Muddenahalli group supporter advises us to lighten up and says we are "no fun at all"! My response

Last updated on 28th July 2018

A comment on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/vr.ganti.1/posts/10212812975383862) aimed at those of us who were opposing Muddenahalli group with our comments on that post, had these sentences in it: "... - you guys are such sour pusses. Lighten up. Jesus. Really you're no fun at all."

I wrote the following comment which I felt appropriate to share as a separate post:

We are advised to lighten up :-). Perhaps the philosophy and outlook advised to us is: "Life is a joke. Laugh at it" :-).

Interesting approach. But I have faced the fury of my beloved and revered Gurudev Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba (in physical form before April 2011 Mahasamadhi) when I made some bad mistakes. So I certainly cannot take the view that Bhagavan's publicly given instructions on multiple occasions that we should not follow communicators and mediums wrt Him, are a joke!

Bhagavan loved humour. But Bhagavan did not find Narasimhamurthy's statements to him about some boy's claims (some years back, perhaps sometime around 2000) about being a medium of Sathya Sai, humourous! Bhagavan gave Narasimhamurthy a tongue-lashing (according to publicly shared information from Satyajit Salian) and was furious with Narasimhamurthy.

I am afraid of such fury of Bhagavan. I don't mind being called a 'sour puss' by Muddenhalli group supporters and being told that I am "no fun at all". That can be ignored and will not cause harm to me. But if Bhagavan gets mad at me then I will be in deep trouble.

So, as far as I am concerned, Bhagavan's instructions regarding mediums and communicators (not to follow them) are NOT a joke. Life is a game, yes. But a game with some rules including rules about Karmic cause and effect, and about being faithful to one's spiritual master/ Gurudev and not diluting and distorting memories and legacy of the spiritual master. The game of life is NOT a joke to be laughed at. The legacy of one's Gurudev is NOT a joke to be laughed at.

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Given below are my comments (slightly edited) from associated Facebook post and comment thread: https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2227521714131060?comment_id=2227618410788057. [I have not provided comments of others as I would need to seek permission from them for it. So readers who would like to see the whole conversation should visit the above public post]

[In response to a comment, I (Ravi) wrote:]
--Name-snipped--, I have a theory about some supposedly (but not really) enlightened people in Muddenahalli group who promote the FALSE CLAIM about Madhusudan Naidu. This theory is based on my interactions with and understanding of quite a few people of Muddenahalli group who interacted with me on Facebook since early 2015 when I got active on this matter.

But I have some concerns about whether this theory of mine may touch some sensitive spots. Maybe I can try to share it here step-by-step and see the reactions. I can do it right here on this thread. What do you say?
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[In response to a comment, I (Ravi) wrote:]
I think its time to do it publicly. So here goes ...
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I think MDH group leaders including Narasimhamurthy, Isaac Tigrett and others think they are following a higher God than Sathya Sai.

