Some Mainstream Gurubusting

File under: The Siddhi of PR and Hands Where They Don't Belong

A British news organization that covers Asia has taken a stab at gurubusting. The article is ostensibly about the Indian state of Maharashtra outlawing superstition and the practice of black magic. While we're not up on black magic in India, we know that if you take the superstition out of Hinduism, all you have left is Vedanta, and that's a very good thing as far as we're concerned.

This is bad news for Sai Baba and India's other miracle-mongering gurus, most of who rely on the repeated demonstration of their "siddhis" to get their message out (and their hands in the pocketbooks of their followers.)

Asian News takes a particularly close look at the Babaster:

Such an exalted person could not, of course, have had a normal birth. His was a steer on the Christ birth legend. Baba's mother was fetching water when a blue ball of fire emerged from the village well and entered her stomach, she fainted, woke-up and found herself pregnant. The result was Baba born 23, November 1926.

The little lad has come a long way since then. His cult has made the Puttuparthi ashram a sizeable market town with hotels and an airstrip.

Baba lives in a large house with a balcony like a prop from a kitchy Bollywood film. He runs a BMW sedan and a Mercedes-Benz limo.

Part of the power of these top gurus is that they are frequently sought out by politicians. Politics in India is often an uncertain profession but often the door to great wealth. To be seen paying homage to these figures is good for gaining support especially in the gurus home state.

And no investigation of the Babaster is complete without a reference to his darker desires:

Baba's kingdom has now been tarnished with accusations of corruption and homosexual child abuse. Worldwide many of his centres are shutting down.

One down, a few thousand to go. Kudos to Asian News for putting this matter to paper and pixel. We'd love to see them go after the Kracki with an equal enthusiasm.

Form follows function, corruption follows greed and cash follows gurus who sell themselves as living deities. It's about time the Asian press, especially in India, took a look at the money mills of the Hindu godmen who poison the minds of their masses with a self-serving goulash of superstitious nonsense. If they all became pimps serving sex instead, they still wouldn't be doing more damage to the spiritual aspirations of their devotees than they are now.