Robert Priddy has - after years of not responding in more than a few instances to massive attacks against him by Gerald Moreno - posted on wordpress his profile of Gerald Moreno, which I reproduce here since it is a most interesting persepctive on a fanatical believer in gurus and attacker of those who minimalize them.
Having worked for several years with emotionally retarded and socially deviant children and very disturbed teenagers in the most progressive institutions in their era in Norway and Sweden, I am well acquainted with signs of arrested emotional development and social problems. I have also known psychiatrists as friends since my student days - including some very famous ones like Dr. Maxwell Jones, Dr. Ronald Laing and Dr. David Cooper - and have been active in the debate about the diagnoses and therapies used in psychiatry for years in the 1960s. (Some of my publications are on-line too). I have even worked for several months in a psychiatric hospital in UK where my mother was a registered staff nurse. I taught at the Institute of Psychology ay University of Oslo and knew many psychologists, and interviewed many in a professional context too. It is with some experience, therefore that I can assert that Moreno's mental-emotional condition shows a total lack of normal empathy with others. This he demonstrates throughout many hundreds of web pages/blogs (especially towards all the many alleging victims of alleged sexual abuse by Sai Baba). Not merely lack of empathy but aggressive and vicious reactions against those whose accounts and reports threaten his cherished belief system, which centres on persons who he considers to be avatars or otherwise holy incarnate forms of God (as emphasised by his chosen website title, vishvarupa.com). Thus he supports those who support Sai Baba, but defends them in a way which is always angled as an attack on Sai Baba's critics! His fury at some critics having pointed out that what Sathya Sai Baba did to him amounts to sexual molestation and 'grooming' is unquenchable. He directs his rage outwards, indiscriminately denouncing all and everyone he picks on - not unlike juvenile delinquents who put on a tough front and hit out in bully fashion.
Moreno admires Sathya Sai Baba not least for taking notice of him to an extent he had not experienced before - by giving him a private interview. In return he breaks with all the most elementary moral teachings of his supposed 'divinity in human form'. One may ask what backlog of emotional and social deprivations he has suffered in growing up in that his entire life until now hinged on that meeting and turned him into such a thoroughly distasteful character. The personal ego which is flawed is invariably driven by needs to impress, prove oneself by whatever means one can - fair or foul. Thus, many of his taunts and boasts show his constant need to reinforce his self-image - or sub-normal ego-sense -, which is evidently under threat in that so many convincing revelations about the person to whom he attributes his most wonderful experiences (of acceptance, not least). A weak ego and self-image - compounded by a thin social life in adulthood without wife or family - is often compensated through strong projection of one's own imbalances and their causes onto others. A full-time cyber-space existence attacking opponents is a poor compensation for a full life. Such individuals are often drawn to strong authoritarian figures and charismatics, and none are more so than Sathya Sai Baba. At the same time they seek attention voraciously, exemplified when Moreno repeatedly complains that those he maligns do not reply to him, and in his repeated grudges that they have not researched his opinions on his websites (a frequent complaint against opponents). However, they invariably have had enough of him after sampling a few of his noxious, overparticular and cranky pages. He talks of his opponents 'snivelling', 'frothing at the mouth', 'moaning', 'whining' and a catalogue of such emotive put-downs, while in reality he is simply projecting his own attitudes onto others.
Gerald Moreno speculates about me, my state of health (that he thinks I suffer from 'paranoia' , and 'senile dementia' that I had a childhood trauma from which I have not recovered, that I should see a psychiatrist etc.. All of this is sheer invention and pathetic puerilism on his part... a particularly cheap attempt to slur me and used argumentum ad hominem against my factual revelations about Sathya Sai Baba. among other ailments. He speculates over "homo-erotic fantasies" he fondly imagines and asserts I have! He has absolutely no basis for knowing any such things concerning me, and I certainly have no homo-erotic fantasies - nor ever had any remotely similar thing in relation to Sathya Sai Baba (who was physically rather repulsive in appearance to me and no less so now!). Moreno uses the term homo-erotic simply because he wants to get back at me - among others - for pointing out his own account of an interference by Sai Baba with sexual overtones he has describes he underwent (though he did not feel it was sexual himself). He is in deep denial about everything concerning Sai Baba and - because he wants to prove to himself that he was not being 'groomed' for possible sexual relations, he has attacked every other young man who has spoken out about their having been sexually molested by Sai Baba. This is virtually the crux of the matter in understanding Moreno.
Moreno has claimed hundreds of times that I am lying, an inveterate liar, blatant, shameless, etc. but I have not written a single lie, and any errors I have made (inadvertently), I have corrected when I have discovered them and that they are in fact errors. (Not so Moreno, he NEVER retracts an untruth or a lie, except once when virtually forced to). Nor has the Indian homeopath who claims I am "dying from AIDS", which claim Moreno reports in further attempts to connect my name to sexual depravities. This has been his agenda since he became involved in an extremely vituperative battle on the Internet with Sanjay Dadlani. Since Dadlani withdrew, Moreno has evidently diverted his intense hate-feelings and mud-slinging methods towards myself in the vain belief that contriving (falsely) to link my name - and that of others - to pornographic sites will advance his case, or his naming me 'a dirty old man' from the gutter will help his credibility! Seeing how Moreno tried to 'diagnose' me, I am justified in making this diagnosis of his personality as it is exhibited is documents through his main life activity for the last five years - obsessive character assassination of dozens of persons on the Internet! He has thereby provided such a large casebook of his thoughts, opinions, fabrications and other antipathetic behaviour on the Internet that there are grounds enough for perceptive observers to estimate his personality.