I further think that they patronisingly look down upon people like us who revere Sathya Sai as an Avatar and try hard to follow his teachings and instructions at least on key matters (like NOT following mediums & communicators) ... It must also be said that most of us slip up here and there. We are not perfect -for sure, I am NOT perfect.
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Essentially they think themselves to be superior beings and us folks to be spiritually immature and NOT knowledgeable about great spiritual truths and things that they supposedly know.
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Now people like Narasimhamurthy had spent a lot of time in close physical proximity to Bhagavan. Now such close physical proximity is spiritually very good but also has some challenges.
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BTW feel free to add your comments including disagreement, if any.
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The challenge part is that the human aspects of the human+divine Avatar can lead physically close persons to concentrate on the human aspects and lose out on the divine aspects. Further the human aspects may lead them to *****doubt***** the divine aspects.
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Am I going too far in these comments of mine?
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Ok. I am deciding to go on anyway.
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Narasimhamurthy got caught up in the human aspects of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, due to which outwardly he put on a show of great belief in Sathya Sai, but inwardly he had doubt.
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So long as Bhagavan was in physical form, Narasimhamurthy did not dare try any stunt like dream-instruction communicator or Madhu Baba communicator, as Sathya Sai would have made chutney (paste) of Narasimhamurthy if he had tried those stunts when Swami was in physical form.
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But by around three months after Mahasamadhi, Narasimhamurthy found himself to be in a superb position to start doing his dream-instruction communicator stuff.
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He was clearly going against Sathya Sai instructions as such dream instructions are meant for individuals and perhaps their close family and friends, but not as instructions for the Sathya Sai fraternity to follow.
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I will even say that Narasimhamurthy would have known that Sathya Sai would not approve of his actions but Narasimhamurthy would have felt that he is getting intuitive instructions from a HIGHER GOD. [Narasimhamurthy seems to have laid great importance on intuition even during Swami physical form days, and would call some students as intuition boys.]
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Now the dharmic (ethical) thing for Narasimhamurthy to have done is to have publicly said that he is following instructions of his HIGHER GOD (NOT Sathya Sai).
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But then Narasimhamurthy (BNNM) would not have got donors and followers from the vital Sai educational system alumni group and the larger Sathya Sai fraternity (especially the rich foreign Sathya Sai devotees)!!!
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So he engaged in ****deceit****, in ****Adharma****, to claim that he is following Sathya Sai, when actually he was following some HIGHER GOD as per his view.
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I think it is similar in the case of Madhusudan Naidu, Isaac Tigrett and some other leaders of Muddenahalli group.
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They are ****wilfully**** deceiving Sathya Sai devotees worldwide but think that they are helping them as they view these devotees as spiritually dumb people who will NOT understand their HIGHER GOD concept, and so have to be told that it is Sathya Sai (and not their perceived HIGHER GOD) who is giving them instructions.
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So this is my theory.
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And if my theory is correct, then Muddenahalli group leaders have become ****FALSE PROPHETS**** who are misusing the HOLY NAME of Sathya Sai, and are leading Muddenahalli group followers into spiritual wilderness.
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Oh what a terrible fate it is for a spiritual aspirant, a sadhaka, to become a FALSE PROPHET!
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I shudder to think of the negative karmic consequences such ****FALSE PROPHETS**** who misuse the HOLY NAME of Shiva-Shakti Swarupa, Kali Yuga Avatar Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, will have to face.
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And may Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba protect those of His devotees who have been caught up in the ****TERRIBLE TRAP**** of these Muddenahalli group ****FALSE PROPHETS****.
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That finishes my main thoughts on this matter.
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[In response to a comment, I (Ravi) wrote:]
Oh! Madhusudan is good at mimicry, we were told. And people say he was into black magic (calling spirits...) kind of stuff when he was a student itself! Later he seems to have picked up more black magic stuff. But I don't know for sure.

About the malevolent spirit entity - that's what some have said. That could be true. Once again, I don't know for sure.

But the brain behind Muddenahalli group in the key initial years was Narasimhamurthy. He simply used Madhusudan to serve his goals.

Now, however, Madhusudan seems to have acquired a following in his own right and Narasimhamurthy may not have much control over Madhusudan. In fact, perhaps Madhusudan now controls Narasimhamurthy.
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[In response to a comment, I (Ravi) wrote:]
I don't know too much about Isaac Tigrett. But about Narasimhamurthy, I have made a lot of investigations as he is the key man who created Muddenahalli group. Without Narasimhamurthy, Muddenahalli group could not have happened. He is the celibate missionary out on a grandiose mission building exercise. The other senior leaders of Muddenahalli group do not have anything close to the track record that Narasimhamurthy had ****before Swami Mahasamadhi**** as a mission builder.

Now I am NOT saying that Narasimhamurthy did not believe in Swami's divine powers. He surely would have. However, what I am saying is that he had ****doubt**** about Swami being an infallible, perfect Avatar/God. Otherwise how would he dare to go against direct instructions given to him by Swami via a tongue-lashing, wrt mediums & communicators!!!

Most people who have had some level of physical level interaction (even gestures and looks on a regular basis, like in my case) ****knew****/****experienced***** Swami's divine powers like that of knowing what we had done and what we were thinking. Without a doubt, Narasimhamurthy would also have had such experiences and so NOT doubt Swami's divine powers of somehow knowing what we had done and what we were thinking. It was really extraordinary stuff.

