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Q.My girlfriend is a true believer of Sai Baba and basis everyday decisions on how she is guided by him. IS this another cult? Is their validity to the accusation?

A.Once when I was attending the 1996 American Telugu Association conference in Houston, I had an opportunity to meet in person a very active follower of Sai Baba. I think his name was something like Raghunath Prasad. He was a medical doctor speaking in front of a Vedic Panel Discussion conference. The panel discussion featured a number of very traditional looking smaartha pandits. Dr. Prasad was the only odd one there; while others wore dhotis and traditional markings, Dr. Prasad was wearing a t-shirt and pants. Anyway, his turn came to speak, and as a representative of the Houston Sai center, he talked about how the Vedas teach that everyone is God, and quoted some Upanishadic statments to that effect, like "aham brahmasmi" and "tat tvam asi." After he spoke, there was a recess, and I took the time to approach him. I politely brought up the issues on which he had lectured. Specifically, I clarified that he meant what he said when he thought "aham brahmasmi" means that we are all God. I also clarified with him that he accepted Bhagavad-Gita as having been spoken by God and thus scripture. I then pointed out that the statements he had quoted could not mean that we are all God, and I quoted "param brahma param dhaamo..." from Bhagavad-Gita. At this point, it was pretty obvious that he did not expect to be challenged. He held up his hands and started shaking his head and muttered "No no no no no" like a used car salesman. I told him that it was illogical to think that we are all God; God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, whereas we are none of these. He then responded that we are not these bodies, but that which is inside the body (the soul). I said that was fine, but the fact remains that we as controllers of our respective bodies make mistakes, and are thus subject to illusion. He simply muttered "no no no no no no..." I pointed out that there were no statements in the Gita which unambiguously stated that we were all God. He then responded that my approach (by which he meant quoting from scripture) was like the Christian fundamentalist approach. I asked him how he could have the nerve to say such a thing when five minutes previously he admitted that he accepted the Bhagavad-Gita as scripture. Apparently, what he really meant by that is that he would venerate scripture as long as he could make it seem that it supported his views, but would reject any contrary opinion based on the same scripture as fundamentalism. I then pointed out to him the obvious mistake in rejecting scripture in favor of one's own personal opinions. He kept trying to ascertain what religious tradition I was coming from. I simply sideswiped such inquiries and said that I was simply putting forward my doubts about his teachings; one need not come from a particular religious tradition in order to have doubts about beliefs which are inherently illogical and inconsistent. He then claimed that he was not lecturing or teaching, but was simply giving his own ideas based on personal experience. I then said that my personal experience was that I am not God. He then went on and on about how there is no right or wrong, and that my "beliefs" were right for me while his beliefs were right for him. I pointed out that *Absolute* Truth means that it is beyond subjectivity. Anyway, the reason I am going on like this is as follows. I think cult is often used to refer to any spiritual movement which is still in its infancy and is centered around a particular spiritual leader and his teachings. The reason something is called a cult is because it rejects, either implicitly or explicitly, accepted scriptural sources in favor of the leader's teachings. Often some divinity is ascribed to the cult leader as a justification for his teaching of ideas which are contrary to those of other, more established religions. Also, the claim that one's leader is God is a useful means of discouraging careful scrutiny of his beliefs. Ultimately James, I think it is up to you to decide whether or not Sai is a cult. As the good Dr. Prasad taught me, we each have our own beliefs, and one person might believe Sai is God (which is right for her) while another might believe that Sai is simply a cult leader (which might be right for him). I think you should judge for yourself, and this is how I propose that you do that: Since Sai Baba is considered to be God by his followers, then it is reasonable to assume that his philosophy must be without flaw. God is beyond defects, so it is reasonable to assume that when He claims to speak about the Absolute Truth, then His teachings should also be without defect. So, I suggest you accept those assumptions temporarily and ask Sai followers questions about what they believe and why they believe that (emphasis on later part). In my opinion, a religion which cannot stand up to polite scrutiny of its beliefs is probably not one that is worth practicing. At the very least, one would expect that a belief system should make some sense based on its assumptions, and that it would stick to its assumptions (like accepting or not accepting something as scripture) rather than simply teaching what others want to hear at that time. I would expect that members of a religion would at least try to give me intelligent answers to relieve me of doubts, while a cult follower would simply tell me what he thinks I want to hear in an attempt to get me to join. When I spoke to Dr. Prasad that day, I got the sense that questioning in his "religion" was most unwelcome and generally unheard of. It was obvious that he had no clear answers to anything I asked. I very much got the impression that he was simply trying to sell me something, rather than being concerned for my spiritual welfare. Everytime I put forward a different doubt, he would try to pin me down into some kind of religious stereotype and then say that my doubts were simply based on that. I think that one need not be a part of any religion in order access one's intellectual faculties. I got the impression that Dr. Prasad simply expected me to accept his beliefs without question. That I think is a characteristic of a cult. Cultists will go on believing what they believe in spite of the fact that you have pointed out obvious flaws in their beliefs which they cannot reconcile.

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