tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51101529623620632242024-02-06T19:19:12.007-08:00SATHYA SAI BABA &, other Babas of IndiaAfter the Demise of Shri Sathya Saibaba, there seems to be a global and All India fall in the number of his devotees. Yet, though Shri Sathya Sai Baba passed away, India has not yet become replete in the number of Babas. Hence, the scope of this particular blog has been extended by me to cover other Indian Babas and Swamijis also, though I cannot change the blog address. 2) Trying to identify and publish only facts. ybr (alias ybrao a donkey)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13635995478285822763noreply@blogger.comBlogger51125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5110152962362063224.post-822551695443269032017-11-14T04:05:00.000-08:002017-11-14T04:28:11.989-08:00052 Replies to comments of Shri P Rao, Part 2<img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrR3TVG-QmwIUK8luLq_1A3Dvo50AgPXI_NlHdMPVT5cDddbPtEldFzTNtkFra5OFXXDGLJqBaQhghw-t5Uhrsk29LErrEDSdIVFP-DReDYhysvUHDBh-ClZRMG294ZDicX6nzhhR9O6Q/s1600/1892sherlockholmessignoffourcover.jpg' style='height:20em;'></img>
<br />Shri P. Rao has left a new comment on the post "We need a dozen Sherlock Holmes":
<br /><blockquote><br />Please permit me to say the following.<br /><br />The "Sai Baba" concept is of muslim origin in the sufi saint category.
<br /><br />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.
<br /><br />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.
<br /><br />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 operations?
<br /><br />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.<br /><br />Posted by P. Rao to SATHYA SAI BABA yb (satya sai baba) at July 4, 2011 12:58 PM </blockquote>
<br /><br /><h4>Reply. Replied on 14th Nov. 2017. ybrao-a-donkey's personal views not intended to be imposed on others:</h4>
<br />Ans: I agree with your views about Shri Satya Sai Baba's glory resembling that of a Mughal Emperor, and I also like you appreciate his establishing Charitable Hospitals, Universities,and his donations to Governments for Water Supply Schemes of Anantapur, Chennai etc.
<br />About his source of funds, I have some hunches and wild guesses, which I cannot substantiate from admissible Evidences. And these guesses and hunches apply to most other INdian Babas and some other Monks also.
<br />Hunch NO. 1: Foreign Devotees, and Indian Celebrity Devotees, may be because of their own superstitions, and undue dominating influences of others, may be believing that all their successes and wealth(s) are the result of their Gods' / Goddesses' graces, which might have been facilitated by Shri Sathya Sai Baba himself, or through his intermediation with the Gods / Goddesses. They may be cultivating a belief that these Gods' Goddesses' graces and their consequent fame and prosperity would not have been possible without the intervention of Sathya Sai Baba. This belief in Visible and Invisible help is omnipresent both in India and also globally. Otherwise, what will make Late Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao and Late President Abdul Kalam, to consult Late Shri Satya Sai Baba?
<br /><br />Hunch No. 2: There may be money laundering side. Indian Black money going abroad through techniques such as Under-invoicing of Exports, Over-invoicing of imports, Inflated Outward Remittances, etc. etc. may be coming back to India, through the medium of God Persons.
<br /><br />Hunch NO. 3: God-persons may also be helping Celebrities, Bureaucrats, politicians to get their Business work done, get some awards and titles such as Padma Bhushan, get some plush-plum appointments and postings such as Governorships, Cabinet Posts.
ybr (alias ybrao a donkey)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13635995478285822763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5110152962362063224.post-311791020160150332012-05-28T06:33:00.002-07:002017-11-13T21:31:12.672-08:00051 Vultures on the prowl. Baba's everywhere, in India!<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiSh_sZDAnMQan0A-DFtBebTYxBhnPIcyJs1JYFF6DV1UmUhR-4LmJTdnQDOMa3yu1a1m1Ztj5rj3QY-J9UJbq08-15VMtwi4rqcbSDNFIGUy43QnKXQegqZ_bocAVKfG7eCeJkQmbfx8/s1600/Sathya_Sai_Baba_Photo_Guy_Veloso_www.guyveloso.com_wikipediaorg..jpg" style='height:30em;'></img>
<br />After the death of Sathya Sai Baba, kALESwar bAbA, I thought that the people of Anantapur District, the people of Andhra Pradesh, the people of India, and the Euro and Dollar world would have some respite.TV9 Channel had reported sometime back that bAlaSAi bAba of kurnool had lost the craze people had for him. I believe, it is the same TV9 which has reported a few months back, that aghOri bAbA was building a large premises for his activities of 'tantra' and 'mantra' and that some VIPs were patronising him.
<br /><br />I heard that some 200 white Nationals have started falling at his feat. <br /><br />Death of Sathya Sai Baba seems to have left a vacuum in Anantapur District, which the winds from all the four sides are trying to fill and make a fast buck from it.
<br /><br />I wanted to write something about aghori, but I could not take it up because I was busy searching for rAvaNa's lanka in jhArkhand, West Orissa, and the sAtnA District of madhya pradEsh. If you are interested in rAvaNA's lanka (not SrI lanka), you can have a look at my blog <a href="http://ramayanayb.blogspot.com" target='_blank'>ramayanayb.blogspot.com</a>.
<br /><br />Apart from the report made by TV9 on aghOri bAbA of puttaparti / gorantla, anantapur District, there are no additions.
<br /><br />But the internet is full of advertisements made by persons claiming as 'aghOri bAbA' tantriks specialising in black magic to solve every problem of humans on this Earth, of course for a fee. aghOris all over India claim that they practice all the rituals required as per the aghOri tradition, such as 'sitting on corpses', eating from skulls, eating human flesh, etc. These claims, they cannot avoid because, people will not believe them to possess the required powers to fulfil desires or solve the problems, unless they practice every ritual on corpses in graveyards.
<br /><br />Every State and every district in India seems to have dozens of aghOri bAbAs.<br /><br />As our aghOri bAba of gOranTla / puTTaparti seems to enjoy political and bureaucratic patronage, he may not have any need to advertise on the internet, giving his phone No. etc.ybr (alias ybrao a donkey)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13635995478285822763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5110152962362063224.post-75444486552187695972012-03-17T21:56:00.004-07:002017-11-14T03:59:43.999-08:00049 We now need 24 Sherlock Holmes<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrR3TVG-QmwIUK8luLq_1A3Dvo50AgPXI_NlHdMPVT5cDddbPtEldFzTNtkFra5OFXXDGLJqBaQhghw-t5Uhrsk29LErrEDSdIVFP-DReDYhysvUHDBh-ClZRMG294ZDicX6nzhhR9O6Q/s1600/1892sherlockholmessignoffourcover.jpg" style='height:30em;'></img>
<br />Readers may please recollect that at my blogpost No. #038 here, I wrote that we need a dozen Sherlock Holmes to investigate into the affairs at Puttaparthi. Now, some snakes have come out of the molehills at penugonDa, the seat of Late kALESwar's dwelling (I cannot call it hermitage, because hermitages are supposed to be in thatched huts and not in mansions and palaces). While the brother's wife of Late kALEshwar said that there were suspicious circumstances in his death, kALEshwar's father said that he didn't find any suspicious circumstances in his son's death. The Officials of the Government of Andhra Pradesh claimed that they were acting as per the instructions of their superiors. We do not know what the instructions of their superiors were. Since top politicians and officials have attended the funeral of Late kALEShwar, we can presume that the Trust Officials of kALEShwar's Ashram might, definitely have approached them for help.
<br /><br /><h4>ybrao-a-donkey's personal views not intended to be imposed on others</h4>
<br />Readers may please recollect that at my blogpost No. #038 here, I wrote that we need a dozen Sherlock Holmes to investigate into the affairs at Puttaparthi.<br /><br />Now, some snakes have come out of the molehills at penugonDa, the seat of Late kALESwar's dwelling (I cannot call it hermitage, because hermitages are supposed to be in thatched huts and not in mansions and palaces).<br /><br />While the brother's wife of Late kALEshwar said that there were suspicious circumstances in his death, kALEshwar's father said that he didn't find any suspicious circumstances in his son's death.<br /><br />The Officials of the Government of Andhra Pradesh claimed that they were acting as per the instructions of their superiors. We do not know what the instructions of their superiors were.<br /><br />Since top politicians and officials have attended the funeral of Late kALEShwar, we can presume that the Trust Officials of kALEShwar's Ashram might, definitely have approached them for help.<br /><br />The Chairman of the Trust, reported to be one Shri nAgi Reddy, had promised to explain everything after 10 days. <br /><br />Won't we need another dozen Sherlock Holmes to investigate this scam, as: if Scotland Yard in England can fail in London, how can the police of Andhra Pradesh lag behind?<br /><br />Maha News, a TELUGU TV channel broadcast a panel discussion on why 'guruvAra ganDam for gurus' (Why do Godmen die on Thursdays?). There are some predictions that more Gurus are going to die on Thursdays.<br /><br />Actually, the concept of a seven day week itself is an abstract concept. There can even be six days or eight days in a week, because the term "week" has no astronomical significance. The number of days in a solar year approx. 365 1/4 has some astronomical link with the time taken for earth to revolve around Sun. No such astronomical value for the unit-- week. The European astronomy recognising a seven day week and the Indian astronomy recognising the same seven day week, linking the name of each day to the name of a planet, seems to be an import from Assyrian/Babylonian/Mesopotamian/Sumerian civilisation of Iraq. The names of week-days cannot, therefore, have any influence on the birth, existence and death of individuals whether they are ordinary humans or self-proclaimed Gods. We should not, therefore, read much into the coincidence of death of Sathya Sai Baba and kALEShwar on Thursdays. A lady panel speaker on the TV discussion even went to say that Indian Gurus have something to do with the planet Guru (brihaspati or Jupiter).<br /><br /><br />The foreigner (western) devotees at kALEShwar's Ashram might have been in a state of bewilderment if not in panic, because their guru who was supposed to be a person omni-potent to ward off evil forces, himself had fallen flat at an young age of 39.ybr (alias ybrao a donkey)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13635995478285822763noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5110152962362063224.post-31704508418132209902012-03-16T08:59:00.003-07:002012-03-16T09:27:31.243-07:00kALEsvar bAbA's death at penugonDa, Andhra PradeshT.V. channels have shown the last remains of kALEsvar bAbA getting ready for funeral.<br />kALESvar Baba who is said to have about 400 foreign disciples died at a private Hospital in Bangalore on the 15th March 2012. He was said to be suffering from kidney and liver troubles.<br /><br />He was running just 39.<br /><br />His life was said to have been insured for Rs. 200 million (appro. $4 million), just one year back. He was said to have undergone medical treatment in United States one year back.<br /><br />There are some similarities between Swami Vivekananda and kAlEShwar baba. Both died at an young age of 39. Both have chequered health histories. Both have gone to United States for medical treatment.<br /><br />kAleswar bAbA was said to have amassed millions of Rupees.<br /><br />kAleswar had his own website kalEshwar.org.<br /><br /><blockquote>His website claims:<br />5 Pillars of Charity<br />Hunger Relief<br />Medical Assistance<br />Educational Support<br />Social Welfare<br />Infrastructure Development.</blockquote><br /><br />kAlEswar's brother's wife claimed in a TV interview that his death was not natural. According to her, his Trust Members had caused him mental agony. She wanted the Government to initiate investigations into his death.<br /><br />We need not say that top Ministers and Officials of Government of Andhra Pradesh, neighboring State KarnATaka and Tamil Nadu attended his funeral. There were against him, allegations of occupying Government land, particularly the land which has substantial archaeological value. He was also said to have some expertise in identifying and digging up treasures hidden underground.<br /><br />Who can count the number of western citizens/disciples/gullible persons expecting relief from Baba for their incurable diseases? Now, the doctor himself died, so young.