A
NewHeaven NewEarth Special Report
Saturday,
February 21, 1998
Sai Baba
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
INTRODUCTION
David Sunfellow
SEX, LIES & VIDEO TAPE
G.R.R. Babu
MY SAI HISTORY Jed Geyerhahn
MORE ON SAI BABA
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
INTRODUCTION By David Sunfellow
In SMORGASBORD 6, I wrote an
article entitled, "A Power Greater Than
Ourselves". Among other things, the article lamented the apparent
lack of authentic spiritua masters in the world today. "I have yet to meet
or hear of anyone alive
today," I wrote, "who embodies the kind of perfection I believe is our
birthright. And while there is certainly no shortage of people claiming
to be perfect, those who proclaim spiritual mastership the loudest, often
turn out to be the least developed and most lost. And this includes many of the
eastern world's most celebrated 'masters' who, along with whatever
genuine inner strengths and powers they tapped into, frequently demonstrate
glaring moral defects and/or an inability to function gracefully in the real
world." While many readers wrote back saying that they, too, had grown
disillusioned
I first encountered Sai Baba
over twenty years ago when a friend showed me a
book of his. After reading that Sai Baba considered himself the second
coming of Christ, I promptly dismissed both him and his claims of spiritual
mastership. Eventually, I came across a psychic reading done by Ray Stanford
(one of a handful of psychics that I believe was genuinely gifted), in
which Sai Baba was described as
"an avatar of mind unspiritualized." This particular
reading, which was published in 1976 in the Journal of the ASSOCIATION
FOR THE UNDERSTANDING OF MAN,
further accused Sai Baba of sexual indiscretions and said that he had physically
beat people who did not do his will. According to the Stanford source,
"There is a direct contradiction in the life of the individual involved,
between what he claims of himself and what he does in practice. This is
exemplified in the sexual life, in the intellectual life,
and in the emotional reactions of the individual called Baba. Also is it
exemplified in the external form of those attitudes mentioned -- such as the
physical beatings which that one has done to individuals who did not do his
will."
The Stanford source also added
this pointed reminder, "Realize that He who is the true incarnation of Love
gives evidence of Himself by love. Do not deceive yourself by rationalization
into believing that the giving of trinkets is the evidence of love, for love
given purely need not conceal itself behind mere trinkets of gold, stone, and
tinsel." While I viewed Sai Baba as one more wayward guru, an increasing
number of friends continued to sing
him praises. Some of these friends actually visited him in India. Their first-person impression of Sai Baba was
that he was, indeed, the high-powered spiritual master he claimed to be. Others,
who spent years in close association with Sai Baba, swore that they personally
witnessed many "miracles"
that could not be explained by ordinary means.
In addition, Sai Baba is
well-known in India, and often visited by Indian government
To
get to the bottom of this, I contacted officials connected with THE
COMMITTEE FOR THE SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION OF CLAIMS OF THE PARANORMAL
CSICOP), based in the United States, India and London. One of these
gentlemen, G.R.R. Babu, the Executive Director of INTERNATIONAL HUMANIST
& ETHICAL UNION in London,
faxed me an article he wrote that itemized many disturbing events associated
with Sai Baba, including faked materializations, murders, corrupt government
officials, money laundering, and other scandals.
Since CSIOP and their affiliate
organizations are staunch humanists, they have a vested interest to discredit
all claims of supernatural and/or divine interventions in the affairs of
humanity. Babu's report cannot, therefore, be viewed as an objective overview of
Sai Baba. In addition, Babu's article has a
sarcastic edge to it that compromises normal journalistic standards. It
does, however, detail events that should cause any seeking person to seriously
question Sai Baba, as well his claims of mastership. With permission, I have
included a copy of Babu's report on Sai Baba in this NHNE Special Report.
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
By G.R.R. BABU
General Secretary,
RATIONALIST ASSOCIATION OF
INDIA
THE SAI AVATAR
When a luminescent ball of
light entered Easwaramma while she was bathing, little did she or Pedda Venkappa
Raju, her illiterate husband, realize that the Lord had chosen her surrogate
womb for His next parthenocarpic incarnation.
