Sathya Sai Baba

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Sathya Sai Baba 1986

Sathya Sai Baba (born November 23, 1926 in Puttaparthi , Andhra Pradesh ; † April 24, 2011 there ; real name: Sathya Narayana Raju Ratnakaram ) was an Indian guru . There are followers of his teaching mainly in North America , Europe and India.

Life

Entrance to the Prashanti Nilayam in the shape of a gopuram

According to the register of his former school, Ratnakaran Sathyanarayan Raju was born in 1929 as a farmer's son in the southern Indian village of Puttaparthi; Deviating from this, the biographer Narayana Kasturi authorized by him gives November 23, 1926 as his date of birth.

According to Kasturi, Sathyanarayan materialized candy and flowers in front of his family and friends on May 23, 1935 and announced that he was a reincarnation of the Indian saint Shirdi Sai Baba , who died in 1918. On March 8, 1940, he was stung by a black scorpion and therefore fell into a coma. A few days later, he woke up again, fell into a trance and quoted ancient writings that were not known to be known.

In 1950 he founded his main Ashram Prashanti Nilayam (place of supreme peace) in Puttaparthi , which developed into a pilgrimage site for several thousand people. The Brindavan Ashram in Whitefield, east of Bangalore, opened in 1960.

Sathya Sai Baba lived mainly in his ashrams. He left India only once on June 29, 1968 for a trip to Kenya and Uganda.

In 1993, six people were killed in the temple building where Sathya Sai Baba lived up to that point. Four intruders armed with knives killed Baba's driver and a student, both of whom tried to repel them. The attackers themselves were then shot dead by police officers. Police reports and media reports came to conflicting results. Some newspapers thought it was an attempted attack on Sai Baba, others thought it was a terrorist conspiracy. The most likely explanation for the incident, however, is that it involved "common criminals" who, according to witness statements, suspected a very large sum of money in the temple. Since that incident, at the request of the government, security in the ashram has been drastically tightened and Sai Baba has been given personal protection. From that day on, Baba lived in the adjoining rooms of the Poorna Chandra Hall and for a long time did not enter the temple where the crime occurred.

In March 2011, Sai Baba was admitted to the hospital in his hometown of Puttaparthi and died of heart failure at the age of 84 on the morning of April 24th. Sai Baba asserted on September 9, 1960 that he would live another 59 years. Some followers of Sai Baba see no contradiction in this. In the spiritual realms of India, a lunar calendar is often used , and when calculated in lunar years , its prediction is correct, they say.

The government of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh ordered a four-day state mourning from April 24-27, 2011 and decided on a state funeral for Sai Baba.

Social aid organizations

Sathya Sai Baba has set up numerous aid and educational organizations across India. The best known include the Sri Sathya Sai Super Specialty Hospital and the Godavari water project, which supplies the West and East Godavari regions of the state of Andhra Pradesh with drinking water from the Godavari River.

Sathya Sai organization

The SathyaSai Organization was founded in 1965 by Sathya Sai Baba personally. The organization describes itself on the official German side as a "non-religious spiritual association". The aim of the Sathya Sai Organization is to support its members so that they become aware of their inherent divinity and align their lives with the five human values ​​of truth, right action, peace, love and non-violence. Another goal is to promote a culture that strives to create the perfect unity of all world religions, without separating differences between caste, language or religion. The organization's final goal is to support its members in their spiritual and personal development.

behaviour rules

Sathya Narayana Raju Ratnakaram in 1946

The Code of Conduct is as follows:

1. Meditate and pray daily.

2. Sing or pray with family members once a week.

3. Participation in the educational programs carried out by the organization for children.

4. Participation in devotional programs run by the organization at least once a month.

5. Participate in community service and other organization programs.

6. Regular study of Sai literature.

7. Live the "limitation of desires" principles and use the savings they generate for service to people.

8. Talk to everyone gently and lovingly.

9. Avoid speaking ill of others, especially when they are away.

Teaching

Followers of Sai Baba come from different castes and belong to different religions. His teaching aims to ensure that Hindus and Muslims tolerate one another. In this sense, he did not found a new religious community, but called for the unity of all religions. Sai Baba taught that through love and devotion, each person can discover his or her own divinity. He always began speeches with "embodiments of love ...". Sathya, Dharma, Prema, Shanti, Ahimsa (truth, righteousness, love, peace, non-violence) are the highest principles in life.