<br /><br />Aren't humans fools?ybr (alias ybrao a donkey)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13635995478285822763noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5110152962362063224.post-53241829828835446102012-02-27T22:42:00.002-08:002012-02-27T23:14:57.345-08:00Enrichment of Sathya Sai Baba and his Trust at public expenseI have been wondering repeatedly how Sathya Sai Baba was able to accumulate gold, silver, diamonds, precious stones and currency.<br /><br />We know pretty well that foreign contributors were his benefactors. Many Godmen preferred Dollars and Euros because they were several times worth the Rupee in terms of purchasing power.<br /><br />I used to wonder how Baba was able to fool thousands of foreign citizens, who were touted as more intelligent than Asians, Africans, and South Americans.<br /><br />I always felt that deductions from common sense or from the ways of the world or circumstantial evidence, though can lead to discovery of truth, are not adequate to establish and prove it.<br /><br />One more circumstantial evidence, apart from those already known to readers, which has come to light a few days back is about is super-speciality hospitals.<br /><br />He and his Trust made everybody to believe that their hospital was giving free medical treatment to the poor by spending substantial amounts they received as donations from India and abroad. Consequently, the Sathya Sai Super Speciality Hospitality and the University have become the DEMOs and EXHIBITs for the collection of donations.<br /><br />But nobody knew, how much Sai and his Trust milked the Government of Andhra Pradesh and the Govt. of India. According to the current news reports, out of Rs. 4/- per unit of electricity consumption chargeable to the Hospital, Rs. 3.70 was being born by Govt. of A.P. The Trust was said to be paying just 30 paise per unit, in other words less than 7.5%.<br /><br />Did Hospital exhibit any board anywhere on its premises or its website or the website of the Trust, that Govt. of A.P. is bearing 92.5% of the power bills of the Hospital? Was it not their duty? They were just tomtom-ing that everything was the mercy of Baba. And foreign donors were also believing.ybr (alias ybrao a donkey)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13635995478285822763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5110152962362063224.post-79390122613310919032011-07-19T02:13:00.001-07:002011-07-19T05:29:43.205-07:00Another Treasure Hunt in Yajur MandirThe expected happened.<br /><br />We need not use astrology or clairvoyance to anticipate this.<br /><b>First lot</b><br />We shall first recall, that the Trust Board Members in their first hunt disclosed that 98 kgs. of gold was found.<br /><br /><b>Second lot</b><br /><br />The Deccan Chronicle news paper, our local daily, dated 19th July 2011 reported that 34.8 kg. of gold, 340 kg. of silver, Rupees 1.9 crore (19 million) in cash, were found at the Yajur Mandir of Late Sathya Sai Baba. These treasures -- the Andhra Pradesh Government Officials and the Sathya Sai Trust Members have jointly discovered.<br /><br /><b>My comments as a blogger (layman)</b><br />Why didn't the Trust members request the Government Officials, to search these rooms also in the first batch search which yielded 98 kilos at that time? Please see my post No. 38 here.<br /><br />Have they thought that there was no alternative but to disclose more gold, silver and cash, after the fiasco of the transportation of Rs. 3.5 million caught by the police, while being transported to Bangalore. Please see my post No. 39 here.<br /><br />The story of the King Midas of the 'Golden Touch' fame fades into insignificance when compared to the story of Sathya Sai Baba. King Midas had a daughter to kiss (who turned into gold, when he touched). Sathya Sai Baba might not have had anything to worry about daughters, sons, nephews and nieces becoming gold statues with his touch. The surviving blood relatives of him may not even be knowing that Baba was wallowing in heaps of gold, silver and currency notes. <br /> Baba might not have even allowed the information of the gold mines in his bed room, to reach his blood relatives, not to speak of himself informing them about the piles.<br /><br />We shall examine two examples:---<br /><br />1. Gautama Buddha (founder of Buddhism, 6th Century B.C. circa) had some experience of the gold rush, but not definitely at this scale of Sathya Sai Baba. Buddha needed an Ashram (hermitage). anAtha pinDaka , a rich merchant was said to have spread out on the garden floor 18 million gold pieces to buy the land from Prince Jeta. He was said to have spent another 18 million gold pieces on the construction of the building (called 'vihAra'). Another 18 million gold pieces on the festival of dedication. It is not clear what prompted anAtha pinDaka to spend millions and billions for Buddha? Did Buddha treat and cure him of some incurable disease? Normally rich persons, more so, businessmen keep armed guards at the gates of their mansions to prevent beggars, loan-seekers, favor-seekers, mendicants from trespassing. Why did the heart of anAtha pinDaka vibrate and melt for Buddha?<br /><br /> Who are/were the anAtha pinDakas for Sathya Sai Baba? How did their hearts vibrate and melt for the Baba?<br /><br />2. Another example: The Telugu mystic of the 15th Century 'Vemana' was said to have the power of alchemy , converting cheap metals into gold. People, apart from that, believed that Vemana's faecus (excreta or shit) converted itself into gold. It is not clear how Vemana was left alone to sit under road-side trees with just a loin-cloth, when he had such miraculous ability. The Village Landlords or the Reddy Kings (who were his kinsmen) should have/would have/might have/could have imprisoned/locked him up to collect the excreta. They would have given him special diets to produce and collect more excreta.<br /><br /> Persons with exceptional capabilities cannot remain free for long. About 30 years back, I read a novel, by Bhavani Bhattacharya , titled 'A Goddess named Gold'. The protagonist in this novel, as far as I can recollect, was a girl. A news spread and people believed that she had a special power on her body. Metals like iron kept on her body for some time, get converted into gold. In a few days, every inch of her body was fully covered with chains of iron items like keys, awaiting conversion. After some months, truth emerged- no conversions. Her lustre lasted only a few months. But Sathya Sai Baba's lustre has lasted nearly for half-a-century.<br /><br /><br /> We must agree without demur, that Sathya Sai Baba had the ability to attract from people, covers loaded with wads of currency notes. Of course, the covers may contain their petitions. They were buying Baba with the notes. Baba was selling himself for the notes. The same people handing over covers with currency, would have refused to drop a nickel coin to the poor outside the Yajur Mandir. Here, it is worthwhile to recall the great play 'Doctor Fostus' by Christopher Marlowe. I do not wish to say that Sai Baba sold himself to Satan (and his associates) just as Dr. FAustus sold his spirit in Marlowe's drama. This play is available for free download on the Internet at Gutenberg.org.<br /><br /> Since Sathya Sai Baba was believed to have the exceptional abilities <i>a la</i> those of Vemana or the protagonist girl in the Bhattacharya's novel, it could have been possible for his being imprisoned in his own dwelling i.e. the Yajur Mandir. By whom? We cannot say! may be by himself, by his own volition. Or by the top-level persons in his inner Circle.<br /><br /> A few of the fag-end speeches of Sathya Sai Baba, I saw on T.V. channels, I felt contained some rancour. Some bitterness and unpleasantness were observed. In one such speech, instead of preaching love, he asked his genuine critics and scurrilous detractors, using allegories, to shut their mouths up. His language was as foul as that of his detractors. This refined rudeness may be because of increasing competition from rival Babas such as BalaSai, Kalki Bhagavan, Kaleswar, Nithyananda, Art of Living Ravishankar, Swamijis like Ganapati Sachidananda, Sundara Chaitanyananda, Swaroopananda and numerous others. He might have been under considerable stress owing to loss of market share to competitors. Basically there is no difference in Corporates fighting for their market-shares and God-persons fighting for their market-shares. Conducting birthdays, convocations etc. inviting Presidents, Prime Ministers, Chief Ministers and Governors, may be a part of marketing drives, usually adopted by all God persons.<br /><br /> I am tempted to write something about the novel 'Mysterious Stranger' by Mark Twain, read by me about 30 years back. I was a devotee of Mark Twain for several years. I am tempted to quote from the book: (This novel is available for free download at fullbooks.com on the internet).<br /><br /><blockquote><br />A tiny stem shot up and began to grow, and grew so fast that in five<br />minutes it was a great tree, and we were sitting in the shade of it.<br />There was a murmur of wonder, then all looked up and saw a strange and<br />pretty sight, for the branches were heavy with fruits of many kinds and<br />colors--oranges, grapes, bananas, peaches, cherries, apricots, and so on.<br />Baskets were brought, and the unlading of the tree began; and the people<br />crowded around Satan and kissed his hand, and praised him, calling him<br />the prince of jugglers. The news went about the town, and everybody came<br />running to see the wonder--and they remembered to bring baskets, too.<br />But the tree was equal to the occasion; it put out new fruits as fast as<br />any were removed; baskets were filled by the score and by the hundred,<br />but always the supply remained undiminished. At last a foreigner in<br />white linen and sun-helmet arrived, and exclaimed, angrily:<br /><br />"Away from here! Clear out, you dogs; the tree is on my lands and is my<br />property."<br /><br />The natives put down their baskets and made humble obeisance. Satan made<br />humble obeisance, too, with his fingers to his forehead, in the native<br />way, and said:<br /><br />"Please let them have their pleasure for an hour, sir--only that, and no<br />longer. Afterward you may forbid them; and you will still have more<br />fruit than you and the state together can consume in a year."<br /><br />This made the foreigner very angry, and he cried out, "Who are you, you<br />vagabond, to tell your betters what they may do and what they mayn't!"<br />and he struck Satan with his cane and followed this error with a kick.<br /><br />The fruits rotted on the branches, and the leaves withered and fell. The<br />foreigner gazed at the bare limbs with the look of one who is surprised,<br />and not gratified. Satan said:<br /><br />"Take good care of the tree, for its health and yours are bound together.<br />It will never bear again, but if you tend it well it will live long.<br />Water its roots once in each hour every night--and do it yourself; it<br />must not be done by proxy, and to do it in daylight will not answer. If<br />you fail only once in any night, the tree will die, and you likewise. Do<br />not go home to your own country any more--you would not reach there; make<br />no business or pleasure engagements which require you to go outside your<br />gate at night--you cannot afford the risk; do not rent or sell this<br />place--it would be injudicious."<br /></blockquote><br /><br />You can now guess what will happen at Puttaparti.ybr (alias ybrao a donkey)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13635995478285822763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5110152962362063224.post-17971739425641072362011-07-04T18:47:00.000-07:002011-07-05T06:22:41.423-07:00Replies to comments of Shri P Rao, Part 2P. Rao has left a new comment on the post "We need a dozen Sherlock Holmes":<br /><blockquote><br />Please permit me to say the folloiwng.<br /><br />The "Sai Baba" concept is of muslim origin in the sufi saint category.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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?<br /><br />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.<br /><br />Posted by P. Rao to SATHYA SAI BABA yb (satya sai baba) at July 4, 2011 12:58 PM </blockquote><br /><br /><b>Reply</b><br /><div id='twocolumn'><br />Thank you for correcting me. What Sathya Sai Baba did was only 'magic' and not 'black magic'.<br /><br />I, now, get a motivation to write more.