I have - after several years of not replying to his countless pages attacking me - responded by soundly refuting a number of his accusations so that his lies found on Google etc. will not pass wholly unchallenged, but there are so many that I can't be bothered with most of them. It would divert me from my task... to make the truth about Sathya Sai Baba's cover-ups and hidden sides available to the otherwise unsuspecting public. When I spend an hour of the day for a blog about Sai Baba, I will not give more than a small fraction of that time to countering Moreno.
Moreno's mental-emotional disturbed kind of profile is often connected to lack of social achievement - such as under-achievement in the educational sphere and work opportunities. It is evident that Gerald Moreno has had no college education, and holds no regular position as an employee, since he is engaged full-time in writing web pages, blogs, surfing the Internet constantly, and he has completely avoided commenting when all these points have been made about him. That Moreno is certainly very strongly dependent on "virtual" reality is patently seen... in his case grubbing up not only every scrap of data about his opponents but also promoting the entire fantasy world of Sai miracles, wondrous feats of gurus, their amazing auras, and super-unrealistic pie-in-sky stories and prophesies. He gives every sign of being an isolated person - living largely in a cyber world where he is dependent mainly on a handful of Internet contacts. He is something of a shrinking violet, having carefully kept mum about himself since he originally posted about himself and how Sathya Sai Baba oiled him on the lower stomach (!), which he no doubt regrets greatly having told. His fear of being recognized is shown in how he had gone to lengths to get the single photo of himself removed from all places on the Internet, but without success. (Note: he himself makes use of every photo he can find of persons he is cyber stalking, sometimes distorting them in disgusting ways). There is no doubt that Gerald Moreno prefers to hide his person in a way that once would have been diagnosed as paranoidal. It may be preferable to call it the defensive caution of a crackpot with something to hide and/or hide away from. He never criticises lies by Sai Baba or any of his followers - and they are very many! One small example, Ashok Bhagani stated to Asian Voice that Sai Baba never takes anyone into the interview alone. Moreno knows full well that is not true, as it happened to him! Instead Moreno promotes these untruths for all he is worth. And how much is that?
Moreno sets out to impugn virtually every factual assertion made by dissidents and critics of Sai Baba, without any tangible evidence other than obfuscations, side-stepping and non-credible inventions. He intransigently insists on claims he has made and repeated in many places which have been proven time and again to be false - including on Wikipedia (from where he was indefinitely banned unanimously by a panel of six arbitrators). Two such chief dead horses which he still constantly flogs are that the infamous letters to and from Dr. John Hislop are counterfeited SEE SCANS AS CONFIRMED BY AFFIDAVIT, and that the case which Alaya Rahm had to dismiss due to there being no accountable organization in the USA to carry responsibility whitewashed Sathya Sai Baba of sexual allegations - while in fact the opponents and their depositions in the case were never heard in court and no verdict was given other than a formal dismissal (see here)
See compendium of web postings about Gerald Moreno by a range of persons here
Please go to the Public Petition for Official Investigations of Sathya (or Satya) Sai Baba and His Worldwide Organization
Sunday, 25 October 2009
Sai Baba officials treatment of donors
Sai Baba caring
From Lure of Miracles
by B. Premanand
The inmates of Asha Niketan (Fellowship with Mentally Retarded) Bangalore were invited for a holiday at Shrishaila and they were happy to accept the invitation and came in two batches of twelve each and stayed for about a week. Ten acres of land adjacent to the land donated to Satya Sai Trust by my family (90 acres) was donated to the Asha Niketan, for starting a home, an educational institution and a workshop for the mental retarded. In the small houses where they were staying, there was a photograph of Satya Sai Baba, and they grew curious about him and were eager to know something about him. When they were explained about the miracles performed by Sai Baba and the miraculous cures, and about his proclamation that he is the Avatar of the Almighty God, the Sarva Daivatwa Swarupam, they expressed a desire to conduct bhajans at the Ashram of Satya Sai Baba at Shrishaila, from where they could also enjoy the tactile breeze and the view of the sea on the three sides, and the Western Ghats on the East and all the four sides the meeting of the earth and sky in the eternal blue colour.
After obtaining permission from the person looking after the land gifted to Satya Sai Trust, the group went to the premises of the Satya Sai Trust. While they were very happily climbing the steps of the Ashram with great expectations, piety and humility, the ex-major came with a wooden lathi and warned the guide who had accompanied them that they would not be permitted into the Ashram as Satya Sai Baba did not like persons who are hippies and mentally retarded. He also said that if they proceed further, they would be forced out. It was a blessing that the mentally retarded inmates of Asha Niketan did not know the language of the ex-major, but then the guide asked them to return back without conducting the bhajans, they were much pained and sad. G. P. Rao, who had give his house for their vacation felt very bad and to raise them from their dejected mood he took them to his house, gave them sweets, eatables and tea and arranged their bhajans in his prayer room. Though they were mentally retarded their bhajans were sincere and soul-stirring. What if a few lines were forgotten or missing, their songs were inspiring and full of devotion. The whole household felt that these people were really Gods who had come to give blessings in the guise of mentally retarded persons. They were Christians, Hindus, Muslims, Brahmins and other castes, but they all joined together in prayer of one God who transcends all these man-made differentiations.
