The "Golden Age" of Sai

 

 

Extra update added september 4th, 2004:

Read an up-to-date evaluation of the Golden Age predictions and controversy " The Golden Age – Sai Baba’s promise to Connie Shaw discredited"

 

 

"A CRITICAL SITE ABOUT SAI BABA"

By: Paul Holbach

Note: where not otherwise indicated, the quotations of Sai Baba in this page are taken from two compilations, of which I report the link: one is http://saibabadwarkamai.com:80/forum/index.php?topic=351.0 and the other is "Talks with Baba". These are two good works, which author's name is Nirmal. However they are compilations of quotations from official Sai texts (books, periodics, speeches, etc.), on which the author has declined any copyright and made their copy free.


One of the most interesting apsects of the recent Sai phenomenology, is the waiting for the so-called "Golden Age. It's an event that Sai Baba's devotees worldwide are waiting as imminent. It is substantially the final fulfillment of Baba's "mission of salvation", and the mantainement of all the promises made by him to the human kind in the last sixty years (Sai Baba declared himself "avatar" around 1940, we are writing in 1999). As we'll see ahead, he declared that the start of world changes coincided with his 70th birthday (23 November 1996), while what we could consider as the beginning of the golden age will coincide with his birthday on year 2000.

Briefly, in SB's ideas, the golden age will be a period of peace, armony, love, happiness, etc.; the wrold order will be restored, Sai Baba will be recognized around the world as leader, the world will guided again by spiritual values, and for this reason all will go to the good and without troubles. At the apex of this age, SB will come back (around 2030) in his third and last incarnation, Prema Sai (prema means "divine love"), to guide the human kind in this age of splendour.

There is not anything new at all: the concept of   "Golden Age" always existed in all human mythologies and it exists also in the hinduism, and Sai Baba takes possession of it; it is, generally, of a very ancient time, during which the human kind was guided by the sages and by the right, divine, religious, spiritual values (to be read: people obeyed the priests of their religion and all, kings and emperors included, trusted them for any need, payed them homages and tributes, performed sacrifices, etc.). Due to this obeyance, Humanity was peaceful and happy. Then as usual, in spite of the divine perfection of teachings and rules prescribed during the golden age, humanity give up them. Here comes evil, wars, and all that is negative; and here is the "need" for a saviour. This time, according to his own words, it's the turn of Sai Baba. Let's see waht he says at the regard:

"BABA: […] There is no distinction between the various appearances of God as Rama, Krishna or Sai. Rama came to feed the roots of truth and righteousness, Krishna followed to foster the plant of peace and love [Author's note: he did it by priming the fratricidal war of Mahabharata...?]. Now these sacred principles are in danger of wholesale destruction by reason of human weakness under the onslaught of evil forces. They are overcoming the good, the spiritual and the divine in man. That is why the present Avatar has come invested with the totality of cosmic power to save dharma (righteousness) from anti-dharma.

Q: By the present Avatar, you mean Sai Baba?

Baba: Yes, I incarnate from age to age, time to time, to save dharma from anti-dharma. Whenever strife, discord and disharmony overwhelm the world, God incarnates in human form to show mankind the way to love, harmony and peace. […] Previous Avatars like Rama and Krishna had to destroy a few individuals who could be identified as enemies of the godly way of life and thus restore the dharmic path. Today, however, wickedness has tainted so many that humanity itself sands under the threat of destruction. Therefore, in my present Avatar, I have come armed with the fullness of the power of formless God to correct mankind, raise human consciousness and put people back on the right path of truth... […]

Q: The existing situation driven by evil forces to destruction as you have correctly analyzed it, appears to suggest the inevitability of another Mahabharata-type (an epic relating to the battle of Kurukshetra) war. Does this mean that the salvation for which you are working can be consummated only after a destructive war?

Baba: The evil must and shall be removed before such a catastrophe takes place. There will be minor wars and skirmishes, of course: these cannot be helped in the existing state of affairs. The Mahabharata war was a different issue altogether. Lord Krishna decreed it and, in fact, led Arjuna to the battlefield in order to rid the world of evil men and ungodly forces.