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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:<br /></div><br /><br /><table border='4'><tr><td bgcolor='olive'><br /><i>black magic</i><br /> n 1: the belief in magical spells that harness occult forces or<br /> evil spirits to produce unnatural effects in the world<br /> [syn: sorcery, black magic, art}, necromancy]<br /> - From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)<br /><br />19 Moby Thesaurus words for "black magic":<br /> Black Mass, Satanism, chthonian worship, demonism, demonography,<br /> demonolatry, demonology, demonomancy, demonomy, demonry,<br /> devil lore, devil worship, devilry, diablerie, diabolism,<br /> diabology, diabolology, sorcery, the black art<br />.<br /><br />We can see the disapproving meaning clearly. Hence, you are right when you said that black magic is 'chetabadi' (in Telangana 'bANAmati').<br /><br /><i>white magic</i><br />In the same WordNet, we can see another phrase 'white magic'. = The magic used only for good purposes.<br /></td></tr></table><br /><br />Now, what is the dividing line between the black magic and the white magic?<br /><br />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.<br /> <br />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.<br /><br /><i>About Sai tradition</i><br />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.<br /><br /><i>Sai - meaning in my view</i><br />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).<br /><br />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.<br /><br />I search the word 'Sai' at the University of Chicago website, Persian-English Dictionary. I see one meaning 'equal or partner'.<br /><br />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.<br /><br /><div style='twocolumn'><br /><i>About Sathya Sai Baba making billions of bucks and tonnes of gold and diamonds</i><br />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.<br /></div><br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br /><div id='twocolumn'><br />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.<br /><br />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. <br /></div><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br /><table border='4'><tr><td bgcolor='#ff8888'><br />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.<br /></td></tr></table><br />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.ybr (alias ybrao a donkey)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13635995478285822763noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5110152962362063224.post-81405794483063114972011-06-27T04:52:00.000-07:002011-06-27T06:05:56.003-07:00Receipt and Payment should have been recordedMr. Ratnakar, nephew of Late Sathya Sai Baba was reported to have said:<br /><blockquote><br />"The Sathya Sai trust is the ’most transparent’ trust and we go by all statutory requirements."<br /></blockquote><br /><br /><div id='twocolumn'><br /><i>Blogger's views</i><br />How a 'most transparent' Trust would have handled the accounting of the Rs. 35 lacs sent in car and intercepted by Police?<br /><br />A Transparent Trust would have recorded the receipt of the donations from the devotees for construction of the tomb, in its Cash/Bank Account on debit side. (The Sathya Sai Trust claims that it gets all its donations in the form of cheques. Ok, assuming that receiving cash is an exception, the receipt ought to have been recorded in its Cash Receipt Books.)<br /><br />A payment by means of cheques should have then been made to the contractor building the tomb i.e. Shankar Narayana Consultancy, Bangalore. This Transparent Trust, instead, chose to directly send cash to the consultant. What prevented the Trust from issuing cheque to the Consultant?<br /><br />A Contractor or a Construction Company usually do not have the nomenclature of a 'Consultant'. The Consultant might have been an Architectural Consultant.<br /><br />The construction site of the tomb, apparently belongs to the Sathya Sai Trust. It would have then been appropriate for it to pay the construction costs, of course, by mobilising donations/funds from devotees. It implies that the Trust's role is not that of an intermediary. Why did it, then, act as an intermediary for remitting the funds, without entering into its books? Did the devotees object to remit their donations to the Trust and get due receipts for them? Why did they go for an off-the record transactions?<br /><br />These questions, the Police should be able to break through in their investigation on cash handling.<br /></div><br /><div><br />Just as the Police cannot interfere into every issue of Private Organisations, they cannot avoid intervening or they cannot dilly-dally when huge amounts are under a state of exposure to pilferage and pillage. Prevention of crimes is as important as maintaining law and order. <br /><br /><p>Waiting for a law-and-order situation to crop up and then wielding lathis on agitating devotees cannot be the task of an effective , efficient and successful police Organisation. Preventive Precautions become imperative. It is like closing the gates of a dam before the water escapes through the loopholes. Bringing the leaked water back after it escapes will need ten times more effort than a preventive measure. Besides, failures, lapses, lassitude and torpor can cause much embarrassment to the Police Deparment.<br /><br />This does not mean that Police should act hastily.</p><br /><br />The Police, now, have a more onerous task on their back-breaking workload. They have to make a thorough search of all the car numbers passing through the toll-towers around Puttaparti. They may have to scrutinise the CC TV Camera outputs of the vehicles going through the Toll Gates. The intercepted car in question (Car with Rs. 3.5 million) itself was said to have made many trips to Bengaluru. That means more cash might have been transported.<br /><br />It is better that Police employ Private Detectives for tracing out the movements vehicles and probably cash. It will be better if Police announce some incentives/rewards for those who furnish information which will lead to more disclosures. The work-load is such , that the fatigued regular staff of the Police Department cannot handle it with tirelessness and briskness. The Senior Police Staff can guide the outsourced sleuths.<br /></div><br /><br />Won't we need a Sherlock Holmes?ybr (alias ybrao a donkey)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13635995478285822763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5110152962362063224.post-88582817620914260492011-06-25T21:43:00.000-07:002011-06-25T22:36:36.412-07:00We need a dozen Sherlock Holmes<p><br />State and Central Governments failed in their basic duty of protecting people from performers of falsehood and fraud, such as black magic.<br /></p><br /><div id ='twocolumn'><br />Producing goods like gold chains, lockets, falluses, from thin air or from mouth is nothing but black-magic. The fraud becomes culpable when the performer knows that it was impossible to produce goods from air or mouth and he deliberately produces them by sleight of hand. The culpability can become extremely serious when the trickery is used to convince people that the producer of the things has the additional ability to cure ailments and make them to part with money and gold.<br /><br />The accumulation of 98 kgs. gold and Rs. 115 million of cash (as disclosed by the open inventory and exclusive of the siphoned wealth) clearly shows that black magic was used to collect cash and gold. The wealth stashed by Baba was said to be about $ 15 billion.<br /><br /></div><br /><div id='twocolumn'><br />Justice P.N. Bhagawati said in an interview that he met Baba in 1968 and that since then he was Baba's faithful devotee. The Honourable Justice was also made a member of the Sathya Sai Central Trust. How can it be that, the Justice could not see and recognise the sleight of hand being performed by Baba? He might have had opportunities on several occasions to closely observe the tricks performed by Baba. A moral if not legal duty rests on him to disclose whether he saw the production of gold chains by Sathya Sai Baba.<br /></div><br /><br /><div> <br />The Governments had by their negligence contributed to repetitive performance of black magic and crimes at Prashanti Nilayam.<br /><br />Indian laws on Limitation , exempt crimes from the application of the usual period of three years limitation applicable to civil suits. There is no limitation for crimes. However, wherever the alleged performer i.e. the accused dies, the case abates against him. Mr. Sathya Sai Baba, had thus gone beyond the fence and pale of the criminal law in India.<br /></div><br />A person can rarely perform big crimes single-handedly. Crimes are like businesses. Sole Traders can undertakes petty crimes. Partners can do bigger crimes. It needs a Corporate to perform grand and grave crimes. What had taken place at Prashanti Nilayam was, therefore, a group crime. Other members of a crime-group cannot escape prosecution on the ground that one or two members died.<br /><br />After the departure of Sathya Sai Baba, Government seems to have regained a part of its masculinity. The activity it is showing in handling the cash of Rs. 3.5 million caught in an intercepted car, is one example. That Rs. 3.5 million may only be a tip among several tips of several ice-bergs. The investigators have monumentla work to do.<br /><br />I get a feeling that at this critical juncture, we need -- not one Sherlock Holmes, but a dozen detectives of his calibre to trace out the disappeared and hidden diamonds, funds and gems.ybr (alias ybrao a donkey)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13635995478285822763noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5110152962362063224.post-60147629471141109922011-06-25T10:07:00.000-07:002011-06-25T10:57:43.864-07:00Prashanti Nilayam should be closed<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwJ5UcNpQLlBnPOCT926D7InbrtjdRQgpjr6zZm4Q6J6MDCtki95CTVWvSt6_S9YZU14_z1esX4brSqBQKAliRrAZ6jadXLzKDznhBrM_4qXTTW2lX_NDToBWyOdvC2y3xcUmwrIkTqF4/s720/PM%252520Sonia%252520Sathya%252520Sai%252520Baba.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 720px; height: 501px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwJ5UcNpQLlBnPOCT926D7InbrtjdRQgpjr6zZm4Q6J6MDCtki95CTVWvSt6_S9YZU14_z1esX4brSqBQKAliRrAZ6jadXLzKDznhBrM_4qXTTW2lX_NDToBWyOdvC2y3xcUmwrIkTqF4/s720/PM%252520Sonia%252520Sathya%252520Sai%252520Baba.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Photo courtesy: PIB.NIC.in.<br /><div style='-moz-column-count:2;-webkit-column-count:2;'><br /><i>Question: Why should Prashanti NIlayam be closed?</i><br /><br />Answers: 1. The person who pretended to have the ability to produce things from vacuum no longer exists.<br /><br />2. The person who preached platitudes of love, disappeared into the wilderness of death.<br /><br />3. Cashing on the popularity of dead persons with some credibility, by building prayer houses around their tombs is a world-wide practice. The best example for this we can get from the pilgrimage Centre Shirdi, Maharashtra, India. Shirdi Sai Baba died in the first quarter of the 20th Century. Shirdi Samsthan Prayer Complex has become a billions of dollar business centre collecting donations. Lodges have cropped up at the place. Shops selling memorabilia and statuettes do great business at the place.<br /><p><br /> Real Estate Business is already flourishing at Puttaparti, at exhobirtant prices disproportionate to the realities of Anantapur District.<br /><br /> Development of businesses around unproductive activities can result in wastage of resources financial, physical and time.<br /><br /> The demand for Government Take Over of the Trust is not practical. Government has to attend to its priority function of governance.<br /></div><div><br /><P><br />4. Leaving huge funds and properties in the hands of Private Trustees is also extremely risky. After-all, they are humans. We can NOT blame them, if they get tempted.<br /></div><div><br />5. The general prevailing impression is, the Constitutional Principle of Rule of Law does not operate at Puttaparti. This should be corrected immediately. The Administration and the Police have to enforce all applicable loss meticulously. The State and Central Governments should immediately withdraw all concessions and exemptions.<br /><br />6. The existing structures can be used for creating public utility properties like Research Institutes, Public Sector Industries.<br /><br /></div>ybr (alias ybrao a donkey)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13635995478285822763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5110152962362063224.post-80675842403804446732011-05-18T00:16:00.000-07:002011-05-18T02:40:25.467-07:00Why did all the special worships and prayers fail?<blockquote><br />Friends: I am now writing on Buddha and Buddhism.<br />If interested click: <a href='http://buddhism3.blogspot.com' target= '_blank'>www.buddhism3.blogspot.com</a>. Care! You will not find there accolades and flatteries.<br /></blockquote><br /><br /><table border='1'><br /><tr><th>Mr. Ashok Singhal, the International President of Visva Hindu Parishad, along with many other V.I.Ps. prayed for the health of Sathya Sai Baba, at Puttaparti on 6th April 2011.