After this incident, I had been to Ootacamund to see Satya Sai Baba, and found that around him were many Indian Hippies, with long hair and beard and in modern dress and in the centre of them was Baba himself, another hippie with long fuzzy hair and painted face and the glowing red orange robe. But there was one difference that these Indian hippies who had come to Shrishaila were poor and unloved by society. They found love and hope at Asha Niketan and were so full of joy and peace, though the whole world looked down upon them with suspicion and hatred. I was thrilled to find them so very happy without any possessions except their own love, and was jealous of the joy and peace they emanated: On the other hand the Satya Sai Baba followers were arrogant with wealth and self-proclaimed importance.
List of books published by Indian Skeptic.
From Lure of Miracles
by B. Premanand
The inmates of Asha Niketan (Fellowship with Mentally Retarded) Bangalore were invited for a holiday at Shrishaila and they were happy to accept the invitation and came in two batches of twelve each and stayed for about a week. Ten acres of land adjacent to the land donated to Satya Sai Trust by my family (90 acres) was donated to the Asha Niketan, for starting a home, an educational institution and a workshop for the mental retarded. In the small houses where they were staying, there was a photograph of Satya Sai Baba, and they grew curious about him and were eager to know something about him. When they were explained about the miracles performed by Sai Baba and the miraculous cures, and about his proclamation that he is the Avatar of the Almighty God, the Sarva Daivatwa Swarupam, they expressed a desire to conduct bhajans at the Ashram of Satya Sai Baba at Shrishaila, from where they could also enjoy the tactile breeze and the view of the sea on the three sides, and the Western Ghats on the East and all the four sides the meeting of the earth and sky in the eternal blue colour.
After obtaining permission from the person looking after the land gifted to Satya Sai Trust, the group went to the premises of the Satya Sai Trust. While they were very happily climbing the steps of the Ashram with great expectations, piety and humility, the ex-major came with a wooden lathi and warned the guide who had accompanied them that they would not be permitted into the Ashram as Satya Sai Baba did not like persons who are hippies and mentally retarded. He also said that if they proceed further, they would be forced out. It was a blessing that the mentally retarded inmates of Asha Niketan did not know the language of the ex-major, but then the guide asked them to return back without conducting the bhajans, they were much pained and sad. G. P. Rao, who had give his house for their vacation felt very bad and to raise them from their dejected mood he took them to his house, gave them sweets, eatables and tea and arranged their bhajans in his prayer room. Though they were mentally retarded their bhajans were sincere and soul-stirring. What if a few lines were forgotten or missing, their songs were inspiring and full of devotion. The whole household felt that these people were really Gods who had come to give blessings in the guise of mentally retarded persons. They were Christians, Hindus, Muslims, Brahmins and other castes, but they all joined together in prayer of one God who transcends all these man-made differentiations.
After this incident, I had been to Ootacamund to see Satya Sai Baba, and found that around him were many Indian Hippies, with long hair and beard and in modern dress and in the centre of them was Baba himself, another hippie with long fuzzy hair and painted face and the glowing red orange robe. But there was one difference that these Indian hippies who had come to Shrishaila were poor and unloved by society. They found love and hope at Asha Niketan and were so full of joy and peace, though the whole world looked down upon them with suspicion and hatred. I was thrilled to find them so very happy without any possessions except their own love, and was jealous of the joy and peace they emanated: On the other hand the Satya Sai Baba followers were arrogant with wealth and self-proclaimed importance.
List of books published by Indian Skeptic.
Sunday, 11 October 2009
Satya Sai Baba's Education in Human Values
A Review of Sathya Sai Baba's moral values system in education: By B.Premanand.
In reply to the article "IS SAI BABA ON HIS WAY OUT?" by Chidananda Rajghatta in Sunday of 8-14 September 1985 one R.P.Goel said that Sai Baba has a definite mission, particularly in the field of educational reforms for the development and betterment of human beings. That the godman's emphasis is on the development of the moral and human values in students which are lacking in the present educational system.
The worth of the educational reforms can be seen only by the way in which such reforms can transform the students admitted in random from the different strata of society and how education is able to transform them.
It is to be noted that the admissions to Sai Baba's educational institutions are on the basis of stiff entrance tests and the final selections are made by Sai Baba himself. Thus only best students are selected. As in the case of White Field College, if Sai Baba was not able to control the best of those students thus selected and had to close down the college, then there is something wrong with the educational system of Sai Baba. If the children of his devotees themselves agitated along with the Kadugudi villagers and the godman with his self proclaimed Universal Love could not change them, but tried to teach them a lesson by closing the college and stopping his visits to Whitefield, Sai Baba has failed. It is publicised that most of the Indian and foreign educational institutions are going to follow or are already following Sai Baba's educational system. Before adopting the Sai Baba's system the government would do well by selecting the worst students for the Sai Baba's colleges and prove that he can reform them.
