Sai Baba's self-proclaimed Mission is to transform mankind and the world. His alleged use of special Powers to produce miracles over more than six decades has been the principal or most visible means, at least initially, of drawing millions of people to him to hear his message and to begin to pay attention to his teachings. Baba's close devotee and interpreter in the 1960s and 1970s, Dr S. Bhagavantam, wrote that he had witnessed thousands of Baba's miracles over the long period he had been a follower of his. His estimate was that as many as nine out of ten new devotees are attracted initially by the miracle aspect (Bhagavantam, 190). From an equally practical point of view, the long-time Baba devotee and writer, Birgitte Rodriguez, observes that Baba's leelas (or 'games', meaning to the Hindu the whole of a God's 'playful' interaction with each person) are the only way to "draw the masses towards a spiritual path" (Rodriguez, 224).

In his 1986 study of a group of Baba's devotees in North India, the academic, L.A.Babb wrote: "In its emphasis on the miraculous, the cult of Sathya Sai Baba seems to invert what commonsense would lead us to expect. There is certainly nothing new about the miraculous in the Hindu world." (Babb, 1986a, p.174) Babb also found that for the devotees he talked to, miracles were an important factor in recruitment. After the first stage there is an "intellectual surrender", which worried him. (p. 182) "From what, exactly, do these miracles derive their convincingness, a convincingness so great that it seems to pull people into convictions ostensibly at odds with what their own subculture deems to be commonsense and considered judgement?" (p. 175) He then attempts to answer this question in his following chapter called 'The Reenchantment of the Word' (pp 176 et seq). In his Epilogue, he adds, "The world for Sai Baba's devotees is like an enchanted garden where anything can happen. Small incidents can seem meaningful when it is believed He creates them." "They inhabit a world in which signs and evidence of his love and grace are pervasive. Any trouble vanquished or illness cured is by his grace." (p. 199)

The Indian Cultural Background

When considering Sai Baba's alleged miracles, it is necessary to bear in mind the Indian cultural background in which Sai Baba and his Indian followers were brought up. Indian (and specifically Hindu) religious traditions, which go back thousands of years further than those of the 'West', include the belief that a devout holy man can apply himself so wholeheartedly to the contemplative life that by a combination of devotion, chanting of mantras, meditation and yogic disciplines he can eventually become endowed with the limited ability to perform certain paranormal feats (or Siddhis) for the benefit of his followers. Such Siddhis allow the creation of small objects, healing, telepathy, and clairvoyance. The condition is that these Siddhis should not be done for selfish motives like self-glorification nor should they become a distraction from the main task, that of self-realization (or fusion with the Divinity), or from the task of teaching others to progress along the same path. Ra. Ganapati makes the astute remark that J.Krishnamurti put miracle makers at the bottom of the pile of holy men but his followers were grateful for his miracles for their bodily and secular problems. (Ganapati, II:27)

Ganapati also helps non-Hindus put the concept of special powers into better perspective by telling us that it is the Indian tradition that "all the great men have either themselves consciously demonstrated higher powers and performed miracles, or without their consciousness or intention, the Supreme Power has worked miracles through them, in order that people understand their greatness and follow their lead. The fact remains that only because of faith in a person's possession of higher power, people are attracted towards him, and after being drawn to him, drawn to his way, ... Manifestation of power, therefore, is almost a sine qua non for turning people to any one of the paths leading to divinity. None need be apologetic about it." (p. 28)

India has "a whole gamut of miracle men and Godmen, ranging from charlatans and sleight-of-hand magicians, running through yogis and Siddha-purushas [holy men or saints possessing supernatural powers], rising to Avatars [literally, descent of God to Earth] and incarnations of God; and it needs some effort ... to separate the wheat from the chaff"(S.Bhagavantam, in R.K.Karanjia, 88, from an article that appeared in the Indian magazine Blitz on September 4, 1976).

So, in India there is a very strong and generally accepted tradition of miracle-making holy men (especially yogis). It is not surprising, perhaps, to learn that there are others, less spiritual in intent, willing to jump on the band-waggon to separate gullible people from their money. In the West our experience has been more limited: to the miracles of Christianity, for example, and during the past hundred and fifty years to the more dramatic and often controversial exploits of clairvoyants, mediums, faith healers and practitioners of telepathy. (The well-known case of Madame Blavatsky, one of the Founders of the Theosophical Movement, is one of the most interesting of these.)

