I will never leave you. You may forget me, but I will never forget you. You may hate me, but I will always love you. I have no enemies in this world, I always keep my word.
(Sathya Sai Baba – “Dasara”, 1998)
It is difficult to find such unconditional love for everyone in this world as Sathya Sai Baba demonstrated. He blessed everyone regardless of what people thought or said about him. During his earthly life, he had several tens of millions of devotees and followers, but also a huge number of envious people and ill-wishers.
When numerous absurd accusations rained down on him in the early 2000s, he remained completely indifferent to all gossip and slander. He continued to communicate with people and bless everyone: both those devotees who loved him and those evil wishers who hated him.
In this chapter we will mention ridiculous accusations fell upon Sathya Sai Baba. I have no desire to discuss these stories in detail, however, these heinous accusations are also part of the story, and we can learn a lot from remembering this situation. Oddly enough, the authors of all the slander were former devotees and followers of Sathya Sai Baba, who were disappointed in him as a spiritual teacher.
Disappointment and crises happen to almost everyone who follows the path of spiritual quest. Perhaps, spiritual crisis does not happen to those who do not ask spiritual questions. If you are disillusioned with your teacher or with the spiritual system that you have been following for many years, the wisest thing is to simply thank the teacher, leave him, and then try to find yourself in some other spiritual direction. If you feel gratitude, then your past is in harmony with the present and you have passed the lessons of life and are ready to develop further.
Most people in their lives repeatedly move from one esoteric direction to another. Such is life. Even if for several years you studied under the guidance of some guru, and then became disillusioned with him, you can still find sincere gratitude in your heart. It is important to be grateful to all the teachers who have helped you in life with good advice and blessings.
However, not everyone is wise. Disillusioned followers sometimes transmute their hostility and inharmonious energy into unsubstantiated accusations to release their own pent-up frustrations. This is a type of negative transference. The group of accusers, with their flurry of slanders, consisted of a couple dozen very active and angry people: some were from Sweden, the USA, England, Russia, France, and also from India. Sathya Sai Baba was their favorite teacher and now he is their enemy.
All of the hype was enthusiastically received by television and the press. In any profession there are honest professionals, and there are those who are ready to earn money on anything. Unfortunately, among journalists, not everyone follows the principles of honesty and responsibility for the accuracy of information – some seek to increase their ratings at any cost.
Sathya Sai Baba was accused of financial fraud. He invested all his money in education, medicine, and charity, yet he was accused of being a magician and a fake, even though he performed amazing miracles and healings witnessed by the masses. Granted, he materialized gold jewelry with various stones, among which there were many expensive diamonds – pieces of jewelry, which are today, still worn by thousands of devotees around the world. What kind of magician would give you gold and diamonds and ask for nothing in return?
He was even accused of organizing contract killings! It’s hard for me to talk about and to reconcile such accusations about Sathya Sai Baba, a divine soul who spent his life saving his devotees, even those who knew him little, with the power of his blessings. It makes no sense to me.
Spiritual crises are normal, but the big question is what to do with spiritual crises? Sathya Sai Baba was absolutely indifferent to all gossip. Unfortunately, the accusers could not provide any evidence for their accusations – they simply made a lot of noise. Such is human nature, that today one praises Sathya Sai Baba for helping solve troublesome problems, but when tomorrow’s new difficulties and trials begin, what then?
There were many cases where Sathya Sai Baba quickly helped people and they were happy. There were also cases that when the healing did not happen instantly, people became disappointed and accused him of fraud, because he did not justify their hopes for an instant solution to their problems. People are accustomed to the fact that Sathya Sai Baba solves all people’s problems with the power of his energy within a second. More realistically, it can sometimes take time to solve some people’s difficult situations due to their karma. In these cases, some could be offended by him.
In my life there were many internal conflicts and difficulties, which most often were hardly noticeable to others. Sometimes I received miraculous help and support from Sathya Sai Baba almost instantly, and sometimes my problems took years to resolve. In my relationship with Sathya Sai Baba I went through many periods of disappointment and crisis. I have come to realize that some people expect only sweets and entertainment from Sathya Sai Baba, but actually, he leads us along the spiritual path, the purpose of which is not to satisfy our conceit or satisfy all our whims but to lead each student to enlightenment.