All Talk and No Action Friday, June 25, 2010

Deepak shared this article on Satya Sai Baba.

The piece graduated from being absorbing to morbid.

Sample this show of "faith" by a devotee, despite allegations of sexual abuse leveled against Baba -

But,” he carried on, “it [sex] is all about union; maybe Sai Baba established union with some of his devotees. I am not saying that the allegations were necessarily true, but what is the big deal even if they were true?” he asked. “So that won’t affect your faith in him?” I asked. “No, it will not,” he replied. “But is it fair that he tries to establish ‘union’ with some of their devotees without their consent?” I asked. “If he is God, how can it be wrong? It’s Ok,” he replied, rendering me speechless.

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If this is what having faith in a spiritual guru does to your brain, then we all have reasons to be very scared.

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Having a Guru might be useful in one's spiritual journey - helping one to explore and understand faith and a Supreme Force.

However, problems arise when people start seeking God in a Guru.

They miss the whole point. The Guru is just a means and an enabler. Don't confuse him with the End.

In fact, if your Guru or you think that he is God – may God help both of you.

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Indians abroad often seem worried about losing out on traditions and the country's spiritual wisdom.

While in Hong Kong, I made friends with quite a few Indian families.

There used to be a palpable buzz every time a Baba or a Mata visited HK.

Once, while I had been invited to dinner by one such family, the conversation steered towards vegetarianism and their Baba's take on what will happen to Non Vegetarians.

The family was disturbed, for obvious reasons.

Then started an analysis of every word the baba said on vegetarianism, karma, freedom of choice - a horrid mish mash of baba's, Mahabharata's, Bhagvad Gita's and their own interpretation.

Knowing myself, I am quite surprised at how quiet I remained through out the discussion.

Must be the curry-chawal.

5 comments:

Sneha said...

Thanks for posting this article. I have to go find the BBC documentary mentioned in this film. My parents have always been devotees of Shridu Sai baba. i remember taking many trips to Shirdi as a child. My mom probably spent a lot of money getting tickets to Satya Sai baba shows.

All Talk and No Action said...

@Sneha - The article was quite an eye opener for me too. My aunt is a devotee and undertakes every activity only after approval from Satya Sai Baba.

I haven't read much about Shirdi Baba, hence can't comment.

However, this whole issue of blind faith and people turning insensitive to the wrongs by such Babas is quite disturbing.

We need to realise that Babas can never be the solution to our problems.

Anonymous said...

Nice read..but nothing new.

On personal level...you should be logical and in right mind when you choose your spiritual guru/god watever...but after that no logic needed...and most of the ppl only follow second part of above sentence...i.e. no logic only blind faith.

Spiritual journey begins when logical thinking stops.

Btw this guy is con man for sure :)

pRasad said...

Satya sai baba is con ..He just fools ppl.. Poor people!

Star news has shown how fake that person is 1 yr back.
So if he is involved in some sexual activities , no wonder !

All Talk and No Action said...

@allthecrap - Yes, that we lose our sanity befuddles me. Isn't spiritual journey suppossed to make you more sensible? :-)

@pRasad - Yes, but this con man is worshipped across the board, is known to hold control over people's logical faculties.Scary.