Below is an Article by Prof.G.Venkataraman in response to an Article on
Bhagawan by Prof.P.M.Bhargava in the Open Page Section of the Hindu dated 15th
May 2011 :
As most of you are aware, during the many decades that Swami was physically
here on earth, the Media was largely indifferent to Him, His Message and His
amazing acts of compassion, even though many of them were absolutely
breathtaking. Yet, when His body was critically ill, they gathered in full
force, right in front of the Hospital, to start virtually a new industry, that
of spreading false rumours on Swami, interspersed with innuendoes and
unsubstantiated as well as outrageous allegations about our beloved Lord. And
finally when Swami ascended to the Formless aspect on April 24, 2011, the
newspapers began carrying articles and in some cases even editorials on the
legacy of Sai Baba, as they often put it. While some of them were reasonably
fair and even objective, others committed to extreme points of view, took the
opportunity to sling mud one more time. A few others tried the so-called via
media of mixing the two extremes, varying the proportions to suit their own
views on the one hand while taking care not to lose devotee readers on the
other – let us face it, Swami had and continues to have millions and millions
of devotees; that was why these journals played safe, adopting a 60-40 or 40-60
approach, if one might call it that.
Among the leading newspapers of India is The Hindu. Founded more than a
hundred years ago, it occupies an important place in the life of many,
especially in the South. Currently it is read widely all over India by people
looking for quality journalism and a paper that is not sensation-mongering. In
fact, the newspaper wrote a short but reflective editorial on the life of
Bhagawan Baba, soon after He left us.
Most readers were therefore surprised to see that The Hindu in its edition of
Sunday, May 15, carried on its Open Page, an article by a prominent scientist
named P.M. Bhargava that was particularly nasty, to say the least. The author
is a biologist who, working several years ago in the CSIR (or the Council for
Scientific and Industrial Research), established the Centre of Cellular and
Molecular Biology [CCMB] in Hyderabad. This is one of the premium labs in
bioscience in the country and has played a leading role in introducing DNA
fingerprinting into India. All that was many years ago.
Subsequently, Bhargava retired and entered public life, partly as a social
activist. An ardent atheist he, for example, strongly attacks religion claiming
it is against what he calls scientific temper. On the scientific side, he was
active in many bodies connected with the promotion of science in the country,
for example, the three prominent science academies in India. Bhargava had been
elected a Fellow of all the three academies but, thanks to his strong opinions
and argumentative nature, he resigned from all of them since he could not get
along. The same happened recently when he was appointed to the National
Knowledge Commission, a top body asked to prepare a blue print for propelling
India into the new and emerging knowledge-based society. Once again, expressing
strong dissenting views, Bhargava left the Commission, though insiders say he
was asked to resign.
Coming now to Bhargava’s article on Swami in the Open Page, letters to the
editor began to flow immediately, some in support while others sharply critical
of the article. Be that as it may, many here in Prasanthi suggested to Prof. G.
Venkataraman that he should give a proper response. That has been done, but
before we come to that part of the story, here is the article by Mr. P. M.
Bhargava:
Mr. P. M . Bhargava's article on Bhagawan Baba which was published in
the OPEN PAGE of THE HINDU on May 15, 2011. [Reproduced below is the entire
text of this article]
As the dust after the death of Satya Sai Baba has largely settled, it
is time to evaluate him, his work and its implications, objectively and
unemotionally, for there is a good deal to be learnt from his life and death.
His rise to fame from an ordinary, even humble background, was based on
(i) his claim that he was the reincarnation of Shirdi Sai Baba; (ii) his claim
that he represented divinity, that is, God himself; (iii) that, consequently,
he had powers that no mortal man had; (iv) that he could provide succour and
mental peace to people who came to him with problems of various kinds; and (v)
that he engaged himself in charitable works like opening hospitals and
providing potable water to villagers.
Let us examine his above claims and actions one by one. There is not a
shred of evidence of rebirth; the very idea of rebirth goes against all of
science. Every claimed case of rebirth that has been investigated has been
shown to be fake.
As regards his being a reincarnation of God, the only proof he provided
was that of performing miracles or miraculous acts. The fact is that he never
performed a miracle. In fact, no miracle has ever been performed by any one.