Official literature enlightens us that the Lord's coming was anticipated long
ago by Jesus and Mohammed. For those who cannot find the relevant passages in
their version of the Bible or Koran, a more contemporary declaration was made by
the Lord Himself. In 1918 during His earlier incarnation as the Sai Baba of
Shirdi, He had revealed that 8 years after
leaving the Shirdi body, He would be reborn in Puttaparthi village of
Easwaramma, "as the moon grows in the sky," and a male child was born
on 23 November, 1926. To mark the momentous significance of the event, musical
instruments in the house played by themselves at the time of the birth: the
air, and a cobra, lord of reptiles, wailed in attendance to protect the
Lord.
It is fair to assume that just
as with the birth of the Buddha, elephants trumpeted in joy, peacocks danced and
the gods rejoiced.
Despite His omniscience, Satyanarayana Raju -- for that was his given name --
MAN OF MIRACLES
Satya Sai Baba would often say
"miracles are my visiting cards": a phrase which is also the title of
a largely hearsay, cock-and-bull account of Satya Sai Baba's paranormal powers,
by Icelandic parapsychologist Errlelndur Haraldsson (more about Haraldsson at
the end of this article). Despite His insistence that His religious message was
more important than the "tinsel" miracles He performed, the stupendous
"powers" of Satya Sai Baba soon came to be known all over the world.
Based on the "most reliable information", but mistaking God for guru,
the READER'S DIGEST book Strange Stories, Amazing Facts - II gives us this
credulous account: "Sai Baba is an Indian guru blessed with extraordinary
powers. He can produce gold rings and coins out of thin air, change rock into
candy, and flowers into jewels. He heals the sick with the aid of vibhuti
(sacred wood ash), which seems to appear from nowhere as he waves his hand.
Perhaps the most astonishing display of Sai Baba's powers took place in 1953,
when the blue and stiff body of Radhakrishna which was cold, shrunken and
starting to decompose, was brought back to life by Baba.
In addition to these reports,
Dr. John Hislop, American industrialist and management consultant, and also
Chairman of the CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF AMERICAN SAI ORGANIZATION tells us
earnestly how in 1971 Satya Sai Baba resurrected Walter Cowan, declared dead due
to cardiac failure. The late Dr. Suri Bhagavantam, director of the prestigious
INDIAN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE, Bangalore, Scientific advisor to the government of
India and also Baba's interpreter, narrated how once Satya Sai Baba created out
of nowhere a copy of the Bhagavadgita (alas even the Lord is not immune to
orthographic error, as a skeptic pointed out!)
In a contemporary enactment of
New Testament miracles, He once converted water into petrol by dipping His
finger into the water. He relieves devotees' ailments by taking them onto
Himself, conducts surgeries with psychic powers and plucks out-of-season mango
fruit from tamarind trees.
It is believed that Baba was
responsible for repelling the Chinese army "invading India like
locusts".
Reports abound of His
bilocation (having appeared in two places at the same time); He Himself claimed
that He never sleeps.
In what can only be described
as divine disapproval of capitalist claims on intellectual property rights, by
the mere waving of His hand, Satya Sai Baba also "creates" and
distributes trade mark protected Parker pens and Omega watches. The vibhuti He
creates has been variously used by devotees in treating terminal cancer and for
curing pimples.
The irreverent skeptic is
admonished: "Do not try to delve into Me; Baba is beyond the keenest
intellect, the sharpest brain... How can the limited know the depth of
theunlimited? How can the ant delve into the mountain? It is beyond you to know
how or why I create things... the objects that I create, I create them by My
Will, the same way I created the universe. Develop faith and veneration and
derive joy through Prema (love). That is the utmost you can do, do that and
benefit."
THE
SATYA SAI COMMUNITY
Sai Baba's exhortation to
believe has found many receptive ears. Today His followers number at least two
million, with growing numbers being recorded in the spiritually-impoverished
West. Australian journalist and theosophist Howard Murphet and London
photographer David Bailey came to scoff, but stayed to pray. "Noted"
American psychologist Dr. Samuel Sandweiss was convinced when he was told,
"I am everything, everywhere, omniscient, omnipotent, and so whatever I
will, instantly happens."