Because of this strong cultural conditioning, the Hindu is more likely to associate the performance of miracles with a holy person's standard training, as 'tools of the trade', as it were, than with a Divine being. Indeed, following the constant warnings against the use of occult powers by sages from Patanjali (the second century B.C. founder of the Yoga school of Indian philosophy) to the nineteenth century mystic, Ramakrishna Paramahansa, or the twentieth century mystic, J.Krishnamurti, in many sophisticated Hindu circles, public miracle-making (the demonstration of Siddhis) is actually frowned on as ostentatious, unnecessary, or even a dangerous distraction to the performer and his followers. It should not be surprising, therefore, to learn that, in India, Sathya Sai Baba has frequently been criticised by such traditionalists and especially by sophisticated Hindus, who have regarded him as too much of a 'showman'. In fact, many traditionalist Hindus still consider him no more than a simple Siddha (a god-realized saint).

While taking into account all of the above, it seems logical to add that, if a person claims to be an Avatar of God and to have all the powers of God, and if followers are drawn to him or her because of these extraordinary claims, then he or she must be prepared to undergo much closer scrutiny than other spiritual leaders and gurus, in India or anywhere else.

Dissenting Voices

In India, Sai Baba has constantly been criticised and denounced by the Indian Rationalists (under the leadership of the indefatigable B. Premanand), especially in their magazine, The Indian Skeptic, but their decades-long sniping at Baba has had relatively little impact on overseas devotees, until recently. In Sai Baba devotee circles, and particularly in devotee literature, very little real doubt about the authenticity of Baba's miracles has surfaced. Claimed miracles have been taken to be genuine (and supported) by devotees because of Baba's Divine status. With the increasing Internet and international media coverage of recent controversies and accusations, this situation is more fluid.

The first reasoned and detailed questioning of Sai Baba's alleged powers came, as we saw in Chapter 5, from the Canadian academic, Dale Beyerstein: Sai Baba's Miracles. An Overview. Since the events and publications of 1999, many of Beyerstein's findings are becoming more and more quoted and re-examined in the ongoing Internet postings which seek to refute Sai Baba's divinity. Beyerstein's painstaking investigations, or a link to them, are therefore easily to be found on several Internet "opposition" sites (for example: http://www.snowcrest.com/sunrise, http://www.exbaba.com, http://www.sathyasaivictims.com). (For some details of the critical work of the Indian Rationalists, see A.Nagel, 'A Guru Accused', and 'For and Against Sathya Sai Baba on the Internet'. See also the references to Premanand in the Bibliography of this book.)

In his Introduction, Beyerstein explains that his purpose in gathering information was to present Sai Baba's paranormal claims and various investigations that have been done for those who have "heard of Sathya Sai Baba through second-hand stories told by devotees" and those who are "familiar with some of the writings of devotees but not with the literature of those who have made investigations of his claims."

In Chapter 3, Beyerstein offers gives a critique of some alleged resurrections for which there is counter-evidence. (See later discussion of this topic below.) In Chapter 4, he deals at length with a number of factual errors by Baba which call into question his omniscience (see Chapter 5 of this book). In Chapter 5, Beyerstein deals with Materialisations in detail, quoting accusations of trickery and sleight-of-hand, notably the materialisation of lingams. In Chapter 7 he investigates a few Healings and Rescues and reports discrepancies there also.

Another aspect of Beyerstein's study which particularly deserves attention are the charges in Chapter 5 that Baba uses a magician's techniques not only to materialise vibhuti, etc., but in the public productions of lingams and (until 1977) of the massive shower of vibhuti for the Abhishekam ceremony on Mahasivatratri Day. In connection with the former of these displays, Beyerstein quotes Houdini on the techniques needed to be able to regurgitate at will. He also questions a panel of well-known American magicians on the feasibility of using sleight-of -hand, etc, for some of Baba's claimed miracles. This panel examines a video in which they declare that Baba is using such techniques. (The video is a 1970s production by the late Richard Bock called 'Christ in Kashmir. The Hidden Years', which, as Beyerstein states, is well known in Sai Baba devotee circles.)

