Sathya sai international organisation

Using psychic powers to draw devotees away

The demonstration of apparent psychic powers to win over well known devotees is not new - this was happening even in Swami's lifetime. In the early 1970's, Swami told Hislop that other interests were attempting to use these apparent powers to draw him away from Baba. He also cautioned Hislop against trusting those who seem to be devotees:

Hislop: I gave Swami a ring created by a yogi. I did not want wear it and I didn't know what to do with it. That is, I sent it up to Swami by a messenger with a note about it.

Sai: That was another attempt aimed at you by other interests. You are known as a devotee to Baba, and it was an attempt to interest you elsewhere. Like that western city matter. You should reject such attempts out-of-hand.

Hislop: But that man from there said Swami stayed at his house.

SaiI: Not true. That area is strongly Communist. At one time Baba did bring about genuine evidence of His Sankalpa there, but ego and money-making arose, so Baba stopped things. Again He allowed it, and now He has again stopped it. Those people, in fear of loss of reputation, are now doing things by tricks.

Hislop: The man seemed a very nice fellow.

Sai: Not so. There is always good and bad in dualistic phenomena. When there is an Avatar, there must always be bad. Rama's foster-mother was his enemy. Krishna's uncle was his enemy even before he was born. Shirdi Baba was much abused.

CWBSSSB, p.78, http://media.radiosai.org/journals/Vol_04/01MAR06/conversation.htm

SUMMARY 1. Sri Sathya Sai Baba said that other interests have used apparent miracles to try to draw away well-known devotees in the past. He asked Hislop to reject such attempts out of hand. 2. He spoke of devotees who had experienced genuine manifestations of His power who, after the manifestations stopped due to their ego and greed, continued the appearance of manifestations through trickery. 3. Swami warned that when there is an Avatar there must always be bad and pointed out examples showing that it is often it is those who are closest to the Avatar who play the role of His enemies. (CWBSSSB, p.78)

Col Bose's testimony

On May 13 2015, Colonel S K Bose, a long time devotee of Swami who is currently Director of the Chaitanya Jyoti museum in Puttaparthi, wrote an article about the powers attributed to Madhusudan Naidu, powers which Swami said are no proof of Divinity and which were as insignificant to Him as a mosquito on the back of an elephant. Colonel Bose writes:

The sad fact is that even long time devotees are not able to tell the difference between real divine powers and siddhi powers obtained for selfish ends. These psychic or occult powers can be attained by practice, but there is nothing divine about them. Swami Vivekananda tells about such powers of the mind. In Volume 2 of his Complete Works (copy of his article “Power of the Mind” is enclosed for ready reference). He once heard of a man who, if any one went to him with questions in his mind, would answer them immediately and that he could foretell events. Swami Vivekananda tested this man’s powers and found them to be true. However, nobody considered this man divine.

As Swami Vivekananda admits, there have been charlatans, there have been cheats and more here than in any other field, because the more profitable the business, the greater the number of charlatans and cheats.

Swami Vivekananda had a very powerful mind, but he never displayed any occult or psychic powers. His Guru Swami Ramakrishna Paramahamsa forbade such display of powers as they would pull the aspirant down and away from the spiritual path. One of the commonest tricks is to read a man’s mind and tell him about events, which had taken place many years ago and which no one else knew about. Unfortunately devotees mistake these powers as signs of divinity and are impressed and influenced by them.

Sri Sathya Sai Baba has cautioned people against trying to attain the ashtasiddhis (the eight yogic powers) as they will bind the sadhak (aspirant). Thought reading is also fraught with dangers. In his book ‘ Life in Indian Monasteries’. Swami Bhaskarananda of the Ramakrishna Order says:

“Some other things also need to be explained here. Contrary to expectations of many, God-realised souls do not try to read others peoples thoughts unless they feel divinely inspired to do so. These great souls have a natural tendency to remain immersed in God. To try to know others people’s thoughts is usually against their nature. Staunchly established as they are in moral and ethical values, entering into other people’s private minds is considered highly unethical by them [see p.14].

In his book ‘Living with Himalayan Masters’, Swami Rama narrates how he once met a Swami who could produce fire from his mouth. The flame would shoot out several feet, so he concluded that this man must definitely be more advanced than his master. He went to his master and told him that he had found someone more advanced than him and had decided to become his disciple. His master just smiled and said that he was delighted and asked to be taken to him. To Swami Rama’s surprise the Swami bowed before his master. It transpired that he was from the same monastery, but had left many years earlier. On questioning further the Swami said that he had practised for twenty years to master this power Swami Rama’s master said to him that a match will produce this fire in a second so to spend twenty years for this was foolishness. Swami Rama realized that mostly such phenomena are tricks and spirituality has nothing to do with such powers. The third chapter of Yoga Sutra explains many methods of attaining siddhis, but these create stumbling blocks in the path of enlightenment, which is entirely different from the intentional cultivation of powers. Misuse of siddhis is the downfall for a sadhak (aspirant) and established Swamijis. Sometimes psychic powers develop; you start telling the fortunes of others and you start knowing things. These are all distractions. Too many people, including Swamijis, have wasted time and energy on such distractions.

Anyone who wants to develop siddhis, can do so and can demonstrate certain supernatural feats, but enlightenment is an entirely different matter.(Pages 102 to 106) of ‘Living With Himalayan Masters'.