Discipline cannot come from fear, strictness and by force. So also moral values. These can sprout only out of love. What is seen in the Sai Baba's educational institutions is each one is made to spy the other and the students and staff live in mortal fear. I had myself visited the Brindavan College Complex in August 1985 when I had interviewed a person harassed by Sai Baba in 1970's as he had refused to marry the girl of Sai Baba's choice. When I knew from him that Whitefield College is closed since 1 1/2 years, I immediately rushed to the place. It was difficult to meet the students as they were in unfair conditions in the college complex. They could not go out or talk to others as they were being watched by the "Big Boss". I found it impossible to talk to the students as they were mortally afraid to talk anything over.
Dr.Gokak who was the vice chancellor of Sai Baba's University also had replied to the author of the article. (Now Dr. Gokak has left Sai Baba). Would Dr. Gokak kindly elucidate as to what was the social work done in the villages surrounding the Whitefield college and other villages adopted by Sai Baba? Why did the self proclaimed god of all gods close down the Junior College in White Field Campus? What was the percentage of students from Kadugudi and surrounding villages in the Junior College and other colleges run by the godman? When the college complex housing more than 1500 students is built on the land acquired from the Kadugudi villagers and with the public subscription how could he close the colleges? The closure for more than 1 1/2 years is a criminal vendetta forced on the citizens, and the government ought to have taken action against him for this. The same thing is happening in many places. The prestigious Abbots Burry was gifted to Sai Baba by Tareporewala for starting a college in Madras, in 1960's. Sai Baba did not start one though it was widely publicised that a college would be started there. Instead the Abbotsburry Hall was rented. Now the property has been sold. Similarly 90 acres of land given by me and my relations to Sai Baba for starting a college complex in 1975 has not so far been fully used except for giving high school education to about 300 students this year. Though the land were gifted for educating the children in the surrounding villages as the students had to travel long distances to attend the colleges, not even one percent of the local students have been admitted in the school.
If a deemed university should consist of only a small number of students for the improvement of higher education in India what was the need of spending public money on buildings to house more than 1500 students in Whitefield? Though Dr. Gokak gives the drop out of students as to the adoptation of official language of the Union as its medium, it is not so, it is only because Sai Baba selects students from his own people and of the people whom he thinks he can influence and control. It is a fact that there are no dearth of students in any of the educational institutions in India when the percentage of people who can read and write falls below 30%.
Dr. Gokak confuses people with the words mysticism and spirituality without telling what is mystic and spiritual about Sai Baba. These words are misquoted for philosophy. Saints and sages have never been called fraudulent by rationalists. It is only those who exploit people in the name of god that the rationalists have tried to expose. Love and intuition are not the two wings of mysticism and no love can be seen with Sai Baba or his people. If Sai Baba was love incarnate he would not have closed the Whitefield college just because villagers agitated. His method of love is by harassment and trying to destroy them with his influence in police, government and judiciary. The experiences of Mr. Gunpuley who gifted some land in Whitefield for starting a hospital is not different, so also Madras, Alike and many other places. The murder of one student in Alike College is explained as Suicide by the government. Dr.Gokak agrees that the villagers at Kadugudi and nearabouts were benefitted by the tourist traffic and they being deprived of their income from the tourists come in batches to Prasanthinilayam to implore Sai Baba to come to Brindavan for a few weeks or months as he used to do. This proves that it is for personal benefits that the people go behind Sai Baba. Because of the agitation on the closure of college, Sai Baba took vengence on the villagers like the gods of mythology and this exposes the myth of universal love he tries to propagate around him. Even his biography and most of his lectures are nothing but the vengence against those who try to bring out truth. It would be interesting to interview teachers and professors of Sai Baba's educational institutions especially those who have left and find out as to how these institutions are functioning. A lady teacher who came out with a notice about the pay and the functioning of the school in the lands gifted by us, was harassed so much that she and her husband with their only child had to commit suicide. So also the principal in the same school who had to commit suicide. Sai Baba's talk of Visva Prema would not help them. Same thing happened to the first principal of the Women's College at Anantapur who resigned and left, though earlier she had written poems on Sai Baba's Love. She did not find love in his institutions, but hatred and harrassment.
Dr. Gokak says that the imminent closure of the institute in Whitefield is baseless assumption. The place - buildings - constructed with the public donations standing like the ghosts of the past, without life, itself prove the contrary, The closure of the college for the past 1 1/2 years itself points to the failure of the educational system of Sai Baba. This system can be said to be good only if it can reform the ordinary and the fallen and is not on the basis of how to educate the selected few. Even this has been a failure as is seen from the agitation of the people and the students at Whitefield and other places. There is something wrong with the Sai Baba's activities. If his activity was giving love and making them fearless and to face life courageously, there would not have been this agitation. The training they got at Whitefield would have made them Apostles of love. What has happened is quite the reverse. From the discussion I had with the students, staff and the villagers of many educational institutions run by Sai Baba, I find Orwell 1984 being enacted and the day is not far off when the people would rise against such activity. The number of followers of Sai Baba is not the criteria of his goodness. It is how they live a honest life. If a person investigates into the life of the inner circle members of Sai Baba it will point out as to why they are continuing as his devotees. It is only to get protection from the police, customs, government and the judiciary for their nefarious activities.
