Sai Baba Has More Than One Birthday

Communications and Articles from the Internet, 2002

From: sueshbalaraman (sureshbalaraman)

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sathyasaibabadiscussionclub/message/4803 Document date: Thu Mar 7, 2002 1:49 a.m. Subject: SSB School; Record At Bukkapatnam.

Hello Hari Sampath,

I have posted a photo shot of Parti Baba's School Record at Bukkapatnam. I do not know how to read Telegu script. Is it possible either for you or any of your known associates who could translate? I would like to know what is written in the column heading under the dates (1) 5 July 1941 (2) 4 October 1929 (3) 6 April 1942. Just curious as to what those entries mean. I am sure it may not be anything or it could be something of importance. As I am aware of the discourse speech by Parthi Baba indicating 20 October 1940 as school day viz a Monday but actually its a Sunday http://www.panchangam.com and http://www.timedatecalendar.com. Hope you can research on this one and let us know of your opinion for the benefit of people at large.

Thanks, Suresh Balaraman

Note from the editors of www.exbaba.com: The deviating birthdate was already mentioned in the book by R. Padmanaban, LOVE IS MY FORM, Vol. 1, The Advent (1926-1950), Bangalore: Sai Towers Publishing, 2000: pages 68, 132-133, 147.

Lies Proved by Sathya Sai Baba's School Record

By Hari Sampath (April 8, 2002)

Contents: 1. The Photograph of the school record and a quick summary 2. Extract of a translation of the record 3. A detailed analysis of this lie, and the cause and reasons 4. Acknowledgement

The very minimum that this school record shows is:

1. On July 5th 1941, sb was very much in school, because the date of entry of some information says "5-7-41"

2. The date of birth of sb is October 4th 1929

3. SB was in 8th standard (8th grade), and there is a clear mention of public exam dated 6.4.42 (April 6th 1942) photo.

These points clearly prove that SB was always lying about date of birth (which he says is Nov 23 1926), the time he left school (Oct 20 1940) and the fact he says he had already taken and passed his public exam for 8th grade before he left school (in Oct 1940). Since public exams in India are always given in April, and the school records too mentions this, obviously Sai Baba has been lying about all these things. Many of these lies had already been nailed and proved in other articles... this record is yet another proof. I had sent the Sai Baba school document to two attorneys in Andhra Pradesh, well versed in Telegu, and with experience in reading unintelligible telegu words in old documents. This is what they had reported back to me. Extract of the translation of the record:

Dear Hari,

My partner went through the document you had mailed. He could decipher all the columns except the very last one. The following is the translation of the column headings starting from left to right: The heading of the document says on top "Admissions register". The columns from left to right are as follows, with the details of the particular entry you requested shown against each column.

No. 466 Name of student: (first name) Sathyanarayana Surname: (last name) Ratnakaram

Name of father or guardian: Pedda Venkamaraju

Place: Puttaparthi Occupation of father or guardian: Cultivation Date of admission: 5-7-41 (July 5th 1941) Date of birth: 4-10-29 (October 4th 1929)

Vaccination: Vaccinated Religion: Hindu

Caste: Raju Class admitted: 8th standard

Class left: 8th standard

Date of leaving: 6-4-42 ( April 6th 1942)

If readmitted, old admission number: exam... for 8th std public ex...

An Analysis:

Now, the first thing we have to take note of is this school admission register is from the Bukkapatnam school in the year 1941. Sai Baba joined this school for 8th standard on July 7th, 1941 , and left on April 6th 1942, while he was in 8th standard still. The last column also refers to some words about "public exam," and possibly re-admission details. There seems to be a word that looks like "exempted", but it is not clear. This tells us conclusively that by April 1942 , Sai Baba was in 8th standard in Bukkapatnam, and according to the details given by him/his family, his date of birth was October 4th 1929.