Its main tenets are:

  • Love - to all creatures. This love (prema) should not be accompanied by selfishness, as is often the case with husband's love (moha) , mother's love (vatsalya) , devotion to a god ( bhakti ) and love of material things (ichchha) . When love arises out of selfishness, it cannot lead to spiritual enlightenment. Love is self (ego )lessness. The attainment of bliss (ananda) through love (prema) is the teaching of Vedanta .
  • Social work - for others. Service to man is service to God. Service gives meaning and purpose to life, as with Hanuman , who selflessly served Rama . Selfless service (seva) is understood as active love from a pure motive, the love of God that has become visible and tangible in his creation. Service is not the "lower" form of being active in the world; selfless service is the most highly developed form of active human existence, in which the divinity, the true being, that is inherent in man finds a living expression.
  • Keeping your own desires under control . Being human is shaped by unlimited desires. Man lives in a dream world and forgets the highest consciousness (Paratattva) . Instead of striving for more and more goods, it is better to donate to relieve the poor and needy. Wishes are a prison. Don't eat more than you need, don't be greedy and don't waste time on pointless things. Man should not waste his physical, mental and spiritual energies.
  • The world is illusion ( Maya ) , only God is real, because only the whole is completely real. The Vedanta speaks of a superimposition of truth through our separating, interpreting and thereby restricting perception.
  • Inner self - every human being is actually divine consciousness ( Atman ), which in the course of an individuation process resulting from the bond to the gross material envelope, his "personal" development, learns to perceive himself as a separate individual and thereby learns to be covered on different levels of being (envelope of fate (Thought envelope, emotional envelope, energy envelope, gross matter envelope). This process is understood to be natural. Most people's day-consciousness has never made this experience fully aware of itself, but is basically very capable of it. The Atman as the principle of being, consciousness and happiness permeates, inspires, energizes and guides the other areas of human existence, just as thoughts penetrate, inspire, energize and control the feelings and feelings the nerve functions. Material body, feeling, thinking and cognition are empty and dead without Atman. A person who has recognized the true self and consciously lets it work through him (has realized it) becomes a true embodiment of these aspects of being through its purity, power, love and bliss and is thereby able to recognize and live the unity in polarity. The prison called individuality and recurring reincarnation can thus be overcome. The greatest achievement of the ancient Indian wisdom researchers can be seen in the discovery of the identity of Atman (individual divine principle) and Brahman (universal divine principle). It is thanks to this identity that a Vedantin (follower of Vedanta ) can say: “I am essentially neither body, intellect, brain, heart nor the ego. I am essentially the infinite, universal Absolute (Brahman) ”.
  • Meditation - in the form of mantras or light meditation (jyoti) .
  • Acceptance of all religions as ways to realize the one (God).
  • Non-violence ( Ahimsa ), peace, serenity (Shanti) , right conduct ( Dharma ), truth (Sathya) and spiritually centered love (Prema) as the basis of the first four and all five as basic human values ​​are essential parts of Sathya Sai Baba's teaching. A society that recognizes these basic values ​​as binding and integrates them into everyday life is understood as an environment with a high quality of life.
  • Devotion to God ( bhakti ), spoken or mental recitation of mantras ( japa ) are mentioned as spiritual exercises ( sadhana ) and path (s) of liberation.

Alleged miracle work

His followers reported spectacular miracles that they attributed to Sai Baba, healing of the sick (see also Sanjeevini ), bilocation or clairvoyance. Eyewitnesses reported that Sathya Sai Baba was able to transform himself into a woman because he was the embodiment of Shiva (the male principle) and Shakti (the female principle).

Sathya Sai Baba himself pretended to be able to "materialize" vibhuti (holy ashes) and small objects like rings and fruits. On many video recordings, however, it can be seen that he did not materialize these objects, but only pulled them out of hiding and therefore already held them in his hand before he swung them and began the alleged materialization.

When Sai Baba celebrated his birthday in 2010, a television station gave the chairman of the Society of Indian Rationalists , Sanal Edamaruku , the opportunity to demonstrate and explain Master's characteristic tricks for the children to imitate at home.

criticism

His critics include the rationalists Abraham Kovoor and Basava Premanand and the university professor and former Sai Baba functionary Robert C. Priddy .

Sexual offenses

“The questionable sexual practices of Sai Baba, which former followers report: the 'master' prefers to touch male followers on their sexual organs, ostensibly for the purpose of 'spiritual cleansing'.” One of the most well-known critical ones stand in stark contrast to the claims as a religious leader. " Reports from one victim is that of Conny Larsson from Sweden, author of the book Behind the mask of the clown ("Behind the mask of the clown").

Accusations have been circulating since the 1970s that Sai Baba sexually abused young men by name .

Sai Baba's followers protect him and list numerous witnesses who report personal genital contact of a non-sexual nature. They also refer to an open letter in which the Indian government under Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Prafullachandra Natwarlal Bhagwati - former Chief Justice at the Supreme Court of India - as well as numerous other prominent admirers of Sai Baba flatly condemn the allegations and the exemplary life's work of Sai Baba worldwide emphasize. In India not a single criminal complaint was filed against Sai Baba for sexual harassment until 2006, and a correspondingly erroneous travel warning from the US State Department was removed from its official website on July 17, 2007.

Some former supporters of Sai Baba, including those who were previously involved in organizational and support structures, claim that Sai Baba or one of his business partners was never investigated or a negative judgment was given, including the corruption of the local police -, judicial and political structures, whose representatives benefited greatly from Sai Baba's business and the strong tourism that took place because of him financially and in terms of power structure.

