Five

SAI BABA AND MUSLIM GODMEN

You said that God would not incarnate in human form. Do you argue that Bhagvan Sai Baba is not god's incarnation? Baba has thousands of believers among Muslims, who have been attracted by his miraculous powers.  What is your response?
God has no incarnation, and it is impossible to have any. It is not only me, but many noted scholars of Hindu scriptures have said it in the light of authentic works. It has already been explained in detail as answer to the previous question.
Sathya Sai Baba is an ordinary human being. He was born on 23 November 1926 in a village called Gopalappalli, in Andhra Pradesh state, India. The village is now known as Puttaparthi. His father was Pedhavengappa Raju and mother Iswaramba. Like all of us Sai Baba too will die one day. If buried his body will decay and become soil; if cremated it will become ash. The god who is timeless, independent, formless and indivisible is free from all these limitations.
Many incidents have already been reported which prove that Sai Baba has no miraculous powers or skills other than that of a clever magician. Some are given below.
1. There was an attempt on Sai Baba's life at his own Ashram (monastery) in Puttaparthi. In the incident two of his bodyguards were killed and two others were injured. Police rushed to the scene and all the four assailants were shot dead in the firing. Still Sai Baba could not understand the mystery behind the conspiracy. Police had to be called to find out the culprits. The police being unable to find evidence the police dogs had to be brought. The meaning is very clear. If Sai Baba had any knowledge by supernatural means, he would not have allowed the culprits to stay at his quarters; he would not have needed the help of police and dogs to find out the culprits and after the incident he would not have needed police force posted outside the Chandra Auditorium where he stayed. If he had any super human powers, why did they post more than five hundred policemen in Puttapparthi and nearby places? The truth is that even Sai Baba's major disciples have no faith in his divinity. That is why some of them tried to assassinate him.
2. In 1993 a wedding Hall of Sathya Sai Baba Trust was opened by the then Prime Minister. Many VIP's such as the then home minister S.B. Chavan, Agriculture Minister Balram Thakar, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy, and Chief Minister of Karnataka Bengarappa participated in the function. On the stage Baba took a golden chain from the air and presented it to the architect of the Hall. The inaugural function was video covered by Doordarshan. This video picture was sufficient to expose the secret of Baba's `miracles'. It clearly shows Baba deftly taking the chain from a close disciple. However this programme which should have exposed Baba's miracles, the belief in which still leads crores of people astray, was not telecasted by Doordarshan. However, this video film was cleverly acquired by Mr. C. Premanand, who was convenor of the Indian Branch of the International council, which enquires into the truth of claims on miraculous powers. So far this film was exhibited in many places, including Calicut in Kerala. Neither Sai Baba, nor his followers could give any convincing explanation yet.
3. If one could produce gold from air, one could also logically produce medicines and other things. However in the hospital at Puttaparthi medicines are brought from within and outside the country. If Sai Baba has any divine power, there should have been no need of opening super-speciality hospitals. As in the case of all other hospitals, in Puttaparthi too treatment consists of administering medicines and surgery, and there is mystery in none of these.
Regarding the divine miracles, the followers of Sai Baba and his likes have no scruples in propagating untrue stories. Below is one example.
The wonderful experience some years ago, of the world famous Seiko watch manufacturer of Japan, while he was on a tour in India was awe-inspiring.
After completing the Seiko series of watches, he made the model of a superior type and kept it in his safe for further tests. During his holidays in India he paid a visit to Puttaparti out of curiosity. On seeing the Japanese gentleman among the devotees, Sai Baba called him and gave him a small parcel materialised from the air. On opening the parcel he was astonished to see in it the new watch that was kept in his safe in Tokyo. When he saw, with the watch, the silk ribbon and the label with the name of the watch and its price marked on it, all his doubts about the divine powers of Sai Baba simply melted away. He fell prostrate at Sai Baba's feet and worshipped him. Since then he is an ardent devotee of the Bhagavan.
On his return to Tokyo, he was shocked to see that the watch he had kept in his safe was not there. What his personal secretary told him was still more startling. The secretary said that a divine-looking person with bushy hair walked into the office one day, opened the safe and walked away with the watch."
The story of materialization of a Seiko watch was originally authored by Dr. S Bhagavantam in 1973 and published in a Malayalam weekly titled Malayalanadu. The editor S. K Nair and his wife were Sai Baba devotees and to neutralise the publicity got by Abraham Kovoor, S.K Nair started a debate in his weekly on the spiritual powers of Satya Sai Baba. He first published Kovoor's article explaining that Satya Sai Baba is a hoax and then published a series of articles by Sai Baba devotees, which included a High court Judge and other well known personalities like Dr. Bhagawantam.
The well known rationalist late A.T. Kovoor decided to ascertain the truth behind this story. On 11 September 1973, he wrote the following letter to Dr. Bhagavatham:
I read your story about a Japanese watch manufacture getting his own watch that was kept in safe in Japan, materialised in India from air by Sathya Sai Baba. My scientific attitude does not permit me to accept this fantastic story as true without verification. My doubt is enhanced by the reported statement of his personal for this letter also, will only confirm my firm belief that you are an agent of Sathya Sai Baba doing propaganda for him with ulterior motive and vested interest.
Yours in search of Truth,
Abraham T. Kovoor
Since there was no reply so far to this letter also, I had to confirm my belief that Dr. Bhagavantham is in collusion with the charlatan Sathya Sai Baba to do false propaganda for him with ulterior motive and vested interest.
As there was no response from Dr. Bhagavantham even after two months, I decided to pursue the matter on my own. The Japanese Embassy in Sri Lanka was kind enough to provide me with the name and address of the proprietor of the Seiko watch manufacturing firm.
In my letter dated 30th October, 1973 to Mr. Shoji Hattori, president of K. Hattori & Co. Ltd., the manufacturers of Seiko watches, I reproduced Dr. Bhagavantham's story about the miracle, and requested him to provide me with answers to the following questions:
(1) Did you or any other partner of yours visit Sathya Sai Baba of India any time?
(2) Did Sai Baba materialise a watch from air and present it to you or to any of your partners?
(3) Did your personal Secretary tell you or any of your partners that a stranger opened the safe and walked away with a watch?
(4) Are you or any of your partners a devotee of Sai Baba?
On November 8, 1973 Shoji Hattori sent the following reply:
Dear Dr. Kovoor,
"Thank you for your letter of October 30th. I can appreciate your interest in conducting scientific research of paranormal claims, but I am in no way able to further your knowledge as regards the man mentioned in your letter, Mr. Sai Baba. Neither I nor any members of my staff have ever made the acquaintance of this individual. I am sure that these reports are completely unfounded I must therefore reply in the negative to all four of your questions concerning this incident."
Mr. A.T. Kovoor sent the photo copies of this reply to Dr. Bhagavantham, and in the letter asked him to inform the name and addresses of the characters mentioned in the article in Malayalanadu were someone other than Shoji Hattori or his business partners. Again there was no reply. Then Mr. Kovoor published an article in Times of India Daily on Sept. 10, 1976, including all the details. A response to this by Dr. Bhagavantham appeared in the same newspaper on November 29, 1976 which said that he had never published the afore mentioned article either in English or in any other language. He also said he didn't know Malayalam.
By this everybody was convinced that the incident of the Seiko manufacturer cited in the Malayalanadu as proof for Sai Baba's divinity was an utter lie and a worked up tale. (For details see Saibaba's Miracles: An overview. Edited by Dale Beyer Stein, pp 89- 98).
No one, except god the creator of the universe, can create anything new. People may unearth the hidden, or they may alter the forms of the already existing substance. No one can create anything from a vacuum. No one has the supernatural knowledge or knowledge of the future. So whoever claims to have super human powers or divinity is hollow men, and whoever believes in them, whether they have Arabic names or not, are superstitious. They attribute God's distinctive characteristics to others, and thereby commit the unpardonable sin of `shirk'
''Then, what about the Muslim godmen, who claim to have divine powers''?
They too are same. No one except God has any supernatural power. No one can cause headache, stomach ache or mental disorder through supernatural means. Had it been possible the former US President Bill Clinton should have done to against Monica Lewinsky or against Saddam Hussain, with the help of godmen, godmothers, and saints. If these people had any divine powers as they claim to have, let them cause an incurable headache or stomach ache to the Prime Minister of Israel, who perpetrate violence on Palestinians. It is impossible. All those who claim super human powers cannot save even themselves. The murder of the Faquir Uppappa in Thiruvillwamalai is ample proof to establish this point. Those who are victims of superstition do not understand the truth.