But according to Sai Baba, he left Bukkapatnam school and went to Kamalapur to stay with his brother Seshamma Raju and study. He is supposed to have studied in Kamalapur for his 8th standard, in 1940, and he further says he "announced his divinity" in Uravakonda on October 20th 1940. In Sathyam Sivam Sundaram-Part-1 by Prof Kasturi, written on the personal account by Sai Baba. Kasthuri dwells in great detail about the school years of Sai Baba. In the pages between 16 and 35, Kasturi mentions so many details about Sai Baba's school days, and even mentions a Subbannachar who wrote a book in 1944, where he says Sai Baba was my student in the 8th grade, in Bukkapatnam.

None of this adds up, and every single thing is contradictory. It looks like all of Sai Baba's pronouncements about his school life, places, years, "leelas" etc are false, and to have been invented later. If Sai Baba (according to him) was in Uravakonda school in October 1940, studying in 8th grade, left school, then how was he back again in Bukkapatnam between 1941 and 1942 , in 8th grade? Also, according to Sai Baba, he had two friends Ramesh and Suresh , who were his deskmates, helped him with scout uniform etc, for whom he wrote the public exam answers in 8th grade public exam.

These two boys were supposed to have died immediately after Sai Baba left school in October 1940. But according to the document, Sai Baba was in Bukkapatnam school for his 8th grade and that too was not scheduled to even appear for public exam till 1942 .

There are multiple sources of confirmation for these facts , like this document, Kasturi's account, Sai Baba's teacher's account etc. Kasturi also writes about a teacher called Mehboob Khan in Bukkapatnam school who was fond of Sai Baba, but Sai Baba says Mehboob Khan was a teacher in Uravakonda. All this just doesn't make any sense, and it is not even as if there was just one slip by Sai Baba on one occasion. Right through, whatever he has been saying doesn't add up, and the only conclusion that considers all these proven facts, and explains them is:

These stories were all invented later, and just could not have happened.

Again what outwardly appears as small inconsistencies in schools, times, dates, events, places etc, actually are excellent indicators that there was a more carefully "manufactured version" of childhood stories, schooling, avatar announcement etc, that was done much later. This is very serious because this points to planned deception , even in the 1950s (possibly late 1940s), something which Sai Baba himself has been promoting as facts and Truth for 50 years.

Why keep up this intricate lie for decades? If Sai Baba was born on October 4th 1929, as indicated by records, then we are led to question what must have been the motivation for fraudulently choosing the date of November 23rd 1926 specifically. Obviously, it could have been any date, since it was bogus anyway, but the "choice" of the birthday in later years, probably in the late 1940's or early 1950's, must have been prompted by a specific reason which would have been necessary for the "avatar theory" to flourish.

It is well known publicly that Sri Aurobindo declared on November 24th 1926 , that "Krishna consciousness had descended into the physical."

All followers of Sri Aurobindo categorically say that he meant the descent of Universal consciousness into himself, while he was still in a physical body, and it was probably true too. But when such a statement was publicly known, and must have been rather well known in South India in the 1940s and 1950s, there is a very strong probability that those promoting the Sai Baba "avatar theory" in the early days, that is close family of Sai Baba, "decided" to have Sai Baba's birthday as November 23rd 1926, in order to capitalize on Aurobindo's statement and provide "proof" that he was referring to Sai Baba's birth!

This seems to be the most logical explanation of the "choice" of the date of birth, and it shows clearly a scheming deceptive pattern, targeted at willful deception and concoted theories. What else needs to be proved about Sai Baba being a fraud? Hence the conclusion that these lies, and imaginary stories of divine plays, childhood events were created, promoted and fed to others by Sai Baba and his immediate family right from those days. Baba and his family were ostracised in Bukkapatnam.

I have also got some information from very old timers in Puttaparthi, people who are in their eighties, and were a few years older than Sai Baba , that Sai Baba was dismissed from the Bukkapatnam school for stealing money from a local temple. Apparently the entire family was ostracised , they were living in Bukkapatnam at that time, and went to Puttaparthi after this. Perhaps Sai Baba was readmitted to the Bukkapatnam school after a year, in 1941. One thing is for sure, Sai Baba's past is even shadier than his present, and let us hope that at least his future will be less murkier, with all the spotlight shining on his fraud and deception.

Hari Sampath

Acknowledgement: We are thankful to Mr. Suresh Balaraman for providing us with this important document. The document can also be seen in the following link, which is a pro Sai Baba group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/saiunity/files/Bukkapatnam.jpg

Will the true birthdate of Sai Baba ever be known?