All miracles attributed to religious leaders are inventions of the clergy. An
example would be that of Mother Teresa whom I met and who never claimed to have
performed a miracle in her lifetime. But for her to be canonized after her
death two miracles had to be — and were — invented and attributed to her. Every
single act of Sai Baba that was a miracle in the public eye could be performed
by ordinary magicians. My colleague at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular
Biology at Hyderabad, Dr. M. W. Pandit, performed them publicly. So did the
well-known rationalist, the late Premanand. Invite Dr. Narendra Nayak by
sending an email to <[email protected]> and he will come and perform for you
every miracle that Sai Baba ever claimed to have performed — be it producing a
ring or a Japanese watch or sacred ash from nowhere, or his photograph shedding
sacred ash.
As regards the miraculous cures he claimed to have performed, we never
heard of his failures. A distant cousin of mine had her young son suffering
from an incurable disease. Sai Baba who blessed him said he would be cured.
When she went back to him after the child's death, Sai Baba told her that he
felt it was best for the child to come to him and that is what he caused to
happen; so there was no reason for worry.
The cures that may have been effected were never established to be
directly on account of Sai Baba's 'divine' intervention. They were probably
natural or psychosomatic, of which numerous examples are known. After all, what
do neuropsychologists or psychiatrists do? That is why he never allowed
rationalists like Professor Narasimhaiah, former Vice-Chancellor of Bangalore
University, or Premanand, to come anywhere near him. It is believed that it
were his men who actually once beat up Narasimhaiah. The late Dr. Y. Nayudamma,
the former Director-General of CSIR, who died in an Air India crash near Canada
years ago, told me of his visit to Sai Baba with a once ardent follower, Dr. S.
Bhagavantam, a former Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister. Nayudamma
stood in front of Sai Baba with folded hands and most respectfully, requested
him to produce a blade of grass between his palms. That would have been a
miracle. But, instead, Nayudamma had to leave.
As regards his acts of charity, there are innumerable people in the
country who engage in such acts to avoid undue attention focussed on their
ill-gotten wealth. Accounting of his enormous wealth has never been transparent.
Sai Baba's unusual accomplishment was to recruit such a large number of
the rich and the powerful, politicians and bureaucrats, law-makers,
law-keepers, and law dispensers, amongst his followers. Perhaps this is more of
a reflection on his followers than him!
Sai Baba's death was not a national tragedy. The national tragedy was
his being given a state funeral, a state of official mourning being declared,
and the country's political leaders — cutting across parties, including the
Prime Minister and the Chairman of the NAC — spending precious time and
resources to have his last darshan, relegating to the background the nation's
constitutional commitment to a scientific temper.
(The writer is a former Vice-Chairman, National Knowledge Commission,
former member, National Security Advisory Board and former founder and
Director, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad. His email is:
bhargava.pm @gmail.com)
Now, this is Prof. Venkataraman’s response to Mr. Bhargava’s article:
Prof. Venkataraman's Comments on the Article by Bhargava on Sathya Sai
Baba
In an article published recently in this newspaper, Prof. P. M.
Bhargava has sought to evaluate ‘objectively and unemotionally,' the life and
legacy of Sathya Sai Baba. Like the writer, I too come from a scientific
background with, however, one important difference, namely that I have spent
the last eighteen years in Baba’s ashram, following my retirement in 1992. Thus
my response is based on direct personal knowledge.
Bhargava ascribes five reasons for Baba’s ‘rise to fame,’ as he puts
it. Three of these are connected with religion and the issue of miracles,
subjects on which people tend to have sharply divided opinions, to which of
course they are perfectly entitled; I shall therefore not discuss them. The
last two concern firstly, the succour and peace that people who came to Baba
sought and secondly, his charitable works ‘like opening hospitals and providing
potable water to villagers.’ These are what I wish to comment on.
Let me start with the last mentioned, which is summarily dismissed by
Bhargava in exactly thirty six words with the condescending remark that ‘there
are innumerable people in the country who engage in such acts to avoid undue
attention focussed on their ill-gotten wealth. Accounting of his enormous
wealth has never been transparent.’
This is a sweeping comment, made without offering a single piece of
evidence concerning (a) ‘ill-gotten wealth’ (b) ‘enormous wealth’ and (c) the
charge of lack of transparency. In science, one does not make a statement or
remark that is not preceded by the presentation of appropriate facts and basis;
and yet here is a scientist of repute doing precisely that! Frankly, I am
stunned.
