FEBRUARY 7, TUESDAY

SAI MAA

Yesterday Todd, Susie and I went on a walk through the narrow lanes next to the Ganges and passed by the large building under renovation which four years ago we saw being dedicated to the presence and teachings of Sai Maa. Instead of trying to describe that visit I will include tomorrow a response that I wrote in February 22, 2019 to the foreigners coming to Varanasi, particularly a response to Sai Maa, the European guru, whom the foreigners were coming to worship.

Yesterday when we walked by the building that was dedicated by Sai Maa four years ago there seemed to be no signs of activity, but a guide invited us in and there, in the same large hall where the dedication took place four years ago and Sai Maa was fanned with a white yak tail fan by a western man dressed in a yellow robe, we saw the images of Sai Maa and other gurus as well as important Indian gods and goddesses.

But at this point the building appeared empty. Two men were sitting at the entrance, apparently contractors overseeing the renovation of the building which would soon have many guest rooms and a full range of actitivities. One of the men was Indian and the other a very cheerful and unpretentious Irishman who had been a building contractor in Ireland who, after falling under the spell of Sai Maa, had come to India and was intending to live here permanently.

The question that Sai Maa raises for me is how Westerners come to find that she embodies the divine.

You can look at her videos on You Tube or at sai.Maa.com (www.shaktidhaam.com) and decide for yourself. From my perspective she repeats all kinds of key magical words that are unrelated to each other in a non grammatical but extremely sincere way that are gibberish, making no sense at all. But yet she has followers all over the world and must have a steady stream of income to renovate this building and to allow her to hold audiences all around the Europe and the United States.

The question that haunts me is what in her presence or her rambling lectures induces people to put their faith in her and to support her with their money.

For me it can’t be her philosophy or her insights except that she seems to be doing two things. One is to claim that she has insights, almost counterintuitive to standard beliefs, that she is privy to and can share with her followers at a price of giving up their old identity and opening up to a new identity which she will lead them to. The second thing is that she insists that the power to heal and become fully alive is witnin each one of us if we are just willing to let go of our old identity and to be born again.

You just have to let go of your old self and to open up to your real inner self to be fully alive.

But when I think about it, this is also what Jesus promises. “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the father but by me.” And I don’t think he is conning me, I think he is completely sincere. If I give up all attachments and open myself to loving others and loving myself I will be fully alive.

Buddha seems to make the same promise and Mohammed. And I am willing to grant that each of these saviors brings people to being fully alive.

So why not Sai Maa? Why do I feel she is conning her followers because she seems to me to be speaking gibberish?

She seems to be acting the part of these real saviors just by speaking with the same sincerity and intensity and absolute certainty. Maybe there is something in the presence of all of these messiahs or saviors or gurus or prophets that is similar and it is this absolute sincerity and presence that draws people in to every great religion, every cult, every crackpot self anointed schizophrenic preacher who suddenly discovers that he is the voice of God.

What is going on? Certainly religion, ways of being open to the divine power of the sacred, is central to being human and manifests itself in many different ways in all kinds of cultures. It is as much what defines us as humans as language does. But I don’t know how to distinguish Sai Maa from Jesus or Buddha. And I am sure that the followers of Sai Maa find her presence and teachings makes them feel as if they have found the way to be fully alive even as the yellow robes and images of Shiva and Krishna which are there in the main hall must seem exotic and strange to them. Where does that blind belief in any religion or cult come from?

So I feel completely confused by the manifestations of the sacred even though I know for many, many people it is what gives them meaning and identity.