Early claims of Omnipotence by Sai Baba

In written accounts of Baba's childhood, there are many anecdotal references to miracles performed by him, mainly to benefit his playmates with gifts, or to impress them. In the first years of his (published) Discourses, the claims (to his Indian audiences) to be an Omnipotent miracle worker are strong and very frequent.

Indeed, as the following quotation shows, the materialising of objects from the sands of the Chitravati River in those early days became something of a public spectacle and crowd puller, and even gave rise to some murmurings of possible trickery.

"Kasturi suggested this morning that since the thousands who have come to see the Amrithodbhava (materialisation of nectar) cannot get a close view on this flat riverbed, a mound of sand be raised, whereon I can sit. I did not agree because I knew these doubters would immediately infer that the Amritha was hidden previously under the mound that was heaped up on purpose. (I, 35:226-227 Chitravati River Bed, 28-12-60)

The reference to doubters also reflects a reality. Doubts, disbelief, and even accusations of sleight-of-hand and other magicians' tricks have been voiced, especially, as we have seen, by traditionalist Hindus, the Indian Skeptics, and Dale Beyerstein. Although Sai Baba used not to be in the habit of answering his critics, in an interview with the prominent Indian journalist, R.K.Karanjia, in 1976, after a spate of adverse publicity, he specifically rejected the labels 'magic' and Siddhis for his actions:

"What I do is neither magic, nor is it a Siddhi power either. ... For me it is a kind of visiting card to convince people of my love for them and secure their devotion in return. Since love is formless I use materialisation as evidence of my love. It is merely a symbol" (R.K.Karanjia, 1994:28 - See also Sathya Sai Speaks, X, 35:235-236 and X, 39:262).

On the same occasion, in response to a later question on how he effects his miraculous cures, Baba added:

"By my own Sankalpa - that is, divine will and power. As an Avatar, this power is intrinsic, inherent, total and natural to my will and decision. I need no tantra [magical ritual] and no yantra [instrument; mystical diagram] to perform the so-called miracles which are natural to my state. My powers are simply the expression or assertion of the reality of Godliness which merges with everything, everywhere, at all times and places. The miracles belong to the boundless powers of God ..." (R.K.Karanjia, 1994:31).

Once his reputation as a miracle-maker was firmly established and devotees were writing about Baba's powers, the claims were less frequently made; Baba even began to downplay his use of miracles as merely the beginning of a process, the means to a spiritual end:

"The Divine has to reveal Itself through these manifestations, largely shaped and modified by the nature of the times, the region, and the cultural environment. The signs and wonders that I manifest are given names that do not connote the purpose or effect. They can be called miracles that lead on to purification, which in turn urge on towards a life of service to society, and finally result in God-realization. A miracle is any act which attracts because of its inexplicability. This aspect of attraction is inherent in the Avatar (the God essence on earth in human form). The very name, Rama means 'He who pleases or causes delight'. Krishna means 'He who attracts, draws towards Himself'. This attribute of attraction is a characteristic of Divinity.

'Why does the Divine attract? Is it to deceive or mislead? No. It is to transform, reconstruct, reform through a process called samskara, (purification through the dual process of removing the dust and dirt of vice and planting the four virtues of truth, right living, peace, and love)." (Sathya Sai Speaks, X: 96 - American edition). And Baba adds, "Once the person is drawn near, the purification process starts" (X: 97).


Public Demonstrations and the Build-up of Devotees' Expectations

Leaving aside the materialisations of gifts for devotees during private group interviews, most of Baba's alleged miracles are performed in private, for individuals. This often makes written or word-of-mouth reports of them impossible or very difficult to verify. So the main opportunity to test the authenticity of Baba's alleged Omnipotence as demonstrated through miracles lies in the Public demonstrations of his powers, which have been mainly restricted to one or two major annual events. The major publicly performed miracle, for many years was the materialisation, allegedly from within his own body, of Shiva lingams on the Hindu sacred night of Mahasivaratri (in February or March). The Sanskrit name for this is Linghodbhava. For some years this was accompanied by another miraculous demonstration, Abhishekam, the bathing of a statue of Shirdi Sai Baba with showers of materialised vibhuti.

