Will the Chairman of Trust Board be the Spiritual Preceptor?

SUMMARY We are fortunate in a way. Sathya Sai Baba did not have wife and children (known to the world). We need not see the internecine battles which have become ubiquitous in industrial families such as Ambanis, Bajajs, Birlas, Goenkas, etc.

ELECTION OR NOMINATION

TV channels and print media are engaged in speculating on who will succeed Sathya Sai Baba. Who will succeed?

The relatives of Sathya Sai Baba, the one who is already in the Trust Committee , or even those who are outside it, may make an attempt.

The non-Baba-relative Trust members may try to occupy the Chairman Post.

At least two Congress MPs(one a liquor manufacturer/contractor and the other a cotton industrialist) seem to be interested in Government taking over the Trust and appointing a Government nominee as Trust Chairman. These two Congress MPs have their eyes on the Trust Board Chairman post of the T.T.D.(Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam - the second richest temple in the World, after Vatican). They do not mind getting the chairmanship of Sathya Sai Trust, as a consolation prize, if the toy of the T.T.D. is not available.

Bureaucrats may also try to interfere into the election process using the pretext of safeguarding public funds. Who are now administering the T.T.D.? Ans: The bureaucrats, in the guise of the 'Specified Authority'.

Choosing to quit when hale and healthy would have been a wiser decision for Sathya Sai Baba. Mr. Narayana Murthy of Infosys Technologies has done it. One could have remained as an honorable/honored adviser and continued to exercise moral control on the organisation. It is how Mr. Narayana Murthy has done in Infosys. Mr. Sathya Sai Baba has not chosen this wise path, for reasons known only to him. May be, he might have thought that he would live upto 96. A decade is ahead. Why should we abdicate or loosen the reins? He might have thought on these lines.

In all fairness to Sathya Sai Baba, we must admit, that the Trust Money is Baba's own hard-earned money, whether legitimately earned or illegitimately earned; legally earned or illegally earned; lawfully earned or unlawfully earned. It was, therefore, reasonable and significant for him to have restricted the cheque power to himself. It is difficult to quantify and seggregate the contribution made by the Trust Members and 'Baba himself personally', to the Trust Coffers. We cannot separate what part was for Baba personally as a reward for his 'desire-fulfilling- service and disease-curing-service' and what part was for the charity purpose.

ELECTION BY TRUST-COMMITTEE METHOD

If foreign funds profusely flowed into the Trust, attracted by the 'charity' activities, we can reasonably anticipate that they (approx. Rs. 2 billion per annum or approx. $40 million) will continue to flow, provided the Trust continues its market promotion activities. It will be justifiable to say that the Trust needs no further spiritual gurus. They can continue with the token worship of Baba, by building a larger Temple with all the paraphernalia of Hindu pantheon, some of which like temple cars, umbrellas, some procession idols and mounts (called vaahanams-plant/animal/planet mounts such as kite, moon, sun, kalpavruksham (tree which bestows all the desires of devotees) etc. They can also get written some hymns with 108 names (asht`oottara s`ata naama puuja), 1000 names (sahasra naama puuja), asht`kams (prayers of eight stanzas) etc. Some of these are already on the market and used at various Sathya Sai Temples built during his life time.

Prashanti Nilayam will become another Shirdi. Shirdi, has at present a high reputation as an accumulator of gold and silver. Prashanti Nilayam can repeat the show.

The Ramakrishna Mission of the Vivekananda Cult, according to its web-site adopts a method of 'nomination-cum-election'. Will the Trust follow a similar method for its Central Committee and the Branch/Sub-Centre Committees?


Prospects : Indulal Shah as a Chartered Accountant may have a better clout when compared to Justice P.N. Bagawati. Judges tend to be less marketing type, when compared to Chartered Accountant.

A RELATIVE AS SPIRITUAL GURU METHOD
This is not the first time rAyala sIma of Andhra Pradesh is having spiritual gurus or their successors. The 17th Century Guru from the area, pOtulUri vIrabrahmEmdra svAmi appointed his own son as the preceptor of his cult ignoring Siddhayya his closest dedicated disciple. Sathya Sai Baba could have appointed his Brother's son Ratnakar as his successor a la vIrabrahmEmdra svAmi. Sathya Sai Baba by admitting Ratnakar to the Trust has given an indirect indication of this choice of succession. Just as Virabrahma swami ignored his Siddhayya , Sathya Sai Baba ignored Satyajit.

The Trust, according to news reports, is entrusting the Vidya Vahini (Education) Project to Satyajit. That means he will not be a spiritual successor to Baba.

A person who wants to succeed Baba as a spiritual Guru, should have the ability to replicate his technique of producing ashes, falluses and gold chains with a lightning-slight of hand. He should also have not just a rudimentary knowledge of the philosophical anecdotes and fables which Godmen of lower acumen employ to talk to the foreign visitors. (Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Vivekananda too used this technique). Pretext: It will be too early and complex to impart the advaita/dvaita/visishtadvaita/tarka/mimamsa/nyaya philosophies to the westerners. Besides the foreign nationals, Indian businessmen, industrialists, bureaucrats, politicians and professionals may not have time and patience to understand the philosophies. What they want after all? They want a sort of ' agony aunt ' or an 'accelerator'. They do not just want a consoler.

The new Baba should have good histrionic skills and stage manners. He should be able to use good catch-words like 'bamgaaruu' (dear Gold!), a symbol of deep love.

TRADITIONAL method used in the traditional Hindu monasteries

The outgoing Head identifies a child/boy to succeed him, takes the charge of the boy from his parents, teaches him all the elements of the scriptures and, nuances of the swami-hood. The groom will be like a heir-apparent to the Head, a la Prince Charles or the Prince Williams or the Rahul Gandhi or Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy or Mukhesh/Anil Ambany. The foresight which the traditional monasteries like Kanchi / Sringeri / Puri / Dvaraka / Badari employ was ignored by Sathya Sai Baba probably because he considered himself supreme-God. The traditional monastery heads called themselves just 'jagadgurus' (Preceptors of the Whole World) and not the supreme-Gods themselves.

Comments

Mahesh said…
10 years down the line any problems? You saw a ghost where there were none.

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