danbaron
14-06-2011, 07:56
I never heard of Sri Sathya Sai Baba until after he died.
Then, a friend gave me a book about him, published in 1975, "Sai Baba - The Holy Man and the Psychiatrist", by psychiatrist, Samuel H. Sandweiss.
I've gotten up to page 53 in the book. (2011-06-26: I finished the book, but I skipped the quotations of Sai Baba, I have a short attention span for people talking elliptically, in riddles.)
Something about the author's credulity raised my suspicions.
So I looked around on the internet.
Below (links) are some things I found.
It's just my impression, but, it seems to me that Sandweiss had/has the typical cult follower personality. I think that generally people think a psychiatrist could not be subject to such an emotional vulnerability; but, to me, that belief is the result of societal propaganda, and has no factual basis.
I guess my mind has been working on this subject. You have a poor guy who is short (5 feet 2 inches), uneducated, in a country with hundreds of millions just like him, and who wants to be someone. Who better to be than God? If the guy can perform some magic tricks, then, he can go a long way. The vast majority of the people who such a guy appeals to, in this case the Indians, live miserable lives, so, I think they are susceptible to the possibility of there being a deity walking among them.
Could the situation have been similar with respect to Jesus? During his life his most devoted followers had the two requisite traits of, 1. struggling daily to survive, and, 2. possessing "cult member" personalities? Maybe Jesus, and Sai Baba were, "two peas in a pod". Did you ever notice that none of these supposed human gods, are female? Due to their particular biology, males are much more likely to be involved in violent crimes. Is it possible that, again due to their biology, they are also much more likely to portray themselves as being greater than human?
And, I guess, if Sai Baba is God, then, why did he age and die?
Could a large part of the reason that the religion of Jesus has survived for 2000 years just be luck, random probability; i.e., the likelihood that no religion will survive for 2000 years, is small?
Could it be that trying to keep religion out of a society, is like trying to keep air out of a vacuum?
How many people can be content in believing, that life is worth living for itself?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sathya_Sai_Baba
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/8471134/Sathya-Sai-Babas-death-triggers-fight-for-his-5.5-billion-empire.html
(http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/8471134/Sathya-Sai-Babas-death-triggers-fight-for-his-5.5-billion-empire.html)
http://robertpriddy.wordpress.com/
Then, a friend gave me a book about him, published in 1975, "Sai Baba - The Holy Man and the Psychiatrist", by psychiatrist, Samuel H. Sandweiss.
I've gotten up to page 53 in the book. (2011-06-26: I finished the book, but I skipped the quotations of Sai Baba, I have a short attention span for people talking elliptically, in riddles.)
Something about the author's credulity raised my suspicions.
So I looked around on the internet.
Below (links) are some things I found.
It's just my impression, but, it seems to me that Sandweiss had/has the typical cult follower personality. I think that generally people think a psychiatrist could not be subject to such an emotional vulnerability; but, to me, that belief is the result of societal propaganda, and has no factual basis.
I guess my mind has been working on this subject. You have a poor guy who is short (5 feet 2 inches), uneducated, in a country with hundreds of millions just like him, and who wants to be someone. Who better to be than God? If the guy can perform some magic tricks, then, he can go a long way. The vast majority of the people who such a guy appeals to, in this case the Indians, live miserable lives, so, I think they are susceptible to the possibility of there being a deity walking among them.
Could the situation have been similar with respect to Jesus? During his life his most devoted followers had the two requisite traits of, 1. struggling daily to survive, and, 2. possessing "cult member" personalities? Maybe Jesus, and Sai Baba were, "two peas in a pod". Did you ever notice that none of these supposed human gods, are female? Due to their particular biology, males are much more likely to be involved in violent crimes. Is it possible that, again due to their biology, they are also much more likely to portray themselves as being greater than human?
And, I guess, if Sai Baba is God, then, why did he age and die?
Could a large part of the reason that the religion of Jesus has survived for 2000 years just be luck, random probability; i.e., the likelihood that no religion will survive for 2000 years, is small?
Could it be that trying to keep religion out of a society, is like trying to keep air out of a vacuum?
How many people can be content in believing, that life is worth living for itself?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sathya_Sai_Baba
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/8471134/Sathya-Sai-Babas-death-triggers-fight-for-his-5.5-billion-empire.html
(http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/8471134/Sathya-Sai-Babas-death-triggers-fight-for-his-5.5-billion-empire.html)
http://robertpriddy.wordpress.com/