Today, as I told you, the evil is so widespread that humanity itself would be destroyed in a nuclear holocaust in the event of a world war. It is to prevent such a catastrophe that this Avatar has come to raise human consciousness above the existing syndrome of anger, hate, violence and war and save the world from disaster. This can be achieved only by the reestablishment of the brotherhood of mankind though the Vedas, the Shastras and all religions with their evangel of dharma to liberate the human race from the chains of karma (the cycle of birth and death).

(from the 1976 "Blitz Interview")


"For the protection of the virtuous, for the destruction of evil-doers and for establishing righteousness on a firm footing, I incarnate from age to age. Whenever disharmony (asanthi) overwhelms the world, the Lord will incarnate in human form to establish the modes of earning peace (prasanthi) and to reeducate the human community in the paths of peace. […] Avathars like Rama and Krishna had to kill one or more individuals who could be identified as enemies of the righteous (dharmic) way of life, and thus restore the practice of virtue. But now there is no one fully good, so who deserves the protection of God? All are tainted by wickedness, so who will survive if the Avathar decides to uproot? Therefore, I have come to correct the intelligence (buddhi), by various means. […] Every step in the career of the Avathar is predetermined. […] My main task is the reestablishment of the Vedas and Sastras (spiritual scriptures), and revealing the knowledge about them to all people. This task will succeed. It will not be limited. It will not be slowed down. When the Lord decides and wills, his divine will cannot be hindered."

(from the speech of 23 November 1968)

Again the same contradictions: first SB starts saying exatly what Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita: "for the protection of the virtuos,  for the distruction of evil-doers, etc"; but then immediately after he says to be unable to destroy evil-doers because we are all corrupted by evil... then? What are his intentions? Appearently it seems that we could be calm and faithful (between parenthesis I indicate the date to which the affirmation goes up):

I have a "Task": To foster all mankind and ensure for all of them lives full of bliss (ananda). I have a "Vow": To lead all who stray away from the straight path again into goodness and save them. I am attached to a "work" that I love: To remove the sufferings of the poor and grant them what they lack. […] I will not give up my mission, nor my determination. I know I will carry them out. (1947, from a letter to his brother)

In this avathar [Divine Incarnation], the wicked will not be destroyed; they will be corrected and reformed and educated and led back to the path from which they have strayed. (1955)

This is a great chance. Be confident that you will all be liberated. Know that you are saved. Many hesitate to believe that things will improve, that life will be happy for all and full of joy, and that the golden age will recur. Let me assure you that this dharmaswarupa, that this divine body, has not come in vain. It will succeed in averting the crisis that has come upon humanity. (23 November 1968)

Mankind can and will be saved. (1986)

I have come to inscribe a golden chapter in the history of humanity. (19??)

Sai has come ... to achieve the supreme task of uplifting the entire mankind, as one family through the bond of brotherhood... and of instructing all to recognise the common Divine Heritage that binds man to man so that man can rid himself of the animal, and rise to the Divine, which is his goal. I want to build one humanity without any religious, caste or other barriers in a universal empire of love which would enable my devotees to feel the whole world as their family. (1999)

Thus, his mission seems to be a "salvation mission" for ALL MANKIND, no one excluded; the world in its globality would have to be saved and raised to an upper level. And he started promising this almost in 1947... and SB clearly has not fulfilled any of his forecastings and promises. Anyway, like already elsewhere, SB starts to take distances from himself; first he builds the "castle in air" of the "Golden Age", then he says:

The Golden Age is the creation of man, not of God. (1987)

The transition from that unhappy state to the state of bliss cannot be achieved overnight, but the changes have begun and the seeds are sown. Man is living at the dawn of a Golden Age and he himself will determine the timing of the transition by his own acts and thoughts. (1988)

The time has indeed come for a great awakening, when the days of ignorance and illusion are replaced by a new Golden Age. That Golden Age is here now, just waiting for man to move into it and find the peace that has eluded him all this time. (1988)

Clear, isn't it? The golden age is our inventione, not his, and depends on us if and when we want to enter it... but didn't he has said that HE has come to restore order, peace, love, and to save us? An here is that, with the years passing by, resulting evident that (as it's obvious) nothing of what he foresaw and promised is taking place, Sai Baba becomes threatening on the "Golden Age" theme (devotees, frightened from the threat of being "left behind", will keep on following him despite the evident flimsiness of his mission); the golden age an salvation are no longer available to everybody, but:

