Source: http://www.tribuneindia.com/1999/99dec26/book.htm#2
 

Sunday, December 26, 1999

Spinning tales in the name of Sai Baba
by P.D. Shastri

Fragrant Spiritual Memories of a Karma Yogi. Pages 245. Rs 100.
Sai Grace and Recent Predictions. Pages 219. Rs 80.
Both edited by S.P. Ruhela. Diamond Pocket Books, New Delhi.

BOTH these books have a common theme: how to achieve God. Both present Shirdi Sai Baba as the chief guru.

The first publication refers to a karma yogi who is one A. Somasundaram. The title has been chosen by the editor who is a Professor at Jamia Millia Islamia and is a devotee of Shirdi Sai Baba. The writer Somasundaram calls him “my spiritual son”. The book should be more appropriately described as a spiritual autobiography of an unknown Indian.

It is in the first person throughout, and the camouflage of the editor is kept to perhaps ward off objection that large parts of the book read like a self-projection or self-publicity. Mr Somasundaram is 85 years old and is an invalid; he has recorded his experiences for the benefit of those who may want to tread the spiritual path.

The prime purpose of life, according to the author, is to be united with God or attain salvation. (This objective may not have many takers today, at least not as the primary or sole purpose of life.) The title of a book by one of his followers (or comrades) is, “How I found God”.

Apart from his own experiences he writes long chapters on his spiritual mentors or leaders. One such God-realised saint is Maharshi Ram Ram. Says our author: “Rishi Ram Ram, whose real name was Nandarupa, lived 2400 years ago in Orissa, his mother and father being Gangini and Athri” (page 57).

He died in May, 1967. How come that? He went through many lives and deaths, which somehow our author knows.

About his own life, too, he says, “In the previous birth my son was my loving brother.”

Another spiritual master mentioned in the book is Minocher K. Spencer. This Spencer’s three births are mentioned: in 1213 he was born in the house of a baron and was christened Patricio. In the next birth he was born as a woman in South India. Now he is M.K. Spencer (a guru has an exalted position if he has foreigners as his disciples and if he visits foreign countries at frequent intervals). This Spencer has revealed in his book “Romance of a Soul” that while staying at our author’s spiritual centre, he authored seven other books. The pages of each are mentioned and they total up to an exact 2,000, same as the number of the coming millennium year.

Another saint highlighted in this book is Swami Amritanandaji, who was born in 366 A.D and died in 445 A.D. The present one is his latest birth.

These revelation about their previous births vests the narrative with mystique, attributing supra knowledge to our author. How much credence it carries with the readers is a different matter. Despite this supra knowledge, our author says, “I was a victim of black magic” (page 33).

The pioneer saint Rishi Ram Ram ran a spiritual healing centre at Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu) which closed down when he died in 1967. Like our author, he was hailed as a benefactor of mankind.

His mantle fell on Swami Amritanandaji; his wife died and he turned a sanyasi and ran the ashram. His purpose was to spiritually awaken the mankind vigorously. “He is the spirit guide of the world.”

Everywhere, it is at the world-level. He is called “the matchless crusader for peace”. He was God’s emissary to establish peace and harmony in the world (a very ineffectual choice of God, who made absolutely no impact). It is a pity that he was not considered for the Nobel Peace Prize. He says the Gayatri Mantra is the most potent incantation to establish world peace.

Another great apostle, whose story occupies one-third of the book — 70 pages and 50 sub-chapters — is Swami Onkar with his Shanti Ashram (his name is repeated ad nauseum).

Our writer says, “Swamiji, you have written hundreds of books (really?). Tell their message in a few words.” The reply is: “Serve, lovel, give, purify, meditate.”

Other messages are: “The way to be happy is to make others happy. Be good; do good. Depend on God. Reform not the world, but yourself,” etc. etc.

Commonplace adages are presented as if they are great nuggets of wisdom and Gospel truth to save mankind.

Our writer too opened a divine centre at Marakpur (Andhra Pradesh) in 1962. Here 100 boys and girls received free boarding and lodging, apart from free education. He gave food and clothes to the needy and did so many other nameless acts of kindness, philanthropy and love.