But I must also say that most such people (including me) struggled to come to terms with some seeming contradictions with respect to Swami and Swami's statements. I now have the view that some of these things are beyond my limited understanding and that there would be some divine reasons for it. So any such seeming contradictions do not really impact my faith in Swami and my faith in key Swami instructions like that about NOT following mediums and communicators.

Narasimhamurthy seems to have tripped up in a big way there. The 96 years statement that Swami did make on some occasions was used by Narasimhamurthy to create an artificial reality world where falsehood was created so as to give the impression that Swami will continue till 96 but in a so called subtle body. Now there have been reports of Swami having said that though he has said 96 years, he could choose to leave early. So I am of the view that for whatever reason (beyond my comprehension) the 96 years thing did not work out and Swami chose to leave Sathya Sai physical body earlier.

Essentially, Narasimhamurthy lost his discrimination and behaved in a mad way, where he selectively chose Sathya Sai statements that he wanted (e.g. 96 years) and ignored Sathya Sai statements like NOT following mediums and communicators that were a problem for his new mission! And I think he would have justified this in his mind and among his close top circle of Muddenahalli group, by viewing it as acceptable to a HIGHER GOD.
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[In response to a comment, I (Ravi) wrote:]
I have full faith in Sathya Sai prediction and assurance that he will come back as Prema Sai. But what I read is that Prema Sai will start his mission somewhat later than Sathya Sai (age wise). So I don't know whether (or rather, I guess that) Prema Sai will take a decade or more before coming into the public realm.

If you look at the Shirdi Sai example, not only was Sathya Sai born 8 years later, but it took decades before Shirdi Sai Sansthan (key Shirdi Sai orgn.) and Shirdi Sai devotees took notice of Sathya Sai. I wonder whether the same will be the case with Prema Sai.
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[In response to a comment, I (Ravi) wrote:]
About the demon thing wrt Muddenahalli: It certainly is a possibility and some are very convinced about it. I simply don't know as I have typically stayed rather far away from anything to do with demons. [There is a significant amount of Black Magic stuff in India today with blatant advertisements on the Internet.]
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[In response to a comment, I (Ravi) wrote:]
Well, after Sathya Sai Mahasamadhi, I decided to spend some time studying the world situation (earlier I was focused more on my personal spiritual sadhana, and on doing my free Seva work in the university as well as I could).

Undoubtedly there are some great and good things going on, including the good aspects of the Internet which enables you and me to interact so conveniently and quickly though we are almost on opposite sides of the globe!

But there are some major, major challenges and problems the world, including India, faces today. Crime including sex related crimes are a regular occurrence. India, in particular, is facing some horrendous and very shameful sex crimes problems.

Materialism is rampant, even among supposedly 'ceiling on desires' spiritual communities. What we Indians would criticize about the USA in the 1980s is what we see in India itself today! Even Puttaparthi, especially after Mahasamadhi, has quite a lot of materialistic people, with some 'ceiling on desires' folks.

Can the world ecological systems sustain the high degree of material aspirations of billions of people around the world? I wonder whether it can.

How about the massive problem of rural unemployment or underemployment, especially in the context of increasing automation, not only in USA (which seems to have made a big impact in the 2016 presidential elections) but also in India! As a former software technology guy, I can see that the trend towards automation has become very strong. That will help the concerned companies make huge profits and make the share holders wealthy. But how about people employment? Or are they destined to be on welfare and lose their self-dignity and self-worth? These questions are so scary that I try not to get too involved with them, as I am not in a position to contribute to a solution.

I don't know about Sathya Yuga. But Sathya Sai taught eternal values. More and more people knowing about it and practising it, with Prema Sai contributing to further spread it, would be a very positive force for the world. However, the big industry and military guys need to get their act together and switch to a more equal world, a more caring capitalism, for more love, joy and peace in the world.
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[In response to a comment, I (Ravi) wrote:]
Let us see! We were blessed to experience the Avatar of the age. We should do our bit to spread Sathya, Dharma, Shanti & Prema (and Ahimsa with exception of self-defense scenarios). Once we have done that, we can leave the rest to Him.
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Terry Reis Kennedy wrote over email in response to the above contents (and was OK with public sharing):
Sai Ram,