Dr. Hislop asks in tragically
foolish wonder, "Baba has the inconceivably immense task of the Universe.
How can He afford to spend time talking to people like us?" Baba reassures
him: "Baba with his limitless bodies, is everywhere doing the tasks... that
is Baba's omnipresence. God is not subject to any limitation." Dr. Hislop
is delighted at this explanation.
The credit for polishing Baba's
halting English and capturing his evident lyrical derangement goes to official
biographer, the erudite Kasturi: "I am all that is, all that can be known,
all that seeks fulfillment. Sunrise and Sunset keep repeating, for I have willed
[them] to; the stars that lend sublime charm to the nocturnal sky hide their
faces from human eyes during the day, in obedience to my desire; the wind blows
with no respite in order to keep animate beings alive, since that is My wish;
streams and rivulets giggle, laugh or roar along beds during their pilgrimages
to the sea, for it pleases Me; mankind itself is molded into a million faces to
present the variety I relish." This has obviously enlightened the person
from whom I borrowed some Satya Sai Baba literature: he had written down in
pencil, in fervent devotion: "I, befitting and fortunate slave, carry out
every command of the master without any question of why and what... I am slave
of the master who has released me from my ignorance, whatever my master does is
of the greatest benefit to all concerned."
The confederacy of
irrationality, gullibility and superstition establishes a kinship which
transcends cultural and national barriers. Among the miracle mongering Satya Sai
followers are top Indian political leaders and judges,
Presidents and Prime Ministers
of Sri Lanka, Maldives, Mauritius, several former Greek Prime Ministers, the
Spanish Royal family, members of the International
BEGONE SATYA SAI!
Into such a community of
God-fearing people came the late Srilankan Dr. Abraham T. Kovoor, Asian
president of the WORLD UNION OF FREE THINKERS and Dr. H. Narasimhaiah, India's
best known rationalist and former vice chancellor of the BANGALORE UNIVERSITY,
who together led the most animated attack on Satya
Dr. Kovoor narrates in his book
Begone Godmen! that in 1973, during a newspaper debate on Satya Sai Baba, Dr.
Bhagavantam (Baba's interpreter from Telugu to English) wrote of the
"awe-inspiring, wonderful experience of the Seiko watch manufacturer",
who, when on a visit to Puttaparth was presented by Sai Baba with the very watch
that the manufacturer had, pending tests, kept in a safe in Japan. With this
materialization, all his doubts about the divine powers of Satya Sai Baba melted
away. "He fell prostrate at Sai Baba's feet and worshipped him. Since then
he is an ardent devotee of the Bhagavon." Since Dr. S. Bhagavantam was not
forth coming with details, a suspicious Dr. Kovoor made inquiries with Shoji
Hattori, President of SEIKO WATCH COMPANY in Tokyo to verify the facts. Mr.
Hattori wrote back "...I am in no way able to further your knowledge as
regards the man mentioned in your letter, Mr. Sai Baba. Neither I nor any
members of my staff have ever made the acquaintance of this individual. I am
sure that these reports are completely unfounded."
