A Word of Assurance
Events in the past forty-sixty years have given the word cult a very negative meaning (although earlier, cult meant religious practice or worship and the rites, ceremonies, and practices of a religion, as well as an unorthodox or spurious religion).
Rest assured, dear reader, that the Sai Organization is not a cult in that negative sense of the word! Below, we give information that will help explain the differences between a cult and the Sai Organization. The information is drawn from two books on cults: Mindbending: Brainwashing, Cults, and Deprogramming in the '80's (by Lowell Streiker, Doubleday, New York, 1984) and Encyclopedic Handbook of Cults in America (by J. Melton, Garland Publishing, New York, 1986).
This material is a slight revision of an article that appeared in The Sathya Sai Newsletter, USA.
Streiker indicates that a real cult will lack the following characteristics:
- Genuine concern for members' welfare,
- Appreciation of constructive criticism from non-believers, and
- Active encouragement of dialogue between members and outside world.
Beyond that, there are nine major characteristics of cults, as listed below. With each characteristic, we show through direct quotes from Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba that the Sai Organization does not have these characteristics.
1. Primary cult activities are fund raising and recruiting new members.
I do not like your going about collecting funds or raising donations. - Sri Sathya Sai Baba, November 21, 1968
Fund collection is as much opposed to this movement as fire is to water. - Sri Sathya Sai Baba, May 14, 1971
Enough for us if there remain one or two members where practice and preaching are correct and sincere. Quality is accepted; quantity is of no consequence. - Sri Sathya Sai Baba, December 22, 1971
I do not need any publicity. - Sri Sathya Sai Baba, October 15, 1964
Do not imagine that your task is to propagate Baba and speak of Baba and his message. - Sri Sathya Sai Baba, January 06, 1975
2. Cult members are encouraged to cut off communication with family and friends. They are isolated from the outside world and any reality testing it could provide.
Your primary task is to discharge your duty. This does not mean renouncing worldly life or your obligations to your family. - Sri Sathya Sai Baba, January 15, 1992
Use the opportunities confronting you as a householder to develop detachment and self sacrifice. - Sri Sathya Sai Baba, December 13, 1964
Don't keep yourself apart, working on your own salvation through meditation; move among your sisters looking for opportunities to help. - Sri Sathya Sai Baba, February 01, 1970
3. Cult members hand over possessions and earnings and become totally dependent on group.
Whoever may ask, even if they say that I have authorized them, do not give them a penny. - Sri Sathya Sai Baba, October 09, 1970
Where money is asked and offered, I have no place. - Sri Sathya Sai Baba, May, 1965
Do not lean on others; live on your own earnings, your own resources. - Sri Sathya Sai Baba, April, 1973
4. The cult enforces demands by peer pressure, embarrassment, and even violence.
Humility and tolerance must characterize the behavior of Sai devotees. - Sri Sathya Sai Baba, May 19, 1970
Start the day with love, spend the day with love; fill the day with love; end the day with love; that is the way to God. - Sri Sathya Sai Baba, March 20, 1977
Non-violence includes not causing hurt even by a word, look, or gesture. - Sri Sathya Sai Baba, February 07, 1980
5. The cult is the only possessor of truth --others are unsaved and hostile to truth.
Do not develop fanaticism or sectarianism. - Sri Sathya Sai Baba, April 21, 1976
All religions call upon the one, omnipresent God. - Sri Sathya Sai Baba, November 23, 2005
Diversity of religion and faith is conducive to the welfare of mankind. - Sri Sathya Sai Baba, October 17, 1972
Finding fault with another's faith casts a slur on yours. - Sri Sathya Sai Baba, April 03, 1967
You have to teach the equal validity of all faiths. - Sri Sathya Sai Baba, November 21, 1979
6. The cult feels above the law --the ends justify means of lying, stealing, defrauding.
Dharma (right action) is essentially social morality. - Sri Sathya Sai Baba, January 04, 1974
Dharma (right action) includes morality, truth, virtue, love, and a host of other qualities that uphold communities of man and the individual. - Sri Sathya Sai Baba, February 26, 1968
Care of the country is as important as care of the body. - Sri Sathya Sai Baba, October 11, 1969
7. The cult may be apocalyptic --members will be the only survivors of a world catastrophe.
Do not be upset at calamities; take them as acts of grace. - Sri Sathya Sai Baba, February 20, 1966
No disaster is immanent for the world. Over the vast globe, there may be some mishaps here and there, from time to time. - Sri Sathya Sai Baba, February 13, 1991
8. The cult is based on the teachings of an authoritarian, corrupt leader who is the sole source of what the group believes and of rules for daily behavior.
The scriptures lay down the lines along which man has to direct his thoughts and activities. Sincere adherence to those laws and limitations alone can guarantee wisdom. - Sri Sathya Sai Baba, November 23, 1974
I have not come to set afoot a new cult. - Sathyam Shivam Sundaram, Vol 3
Seek out chances to study and substantiate the basic similarities in all religions. - Sri Sathya Sai Baba, December 23, 1971
The Vedas are the foundation of Indian culture. - Sri Sathya Sai Baba, October 21, 1982
Truth, right action, peace, and love are the four pillars of the eternal wisdom. - Sri Sathya Sai Baba, December 6, 1963
9. The cult exists for its own material survival and makes false promises to help society.
The organization is exclusively for spiritual development. - Sri Sathya Sai Baba, November 21, 1969
Service to man is the best form of worship. - Sri Sathya Sai Baba, September 22, 1968
Organizations bearing my name must render service to the helpless, sick, distressed, illiterate, needy. - Sri Sathya Sai Baba, February 23, 1968