<br /><br /><tr><th>Muslims of the towns sang devotional songs praying for revival of Sathya Sai Baba on April 6.<br /><tr><th>Children--the sinless and women organised a candle-rally praying that Sathya Sai Baba should live long.<br /><tr><th>Andheri, Mumbai citizens conducted a havan praying Baba's well-being on April 21, 2011.<br /><tr><th>Devotees of Hariyana conducted a 12 hour havan for the recouping of Baba.<br /><br /><tr><th>The Central Trust organised 'Maha Mrityunjaya yagnam' (Great Death Conquering Sacrifice) at Puttaparti on April 6.<br /><br /><tr><th>Colombo devotees organised Maha Vitringeha Yagnam praying for Sai Baba's revival, on April 6.<br /><tr><th>At the request of Mr. Indulal Shah, their International adviser, all the Sri Sathya Sai Organisations (Overseas) conducted prayers on 16th April 2011 to 18th April 2011, at stiipulated timings.<br /><tr><th>Baba's Pune devotees made Bhajans and chants on Apr 7.<br /></th></tr></table><br /><br /><b>Blogger's Comments</b><br />The failure of all the players proves the futility of prayers. Super-human powers may exist. Many of them may be relevant or irrelevant to humans. Prayers and yagnams (sacrifices) of any religion, cannot propitiate them and get the desired results.ybr (alias ybrao a donkey)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13635995478285822763noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5110152962362063224.post-70820791968649586812011-05-16T15:33:00.000-07:002011-05-16T16:02:41.686-07:00Is it necessary to create a new District or rename a District by "Sathya Sai District"?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirorZrCFPfHJWhlBZMMXNgb4J9SKwPhKuma1rB7jgQMHkMaDmECJufTCSRH-np8djLg_1Yw5EZYdHkNgIPfM_n2y_MfqNTEXXzumWKi4M_32WRvQeTFPGVAz2BBmjT0m9Qoz90L3SDZt4/s1600/AndhraPradesh.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 290px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirorZrCFPfHJWhlBZMMXNgb4J9SKwPhKuma1rB7jgQMHkMaDmECJufTCSRH-np8djLg_1Yw5EZYdHkNgIPfM_n2y_MfqNTEXXzumWKi4M_32WRvQeTFPGVAz2BBmjT0m9Qoz90L3SDZt4/s320/AndhraPradesh.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5607453258233186658" /></a><br /><b>Question</b> : We come across a clamour for renaming the 'Ananthapur District' in Andhra Pradesh (the District in which Puttaparti Prashanti Nilayam is situated) as 'Sathya Sai District'. Can we support this idea?<br /><br /><b>Answer</b> : Map courtesy Government of Andhra Pradesh:<br /><br /><br /><br />This answer can have two facets:<br /><br /><b>favourable</b> : The State of Andhra Pradesh (in which Puttaparti is situated) has a rampant custom of installing statues and renaming districts to commemorate persons. Some of these were great deserving persons like Tanguturu Prakasam and Amarajivi Potti Sriramulu. Some others were just politicians like Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy. If Rajasekhara Reddy can have his name for his Kadapa District, what wrong will be there if Anantapur is named as Sathya Sai District? Two wrongs may not become one right. The renaming, yet , may pacify some grieving devotees of Baba.<br /><br /><b>negative</b> : Why, open the pandora box? We have to accommodate proliferating demands for renaming districts and within a short short-time, all the 23 districts of A.P. will have new names. The pitfalls of having new names is: foreign tourists, international agencies, travel agents etc. may get confused about names. Dumping nameplates and signboards, official stationery and rubber stamps will lead to avoidable expenditure. These chores take away the precious time of the district administration which is to concentrate on droughts and famines, floods, illegal mining, extremism, housing, poverty alleviation, control of black marketing etc.<br /><br />Hero worship will have to stop at some point or another.ybr (alias ybrao a donkey)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13635995478285822763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5110152962362063224.post-8841509570598247532011-05-13T19:25:00.000-07:002011-05-13T19:25:48.576-07:00Why gold? Why not stone?The Sathya Sai Central Trust seems keen on installing a gold idol of Baba near his tomb.<br />
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This craze for idols of gold is an inheritance from Buddhism.<br />
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That rich cricketer Sachin Tendulkar offered to gift a gold-plated silver idol. He might not have anticipated that there would be persons and institutions crazier and richer than himself.<br />
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The Ashram, according to information made available on the Internet, already has a larger-than-life size gold statue of Baba.<br />
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India is a poor country. Does it need another gold statue, just for the sake of worshipping?<br />
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The Sathya Sai Central Trust, if it wants the world to believe that the information available on the net is just bunkum, then it must place on its Official website the complete list of the gold objects in Baba's (or his Trust's) possession and the manner in which the Trust is going to preserve them / or dispose off.<br />
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The existing gold statue (if it really existed) is a <i>fait accompli</i>. This can be used to recollect Baba's image into minds. The Central Trust can discourage the foreign donor from sending another gold statue.<br />
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The Central Trust can go for a granite statue, if the current existence of a gold statue in the Cellar of the Ashram, is just a canard.ybr (alias ybrao a donkey)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13635995478285822763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5110152962362063224.post-63846636368282892082011-05-07T07:51:00.000-07:002011-05-07T08:01:14.064-07:00Preaching love has become commonplace<table BORDER='4'><tr><td bgcolor='#ff90ff'><br />
<u>BENEDICT XIV</U><br />
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"Thus each precept becomes true as a requirement of love, and they all come together in one single commandment: love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself. 'Love is the fulfilling of the law.'”<br />
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<u>SATHYA SAI BABA</U><br />
"You are born out of love and sustained by love. You should sanctify your life by leading a life suffused with love. Treat love as the very basis of your life. You are not fit to be called a human being if you submit yourself to trivial problems. Even tiny ants are able to overcome obstacles that stand in their way. Problems are not limited to human beings alone; even birds, beasts and insects have problems." <br />
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<u>BLOGGER'S COMMENTS</U><br />
Is there a single religious preacher in this world who does not preach love? So-much-so, that the word 'love' has become a hackneyed expression.<br />
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Sathya Sai Baba should have worked at least one day in hot mid-May as a burner in a Cement Factory or in the Blast Furnace of a Steel Plant.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs3vuyzEgWpk_qdVjXBZzByKxgiYYJLHtnUshu85by6Jw9rIIjH1aheEuB7Y7NUAI6TsMyNlpMd7zxngnFHOKap7TZ8xn7OOJ70-5M6KVQcvsfJrZ_LjzKL3E17URlg7VCoCu1hY9LQZw/s1600/Blast+Furnace.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="270" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs3vuyzEgWpk_qdVjXBZzByKxgiYYJLHtnUshu85by6Jw9rIIjH1aheEuB7Y7NUAI6TsMyNlpMd7zxngnFHOKap7TZ8xn7OOJ70-5M6KVQcvsfJrZ_LjzKL3E17URlg7VCoCu1hY9LQZw/s320/Blast+Furnace.jpg" /></a></div>Photo courtesy Steel Authority of India.<br />
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He will then know the difference between the problems of humans and the problems of beasts, birds and insects. His entire life has been spent on cajoling and palavering donors for Pounds, Dollars and Euros. He simply, does not know the problems of laborers in unorganised sector. For them, every day is a problem of survival.<br />
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My favourite verse of Bhartruhari is worth quoting here:<br />
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SANSKRIT VERSE OF BHARTRUHARI<br />
diinaa diina mukhaau sadaiva s`is`ukair aakrisht`a jiirn`aambara aa<br />
kros`adbhau kshudhitair niranna vidhuraa dris`yaa na ceed geehinii .<br />
yaacgnaa bhamga bhayeena gadgada gala trut`yad viliinaaksharam<br />
ko deehii iti vadeet sva dagdha jat`harasyaarthee manasvii pumaan .21<br />
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ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF BHARTRUHARI'S VERSE<br />
Why should a man with self respect beg? When he entreats for something, his voice choaks with fear of failure/refusal by donor. His words become broken. Yet he says 'Pl. give ... etc.'. The poet explains the compelling circumstances. When a person sees his starving and sunken faced wife clad in a torn saree being chased by his hungry children seeking food, he cannot but go for a charity support. This is a masterpiece from the poet. He clearly recognises that the wisest person is driven to a pitiable state by hunger in the family. <br />
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</table><br />
Baba did neither have a sunken-faced wife clad in a torn saree nor hungry children seeking food. For him life's problems look trivial.<br />
<br />
<br />
<u>SATHYA SAI BABA</u><br />
<table border='4'><tr><td><br />
Embodiments of Love!<br />
Human body has emerged out of love. Hence, we should lead a life for divine love and not for food. But man has not understood this truth. He struggles hard from dawn to dusk for the sake of filling his belly. He is not utilising the gift of the body for the purpose it is assigned to. This body is a den of dirt, and prone to diseases; it is subject to change from time to time; how foolish it is to develop attachment to such an impermanent body and strive for its pleasures?<br />
<br />
Embodiments of Love!<br />
We should lead our lives in such a manner to redeem ourselves. We should love God and aspire only for Him. Your love should be directed only towards God, not for the body. Our speech, actions and the life-breath itself are meant to experience the Atma. Sometimes the body may be afflicted with ailments, but they are like passing clouds. Man is born to attain the eternal truth of the Atma. Life is meant for Atmaanveshana (quest for the Atma) and not for Annaanveshana (quest for food). Annaanveshana gives cause to physical ailments. They come and go like passing clouds. How foolish it is to be depressed about such ‘passing clouds’? We should never forget the truth that we are born to experience the eternal bliss of Atma. </td></tr>
</table><br />
<u>BLOGGER'S COMMENTS</u><br />
Baba solved his problem of quest for food by slight of hand(producing gold chains and presenting to foreigners and politicians). <br />
<br />
Common-man cannot adopt the same technique. Hence he works as a cleaner or server in a hotel. Or he works as an auto-driver or <br />
lorry-cleaner.<br />
<br />
This body is a den of dirt!!!!! Hence send it to Kodai-Canal or WhiteFields Bangalore on Private Jets. Pamper it with diamond-studded foot-wear!!!!!!ybr (alias ybrao a donkey)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13635995478285822763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5110152962362063224.post-87471298257852805392011-05-06T23:47:00.000-07:002011-05-07T00:15:07.081-07:00Horizontal Burying or Vertical Burying?Sathya Sai Baba was buried in an horizontal position. Most burials in the world take place in an horizontal position.<br />
<br />
A monk of Visakhapatnam Shri Swaroopaananda, was said to have objected to burying the Baba in an horizontal position.<br />
<br />
It appears that as Baba's body was lying in a laid down state ever since his death, bending/shifting his body to a vertical posture might have become difficult.<br />
<br />
News reports indicate that Shri Swaroopananda felt irritated for not being consulted about keeping the body in an erect position.<br />
<br />
It may be true that God-seekers and preachers may prefer to sit in a sitting posture of 'lotus-seat' (padmasana in Sanskrit). Once a person dies, his/her identity is lost and what remains is only an admixture of several compounds of inorganic chemicals. The chemicals undergo decompositions and double decompositions, while interacting with the environment and the bacteria. A body mainly consists of hydrocarbons and moisture. The body in other words becomes a sort of damp charcoal and lime (bones).<br />
<br />