Bhagavantam
remained silent when confronted with the response.The national scandal that
broke out when Dr. Kovoor released his correspondence to the press, describing
Satya Sai Baba as a "sleight-of-hand" trickster and exposing one of
India's brilliant scientists as a Satya Sai agent, was only surpassed by nuclear
scientist, Dr. H. Narosimhaiah's crusade as Vice-Chancellor of BANGALORE
UNIVERSITY, when in 1976 he appointed a 12 member official committee "to
investigate rationally and scientifically miracles and any other verifiable
superstitions." Dr. Narasimhaiah's committee exposed Sai Krishna, a 7 year
old child-protege of Satya Sai Baba, by pulling out the packet of vibhuti hidden
in the underclothes of Sai Krishna. Several
AVATAR OF THE NIGHT
As if these resounding
rationalist responses and public humiliations were not enough, in 1976 another
bomb shell was thrown at Him. Tal Brooke, born again Christian who spent 14
months with Satya Sai Baba, wrote the book Avatar of the Night, (all three
thousand copies of the book released in India were purchased and destroyed
describing Satya Sai Baba's homosexual lust (how can a good Christian accept
that?) and assaults on young boys. It is quite revealing of the submission and
intelligence level of the Sai devotee that despite Sai Baba's enticement:
"What is mine is yours, money, food, anything. Just ask!", Tal Brooke
said to himself "Lust contradicts Baba's nature;
therefore it does not exist in him. Blind faith... Baba is
innocent". It took Tal Brooke three such consummate encounters and numerous
similar accounts of pedophilia from friends to realize that Satya Sai Baba's
nudging pelvis, pawing hands and intimate behaviour were not part of any
soul-cleansing encounter.
With news of these events and
later incidents, the seeds of doubt were sown in
"LET THERE BE A
NECKLACE..."
But the most spectacular fodder
for doubt for the believer was the unique birthday gift given to Satya Sai Baba
by the DECCAN CHRONICLE of 23 November, 1992. This largely circulated, Hyderabad-based
English daily published what the rationalist could only dream of. Splashed on
the front page were pictures from a video recording of Satya Sai Baba's
"creation" of a gold necklace, in the presence of the Prime Minister
of India, Mr. P.V. Narasimha Rao. The video tape shows unambiguously Satya Sai
Baba being passed clandestinely a necklace by his personal assistant
Radhakrishna Menon, which later Satya Sai Baba "materializes" after a
wave of his hand. Filmed by a state television crew covering the Prime Minister,
the cassette was suppressed. However, a copy was leaked and several copies of
the cassette were distributed in India and abroad. A big meeting was organized
by us to felicitate the courageous
CRIME AND KARMA: MURDERS IN THE
BEDROOM
Much worse was in store when on
6 June, 1993, six inmates of Prashanti Nilayam were murdered in Satya Sai Baba's
bedroom. It is alleged that two were killed by the assailants and the police
claimed to have shot dead -- in self defence -- four of the assailants, who were
armed only with knives. Realizing the danger to his person, Baba Himself ran for
His life, jumped out of an open window and started off a secret alarm, whose
existence even the inner core did not know of. Interestingly, all the people
killed were part of the inner circle of Sai Baba, among whom Radha Krishna Menon,
the personal assistant who was caught on video passing the necklace
clandestinely to Baba.
Baba Himself spoke of the
murders in His Gurupoornima lecture and dealt with the question of whether the
deaths of his near and dear were unavoidable. "Birth and death go together.
One should realize that death is a natural phenomenon and avoid worrying about
it... You must note that Swami's life is in His own hands and not in those of
anyone else. If I will it, I can live as long as I please. Because He is the
almighty, God cannot behave in any arbitrary manner. Not realizing this truth,
men who are involved in worldly ways ask questions as to why in certain
situations, God did not use his limitless powers to avert certain untoward
events..."
The police report was twice
changed, from attempt to murder Baba to internal squabbles in Prashanti Nilayam.
Mysteriously, Shankar Dayal Sharma, the President of the Indian Republic
deviated from protocol and propriety and said that the murders were "all
about a girl". When asked why Satya Sai Baba, the head of the Institution
in whose bedroom the murders took place, was not interrogated, Home Minister
Chavan, who visited Sai Baba twice immediately after the incident, insisted that
Sai Baba was not present at the time of murder, further compromising the
investigation. Surprisingly, Prashanti Nilayam authorities themselves filed no
police complaint. B. Premanand, magician, former devotee of Baba and today the
most important Indian Skeptic -- Sai Baba baiter alive, however refused to
accept the interference into the investigation and hauled the government to
court, accusing the police of having willfully destroyed evidence.
