Replies to comments of Shri P Rao, Part 2
P. Rao has left a new comment on the post "We need a dozen Sherlock Holmes":
Reply
Thank you for correcting me. What Sathya Sai Baba did was only 'magic' and not 'black magic'.
I, now, get a motivation to write more.
Devotees thought that Baba was performing miracles though it was just magic. Devotees refuse to agree that he was performing magic because the word has a connotation to the western meaning of tricks by sleight of hand.
Dictionaries, when it comes to 'black magic' somehow omit to point out this relationship of 'magic' to its physical nature of hand-tricks. I quote below from WordNet:
Now, what is the dividing line between the black magic and the white magic?
Suppose Rama sends out a bamboo-dart or a piece of straw with or without some lip movement onto the sea threatening it of dire consequences because it does not make way for his army of monkeys, does that bamboo stalk/straw become 'brahmAstra'? Does it become 'white magic or great astra'? It is not even just physical magic. It is nothing. Same thing if some enemy does, will it become 'black magic'? Rama, Indrajit, Arjuna, Ghatotkacha et al they were all imagining that they had great potent forces in their hands, whereas they didn't have anything in their hands.
For this reason only, Ghajni Mohammed could easily rob the Somnath Temple 17 times 17 years, every time the Priests cursing him with incantations. The Priests used to say that God would punish them. Which God? Their God? Or his God? If their God wanted to punish him, his God would have come to his rescue.
About Sai tradition
I am not sure whether Shirdi Sai Baba could have been or would have been aware of the Sufi tenets or principles. The stories of wise words and mystic actions woven around him might have been the creations of the people who assembled around him to collect the offerings given to him by devotees. He might have been just an ordinary mendicant with a small sprinkle of mystic and philosophic anecdotal knowledge a la thousands mendicants we see on the banks of the River Ganga. His success as a miraculous mendicant, prompted hundreds of thousands of mendicants all over India to wear an orange head-gear in the Sai-Baba style. You can see how the Vivekananda head-gear prompted N.T. Rama Rao to copy it.
Sai - meaning in my view
I feel that Sai means one is 'sayana-ing' (lying on a bed in a mode of rest or sleep). We have phrases like Sesha-talpa-Sai (Lord VishNu reclining on Snake-God), Vata-patra-Sai (Lord Krishna reclining on a banyan leaf immediately after apocalypse). We have Ranga Sai (Lord Ranga NAyaka in a reclining posture at Nellore). We have phrases like KShIra sAgara Sayana (One who reclines on the Sea of Milk).
An online search by me indicated that Baba did not tell his original name to anybody. One web-site says that a Guru by name Gangagir gave him the name 'Sai'. Some people say that Shirdi Sai Baba's Sai was a Persian word.
I search the word 'Sai' at the University of Chicago website, Persian-English Dictionary. I see one meaning 'equal or partner'.
I feel that it was very unlikely that Shirdi Sai Baba was a scholar in Persian language. Besides, Persian was not much popular in Maharashtra, though Ahmednagar was ruled by the Persian-origin Bahamany Sultans. Shirdi Sai might not have minded tolerating intrusion of Hindu customs of worship, as otherwise, Baba business cannot run for a mendicant with restrictive views.
About Sathya Sai Baba making billions of bucks and tonnes of gold and diamonds
What was the business which enabled Sathya Sai Baba to pile up? For this only, I said that dozens of Sherlock Holmes are needed. Sherlock Holmes stepped in where Scotland Yard failed or where they lacked. We see on roads, when a beggar asks for a half Rupee, people say that they have no change. This is a world-wide habit. How is it that people showered on him statues of gold? Certainly, there was a quid-pro-quo either real or perceived. It cannot just be love.