Expecting that this mass of charcoal and lime must be lowered VERTICALLY into the earth and making fuss for an inadvertent omission is unbecoming of monks. This type of pother, if made by an illiterate-semi-literate person can be understood. Monks , particularly the Hindu Advaita Monks are expected to be very knowledgeable and philosophically self-realised souls. Philosophically enlightened souls should have indifference towards procedures and rituals. <br />
<br />
We must, at the same time, recognise that 'vertical burying' saves space when compared to 'horizontal burying'. Horizontal burying roughly needs 15 sq. ft. whereas we can adjust with about 10 sq. ft. in case of vertical burying.<br />
<br />
<br />
There is a severe shortage of land in India. People are finding it extremely difficult to find land for cultivation and animal husbandry. Spaces for burials , places of worship, clubs and pubs, golf and race tracks should have lower priority over the needs of agriculture and animal husbandry. A learned monk should have, therefore, used some foresight and wisdom, and suggested cremation (burning) instead of burial.<br />
<br />
Rigid and troublesome customs have to yield place to overall public benefit.<br />
<br />
Australia is not only a continent, but also a vast country with large expanses of woodlands, vis-a-vis the size of it population. An Australian firm in Melbourne has started offering services of 'vertical burying in biodegradable bags' at reduced prices.<br />
<br />
<br />
<U>NEED FOR UNIFORM CIVIL CODE FOR DISPOSAL OF DEAD BODIES</U><br />
<br />
The practice of 'cremation (burning dead bodies)' in Hinduism is environmental friendly because the dead body vanishes in two hours time. Islam and Christianity on the other hand adopt the space-consuming practice of burials. Government of India and the 28 State Governments should try to convince the citizens of all religions to shift to the practise of cremation. Offering free gas/electric crematoriums to people of all religions will go a long way in overcoming the shortage of land in burial yards.<br />
<br />
The Government should introduce a Uniform Civil Code if necessary. The country will have only tombs everywhere, unless the practice of burials is stopped through persuasion or coercion. No lands will be left for cultivation. Bullocks cannot till graves and tomb stones.<br />
<br />
Government should have insisted upon cremating Sathya Sai Baba.ybr (alias ybrao a donkey)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13635995478285822763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5110152962362063224.post-46830048307525471912011-05-03T09:00:00.000-07:002011-05-03T09:09:18.988-07:00Replies to Comments of Shri 'Unknown'<table border='4'><tr><td bgcolor='#ff99cc'><br />
Unknown!!! has left a new comment on your post "Did Baba die at an auspicious moment?":<br />
<br />
Sir,<br />
I've been reading your blog posts for quite sometime..at this post ..wanted to know if you believe in astrology?...this was at the point moola star you pointed out..it happens to be my birth star..which people generally consider to be sinister..<br />
frankly I have read decent enough about personlity traits,stars,palmistry etc...somehow i cannot make myself subcribe to such school of thoughts..am interested in knowing your view point on that<br />
</td></tr><tr><td><br />
<u>REPLY</u><br />
Our ancient vignaanam consists of two parts: 1. astronomy (khagool`am). 2. astrology (jyootisham).<br />
<br />
<u>ASTRONOMY</u><br />
<br />
We need not doubt the astronomical calculations of our great ancient astronomers like Varaaha Mihira. They were able to calculate sunrise, sunset, moonrise, moonset, eclipses, raasi, lagna timings very accurately. We can wonder, that they had done it very accurately, at a time when there were no satellites and telescopes. Hence we can accept our panchaamgams as correct.<br />
<br />
Your birth star 'moola' astronomically is in the constellation 'vruschikam' (scorpion). It is a southern constellation. It is very conspicuous on the sky. You can see it with your naked eyes. The arrangement of the stars looks almost like a scorpion. The main stars in the constellation are jyesht`ha (called Antares) and moola. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL4h2-KQMni-uyKa3wIaUAEdNiiV6fGLFS7X7hS5zOWXNpw_hcc4-M8esn0R-lb0gO8y8y8XGPQOjFxh-BHTJiSQog7HwKg2khUtN_GMveH75Kf1YV8R5U60Tu8E9wCQrpXgy-yO-wpzA/s1600/scorpius.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="158" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL4h2-KQMni-uyKa3wIaUAEdNiiV6fGLFS7X7hS5zOWXNpw_hcc4-M8esn0R-lb0gO8y8y8XGPQOjFxh-BHTJiSQog7HwKg2khUtN_GMveH75Kf1YV8R5U60Tu8E9wCQrpXgy-yO-wpzA/s320/scorpius.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Image kind courtesy Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand. Cropped by me.<br />
<br />
Moola is at the tail. It is marked as Epsilon in the map. Greek letter E. You can see moola and scorpion with your naked eye.<br />
<br />
Astronomically, there is nothing auspicious or inauspicious in being born when moola is in conjunction with moon. (Birth nakshatram means at the time of birth, moon is near the particular star. This nearness is only for appearance. Reality: Moon is just about 400,000 kms. approx. from us whereas stars are several light years aways. Hence, there is no question of realness. They appear to be.). Hence, there is no need to rejoice or worry.<br />
<br />
<u>ASTROLOGY</u><br />
Most of the astrology has evolved to satisfy the whims and fancies of kings, rich merchants and landlords. It is like a building erected on sand. Why sand? Astrology thinks that Ravi (sun) is a planet, whereas sun is a star. It thinks that moon is a planet, whereas moon is a satellite of earth. Astrology ignores earth, neptune, and pluto. It gives unnecessary importance to shadows Raahu and Keetu. This blogpost is not sufficient to describe the drawbacks of our astrology. We can write 1000 pages. Predictions are fictitious, though astrologers may quote one book or other in support of their arguments.<br />
<br />
Date and time of our birth nobody knows. Even the parents do not know. Babies live in the womb for about 10 months. The first day of the formation of the 'pimd`am' should be the date of birth. This fact, the astrologers do not bother.<br />
<br />
Gentleman, enjoy your life. Please do not blame your birth star, even if something goes wrong. Things go wrong owing to dozens of reasons, some within our control, some outside our control. Environment is the greatest factor which influences our life. We can control a small part of it. We are too small to change the other part. This part, we cannot call fate. There is no God also to make it or change it.<br />
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</tr><br />
</table>ybr (alias ybrao a donkey)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13635995478285822763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5110152962362063224.post-57412887739065879702011-05-02T08:32:00.000-07:002011-05-02T08:40:46.463-07:00Government should ensure security for documentsSathya Sai Baba was a public person. Not a private person.<br />
<br />
A public person and his successors should not hesitate to accept public scrutiny. This is because, they expect public acclaim and public praise.<br />
<br />
There is already an uproar over the security of valuables like cash, diamonds, gold and other precious objects of the Prashanti Nilayam, particularly the Yajurveda Mandiram. We can hope that the Police are closely watching the movement of things into and out of the Prashanti Nilayam and the precious objects will be protected from pillage.<br />
<br />
<u>DOCUMENTS</u><br />
Hard copy Documents, computer hard-disks, usb sticks and other storage media too have great value. The Government should , therefore, take steps to take their possession, scan them/digitalise them, and place them on the Internet for public scrutiny.<br />
<br />
This will help hagiographers to write selective praises of Baba. It will also help unbiased researchers to go into the mysterious miracles of Baba. The researchers can also compare the preachings of Baba with his practices. After all, it is the practice which should have precedence over preachings.<br />
<br />
Accumulation of wealth and love do not, and cannot normally coexist and cohabitate. It has come out that Baba was wearing diamond-studded footwear and that the interior walls of his <i>'yajurveda mandir'</i> were covered with gold. This is apart from his gold(en) temple car. His pet word 'bamgaru' literally means 'gold'. Which gold Baba was referring to, when he addressed some followers of his so affectionately? Was he alluding to the gold and diamonds, with a secret wink of his eye?<br />
<br />
Leaving aside the mundane metal of gold and stones, -- also the letters, emails, cables, telexes and other communications received by Baba and his institutions need scrutiny. I believe that Baba has not written many letters (unlike Vivekananda who wrote numerous letters - may be a result of underdeveloped telecommunications of his days). Baba's speeches are available abundantly on the net, but one gets an impression, that they have been considerably and overly doctored and edited. <br />
<br />
Ex tempore discourses speak out without inhibitions whereas edited speeches are made out to market orders. Hence, we cannot depend much on published speeches of Baba.<br />
<br />
Anyway whatever is available unedited, on the premises of Prashanti Nilayam, if published, can go a long way , in enabling the People of India to assess to what extent Baba was fake and to what extent genuine.<br />
<br />
Securing the unedited communications should be done by the Government immediately before some Trust Member allows their deletion/editing or before some employee accidentally or deliberately destroys or meddles with the records.<br />
<br />
The State Government of Andhra Pradesh is too timid and too busy with Kadapa elections to undertake this task. The Government of India is also busy with its 2g Spectrum Scam and the report of the PAC. The 2g Scam should enjoy greater priority. Hence, public will end up only with edited publications at the mercy of the Trust and its employees.ybr (alias ybrao a donkey)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13635995478285822763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5110152962362063224.post-27440206862394841412011-04-30T23:30:00.000-07:002011-05-01T19:12:30.120-07:00Is the afro hairdo of Sathya Sai Baba real?Sathya Sai Baba used to sport a black rounded thickly curled hairdo.<br />
<br />
Photo kind courtesy Sri Krishna Devaraya University, Ananthapur:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz6if7J1dwRg2Pv8qRw-XKC6Z2nodj24BGAXmkkRtkOYVEBBCXA7rO77XE5KGVNQua8O81UqfazrreyTIELaQqxuIThMmUW7t0G1SdhGRSMGo5IsXcSdHJn-vvXtx-XNIwamr94NHD5ns/s1600/sai+baba.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="239" width="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz6if7J1dwRg2Pv8qRw-XKC6Z2nodj24BGAXmkkRtkOYVEBBCXA7rO77XE5KGVNQua8O81UqfazrreyTIELaQqxuIThMmUW7t0G1SdhGRSMGo5IsXcSdHJn-vvXtx-XNIwamr94NHD5ns/s320/sai+baba.jpg" /></a></div><br />
He seems to be wearing this type of hairdo since 1946.<br />
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<u>Question: In which way, we should be concerned with a hairdo? </u><br />
<br />
Ans: Appearances can be deceptive. We check a hair-pin or a tie-clip hundred times before buying it. How many times should a person scrutinise a preceptor (guru) before falling down at his feet and donating hundreds of thousands of dollars?<br />
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What is the purpose of a public figure wearing ochre robes and sporting an afro? The object seems to be, to make an impression. and emboss an image of high respectability as near to God as possible, in the minds of the viewers.<br />
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<u>Question: Now, you tell clearly whether Baba's hairdo was real or an artificial addition.</u><br />
<br />
Answer: Baba's hair appears to be real. Mr. Janardan Tagore, a Senior journalist of the Emergency Era (1974) wrote that he was allowed by the Baba to pluck his hair and satisfy himself that the long hair was real. We cannot expect that every one of us will be allowed to stand in queue and be allowed to pluck Baba's hair and satisfy ourselves that the afro is genuine.<br />
<br />
We can find that rationalists performing stage plays to expose the magical tricks of Baba, sport an artificial hair do imitating the hairstyle of the Baba. Consequently, we may get a feel that Baba's hairdo was also fake. I personally feel that, prima facie it was not fake.<br />
<br />
One or two TV channels have recently released a photo showing Baba with folded hands. This, they said was the last photo of Baba, when alive. His normal pose was to wave hands as though blessing. The last photo showed that he was folding his hands as though reverancing.<br />
