While India is emerging as a powerful and modern economy based on science and technology, it still suffers from religious superstition, especially the phenomenon of ‘god-men’, frauds who prey on the gullible to fool them into thinking that they are avatars of god. It seems like all you need to do is wear orange robes, grow your hair long, utter some religious mumbo-jumbo, and perform some cheap magic tricks for people to start worshipping you and, more importantly, give you money that they can ill-afford to part with.
This video shows a heartening effort to counter these frauds, by the Indian equivalents of James Randi.
The biggest such fraud is, of course, the man who calls himself Sai Baba, who is famous in that part of the world. He has devotees from all walks of life, including politically powerful people. Three families of my own acquaintance are devotees of his, making pilgrimages to his place and, most important, giving money. When I expressed skepticism, one of them gave me a book that she claimed would convince me of his authenticity. It did not.
This video exposes the tricks he uses to impress his followers.
Exposing god-men in India is not without risk because religious nutters hate having their faith exposed as worthless and can resort to violence, so these debunkers have to be commended for their courage.
In the west we do not have god-men but we do have our equivalent frauds, evangelists and faith healers who claim to be channels for god’s actions. To be successful in this con seems to require fast-talking, ostentatious living, and a TV or radio outlet.
But while all these frauds differ superficially, the goal is the same, to separate fools and their money.
Mano,
I can’t quite understand two things. One the adulation of Satya Sai Baba by his “devotees” and the long running attempts to discredit his miracles by his critics -- rationalists/atheists/skeptics etc., The first thing first. There is an element of suspension of disbelief on the part of his admirers, and this puzzles, because SS Baba among all “godmen’ has some of the smartest followers, and mind you his followers aren’t Hindus alone, they are from around the world from all walks of life. The second thing, next. I used to be puzzled and am now simply amused that rationalists/skeptics/atheists in India have made the “exposure” or “unmasking” (or atleast his miracles) of SS Baba their life mission. While the man became famous for his miracles, that has been a very small part of his repertoire. If you badger a devotee enough, you might even get them to admit, sheepishly, that they know it isn’t a miracle at all. What is truly impressive is the many public works the trust built by SS Baba has constructed over the last few decades. There are two hospitals resply in Puttaparthi and Bangalore, that treat the indigent for almost nothing. There are several schools and colleges of middling good quality. There is a public sanitation project that has been paid for entirely out of the trust’s coffers. There are several doctors and nurses who volunteer at the hospitals around the year and from all accounts their service is of a high quality. And contrary to what some other religiously inspired folks have done and said, SS Baba’s followers do not believe, “Suffering and poverty are a gift from god.” So then why do the Indian rationalists/skeptics/atheists ignore this side of things? The question then is, if this is what SS Baba’s operations are about, service, then why the miracles at all? The spiritual homilies etc., are questionable to many, and a rationalist/skeptic/atheist may even bristle at the need for it at all. But as long as SS Baba’s folks aren’t about to walk around preaching at street corners they should be considered no more harmful than the Unitarians or some of the more liberal churches like the Methodists and Episcopalians.
As SS Baba’s health declines, there is uncertainty as to continuation of his trust. According to some, the trustees have planned for this end and have following SSB’s advice separated the “spiritual” side of the organization from its “welfare” side, and that any instability will affect only the former. The true test of his work awaits his death. If he has built an institution for the general welfare, the works it does will continue regardless. If all he has built is a sham it will crumble within days. But this is definitely not about miracles.
This is true, less educated civilizations can be tricked easier, while modern civilizations has modern frauds like the biggest scifi payment religion scientology.
Thanks for being a hyperactive blogger Mano.
Kathy
I am a professional magician, magicians in general do not like people who profess to have powers that they don’t have. As a magician we at least let the audience know they are being fooled. False profits are charlatans who use the same magic techniques as we magicians to get peole to part with their hard earned cash, a sad affair.