims.
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However, the first cracks in faith in Sai Baba's magical powers came about because of a visit by a previous prime minister, Narasimha Rao, also a devotee.For this special occasion, Sai Baba appeared to materialise a gold watch from nowhere. But when Indian state television workers played back film of the incident in slow motion, they saw that the miracle was a sleight-of-hand hoax.
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Sai Baba is being challenged on another more prosaic front. Questions are being asked about the fundraising techniques employed by his followers. Some are accused of targeting vulnerable rich people and claiming that the miracle worker might be able to cure the afflictions of old age.
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But more potentially damaging than claims about money are the sexual allegations against Sai Baba. These were first publicised as long ago as 1976, when Tal Brooke, a disenchanted American devotee, wrote Avatar of Night

. Over the years, the description by disillusioned followers of intimate acts involving Sai Baba has persisted.

The suggestion is that Sai Baba grants one-to-one audiences to young men, who believe they are in the presence of a living god. This may entail a high level of intimacy and the men allowing their private parts to be touched or fondled by the guru.

There have been no prosecutions. A complaint was lodged with India's Central Bureau of Investigation on March 12, 2001 but there has been no result.

In the United States, though, anti-Sai Baba campaigners are trying to persuade the authorities to open investigations into the alleged molestation of American citizens who are minors. The co-ordinator of this American campaign says that he has been interviewed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation but no formal inquiry is under way.

So has Sai Baba, the most worshipped sage of the Orient, really been groping youthful followers. One innocent explanation is provided by Stuart Jones, a member of Sai Baba's Bristol and Bath group. He points out that there is a possible cultural misunderstanding at play. In yoga, Jones explains, one of the energy points on the body is below the testicles, an area sometimes stimulated by a teacher such as Sai Baba.
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Talk of ''energy points'' does not endear Sai Baba to the Indian Rationalists Association, an organisation of atheists and doubters which seeks to debunk organised religion and disprove all miracles. They denounce him as the biggest fraud of the ''god industry''. Joseph Edamaruku, the association's president, says: ''He has consistently refused to subject himself to an independent examination. He raises enormous amounts of money from India and around the world. We do not believe claims that it is spent on hospitals and charitable works.''

One charitable field where Sai Baba's followers do seem to be most active is education. Sai Baba's teachings, however, are a collection of banal truisms and platitudes. The most famous utterances he has made in a six decade-long career as a living god are ''Help ever, hurt never'' and ''Love all, serve all''. Few are likely to argue with such a simplistic and universal moral code. He broadens his appeal further by allowing devotees to continue practising their own religion while paying homage to him.

Sai Baba's children's course, Education in Human Values, is taught in schools in 100 countries. It promotes five qualities: truth (satya), righteousness (dharma), peace (shanti), love (prema) and nonviolence (ahimsa). Education in Human Values rejects rote learning, emphasising Indian techniques such as ''silent sitting'', quotation, story-telling, song and group activities.
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It is the recent suicides, however, that may hurt Sai Baba the most in Britain. Suicides and suspicious deaths have long marred his reputation. A German man was found hanging from a rafter in Puttaparthi in the early 1980s. A father and daughter took fatal overdoses in Bangalore in 1999 after failing to get an audience with the guru.

In a puzzling incident in June 1993, Sai Baba was attacked by four young male devotees armed with knives. Two of the guru's bodyguards were stabbed to death. After the four youths, long-time followers of Sai Baba, locked themselves in a room, they were all shot dead by police.
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