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Our concern here is, the photo shows that his hair was cut. Where did the hairdo go? It is possible that the hospital staff might have cut his hair to facilitate his treatment. There is no reason to believe that a wig was removed.<br />
<br />
<u>Other observations</u><br />
Hindu sages of yore used to wear matted hair with dreaded locks (a single round ball-like mass of hair on the forehead or on the mid-scalp). They used to apply the latex of banian tree for gumming the hair to enable the locks stick together. You can find from Valmiki Ramayana, Aranya Kanda (Book of Forests), Chapter 52, that Rama and Lakshmana matted their hair with banian (banyan - Indian fig tree) latex before entering the forests. Nowhere was there, an indication that they took to tonsured monkhood. Matted hair seems to be a characteristic feature of a forest dwelling hermit rather than a monk.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjz6ilLmdpfTompk9MOSHDoWDCaoNFwR9sS50Lonwvw0L8Ol4olmyy5MJ9UpidtWoDj6GsnirQbFYh0nQ4S6eVoVgxk3xmW3lgUBDkVRmpVzFfahuxIasVzlk692nKAMlHhXo54Wf9PSA/s1600/matted+hair.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="282" width="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjz6ilLmdpfTompk9MOSHDoWDCaoNFwR9sS50Lonwvw0L8Ol4olmyy5MJ9UpidtWoDj6GsnirQbFYh0nQ4S6eVoVgxk3xmW3lgUBDkVRmpVzFfahuxIasVzlk692nKAMlHhXo54Wf9PSA/s320/matted+hair.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<br />
We shall now, come to Buddha's hairdo. We come across pictures and sculptures of Buddha with matted hair on his mid-head. Buddhist Monks have a tradition of tonsured heads. We can find that the monks of the Shankaracharya tradition (Badari/Dwaraka/Puri/Sringeri/Kanchi) also tonsure their hands, rather than wearing matted hair or dreaded locks. We can find that thousands of mendicant monks moving on the banks of Ganga, Yamuna, Godavari, Narmada, Godavari, Krishna, Kaveri and numerous other rivers, wear matted hair. Tonsures are rare. The Sikh tradition also requires their followers to have matted hair on the mid-head, covered by a turban. The Sikh Guru tradition symbolised sacrfice.<br />
<br />
Baba's afro hairdo neither falls in the Hindu sage tradition of matted hair nor the Sankaracharya/Buddhist tradition of tonsured head. Baba wanted to maintain his distinctness to attract people.<br />
<br />
Maintaining long hair whether matted/dreaded/afro style is not easy. It requires continuous meticulous care with the activities of combing, applying oils and perfumes, frequent shampooing, and when the age advances- hair dyeing. Carelessness may result in a worse cosmetic appearance when compared to undyed and unkempt hair.<br />
<br />
The customs of celibacy, sagehood, monkhood, forbids the spiritual seekers from looking into mirrors, applying perfumes. The problem with most Godmen is they will neither be traditional nor be modern.<br />
<br />
We should also make a distinction between an 'indication' and a 'symbol'. An indication is not deliberately worn. A symbol is deliberately worn. An indication does not come with artifiicality. A symbol comes with artificiality.<br />
<br />
<u>Practical Example</u><br />
A cook or cook's help may have knife's scars on their fingers and palms. These are not deliberately made by the cooks and helpers. The scars fall under the category of indications. A Hindu who goes before a temple's sanctum-sanctorum may impress a vermilon dot on his forehead with his index finger in a fraction of a second, and continue to wear it throughout that day till he washes his face. This falls under the category of indication/suggestion/symptom, though he had a little willingly or deliberately applied the vermilon. We need not see pretensions in these quotidian routines and subroutines. Conceits and pretensions arise only when the acts or deliberate.<br />
<br />
An ascetic living in seclusion in forests, or living as a mendicant on the banks of rivers, tanks, parks, bus and railway stations may have long hair and beards, owing to non-availability of barbers or lack of money to pay for their services. We can just recall the face of 'Devanand' in the Hindi film ' Guide '. These indicative symtoms come out of deprivation of needs. The same mendicant when he neatly ties a red/ochre cloth around his hair in the Shirdi Sai Baba style it becomes a deliberate symbol. Every such head-cloth-wearer wants the world to believe that he was a representative Sai Baba.<br />
<br />
Priests of temples, and mendicants on the shores of rivers and tanks, wear symbols of three white horizontal lines or two vertical lines with one red vertical line in the middle, or some sandalwood and amber mark deliberately, after bath every morning. The mendicants carry mirrors in their bags with them. The object is to show that they represent a particular sect or cult. It is just to impress upon the onlookers.<br />
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Most judges of Supreme Court and High Courts wear three piece suits and ties even outside court. Industrialists in Assocham and CII Seminars wear suits and ties. Cricketers wear suits. Bridegrooms wear suits and ties. School children and policemen wear uniforms, ties and shoes. Door-to-door salesmen selling Oxford Dictionaries and Encyclopaedia tuck themselves and wear ties. My son who works in a software Company is not allowed to wear a shirt with a short-sleeve even if he tucks himself, except on a particular day of a week. Politicians in India wear neck-cloths or cravats of different colors to symbolically exhibit the political party they represent. These things take place out of customary , disciplinary or statutory compulsions.<br />
<br />
I do not wish to say that indications and symbols do not have their utility at all. Symbols whether taken constrainedly or voluntarily or originally or imitatively have their own revelations. We have to interpret them with some precision and circumspection before proceeding ahead to act on the persuasions the wearers try to make on us. We should not become toys. (Telugu: manamu aat`abommalamu kaaguud`adu. Hindi: ham khilonee nahii ban-naa chaahiiyee.)<br />
<br />
Indications are symptoms, which a person's body and his environment generate. Many of them do not mislead, unless they are symbols.<br />
<br />
I, as a Bank Manager, had undergone some experience of buying bullocks. We (the farmer, Government Veterinary Assistant Surgeon, a Village Development Officer and I) visited several animal fairs. I, during my first days, as a layman used to go by appearances of the bullocks and point out at stout animals and suggest that we buy. The Vet. had a different object. He was more concerned about the number of teeth, lesions on its skin and limbs, age and health of the animal. The farmers used to be more objective. The farmers used to reply to my suggestions : "Sir: You are going by appearances. Those stout fellows may be good in bull-shows and stone-dragging contests and races. They will not work when yoked to cart or ploughs. The working bullocks are different from the contest and exhibition bulls.".<br />
<br />
This type of distinction we can see between the class of housewives and the ramp-models and film-stars. Rarely one class fits into another. The selectors know the difference. A company selling toilet acids and liquids will probably choose a householder or a servant maid (a model somewhat looking like that). The ad. Company will not go for a Katrina Kaif or Kareena Kapoor.<br />
<br />
This is the saga of Sathya Sai Baba's afro hairdo.ybr (alias ybrao a donkey)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13635995478285822763noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5110152962362063224.post-30522080308991990212011-04-30T17:45:00.000-07:002011-04-30T18:24:53.059-07:00Will the Chairman of Trust Board be the Spiritual Preceptor?<u>SUMMARY</U> 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.<br />
<br />
<table border ='4'><th>ELECTION OR NOMINATION</th>
<tr><td bgcolor='#99aacc'><br />
TV channels and print media are engaged in speculating on who will succeed Sathya Sai Baba. Who will succeed?<br />
</td><td><br />
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.<br />
<br />
The non-Baba-relative Trust members may try to occupy the Chairman Post.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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'.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
<u>ELECTION BY TRUST-COMMITTEE METHOD</u><br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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?<br />
<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
<u>A RELATIVE AS SPIRITUAL GURU METHOD</u><br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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. <br />
<br />
<u>TRADITIONAL method used in the traditional Hindu monasteries</u><br />
<br />
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.<br />
</TD></tr></table>ybr (alias ybrao a donkey)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13635995478285822763noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5110152962362063224.post-53316331050214475952011-04-29T22:41:00.000-07:002011-04-29T23:23:57.239-07:00Loss of self-confidence owing to windfall rewards/profits<table border='4'><th>GRATITUDE FOR WINDFALL BENEFITS</th>
<tr> <td>Higher expectations with lack of self-confidence makes people to run after babas, sadhuus and samtus.<br />
</td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor='#88ff88'><br />
Every bureaucrat/politician cannot get what he wants. This is because, there will be at least 10 rivals vying for the samething. There is no natural line or sequence of success or succession in bureaucracy/business/public administration. The person who gets the lucky lottery, therefore, will not have self-confidence. He believes that some divine/superhuman force is helping him.<br />
<br />
Late Babu Rajendra Prasad, the first President of India, was one among several equal rivals, any of whom, could have easily fitted to be the President. Nehru, for his own reasons, chose Rajendra Prasad as his mate. I do not wish to comment on the abilities or lack of abilities of BRP. I am, yet, tempted to believe that this elevation made him a greater believer of ochre-robed persons.<br />
<br />
Guljari Lal Nanda, the former Acting PM of India had a fetish for ochre-robed persons. He wanted to become a regular Prime Minister of India. But it did not happen. Had he become a regular PM, many saadhus and samtus would have reached their zenith.<br />
<br />
Lal Bahadur Sastry, the Second Prime Minister too had soft corner for Babas. Sastriji and Guljari Lal Nanda were said to have went on a mission to get the blessings of Neeb Karori Baba (U.P.).<br />
<br />
<br />
Indira Gandhi became the Prime Minister of India, in an unexpected circumstance. This made her to believe in luck and ill-luck. She had her Gurus Deoraha Baba, Dhirendra Brahmachari.<br />
<br />
Shankar Dayal Sarma become the President of India in unexpected circumstances. He had become a devotee of Sathya Sai Baba.<br />
<br />
P.V. Narasimha Rao became the PM of India, in an unexpected circumstance. This windfall made him to rely on Sathya Sai Baba.<br />
<br />
Manmohan Singh became the PM of India, at a time nobody thought that he would become. This windfall made him to rely on Sathya Sai Baba.<br />
<br />
Abdul Kalam became the President of India, when nobody thought that he would. The windfall made him to rely on Sathya Sai Baba.<br />
<br />
Pratibha Patil became the President of India, when she was nowhere on the scene. The windfall made her to rely on Sathya Sai Baba.<br />
<br />
IPS Officers becoming DGPs over the heads of their rivals feel that their elevation was due to divine intervention. They may that it was the intervention of Baba.<br />
<br />
Advani and Pranab Mukherji are on the waiting bench for long. Will they become PMs? Advani was a mourner at Baba's death scene. If he becomes PM, Prashanti Nilayam will see him every year.<br />
<br />
K.R. Narayanan was an exception.<br />
<br />
The above observations will apply to cricketers . A cricketer, during some seasons, may find himself short of runs, struggling for form. He, suppose slams a Century after going to Baba. His bat will, now onwards will be, brandished by the imaginary Baba on the ground.<br />
<br />
Ditto for film-fellows. A hero/heroine/producer/director may be suffering from lack of hits. Suppose, there is a hit after visiting Baba. This hero or Director starts thinking that Baba made the films hit.<br />
<br />
Lack of self-confidence is the sole reason for falling at the feet of Babas.<br />
<br />
One must have confidence in one's own abilities. Persons should also realise that environmental changes will influence their successes and failure. Our success or failure is a composite result of what we can do, what we do , and the support, lack of support, obstacles from the environment. They do not depend on Gods and Babas.<br />