Latest Deccan Chronicle Report 4-7=11 has come with the headline 'Seized Satya Sai Cash not trustworthy: Police'. The Police seem to view that the 12 devotees who were said to have given the money for building Baba's tomb, did not provide adequate evidence to prove that. It is possible that they might have given some unaccounted/unaccountable cash. The Trust Authorities, instead of entering the donations into their books and remitting to the building contractor by cheque, might have chosen to remit cash direct. The cash seems to have been intercepted. Alternatively, there might have been hoards of underground cash still unaccounted in Yajurmandir. The Police, if they had wanted to do real work, should have by this time conducted a thorough search of the entire Yajur Mandir and Kulvanta Hall. They should have used metal detectors and scanning equipment to search into the walls and floors.
Storing gold underground is common in prayer houses of every religion. The hesitation of the Police might have been due to the erroneous belief that it was a private place. They may be mysteriously or mystically believing that it is the duty of the Income Tax Authorities to dig them out.
The sad reality today is there is no proper division of duties among the Revenue, Endowments, and Police Departments in the State Government and the Income Tax Department, CBI, and Enforcement Directorate of the Central Government. Everybody wants to pass on the buck.
Amassing money through fraudulent means become crimes under various Sections (e.g. 420 for cheating) Indian Penal Code and the Police should act. The places where such money is stored whether private or public can be searched, after obtaining a suitable warrant from a Competent Magistrate. The Police didn't act as long as Baba was alive, because they were too scared of him, because President of India, Prime Minister, Governors, Chief Ministers, Justices, IGPs and DGPs were his devotees.
Income Tax Department should be and are basically concerned with tax evasion. They do not normally bother much about the 'cleanliness/dirt' attached to the money with the assessee. For that reason only, once the legendary Abdul Karim Telgi became one of the top payers of income-tax in his days. When Income Tax Authorities ask about source of funds, their intention seems to be to check whether tax was deducted at source or not.
When tax rates are high, honest persons who earned few hundreds of thousands (lakhs) may also try to avoid tax. After all it is their life-time's toil.
Hence there is a need to separate 'serious economic offenses' from 'tax-avoidances and omissions and commissions'. There should be a specialised agency to deal with illegal or criminal earnings with sufficient trained staff and appropriate powers for searches etc. It should be far more effective than a Lokpal. A Lokpal can look into the offences of some bureaucrats and politicians. He may not investigate into the offences of industrialists and big business tycoons. C.B.I., theoretically, can look into many types of offenses both economic and non-economic. But that all-inclusiveness is overburdening the C.B.I. Besides, there is also a need for specialisation.
We have a proverb 'The People get the Government they deserve'. We can coin many proverbs using this analogy: 'The People get the Police, they deserve'. 'The People get the Babas, they deserve'. 'The People get the Gods, they deserve'. 'The People get the trains they deserve'. The People get the writers, they deserve. The People get the film-makers and actors, they deserve. The People get the diseases, they deserve. The People get the Political Parties they deserve. The People get the crops and harvests they deserve.
Please permit me to say the folloiwng.
The "Sai Baba" concept is of muslim origin in the sufi saint category.
Whatever the religious and spiritual implications of Sri Satya Sai Baba (SSSB), he did achieve the glory of a Moghal king that ruled India and lived the life of a Paadusha (Badshah). Imagine stashing 11 crores of loose cash in the office room, along with 100 kg gold. By some accounts his personal conduct over the years was no less indulgent. In a way he did restore the glory of moghal kings or close to home their once representative Nizam.
Placed in a bank the 15 crores of wealth could be earning about one crore rupees in interest per year. This disclosed wealth seems to be only the tip of the iceberg. It is interesting to note that there is very little public outrage at these findings.
Could some one address the issue if people really donate this kind of money voluntarily to a Baba? Are there any deals involved in such transactions? How does his income compare with Tirumala temple earnings? How many gurus in India today could claim this kind of wealthy opearations?
PS: You chose to call the materializations as black-magic. It can be considered simply as magic or trickery. My understanding was the word black-magic is used to denote "chetabadi" involving demon possessions. You can correct me if I am wrong.