Amusingly, in the post,
Premanand and K.N. Balagopal, rationalist advocate in the Supreme Court of
India, had dragged Satya Sai Baba to court for violation of the Gold Control Act
which imposed restrictions on the "manufacture, possession, sale and
transfer of gold", since Satya Sai Baba "materialized" gold
ornaments to be given to devotees. While rejecting the petition, the High Court
Judge Justice Y.V. Anjaneyulu, a member of the Satya Sai inner circle, allowed
the argument that an article materialized by spiritual powers cannot be said to
have been manufactured, prepared or processed. Perhaps for the first time in
jurisprudence spiritual powers were recognized as valid defence in law!
In the present murder case,
however, Premanand petitioned to the High Court in a public interest petition
that the case be transferred to an impartial investigative agency so that
justice might be done. In the High Court, while dismissing the plea, Premanand
was admonished by Chief Justice Mishra, who even threatened to punish him the
next time he "misused" the Court with such complaints, with the
intention of defaming Satya Sai Baba.
In January, the SUPREME COURT
OF INDIA expunged all the remarks made by the High Court Judge, boasting
rationalist morale. Also, chastened by the SUPREME COURT OF INDIA, in the first
week of May the HIGH COURT OF ANDHRA PRADESH STATE admitted a contempt of Court
petition by Premanand against the government and the police. Premanand and Satya
Sai Baba have been brought to the front pages of news papers again. The judicial
mood in India is remarkably different since the past few months, what with the
INDIAN SUPREME COURT taking up an "operation clean hands", arresting
several corrupt politicians and also forcing the Indian Prime Minister Narasimha
Rao to arrest his favorite Godman and arms dealer-power broker Chandraswami in
the first week of May. Rationalists keep their fingers crossed...
THE CASE OF THE MISSING KIDNEY
In the Marathi language weekly
LOK PRABHA, of 19 January, 1996, was published a most shocking account
concerning the SATYA SAI INSTITUTE OF HIGHER MEDICAL
SAI
EMPIRE & PHILANTHROPY
B. Premanand, also advisor on
miracle exposure to the RATIONALIST ASSOCIATION OF INDIA and editor of INDIAN
SKEPTIC, estimates the Sai Empire to be worth
When Satya Sai Baba celebrated
his 70th birthday in November, '95, the President and the Prime Minister of
India were in attendance and applauded the SATYA SAI WATER SCHEME meant to
provide drinking water to every village of the dry district of Ananthapur. It is
a matter of detail that five months after the inauguration, water is yet to flow
from village taps, as tanks have crashed and pipes burst because of inferior
construction material used due to corruption. Importantly, this is an instance
of how when governments default in their duties, religious organizations occupy
that space. On this single birthday, a little known foundation from America and
another from Japan donated 1600 million Indian rupees (45 million US Dollars)
for the Satya Sai charity work. Premanand is investigating whether this is in
fact a money laundering operation.
A look into the world view of
high-school dropout Satya Sai Baba should help clarify why His style of
philanthropy and education must be combated: "At the centre (of the world),
everything is liquid. Everything is melted. No temperature. Everything is
liquid, like water. Gold, iron, silver all are liquid. Next there is solid. Then
trees. Then human beings and animals. At the very centre is the divine. It is
the support of everything. First is liquid, chemistry. Then solid, physics. Then trees, Botany. Then man,
the pinnacle of
A few years ago, the SATYA SAI
INSTITUTE OF HIGHER LEARNING has been declared a deemed University by Madhuri
Shah, devotee and Chairperson of the UNIVERSITY GRANTS COMMISSION, on par with
the rest of India's Centres of Higher Learning!
Alas, news of philanthropy in
poor countries drowns out rational discourse. Sadly, Indians are still racists,
and when pale face comes and approves, there is little else to doubt. State
Radio & Television do propaganda for him. Journalists are either gullible or
are on payroll. Judges are at times prone to decide based on personal beliefs:
the situation is worsened by the political patronage received (Sai Baba's
influence increased manifold ever since superstitious Narasimha Rao and his
cabinet retire and President Sankar Dayal Sharma started visiting Him even in
their official capacity). And in India, criminal and political identities
overlap. Scientists, advocates and intellectuals
mislead the others and set examples by their own mistaken devotion for this
modern Tartuffe. Many well meaning people -- and there are many such among the
Satya Sai Baba followers and admirers -- fail to realize that philanthropy is
merely an investment in the Satya Sai Baba cult and empire and a way of evading
tax.
Thanks to the intellectuals and
the common man's willful suspension of disbelief and critical faculties, the
Satya Sai octopus has been able to spread its tentacles far and wide with the
lure of miracles.
BALA SAI BABA, THE REAL AVATAR!
Disillusioned by the bedroom
murders, exposes in newspapers, news of Premanand's court battles, power
struggles in the Sai empire and reports like that of the disappearing kidney and
the failed water project, and disappointed by birthday extravaganzas, many
disciples are turning away from Satya Sai Baba. Their destination now is the
Palghat (Kerala) born BALA SAI BABA (the child Sai Baba), who at 35 years of age
is a bit overgrown for his name. He claims to be the real Sai avatar, set up an
ashram in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh and resembles Satya Sai Baba trait
for trait. This till-recently-unemployed youth also hints that Satya Sai Baba is
an impostor!
He dresses like Satya Sai Baba,
performs the same tricks as Satya Sai Baba does and has been very successful in
attracting a large number of devotees. He also recruits devotees from Europe and
else where and seems to have hit at the right marketing mix.
Dr. Narasimhaiah said to me in
Bangalore once that our work is like that of Sisyphus. It does not matter even
if the SUPREME COURT puts Satya Sai Baba on trial. Our work has to continue:
after working to expose Bala Sai Baba in the year 2022 we might still be busy
with Prema Sai...
HOW NOT TO STUDY PARANORMAL
PHENOMENON LESSONS
Associate Professor of
Psychology at UNIVERSITY OF ICELAND, parapsychologist Dr. Erlendur Haraldsson
came to India several times (twice along with Karlis Osis, co-author of their
book on near-death experiences At the Hour of Death) to investigate Satya Sai
Baba's paranormal powers. The result of his efforts over ten years is the book
Miracles are My Visiting Cards, An Investigative Report on the Psychic Phenomena
associated with Sathya Sai Baba, published in 1987.
Dr. Haraldsson's repeated
requests for controlled experiments were firmly rejected by Satya Sai Baba and
his team was asked "not to pester" Baba with more requests. Charmed by
the charisma of Baba and more predisposed to believe than to investigate, Dr.
Haraldsson settles for his own inefficient and subjective-personal-informal
observation as well as hearsay accounts from devotees. Yet, in their article,
The Appearance and Disappearance of Objects in the Presence of Sri Sathya Sai
Baba in the JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH Vol. 71,
January, 1977, Haraldsson and Karlis Osis express their gratitude to Sri Satya
Sai Baba "for his kind co-operation in their investigation"!
Dr. Haraldsson's book does not
indicate that he is aware of Satya Sai Baba's father's brother being a tantrik-conjuror.
He could perhaps have been Satya Sai's teacher. Despite assuring us that he
"tried his very best" to trace all critical rumours about Sai Baba, in
the chapter titled "Critics" only Dr. H. Narasimhaiah is mentioned. No
mention of Dr. Kovoor's whirlwind tours of Andhra, his challenges to Satya Sai
Baba, his largely attended public meetings (30,000 people for instance) to the
accompaniment of stupendous publicity!
Contributors to the national
debates in the then prestigious ILLUSTRATED WEEKLY of India, and the tabloids
BLITZ and CURRENT WEEKLY are ignored. Interestingly, Dr. Haraldsson is unaware
even of the Seiko watch controversy. Later, he says that he was unwilling to
take it up because of the various versions of it! One has not heard of an
"investigative" researcher shy away on such dubious grounds.Nor does
Haraldsson mention Satya Sai Baba specialist B. Premanand, whose first book in
English on Baba, Lure of Miracles, was published in 1976. Dr. Haraldsson's
excuse on 6 April, 1988 to Dale Bayerstein, editor of the excellent 1994 book,
Sai Baba's Miracles: An Overview is that no one in India mentioned Premanand to
him. Dr. Haraldsson writes in his letter of 21 October, 1988 to Dale Bayerstein
that Dr. H. Narasimhaiah did not think it worthwhile for him to visit Premanand.