<br />
Suppose Baba puts a word to the Chief Minister to elevate you who is only an Additional D.G.P., as the D.G.P. The CM may oblige. But it is a human intervention and not divine intervention. Using human intervention for personal gains is a question of ethics and personal character. It has nothing to do with divine providence.<br />
<br />
It is, therefore, time for every celebrity, to look into a good mirror at 0.00 hrs. everyday and understand one's own strengths and weaknesses. Celebrities, can of course say, that they had already seen themselves in the mirror several times and realised that they were weak.<br />
<br />
What should we say then: "It is our misfortune that we have such weak souls as our leaders".<br />
<br />
</td></tr>
</table>ybr (alias ybrao a donkey)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13635995478285822763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5110152962362063224.post-18765041224760436712011-04-28T16:15:00.000-07:002011-04-28T16:51:29.320-07:00Why she could not gaze at the mortal remains of Sathya Sai Baba?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<table border="4"><tbody>
<tr><td bgcolor="#0088ff"><br />
Why the President of India could not get an opportunity to stare at the body of Sathya Sai Baba in the freezer?</td><td><br />
<u>Probable Reasons</u><br />
1. Security: There seems to be a practice that both the President of India and the Prime Minister of India will NOT leave Delhi concurrently. They may be working on some alternating shifts and turns. This may not be true, as the President is on an official visit to Mauritius. The PM and Congress President cannot wait till she returns from Mauritius. Ms. Patil might have probably airdashed from Mauritius to Puttaparti. It is not clear why she was content with sending a condolence message.<br />
<br />
<br />
2. Non-availability of special security aircraft : This may not be a reason. There cannot be shortage of aircraft for our top rulers in these days of plenty (for them).<br />
<br />
3. The present President of India, wherever she goes, starts with her family. Her husband / sons / daughters et al. She goes like a pillala kood`i (Telugu language idiom which is an equivalent of a mother-hen accompanied by her baby chicks). Some of them might have been busy with some pressing work.<br />
<br />
4. Ms. Pratibha Patil visited Baba in 2009 November and 2010 November. How can she be amiss now? She will find time and seize some opportunity to glare at is tomb before 2011 November. Special aircrafts, commendos, dogs and other fanfare will, as usual, be there. India is not after all poor.<br />
<br />
5. It seems that there is some customary or statutory need that the President of India has to visit some number of states to prove that the President is living and performing. For example, the President has visited ten States in 2010. By following the places of the visits of Presidents of India (not only Ms. Pratibha Patil), we can know the list of top pilgrimage spots in India. Andhra Pradesh will serve as a filler, for all the future Presidents.<br />
<br />
6. The previous President Mr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam too fell at the feet of Baba Baba, without delay (almost immediately after becoming the President). We can, therefore, reasonably deduce that Baba had appointed Presidents regularly. <br />
<br />
7. There are many people who say that visits of Presidents/PMs to Baba are a part of their personal affairs and that we should not criticise. Ans: They are using official aircraft. NO distinction between "official visit of President" and private visit of Mr./Ms. X" is being followed. Taxpayers are paying for these visits. Besides, the administration in Delhi comes to a near halt, whenever the key functionary is away and it becomes a paid holiday for the Delhi 'babus (bureaucrats)'. The President/PM can organise a true personal visit by appointing a shift-duty President/PM in Delhi and come to Puttaparti incognito in ordinary commercial planes. A little make-up can bring 100% more security than the commendoes and dog squads. They can even stay months together at Puttaparti or any pilgrimage spot. It is how the legendary King VikramArka ruled his kingdom. <br />
<br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table></div>ybr (alias ybrao a donkey)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13635995478285822763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5110152962362063224.post-39669075536355171912011-04-27T04:15:00.000-07:002011-04-28T17:23:46.489-07:00Who has no work?<table border='4'><tr><td bgcolor='#88aadd'><br />
A reader of mine has commented at my Ramayana blog:<br />
<br />
"You have no work?".<br />
</td><td><br />
<u>REPLY</u><br />
Yes. I have no work. Ok, I am a useless fellow; I have no work.<br />
<br />
You can now see : Here is : Prime Minister of India Mr. Manmohan Singh, President of the All India Congress Commitee Ms. Sonia Gandhi, Mr. Devendra Gowda - the Former Prime Minister of India, Mr. S.M. Krishna, the Foreign Minister of India, Mr. Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Mr. Narasimhan - the Governor of Andhra Pradesh, Mr. Kiran Kumar Reddy - the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, et al.<br />
<br />
Most of these people have arrived on special aircrafts, preceded by their bullet-proof cars and security personnel. Their object was just to stand for about 10 minutes near the body of the deceased Baba and look at mediamen and their video cameras with artificially blanked faces. To secure the V.V.I.P. 10 minutes gaze at the mortuary box, why should hundreds of Officers and thousands of employees spend several days at Puttaparti in hot summer shouting on cell phones and brandishing lathis on people?<br />
<br />
<br />
Won't they have any better work to do than stand and stare before the last remains of a person who juggled with gold chains, limgams (falluses) and ashes and convinced the world that he had miraculous powers and refused to allow a scientific study on his powers? <br />
<br />
<br />
<u>Some examples of better work to do</u><br />
*Trace out black money stashed by Indians with Banks abroad. The amount stashed by Indians exceeds the aggregate of all the amounts held by Nationals of all other countries, put together.<br />
<br />
*Go to people and appeal to them not to consume alcohol, as an addiction and ruin their families or harm their livers.<br />
<br />
*Go to youth and appeal to them not to waste their time on film-hero worship.<br />
<br />
*Go to youth and middle-agers, and dissuade them from betting on Cricket.<br />
<br />
*visit villages and see with their own eyes how women walk and youth cycle for several kilometers just to fetch two pots of drinking water. They may not have resources or time to correct it immediately or to amend the bureaucratic procedures. But, they can easily identify their priorities when they go back to their Chambers and Desks.<br />
<br />
*visit some bauxite/granite/iron ore quarries and see with their own eyes how carelessly they have been rendered into unplanned pits.<br />
<br />
Won't it be better at least now, if Manmohan and Sonia visit Bellary, Obulapuram and places in and around Puttaparti to see with their own eyes how the pillaging is going on? Ms. Sonia Gandhi was an M.P. representing Bellary for five years. Can't she visit and have a look at Bellary Mines and find out what changes have taken place since her last tenure. Does she need Bellary people only if she has to contest an election?<br />
<br />
*Prez/PM/Sonia can go to Rajasthan and persuade the custom-bitten parents performing child-marriages to postpone their hurried actions.<br />
<br />
*90% of villages of Kutch and Saurashtra face drinking water shortage, not to speak of the urban slums in Ahemdabad. What is the use of Mr. Narendra Modi's staring at the mortal remains of Baba and shaking hands with his nephew Mr. Ratnakar, everybody in finely pressed white clothes? Mr. Modi can visit some hot places like Jodhpur, Vastrapur, Vejalpur, and Bodakdeo in Ahmedabad City, wearing torn clothes, stand before some mansion/palace/villa and beg the owners for their permission to collect a pot of water from the running taps in their compounds, to which they attach their pipes and water their ornamental gardens. He can then learn how they will abuse him with profanities.<br />
<br />
*Mr. S.M. Krishna can visit some Gulf country like Kuwait or Saudi Arabia and see with his own eyes, the hardships of cooks and housemaids slaving in the houses of Arab Shakes.<br />
<br />
Summary: Hence, it is not I, who has no work. It is they, who do not know their priorities and they who waste the precious public resources on exhibiting their mourning talents.<br />
<br />
</td></tr>
</table>ybr (alias ybrao a donkey)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13635995478285822763noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5110152962362063224.post-62773078656508600812011-04-26T19:56:00.000-07:002011-04-26T19:56:25.338-07:00Governments are unnecessarily encouraging a bad practice<table border='4'><tr><td bgcolor='#ff9955'><br />
Governments have decided to allow burying of the dead body of Sathya Sai Baba in his own dwelling<br />
<td><td><br />
Government of India and Government of Andhra Pradesh are unnecessarily encouraging "burying and entombing of persons in their own dwellings".<br />
<br />
There will, soon be a "God Business" at the tomb of Baba. Real Estate Business is already flourishing at exhorbitant prices in Prashanti Nilayam.<br />
<br />
We must now get the list of bureaucrats, politicians, and industrialists -- and their relatives -- who own Real Estate Businesses in and around Prashanti Nilayam.<br />
<br />
Vested Interests are , soon going to spread information, that Baba's tomb too has miraculous capabilities such as curing nearly-incurable diseases. <br />
<br />
Truth remains : Neither living persons nor tombs of dead persons, can perform miracles.<br />
</td></tr><br />
</table>ybr (alias ybrao a donkey)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13635995478285822763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5110152962362063224.post-56794604544247176302011-04-26T09:50:00.000-07:002011-04-28T00:47:59.097-07:00Compare and contrast Swami Vivekananda and Sathya Sai BabaThere are some similarities and some divergences between Sathya Sai Baba and Swami Vivekananda. It is worth the effort to compare and contrast them.<br />
<br />
<br />
<table BORDER='4'><th><br />
SIMILARITIES & CONTRASTS<br />
</TH>
<tr><td BGCOLOR='#FF8800'><br />
1. Baba didn't have formal education. Vivekananda passed B.A.<br />
2. Baba depended for English translation of his speeches, on Mr. Anil Kumar. Vivekananda didn't have any problems of translation.<br />
3. Baba didn't visit foreign countries other than Uganda (Africa). Vivekananda visited the United States and Europe. He didn't visit Africa.<br />
4. Baba lived 84 years, by and large a healthy life. Vivekananda lived only 39 years. Vivekananda faced numerous health problems, particularly during the last two years of his life.<br />
<br />
5. Baba didn't openly consume alcohol. His preachings did not contain anything which dissuaded his devotees from consuming alcohol. Vivekananda while in N. America and Europe, didn't mind taking alcohol. We can see evidence in his Complete Works.<br />
<br />
6. Baba encouraged people to adopt vegetarian diet. Vivekananda did not appreciate the idea of vegetarian diet. Indians are weak, because, according to Vivekananda, they did not eat meat. Vivekananda, while abroad, supported even beef-eating.<br />
<br />
7. Baba was good in speeches. Vivekananda was good both in speeches and letters (called epistles).<br />
<br />
8. Baba had his mouthpiece Sanatana Saradhi, a monthly journal. Vivekananda had his mouthpiece Prabuddha Bharati.<br />
<br />
9. Baba seems did not apparently make much distinction between men devotees and women devotees. Vivekananda, somehow, seems to have preferred women devotees, and somehow aristocratic women of United States were attracted to him. Vivekananda had some facial glamor which attracted more women than men. This point is not intended to be as a comment on the sexual inclinations of both the monks.<br />
<br />
10. Baba wore ochre robes. Vivekananda too wore ochre robes. Both, occasionally shifted to other garments. Ochre colored garments are like packing materials and wrappers for a product. Religious/Spiritual products too need packing if they have to sell.<br />
<br />
11. Baba didn't apparently take formal 'sanyas' through a Guru. Vivekananda had Ramakrishna Parama Hamsa as his Guru. But there is not sufficient proof to say that Vivekananda received his formal renunciation rituals from RKP. Vivekananda performed monkhood rituals such as 'viraja yagna' along with his co-disciples, after the death of RKP. <br />
