THE 'TEACHINGS' OF SATHYA SAI BABA - SOME MAJOR FLAWS AND FALLACIES

The main problem is that the positive aspects of this would-be 'spiritual'teaching' are spoiled by excessive moralism, fundamentalist ideology and further confused by sheer primitive superstition and extraordinary ignorance of much established physical science, history, and medicine. Aphorisms and vague platitudes seduce people because you can hear in them almost any meaning you want. They have something even for persons of conflicting beliefs and of opposed and inimical viewpoints because they remains so vague and ambiguous, most often what is publicised widely is at the level of the 'penny proverb'. Sathya Sai Baba thrives on such vague and ambiguous 'catch-all teachings' which are often therefore impracticable. He tells what everyone ought to do or not do, how we best should live and behave for our own good and that of all others in an over-generalised and hence ambiguous way. This is further complicated by many and often striking contradictions between what he has said at different times on almost every subject.

Sai Baba's doctrine is mostly a simplified form of traditional Hindu moralism that part of the culture rooted in traditional views on life, religion, society, women, and science and also which is much rooted in scriptural mythology and Indian legend - justifying itself from an imaginary semi-utopian 'Vedic' past and highly improbable prophesied future events. His claims about himself are very largely drawn from Indian mythology about avatars and incredible legendary events, which also form the basis of his 'teachings'. It is SO incredible, but also so attractive an idea to otherwise disillusioned persons who are seeking hard for something to bring them spiritual benefits, that some think it is not impossible, or could just be true, then even perhaps likely considering all the documentation… and then the fatal leap of faith is made. The equivalent to Sai Baba's schemes to save and change humanity - which he puts across with great chutzpah and subtle deception - would have their equivalent in the more ordinary world of conmen who try to sell people the Eiffel Tower.

All this is compounded by Sai Baba's flawed 'knowledge', that is, often incorrect and unfounded historical and other nonfactual statements. He bases his moral views on a rambling and inconsistent, weird 'ancient' account of how everything is constituted... the make-up of the human being, the nature of the cosmos and of the Divine reality or God - as the Universal Being of Infinite Love and Consciousness ( embodied most fully in himself, according to him). Due to Sathya Sai Baba's undoubted charisma, ability to charm and flatter (yet also to reject and 'punish') and his so-called psychic powers of a genuinely hypnotic or manipulative nature (in addition to many fraudulent 'manifestations'), his moralistic teaching is accepted as infallible even by many for whom his account of man and nature are not really believable, consistent or even understandable (which doubts can only be mentioned in private). The teaching is apparently strengthened if one can accept the explanation of its origin, on which it depends heavily… that the teacher Sai Baba is God Almighty. According to this, he - qua the Divinity - only ever does good and all ills are entirely the fault of everyone else. In fact, one's delusions are only reinforced. Overall, Sai Baba propounds a self-defeating teaching par excellence! Had his followers been capable of any critical thinking and deeper study of his statements, there would have been far fewer of them.