8
8
2
2
1
1
.
.
I
I
N
N
T
T
R
R
O
O
D
D
U
U
C
C
T
T
I
I
O
O
N
N
T
T
O
O
A
A
N
N
I
I
N
N
C
C
A
A
R
R
N
N
A
A
T
T
I
I
O
O
N
N
Accordingly, Arvind Sharma (1986:224) slots the Sathya Sai Baba movement
into a typology of ‘new Hindu religious movements’ as being merely ‘predomi-
nantly traditionally Hindu’ in orientation—a middle ground between those who
‘want to uphold the Hindu tradition’ [i.e. to ensure its dominance over Christianity
and Islam], and those whose ‘membership is conspicuously foreign’. And Sathya
Sai Baba’s ideas do include a small, but significant trace of “foreign” religious ma-
terial—Bassuk (1987a:91), in his article ‘Six Modern Indian Avatars and the Ways
They Understand Their Divinity’, calls attention to the fact that Sathya Sai Baba
(and several similar figures) speak about their understandings of their divinity in
specific ‘relation to Jesus Christ’.
This is certainly true, but Bassuk (1987a:89) portrays Sathya Sai Baba in this
regard as claiming ‘that he is a reincarnation of Christ’, and this is somewhat mis-
leading, for he himself quotes Sathya Sai Baba as putting words into the mouth of
Jesus as follows: ‘He who sent me will come again’
25
—the obvious implication be-
ing that Sathya Sai Baba wishes himself to be identified with God, rather than Je-
sus as such, or Jesus-as-God. Also of note in the views of Bassuk and Sharma is
the fact that, whilst most of what I have thus far said of Sathya Sai Baba’s use of
tradition has opposed this to ideas or instances of “innovation”, the question as to
how “traditional” Sathya Sai Baba’s teachings might be has also been asked in re-
spect to the issue of “modernity”. Much like the terms “innovation” and “tradi-
tion”, the term “modernity” can be, and has been, much problematized, but I will
defer the task of defining what precisely I mean in using it until the end of Chapter
2. For now I will simply comment upon some uses that others have made of it in
connection to Sathya Sai Baba’s teachings.
Leo Howe (1999:132) writes of the movement in Bali that it ‘claims to supply an
essential corrective which brings Hinduism back into conformity with its original
source’. But he elsewhere (2001:182-183,n18) concludes:
it is also seen as a modern form of worship, tailored to the demands of a fast-paced
25
Cf. John 14:25-28; 15:26—also, 16:5-16: ‘Now I am going to him who sent me…. Unless I go
away, the Counsellor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. …I have much more
to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide
you into all truth. …’ [NIVSB 1628]. NB These verses are understood by Christian interpreters to
refer to the ‘Holy Spirit’ who is believed to have conferred divine blessings and insight upon the fol-
lowers of Jesus after he had departed from them, but, interestingly—in light of Sathya Sai Baba’s
reference to this passage—Mohammed, the prophet of Islam, also cites these verses in casting him-
self as the successor of Jesus by way of resemblance of his name (Ahmed) to that which is translated
as ‘Counsellor’ here. Sathya Sai Baba, perhaps via one or more of his followers (cf. p.338 below), is
perhaps casting himself as the ‘Spirit of truth’ (satya in Sanskrit means ‘truth’).
1
1
.
.
4
4
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c
c
a
a
r
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n
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a
a
t
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&
&
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8
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3
3
society and more in tune with new ideologies of individualism, democracy and per-
sonal achievement.
Similarly, Babb (1986:171,161) writes that ‘Sathya Sai Baba’s doctrines are basi-
cally an eclectic blend of elements drawn from a variety of well known philosophi-
cal and devotional traditions’, but he earlier states that:
There is indeed something new, or newish, about Sathya Sai Baba’s religious style.
His personality resonates with the religious yearnings of the cosmopolitan and
wealthy in a way that may not be unique, but is an impressive display of modernized
saintliness.
Likewise, Hugh Urban (2003a:85) observes that:
If Sai Baba appears on the one hand to be a kind of icon of materialism and con-
sumerism—the magic and fetishism of the commodity incarnate—he is also quite
strikingly on the other hand one of the greatest critics of Western materialism and
consumerism. He might be said to be, as one of his devotees put, one of our genera-
tion's greatest ‘conservatives, a real traditionalist in an age in which experiments are
going on’ …and one of the most outspoken opponents of Westernisation and mod-
ernisation.
And Purushottama Bilimoria (1993:2) writes of Sathya Sai Baba:
Encountering the teacher and some of his activities, can be quite confusing, as he
appears on the one hand to be the most traditionalist among traditionalist [sic], and
on the other, the most modern among moderns.
Lastly, David Bowen (1985:509) writes that: ‘Modernity as a medium of expres-
sion, and as a source of metaphor in teaching, is characteristic of Baba’s dis-
courses’. We will see the force of Bowen’s careful phrasing here to be borne out
by the present study. Sathya Sai Baba certainly uses modernity as a medium of
expression and as a source of metaphor (see, e.g., p.46), but that is all; as I will
argue in Chapter 5, he is not, fundamentally, a modernist, and this goes some way
towards explaining the ambivalent views that I have just outlined.
Over the course of this chapter, I have touched upon various scholarly studies of
Sathya Sai Baba, but these have more to say that is of relevance to my focus. I will
thus more thoroughly review them, and a number of other studies, in the next
chapter. If nothing else, this exercise will serve to introduce some background in-
formation upon him and his avatar claims, “his story” as it were, providing a point
of departure for my deeper foray into “his story and the history of avatar ideas”
that is to follow. In this chapter, I have sought to justify this choice of topic, to
explain my basic approach, and to define some of the key issues upon which I will
be focussing—ideas of the avatar (“incarnation”) and of “innovation” (spiritualiza-
tion, ethicization, charisma, tradition, modernity etc.).