<br />
12. Baba had fixed for himself his own semi-monkhood name as Sathya Sai Baba, to indicate that he was the true incarnation of Shirdi Sai Baba. Vivekananda changed his monkhood names two or three times, before settling on the name Vivekananda. Raja of Khetri, apparently gave him the name Vivekananda (One who derives his happiness from Wisdom). Vivekananda for some period used a suffix 'paramahamsa' (Great Swan). One must remember that monk names are like brand names which sell. ITC (Indian Tobacco Company) may sell its cigarettes as 'Gold Flakes'. Are the cigarettes really flakes of gold! They are flakes of nicotine and tar.<br />
<br />
13. Both Baba and Vivekananda had hidden traits of Hindu fanaticism. This fanaticism of one's own faith is quite a common characteristic among active preachers of most religions. It is as natural as a cow eating grass and a snake eating eggs. We need not find fault with this. For this reason only, the RSS, the Sangh Parivar and VHP have taken Vivekananda into their lap and built a memorial for him at Kanyakumari. They have tried to befriend Baba, but, Baba didn't show much enthusiasm. This, in my humble opinion is because, he would have lost his foreign patrons and remittances.<br />
<br />
14. Both Baba and Vivekananda have an open "welcome" invitation and tolerance to foreign Christianity in the name of the Universal Relgion. Domestic poor Christians are unwelcome. Both Baba and Vivekananda preach the theory of One Religion using the technique of 'God is one and all religions lead to the same path of realisation of God, any path is welcome etc.' Clamour for cabbage, craving for cash, desire for dough, lure for lucre, manipulation of words and modulation of voice for attracting customers with moolah is the reason for this approach. Proof for this approach is ubiquitous both in the works of Baba and Vivekananda.<br />
<br />
15. Why Baba didn't search for a job. He was a middle-school dropout at an age of 14. At the point of his conversion to the occupation of god-man-ship, we get a story of his getting bit by a scorpion and his changing into a miracle-maker. Having avoided dropped out from school on the pretext of being bit by scorpion had left him as an unskilled youth. He would have had to break stones or work as a farm-hand, if he were to search his livelihood. This he didn't like apparently and the vacuum opened him up to pretensions of an incarnate. Those were the days when people were more illiterate and superstitious. -- Vivekananda on the other hand had a B.A. degree, was living in Calcutta, the Capital of British India at that time. He would have got some job either in trade or Government matching with his education. He too had a dislike for menial or ministerial jobs. Astrology, palmistry, vaastu (linking human lives with their dwelling houses and shops), numerology, face-reading, quackery (distinct from the science of ayurveda), are some occupations open to unskilled/semi-skilled persons who do not want to formally study sciences in depth or perform tasks involving physical labor.<br />
<br />
<table border='4'><tr><td><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYQpPoeNFwWm2jfbI51p9h5J0HfbnLKHsOPBId53or4qQ3CwxZx8k_J0qcI1t9HLA78bSCycNK0L01hgG4WM68pQZjn8HbWlv3cU0qRTFtAzsI-co4KH7R13A0jD26Rl3-MPG1EH5X2nE/s1600/youthphotoofsathyasai.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="116" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYQpPoeNFwWm2jfbI51p9h5J0HfbnLKHsOPBId53or4qQ3CwxZx8k_J0qcI1t9HLA78bSCycNK0L01hgG4WM68pQZjn8HbWlv3cU0qRTFtAzsI-co4KH7R13A0jD26Rl3-MPG1EH5X2nE/s320/youthphotoofsathyasai.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<u>The coconut fruits at the feet of the youth and the deer-skin on the back of his chair clearly shows that the boy was being groomed as a demi-godman capable of solving peoples problems. Otherwise, who will keep the coconuts at his feet?</u><br />
</td></tr>
</table>Consequently they pretend as scholars, ridiculing the real scholars. Devoid of true scholarship, they depend on anecdotes, chronicles, fables. They thrive more on claims of divine succession. Thus Baba hanged on initially as the incarnation of Shirdi Sai. Vivekananda hanged as the Chief Apostle of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa.<br />
<br />
It must be said, in all fairness to Sathya Sai Baba, that he performed his enterpreneurship of the God's Business very capably unlike our M.B.As of today. Even a Harvard Business School M.B.A. or an I.I.M. Ahmedabad graduate would not have better. Warren Buffet or Bill Gates or Henry Ford would not have outshone him. The ilks of Hillary Clintons, Sarah Palins, Chanda Kochhars and Indra Nooyis have to learn from him. Ms. Sonia Gandhi outclasses him.<br />
<br />
Then, a question will definitely arise. How Baba was able to show such great profound scholarship before judges, scientists, professors , heads of state and Government. Baba had behind him a practice of 70 years in his profession. His greatness lies in his<br />
using every opportunity to hone his oratory and presentational skills. He might have received much help from his devotees of early monkhood. He might have spent some long hours on rehearsing and modulating his voice and correcting his body language. How many thousands of times he might have waved his hands? Vivekananda too honed his oratory and presentational skills over a period of time. The phonograph recording of his 1893 lecture at World Parliament of Relgion, Chicago, was apparently not original. It was re-recorded by Vivekananda with the help of an American Grammaphone Company after correcting errors.<br />
<br />
<br />
16. Most Hindu sages were householders living in cottages with their wives. There was a temporary tenure of celibacy called 'Brahmacharya' adopted during the stage of education. There is no provision for 'monkhood' on the lines of Catholic or Buddhist convents, nunneries and seminaries. <br />
<br />
The sanyasasrama (4th State of renunciation) explained in Mahabharata's chapters relate to ripe old age where a person renounces household duties after exhausting everything i.e. in modern language we can say 'assets and liabilities, income and expenditure, trading and profit and loss, war and piece, erection and ejaculation, licking and sucking.' This exhaustion should come between 75-100 or at least after 60. It does not start at 14. It is a post-75 stage. <br />
<br />
Adi Sankaracharya's early monkhood was based on Buddhism and it was shunned upon by the householders of his period.<br />
<br />
17. Baba never intended to lead a life of a mendicant monk. Nor, Swami Vivekananda. Vivekananda described the pan cakes received by him from Indian housewives during his beggary days as some undesirable foul stuff, his Pasadena - California lecture. But that seems to be to evoke pity and sympathy from his spectators. rather than to ruminate (nostalgise is a better word, but I am unable to trace it in dictionary) on the joys and sorrows of receiving alms surviving as mendicant. Had our Baba or Vivekananda begged for alms at doorsteps of householders, both the Baba and Vivekananda would have behave like the legendary Kausika in Aranya Parva, Chapter 5 of Mahabharata. Our great-great-great Godmen monks never beg. They market themselves. They charge. They want the householders to invite them for padanamaskara (kneeling at feet) or pada puuja (worshiping feet) and pay them the prescribed fees. If readers want to test this: they can invite the Head of the Kanchi Kamakoti Pitham or the Sringeri Pitham or Ganapati Sachidananda or Swami Swaroopananda.<br />
<br />
<br />
18. The last days of Baba and Vivekananda need some comparison. Baba was like Dhanamjaya (legendary Arjuna of Mahabharata). He was sitting amidst his billions of dollars of fortune. He was surrounded by his Trust Members and close-dedicated-aides. Some TV channels depicted that he led the life of a prisoner. He might have been much worried about his amassed treasures, the gems, gold, diamonds, thrones, cars and chariots, jets, gold-covered walls of the Yajurveda Mamdiram etc. As long as Baba was active and mobiliser of fresh funds, his Trust Members would not have dared to restrain his urges. What did Baba want during his last days, this is an enigma. Did he want to allocate a higher share of the treasure to his nephew? Did he want to distribute some small fortunes to other relatives? If at all, there were to be a point of friction between him and his Trust Members, the revision of his wills or redistribution of his assets, could have become an area of a fissure, howsoever minor, it may be. -- <br />
<br />
Swami Vivekananda's last days were spent in a sort of solitary confinement in Belur Math, his room, in a couche. He suffered from deprivation of funds for personal consumption and medical treatment. During his last 15 days, he was asking his Lady disciple Christina Greenstidal to procure and send 'Amalaka' fruits from Almora to Calcutta. His end was a dejected end. Was Baba's end a dejected one, in the hands of his Trust Members?<br />
<br />
(13 more points to continue).<br />
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</TD></TR>
</TABLE>ybr (alias ybrao a donkey)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13635995478285822763noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5110152962362063224.post-82353533560138622782011-04-26T09:26:00.000-07:002017-11-14T03:13:13.504-08:00024 Temple did not materialise even when Bhagawan laid the foundation stone!<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA2CV11-hzV2aRfg57kC5iH05oBT6XiMnn5Q5bwqcfjkii76XYvGeNRqiWAF5ePB52y0x2A4948Xcn0SSR8W3pdsiwY35LK9OX7NahgTQdk8ums4vXzytd1886SpNwO5nqy93CvbIcdoE/s1600/abdulkalamsathyasaibaba.jpg" style='height:30em;'></img>
<br />Mr. Ramana Dikshitulu, the Chief Priest of the Tirumala Sri Venkateswara Temple said (Vaartha Telugu Daily 26-04-2011) that Mr. Sathya Sai Baba visited Tirupati and Tirumala in 1947. He laid a foundation stone for building a Shirdi Sai Temple at Bhavani nagar , on a vacant site of 0.5 acre donated by the father of Shri Ramana Dikshitulu. The Trustees of the Temple, according to Shri Ramana Dikshitulu, sold away the site, without building the Temple.<br />
<br /><br /><h4>ybrao-a-donkey's views which are not intended to be imposed on others</h4>
<br />Important questions which arise:<br />
1. Temples do not get built even if the self-proclaimed God lays the foundation-stone.<br />
2. Land gets sold by the Trust.<br />
3. It is not clear why Late Sathya Sai Baba did not take interest in pursuing the construction of the Temple.<br />
4. Whether he knew that the land was sold away.
<br /><br /><h4>After getting himself established as God, did Sathya Sai Baba lose interest in Shirdi Sai Baba?</h4>
5. Why didn't Sathya Sai Baba take interest?
<br />Ans: Shri Baba might have started believing that he himself has become the God, and that he might not no longer require the support of Shirdi Sai Baba.
<br /><br /><h4>Coolly losing interest in Gurus, after getting self-glory, is not uncommon.</h4>
<br />This type of coolly dropping the benefactors, usually happens in the arena of politics (e.g. Hon. Narendra Modi setting aside his Gurus Shri Vajpayee, Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, after he himself becoming Prime Minister. Late Indira Gandhi, setting aside Veteran Leaders like Kamaraj Nadar, after she herself becoming Prime Minister ), and is rare in Spiritual Domain. From a study of the Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, I could not stop entertaining a feeling within myself, that Swami Vivekananda gradually lost interest in his Guru Ramakrishna, after Vivekananda himself became a global Swamiji.
<br /><br /><h4>6. Why Shri Sathya Sai Baba didn't visit Tirumala Temple again in the next 65 years though it is not far away from Puttaparthi?</h4>
<br /><br />Ans: He had, during these 65 years, time to visit Kodai Canal, WhiteField, Bangalore every summer using air-conditioned cars or chartered planes. Probable reasons: 1) Baba might have thought that since he himself was the God, there would be no need of visiting another God. Baba started building the Temple for himself in 1950, at present popular as Kulvantarai Mandir. This dwelling has a 'vimana' (dome of the sanctum sanctorum) resembling the domes of most Temples). That means, when a person establishes himself as a God, even traditional Gods and Goddesses may become somewhat less relevant.
<br /><br />2) Baba might have thought that he would not receive<br />
the honors of a 'God'. He might have felt that he would be treated like other monks.
<br /><br />3) It might have been difficult for him to follow Tirumala Temple's Customs, because Baba himself started imposing his own customs on pilgrims visiting Puttaparthi.ybr (alias ybrao a donkey)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13635995478285822763noreply@blogger.com4