In the early years of Baba's Discourses (1953-1960, covered in Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. 1) there are two brief mentions of Mahashivaratri (in 1955 and 1959). There is no specific mention of Baba materialising a lingam, although in his 1959 Mahasivaratri speech, Baba refers to it as the traditional Night of the Emergence of the Linga Form of Shiva. The next reference to Mahashivaratri comes in 1962, when Baba (aged 36) briefly indicates in his first speech that he will produce a lingam, thus producing a fervent expectation in his listeners:

"This evening, the Lingodbhava (emergence of egg-shaped stone of Shiva) is My Duty, My responsibility, rather My Nature which must reveal itself on this holy day."(Sathya Sai Speaks, II, 30:160) and in his second speech during the festival he celebrates its arrival:

"This is a day of special dedication to Shiva, and since so many of you here and elsewhere pray to Shiva, the Lingha is emanating from me for you all to receive the Grace and the Bliss of the Great Moment of Lingodbhava (Emergence of the Linga). (II, 31:173)

Although no mention is recorded for 1963, from 1964 until 1977, the miraculous production of the lingam, with its special personal blessing for the beholder, then becomes a much-awaited and announced annual religious and festive event, building up enormous expectancy and drawing large crowds of Hindus. Two examples of the technique:

1964: "In a short time, you will be witnessing the emergence of the Linga that is formed within; the auspicious time for the emergence for the Linga is approaching; you see it and you receive the blessings; but yet there will be some among you who will doubt it and deny it. That is the karma of such. What else can they do?" "(Here, Baba stopped the discourse; the movements started, first in the region of the abdomen, then the chest and the throat; Baba swayed from the side, leaned on the table, drank water, and finally, after about twenty minutes, an egg-shaped pink Linga emerged from His mouth. Holding it between the thumb and forefinger of His right hand, Baba discoursed further about it.)"

"Ah! This is the Brahmaanda Linga! Symbol of the Universe. Inside it, the nine planets (Navagrahas) revolve; the entire Universe is represented herein ... You are indeed blessed, the merit of many births as brought you here to see the Great Phenomenon, this rare Creation.

(Sathya Sai Speaks, IV, 4:26)

1965: "Contemplate the Atma-linga (spirit of the soul), the Jyothi-linga (the effulgent form), which this day emerges from Me; be convinced that the Linga is in every one of you, for it is a mark of the Shiva that resides in the shava (body) shell)." (Sathya Sai Speaks, V, 8:52)

In addition to this very special annual spiritual spectacle, those present were overjoyed at the accompanying extraordinary blessing. No wonder that year by year the crowds grew.

"Having had the unique good fortune of witnessing the emergence of the time-space-embodiment in the Linga-Form, I assure you that you are released from the bondage of birth and death. ... This is the chance that is seldom gained through there are performance of yajnas or yagas or other elaborate rituals; or as a result of years of arduous sadhana. When you are asked what happened at Prasanthi Nilayam, tell them that your life's mission has been fulfilled, that you were able to witness the Lingodhbhava, see the Linga which emerged during the auspicious hour." (XII, 28:167)


The Discontinuation of Mahasivaratri Lingam Materialisation (1977)

In 1975 and 1976 no Mahasivaratri Discourses were recorded. In 1977, there was no mention of lingam in the Discourse (Sathya Sai Speaks, XIII, Ch 30). But we know from devotees' accounts that there was a lingam production on that night. Samuel Sandweiss gives not only an account of the happening but the news that on the following day Baba announced, to great public consternation, that there would be no further public materialisations of lingams. (Sandweiss, 1985:170-171)

Ashram speculation and gossip (the grapevine along which rumours, explanations and theories are constantly passed) was that the public Lingam production was being discontinued because the crowds were getting too large and unruly. Sceptics have suggested that it could also have been because Baba (now aged 52) was getting old and such a "trick" (which they maintained merely required prior swallowing of the lingam and regurgitation at the required moment, usually from behind a cloth used to dab at his mouth) was becoming too physically demanding for him. (D.Beyerstein, Chapter 5, sections 81 and 82) Twenty years later, in a 1999 Mahasivaratri Discourse, Baba confirmed that it was because of the dangers posed by excessive crowds that he had suspended public Lingodbhava all those years before.

