# Several members of my family worship Satya Sai Baba, pedophile **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 12, 2005, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/several-members-of-my-family-worship-satya-sai-baba-pedophile/298882 "2005-04-12T00:31:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/several-members-of-my-family-worship-satya-sai-baba-pedophile/298882/1 "2005-04-12T00:31:04Z")
And the evidence is growing larger and larger that he is a pedophile and sexual abuser of both boys and young men. It troubles me that my family would worship such a man, but I have no clue how to bring it to their attention, if I should even try. He has done some truly wonderful things such as open a free cardiology & optometry hospital in Puttaparthi, one of the poorest areas of India. However, the sexual abuse is seemingly not a lie. How would you guys deal with this? I know this is a fight waiting to happen, should I even mention it. Perhaps I should keep my mouth shut? Some of my family have young sons, but the likelihood of them actually meeting Satya Sai Baba and having something happen to them seems pretty miniscule, and there’s plenty of danger in the world as it is. However, I don’t feel such a man deserves our worship. In Indian culture, though, we don’t mention sex and certainly not between members of the same sex! And I am already kind of an outsider, having chosen to live with & eventually marry outside of the race. My words will be taken with several grains of salt, I’m sure of it. Advice, please? Anybody? ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/several-members-of-my-family-worship-satya-sai-baba-pedophile/298882/2 "2005-04-12T00:33:22Z")
I’m sorry, who is Satya? Is he like an Indian Bill Gates? ---
**Author:** ![Sarah\_Woodruff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sarah\_Woodruff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarah_Woodruff)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/several-members-of-my-family-worship-satya-sai-baba-pedophile/298882/3 "2005-04-12T00:41:49Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > I’m sorry, who is Satya? Is he like an Indian Bill Gates? [This is Satya Sai Baba.](http://www.dci.dk/en/mtrl/saibabaeng.html) ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/several-members-of-my-family-worship-satya-sai-baba-pedophile/298882/4 "2005-04-12T00:48:16Z")
Ah. Thank you. Do you have hard core proof to show your family? ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/several-members-of-my-family-worship-satya-sai-baba-pedophile/298882/5 "2005-04-12T00:52:00Z")
Thanks, Sarah. Forgot to include the all-important linky. [Wikipedia.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satya_Sai_Baba) [His own site.](http://www.sathyasai.org) ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/several-members-of-my-family-worship-satya-sai-baba-pedophile/298882/6 "2005-04-12T00:54:18Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > Ah. Thank you. > > Do you have hard core proof to show your family? No. But it would be easy enough to gather it, there are accusations all over the Internet, books written by people who have been abused. But what can you do in the face of the belief? There is an Internet author out there, who believes Sai Baba is sexually involved with his devotees, and believes it truly has a spiritual base! I am trying to find the link now. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/several-members-of-my-family-worship-satya-sai-baba-pedophile/298882/7 "2005-04-12T00:54:21Z")
If he isn’t advocating pedophilia, or sexual molestation of boys/young men, and you’re not entirely certain, I don’t think much good would come of saying anything. Maybe you don’t think he’s deserving of worship (and if he is indeed a pedophile, I wouldn’t either) but you’ll almost never succeed in convincing anyone else who they should or shouldn’t respect. If the evidence is mounting, chances are they’ll find out for themselves - sans a deepening rift between you and your family, and without you coming across as attacking their values. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/several-members-of-my-family-worship-satya-sai-baba-pedophile/298882/8 "2005-04-12T03:45:38Z")
I personally don’t see how bringing it up would help, everyone has skeletons in their closet (pedophilia is a pretty damn big skeleton mind you). Mohammed supposedly had a nine year old wife, but pointing that out to someone who believes strongly in Islam and who uses it to improve their life will not really help anyone. ---
