A
letter from an ex-Sai officer
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May
28, 2000
Dear
brothers, sisters, and officers of the North Central Region and the Central
Council, It is with great pain and sadness that I am writing to you today. One
week ago, I resigned as president of the North Central Region, giving verbal
notification to the National Coordinator, William Harvey, Ph.D. Serving the
North Central Region's centers, study groups, and individual devotees has been
one of the most joyful and fulfilling experiences of my life. Never have I had
the privilege of knowing so many wonderful, loving, giving, and spiritually
dedicated people. I thank all of you for your gracious and kind support of me
as we worked together for our spiritual growth and development.
The
reason for my resignation will probably dismay and shock many of you. A few
weeks ago I received information from a fellow long-time devotee of an e-mail
she had received concerning acts of pedophilia by Sathya Sai Baba. I had the
e-mail forwarded to me and I personally investigated the information contained
in that e-mail. I spoke personally to various individuals who had first hand
experience with inappropriate behavior by Sai Baba. These individuals are
respectable, credible, intelligent and have no axes to grind of any sort. I
came away from these conversations believing these individuals and have
therefore resigned and am sending you this letter. I am in the midst of a
personal grieving process, involving all the typical stages of grief, including
shock, denial, bargaining, profound sadness, despair, and acceptance. I am
grieving because I believe that Sathya Sai Baba is a charlatan, who has used
the power gained by the love and reverence of his followers and the truth of
ancient Vedic Doctrines and Scriptures to sexually molest boys and young men
from about the ages of eight to thirty. It is these allegations of unspeakable,
abhorrent sexual molestation that force me to write this letter to you. I have
personally investigated these allegations and spoken with several people who
have either had direct personal sexual experiences or who know someone very
well, i.e. an immediate family member, who has been abused. Two of these
individuals are former regional officers, who have resigned their posts and
whom I have known for many years.I trust them, know them to have exemplary
character and believe they would not lie.Further, they have nothing to gain and
everything to lose by coming forward with their experiences. These experiences
include numerous accounts of Sai Baba rubbing male genitals with oil, mutual
masturbation, mutual oral sexual gratification, and even anal intercourse by
Sai Baba.As a child psychologist who is familiar with the emotional devastation
that sexual abuse causes its victims and the classic patterns of abuse, I found
these accounts and the individuals' reactions, to my horror, highly credible.
As
a school psychologist, I am a mandatory reporter.This means that under Iowa law
I am required to report any allegation or well founded suspicion to the
authorities. If Sai Baba were a mere trickster fleecing people for their money,
I would prefer to go quietly into the night, preserve my friendships with
devotees, and not disrupt the faith of others.But, as an officer who has
promoted Sathya Sai Baba as an avatar, I have both a moral and a legal
obligation to warn all of the members and officers in this region and the
national leaders that any male between approximately the ages of eight and thirty
is potentially at risk for sexual molestation should they go to India to see
Sathya Sai Baba and have a private interview.
I
do not expect anyone to take what I am saying at face value.If you wish to
investigate on your own as I have done, then feel free to contact me and I will
provide you with the information to reach those who have had direct experiences
and you can make your own determination. Please begin by looking at "The
Findings" by David Bailey on this website:
www.myfreeoffice.com/saibabaexposed/davidbailey.html
You
can telephone me at (omissis) or email me at (omissis), but only if you are
sincerely interested in additional information. I do not wish to engage in
arguments or debate. My heart goes out to one and all and my love for you remains
steadfast.I will miss your good company more than you can know. May God bless
you and keep you, and give you peace.
Shirley
Pike