Another practical factor which may be taken into consideration in examining this decision is that in 1976 Baba's name had been very much in the news when the Vice Chancellor of Bangalore University, Dr Narasimhaiah and his Committee had tried hard to force Baba to submit his miracles to scientific test. The Indian Press and Baba's permanent foes, the Indian Rationalists, had given this controversy wide publicity, and although Baba had maintained a dignified silence for most of the time, he had finally felt the need to agree to be interviewed by the prominent journalist, Karanjia. This resulted in the publication of four articles in the Indian weekly magazine, Blitz, in September 1976. Perhaps Karanjia's searching and insistent but courteous questions were a reminder to Baba, or those around him, that close media scrutiny could not be avoided for ever.


The Resumption of Lingam Materialisation (1999)

Be that as it may, in the 21 years between 1978 and 1999, Mahasivaratri continued to be a crowded festival, with increasing numbers of foreign devotees. And then, suddenly, on Mahasivaratri Day,1999 (February 14) Baba astonished and thrilled a very large crowd, and took the official photographer by surprise, by once again producing a lingam in front of them, this time, uncharacteristically, without prior warning. This was the Hiranyagarbha [Golden womb] Lingam. Holding it up for devotees to see, Baba said:

"The principle of Hiranyagarbha is spread all over the body. It assumes a form when I will it. Whoever has seen this Lingam at the time of its emergence will not have rebirth. One should see its form as It emerges. In order to sanctify your lives, such sacred manifestations have to be shown to you every now and then. Only then can you understand the divinity in humanity."

Having bestowed that boon on his listeners, Baba went on to give himself this "commercial plug" and a promise of more miracles to come:

"... You cannot see such a manifestation anywhere else in the world. It is possible only with Divinity. In future you will be a witness to many more manifestations of Divinity. Understand that this Bliss can be experienced only in the proximity of the Divine and nowhere else."

He further announced that since it was in his Divine nature to produce Shiva Lingams on Mahashivaratri, whether they were witnessed or not.

Predictably, on the following Mahashivaratri in 2000, there was an enormous crowd of devotees present and, this time, a photographer had been installed to make a video of the whole proceedings. (The video was subsequently seen at Sai Baba Centres around the world.) When, after some twenty minutes of retching and heaving, sipping water and mopping his mouth and face, Baba finally spat out a lingam, the crowd were ecstatic. Since the whole event had been captured on the waiting official photographer's video, it is possible to study the lead-up to the moment of production. Unfortunately, the climactic moment is less than clear because Baba pushes his large cloth to his mouth in the instants immediately before showing the lingam between his teeth, leaving the door wide open to doubters and detractors.


Discontinuation of some types of miracles

It is reasonably clear that, like other alleged miracles, leaving aside the question of authenticity, the phenomenon of Lingodbhava, was specifically used in the 1960s and 1970s (1962-1977) to attract attention to Baba's Mission. The Mission was growing so rapidly by 1980 that perhaps Lingodbhava was no longer deemed necessary (either by Baba, or by the leaders of his Organisation). It could be that Lingodbhava, like other early miraculous activities which had been discontinued had simply served its publicity purpose and was now redundant. (Some other discontinued miracles were: "trance visits" to other places while in public view - bilocation, taking on the medical symptoms of devotees, resurrections, exorcisms, and fleetingly materialising sacred Hindu relics from far away temples and shrines.)

It is not unreasonable to hypothesise that in 1999 and 2000, this popular event may even have been deliberately revived for precisely the same promotional reasons, at a time when the Organisation was acutely aware that very strong criticism and denunciation of Sai Baba was about to be made public overseas by two very high-profile close ex-devotees (David Bailey and Naresh Bhatia) who had recently "defected" and whose spectacular revelations were nervously awaited. If this hypothesis is not correct, and if the Lingodbhava performance was discontinued because of fears of unruly crowds in 1977, why revive it when the crowds are much larger today?

By Mahasivaratri, 2001, there were high expectations and big crowds. As in previous years, Baba advertised the appearance in advance in the first of his two Mahasivaratri Discourses:

"Embodiments of Love! "Today is a very holy day. The time at 6 o'clock is highly sacred. At that time, the Atma Lingam will be manifested. God is sometimes called the Hiranyagarbha. The golden Lingas emerge from Hiranyagarbha itself."