In reply to the article "IS SAI BABA ON HIS WAY OUT?" by Chidananda Rajghatta in Sunday of 8-14 September 1985 one R.P.Goel said that Sai Baba has a definite mission, particularly in the field of educational reforms for the development and betterment of human beings. That the godman's emphasis is on the development of the moral and human values in students which are lacking in the present educational system.
The worth of the educational reforms can be seen only by the way in which such reforms can transform the students admitted in random from the different strata of society and how education is able to transform them.
It is to be noted that the admissions to Sai Baba's educational institutions are on the basis of stiff entrance tests and the final selections are made by Sai Baba himself. Thus only best students are selected. As in the case of White Field College, if Sai Baba was not able to control the best of those students thus selected and had to close down the college, then there is something wrong with the educational system of Sai Baba. If the children of his devotees themselves agitated along with the Kadugudi villagers and the godman with his self proclaimed Universal Love could not change them, but tried to teach them a lesson by closing the college and stopping his visits to Whitefield, Sai Baba has failed. It is publicised that most of the Indian and foreign educational institutions are going to follow or are already following Sai Baba's educational system. Before adopting the Sai Baba's system the government would do well by selecting the worst students for the Sai Baba's colleges and prove that he can reform them.
Discipline cannot come from fear, strictness and by force. So also moral values. These can sprout only out of love. What is seen in the Sai Baba's educational institutions is each one is made to spy the other and the students and staff live in mortal fear. I had myself visited the Brindavan College Complex in August 1985 when I had interviewed a person harassed by Sai Baba in 1970's as he had refused to marry the girl of Sai Baba's choice. When I knew from him that Whitefield College is closed since 1 1/2 years, I immediately rushed to the place. It was difficult to meet the students as they were in unfair conditions in the college complex. They could not go out or talk to others as they were being watched by the "Big Boss". I found it impossible to talk to the students as they were mortally afraid to talk anything over.
Dr.Gokak who was the vice chancellor of Sai Baba's University also had replied to the author of the article. (Now Dr. Gokak has left Sai Baba). Would Dr. Gokak kindly elucidate as to what was the social work done in the villages surrounding the Whitefield college and other villages adopted by Sai Baba? Why did the self proclaimed god of all gods close down the Junior College in White Field Campus? What was the percentage of students from Kadugudi and surrounding villages in the Junior College and other colleges run by the godman? When the college complex housing more than 1500 students is built on the land acquired from the Kadugudi villagers and with the public subscription how could he close the colleges? The closure for more than 1 1/2 years is a criminal vendetta forced on the citizens, and the government ought to have taken action against him for this. The same thing is happening in many places. The prestigious Abbots Burry was gifted to Sai Baba by Tareporewala for starting a college in Madras, in 1960's. Sai Baba did not start one though it was widely publicised that a college would be started there. Instead the Abbotsburry Hall was rented. Now the property has been sold. Similarly 90 acres of land given by me and my relations to Sai Baba for starting a college complex in 1975 has not so far been fully used except for giving high school education to about 300 students this year. Though the land were gifted for educating the children in the surrounding villages as the students had to travel long distances to attend the colleges, not even one percent of the local students have been admitted in the school.
If a deemed university should consist of only a small number of students for the improvement of higher education in India what was the need of spending public money on buildings to house more than 1500 students in Whitefield? Though Dr. Gokak gives the drop out of students as to the adoptation of official language of the Union as its medium, it is not so, it is only because Sai Baba selects students from his own people and of the people whom he thinks he can influence and control. It is a fact that there are no dearth of students in any of the educational institutions in India when the percentage of people who can read and write falls below 30%.
Dr. Gokak confuses people with the words mysticism and spirituality without telling what is mystic and spiritual about Sai Baba. These words are misquoted for philosophy. Saints and sages have never been called fraudulent by rationalists. It is only those who exploit people in the name of god that the rationalists have tried to expose. Love and intuition are not the two wings of mysticism and no love can be seen with Sai Baba or his people. If Sai Baba was love incarnate he would not have closed the Whitefield college just because villagers agitated. His method of love is by harassment and trying to destroy them with his influence in police, government and judiciary. The experiences of Mr. Gunpuley who gifted some land in Whitefield for starting a hospital is not different, so also Madras, Alike and many other places. The murder of one student in Alike College is explained as Suicide by the government. Dr.Gokak agrees that the villagers at Kadugudi and nearabouts were benefitted by the tourist traffic and they being deprived of their income from the tourists come in batches to Prasanthinilayam to implore Sai Baba to come to Brindavan for a few weeks or months as he used to do. This proves that it is for personal benefits that the people go behind Sai Baba. Because of the agitation on the closure of college, Sai Baba took vengence on the villagers like the gods of mythology and this exposes the myth of universal love he tries to propagate around him. Even his biography and most of his lectures are nothing but the vengence against those who try to bring out truth. It would be interesting to interview teachers and professors of Sai Baba's educational institutions especially those who have left and find out as to how these institutions are functioning. A lady teacher who came out with a notice about the pay and the functioning of the school in the lands gifted by us, was harassed so much that she and her husband with their only child had to commit suicide. So also the principal in the same school who had to commit suicide. Sai Baba's talk of Visva Prema would not help them. Same thing happened to the first principal of the Women's College at Anantapur who resigned and left, though earlier she had written poems on Sai Baba's Love. She did not find love in his institutions, but hatred and harrassment.
