SB MISUSES MONEY ONCE AGAIN

by José Santiago

We are used to hearing about the wrong and wasteful use of money by the Sai Baba's Central Trust. Some devotees may blame the officers of this trust, or once again say this is "Divine leelas or games".  But in my
opinion, one should not play with the health and comfort of the devotees. Here's the ultimate waste:

 Swami built a spectacular museum of religions outside the ashram in Puttaparthi, near the stadium. It opened in January 2001. I visited it while I was still a devotee. It is built in a Chinese architecture style.
It has something like four floors and is at least twice the size of the old museum. It has a little movie theater, lots of TV sets, electronic signs everywhere, computers, etc. I am not saying the museum gives a poor message, because it does show the history of the different religions. But Swami and his team have not realized one area that really demands an investment and could be 100 times more useful: In the ashram in Whitefield, the accommodations for the devotees, are a disaster. For example, the rooms have no beds. You have to buy a mattress, to be used on the floor, outside the ashram for 100 or more rupees, which is actually a second hand mattress most of the times. The rooms have no private bathrooms. When I went to shave, which I do every morning, I noticed that all the men had to look at their faces in a small broken mirror, or buy one. Some of the rooms are damp, you can easily catch a cold there or develop rheumatism if you stay for a long time. Sometimes you have to share the room with five other people. In the room assigned to me, all the guys had a cold. One doesn't have the slightest bit of privacy.  Obviously those rooms are cheap, but if you decide that you prefer to stay outside the ashram, you have to pay a minimum of 200 rupees per day. The people who are short of funds, have no other choice but to stay in the ashram.

For the VIPS and for some devotees that bring their families, there are rooms in the ashram that are better and have private bathrooms. But still these rooms are very few. The only good thing I find that is very well organized in the ashram is the store for shopping, even though it is rather small.
 

So if a devotee is reading this, it's up to you to choose between justifying or excusing everything that SSB does, or seriously considering plain facts, as shown above.

SAI BABA'S  PREFERENCE FOR FOREIGNERS WHEN IT COMES TO INTERVIEWS

It is the most common thing in the ashram: the desire and craving for an interview with Sai Baba. Something that many people have not considered is the fact that about ninety percent of the times, Baba chooses groups of foreigners, especially from Europe. About ten percent of the times he selects Indians. In the mandir (the temple where Baba gives darshan and holds interviews), 30 percent of the people there are foreigners, the rest are Indians. Even at Christmas, it is not likely that  foreigners may exceed fifty percent of the audience.
   W ho can give bigger donations, foreigners or Indians? It is very obvious that Europeans, Americans, Australians, can make larger donations, than most of the Indians there. A happy Scandinavian with three interviews in his trip, is worth more for the economic goals of Baba, than an Indian who has the same number of interviews. The average income of a Scandinavian is 2000 dollars a month or maybe more. In USA and the rest of the European countries is about the same. The average Indian can earn around 50 dollars a month (maybe even less).
 It is a fact that groups from Denmark and Sweden are Baba´s favorites  for interviews. A devotee who is reading this article might think "this is an angry ex devotee who never got an interview". But it is not so, I had three interviews with the Venezuelan group and was very satisfied.  Although I am not as proud of it as I was when I was a devotee.

Baba's defenders point out that he gives interview for foreigners  because they come from very far and it's a difficult trip, while Indians live near Baba. But that is not real. For most Europeans or Americans that go there, it is an affordable trip and they have the choice of staying in the ashram or a comfortable hotel. But for almost all Indians, they have to spend most or all of their savings to visit Baba, if they can put the money together. Even for an Indian who lives in Kerala or in the very state Andrah Pradesh, train tickets and accommodations can be very expensive.
Another devotee spoke up for Baba saying that he didn't give lot of interviews to Indians because they are many who are not educated people. It is true that a large number of peasants who don't respect the lines and smell badly come to the ashram. But it is clear that there are a lot of Indians who are very educated, respectful and dress properly, maybe not with all the costly panjabis that the westerners wear to look like Indians, but they are very presentable..
Other favorites of Baba for interviews are the Indian VIP's and the government officials that visit the ashram.  And if the case is that Baba chooses for the interviews only the people that are prepare for it, dose that mean that the westerners as a rule are better prepared than the Indians. 

It IS NOT a spiritual weakness to doubt when things are wrong or unfair. It IS, however a spiritual weakness to overlook, excuse or ignore things that are unfair or wrong.

Jose Santiago from Venezuela