Baba's reputation for omniscience or truth is not enhanced by the fact that in this 2001 Discourse he announced 6 p.m. as sacred for lingam production ("The time at 6 o'clock is highly sacred. At that time, the Atma Lingam will be manifested."), whereas only two years before, he had said that "I used to bring Atma Lingams from this body on the occasion of Sivarathri in the earlier years ... There is a specific time for this. It may take place at any moment between 8 and 10 in the night. It takes place at the right time irrespective of the place I am in. It is bound to take place. It is natural in this Sivarathri night." (These Mahasivaratri Discourses for 1999 and 2001 are available on www.eaisai.com/baba and on the new official Sai Baba website, www.srisathyasai.org.in.)


Other Questionable Miracles

Other miracles which have a question mark hanging over their authenticity include the following.

Resurrections?

In the Sai literature much attention has been given to two or three cases of claimed resurrections of dead bodies. Most Sai Baba devotees have heard about them.

We have a strong emotional reaction to the term 'resurrection', which is usually associated, in the Western world at least, with the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. After reading practically all of the reports in English on the two principal early claimed resurrections by Baba, it seems to me that there may either be a problem of semantics involved here, or publicity-seeking by the Sai Baba Organisation. These cases undoubtedly involve a possible miracle. A person who is at death's door, or who is about to die, or who has allegedly died (clinically), is revived by contact with Baba. (The contact is presumably touch, but since all the cases take place behind closed doors, we have no witnesses.)

In such extreme moments, the language and thinking of the family concerned and the patient himself is understandably emotional. But, bearing in mind the Biblical connotation with Jesus Christ, and the ongoing controversies about it, the term 'resurrection' would appear excessive unless there is definite evidence of a body being dead for an appreciable time, at least a number of hours, or even days.

Given these problems and in the absence of medical evidence of death having taken place some time prior to a resuscitation, it might be more helpful to term such cases 'near-death experiences' and to describe the miracle (if Baba's intervention produced it) either as a resuscitation, just as when a hospital patient pronounced clinically dead is revived with special medical procedures, or as a reprieve, when a person hovering on the verge of death, and expected to die, comes back over that edge, to life. The cases would then be very similar to other alleged direct medical interventions by Baba, which are described in devotee literature.

It is in that context that we may examine the two major claimed resurrections, which happened many years ago. They have been so frequently mentioned and they are so firmly believed in by devotees that they constitute a part of the basic mythology surrounding the Sai Baba Mission.

Baba: "I can cure, save, even resurrect people provided they are in a spiritually receptive condition. It is like the positive and negative currents of electricity. My capacity to heal can be compared to the positive current. Your devotion to me is the negative current. Once the two come together, the devotion provides what is called the miracle of healing." (Karanjia, 31)

The first major claim of resurrection came with the case of Mr. V. Radhakrishna, in 1953. Some reports speak of a dead body, decomposition, smells, and the passage of at least one day following his death. But, as E. Haraldsson has reported following an interview with the widow in 1975, the diary of the daughter of the man who was aided by Baba mentions none of these aspects, but says that they watched her father dying, in a state of unconsciousness for two days. There is no mention of a dead body, or of decomposition. The undisputed fact is that Sai Baba finally answered the wife's prayers and requests for help, went in to see the man, alone, and ten minutes later, when he came out, the family saw the miracle: Mr Radhakrishna smiling from his bed. He quickly recovered but died soon afterwards. (E.Haraldsson, 258-260) An Indian journalist quotes Sai Baba as saying that he only prolonged Mr Radhakrishna's life for ten days to enable him to attend to his will and to business affairs, etc. (A.Roy, in R.K.Karanjia, 97).

In 1999 came further proof that resurrection was an exaggerated description for this case. Mrs Vijayakumari, a life-long devotee and close friend of Baba's in his early years, belatedly published her memoirs. Since she is also the daughter of Mr Radhakrishna whose diary was seen by Haraldsson, her story is vital. She now gives an account of that harrowing family incident similar to the one reported from her diary by Haraldsson. There is extreme illness (a blocked urethra), a distended belly and pain. There is no talk of the patient dying, or of the passage of days or of decomposition. According to Mrs Vijayakumari, Baba visits the man the next morning and suddenly the family see him sitting up in bed, smiling (Vijayakumari, 208-213).

