Sai Baba of Putthaparthi was totally different from Meher Baba in that the two had separate careers and in different parts of India.
And their methods of showmanship were different.
Sathya Sai Baba
[culteducation.com]
SSB claimed to be a reincarnation of Shirdi Sai Baba, a blameless Sufi
dervish who lived in poverty and who had crafted a simple message accessible to both Hindus and Muslims and died very early in the 20th century.
Sai Baba lived well into the 20th century and beyond. He was thus able to receive and benefit from the thousands of spiritual seekers who poured into India, fantasies fuelled by having read Autobiography of a Yogi. Autobiography of a Yogi, along with Wenz's Theosophicaly flavored translation of the Tibetan Book of the Dead and the Castaneda Don Juan books were all favorite books on the Hippie Trail.
SSB created a vast ashram that drew hundreds, sometimes thousands of people. He went about with a huge Afro, long sleeved orange robe and claimed to materialize sacred objects. Sai Baba photos sometimes generated ash. Tim Ward's memoir, The Great Dragon's Fleas has a detailed and fascinating first person description of a visit to SSB's ashram. People bought the required ashram clothes, paid for cheap bland ashram food and sat for hours craving and hoping SSB would stop as he walked by and take a note from them. The Westerners did not realize that they had been manipulated into behaving exactly the way Indian peasants comported themselves, seated on the ground in the heat and cold, abjectly waiting for hours, desperate in hopes and dreams, waiting for the Zamindar//thakur/chieftain to put in an appearance.
In India and south Asia, being made to wait in this manner is a power move.
Westerners as Trophies for Gurus
[forum.culteducation.com]
SSB's'miracles' were debunked by brave Indian rationalists.
[www.google.com]
SSB brought in millions of dollars, had politicians in his retinue, and created the usual schools and hospitals, yet still amassed a cash fortune of millions. Over the years many reports surfaced that SSB had a taste for boys and young men.
[www.google.com]
His devotees ferociously protected him.
[www.google.com]
SSB died some years ago.
Meher Baba famously went silent for over 30 years, communicated via an alphabet board. He managed
to give a lot of messages and actively maintained written correspondence.
He was famous for his anti drug stance against LSD, saying God could not be found in a pill. Died in 1969 before the mass tourist crush, so had a modest following compared with Sathya Sai Baba.
MB kept an alert eye on which places in the USA were worth purchasing for development as ashrams.
I regard Meher Baba's motto, "Mastery in Servitude" as chilling, rather than inspirational.
Many MB followers have a multitude of MB photos, as though one or two are not sufficient.
And their methods of showmanship were different.
Sathya Sai Baba
[culteducation.com]
SSB claimed to be a reincarnation of Shirdi Sai Baba, a blameless Sufi
dervish who lived in poverty and who had crafted a simple message accessible to both Hindus and Muslims and died very early in the 20th century.
Sai Baba lived well into the 20th century and beyond. He was thus able to receive and benefit from the thousands of spiritual seekers who poured into India, fantasies fuelled by having read Autobiography of a Yogi. Autobiography of a Yogi, along with Wenz's Theosophicaly flavored translation of the Tibetan Book of the Dead and the Castaneda Don Juan books were all favorite books on the Hippie Trail.
SSB created a vast ashram that drew hundreds, sometimes thousands of people. He went about with a huge Afro, long sleeved orange robe and claimed to materialize sacred objects. Sai Baba photos sometimes generated ash. Tim Ward's memoir, The Great Dragon's Fleas has a detailed and fascinating first person description of a visit to SSB's ashram. People bought the required ashram clothes, paid for cheap bland ashram food and sat for hours craving and hoping SSB would stop as he walked by and take a note from them. The Westerners did not realize that they had been manipulated into behaving exactly the way Indian peasants comported themselves, seated on the ground in the heat and cold, abjectly waiting for hours, desperate in hopes and dreams, waiting for the Zamindar//thakur/chieftain to put in an appearance.
In India and south Asia, being made to wait in this manner is a power move.
Westerners as Trophies for Gurus
[forum.culteducation.com]
SSB's'miracles' were debunked by brave Indian rationalists.
[www.google.com]
SSB brought in millions of dollars, had politicians in his retinue, and created the usual schools and hospitals, yet still amassed a cash fortune of millions. Over the years many reports surfaced that SSB had a taste for boys and young men.
[www.google.com]
His devotees ferociously protected him.
[www.google.com]
SSB died some years ago.
Meher Baba famously went silent for over 30 years, communicated via an alphabet board. He managed
to give a lot of messages and actively maintained written correspondence.
He was famous for his anti drug stance against LSD, saying God could not be found in a pill. Died in 1969 before the mass tourist crush, so had a modest following compared with Sathya Sai Baba.
MB kept an alert eye on which places in the USA were worth purchasing for development as ashrams.
I regard Meher Baba's motto, "Mastery in Servitude" as chilling, rather than inspirational.
Many MB followers have a multitude of MB photos, as though one or two are not sufficient.