Date: 03-23-2002, 12:01 AM ET (US)

By: Dragonslayer (Sunrise)

With a comment below from Brian Steel From: http://www.quicktopic.com/8/H/qYarJBpGLW7G6 Message 1463

RE: SB's OLD SCHOOL DOCUMENT DISCUSSED ON A YAHOO BOARD RECENTLY:

The following letter from a Premsai member was forwarded to Sunrise today. The writer is fluent in Telegu.

"I immediately recognized this document as one that was published in Padmanabhan's biographical series (only the first book completed so far, LOVE IS MY FORM, the years 1926 to 1950). It is a huge book, meticulously researched and packed full of old documents, photos and memories of/ interviews with scores of people who knew Swami right from His birth.

"The document is just a list of students in a school, with Swami's name circled. The headings in Telugu simply say name (Sathya Narayana Raju), lineage (Ratnakaram), father's name (Pedda Venkama Raju), village (Puttaparthi), profession of father (cultivator), date of admit, date of birth, vaccination, religion (Hindu), caste (Rajapuri), grade (8th), and date that it was confirmed that He would not return to school (scribbled long after He left).

"There is also an explanation in the book of the loose system of registering birth in those days. When anyone entered school who did not have a birth certificate, the principal or teacher would simply put any date they wanted. Not only then: even today in all the villages around (X) Ashram in south India, birth certificates are not given to most babies born (that I know of). When kids enter school they could be any age, and many are admitted at a later age (4th graders are 14 to 16 years old etc.).

"If the parents aren't sure of the year or date of birth, the teacher puts down any date of their fancy (usually dates that are near or on holy festivals, on the date that they fall in that year). Even if birth certificates are found later, they are ignored because it is too much of a hassle to change all the records.

"Just before I left (X) Ashram I was shown a ration card of the wife of the water boy who works in the Ashram. Looking at it I said, "I thought you said your wife was 20 years old. Why does it state her age as 26 here?" David replied, "Ration cards are only given for people over 25 years old! So we had to swear her age was that." "A boy in (X) Ashram school told me they found his birth certificate which was one year and a few months earlier than his stated age on school reports and bus pass. I asked why he didn't change it officially on the records? He said they refused to because it would cause too much confusion! So he is stuck with the other, "official" date.

"So I would not give too much weight to dates of birth on school records. This is a sort of thing that only people like me, with experience in Indian villages, would understand."

(Signature)

PostScript: Quote from the book, LIMF: "Sathya's date of birth in school records, however, is recorded as the 4th of October 1929. Talipineni Kesappa, son of Talipineni Ramappa, maintains that Sathya was one year senior to him at school. Therefore, Kesappa's date of birth being the 11th of June 1927, Sathya's year of birth definitely is 1926. It has long been a practice in the schools to record a date of birth as being much later than the 'actual' date of birth, in order to facilitate career prospects." "Sathya's parents wanted Sathya to become an educated officer. This, possibly, could be the reason for the discrepancy. In addition, in 1926 people in remote villages like Puttaparthi, in pre-independent India, were not very particular about dates and birth registration was done much later."

A comment from Brian Steel: ompukalani@hotmail.com

Message 1464 Date: 03-23-2002 04:43 AM ET (US)

Re: SB's Birth Certificate, I was pleased to see Dragonslayers recent message about the VERY important book: LOVE IS MY FORM, Vol 1. (Sai Towers, October 2000) I can comfortably accept his correspondent's expert remarks about birthdates in India and the need not to rush to judgement over that particular detail. However, since the devotee correspondent gives the book a deserved recommendation for meticulous research, I wonder what his/her attitude is to the book's other important (and original)items of convincing factual evidence which seriously conflict with some of Sai Baba's (and the Sathya Sai Organisation's) statements and SB's stories:

for example the Date of the "Declaration of Sai Baba-hood"! (1943, with convincing School Register photostat evidence -, as I pointed out in my November 2001 web-book - SSB-God or Guru) Also the (Sathya Sai Speaks) Discourse "story" about helping his schoolmates to (cheat and) pass an exam that the book shows he was not even allowed to take! ETC. ETC.