The other case is perhaps the most frequently reported of all Baba's medical miracles: that of the American millionaire, Walter Cowan, who (according to accounts written at the time and repeated many times since), on Christmas Day, 1971, had a heart attack in his hotel in India, was rushed to hospital but certified dead on arrival and put in a special room awaiting burial arrangements. The claim, and the subsequently repeated unaltered myth is that Mr Cowan was resurrected by a visit from Sai Baba some hours afterwards.

Once again, it is possible that we are in the presence of a genuine and special direct healing miracle by Baba, but as both B.Premanand, the Indian Rationalist Leader, and Professor E.Haraldsson's investigations have shown, the doctors concerned in the case (Dr. B. Krishna Rao and Dr. G.C.Vaz have signed statements denying that Mr. Cowan died or that either of them signed a death certificate (E.Haraldsson, 254-258). Interestingly, after Mr Cowan's recovery, he described his awareness, during his unconscious state, of being taken by Baba to an interview board for his case to be reviewed. Baba intervened on his behalf saying that he had work for him to do (J.Hislop, 1985: 29). Now, these happen to be the same images used by many people who have been close to death, and who have been inexplicably 'reprieved'. It is normal to describe such cases as 'near-death experiences'.

In spite of this clear later evidence on both these claimed resurrections, they are still referred to as such in devotee literature. I tried to point out, gently, in The Powers of Sathya Sai Baba, that the "resurrection" of Walter Cowan had already been proved by Haraldsson to be a misnomer (like that of Radhakrishna), but I doubt whether many readers noticed. To continue to retain the spectacular epithet ("resurrection") against clear long-standing evidence for these two cases would appear to be not only a misuse of energy but a sign of inflexibility on the part of the Sai Baba Organisation and its influential leaders. The possible further significance of the Cowan case, in which the wealthy Mrs Cowan, who is said to have donated 2.5 million Rupees for the Whitefield Boys' Hostel, asked John Hislop to write a corroborating account of the resurrection (Ruhela and Robinson, 236-245), will be discussed in Chapter 7, when we examine a particularly important phase in the development of Sai Baba's Mission.)


Proof for miracles

What happens in private between Baba and the few chosen devotees present in interviews is described by some of those devotees who chance to write about their experiences. Until very recently, we have had to rely on the lucky devotees for these descriptions of materialisations (of vibhuti, rings, necklaces, japamalas, etc.). All were in agreement about their miraculous nature. But now, with the Bailey "Findings" of March (and April) 2000 and subsequent publications, there are more examples of dissenting opinions: some accusations of deception and fraud have been voiced by privileged individuals who have been as close to Baba as it is possible to get, the sort of people whose honesty the majority of devotees rely on. The sort of devotees I relied on for many years to write my explanatory books on Baba! Even some of Baba's senior schoolboys are being quoted on the Internet by accusers as saying that Baba routinely uses sleight-of hand tricks for materialising vibhuti and other common objects, and that he 'plants' objects under cushions, etc. in the interview room. Many ordinary devotees must be feeling more and more uncomfortable with such accumulating allegations.

As for myself, in the course of my years of Sai Baba research, the only miracles I encountered first-hand were vibhuti and kumkum appearing profusely in two devotees' houses (and a few spots of vibhuti on a Baba photograph of my own), which I cannot explain. The only others that I have 'witnessed' at a distance are a few dubious or unsubstantiated 'photos' or images of Jesus which are eagerly collected by some devotees, and a small number of videos demonstrating materialisations, of which four seem to be almost certainly fake.

Discontinued Types of Miracles

In addition to the cases of alleged resurrection dealt with above, there are other types of miracles, especially concerned with healing, which can no longer be witnessed ort evaluated, since Baba only carried them out in his youth, or in the very early stages of the Mission. Activities reported in the literature were the production of large statuettes of Indian deities, instant healing, surgical operations on the patients by Baba himself, the personal assumption of serious physical symptoms to save individual devotees, and for a very short period, exorcisms. Also his frequently reported early habit or ability to go into a trance while under the public gaze and to "bilocate " to some other place. (This process will sound somewhat familiar to the activity which many serious spiritual practitioners, including some of Baba's own devotees, claim to have mastered: astral travel.)