The day of awakening is here and the day of reckoning, or weeding out, is not far away. The cleansing of the world will take place and only those awakened souls will be left to experience life in the divine state. Others will fall by the wayside, left behind and lost in a world of illusion and darkness. The day of awakening is not far away and when it comes there will be a revelation of the true power of God, a manifestation of the omnipresence of the Lord. This will be the signal of a great move forward and the weeding out of those who are [not] ready to accept the challenge of the moment. (1991)

I have given the warning. I have given My message a thousand times and no one who hears My words can proclaim ignorance. (1991)

Everyone should prepare now for this change, for I promise you that it will come, and only those who are ready will survive. (19??)

What Sai resolves must take place. You have to understand this. (23 november 1985)

What I will, must take place; what I plan must succeed. (1991)

[...but didn't he has already said this 30 years ago...?]

It will be just so. Mark my words. But few will listen, very few. (1991)

After the harvest when the sheaves of grains are winnowed, the wind blows away all the chaff, leaving only the grains behind. Through this process, the true devotees will remain steadfast. The wavering puppets will drift away. This is the process of winnowing. (1993)

"Reckoning", "weeding out", "winnowing", "survival of the ready ones", "wavering puppets"... that's pretty good for one who defines himself "premaswarupa" (embodiement of Love) !!! Despite he has said that "what he will, must take place, waht he plan must succeed"... we now discover that "very few will listen". How is this possible? How could a predestined project of universal salvation, planned from an omnipotent and omniscent being, who has clearly pointed it out as destined to success, how could this plan present now some limits (i.e., that the very most part of human kind doesn't know or doesn't care at all of Sai Baba and his "salvation plan")? Why SB becomes threatening? Where did has gone his "abounding and unconditioned love"?

In the past Sai Baba has often said that who is healthy doesn't need the doctor; that he serves to the sick people. In the same way, SB is not here for those who already are "spirituallly elevated" or for those who are healthy and peaceful, but right for those who are at "lower levels" and entangled in ignorance:

To say that you have to be pure in order to win My grace is as foolish as to say that you have to be healthy to receive the ministrations of a doctor! The pure do not need a Master! The tough do not need a doctor! (19??)

Why fear when I am here? Put all your faith in Me. I shall guide and guard you. (19??)

However you are, you are Mine. I will not give you up. (19??)

Those who stray away will come again to me, do not doubt this. I shall beckon them back to me. (19??)

However now, it seems that salvation will come only for those who will remain his devotees despite all. And the others? Didn't he "has come" right for them? Isn't he working so hard to correct   ALL THOSE (as he has said in the past, see above) who are in the error and remain in the evil? And now he leaves all them behind? But times are by now mature (for what...?!?!?): according to SB we have already passed the turning point, and 23 November 2000 will sign the beginning of the "great changes":

When an airplane is about to take off, it must first approach the runway. When it reaches the runway, it must make a full turn in order to face the direction of takeoff. This turn is navigated slowly by the aircraft. After the turn has been completed, the airplane receives a signal from the tower and begins to accelerate rapidly for takeoff. When the craft has reached sufficient velocity, it leaves the ground. Swami's mission has made this turn to face the runway. The 70th birthday was the signal from the tower to accelerate. In the 75th birthday, the airplane will leave the ground. (1996)

Interestingly, the above passage refers to the starting of a not well specified "plan" (or project?), called by the devotees "Sai Garuda": we are not given to know neither what this plan is about, nor what it's supposed to happen; it would be interesting to have some detail... Naturally, it's obvious that the "golden age" will be led by India:

India will be the leader of the world in all respects - spiritually, culturally, socially, politically and economically. (19??)

[She will] play the role of World Teacher. (1991)

All her past glory, culture and traditions will be revived and she will shine forth as the leading nation of the world. This is how it was yugas [ages] ago and this is how it will be once more. (19??)


At this point, someone may want to make a balance of the question. What happened in the world druing the presence of Sai Baba on the planet? Has there been some improvement in mankind's conditions? Has there been more peace, brotherhood, etc.? Let's begin from what SB has "prophesied" for the period thta precedes the "golden age" (i.e. until today, more or less):

"There will be minor wars and skirmishes, of course: these cannot be helped in the existing state of affairs."

