Sri Sathya Sai Baba

THE TRUTH ABOUT VIR SANGHVI

Introduction To The Indian Journalist Vir Sanghvi:
Vir Sanghvi is an Indian journalist who is a staunch critic of Sathya Sai Baba. He is currently the editorial director for the Hindustan Times (which may explain why they almost exclusively report negative information about Sathya Sai Baba), former editor for Sunday, former consulting editor for Anada Bazaar Patrika, former editor for Imprint, founder-editor for Bombay Magazine and currently writes a Counterpoint weekly column in the Hindusan Times. Vir Sanghvi was allegedly educated at Mayo College, Ajmer and Oxford University, is reputed as being one of the youngest editors in India and is also a television personality.

Don’t let all of these credentials fool you. Vir Sanghvi is willing to compromise his integrity and reputation as a journalist by resorting to disrespectable research, bias and sensationalistic propaganda to promote his views against Sathya Sai Baba.

Vir Sanghvi’s “Counterpoint” Columnist Article:
On November 25th 2006, Vir Sanghvi wrote a Counterpoint columnist article in the Hindustan Times entitled “The Truth About Sathya Sai Baba”. Not only did Vir Sanghvi not know that Sathya Sai Baba turned 81 (he claimed Baba turned 80), he admitted that he is “not big on Sathya Sai Baba” and referred to him as the “old boy”.

In his Counterpoint article, Vir Sanghvi made the following inaccurate claims about Sathya Sai Baba:

1. Sathya Sai Baba just celebrated his 80′th birthday.
2. There is a “sordid controversy” about Sathya Sai Baba engaging in questionable behavior with “little boys”.
3. The homosexual allegations against Sathya Sai Baba are “too numerous to dispute”.
4. That the list of Western complainants runs “into triple figures”.
5. All of Sathya Sai Baba’s miracles can easily be performed by conjurors.

Did Sathya Sai Baba Just Celebrate His 80th Birthday?
The answer is “no”. Sathya Sai Baba just celebrated his 81st birthday. Nice double-checking there, Mr. Vir Sanghvi.

Did Sathya Sai Baba Engage In Questionable Behavior With “little boys”?
Those opposing Sathya Sai Baba wage an unremitting smear campaign against him that accuses him of “serial pedophilia” and the sexual abuse of “boys” and “children”. These allegations are fallacious, unsustantiated and wholly untrue. There are no testimonies from “boys”, “children” or parents of children that support the erroneous claim that Sathya Sai Baba is a pedophile who engaged in sexual interactions with children. To date, there are no court cases, police complaints, affidavits, public grievances or lawsuits from any parent alleging that Sathya Sai Baba sexually abused his/her child. Not even one single legitimate complaint. Sathya Sai Baba has never been charged with any crime, has never been convicted of any crime and has never had even one single complaint lodged against him, first-hand, by any alleged victim (child, teenager, parent or adult) in India.

Vir Sanghvi cannot cite even one single police complaint or court case that supports his erroneous claim that Sathya Sai Baba engaged in questionable behavior with “little kids”. One would think that a journalist of Vir Sanghvi’s calibre would have the basic integrity to research and confirm allegations before publishing unsupported opinions, speculations and conspriacy theories in the Hindustan Times. To date, neither Vir Sanghvi or anyone else have been able to confirm even one single case where Sathya Sai Baba engaged in questionable behavior with “little kids”.

Are The Homosexual Allegations “too numerous to dispute”?
To support his claim that the homosexual abuse allegations against Sathya Sai Baba are “too numerous to dispute”, Vir Sanghvi suggested that one enter “Sathya Sai Baba” and “homosexuality” into a Google search. Because there are almost 18,000 returns, Vir Sanghvi concluded that these allegations are “too numerous to dispute” and some of these allegations must be true. What kind of journalist bases facts and figures on Google results? This is not only shabby research, it is poor journalism.

For example, enter “George Bush” and “homosexuality” into a Google search and you will get an astounding 3,250,000 (plus) returns: View Results. Enter “Jesus” and “homosexuality” into a Google search and you will get an astounding 2,200,000 (plus) returns: View Results. Enter “Mother Teresa” and “homosexuality” into a Google search and you will get 700,000 (plus) returns: View Results. Using Vir Sanghvi’s lamentable logic, one must conclude that some of these results are indicative that George Bush, Jesus and Mother Teresa engaged in acts of homosexuality. What kind of journalist uses this type of propaganda as “evidence” against others? In my opinion, the only type of journalists who engage in this type of low-class propaganda are tabloid journalists who care less for facts and care more for sensationalism and fiction.