Dr. Gokak says that the imminent closure of the institute in Whitefield is baseless assumption. The place - buildings - constructed with the public donations standing like the ghosts of the past, without life, itself prove the contrary, The closure of the college for the past 1 1/2 years itself points to the failure of the educational system of Sai Baba. This system can be said to be good only if it can reform the ordinary and the fallen and is not on the basis of how to educate the selected few. Even this has been a failure as is seen from the agitation of the people and the students at Whitefield and other places. There is something wrong with the Sai Baba's activities. If his activity was giving love and making them fearless and to face life courageously, there would not have been this agitation. The training they got at Whitefield would have made them Apostles of love. What has happened is quite the reverse. From the discussion I had with the students, staff and the villagers of many educational institutions run by Sai Baba, I find Orwell 1984 being enacted and the day is not far off when the people would rise against such activity. The number of followers of Sai Baba is not the criteria of his goodness. It is how they live a honest life. If a person investigates into the life of the inner circle members of Sai Baba it will point out as to why they are continuing as his devotees. It is only to get protection from the police, customs, government and the judiciary for their nefarious activities.
Tuesday, 6 October 2009
Review of Innaiah Narisetti’s book 'Forced into Faith'
Review of Forced into Faith by Innaiah Narisetti; foreword by Naveena Hemanth..How Religion Abuses Children’s Rights, Prometheus Books, Amherst, NY, 2009, 126 pgs. ISBN 10:1591026067: ISBN 13: 9781591026068
From the Publisher: In 1989, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child, proclaiming elementary rights for children worldwide. Among other provisions, the Convention safeguards children's religious freedom and their freedom of thought. But because child rearing is recognized as the primary responsibility of parents, the question of what children are raised to believe is left up to their mothers and fathers. In this controversial critique of the UN Convention, humanist Innaiah Narisetti forcefully argues that children's rights should include complete freedom from religious belief. Narisetti proposes that the choice of religious belief or nonbelief should be deferred till adulthood. Just as most societies recognize that marriage and civic responsibilities such as voting are adult prerogatives that children should not be allowed to exercise, so should the choice of a belief system wait till an individual is competent to exercise mature judgment. Narisetti cites numerous examples of the ways in which early religious indoctrination leads to later negative attitudes such as intolerance, suspicion, and outright hostility directed toward those who believe differently. He also notes that religion provides a cloak for such obvious evils as sexual abuse, genital mutilation, and corporal punishment of children. While most societies are quick to condemn such abuses, Narisetti suggests that they should be willing to take the next logical step and look to the role of religion in such problems. Including the complete text of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, this candid, unflinching critique of childhood religious education will provoke much thoughtful discussion.
REVIEW:
‘Children should be brought up without allowing religion to influence them. […] Children should not inherit religion. […] Superstitions should not be taught under any circumstances.’ These quotes summarize the essence of Innaiah Narisetti’s appeal to free children from the bondage of religion imposed by parents and the social community. Imposing religion upon children is child abuse. In his succinct book Narisetti cuts to the heart of a much-neglected problem: the education and upbringing of children. For liberals this is considered mostly to be a private matter and therefore not a topic for moral concern. But this is a grave mistake. Liberalism (and humanism) should take the individual as its core value. No individual has the right to limit the freedom of other individuals. Children are not the property of their parents. Parents have no right to force their children into their faith. Education, and upbringing, should be free from religion. Education can be secular by facilitating compulsory public education (political secularism); upbringing should be secular as well, but the state is limited to enforce this (moral secularism). There should be a widespread consensus that it is immoral to speak of religious children, just as it is immoral to speak of a child as belonging to a political party of ideology. Narisetti highlights evils done in name of religion by examples taken from Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and Buddhism. The documentary Jesus Camp also comes to my mind. This documentary is about a summer camp in the US that brainwashes children by instilling a frightful fear of god and Satan using obnoxious propaganda methods. Narisetti’s moral beacon is the Charter of Rights of Children (1989), which is added in total to the text. On paper the rights of children seem to be well protected, but alas, as with so many things, there is a seemingly unbridgeable gap between promises and reality. What is needed is a cultural gestalt switch about children: children are not property, but individuals who have rights, like the right to good (science based) education that includes education about human rights and the equality of women and men, heterosexuals and homosexuals. Religion is a big obstacle for securing the rights of children worldwide. Laws that protect religion, like the First Amendment in the US (especially the Free Exercise Clause: ‘Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof’), are used as an escape for those who violate human and children’s rights claiming that it is their religion. Religion should not be a hide out for injustices and evil. Narisetti doesn’t say it out loud, but it seems that religion should have the status of a personal opinion and a hobby, and not a privileged status that can be used to subject women and children. We all should be much more careful to protect the rights of children and not be put off by the smokescreen of religion. Narisetti remarks drily: ‘We cannot expect religions to condemn themselves. It is like handling our house keys to a thief with a request to stand guard.’ To remain silent about the injustices done to children in the name of religion is immoral.