Posted by P. Rao to SATHYA SAI BABA yb (satya sai baba) at July 4, 2011 12:58 PM
Reply
Thank you for correcting me. What Sathya Sai Baba did was only 'magic' and not 'black magic'.
I, now, get a motivation to write more.
Devotees thought that Baba was performing miracles though it was just magic. Devotees refuse to agree that he was performing magic because the word has a connotation to the western meaning of tricks by sleight of hand.
Dictionaries, when it comes to 'black magic' somehow omit to point out this relationship of 'magic' to its physical nature of hand-tricks. I quote below from WordNet:
black magic n 1: the belief in magical spells that harness occult forces or evil spirits to produce unnatural effects in the world [syn: sorcery, black magic, art}, necromancy] - From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) 19 Moby Thesaurus words for "black magic": Black Mass, Satanism, chthonian worship, demonism, demonography, demonolatry, demonology, demonomancy, demonomy, demonry, devil lore, devil worship, devilry, diablerie, diabolism, diabology, diabolology, sorcery, the black art . We can see the disapproving meaning clearly. Hence, you are right when you said that black magic is 'chetabadi' (in Telangana 'bANAmati'). white magic In the same WordNet, we can see another phrase 'white magic'. = The magic used only for good purposes. |
Now, what is the dividing line between the black magic and the white magic?
Suppose Rama sends out a bamboo-dart or a piece of straw with or without some lip movement onto the sea threatening it of dire consequences because it does not make way for his army of monkeys, does that bamboo stalk/straw become 'brahmAstra'? Does it become 'white magic or great astra'? It is not even just physical magic. It is nothing. Same thing if some enemy does, will it become 'black magic'? Rama, Indrajit, Arjuna, Ghatotkacha et al they were all imagining that they had great potent forces in their hands, whereas they didn't have anything in their hands.
For this reason only, Ghajni Mohammed could easily rob the Somnath Temple 17 times 17 years, every time the Priests cursing him with incantations. The Priests used to say that God would punish them. Which God? Their God? Or his God? If their God wanted to punish him, his God would have come to his rescue.
About Sai tradition
I am not sure whether Shirdi Sai Baba could have been or would have been aware of the Sufi tenets or principles. The stories of wise words and mystic actions woven around him might have been the creations of the people who assembled around him to collect the offerings given to him by devotees. He might have been just an ordinary mendicant with a small sprinkle of mystic and philosophic anecdotal knowledge a la thousands mendicants we see on the banks of the River Ganga. His success as a miraculous mendicant, prompted hundreds of thousands of mendicants all over India to wear an orange head-gear in the Sai-Baba style. You can see how the Vivekananda head-gear prompted N.T. Rama Rao to copy it.
Sai - meaning in my view
I feel that Sai means one is 'sayana-ing' (lying on a bed in a mode of rest or sleep). We have phrases like Sesha-talpa-Sai (Lord VishNu reclining on Snake-God), Vata-patra-Sai (Lord Krishna reclining on a banyan leaf immediately after apocalypse). We have Ranga Sai (Lord Ranga NAyaka in a reclining posture at Nellore). We have phrases like KShIra sAgara Sayana (One who reclines on the Sea of Milk).
An online search by me indicated that Baba did not tell his original name to anybody. One web-site says that a Guru by name Gangagir gave him the name 'Sai'. Some people say that Shirdi Sai Baba's Sai was a Persian word.
I search the word 'Sai' at the University of Chicago website, Persian-English Dictionary. I see one meaning 'equal or partner'.
I feel that it was very unlikely that Shirdi Sai Baba was a scholar in Persian language. Besides, Persian was not much popular in Maharashtra, though Ahmednagar was ruled by the Persian-origin Bahamany Sultans. Shirdi Sai might not have minded tolerating intrusion of Hindu customs of worship, as otherwise, Baba business cannot run for a mendicant with restrictive views.
