In
Noordhollands Dagblad, Saturday December 9th, 2000.
By
Arthur de Mijttenaere
In
the series 'The Turn around' people are interviewed from the province
Noord-Holland whose life got a new turn. Today story seven: Stijn Riemersma. For
twenty years she believed deeply in the miracle man Sai Baba, whom she now
rejects, and she spends time, energy and money to defame this man.
Name:
Stijn Riemersma
Age:
58
City:
Broek in Waterland (village near Amsterdam)
The
Turn around
Reading
The Findings by the British David Bailey who tells about fraud and Sai Baba’s
sexual misuse with young boys. For Stijn Riemersma after twenty years of
believing deeply in Sai Baba, is now convinced that the avatar (divine master)
is a child molester, who misuses his power to satisfy his sexual needs. Looking
back she recognizes his deception. “But when you belief in miracles, you are
not that critical; it was a kind of brain washing. Yet, Stijn Riemersma feels
the pain of having lost her faith.“ The
thing I want most is to still believe in Sai Baba”.
Stijn
Riemersma chooses her words carefully, is not at all strange and very down to
earth. Her clothing and the interior in her beautiful authentic farmhouse in
Broek in Waterland are an example of Dutch soberness and thoroughness. Why did
this 58 year recently retired business woman consider the Indian guru Sai Baba
for twenty years to be her Savior?
Already
in 1972 Riemersma became interested in the Indian guru after reading the book
‘Sai Baba Man of Miracles’, followed by the book ‘Sai Baba, the Holy Man
and the Psychiatrist’ ten years later. Both books were about miracles the
Indian guru performed in India. Miracles like curing the sick and healing the
lame. An interest in the Indian avatar was born. And what Sai Baba preached
harmoniously fit in with the beliefs of her Dutch reformed religion. “The
teachings of Sai Baba are a combination based on the ten commandments in the
Bible and the ideas in the Bhagavad Gita, the holy book of the Hindus.
"Love each other and love God above all, a teaching that appealed to me,
and still does," she simply explains.
Savior
Riemersma
attended meetings of Sai Baba
devotees in Utrecht. Sai Baba became world famous outside India in the
seventies, with hundreds of thousands of followers in the West. With an iron
discipline she went to these gatherings of twenty to 25 people. "We
didn’t do anything wrong at these meetings. We all had the idea: we have found
our Savior."
When
they looked at her strangely in the 'small town community' Broek in Waterland
because of her Baba-beliefs, it didn’t bother her. "You feel a bit better
with Baba, and you know you have to follow your own path." The teachings of
Baba were not radical. "He was not like the
Bhagwan who advocated free abortion, free euthanasia and free sex. Such
extreme points of view are not mine. Sai Baba pretended to be different. He
said: "come to me with empty hands and I will fill them with love."
Dependence
For
her life the faith in the Avatar was something she needed to depend on. A source
in the search for the good life seen from a more peaceful angle.
Just like hundreds of thousands of other Westerners, Riemersma visited
India several times, to be near the presence of the benefactor.
In
the village Puttaparthi in South-India, the ashram (community with a spiritual
leader) Prasanthi Nilayam - the residence Abode of Peace – she often saw the
guru perform. His orange robe, mirrors the highest state of being. He is
according to his teachings God in human form. These darshans (divine encounters)
take place twice a day She, as well as other five to six thousand
attendees at the temple court, had to draw a number, hoping to get a place with
a good view at the Avatar. She traveled six times to India. Every time she hoped
deeply for an interview, a personal meeting with Baba, but this happy occasion
never crossed her path.
What
is the secret that a small man in India can mesmerize such masses of people?
Riemersma searches for an answer. "We were moved and happy when we saw him.
A tiny man who had obtained the highest degree in divinity. Charisma? Radiance?
No doubt he has that. But it also was a form of brainwashing, of mass
psychosis."
The
darshans consisted of two-thirds visitors from abroad, who could count on a warm
interest of their guru. He walked among the crowds and always spent more time on
the men's side compared to the women’s side.
Especially
young men got personal interviews. Looking backwards Riemersma realizes why:
"Naturally this was obvious. But then I didn’t know." A chosen young
man from Purmerend who had a private interview with Sai Baba, didn’t want to
tell anything about it in his group. Sai Baba had told him not to tell any one.
"It heightened the mystery. Due to this fact, this man became like a
guru to our group. We looked up to him. Of all things, he had spoken with
the Savior. Yet now I suspect that this young man was molested, and out of
feelings of shame kept his mouth shut."