Going further into these unsubstantiated allegations - for they are
nothing more than that - let us start with the issue of transparency. Baba
executed all his projects via Trusts set up according to due process. Every
single paisa spent on every single project came out of donations received by
these Trusts via cheques and drafts from people all over the world. Some
directly paid their contribution to the branch of SBI located in the ashram; at
no time was any cash received by the Trust. All accounts have always been and
continue to be regularly audited and statements concerning these are furnished
to all concerned authorities as required by law, including the Income Tax
Commissioner. Where foreign donations are concerned, explicit permission of the
Home Ministry has been obtained to receive them and every year, full
particulars are furnished in the prescribed format. It is worth adding that
lately the Home Ministry has tightened regulations across the board, in view of
concerns about terrorism.
Turning now to hospitals, the writer seems to be unaware that Baba’s
Trust has set up two Super Speciality Hospitals that provide tertiary
healthcare where, among other things cardiac and neuro-surgery are routinely
performed, absolutely free – this includes everything from the initial
consultation, all diagnostic tests including MRI and CT scans, surgical
procedure, stay in ICU and general ward, all medicines, physiotherapy (where
required), food, etc. Almost invariably, the beneficiaries are poor people who
come from all over India and Nepal and occasionally from elsewhere too. During
last (financial) year, over twenty five thousand people were treated as
inpatients, the market value of the free service rendered being close to about
Rs. 250 crores. Being a Trust activity, all accounts are audited as mandated
and appropriate statements submitted to concerned public authorities. There is
absolutely no question whatsoever of laundering of ‘ill-gotten wealth’ as
alleged; in fact, there is no such wealth and there never was any, period.
Passing mention must also be made of the drinking water project
executed for the tribals of the East Godavari region for the simple reason that
tribals of this country have a long history of being neglected. Many years ago,
Baba travelled extensively in the East Godavari region, and when it became
possible, he had the water project executed even though no one asked him to.
That was just one of the many ways in which he offered succour to the poor,
often without their having to come to him. He did the same following the
massive floods in Orissa in September 2008, when thousands of poor villagers
lost their homes. The moment he heard about their loss he had seven hundred
houses built in three affected districts, swiftly, quietly and, as always,
without fanfare.
In conclusion, I find that Bhargava’s assessment is not only far from
objective but also fails to meet the standards of accuracy expected of a
scientist. Writing as he did in a reputed newspaper, the least the writer could
have done is what all good journalists do, namely check his facts first.
The above text is what was read out over Radio Sai which, by the way was the
article in full as submitted to The Hindu which was published in the OPEN PAGE
section of this newspaper on May 29, 2011 (Sunday). However if one compares
this with what actually appeared in print, one would find that there are some
pungent sentences edited out (see the image below). This is strange for the
article is supposed to have appeared in the OPEN PAGE! Maybe, the Editor
thought that the deleted lines were too critical of Bhargava and represented
bias. If so, what does one say of the entire article of Bhargava?
Curiously, on the morning of the same day (May 29, 2011), a columnist
commenting on recent media attacks on a well-known cricket player said:
So what is it with the media raising controversy when there appears none?
Not to sound naive here — there’s nothing new about sensationalism and yellow
journalism — but it all starts to irk you when your beloved media plays over
half-baked information and draws grand neurotic speculations and conclusions —
much of which borders on defaming a person who appears rather decent.
That says it all regarding the media and how it does the 'reporting'.
Before we end this article, here are a few more remarks:
1. Please offer your comments to this special article, as always by writing to
[email protected].
2. For your convenience, if you would like to download this entire audio
program, you can do so by clicking here.
3. Since many people all over the world have been deeply pained and hurt by the
numerous negative attacks by an ill-informed Media, we request you to draw the
attention of as many people as you know, to the manner in which they can hear
the program again, read this transcript or do both.
We also take the opportunity to announce that some time later when the dust
settles down, we plan to do an in-depth program on how Swami related to the
world and how the world for its part reacted to Swami bringing down the curtain
on His earthly Form.
Thank you. Jai Sai Ram.
Radio Sai team.
Source :
http://media.radiosai.org/Journals/Vol_09/01MAY11/03-Response-to-The-Hindu.htm
OUR LIFE IS HIS MESSAGE
Sai Ram