Floris van den Berg is a philosopher and Co-Executive Director of Center for Inquiry Low Countries. florisvandenberg@dds.nl.
From the Publisher: In 1989, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child, proclaiming elementary rights for children worldwide. Among other provisions, the Convention safeguards children's religious freedom and their freedom of thought. But because child rearing is recognized as the primary responsibility of parents, the question of what children are raised to believe is left up to their mothers and fathers. In this controversial critique of the UN Convention, humanist Innaiah Narisetti forcefully argues that children's rights should include complete freedom from religious belief. Narisetti proposes that the choice of religious belief or nonbelief should be deferred till adulthood. Just as most societies recognize that marriage and civic responsibilities such as voting are adult prerogatives that children should not be allowed to exercise, so should the choice of a belief system wait till an individual is competent to exercise mature judgment. Narisetti cites numerous examples of the ways in which early religious indoctrination leads to later negative attitudes such as intolerance, suspicion, and outright hostility directed toward those who believe differently. He also notes that religion provides a cloak for such obvious evils as sexual abuse, genital mutilation, and corporal punishment of children. While most societies are quick to condemn such abuses, Narisetti suggests that they should be willing to take the next logical step and look to the role of religion in such problems. Including the complete text of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, this candid, unflinching critique of childhood religious education will provoke much thoughtful discussion.
REVIEW:
‘Children should be brought up without allowing religion to influence them. […] Children should not inherit religion. […] Superstitions should not be taught under any circumstances.’ These quotes summarize the essence of Innaiah Narisetti’s appeal to free children from the bondage of religion imposed by parents and the social community. Imposing religion upon children is child abuse. In his succinct book Narisetti cuts to the heart of a much-neglected problem: the education and upbringing of children. For liberals this is considered mostly to be a private matter and therefore not a topic for moral concern. But this is a grave mistake. Liberalism (and humanism) should take the individual as its core value. No individual has the right to limit the freedom of other individuals. Children are not the property of their parents. Parents have no right to force their children into their faith. Education, and upbringing, should be free from religion. Education can be secular by facilitating compulsory public education (political secularism); upbringing should be secular as well, but the state is limited to enforce this (moral secularism). There should be a widespread consensus that it is immoral to speak of religious children, just as it is immoral to speak of a child as belonging to a political party of ideology. Narisetti highlights evils done in name of religion by examples taken from Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and Buddhism. The documentary Jesus Camp also comes to my mind. This documentary is about a summer camp in the US that brainwashes children by instilling a frightful fear of god and Satan using obnoxious propaganda methods. Narisetti’s moral beacon is the Charter of Rights of Children (1989), which is added in total to the text. On paper the rights of children seem to be well protected, but alas, as with so many things, there is a seemingly unbridgeable gap between promises and reality. What is needed is a cultural gestalt switch about children: children are not property, but individuals who have rights, like the right to good (science based) education that includes education about human rights and the equality of women and men, heterosexuals and homosexuals. Religion is a big obstacle for securing the rights of children worldwide. Laws that protect religion, like the First Amendment in the US (especially the Free Exercise Clause: ‘Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof’), are used as an escape for those who violate human and children’s rights claiming that it is their religion. Religion should not be a hide out for injustices and evil. Narisetti doesn’t say it out loud, but it seems that religion should have the status of a personal opinion and a hobby, and not a privileged status that can be used to subject women and children. We all should be much more careful to protect the rights of children and not be put off by the smokescreen of religion. Narisetti remarks drily: ‘We cannot expect religions to condemn themselves. It is like handling our house keys to a thief with a request to stand guard.’ To remain silent about the injustices done to children in the name of religion is immoral.
Floris van den Berg is a philosopher and Co-Executive Director of Center for Inquiry Low Countries. florisvandenberg@dds.nl.
Monday, 5 October 2009
Rational warrior Basava Premanand's last declaration
Report from N. Innaiah, Chairman of CFI India, and M. Subba Rao, concerning the condition of our colleague Basava Premanand, the revered and justly famous Indian rationalist with whom I have had the honor to be associated for many decades. Premanand is the publisher of "The Indian Skeptic," a journal devoted to exposing the tricks of such frauds as Sai Baba, who is worshiped as a living god by countless naifs around the world. The excellent documentary film "Guru Busters" by British film maker Robert Eagle shows Premanand and his crew zealously exposing supposedly supernatural stunts such as levitation, flesh-piercing and live burials.
Premanand is now hospitalized with a terminal condition, his friends are caring for him, but he's not lost any of his zeal or determination to maintain his rational philosophy. The report says, concerning a hospital visit:
He was quite drowsy and not responding to queries until I told him that there was a rumor that he has started believing in god and supernatural powers. He opened his eyes and said, "Who says that?" and that was the clear indication that, however ill we may continue to hold onto our convictions! He said, "That is nonsense!" So, I told him that we should say so to the world, and he agreed. The statement reproduced herein was put for his signature. But, his hands were weak and hence we had to take his thumb impression, too. The declaration has been witnessed by Dr. Maya Prabhu, his sister, and Suneera, one of his admirers who has been taking care of him.
