Mr. P. M . Bhargava's article on Bhagawan Baba which was published in the OPEN PAGE of THE HINDU on May 15, 2011. [Reproduced below is the entire text of this article]

As the dust after the death of Satya Sai Baba has largely settled, it is time to evaluate him, his work and its implications, objectively and unemotionally, for there is a good deal to be learnt from his life and death.

His rise to fame from an ordinary, even humble background, was based on (i) his claim that he was the reincarnation of Shirdi Sai Baba; (ii) his claim that he represented divinity, that is, God himself; (iii) that, consequently, he had powers that no mortal man had; (iv) that he could provide succour and mental peace to people who came to him with problems of various kinds; and (v) that he engaged himself in charitable works like opening hospitals and providing potable water to villagers.

Let us examine his above claims and actions one by one. There is not a shred of evidence of rebirth; the very idea of rebirth goes against all of science. Every claimed case of rebirth that has been investigated has been shown to be fake.

As regards his being a reincarnation of God, the only proof he provided was that of performing miracles or miraculous acts. The fact is that he never performed a miracle. In fact, no miracle has ever been performed by any one. All miracles attributed to religious leaders are inventions of the clergy. An example would be that of Mother Teresa whom I met and who never claimed to have performed a miracle in her lifetime. But for her to be canonized after her death two miracles had to be — and were — invented and attributed to her. Every single act of Sai Baba that was a miracle in the public eye could be performed by ordinary magicians. My colleague at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology at Hyderabad, Dr. M. W. Pandit, performed them publicly. So did the well-known rationalist, the late Premanand. Invite Dr. Narendra Nayak by sending an email to <narenyen@gmail.com> and he will come and perform for you every miracle that Sai Baba ever claimed to have performed — be it producing a ring or a Japanese watch or sacred ash from nowhere, or his photograph shedding sacred ash.

As regards the miraculous cures he claimed to have performed, we never heard of his failures. A distant cousin of mine had her young son suffering from an incurable disease. Sai Baba who blessed him said he would be cured. When she went back to him after the child's death, Sai Baba told her that he felt it was best for the child to come to him and that is what he caused to happen; so there was no reason for worry.

The cures that may have been effected were never established to be directly on account of Sai Baba's 'divine' intervention. They were probably natural or psychosomatic, of which numerous examples are known. After all, what do neuropsychologists or psychiatrists do? That is why he never allowed rationalists like Professor Narasimhaiah, former Vice-Chancellor of Bangalore University, or Premanand, to come anywhere near him. It is believed that it were his men who actually once beat up Narasimhaiah. The late Dr. Y. Nayudamma, the former Director-General of CSIR, who died in an Air India crash near Canada years ago, told me of his visit to Sai Baba with a once ardent follower, Dr. S. Bhagavantam, a former Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister. Nayudamma stood in front of Sai Baba with folded hands and most respectfully, requested him to produce a blade of grass between his palms. That would have been a miracle. But, instead, Nayudamma had to leave.

As regards his acts of charity, there are innumerable people in the country who engage in such acts to avoid undue attention focussed on their ill-gotten wealth. Accounting of his enormous wealth has never been transparent.

Sai Baba's unusual accomplishment was to recruit such a large number of the rich and the powerful, politicians and bureaucrats, law-makers, law-keepers, and law dispensers, amongst his followers. Perhaps this is more of a reflection on his followers than him!

Sai Baba's death was not a national tragedy. The national tragedy was his being given a state funeral, a state of official mourning being declared, and the country's political leaders — cutting across parties, including the Prime Minister and the Chairman of the NAC — spending precious time and resources to have his last darshan, relegating to the background the nation's constitutional commitment to a scientific temper.

(The writer is a former Vice-Chairman, National Knowledge Commission, former member, National Security Advisory Board and former founder and Director, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad. His email is: bhargava.pm @gmail.com)

 

Prof. Venkataraman's Comments on the Article by Bhargava on Sathya Sai Baba

In an article published recently in this newspaper, Prof. P. M. Bhargava has sought to evaluate ‘objectively and unemotionally,' the life and legacy of Sathya Sai Baba. Like the writer, I too come from a scientific background with, however, one important difference, namely that I have spent the last eighteen years in Baba’s ashram, following my retirement in 1992. Thus my response is based on direct personal knowledge.

Bhargava ascribes five reasons for Baba’s ‘rise to fame,’ as he puts it. Three of these are connected with religion and the issue of miracles, subjects on which people tend to have sharply divided opinions, to which of course they are perfectly entitled; I shall therefore not discuss them. The last two concern firstly, the succour and peace that people who came to Baba sought and secondly, his charitable works ‘like opening hospitals and providing potable water to villagers.’ These are what I wish to comment on.

Let me start with the last mentioned, which is summarily dismissed by Bhargava in exactly thirty six words with the condescending remark that ‘there are innumerable people in the country who engage in such acts to avoid undue attention focussed on their ill-gotten wealth. Accounting of his enormous wealth has never been transparent.’

This is a sweeping comment, made without offering a single piece of evidence concerning (a) ‘ill-gotten wealth’ (b) ‘enormous wealth’ and (c) the charge of lack of transparency. In science, one does not make a statement or remark that is not preceded by the presentation of appropriate facts and basis; and yet here is a scientist of repute doing precisely that! Frankly, I am stunned.

Going further into these unsubstantiated allegations - for they are nothing more than that - let us start with the issue of transparency. Baba executed all his projects via Trusts set up according to due process. Every single paisa spent on every single project came out of donations received by these Trusts via cheques and drafts from people all over the world. Some directly paid their contribution to the branch of SBI located in the ashram; at no time was any cash received by the Trust. All accounts have always been and continue to be regularly audited and statements concerning these are furnished to all concerned authorities as required by law, including the Income Tax Commissioner. Where foreign donations are concerned, explicit permission of the Home Ministry has been obtained to receive them and every year, full particulars are furnished in the prescribed format. It is worth adding that lately the Home Ministry has tightened regulations across the board, in view of concerns about terrorism.

Turning now to hospitals, the writer seems to be unaware that Baba’s Trust has set up two Super Speciality Hospitals that provide tertiary healthcare where, among other things cardiac and neuro-surgery are routinely performed, absolutely free – this includes everything from the initial consultation, all diagnostic tests including MRI and CT scans, surgical procedure, stay in ICU and general ward, all medicines, physiotherapy (where required), food, etc. Almost invariably, the beneficiaries are poor people who come from all over India and Nepal and occasionally from elsewhere too. During last (financial) year, over twenty five thousand people were treated as inpatients, the market value of the free service rendered being close to about Rs. 250 crores. Being a Trust activity, all accounts are audited as mandated and appropriate statements submitted to concerned public authorities. There is absolutely no question whatsoever of laundering of ‘ill-gotten wealth’ as alleged; in fact, there is no such wealth and there never was any, period.

Passing mention must also be made of the drinking water project executed for the tribals of the East Godavari region for the simple reason that tribals of this country have a long history of being neglected. Many years ago, Baba travelled extensively in the East Godavari region, and when it became possible, he had the water project executed even though no one asked him to. That was just one of the many ways in which he offered succour to the poor, often without their having to come to him. He did the same following the massive floods in Orissa in September 2008, when thousands of poor villagers lost their homes. The moment he heard about their loss he had seven hundred houses built in three affected districts, swiftly, quietly and, as always, without fanfare.

In conclusion, I find that Bhargava’s assessment is not only far from objective but also fails to meet the standards of accuracy expected of a scientist. Writing as he did in a reputed newspaper, the least the writer could have done is what all good journalists do, namely check his facts first.