During
personal interviews Sai Baba performs his magical abilities, like materializing
(creating something out of nothing) watches and gemstones. "Some said that
he just pulls those things from underneath a pillow of his velvet chair. But
this would not diminish our faith, because 'Sai Baba would do it to test our
faith". Furthermore Riemersma, along with many others, stumbled
into buying a small apartment in the Holland-Switzerland house in the
ashram, for thousands of guilders. At first it was presented as if she would be
allowed to stay for six months per
year, but later it became clear that it was only six weeks. During the last
decades, the Sai Baba village has grown into a flourishing community, with a
profitable religious industry. The village functions as a lucrative enterprise
for Sai Baba and his Organisation, schools,
universities and many shops selling cheap merchandise about the Avatar.
Change
of faith
In
October of 1999, Riemersma visited the Indian guru for the last time. In March
of the year 2000, in one stroke, the turn around took place. Through the mail,
she ordered (out of curiosity)the report The Findings, by ex devotees
David Bailey and his wife, from UK, both of whom had been well known
members in the religious community, and who had been matched and married by Sai
Baba himself. As a musical teacher in the schools of the guru, Bailey came to
know the shocking truth about Sai Baba: the truth that he very often misused his
young male devotees. The holy man, now 75 years of age, appeared to be a
Peadophile, who in an unrestricted way abused his power to obtain his sexual
pleasures from young adolescents. Bailey considered it his duty to make this
known worldwide, and took distance from the guru. By means of the publication of
The Findings the eyes of many Baba-devotees have been opened. Also for Stijn
Riemersma, who after reading halfway the forty pages of the report, literally
dropped her belief. The evidence was conclusive. "From these factual
stories, legal documents and sworn statements, I could not close my eyes."
For twenty years she was a devout believer, but in one stroke this was over. She
emotionally lost the ground under her feet; the
huge shock changed her life, and put her in a grieving process that still
continues.
“Together
with my husband, who never had been attracted to this guru, I took down all
pictures of Baba in our house, and destroyed them.” On the internet (among
others at the site www.exbaba.nl) dozens of the anti-Baba testimonies are to be
found. “These are stories of devotees from Denmark, England, and the United
States, who have been abused by him. It happened in a fixed pattern. During a
private interview, he asked the guys to drop their pants, upon which he massaged
their pubic hair and penis with oil. If they passed the test well, they were
allowed to come again. In the second session the boys had to perform oral sex
with him. Whereupon, they weren’t supposed to talk, the godhead told them.”
Even though stories about Sai Baba’s pedophilia had circulated before,
Riemersma ignored them. Naive, she now believes. “These were always stories of
a single journalist. In the testimonies of Bailey it is about a whole list of
young men, or older ones who have been abused by him years ago.” The
pedophelic power game of Sai Baba is very deceitful. Everything that God does is
for sure always good? At least, that is how parents raise their children.
Therefore, the children can hardly protest. “Completely overruled and upset,
they don’t understand what is happening to them by a holy man!”
Her
faith melted away through the stories about peadophilia. Riemersma has turned
around completely from being a devoted member to an anti Sai Baba-activist. She
now is a spokeswoman for the Dutch action committee against the guru. She, when
needed, gives interviews, writes letters about the truth concerning Sai Baba,
and spends time and money to defame the practices of this man. With some
success, because the following of the Indian guru last year has diminished. Of
approximately 2800 subscribers to
the Dutch Sai Baba Newsletter, 800 cancelled
their subscription, partly because Riemersma distributed The Findings in the
Netherlands. When others lose their faith, Riemersma tries to help them. She
always uses the same argument. “I advise: God has stayed the same. But over
the years we have created the wrong image.” Riemersma doesn’t blame the
regular devotees of Baba, she repeatedly emphasizes. "It is not so that the
members are part of it. But the top of the Baba organisation does know, and
justify his pedophile behavior, with the false argument that one cannot
understand why God is doing such a thing. I am convinced of this.” What hurts
her above all is the fact that the Central Committee of Sai Baba-Netherlands
(circa 5000 members) does not want to talk with her because they believe her to
be jealous because ‘she never had a personal interview with him’. "Huge
nonsense", according to Riemersma. “I always tell them that once you know
someone abuses his children, your relationship with him changes. Whether he is
your neighbor, or Sai Baba."
Devotees repeat the argument Sai Baba once used himself when he was accused of pedophilia: namely that his body is pure and therefore it does not need sex. Or they say that Sai Baba treats the boys this way to help them overcome their sexual problems. “In their words: Sai Baba is God; if Sai Baba does these things, it has to be alright.” In a sect you can be blind and deaf to everything.