Our movement is not based on individuals but, those who are in the forefront are ever in the public eye and particularly in the sights of those who want to attack us. They would like to spread rumors that eminent rationalists have changed on their death bed, have gone back to god and spiritualism, etc. We do not want to give any occasion for such rumors and hence, though it may sound morbid, I had this task. I would like that to be done to me when I am on my death bed so that all can know that we hold on to our convictions whatever the circumstances may be.
This short report is a bulletin on the health of one of those who have inspired a whole generation and have done significant work to build up the movement. As and when news is received I shall make more such communications.
TO WHOMSOEVER IT MAY CONCERN
Declaration of attitude and temperament
I, B. Premanand son of the late Sri Basava Prabhu, 80 years of age, resident of Chettipalayam Road, Podanur, sound of mind though suffering from physical complications caused by metastases in many organs caused by carcinoma of the stomach, herein solemnly wish to place on record the following:
1. I have been closely associated with the rationalist movement from 1975 onwards and have been a rationalist of full conviction since then and continue to be so.
2. It is common for the purveyors of superstitions and such anti-rational forces to start spreading rumors about rationalists turning to god and other supernatural forces at the end of their lives and becoming devotees of gods and god men of various types.
3. It is also claimed that at times of crises that we staunch rationalists through the major part of our lives, turn to spiritualism and religion.
4. I wish to clarify that as on today the twentieth of September, 2009, I remain a staunch rationalist and wish to place on record the following:
a. I continue to be a rationalist of full conviction.
b. I do not believe in any supernatural power. All the powers that we encounter are in the realm of nature and nothing exists beyond that.
c. I do not believe in the existence of the soul or rebirth.
d. I have not turned to any religion, god, or any sort of spiritual pursuits.
e. When I pass away I shall be leaving only my body which is to be donated to a medical college and no spirit or soul to cause problems for the living.
I want to convey to all that the struggle against the exploitation by god men and so-called supernatural forces, is a long and hard one but the ultimate victory will be ours.
My very survival has been a challenge to astrologers and their so-called "science" of astrology, as they had all predicted that I would die soon after birth and refused to cast a horoscope for me.
I wish to convey to my colleagues of the rationalist movement to continue the work that I have been doing with renewed vigor and that will be the best of tributes for me.
The declaration is signed and thumb-printed by this noble warrior... What could I possibly add?
Premanand is now hospitalized with a terminal condition, his friends are caring for him, but he's not lost any of his zeal or determination to maintain his rational philosophy. The report says, concerning a hospital visit:
He was quite drowsy and not responding to queries until I told him that there was a rumor that he has started believing in god and supernatural powers. He opened his eyes and said, "Who says that?" and that was the clear indication that, however ill we may continue to hold onto our convictions! He said, "That is nonsense!" So, I told him that we should say so to the world, and he agreed. The statement reproduced herein was put for his signature. But, his hands were weak and hence we had to take his thumb impression, too. The declaration has been witnessed by Dr. Maya Prabhu, his sister, and Suneera, one of his admirers who has been taking care of him.
Our movement is not based on individuals but, those who are in the forefront are ever in the public eye and particularly in the sights of those who want to attack us. They would like to spread rumors that eminent rationalists have changed on their death bed, have gone back to god and spiritualism, etc. We do not want to give any occasion for such rumors and hence, though it may sound morbid, I had this task. I would like that to be done to me when I am on my death bed so that all can know that we hold on to our convictions whatever the circumstances may be.
This short report is a bulletin on the health of one of those who have inspired a whole generation and have done significant work to build up the movement. As and when news is received I shall make more such communications.
TO WHOMSOEVER IT MAY CONCERN
Declaration of attitude and temperament
I, B. Premanand son of the late Sri Basava Prabhu, 80 years of age, resident of Chettipalayam Road, Podanur, sound of mind though suffering from physical complications caused by metastases in many organs caused by carcinoma of the stomach, herein solemnly wish to place on record the following:
1. I have been closely associated with the rationalist movement from 1975 onwards and have been a rationalist of full conviction since then and continue to be so.
2. It is common for the purveyors of superstitions and such anti-rational forces to start spreading rumors about rationalists turning to god and other supernatural forces at the end of their lives and becoming devotees of gods and god men of various types.
3. It is also claimed that at times of crises that we staunch rationalists through the major part of our lives, turn to spiritualism and religion.
4. I wish to clarify that as on today the twentieth of September, 2009, I remain a staunch rationalist and wish to place on record the following:
a. I continue to be a rationalist of full conviction.
b. I do not believe in any supernatural power. All the powers that we encounter are in the realm of nature and nothing exists beyond that.
c. I do not believe in the existence of the soul or rebirth.
d. I have not turned to any religion, god, or any sort of spiritual pursuits.
e. When I pass away I shall be leaving only my body which is to be donated to a medical college and no spirit or soul to cause problems for the living.
I want to convey to all that the struggle against the exploitation by god men and so-called supernatural forces, is a long and hard one but the ultimate victory will be ours.
My very survival has been a challenge to astrologers and their so-called "science" of astrology, as they had all predicted that I would die soon after birth and refused to cast a horoscope for me.
I wish to convey to my colleagues of the rationalist movement to continue the work that I have been doing with renewed vigor and that will be the best of tributes for me.
The declaration is signed and thumb-printed by this noble warrior... What could I possibly add?
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