**Author:** ![tsarina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f4b2a3/32.png) [@tsarina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tsarina)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/several-members-of-my-family-worship-satya-sai-baba-pedophile/298882/9 "2005-04-12T13:27:35Z")
I’ve wondered if I should say something about this to a friend of mine whose family are devotees of the guy. But what’s a good way to bring it up without making it look like I’m attacking her beliefs? Send her an e-mail linked to the [Salon.com](http://Salon.com) article I read about him? Casually bring it up in conversation? (“So, Nithya, how’s your new job, and by the way, how’s that child molester guy you worship doing? Buggered anybody new these days?”) Since I know I couldn’t have a nice, rational discussion about child molestation, I’ve kept my mouth shut, and I wish I had the balls not to. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/several-members-of-my-family-worship-satya-sai-baba-pedophile/298882/10 "2005-04-12T14:04:42Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > Ah. Thank you. > > Do you have hard core proof to show your family? In that regard, an interesting site: [Clinical Diagnosis of Satya Sai Baba’s Sexual Offenses](http://ascension2000.com/baba1.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/several-members-of-my-family-worship-satya-sai-baba-pedophile/298882/11 "2005-04-12T15:07:06Z")
Hi Anaamika, my wife’s parents are Sathya Sai Baba devotees. There is absolutely nothing that I could tell them that would change their opinion of him being an incarnation of God. They stay at his ashram in India every few years. It would be like telling a Catholic that the Pope was a child molester. All hell would (maybe literally) break loose! One time my wife made the mistake of asking a Sai Baba devotee on why SB needs to drive an expensive Mercedes when he preaches about the evils of material possessions. Their response was that we regular humans are so far beneath him that we have no right to ask that question. OK then. But my wife still likes his messages. His messages are basically the same ones that Hindu priests and swamis have been promoting for ages. So don’t look at the man, listen to his words. And don’t let any kids near him! It would be like letting your kids go to the Neverland ranch for a weekend. I would certainly advise your relatives that if they ever were to meet him, and from what I hear he’s pretty accessible at the ashram, to keep a close watch on the kids. People have a tendency to wisen up once there is even the remotest chance of their kids being in danger. As usual, great men (by “great”, I mean men with many loyal followers) have their weaknesses. Gandhi, MLK, Clinton etc. all had some skeletons in their closets. ---
**Author:** ![anu-la1979](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@anu-la1979](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anu-la1979)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/several-members-of-my-family-worship-satya-sai-baba-pedophile/298882/12 "2005-04-12T15:48:15Z")
Haha, JJ, I asked that question once too and got a response like “where does the Bhagavad Gita say that people can’t accumulate riches? Wasn’t Krishna a prince?” and I was like “umm a) BG says follow your dharma and perhaps a self-professed man of god has something more important to do dharma-wise than tool around in a Mercedes and b) Krishna drove a chariot for Arjuna and I’d be hard-pressed to see Sai Baba taking ‘menial’ jobs.” My mom is sort of getting into the old-school Sai Baba whom I don’t think is as psycho and may have been a realised soul and all of that but I’m not a big fan of people-worshipping. So this gets to the point about the messages-everything Sai Baba says is in the Bhagavad-Gita, true, but his followers focus on him rather than the message and that is what is disturbing to me. But if he’s such a self-professed realised soul then he should know that pedophilia is a killer to your karma. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/several-members-of-my-family-worship-satya-sai-baba-pedophile/298882/13 "2005-04-13T04:01:47Z")
> [@anu-la1979](#): > > So this gets to the point about the messages-everything Sai Baba says is in the Bhagavad-Gita, true, but his followers focus on him rather than the message and that is what is disturbing to me. Interesting. Isn’t this true of most followers? People tell you: “Accept Jesus as your savior and you’ll go to heaven” instead of “Be like Jesus and you’ll get to heaven.” Ditto Hare Krishna. It’s like people have transposed their own humanly ambitions and motivations onto their deities. If I was in the pantheon, I’d be pretty upset by now. ---
**Author:** ![gouda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c77e96/32.png) [@gouda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gouda)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/several-members-of-my-family-worship-satya-sai-baba-pedophile/298882/14 "2005-04-13T07:25:33Z")
IMO, short of actual physical evidence, your words won’t have much of an effect on your family’s opinions on the guy. SSB somehow inspires boundless faith from his followers, and most would rather stay in denial than accept facts.