(from the 1976 "Blitz Interview")

Over the vast globe, there may be some mishaps here and there, from time to time. The Iran-Iraq conflict lasted ten years. You should not consider it a major war. Even in India, terrorist activities have been going on in the Punjab. Is it a major struggle? Some disgruntled individuals have been resorting to these methods. (1991)

There will be physical repercussions because of growing selfishness, minor adjustments to the planet, and a certain clear-out. (1982)

What please? Sai Baba "has come" to save us all from the disaster and he couldn't do anything for minro wars and skirmishes? If he couldn't do this, how he will be able to avoid major disasters? However it may be, anyone is able to make similar forecastings! Certainly there's no need of "God" to know that here and there, sooner or later, there will be a conflict. Human history is full of conflicts and it will always be so. Any kind of animal in competition with its fellow creatures fights with them, the problem is that we have very harmful fighting instruments; and on the other hand, we would have to possess some more discernment.

By the other side, during the presence of SB, the "incarnation of God" come to restore peace, order and spiritual values, from 1940 (the year in which SB "declared" himself avatar), on our planet has happened everything, let's make only some raw examples:

Is it really possible to say, with lucid mind, that all these events are "minor adjustments, skirmishes, secondary and minor wars"? Is this the way to prepare the golden age? Or this is the demonstration that Sai Baba has not any power and that human history goes on without caring about him, in the good and in the bad? Let's not forget that there is not a single proof in the world that any kind of event, either good or bad, could be attributable to SB's influence:

Many of his devotees, for example, make deadly jumps to ascribe the end of the communist block to his influence. This obviously is not true and it's not demonstrable in any way, but for example is spreading the "gossip" that Raissa Gorbaciova (rest in peace) was devotee of Sai Baba, and therefore it was devotee tout-court also his husband Mikhail Gorbaciov. Evidently SB was not able to save Raissa from death, and devotees accurately avoid to remember how Gorbaciov was spurned by Eltsin with a "coup d'etat", when the Perestrojika (the cleansing and clearness phase inside and outside of the Soviet Union) was at its apex. The result of that is under our eyes: Russia is at bankrupt, it's infested by mafia, corruption and criminality. Moreover, the sudden end of the communist block (that was not what Gorbaciov was planning, or at least not that way) has forced all the world to accept market economy and capitalistic system withou alternatives, so causing financial crashes, economial crisis and generating new poverty, new desperation, new death for hunger and illness... maybe are these the changes promoted by  "God" Sai Baba?

Another actual "gossip" is that Pope John Paul II would have visited SB in the past (obviously in secret, without telling it to anybody...!), and that on his table there are "certainly" some SB's books. Also Hillary Clinton is said to be his devotee.

Recentemente, besides, circulated te news that at El Salvador has been elected a new president, Francisco Flores. This event is indicated from some Sai circles as a sign of the beginning of the age in qhich SB will lead the world. In fact, to what it seems, Flores has been a follower of Sai Baba for some years and he has graduated in a school based on his principles. he has been member of the parliament, teached philosophy and followed some social projects. Currently however, it seems that Flores is denying any relationship with Sai Baba, underlining instead his belonging to the Catholic Curch. I find this very interesting. SB's devotees are waiting from long time for the fulfillment of one of his many promises, i. e. that people educated in his schools and/or according to his values would have reached places of power and responsibility, to restore spiritual values at the guide of nations. Now, the first one of which we have sure news, exactly Flores, is no longer follower of Sai Baba, denies any connection with him and declares himself catholic. Weel, I ask to myself: is someone has God (what SB syas to be) as master, and then leaves him, he cannot leave him but completely and definitely. In my opinion, to leave Sai Baba after having believed in him, one must have totally ended the experience that he represented. Otherwise the devotee continues believing him, without denying him once come to the power, most of all because the deotee is aware of the "pophecies" made by SB on people educated at his school. Thus, I think that Francisco Flores has abandoned SB, and that he is mentioned inopportunely as a sign of the golden age approaching. Obviously I could be wrong. To know more, you can go here and also here.

Naturally, many other explanations for the world changes we assisted are possible, one of which may be this: the compition between men and nations is moving from the military plan to the economical-financial plan. For the power classes, economical competition is less disastrous and more profitable than a traditional war (apart from those who always speculate on wars), and even more than a nuclear war. The new conquest system is the market economy and the globalization, and no longer the tanks. In this way the conqueror not only doesn't waste resources in war, but he increases them with speculations and investments. For him, the risks of this system are greatly less than those of a war: for example, Saddam Hussein e Milosevich are aware of this, against them has been conducted mostly an economical fight, both before and after the military intervention: this one was the lasting option. Therefore, for the fall of Berlin Wall, the end of communism, the crash of Soviet Union (in my opinion, not positive events at all, in the actual state, since it was the cause of many military, economical and social crisis), the end of cold war, the avoiding of a nuclear war; we have two of the many possible explanations:

1) God, in the form of Sai Baba, descended on earth and through his intervention on the "subtle plan" (so imperceptible and unexplicable to human mind), also because on the practical plan he has no effect at all, guided the evnts abd avoided the disaster;

2) the affirmation of market economy, which is intimately invasive, made necessary with the years the search for new markets to invade. The increased information made evident, to the people of ex-socialist nations, the difference of level and style of life between them and the rest of the world. We must consider that one of the vital processes of free market economy is the inducing of needs in the consumers: the socialist block was an enormous container of potential consumers. This fact, combined with the need for expansion of markets, made evident that is far better to invade with products, than to launch nuclear weapons. Thus the changes were stimulated by economical-social processes, opportunely driven by the strongest world economies.

Which one of these two explanation seems more reasonable ?

Now let's try to follow a logical reasoning based on facts and words from Sai Baba. As we have seen, he has said that "In this avathar [Divine Incarnation], the wicked will not be destroyed", ans this is surely true: many of the most wicked personages who have been on this earth during SB's presence (like those listed above), have been able to do unmolested their atrocity, others have grown old untroubled (e.g. like Pinochet and many Nazi officers), others are still at their place (like Saddam Hussein). None of them have been "converted" or showed repentance. SB has also said that "There will be...minor adjustments to the planet, and a certain clear-out.". A certain clear-out, he says... in effects, meanwhile much people has died and still now keeps dying, and since we now from SB that the wicked ones will not destroyed, it follows that this people is not wicked but is innocent and unaware. Thus the puzzling logical conclusion would be this: Sai Baba, during his mission, doesn't touch the wicked ones, while he allows the clear-out of innocent ones. Is this the divinity at work? Or as it's more probable, Sai Baba has no relevance at all and he just says pure absurdities?

Let's still read these two interviews with John Hislop, both taken from his book "My Baba and I"; the first is dated 1978, the second is dated 1980:

SAI: Crime has become very bad in India. There is no safety.

JOHN HISLOP: Swami, this is not particular to India. The same is true all over the world. How will it end?

SAI: To the good. In a few years, all will be peaceful.

JH: But Swami, it is getting worse, and it is the Kali Yuga (a world period of diminishing virtue).

SAI: No. It is not as bad now as it was. It is like in the ocean. There is a time of high waves, and there may be some peak waves that crash heavily on the shore, but this is followed by a calm and peaceful sea.

[…]

JH: We are fortunate to be alive so that we may see this peaceful world.

SAI: You will all see it. Even the old men will live to see it.


SAI: In all countries there is a rapid deterioration of the human quality.

JOHN HISLOP: When will it change for the better?

SAI: Soon there will be a change.

JH: When is soon, Swami? Twenty years? Ten years?

SAI: No. Now. Already there is some slight improvement in India. One cause of the general deterioration in the world is rapid communication. This allows advertising and publicity to have a strong influence on people. Your American election is an illustration of how the leaders are television actors.

JH: Swami, there is no evidence of a change for the better.

SAI: If there is a change, it will be a universal change. Not local. It will occur every place.

[…]

JH: Well, at least Swami's devotees know about changing the mind and can do so.

SAI: Were it not for the mind change of Sai devotees the world would already have fallen into complete chaos. […] That the world is not in total destruction is due to the change in mind of Sai devotees and to Sai's Grace. […]

(Note: in this last dialogue SB is lamenting of too rapid communications. This dialogue is of 1980, but SB has been often critical on this arguments, even recently. Here is back the usual "divine-mantled" hypocrisy; he and all his organizations and devotees make use of modern means of communication (fax, press, audiovisuals, telephone, internet, etc.) for their purposes. If modern comunications are negative and/or they disturb him, then SB please would give order to his devotees to close all internet sites, newsgroup, discussion groups, and in general all that in the world speaks of him and serves his purposes; and please avail himself of messengers on horses like in ancient times, which seem to be so much dear to him. Or please shut up, and stop saying absurdities.)

Therefore from this two dialogues, which took place in 1978-80, we learn that the positive changes in world's situation, due to Sai Baba's intervention, would have been to be:

RAPID: "JH: When is soon, Swami? Twenty years? Ten years? SAI: No. Now..." "SAI: You will all see it. Even the old men will live to see it." "SAI: ...In a few years, all will be peaceful." So short-term changes, so rapid that anyone, even the older ones, would have been able to see the beginning of this peaceful age.

UNIVERSAL: "SAI: If there is a change, it will be a universal change. Not local. It will occur every place." (Why does he say "if there is a change"? Wasn't he so sure of his success?)    So all the world would have been able to notice that.

Well, from the time of those dialogues twenty years have passed, and by the way ABSOLUTELY NOTHING has happened. The whole world, apart from his devotees, neither doesn't care at all of Sai Baba, nor expects any salvation from him. No changes (neither local nor worldwide) attributable to Sai Baba took place. Nothing at all.

It's worthy of note, moreover, that according to the Prophecy of Muhammad (in its "Sai version"), in the lasting 20 years of Sai Baba's life, two-thirds (66%) of human kind will believe in him. So the calculation would have to start right from the already seen 75th birthday: SB will die (according to his own words) at the age of 96, which for us are 95, since indians at the time of birth start counting from the age of one year. Now, here and there I've read various estimations of the actual number of SB's devotees around the world. In one case the value was of 30 millions devotees, but if we want to consider an uncertainty margin, we can suppose they are 50 millions; then we assume an estimation of world's population in 6 billions individuals. In this case, today, Sai Baba's devotees would be around the 0,83% of world's population (the percent ratio between 50 millions and 6 billions), estimated for excess. But that's not all. In a spanish language site, I've found an estimation of devotee's number in around 300 millions. Very well: in this case, SB's devotees would be around the 5% of world's population. This means that in both cases we are far away from what would have been "prophesied" by Muhammad (the 66% of world's population), considered valid and publicized by Sai propaganda. To satisfy the "prophecy" the number of devotees, in about two years, would have to reach about 4 billions people, and so undergoing an increase (in the two analyzed cases) respectively of 7900% and of 1233%, or if you prefer would have to multiply respectively of a factor 80 and 13.33. It would be really a miracle...

We can also hypothesize that the increase of the followers' number couldn't happen suddenly, but gradually and distributed along the above said 20 years. Then the caIculation configures itself as follows: during 60 years of "avatharic career" (from 1940 to 2000), Sai Baba assembled around himself, in the first case 50 millions people, in the second 300 millions; therefore he assembled respectively 0,83 and 5 millions devotees per year. Hypothesizing realistically the same constant increase of followers for the remaining 20 years (from 2000 to 2020, during which two-thirds of humanity would have to follow him), at the end of that period the total followers' number would pass from 50 to 66.6 millions, and from 300 to 400 millions, in the two cases; the percentage incidence would pass from 0,83% to 1,11% and from 5% to 6,67%. We are always far away from 66%; even following this hypothesis, the account are wrong.

It's clear that many will keep on asserting, ignoring the rest of the history, that the end of cold war and Soviet Union are due to SB, and many other things; in the same way SB states above that is the mind change of his devotees that saved us from the disaster! There's no evidence at all, not even the suspect of an evidence, that these things are true (and this doesn't surprises, since they are not). By making similar assertions, me too I could say that in my previous life I contributed to the end of Hitler and the Third Reich, through my unceasing prayers to the Virgin Mary...! 

