Hindu guru article in NY Times

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The NY Times published an article this Sunday on Sri Sathya Sai Baba

who has over 100 million followers.

(The NY Times is a frequent monger of US junta power Donald

Rumsfeld's planned leaks as occurred again last week. It is also like

all newspapers and magazines published on slaughtered sentient trees,

a destroyer of habitat and a smasher of squirrels and flightless baby

birds. Nevertheless, the following is a good article, though it does

not mention that Baba is a lifetime ahimsa advocate who promotes and

lives vegan diet, that He has over 100 million followers, that

He is thought by His followers to be an Avatar or God Himself,

and that He has Christian, Buddhist, Jewish, Jain, Parsi and

other followers as well as Muslim and Hindu.

Christian: Let Me Sow Love as well by a Canadian Christian

as books by Victor Kanu of Africa,

former nun Karen Fromer Blanc of Brooklyn and Don Mario Mazzoleni

of Italy who wrote A CATHOLIC PRIEST ENCOUNTERS SAI BABA

Jewish: Sam Sandweiss, MD THE HOLY MAN AND THE PSYCHIATRIST

San Diego Birthday Publishing

Arnold Schulman BABA written by Hollywood screenwriter

Al Drucker concentration camp survivor

Other books published by Leela Press of Faber Virginia USA

Parsi: Vision of the Divine)

Russian yoga teacher: Indra Devi has written Sai Yoga

There are thousands of books about Baba which can be accessed

by a good search engine.

http://www.sathyasai.org

http://www.eaisai.com/baba

http://www.kingdomofsai.org

/messages/saibabaleelas

http://www.ivu.org

http://www.mccruelty.com

http://www.acorn.net/fruitarian

 

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December 1, 2002

A Friend in India to All the World

By KEITH BRADSHER

 

 

UTTAPARTHY, India — The president of India, who is best known for

overseeing India's nuclear tests in 1998, recently paid a state visit

to the country's largest ashram, to meet and receive the blessings of

a holy man who preaches nonviolence.

 

The visit underlined the appeal of the unusual holy man, Sri Sathya

Sai Baba, who draws presidents, prime ministers and other leaders not

only from India but also from outside it; altogether he claims

followers in 178 countries.

 

The separation between state and religion in India, clear and bright

in the years immediately after Indian independence in 1947, has grown

less distinct. That is especially true with the political ascendancy

of the governing Bharatiya Janata Party, which emphasizes Hindu

nationalism.

 

Part of the appeal of the Baba, as he is called by followers and

others here, is that ever since the 1940's he has been preaching an

unusual mixture of faiths and encouraging religious tolerance.

 

Official visits here have become one of the odder features of Indian

public life, and among the most colorful. The Baba's mixture of

religions extends far beyond traditional Hindu beliefs, and that lets

him attract politicians of various faiths, including Muslims like

President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam of India.

 

President Kalam, a former nuclear scientist, flew to the ashram's

private airport here in southern India on a blue-and-white air force

jet. Saluted by olive-clad police officers, he climbed into the lead

car of a motorcade, and Sikh military aides in scarlet turbans

followed suit.

 

Lining the road to the ashram were stone tablets inscribed with the

swami's utterances. "Money comes and money goes/Morality comes and

grows," read one sign in English, signed simply Baba, meaning divine

father.

 

On a hillside at the ashram's entrance stood enormous, brightly

painted statues of Jesus, Buddha and Hanuman, an Indian monkey god.

Farther on was a large Chinese temple and a big billboard of a

benevolently smiling Baba, his hand raised in blessing.

 

Two-story modern buildings in fuchsia lined the paved avenue,

incongruously interspersed with 30-foot-tall statues of acoustic

guitars and wooden drums. The clunky Indian-made Ambassador cars

chugged past them and pulled to a halt in front of the great hall of

the ashram.

 

More than 10,000 closely packed acolytes sat cross-legged on the

floor, the women in saris of brilliant emerald, ruby and indigo silk,

the men in white short-sleeve shirts and white trousers, symbolizing

purity.

 

President Kalam deferentially slipped off his brown loafers and

walked in stocking feet to the front of the hall, followed by a small

entourage, whose members had also tucked their shoes under flowering

bushes outside. The Baba, 76, a short man with a thick mane of black

hair, shuffled forward in his robe.

 

Acolytes discreetly angled for the Baba's notice; one of the few

Westerners nearby, a middle-aged man also sitting cross-legged,

clapped his hand to his heart and wobbled visibly with emotion when

the Baba appeared to wave in his direction.

 

Famous for seldom saying much in public even to his followers, the

Baba silently greeted President Kalam. The two men disappeared

through polished wood doors decorated with reliefs of Hindu gods and

into the Baba's inner sanctum, where they remained a quarter of an

hour while the crowd waited quietly.

 

A senior aide to the Baba whispered that the spiritual leader's full

name, Sri Sathya Sai Baba, signified holy, truth, divine mother and

divine father.

 

Preaching the five principles of truth, peace, love, nonviolence and

right conduct, the Baba "represents unity of religion, all

religions," not just Hinduism, the aide said.

 

The president emerged and led his entourage out of the great hall,

putting on his shoes and hopping back in a car for a short drive to

the ashram's guesthouse. In a brief interview there, he said he had

discussed with the swami how to achieve an educational system that

combined values with science.

 

"When they are fused, you get an enlightened citizen," said President

Kalam, whose role is mostly ceremonial in this parliamentary

democracy; the Parliament elected him in July.

 

Coming from a Muslim background, the president is a rarity among

national politicians in a country that is four-fifths Hindu. He has

long contended that India's nuclear weapons program is necessary to

keep the peace in the region, and he does not represent warlike

intentions.

 

N. Chandrababu Naidu, the chief minister, or governor, of the Indian

state of Andhra Pradesh here, said the Baba was not just a holy man

but a public policy expert. Mr. Naidu described repeatedly seeking

the swami's advice while turning Hyderabad, the state capital of

Andhra Pradesh, into a high-tech center where American companies like

Microsoft and Oracle now employ thousands of computer programmers.

 

Using donations from around the world, the Baba has built two

hospitals near here that provide free care to the poor. He is now

spending $50 million to build systems for drinking water and

irrigation, Mr. Naidu said.

 

But for all the swami's interest in technology, he refuses to use e-

mail, or even pick up a telephone. "He won't correspond with anybody,

he won't use phones either," the chief minister said with a faint

hint of irritation. "Everyone has to come here."

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