Response from Sanjay Dadlani

I have received a response from Mr. Sanjay Dadlani. Here it is:

Dear Mr. Rengachary,

Humble pranams. I wanted to thank you for the couple
of comments that you left on my blog the other day,
and I was unable to do so due to being busy with
affairs in my professional life until now.

I came across today’s entry in your blog that mentions
me by name:

http://dinakaran.blogspot.com/2006/01/sathya-sai-controversy.html
where you speak briefly of your thoughts on the Sathya
Sai Controversy. I hope you won’t mind if I proceed to
give you a few salient facts about the affair.

First of all, I would like to submit my apologies that
you are being harassed by pro-Sai Baba activists in an
evident smear campaign. I would also like to inform
you that the controversy about Sathya Sai Baba has
much more depth than a conflict between a few
individuals. If you would like to familiarise yourself
with the basic points of the controvery, I invite you
to view just two of our sites:

http://www.exbaba.com
http://www.saiguru.net I’m sure that you will be able to understand that the
efforts of those who contribute articles are those
that, out of genuine concern, seek to bring very real
concerns and discrepancies to light about Sathya Sai
Baba. Such discrepancies refer to moral, spiritual and
philosophical deviations by Sathya Sai Baba, and so
much more!

In your blog, you state that “Sanjay Dadlani seems to
have a one-point agenda. Discredit SSB. He does a good
job of it. His blog reads well and he has taken pains
to prove his points.”

Many thanks for your comments about my writing, but I
would like to humbly inform you that I do not have an
“agenda” as such. I am an ex-devotee of the Baba who
worshipped him as a divinity for just over a decade of
my life. As you may or may not know, Sathya Sai Baba
faces serious allegations that relate to homosexual
activities with children and young males, financial
scandals, cultish brainwashing, implication in several
murders and the like. These issues are currently being
researched and investigated by a large and able group
of ex-devotees with the eventual intention to take
legal action against the Baba.

We have achieved considerable success in this
endeavour. For example, UNESCO withdrew their
participation from a planned conference that was due
to be held at the Baba’s ashram some years ago. Also,
there have been two major television documentaries
(one of them by the BBC) that have effected public
concern over the allegations of homosexual activity,
false miracles, and so on. Several newspaper articles
have been published in major newspapers all around the
world. If you would like to know more, I’d be happy to
give you links to this material.

The intentions behind my blog are simply to discuss
what I see as serious philosophical and theological
deviations in Sai Baba’s teachings, and it is
something that I feel has received little treatment
thus far. It is a private project of mine where I feel
able to provide a new ‘angle’ on Sai Baba’s failings,
not simply to ‘discredit’ him for the sake of it.
According to the feedback that I’ve been receiving
from other ex-devotees and other curious people, it
appears that my efforts in this regard are a
resounding success.

As you have doubtless seen so far, there are those who
are jealous of our success. The vast majority of them
find themselves unable to defend Sai Baba and, in
their rage, choose to unfairly vent their anger on us
ex-devotees. One of these is Gerald ‘Joe’ Moreno, also
known as ‘Equalizer’, who has admitted that he is not
a devotee of Sai Baba and thus has no real reason to
invest so much time and energy into attacking
ex-devotees. I trust from your blog writings that you
have read a little of his website.

But since your current blog refers to “mud” on me, the
observation that I make is that the charges against me
are vastly misrepresented and completely baseless.
Despite all of the proofs that he supposedly has, he
has misinterpreted them entirely and thus wages an
unnecessary war that is based on his
misunderstandings. I eventually intend to address all
of his charges against me, but at the moment the time
is taken up with pressing Sai Baba matters. If you
kindly read the recent posts at my blog:

http://saibabaexposed.blogspot.com/2006/01/sai-baba-devotees-sued-by-sai-baba.html
http://saibabaexposed.blogspot.com/2006/01/shirdi-inheritance.html
http://saibabaexposed.blogspot.com/2006/01/sai-baba-legal-dispute-more-reportage.html you’ll see the reportage (and my comments) on the
latest issue to hit the headlines in the Mumbai
newspapers.

I am happy to see how you astutely observed that much
of the attacks against me (and other ex-devotees) make
no attempt to address the issues at hand, and that the
malicious intent to smear us with below-the-belt and
ad-hominem attacks is based in misplaced rage.

For example, I invite you to view a blog that Moreno
has created very recently:

http://dadlaninanda.blogspot.com/ At the very least, it is obvious that his valiant
efforts in defending Sai Baba simply consist of
attacking me and tarnishing my reputation in a most
slanderous and disgusting manner. Not to mention the
fact that he has stolen an image of myself from my
website and regularly presents ridiculous composite
images such as the one you see. Such childish
behaviour hardly deserves any comment.

As you saw for yourself, Moreno (Equalizer) commented
on your blog after my entry and failed to address
anything I had said, instead choosing to attack me and
provide links to his defamatory pages. Needless to
say, you won’t easily find anything from him that
addresses any of my points about Sai Baba.

I found that your brief summary of the “Telugu
translation” affair with Sai Baba’s discourses is just
one example of the silliness that we have to deal with
on a regular basis.

Regarding the Baba’s speeches, it is open knowledge
that he speaks in Telugu while knowing enough English
to correct his live translator. The speeches are then
duly translated (and edited) and published in the
ashram’s monthly magazine. Eventually the literary
authorities will compile them to make a new book of
the Swami’s speeches, and it is also a well-known fact
that every publication by the ashram needs personal
approval from the Baba.

Incidentally, you’ll see that when I quote Sai Baba’s
words to make a point, you’ll see that I provide links
to official material that is hosted on the Sai
Organisation’s official websites.

Therefore, all claims of relying on “mistaken”
translations and the like have no basis in truth. It
is impossible to argue that we use “unauthorised”
quotes when we are quoting from official sources! I
trust that you can see the futility of this reasoning.

Although I can tell you that the real reason behind
the attackers’ criticism is their misplaced defence of
Sai Baba, who has been known to make several silly
mistakes in his rendering of spiritual teachings,
biographical facts, scientific theories, and so on.
When these speeches are published, it is sometimes
found that Sai Baba’s points contradict things that he
has said on the same subject on earlier occasions.
Just see:

http://saibabaexposed.blogspot.com/2005/12/parthi-babas-boo-boo-on-shirdi-baba.html
http://saibabaexposed.blogspot.com/2005/12/sai-babas-contradictions-on-jesus.html to get an idea of what I’m saying. So this is why our
critics argue that Sai Baba’s speeches are
“mistranslated” from the original Telugu language, and
that this accounts for all of his ‘mistakes’. The only
problem with this is that Sai Baba personally corrects
the translator when he is giving his speeches, and he
has also personally appointed everyone who is working
in the literary department of his ashram to do the job
of editing and publication. Not to mention that the
completed works are presented for his personal
approval. Isn’t it safe, then, to come to an obvious
conclusion?

Mr. Rengachary, everything that I have told you about
here is merely the tip of the iceberg. Every day we
are finding newer and newer things which we eventually
hope to document in full. Our intentions are noble in
that we hope to enlighten the public about the reality
of Sathya Sai Baba so that they be not duped by the
controlled propaganda, not to mention seeking justice
for the innocent victims who have suffered horrifying
and traumatic sexual and emotional abuse at the hands
of this avatar.

I hope that I have allayed your concerns somewhat over
this contentious issue, and I trust that this meets
you in the very best of good health and happiness.

Kind regards,

S. Dadlani