stripping the gurus - Brahma Kumaris Info

70 STRIPPING THE GURUS
actly the same as the sort used by the other Indian jaduwallahs,
or “street conjurors.” Sai Baba has never submitted to
an examination of his abilities under controls, so his claims
are totally unproven (Randi, 1995).
A formerly devoted, inner circle disciple of Sai Baba has independently
confirmed all of that. That is, Faye Bailey claims to have
personally seen “rings, watches and other trinkets being palmed,
or pulled out from the side of chair cushions” and “vibhuti tablets
held between [Sai Baba’s] fingers before being crushed and ‘manifest.’”
[Sai Baba’s] major and most advertised “miracle” is the production
from his apparently empty hand of a substance
known as “vibhuti” (“holy ash”) which turns out on analysis
to be powdered ashes of cow dung mixed with incense. Street
conjurors in India (jaduwallahs) perform this trick by preparing
small pellets of ashes and concealing them at the base
of their fingers, then working their fists to powder the pellets
and produce the flow of fine ash. Their trick is indistinguishable
from Sai Baba’s miracle (Randi, 2000).
There are fantastic stories going round about Sai Baba’s
supposed powers, but in five years searching I have not
found one to be genuine (Bailey and Bailey, 2003).
Beyerstein (1994) has given a further detailed, critical analysis
of Sai Baba’s paranormal claims.
* * *
The concerns surrounding Sai Baba are not restricted to questions
about the authenticity of his “miracles.” Indeed, as early as 1976,
Tal Brooke (1999) had told the story of his own experiences during
two years as a close disciple of Baba in the late ’60s, before converting
to Christianity:
Baba’s nudging pelvis stopped. Suddenly a hand unzipped
my fly, then, like an adder returning home at dusk, the hand
burrowed inside.
With less of a purple (but perhaps more of a tie-dyed) hue, a
friend of Brooke’s further related the following tale, claimed to
have occurred around a year later: