August 8, 2015 Sexual predators are more prevalent among rabbis, pastors and yogis than among Catholic priests But they are not as widely reported by the secular especially the international media

Scandal engulfs guru's empire

Divine Downfall

By Padraic Murphy, The Age (Australia), November 12, 2000

For Hans de Kraker, a trip to India to see Sathya Sai Baba, a self-proclaimed god with a following of up to 25 million devotees, was a spiritual quest. But he said the pilgrimage ended when the 73-year-old guru tried to force him to perform oral sex. Mr. de Kraker, who now lives in Sydney, has gone public to alert devotees to a sex scandal that is threatening to undo Sai Baba, by far the most popular of India's new-age gurus. "It is devastating to realise the man you see as a spiritual master is simply conning people for his own sexual gratification," Mr. de Kraker, 32, said. "After a while you notice that the people chosen for private interviews tend to be good-looking young males." Mr. de Kraker, who first visited Sai Baba's ashram in 1992, said the guru would regularly rub oil on his genitals, claiming it was a religious cleansing, and eventually tried to force him to perform oral sex.
He was kicked out of the ashram after alerting senior officials in 1996. Mr. de Kraker's story is not an isolated one, and a growing list of alleged victims is threatening to engulf the Sai Baba organisation, which has an estimated worth of $6billion. Droves have left after allegations of paedophilia and the rape of male followers. Sai Baba's main ashram in Puttaparthi, India, is the largest in the world and can sleep up to 10,000 people. That number of people regularly turn out to "darshan", a twice-daily ritual in which Sai Baba walks among devotees choosing people for private interviews.
It is in these private interviews that many of the alleged assaults against males between the ages of seven and 30 take place. Former devotees said the interviews usually involved family groups, but when young males were involved they were ushered into a second room, behind what has come to be known as the "curtain of shame". The organisation has been shut down in Sweden after revelations that Conny Larson, now a film star in that country, was molested by Sai Baba. The FBI is looking into similar allegations made by American children and there are investigations into the sect in France and Germany.
Both UNESCO and Flinders University in South Australia and Flinders University in South Australia pulled out of a conference organised by Sai Baba in September because of concerns about the guru's sexual conduct. In Australia, the sect is estimated to have up to 5000 followers. It runs schools in northern NSW and Western Australia, and has meditation centres across the country. Now Australian victims are preparing documents to present to federal authorities about the guru's activities. Terry Gallagher, a property developer from Kiama, in New South Wales, regularly visited Sai Baba in the early 1990s and spent three years as the coordinator of the group in Australia. He left the group in the mid '90s after boys in Indian schools run by Sai Baba complained to him of sexual abuse.
"Spiritually it is devastating. I'm concerned because of both the sexual abuse of young boys, and the spiritual fraud Sai Baba perpetrates," Mr. Gallagher said. Sri Ramanathan, a former Sri Lankan judge and head of the Sai Baba Organisation in Australia and Papua New Guinea, refuses to warn families taking children to Puttaparthi about the allegations. "All god men have these kind of allegations levelled at them, why should I warn people of these allegations, they are just allegations?" he said. "He is a holy man. I know that (these allegations) cannot be proved." Raphael Aron, the director of Cult Counselling, said: "These organisations are run by one individual and there are never any complaint mechanisms. When these sorts of allegations come up, the usual response is that it is some kind of test of faith and the whole thing is denied."

Several former devotees who spoke to The Sunday Age said they had been thrown out of Sai Baba's ashrams when they questioned leaders about the charges. The sexual exploits of the guru were exposed 30 years ago by Tal Brooke, a former high-ranked devotee who now runs a cult-watch group in the US. "It appears that now he is out of control. The problem is that people have such faith that these allegations would kill them spiritually," he said from his home in California.

Sex Scandal swirls around Sai Baba

Cult News Summary/December 2004

Sai Baba, a controversial Indian "holy man" presides over a spiritual kingdom that includes one of the world's largest ashrams. He claims to have millions of followers. But the guru, who is approaching 80, has a history of sexual abuse allegations that in recent years has made media headlines around the world. Former followers of the aging swami reportedly call him "a sexual harasser, a fraud and even a pedophile." One man says Sai Baba ordered him to drop his pants and allow the guru to massage his penis. He later said, "Sai Baba was my God -- who dares to refuse God? He was free to do whatever he wanted to do with me; he had my trust, my faith, my love and my friendship; he had me in totality."

Despite such revelations and the growing scandal that surrounds Sai Baba he continues to be worshipped at his ashram. Twice a day he parades about and makes appearances to the faithful, entertaining them with what seems like little more than magic tricks. Sai Baba's so-called "materializations" include making watches and jewelry appear out of "thin air." At functions his followers rock back and forth with "shining eyes" seemingly in trance-like or hypnotic states. Perhaps in this condition they are prepared to believe almost anything. The guru holds court within lavishly appointed rooms decorated with gold leaf and hanging chandeliers. "Sometimes I think the ashram is a madhouse and Swami is the director," said one recently devoted disciple. Does Sai Baba prey upon the psychologically and emotionally vulnerable? "When you don't have problems, you don't go to the ashram," says a disciple. But there may be casualties amongst the true believers.

A Malaysian woman reportedly had a psychotic breakdown, attacked ashram workers and was taken into police custody. She sat in a holding area almost catatonic, mumbling "darshan, darshan, darshan" repeatedly. Sai Baba has accumulated substantial influence and prestige within India. That influence includes some prominent leaders such as former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao. The Times of India reported in 1993 that the guru's followers include "governors, chief ministers, assorted politicians, business tycoons, newspaper magnates, jurists, sportsmen, academics and, yes, even scientists." His popularity is easy to understand. Sai Baba has built a hospital that offers free services, partly financed by a $20 million donation from Isaac Tigrett, co-founder of the Hard Rock Café. Its pink façade makes it look more like a palace than a hospital. And in the entrance area there are images of Sai Baba.

Sai Baba's charities have reportedly been plagued though by "rumors of chicanery and worse." Nevertheless Illustrated Weekly of India stated, "God or a fraud, no one doubts the good work done by the Sai organization." But does the guru use his accumulated good will and "God-man" status to get into people's pants? The sex abuse claims are strikingly similar and seem to fit the same pattern.
"During my 'private audiences' with Sai Baba, Sai Baba used to touch my private parts and regularly massage my private parts, indicating that this was for spiritual purposes," wrote one former devotee. "He grabbed my head and pushed it into his groin area. He made moaning sounds. As soon as he took the pressure off my head and I lifted my head, Sai Baba lifted his dress and presented me a semi-erect member, telling me that this was my good luck chance, and jousted his hips towards my face," the man said. When the devotee later talked about his sexual encounter he was thrown out of the ashram.

"Each time I saw Baba, his hand would gradually make more prominent connections to my groin," said another former follower. All of the allegations reportedly involved mostly teenage boys and young men in their 20s. This story is hardly new. In 1970 a book by Tal Brooke titled "Lord of the Air" later renamed "Avatar of Night," told the story of a devoted disciple's disillusionment upon learning of Sai Baba's sexual appetite. More recently a document called "Findings" accumulated accounts of alleged sexual exploitation and abuse from the guru's former followers. An excerpt from the document reads, "Whilst still at the ashram, the worst thing for me -- as a mother of sons -- occurred when a young man, a college student, came to our room, to plead with David, 'Please Sir, do something to stop him sexually abusing us&These sons of devotees, unable to bear their untenable position of being unwilling participants in a pedophile situation any longer, yet unable to share this with their parents because they would be disbelieved, placed their trust in David; a trust which had built over his five years as a visiting professor of music to the Sai college." Since the release of "Findings" the Sai Baba sex scandal has grown and gained momentum.

A California man named Glen Meloy, who spent 26 years as a devotee wanted to launch a class-action lawsuit against the Sai Organization in America. "You've got all these kids who are scared to death to do anything that will do disrespect to their parents, in a room with someone they believe to be the creator of the whole universe. This isn't just any child abuse; this is God himself claiming to do this," Meloy said.
One former Indian ashram volunteer petitioned India's Supreme Court to investigate Sai Baba. "I've spoken to 20 or 30 boys who have been abused, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. There are 14-year-old kids made to live in his room and made to think it's a blessing. In most cases, their parents have been followers for 20 years and are not going to believe them. American citizens have been knowing about this abuse and taking American boys to Puttaparthi and feeding them to him," he said.

UNESCO yanked its co-sponsorship of an education conference in India linked to Sai Baba and stated it was "deeply concerned about widely reported allegations of sexual abuse involving youths and children that have been leveled at the leader of the movement in question, Sathya Sai Baba." After Conny Larsson, a Swedish actor went public about his coerced sexual relations with the guru; the Sai Organization in Sweden was shut down. India Today ran a cover story about the scandal, as has England's Daily Telegraph. Labor MP Tony Colman raised the issue in Parliament. Former British government minister, Tom Sackville said, "The authorities have done little so far and that is regrettable." But it seems that the guru's ardent followers can rationalize almost anything. One such disciple concluded in an essay published on the Internet, "First of all, I believe that Sathya Sai Baba is an Avatar, a full incarnation of God ... any sexual contact Baba has had with devotees -- of whatever kind -- has actually been only a potent blessing, given to awaken the spiritual power within those souls. Who can call that 'wrong'? Surely to call such contact 'molestation' is perversity itself."

A "potent blessing"?

