feeds from sacw.net
print versionThe Economic and Political Weekly, VOL 46 No. 18 April 30 - May 04, 2012
Grip of Irrationality
Bhagawan†Sai Baba has gone, but the legacy of blind faith and superstition he has left behind is troubling.
The recent passing away of Sathya Sai Baba - a self-proclaimed god and among India’s most recognisable godmen - marks the end of one of the most remarkable personalities of post-independence India. He was, by far, the most well known and popular of India’s godmen and his influence straddled linguistic, regional, religious, class and caste divisions.
His death has also opened up questions about the role of such religious leaders in our social and political life. It also, again, foregrounds the extent to which superstition and irrationality remain pervasive in our society, especially among those who are called “well-educated†and occupy leading positions in public life.
Sai Baba, named Sathyanarayana Raju by his parents, proclaimed his own divinity and claimed to be god incarnate. He established his base at Puttaparthi, close to his home and, in the years after independence, his fame and influence spread far and wide, both within India and globally. His followers are counted in the millions and, apart from the expected list of western celebrities, include some of the most powerful and influential people in India. Former prime ministers and central ministers, judges of the Supreme and high courts, top bureaucrats, sports-persons, film stars and even supposedly atheist politicians are all his devotees.
By the late 19705, he had already enough clout to block all attempts at ensuring transparency about the sources of funds and the manner in which the money was used. Indeed, there is no clarity about the exact fortunes the Sathya Sai Central Trust has accumulated. Recent media reports claim that the trust’s assets are in excess of Rs 4o,ooo crore, while estimates made by his critics are many multiples of this figure.
There have been enough exposes of his ability to conjure up ashes and trinkets for his devotees. Rationalists have challenged him on many occasions but he never accepted these tests. It has been obvious that he had managed to tap the gullibility and superstition of people to his benefit. However, even more serious allegations have lingered about sexual offences as well. The allegations of paedophilia were serious enough for the UNESCO to call off a joint conference with his trust in 2ooo, citing, among other things, “allegations of sexual abuse†. These allegations have never been proved, or even properly investigated, thanks to the vice-like grip of Sai Baba and his establishment over state personnel. Then there was the horrific incident in 1993 when six men, all ardent devotees, were shot dead by the local police in the inner chambers of Sai Baba’s residence in Puttaparthi. No satisfactory explanation for the killing was ever given. The subsequent investigation by the state police and the Central
Bureau of Investigation had all the signs of a cover-up and justice was never delivered in the case of those six men who were tragically killed.
It is obvious that for many people, Sai Baba represented the pinnacle of spirituality and was their link to the divine. He followed, in some manner, the teachings of the previous Sai Baba of Shirdi, whose incarnation he claimed to be. He refused to lend his name to the many campaigns for Hinduism taken up by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (Rss) and its affiliates, especially the Ram temple one. He kept himself scrupulously neutral in political support. In the past three decades, he invested a significant amount of money and energy into charity works related to education, health and drinking water which are often cited as symbols of the good he has done at large while there have also been questions raised at the hidden benefits from such largesse.
Some of these issues will die with his passing, though it is still important that those victims who have levelled serious allegations of sexual abuse find some form of justice and closure.
It is also necessary that the Sathya Sai Central Trust be made more transparent, its accounts and workings be made public and brought under public oversight. This is the bare minimum which is needed to clean up the workings of that very opaque institution. These measures are also necessary to ensure that this trust is not, and does not become in future, fairness cream for black money.
These actions will not, however, manage to undo the damage his ideas and influence have done to the larger texture of Indian society. By continuously stressing blind faith and belief in superstitious practices, Sai Baba was a tireless worker against the scientific spirit and the idea of scepticism. This also has a direct bearing on democracy and democratic culture, which foregrounds critique and questioning of authority while the message of this godman was unquestioning submission. Democracy in India, despite all its infirmities, has been one of the strongest weapons for attacking privilege, status and the status quo. It may well be argued that Sai Baba managed to become primus inter pares among godmen in India precisely because his message was so subtly anti-democratic while he himself kept a safe distance from particular political affiliations. Is this why his death united Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s Ashok Singhal and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in common grief with Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh? The real test before us is to challenge this legacy of blind faith and superstition that he has left behind.
o o o
Editorial
INCREDIBLE INDIA
Time was when India languished under a planned economy at the Hindu rate of growth. But in 1954, India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, apotheosized the new dams being built as the temples of a new age. The message was clear: India would march forward harnessing the forces of science and technology and using them for the welfare of the people. India, Nehru liked to believe, was embracing the scientific and secular temper. He perhaps underestimated the currents of continuity in Indian life, especially the spiritual and religious ones. The power of religion and spiritualism is manifest in the reaction to the death of Sai Baba who, for the lack of any other word, is best described as a religious leader or, more derisively, as a godman. The list of mourners who have rushed to Puttaparthi includes many eminent and distinguished people from many walks of life, from sports to politics. A leading business and financial daily has written a leading article on Sai Baba’s many achievements, especially those in the realm of institution building. Two distinguished inheritors of Nehru’s legacy — the prime minister, Manmohan Singh, and the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi — chose to make the pilgrimage to Puttaparthi. It is doubtful if Nehru would have made a similar journey of piety.
The contrast is too obvious to ignore. The man who by initiating economic reforms broke the shackles of the Hindu rate of growth so that the Indian economy could touch a double-digit rate of growth, decides to pay his homage to a religious leader. But his predecessor, India’s first prime minister, who struggled in vain to make India economically self-sufficient, urged Indians to uphold secularism and rationality. The reputation of Sai Baba is somewhat tainted by the tar of magic: his ability to produce sweets and jewels out of nowhere, his power to perform miracles, and so on. There were other less savoury allegations against him. It is evident that Sai Baba’s magic is not seen to be in contradiction with the magical figure of 10 per cent economic rate of growth even though the latter has nothing to do with conjuring. India marches forward but she does so in her own unique manner in which science and magic, secularism and spirituality, Nehru and his successors all exist in an incredible mosaic.