When informed of this, Dr. Narasimhaiah issued a written clarification that he
respected Premanand's work and could never have said what Haraldsson reported.
This is not the only complaint of misquoting about Haraldsson. Two chapters of
the book Miracles are My Visiting Cards are devoted to M. Krishna and Varadu (in
no way critics, looking at the contents of
the book), former personal assistants to Satya Sai Baba in the earlier days;
Krishna converted to Christianity later. Now, Mr. Krishna's son, a good friend
of mine, insists that I report his late father's intense displeasure with the
way in which Dr. Haraldsson blocked out some of the things told to him and in
the manner in which some statements were transformed to suit Dr. Haraldsson's
purposes. In an interview with me and Premanand, P.V.N. Nair, editor of DECCAN
CHRONICLE, whom Haraldsson accused of misquoting him as saying that he was
"disappointed with Satya Sai Baba", regretted that out of good faith
he had not tape recorded the interview. Premanand has shown how different
versions and sequences of the same event (production of ring for Karlis Osis)
have been written by Haraldsson. When Premanand asked for clarification and
explanation in an undoubtedly long questionnaire, the very prolific Dr.
Haraldsson suddenly has no time to write!
Haraldsson is aware that
propaganda of the claimed resurrection from death of Walter Cowan and
Radhakrishna had the support of Satya Sai Baba. He is also aware that Dr.
Fanibunda, himself a medical doctor, testified to the resurrection of Cowan.
Haraldsson's own conclusion is that the stories of resurrections are false. Yet,
to our scientist-investigator the role of Satya Sai Baba is not suspect. Nor
that of Dr. Fanibunda, whose testimony he approvingly uses in another case. It
also does not occur to this impartial investigator, forever solicitous of being
scientific and objective that since he himself has found some stories to be
false, he has necessarily to work
He does not mention the name of
the devotee, nor the name of the police station which later caught the burglar.
In the April, 1995 issue of the
JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH, Haraldsson and Richard Wiseman
write an article Reactions To and An Assessment of a Videotape on Satya Sai
Baba, where they make pathetic attempts to show that from the DECCAN CHRONICLE-Doordarshan
tape no evidence of fraud by Satya Sai Baba can be deduced. Haraldsson and
co-author are invited to watch our
It
is easy to see these things, especially when one's work, and perhaps livelihood,
does not depend on funding from parapsychology foundations!
------------
David Sunfellow
Editor & Publisher
eMail: nhne@sedona.net
WWW: http://www.nhne.com/
Phone, Fax & Order: (520) 282-6120
P.O. Box 10627
Sedona, AZ, USA 86339-8627
NHNE is a proud member of NewEarthNet:
------------
Appreciate NHNE? Want to support our work? How about visiting our
bookstore
(http://www.nhne.com/bookstore.html) and ordering a few dozen books? In
association with Amazon.com, the world's biggest bookstore, we offer some
of
the planet's most educational and inspiring books, at prices that are as
much
as 40 percent below retail prices. Gift book orders -- books make great
gifts
for loved ones and friends -- can also be placed through our bookstore.
If you aren't interested in ordering a few dozen books, but still want to
support NHNE financially, we also accept donations. To make a credit card
donation, email your credit card information (credit card number,
expiration
date, and amount of donation) to "nhne@sedona.net" or leave a
message on our
answering machine, (520) 282-6120. Checks and money order donations can
be
send to our post office address (listed above).
For information about how you can sponsor "Smorgasbord", the
newest member of
our online publications (and get a message out to everyone on the NHNE
mailing
list), send an email to "nhne@sedona.net" with "Sponsor
Smorgasbord" in the
SUBJECT FIELD of your message.
Your support makes our work possible!
------------
Did a friend forward you this NHNE Special Report? You can recieve future
copies via email by writing to "nhne@sedona.net" and asking to
be placed on
our mailing list.