So engaging a commentary Ravi.  I love it.  Thank you for writing it.
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I (Ravi) responded:
Glad you liked it, Terry.
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[In response to a comment:] Ravi S. Iyer wrote:
Oh! I meant I don't know the details about Moreno. I am certainly familiar with the name of Robert Priddy as he was perhaps the most prominent anti-Sai guy on the Internet. Brian Steele, if I recall correctly, is an academic who supported Priddy. These academics attacked Prof. Haraldsson's book where Haraldsson concluded that though there is no scientific evidence (as Baba would not permit controlled conditions for their scientific testing), going by standards used by courts of law (which give value to reliable eyewitness accounts) at least some of Baba's reported miracles have to be viewed as authentic.
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[In response to a comment:] Ravi S. Iyer wrote (slightly edited):
Hey --name-snipped--, just had a quick look at your blog [Ravi: https://persecutorsofsathyasaibaba.blogspot.com/ ]. Great service done by you for the Sathya Sai fraternity. Thanks a ton!
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[In response to a comment:] Ravi S. Iyer wrote (slightly edited):
While I was with the Sai university (Jan 2003 to Mar. 2012 - free service), the unwritten policy was to ignore the criticism on the Internet. I did come across some such anti-Sai stuff but never commented as that was the unwritten policy.

But later, especially in 2013 when I assisted Prof. Haraldsson with the update to his book, I experienced the power of the anti-Sai propaganda to spread a false view among the public at large.

So the work that you, --name-snipped-- and others have done in the past to counter this anti-Sai propaganda on the Internet has been really a great and much required service. I am sure quite a few people would have benefited from your writings and been able to escape from the anti-Sai propaganda trap by the anti-Sai guys.
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[In response to a comment:] Ravi S. Iyer wrote (slightly edited):
Wow! So the benefit is an ongoing one.
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Do you know about a radio interview perhaps in 2013 in the UK where Prof. Haraldsson corrected the interviewers who joked about Swami's miracles to be fake?
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[In response to a comment:] Ravi S. Iyer wrote:
Prof. Haraldsson Politely Asserts Genuineness of Sai Baba miracles in UK Radio Talk Show in 2012, http://ravisiyer.blogspot.com/2013/08/prof-haraldsson-politely-asserts.html.
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This transcript extract from my post shows how the tone of the interviewers had changed towards the end of this part of the interview (dealing with Sai Baba):

Around 1:22:30
Talk show host - "You were there and you saw him. What was your feeling about the whole thing, about him? How do you feel yourself about him? The man. Do you think he actually had paranormal powers?"

EH says, "Well, when I look at the cases I studied and also some of the things I observed it is hard not to think that he had some paranormal abilities.... And there really hasn't been anyone like him."

Talk show host, "No. And I have known of nuclear scientists and all kinds of people who were devotees of Sai Baba. ... Most impressive type of people."
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[In response to a comment about a youtube video by Robert Priddy bashing Haraldsson:] Ravi S. Iyer wrote (slightly edited):
I may have in the past. I read quite a bit of the Haraldsson bashing text articles from academics. That was very disappointing.
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Tragically, as Haraldsson is himself an academic he had to give some value to fellow academics bashing him. That's how academia is.
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I think that's what led him to introduce (without giving me any hint that he was going to do so) a new chapter on Western Critics, in his updated book.
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I got very upset with the new chapter and have publicly criticized it strongly.
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It spoiled the whole updated book for me as now I could not recommend it to anybody.
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My impression is that Haraldsson would have been under great academic and other pressure to include that chapter, which had nothing really to do with his parapsychology investigations of Sai Baba miracles.
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I think the BBC program and some European TV channel(s) program against Swami had significant impact in Europe. Perhaps that forced Haraldsson to include that chapter.
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Such is life! And such is the power of big media!
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In the context of this discussion, I felt it appropriate to share a previous blog post of mine: How should we social media writers about Sathya Sai Baba deal with queries based on Western media promoted negative allegations of the past?, http://ravisiyer.blogspot.com/2017/11/how-should-we-social-media-writers.html, dated Nov. 2017.

Any comments from you are welcome.
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