Last-minute news

In the recent speeches of Sai Baba, given in October 1999, we can found new elements confirming the contradictory and confusional state related to the arguments we've seen here. Sai Baba makes some statements wich are clearly opposite to the past certainty of his own success, and on the other hand he lets himself make some new vague promise for the future. Let's see:

"I have been giving discourses for the past 60 years, but you are not making any effort to put into practice at least a few of the teachings. [...] It is not only the students, even the teachers and administrators are not coming up to the expectations. [...] I have already taught all that ought to be taught. There is nothing more to convey. I am pained to see that all My teachings have gone in vain and all My sweet words have become tasteless to you. Ego is on the rise in devotees. Pomp and show has become the order of the day. [...] Devotees are not grateful for the love and grace showered on them by Swami. [...] There is no greater sin than this. [...] Slander is the worst of sins. Do not criticise or abuse others. The Upanishads have declared that man is highly valuable. But man is losing his respect and honour. Man alone is to be blamed for this." (from the speech of 14 October 1999)

What please? Were has gone his infallible task to restore values, rebuild human kind...? Why this is not working good, after 60 years of teachings? Clearly, it's exclusively our blame! When it's the moment of assuming his own responsibilities, SB ingages reverse gear... he has promised almost everything, but it's quite clear by now that he's not able to fulfill anything, that his will has not any influence on the destiny of the world and his devotees; therefore, Sai Baba the "blissful, imperturbable, non-dualist, ecc." becaomes threatening (we've already seen it before), throws his own failures in face of his devotees, who are his fortune's builders, and start waving (two times in the same speech, regarding two different "sins") the shadow of the SUPREME SIN. Do you remember all his past "divine certainty", which was near to arrogance? I suggest you:

"My main task is the reestablishment of the Vedas and Sastras (spiritual scriptures), and revealing the knowledge about them to all people. This task will succeed. It will not be limited. It will not be slowed down. When the Lord decides and wills, his divine will cannot be hindered." (from the speech of 23 November 1968)

For me this is not a matter of any mystery or mystique. What I will, happens: what I order, materializes. (Blitz Interview, 1976)

What Sai resolves must take place. You have to understand this. (23 november 1985)

What I will, must take place; what I plan must succeed. (1991)

How could Sai Baba, after having said these things, after having posed as unfailing and almighty God, after having treated for years his devotees as naive and ignorant children, how could he now dare to say what he has said on 14 october 1999? Isn't it a little strange and ridicolous? And no devotee is wanting to become aware of these things?

Anyway, I think that by now SB is prisoner of his own game, and since he has raised the game too much in the past, he must now mantain high expectations, so here he is with new promises of not better specified future "wonders", which for us are obviously unknown, unspeakable and incomprehensible, but they will occur "soon":

"You do not know, so many great things are going to take place. Every thing seen, heard or felt will turn sacred. All this is going to happen soon. Do not miss this sacred opportunity and waste it. Once lost you will never again get it. Once obtained you will never lose it. [...]" (from the speech of 14 October 1999)

"None can describe the glory and grandeur of this transcendental power. [...] It is impossible to say when, where and how this power will manifest itself. Merely listening to the glory of this power may not evoke interest in you. You will understand only when you experience it. This is the super human divine power. Very soon you are going to witness it." (from the speech of 15 October 1999)

We wait bathed-breath, anxious to read the next SB's speeches where he will tell us that beacuse of ourselves, what he promised it didn't happened... good waiting.


Then, what to say? As it always happens with Sai Baba, we took a lot of amazing expectations and statements; there we have found the usual contradictions and absurdities; finally nothing remained in our hands. The "golden age" is a continuously deferred chimera, continuously and in vain awaited. It's a nothing which is ever about-to-come, that soon will be happening, but for which it takes time, patience, faith and surrender, and that anyway at the end (SB's words) is our invention, and depends n us.

Once for all, Sai Baba would have to explain to his devotees what is the practical utility of his presence, since at the moment of facts he always makes a step back, defers, throws to the devotees responsibilities and delusions. It would be time for him to stop creating useless and foolish expectations (by myself experimented some time ago), which then are regularly disappointed.

Always if one wants to be aware of this... otherwise, thousands of absurd justifications will be ready to keep on believing.


 P.S.: Anyway, 23 November 2000 is near; we'll see what amazing and glorious events will happen, and if really two-thirds of the human kind will acclaim him as God. If so, I will be the first to change my mind and to admit my failure, and even to pay the consequences of this. But they will have to be FACTS, not fables. TANGIBILE and VERIFIABLE things, not "events on the subtle plan or at the consciousness level" or similar things...