About Sathya Sai Baba making billions of bucks and tonnes of gold and diamonds
What was the business which enabled Sathya Sai Baba to pile up? For this only, I said that dozens of Sherlock Holmes are needed. Sherlock Holmes stepped in where Scotland Yard failed or where they lacked. We see on roads, when a beggar asks for a half Rupee, people say that they have no change. This is a world-wide habit. How is it that people showered on him statues of gold? Certainly, there was a quid-pro-quo either real or perceived. It cannot just be love.
Latest Deccan Chronicle Report 4-7=11 has come with the headline 'Seized Satya Sai Cash not trustworthy: Police'. The Police seem to view that the 12 devotees who were said to have given the money for building Baba's tomb, did not provide adequate evidence to prove that. It is possible that they might have given some unaccounted/unaccountable cash. The Trust Authorities, instead of entering the donations into their books and remitting to the building contractor by cheque, might have chosen to remit cash direct. The cash seems to have been intercepted. Alternatively, there might have been hoards of underground cash still unaccounted in Yajurmandir. The Police, if they had wanted to do real work, should have by this time conducted a thorough search of the entire Yajur Mandir and Kulvanta Hall. They should have used metal detectors and scanning equipment to search into the walls and floors.
Storing gold underground is common in prayer houses of every religion. The hesitation of the Police might have been due to the erroneous belief that it was a private place. They may be mysteriously or mystically believing that it is the duty of the Income Tax Authorities to dig them out.
The sad reality today is there is no proper division of duties among the Revenue, Endowments, and Police Departments in the State Government and the Income Tax Department, CBI, and Enforcement Directorate of the Central Government. Everybody wants to pass on the buck.
Amassing money through fraudulent means become crimes under various Sections (e.g. 420 for cheating) Indian Penal Code and the Police should act. The places where such money is stored whether private or public can be searched, after obtaining a suitable warrant from a Competent Magistrate. The Police didn't act as long as Baba was alive, because they were too scared of him, because President of India, Prime Minister, Governors, Chief Ministers, Justices, IGPs and DGPs were his devotees.
Income Tax Department should be and are basically concerned with tax evasion. They do not normally bother much about the 'cleanliness/dirt' attached to the money with the assessee. For that reason only, once the legendary Abdul Karim Telgi became one of the top payers of income-tax in his days. When Income Tax Authorities ask about source of funds, their intention seems to be to check whether tax was deducted at source or not.
When tax rates are high, honest persons who earned few hundreds of thousands (lakhs) may also try to avoid tax. After all it is their life-time's toil.
Hence there is a need to separate 'serious economic offenses' from 'tax-avoidances and omissions and commissions'. There should be a specialised agency to deal with illegal or criminal earnings with sufficient trained staff and appropriate powers for searches etc. It should be far more effective than a Lokpal. A Lokpal can look into the offences of some bureaucrats and politicians. He may not investigate into the offences of industrialists and big business tycoons. C.B.I., theoretically, can look into many types of offenses both economic and non-economic. But that all-inclusiveness is overburdening the C.B.I. Besides, there is also a need for specialisation.
If a marginal farmer with one acre land finds a small pot of silver coins while tilling his land, the local SI and Tahsildar will rush immediately. They hold him in lock-up and beat him mercilessly even if he surrenders the pot, suspecting that he might have hidden the gold coins. |
We have a proverb 'The People get the Government they deserve'. We can coin many proverbs using this analogy: 'The People get the Police, they deserve'. 'The People get the Babas, they deserve'. 'The People get the Gods, they deserve'. 'The People get the trains they deserve'. The People get the writers, they deserve. The People get the film-makers and actors, they deserve. The People get the diseases, they deserve. The People get the Political Parties they deserve. The People get the crops and harvests they deserve.
Comments
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your kind response to my comment. I enjoyed reading it.
P.Rao
Regards and respects,
Dr. M.S. Prasad
sprasad_m at rediffmail.com