Assumption of devotees' illnesses

The first of the two most famous public instances of this alleged miraculous healing activity occurred in June 1963 (K1B, 78-91 and Sathya Sai Speaks, III, 15:87-92). This was the very important 'Shiva-Shakthi' Discourse at the beginning of which Baba publicly recovered from a paralysis lasting several days before revealing that the Triple Avatar was a boon originally promised to his family by Shiva and Shakti. The second, equally spectacular, incident (involving an excruciating appendix emergency) took place in December1970 in Goa (K1C, 253-275 and Sathya Sai Speaks, X, 37:246-250 and X, 38:251-254)

"I had to take on Myself the illness that would have been fatal to a very good person who had surrendered to God, and the call was so urgent and sincere that I could not possibly postpone My response until all my engagements were fulfilled!" (X, 38:254)

Seven days later Baba was to make his first brief reference to the importance of Jesus Christ.

Surgical Operations

Many cases of Sai Baba carrying out operations on patients are mentioned in the literature which describes the early years of his Mission.

In the period before 1958, Baba used to perform surgical operations in a room behind the old Mandir in Puttaparthi (H.Murphet, 1977:121). Nagamani Purnaiya also describes some early operations (Purnaiya, 41-43).

Shakuntala Balu mentions these operations, saying that Dr Padmanaban had witnessed a few of them in the early days. Baba waved his hands and materialised surgical knives, He used vibhuti instead of an anaesthetic, stitches and bandages (S.Balu, 163). E.Haraldsson quotes Mr Gopal Krishna Yachendra (the brother of the Raja of Venkatagiri) who was very close to Baba in the early years (1940s and 1950s). He states that in 1952 or 1953 he too saw Baba do two or three tonsil operations, using vibhuti and a metal trident (the symbol of Shiva) - both materialised by him (E.Haraldsson, 80-81). According to M.N.Das, in 1960 Baba performed a lumbar puncture on the son of his close associate, Dr. Bhagavantam, in the latter's home and using vibhuti and a 4-inch long surgical needle (M.N.Das, 250-251). And so on.

Exorcisms

Vijayakumari (pp. 38-41) gives details of Baba "Driving away demons" in the mid-1940s, shortly after his 'Declaration of Mission'. For this, Baba used violent physical methods to free the devotee of the demonic possession. Vijayakumari adds that this was only for one year. After that, Baba merely handed out vibhuti for this problem.

LIMF suggests (p. 285) that the spectacular exorcisms ceased in 1950 with the building of the first Puttaparthi mandir. Baba is reported as saying that because he now had developed sufficient Divine Power at Prasanthi Nilayam, evil spirits now freed their hosts as soon as they arrived at the ashram.

Trances

Howard Murphet reports that in the1940s and 1950s, Baba often went into a trance state during out of the body journeys. At other times, vibhuti would emanate from his body, especially if a death was involved. (Murphet, 1971:139 - See also pp. 127 and 150)

According to LIMF, Baba's trances began in Uravakonda in 1943, just before he left school and after the still unexplained traumatic illness attributed to a scorpion bite. There were fewer by the1960s, but there was one at the1969 Mahasivaratri festival, after producing a lingam.(LIMF, 141)

Several devotees who have been close to Baba and who believe implicitly in his miraculous powers (like Ra. Ganapati, who was quoted at the beginning of this chapter) have had no qualms in admitting that he occasionally chooses to play "tricks", which they then rationalise away as being his leelas, in other words his special Divine right of teaching devotees by play or sport with them, "to test our faith." Indeed, many devotees happily rely on the concept of Baba's leelas to explain absolutely anything they fail to understand or any doubt they wish to explain away. Such was one of the lines of argument taken by devotee Bon Giovanni in his voluminous debate with dissenter and accuser Jed on a David Lane (Neural Surfer) Website in 1997.

But, particularly in the case of demonstrations of Omnipotence, if this God's name is also Sathya (truth), why should tricks be used at all? For those who assume that God not only demands but upholds the highest standards, it can be more than a little disconcerting.