Prominent followers

Sai Baba has many followers in the Indian government and public life. One of Sai Baba's most prominent Western followers is the Californian entrepreneur Isaac Tigrett , founder of the international restaurant chain Hard Rock Cafe . By selling his shares for 108 million US dollars, the first Sri Sathya Sai Super Specialty Hospital of the Sri Sathya Sai Medical Trust was opened in the desert of Andhra Pradesh in 1991 after a year of construction. Another famous supporter is former Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee . The former President of India A. P. J Abdul Kalam also regularly visited Sai Baba's Ashram. The conductor Sergiu Celibidache tried to bring his knowledge and spiritual awareness gained through Sai Baba directly into making music and to convey it to his students. The incumbent Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is also one of his supporters. Indra Devi named her yoga style after him Sai Yoga .

literature

Web links

Commons : Sathya Sai Baba  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Official sites

External representations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ www.bbc.co.uk : India spiritual leader Sai Baba 'on life support' (April 22, 2011)
  2. ↑ Famous Guru Sai Baba has passed away. In: "derStandard.at". April 24, 2011, accessed on April 24, 2011 : “85-year-old Succumb to Cardiovascular Failure - Premier Manmohan Singh: 'Inspiration' to people of all faiths. Puttaparthi - The Indian guru Sathya Sai Baba, who is famous far beyond the country's borders, is dead. Thousands of followers gathered on Sunday mournfully in front of a hospital in his hometown of Puttaparthi in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, where the 85-year-old Hindu mystic attended in the morning hours Heart failure had died. [...] 'Sai Baba [...] breathed one last time at 7:40 am,' said a message from the hospital to which the guru had been taken last month with heart, lung and kidney problems . "
  3. ↑ www.sathyasai.org
  4. ↑ http://www.sai-baba.de/
  5. ↑ The Economic Times, April 24, 2011 (Eng.)
  6. ↑ Places of interest outside the ashram "For the convenience of the local Muslim population, Bhagawan had a mosque and a hall constructed and opened in 1978. Prayers are conducted regularly."
  7. ↑ Namasmarana The Continuous Repetition of the Name of God ( Memento of March 16, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ↑ John Hislop: My Baba and I . 3. Edition. Sathya Sai Association, Bonn 1994, ISBN 3-924739-20-X (translated from English into German by a group of German supporters of the Guru).
  9. ↑ John Hislop: Conversations with Sathya Sai Baba . 5th edition. Sathya Sai Association, Bonn 1994, ISBN 3-924739-02-1 .
  10. ↑ The Guardian, "The night a guru tried to kill me on TV," by Sanal Edamaruku, March 23, 2010; Retrieved on April 8, 2010 / translation: Der Freitag: "Kill me on television!" By Christine Käppler
  11. ↑ [1] www.religio.de: Sathya Sai Baba
  12. ↑ Conny Larsson: Politics, sects, sex and drugs. In: “FECRIS (Féderation Européenne des Centers de Recherche et d'Information sur le Sectarisme - European Federation of Centers for Research and Information on Cults)”. November 18, 2006, accessed April 26, 2011 : "Conny Larsson, author of the book, Behind the mask of the clown '(' Behind the mask of the clown ') describes how he Indian to a 31 year journey in two Embarked cults. "
  13. ↑ Michael Scholz: Beyond Good and Evil? - "Abuse" and "sleight of hand" - the allegations against Sai Baba . Connection Magazine: - ( Memento of the original from December 18, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Excerpt: “Rumors of abuse have been circulating in and around the ashram in Puttaparthi, India, since the 1970s. The first written document is the book Lord of the Air by ex-disciple Tal Brooke from 1979. According to reports, representatives of the Sathya Sai Baba organization also confirm that the guru carried out such genital manipulations. Various ex-supporters persistently repeated such and further allegations of questionable sexual intrusiveness. Various earlier followers of Sai Baba have taken legal action against him outside of India on the grounds that they were sexually abused by the guru, for example Jens Sethi from Munich recently reported the guru to the Munich police for sexual abuse. Although the large number of accusations and the persistence of the accusations appear questionable, the accusations have not yet been proven in court. This is of course opposed to the circumstances of such abuse, including that Sai Baba is said to have abused young male students in so-called “private interviews”, therefore presumably without further witnesses. Despite such serious accusations, tens of thousands still believe in the divinity of their master, in his superhuman divine qualities. " @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.connection.de
  14. ↑ [2] Sathya Sai Baba: Oiling Controversy - Sexual Abuse, Healing, Awakening Kundalini or Oil Anointing?
  15. ^ [3] Indian Supreme Court Judges and former Prime Minister Vajpayee's unaccountable whitewash of Sathya Sai Baba
  16. ↑ [4] Indirect And Erroneous Reference To Sathya Sai Baba Removed From US State Department Website
  17. ↑ Exbaba.de - A critical observation of the life and work of Sathya Sai Baba
  18. ↑ - ( Memento of the original from March 12, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Dr. G. Venkataraman in an interview with Isaac Tigrett for Radio Sai Global Harmony @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nirakara.de
personal data
SURNAME Sai Baba, Sathya
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ratnakaran Sathyanarayan Raju (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Indian guru
DATE OF BIRTH November 23, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH Puttaparthi
DATE OF DEATH April 24, 2011
Place of death Puttaparthi