Furthermore, enter “Vir Sanghvi” and “homosexuality” into a Google search: View The 3,200+ Results. Enter “Vir Sanghvi” and “gay” into a Google search: View The 2,800+ Results. Enter “Vir Sanghvi” and “stupid” into a Google search: View The 1,600+ Results. Enter “Vir Sanghvi” and “offensive” into a Google search: View The 2,000+ Results. Enter “Vir Sanghvi” and “corrupt” into a Google search: View The 1,600+ Results. Enter “Vir Sanghvi” and “bias” into a Google search: View The 2,000+ Results.

Since Vir Sanghvi is not an internationally revered guru like Sathya Sai Baba (who has millions of followers), these results are high for one person. Are we to conclude that Mr. Sanghvi engaged in acts of “homosexuality” and that he is “stupid”, “gay”, “corrupt”, “biased” and “offensive” based on Google’s results? Using Sanghvi’s standard, the answer is “yes”. After all this is the standard and “evidence” that he attempted to use against Sathya Sai Baba. Why can’t others use the same standard against Mr. Sanghvi?

For those who are not gullible, naive or sensationalists, Google’s results are not indicative of guilt, evidence, complaints, behavior or anything else for that matter. Google’s results simply return webpages (many duplicates) with all possible combinations of keywords located on any given webpage. This explains the Google results obtained for George Bush, Jesus and Mother Teresa. This also explains why Vir Sanghvi had 3,200+ Google results when his name was combined with the word “homosexuality”.

Is There A List Of Western Complainants That Run “into triple figures”?
I am not aware of any list composed of Westerner complainants that “runs into triple figures”. Where did Vir Sanghvi obtain this information from?

On the sites run by ex-devotees of Sathya Sai Baba, they provide a list of alleged sexual abuse victims. The list is composed of sixteen names (many are fake names). That’s it. See For Yourself. All of these alleged victims (except one 16 year old) are adults 18 to 31 years of age. No “little boys” are listed. Perhaps Mr. Sanghvi could inform us as to which reliable source he viewed to support his claim that there is a “list of complainants” that runs “into triple figures” (for Westerners only)?

It is my strong suspicion that Vir Sanghvi is either referring to the bogus online-petition against Sathya Sai Baba on SaiPetition.net (in which anyone can submit multiple fake entries under multiple fake names) or he is referring to Robert Priddy’s bogus list of “Prominent Ex-Devotees Of Sai Baba” (a majority who were never “fondled” by Sathya Sai Baba and whose names were mostly lifted from the bogus online-petition website). Why is it that a notable journalist like Vir Sanghvi cannot back up his claims with verifiable and reliable sources? Are these the low standards that Vir Sanghvi must utilize in order to promote his Anti-Sai bias and poorly-constructed arguments in the Hindustan Times? Sadly, this appears to be the case.

Can All Of Sathya Sai Baba’s Miracles Easily Be Performed By Conjurors?
Mr. Sanghvi claimed that “every single one” of Sathya Sai Baba’s miracles can be easily performed by even “moderately-talented conjurors”. Although it is true that any alleged materialization that Sathya Sai Baba performs will be inextricably tied to doubt, I have yet to see any “conjuror” who can heal people from incurable diseases, appear to people all around the world (in dreams, visions and physical form) and manifest vibuthi, amrita, kumkum, tumeric, holy water, mishri, coins, statues of gods and goddesses, siva lingams, crystals, gems, fragrances, flowers, lights, and various other substances on the altars of devotees all around the world and in the privacy of their own homes (like Sathya Sai Baba is reputed as doing).

There are literally thousands of such stories and first-hand accounts. Even some ex-devotees (to this day) still attest to Sathya Sai Baba’s paranormal abilities.

The following links show a small sampling of manifestations and materializations typically associated with Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. These manifestations occur in the privacy of devotee’s homes all around the world, thousands of miles away from Sathya Sai Baba’s physical form. Any “conjuror” up to duplicating these alleged miracles?:

• Manifestations At Sai Sruti Temple in Harrow, Middlesex, UK
• Vibhuti Manifestation in a Devotee’s House in London
• Vibuthi Manfestations In Bali, Indonesia
• Manifestations In Colusa, California
• Manifestations At Sri Ragnapatnam, Mysore, India

Vir Sanghvi - In Conclusion:
I think Mr. Vir Sanghvi owes Sathya Sai Baba an apology and should immediately retract his erroneous, inaccurate and dishonest comments until a time comes when he can factually document his current speculations and assumptions with verifiable, accurate and truthful data from reliable and reputable sources. The style of Vir Sanghvi’s article is emotional, as opposed to objective. This behavior is not what one would expect from the editorial director of the Hindustan Times. Or is it?

The internet version of Vir Sanghvi’s article allows for people to submit responses. Although several responses (pro and con) were published, mine was not, hence this webpage. Just more proof of the suppression and dictator-like control weilded by Vir Sanghvi on the Hindustan Times and his abject failure to accept responsiblity for his blind guesswork, second-rate research, overemotionalism and ludicrous claims against Sathya Sai Baba.

Vir Sanghvi Reference