Swami Rama narrates another experience of how fake sadhus make their living. On his way to Rishikesh in 1973, Swami Rama met one Dr Rudolph Ballentine in New Delhi. This man was psychiatrist from USA and was going round Connaught place in New Delhi when a stranger called him by name and then abruptly told him the name of his girlfriend in England. The doctor asked him how could he know these things. Instead of answering he continued and told the doctor his date of birth and his grandfather’s name. Then the man told him something very personal, which no one except Dr Ballentine knew (sounds familiar). The doctor was impressed and thought, “This is the person for whom I have come to India.” The man asked for five dollars and said he would be back soon. Needless to say, he never came back. The following conversation then took place between Dr Ballentine and Swami Rama.

Dr Ballentine: Swamiji, he was a great man.

Swami Rama: What did he do?

Dr Ballentine: He told me all those personal things about myself although I was a complete stranger.

Swami Rama: Didn’t you already know these things?

Dr Ballentine: Yes.

Swami Rama: Then what big thing did he do? If somebody knows what you are thinking, then obviously you know it too. This knowledge does not improve you [spiritually] in any way.

This ability may amaze you for some time, but it cannot help anyone in self growth. Fakes like the one Dr Ballentine encountered are often disguised as sadhus and go about telling someone’s past and predicting the future. Naive people mistake them for great sages. These pretenders give a bad name to spirituality and to real spiritual people. (‘Living With Himalayan Masters’ by Swami Rama, pp.355-6).

It must be made clear the such people are found not only in New Delhi, but throughout the length and breadth of the country.

The following narration is by Satyajit about an incident, which took place inside the Interview Room in his presence. Swami was seated and there is this gentleman sitting at Swami’s lotus feet. He started talking about a young boy of 14, who lived somewhere in Bangalore and who claimed that Swami spoke through him. This gentleman was conveying to Swami that he had gone to that place and had seen the boy, who was from a very beautiful and simple family and that the boy had a glow on his face and a look of innocence. He asserted that the boy was obviously close to Swami and he was trying to convince Swami that the boy’s claim must be true that Swami went into his body and spoke through him. Swami listened for a while and became visibly furious. He severely reprimanded this gentleman in no uncertain terms. He said, “ You have been close to me for so many years. How could you even bring this up in my presence? Have you taken leave of all common sense that you could even dream of suggesting that I have to enter that dirty body. If I want to talk to somebody I can always find out means of talking to him directly and not do so through someone else.”

Satyajit was taken aback by the vehemence of Swami’s reaction. Somehow these kinds of things appeal to some people and they believe all this rubbish and they think this is an easy way out. Even after this strong rebuke from Swami this gentleman did not learn his lesson and after Swami left for darshan, he went to Satyajit and reiterated the whole thing and tried to convince him saying that he had personally seen the boy. Satyajit was taken aback that even after being castigated by Swami, this gentleman had not understood the basic fact that God does not allow any intermediary between Him and His devotee. It is this direct relationship which confers joy to the devotee; the direct joy of service, the direct joy of Sadhana.

There are no prizes for guessing who the gentleman (nb: Mr B N Narasimhamurthy) is in view of his present self-acclaimed high status. To believe in the need for an intermediary is nothing short of blasphemy.

Now about the happenings at Muddenahalli. Nobody bothered too much what Narasimhamurthy was saying and doing till Madhusudhan Naidu appeared on the scene. He started off with the commonest trick of reading the past and impressing people, particularly influential ones. His fame spread fast and so did his repertoire of gimmicks and antics. He was a good actor in his student days and also a good mimic. He could mimic Swami’s voice and now he improved upon his talent. Narasimhamurthy was quick to recognize the potential of this man and a partnership was forged to dupe people on a large scale when they found how easy it was to do so.

It is surprising that people swallowed the claim that only Madhusudan could see Swami and none of the thousands of visitors could do so. He thus became an intermediary (communicator is the name they coined) between God and devotee, exactly what Swami had banged Narasimhamurthy for even daring to bring up some years ago. If that were not enough, now they openly began soliciting for funds. This was again something that Swami was vehemently against. It is most disturbing that this duo could continue to flout Swami’s teachings and yet appear to flourish. It is time that visitors to Muddenahalli woke to this dubious trickery and refused to be duped.

Colonel S K Bose, May 13 2015
These powers are no doubt fascinating for those who have never observed them before, however as Swami has stated, they are not proof of Divinity.

SUMMARY 1. Colonel S K Bose quotes Swami Vivekananda's story of visiting a man who was able to know the future as well as read the minds of those who came to him, to a degree not matched by Madhusudan Naidu. He makes the point that despite this psychic ability this was just a man. Psychic power is not evidence of divinity. 2. He also quotes Swami Rama who met many people with yogic powers "Sometimes psychic powers develop; you start telling the fortunes of others and you start knowing things. These are all distractions. Too many people, including Swamijis, have wasted time and energy on such distractions". 3. Swami Rama also tells the story of Dr Rudolph Ballentine meeting an ordinary person in the street who was able to tell him intimate details of life. This person then swindled him out of some money before making an excuse and leaving. 4. Colonel Bose then quotes Satyajit Salian's experience. Narasimhamurthy spoke about a young boy he had visited in Bangalore who he claimed Swami was speaking through. Swami became angry and severely chastised Narasimhamurthy for believing this and told Narasimhamurthy that He always speaks directly to His devotees. Narasimhamurthy did not believe Swami and as soon as Swami left, he attempted to again convince Satyajit that Swami really was speaking through this boy. QUESTIONS 1. The men Vivekananda met displayed powers beyond those that Madhusudan Naidu has demonstrated. Did these miracles prove that these men were manifesting Divinity?