"When he does it, he has a purpose," concludes another still devoted follower. Other devotees have rejected reports about their guru's sexual abuse completely regardless of how many of his alleged victims come forward to tell their stories. One said, "I think this is a projection of his devotees' problems. You hear a lot of rumors & but for me it's not important. When you're happy, why doubt it?" Note: This news summary is based upon an article titled "Untouchable" (note: dead link) by Michelle Goldberg, which appeared in Salon Magazine, July 25, 2001

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.

By Dominic Kennedy, August 27, 2001

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.

The holy man alleged that his detractors were being bribed to lie about him because of fear of his growing popularity. "People are trying to stop me but can do nothing," he said. "People love and follow Sai because of the truth I stand for and the love that is my basis." 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. The obscure village has grown to cater for Sai Baba's followers, of which there are more than 20 million worldwide. They include some of India's most influential people.

The legendary batsman Sachin Tendulkar, who helps to organise cricket matches at Sai Baba's stadium, says that he "worships" the guru. The director-general of police in Andhra Pradesh, H. J. Dora, acts as Sai Baba's chauffeur when the spiritual leader visits the state capital, Hyderabad. Judges and top civil servants flock for audiences with him. The Indian Prime Minister A. B. Vajpayee, another follower, has opened a new Sai Baba hospital in Bangalore. In a lofty tribute, the premier said that Sai Baba has shown humanity the path of liberation which goes beyond freedom from worldly attachments.
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. The clip was never broadcast in India but has been widely circulated on videotape there. Sai Baba's most common miracle is to produce "sacred ash" from between his fingers. Sometimes he pulls shiny, solid religious artefacts from his mouth. But magicians who have analysed these wonders say they are nothing more than old and simple tricks. 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.

One of Sai Baba's most devout followers was Clarissa Mason, the second wife of the film star James Mason. When Clarissa died of cancer in 1994, she willed a large part of her late husband's £13 million estate to the cult, although, due to a dispute with Mason's children, Portland and Morgan, who contend that the estate was not hers to will in the first place, it will be some time before the cult can hope to see any of the Mason millions. Clarissa Mason believed utterly in the powers of Sai Baba, filling her house near Lake Geneva with pictures of the "godman".

Her legacy has gone to a trust whose beneficiaries are believed by Mason's children to include a follower of Sai Baba. 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 coordinator 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. "When I was out there, it happened to a couple of friends of mine, but it was more like, how can I say, doctor's surgery. There was no sexuality involved. One chap said that a tremendous amount of energy was suddenly released in him and he felt wonderful afterwards. I don't mean ejaculation. It was like suddenly feeling wonderful.

Sometimes he rubs the chest or the forehead where these other points are." 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. Sai Baba's message reaches British schoolchildren through two charities. The first is named in his honour, the Sathya Sai Education in Human Values Trust UK, which claims to have had contact with 80 schools. Typical of its activities is a summer camp held at Christchurch Primary School in Ilford, East London, several weeks ago where 100 children painted, played games and sang.

Courses have been cleverly designed to fit into Key Stages 1 to 4 of the National Curriculum, targeting children aged seven to 16. The charity states that it does not promote any particular religion. Carole Alderman, the founder, a former ChildLine volunteer, has no teaching qualifications. She admits to using some of Sai Baba's quotations but says: "We don't teach about Sai Baba at all." She adds: "I have witnessed a lot of his miracles. I have seen people going in with crutches or wheelchairs and come out walking. I have seen him materialise things many times a day. He just knows everything." Asked about the sexual allegations, she says: "It's totally unfounded. Anybody who actually knows him, knows it is."
Another British charity, the Human Values Foundation, says it has reached more than 500 schools. Its chairman, Dennis Eagan, said "The foundation has nothing to do with Sai Baba." But the Human Values Foundation's programme is also called "Education for Human Values". It promotes Sai Baba's same five virtues, using "silent sitting", activities, songs, quotations and stories. Its president, June Auton, has been a regular visitor to Sai Baba's ashram. She has been described by Barry Pittard, a former English lecturer at Sai Baba's college in India, as "synonymous with Swami's Human Values Programme."

Auton told The Times: "I'm not going to discuss anything about my religion at all on the phone. My religion is my business." Pressed, she would only say: "I do attend my local church." 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. Challenging faith in a man of miracles can be painful. At Sai Baba's Central London base in Clerkenwell, there is reluctance to confront the allegations of sexual harassment, suicides and financial maneuvering.

Dee Puri, at the London headquarters, denounces the suggestion that Sai Baba takes money from the rich, pointing out that at his 28-year-old London premises: "Entrance is free. There is no money going to Baba at all. As for the suggestions of sexual harassment, she told The Times:

"I don't want to talk about it because there is no such thing. I think such conversations disturb me and my beliefs. The organisation is most unhappy that you have tried to hurt us. Nobody will speak to you unless you want to write something which is truth, which is not controversial. "As far as I am concerned, Baba is a great, great guru. Thirty years I have been a devotee of Baba and millions and millions of people are, so I would very respectfully ask you please not to put that sort of question to me."