He had many disciples, one of them was Kankadurga — “his spiritual daughter”, who had property worth Rs 7 or 8 crore. How do gurus attract the over-rich?

The first sentence in the book is: “In the Bhagwat Gita, there is a term karma bhrishta” (the correct word is bhrashta). We can’t find it in the Gita; yoga brashta is there, but that is a different matter. A few other such inaccuracies are: “One message of the Gita is, share what you have with others.” This is the message of the Sikh Gurus and not of the Gita. Yet another wayward statement is, “The Gita reveals the gradual ascending evolutionary steps towards God realisation.” We can’t find it in the Gita.

About the Niagra Falls he says (one of his purple patches): “Bathe the world in peace and joy. Drench humanity in health and glory. I give without seeking any reward and I give because I cannot keep without any motive.”

The book is packed with letters, some running to just a few lines, which some obscure devotee or another wrote to the ashram or to fellow seekers. Their number defies count.

Also the book is choked with countless details of little men and their trivial activities; there are numberless names and dates, in which no one can be interested except the writer himself.

He makes passing references to some other saints like Swami Shivananda of the Divine Life Society, the great man of God from the Himalayas, Swami Vivekananda, Rama Tirtha and other savants.

The following quotation which he lifts from Rabindranath Tagore is eye-catching: “Salvation and revelation do not come to a saint losing himself in meditation. God reveals himself to the mender of the road and the tiller of the soil. The sun and the moon are one, common to all humanity, not your sun or my moon. So there is one religion (each says ‘mine’).”

***

The second book “Sai Grace and Recent Predictions” carries Shirdi Sai Baba’s picture both on the cover and on the back one. The first book presents Sai Baba as the trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.

Shirdi Sai Baba is Shiva’s avtar. The first was Shirdi Sai. He died in 1918; seven years after that, the Satya Sai Baba was born. He would live to be 96. Seven years after his death, Prema Sai will be born. These three Sais represent the three major religions of the world: the Shirdi Baba Islam, the Satya Sai Baba Hinduism and the Prema Sai Christianity or the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

The Sai cult is of a global expanse; millions in India and many in foreign countries profess intense faith in Sai Baba, the human God.

This book prints 93 prophesies made in the name of Sai Grace by one dark horse — Prof Verma and edited by the same S.P. Ruhela. This Verma goes to gurdwaras, durgahs, etc. and involuntarily utters the shape of things to come. As he says, “My whole body is filled by some other astral being. My behaviour becomes unusual.” This is IT age clairvoyance.

The first prophesy is: “Afghanistan, Hindustan. Pakistan and the USA will be ruined. These four will face devastation.”

Except Afghanistan, there is no chance of utter devastation in the other countries and Afghanistan is an old story, fit for a historian and not a future-teller.

The last item (November, 1999) is: “Sharif rings Atal urging the two countries to defuse the Kashmir tension and save peace.” Future-telling should have forecast his dismissal after a military coup, his imprisonment and prosecution for grave crimes that can carry the death penalty.

A wit said: “Astrology is giving out intelligent guesses.” Forecasts do not fit the events; the credulous people fit the events to the prophesies.

No astrologer or crystal-gazer predicted that in November, 1999, there will be a super cyclone in Orissa killing over 10,000 persons. No one predicted the date and place of Indira’s and Rajiv’s murder. Yet after the event, many claimed that they had foretold it six months earlier.

Our future-tellers forfeit the future, but retrospectively forecast the past. The writer mentions “premonitions” about the fall of the V.P. Singh, Chandra Shekhar, Narasimha Rao, Deve Gowda and the Gujral governments after the events took place.

They make vague statements. Some great man will die; some calamity will befall, leaving for themselves an escape route.

Such prophesies in Sai Baba’s name do not enhance his stature or glory.

These books are lucky to attract the attention of The Tribune for a review. Perhaps the book reviews editor wanted to make an example of the trash that most present publications are.