From: SWEDEN

Source : Magazine “Sokaren” (The Seeker) - 10th January 2000

Feature article with full front page photograph of Sai Baba

FOR THE SAKE OF TRUTH

Conny Larsson’s Story

Conny Larsson (a Swedish film star) has been very close to Sai Baba. Today Conny runs a home for young abusers and criminals near Valdemarsvik, a small town on the coast of the Baltic Sea in Sweden.

Conny says : - I went to his ashram in Puttaparthi. There Sai Baba walked up to me and said  ¡So you have arrived now!. Later I was invited to Sai Baba for talks almost every day. He kissed my cheek and was physically very close to me. That didn’t worry me; even in Sweden we sometimes do like that.

- But then he touched my trousers between my legs and started to massage my penis. ¡Don’t be afraid! he said ¡This is a divine touch!. He took out my penis and touched it, and I touched his penis. He explained that my kundalini was to be changed.- Because he was God, I let it happen. I became a kind of favourite to him. I had frequent private talks with Sai Baba. - We were always very close physically. He never came that close to women. He is interested in boys and men from the age of eight up to thirty.

- When you become thirty you are no longer interesting.

Conny Larsson became one of the movement’s spiritual leaders in Sweden. In 1983 there were rumours that Sai Baba was cheating with his materialisations and that he had sexual relations with young boys. Conny couldn't believe that this was true.

- But in 1986 I finally understood that he was doing the same things to other boys that he had done to me many years ago. I got to know the boys and asked them questions. They all told me the same story. The swami had oral sex with them, of whom many were heterosexual (sexually attracted to members of the opposite sex). The explanation was always that he was going to change their kundalini. You wonder whether women don't have the kundalini power.

Conny also became witness to Sai Baba’s cheating with materialisations.

- I decided never to tell anybody about this. I thought he tested my faith in him.

 

Conny felt worse and worse about what he had found out. Sai Baba had been the centre of his whole life for so long.

 

- In January 1999 I got in touch with a Swedish boy, who had six interviews with the swami. I noticed that the boy was shaken. He told me about the same things that had happened to me. It was about masturbation - the swami opened the boy's trousers and started to masturbate him. The boy withdrew but the swami insisted. Afterwards the boy turned to a medical doctor for help, but because of his age the doctor had never been exposed to the swami’s improper advances, so he told the boy he must have misunderstood the situation.

- During the last interview the boy had with the swami, the boy’s mother was present. She had come to take her two sons home with her. She said, "¡I saw how Sai Baba took things out from behind the cushion and then 'manifested' them miraculously'. Then everything crashed for me!" The boy left the ashram completely broken hearted.

- According to the latest information from India the shop is found where Sai Baba buys the things he “materialises”. It's a shop in Hyderabad.

- Some of us who have received gold things and “diamonds” from Sai Baba have had them examined by experts, and been told they are all junk pieces and not gold; the “diamonds” are zircons and stained glass.

In Sweden the Gimle school, which was grounded in Sai Baba's philosophy, has been closed because of Baba’s sexual actions. And Conny Larsson has stopped a movie about his life, in which Sai Baba’s importance to him was the core.

Conny points out that there are leaders in the movement who have known for a long time what the swami does with boys and young men. They say it is “divine”. There are also leaders who know about the cheating with miracles, and protect him. There are strong interests behind Sai Baba and his reputation to be an avatar.

What effects have these unveilings had on Conny? He says he’s had to change his concept of God. - Now I believe in God inside me, and in all human beings.

He adds :- I feel tired, and have compassion for all who have believed in Sai Baba and been duped. But at the same time I wish to thank all the Sai friends for our moments together at satsangs, camps and courses, where we generated love and truth in spite of the illusion we in good faith, all lived in.

Conny Larsson is currently touring many countries at his own expense, presenting his truth about Sai Baba. He is prepared to travel, and speak wherever and whenever he is invited to do so.
From : SWEDEN

Source : A Regional Meeting.

Subject : LETTER TO MEMBERS ABOUT WINDING UP THE SAI ORGANISATION IN SWEDEN

As you know, some of our young boys have testified that Sai Baba has molested them sexually. It is a matter of serious sexual abuse; among other things oral sex.

Furthermore it has turned out, that the materialisation of vibhuti, rings etc is a bluff. It is only usual magic, built of sleight of hand.

Large scale economical frauds and misuse of donated means exists in Prashanthi Nilayam. There are bad conditions in the hospital and the water project is uncompleted and full of problems.

Statements are supported by serious investigations and personal testimonies, about which can be read on internet.

Scotland Yard and other police organisations are making investigations of other crimes. The information about what is going on is of that kind.

We cannot hide behind the statement “we did not know”. All in the Swedish organisation know.

These are hard words, that hurt us all who have Baba in our hearts. But since in the organisation there have been attempts to cover up, tone down and lessen what has happened and still happens, we consider it necessary to be very clear and unambiguous in the formulation.

Naturally everyone is free to keep having Baba as his/her spiritual guide and personal image of God, in spite of what has come out. But is it possible for the Sai organisation in Sweden to remain?

Our answer is : For decency’s sake, no.

What can we say to the person who comes to the organisation to get information about Baba?
What kind of message will the organisation give on its home site on internet? Can one continue to sell books, which we know describe false facts? What can one tell the person, who has perhaps put his savings on a journey to Baba, and then comes home telling that Baba has molested his son, and they have seen things that make them doubt the authenticity of the materialisations, and they have heard rumours of economical irregularities?

Do we answer with ¡Well, we already knew. It has been known for years! ???

He, who through “advertising” Baba, entices others into going there or donating money, might have made himself guilty of the crime of encouraging criminality.

So what will the leaders of the organisation say on the day, when the press or police ring the door bell and want to know?

Do they say ¡Of course we knew, but since we have not personally had anything but good experiences of Baba, we did not feel that we needed to bother! ???

No dear friends, let us instead, through a forceful disassociation, send the message through the Sai hierarchy to Sai Baba himself. -This is what we have learnt and we cannot accept it! Stop the sexual violations immediately, give up the bluff materialisations and get competent and honest persons to run the activities.

If the unsatisfactory state of things stops through voluntary action, it may be possible to save the good parts. Otherwise the activity will sooner or later be broken down more violently through other measures from international police, press, international service organisations etc. Then all the good which exists will disappear along with the evil. And in such a scandal, India as a nation could be damaged.

Through winding up the Sai organisation in Sweden and spreading information about that through a statement to all central coordinators and to other appropriate key persons, we take our responsibility for the persons who have been abused and cheated, and for those who run the risk to be abused and cheated.

This action will likely result in other people in other countries start acting, and taking their responsibility.

We the undersigned, and many more of us, hereby demand that the president of the Sathya Sai Organisation in Sweden calls an extra annual meeting at once, where the decision to discontinue the association can be made in a correct way.

If the meeting comes to the decision that the association should not be discontinued, a restructuring and complementary elections to the coordinating committee has to be made, since some of the members will leave the organisation and whole centres will discontinue. Likewise a new treasurer and a new auditor has to be elected.

This is a tragic process for everybody. But the work on our spiritual growth does not stop with Baba, and some of us have already discussed the forms for continued meetings for ex-devotees.

So with, or without Baba, together or in different groups : Life goes on.