This article by Fred, who has written for Frank Report in the past about Ramtha, is in response to ‘Nithyananda Is as Real as They Come — He Is the Leading Guru in India’ – Disciple Says
By Fred
Even if all these claims of a vast following of Nithyananda Swami are true, this has absolutely nothing to do with the allegations of sexual abuse.
If there ever was an Indian guru with a vast international following, this would have been Sathya Sai Baba, who died in 2011. He is still widely venerated. Yet for decades, there were multiple credible allegations of sexual abuse:
https://saisexuality.blogspot.com/2018/06/sathya-sai-baba-sex-abuse-full-coverage.html
— unfortunately most of the links here no longer work, but the titles tell the story, also see:
https://saisexuality.blogspot.com/2018/06/the-findings-by-faye-and-david-bailey.html
Sai Baba was well known for his miracles, which turned out (on video inspection) to be remarkably poor sleight-of-hand tricks. I knew a Sai follower who personally witnessed the following in India.
A representative from a Sai congregation was telling Sai Baba about their new temple. Sai Baba asked if there was anything needed to complete it. The man said, “A gold statue of Krishna would be wonderful” — so Sai Baba waved his hands, and hey prestissimo, there was a gold statue of Krishna.
Now, we’re talking about real gold here.
Sai Baba was once accused of flouting the precious metals laws in India by handling so much gold; the Indian government ruled (as I recall) that this gold was produced supernaturally, and was therefore not subject to government regulations.
How difficult is it, to whisper to a devotee to ask for a gold statue of Krishna? And if you know the question is coming, to have this artifact hidden up your saffron sleeve? And if you are running a gold-smuggling syndicate, to have a veneer of gold put on a statue to fool the masses?
Here is another story I was told.
Sai Baba could vomit gold. But BBC’s cameras at Sathya Sai Baba’s ashram at Puttaparthi in South India caught the materialization of a pure gold lingam (a Hindu cosmic symbol of creation) the size of an egg, in full public view.
A Canadian was at the Sai ashram, and ran out of film for his camera. He had an audience with the guru and told him about the lack of film and how he wanted a picture. Sai Baba clicked his fingers, and next thing was holding the exact film required, saying he got it from the man’s regular camera shop in Canada.
According to the story I was told, when the guy got back to Canada, the camera store manager described this Indian man with saffron robes and an Afro hairdo who came in on a certain day and bought this film. The time and date were the same as Sai Baba’s manifestation. A miracle!
If you are running an international fraud syndicate, and it’s important to fool international visitors (just assuming that this story is true): exactly how hard is it for a Sai devotee in Canada to put on a wig and pull off a hoax? If you have an insider, a friend of the “mark”, who knows (a) that this guy has run out of a particular type of film; (b) that he is seeing Sai the day after tomorrow at a particular time and will want a picture, may even have talked about this; (c) exactly where the guy buys his film in Canada — this is a trivial trick to pull off, yet it will absolutely stun and astound the credulous.
Many magic tricks work with the collaboration of an insider. I knew Sai devotees outside India who would describe how holy ash would mysteriously appear in the night at the foot of a picture of Sai Baba. All it takes is one insider in the house to do the deed, keep it secret, and like Santa Claus, you have a miracle in the morning. Sai Baba was always magically producing this ash, which on analysis was mostly dried cow dung, as I remember.
One thing I believe for sure: Sai Baba knew what he was doing with his sexual tricks, and there’s no doubt that he had certain powers. One story I was told first-hand by the protagonist, which was witnessed by many, and which I have no reason to doubt, went like this:
This woman, who was a friend of mine (I worked with her husband, who witnessed and confirmed this story) went to the Sai ashram for the first time, and the very first time she saw Sai Baba, she was so excited that she ran up to him and touched him. She said she immediately fell to the floor convulsing. She recovered after a little while, and was then told: you must “never” touch Sai Baba, his energy is so high that unless you are prepared for it, you will get a shock.
Now, you also get this kind of thing in charismatic churches — some of it may be outright hoax, but there really is something to “kundalini energy”, and adepts do warn people not to touch them, not to shake their hands. This is partly because they are so sensitive that even a slight touch will see them lose energy. (The story of Jesus, who knew someone had touched him and obtained healing, comes to mind.) See what you think of the church in this video — is this a hoax, mass hysteria, or a combination of the two?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKKLIpYtFRg
But back to my main point: the fact that you are a wildly popular guru, venerated by top politicians and celebrities, means nothing in the face of abuse allegations. The famous Brazilian healer John of God is another case of a widely celebrated abuser:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/john-of-god-sex-abuse_n_5c179c3fe4b05d7e5d841543
I know absolutely nothing about Nithyananda apart from what I’ve read here, but this whole “he’s the biggest guru” story just makes me even more suspicious.
Sai Baba claims to have produced this gold [plated] necklace from the ether [and not form his left sleeve.]
We’ve seen and heard this all before. Sai Baba said he was God, period. His devotees believed him, still believe him. Yet he came and went, and very little has changed on this planet.
I am personally pretty certain that we are about to see a major manifestation of this kind of thing on our increasingly hysterical planet, a really “really” big god-man emerging, perhaps with holograms in the sky and booming words reverberating out of mountains.
Don’t be fooled.