Please READ LOVE IS MY FORM. I don't have share in Sai Towers, but this deeply researched book is already proving to be very important in this search for the truth. But if you use its information, please acknowledge the fact. It is simply a question of normal good writing/research manners. Has Volume 2 appeared yet? I can't wait!

Best wishes, Brian Steel

Was SB Born in 1929?

The following is reprinted with permission from: http://bdsteel.tripod.com/More/Dob.htm

More Circumstantial Evidence about SB's Date of Birth

Brian Steel (April 2002)

In 1993, an elderly lady (Smt. Vijayakumari) completed a book manuscript from notes she claims to have taken since 1945 about her own and her family's close experiences of SB between that date (when she was a young girl), and 1972. Her two teenage brothers, Krishna Kumar and Amarendra Kumar, were close friends of SB's for a few years (and are mentioned in books by other devotees).

(Smt. Vijayakumari does not explain why she waited so long before publishing these reminiscences nor does she comment on why the notes end in 1972. She merely states, on p. 6, that SB named the original book, Anyadha Saranam Nasti on 16 November1996 and gave the order (permission?) for its publication, presumably in Telugu, a year later, on 22-10-97. The English translation, Other Than You Refuge is There None, was finally published - apparently privately - in Chennai in 1999.)

Vijayakumari's book is another example of a close devotee's detailed account of many happy events and conversations but it also contains some interesting snippets of biographical information for the patient researcher (including first hand evidence about one of SB's alleged 'resurrections' - of the girl's father, Radha Krishna - and different versions of some of SB's schoolboy stories). (Incidentally, Professor E. Haraldsson refers to the girl's diary in his investigation of the Radha Krishna incident.)

Among these snippets are a couple which have a direct bearing on the controversial subject of SB's date of birth, brought back into the limelight by new documentary evidence offered (and plausibly rejected) by LIMF in October 2000, and flatly rejected recently on one of the Bull. Boards by an anonymous Telugu expert.

Two innocent quotations offered by Vijayakumari seem to provide a degree of independent support for the possibility (broached by the LIMF evidence) that SB's date of birth was NOT in 1926 but in 1929.

In 1945 the little girl's cousins were strolling in the affluent Bangalore suburb of Malleswaram when they heard bhajans being sung and entered the house to listen. Sai Baba, who was present there, invited them to go to Puttaparthi (whose name they had never heard).

When they returned to their town of Kuppam (south-east of Bangalore, but in today's Andhra Pradesh), the cousins told the girl's mother about their meeting. The latter was keen for them all to go, but the idea was vetoed by the father, who said: "You tell me He is sixteen years old and claims to be a reincarnation of Shirdi Sai. This is all humbug." (p. 12)

That night the mother had a dream of SB and they were then given permission by the father to visit the ashram for three days. This first visit allegedly took place during Dasara, in October 1945. (p.13) The family soon became very close to SB and visited for long periods.

The father's words quoted above indicate that in 1945, SB was 16, which would make his year of birth 1929 (as indicated by the register entries in LIMF). What is also interesting about this possibility is that at the time of the Mission Declarations of 1943 (another biographical adjustment of three years recently proved beyond any doubt by the documentary and other evidence in LIMF), he would have been almost 14 years old - as he and his biographers have always claimed!

And there is yet another possible sliver of corroboration. Vijayakumari later quotes from a story session by SB to devotees assembled on the Chitravati sand dunes in 1949 (pp. 216-218):

"Later, for High School studies, I had to go to Uravakonda. ... ..." (p. 217) "In my thirteenth year, coming to know that I had become a 'Baba' and had left home, one of my friends went mad ... Another friend jumped into a well and died." (p. 218)

We now know, from LIMF, that SB went to Uravakonda in early 1943, and left in October 1943 (when he was still a month away from his 14th birthday) to begin his Mission after the second of his Declarations. So, according to the above quoted statement, once more a 1929 date of birth seems indicated.

As for the possible day of birth, in the school Register photostats in LIMF it is given as 4 October (1929). But maybe it WAS 23 November after all, as has been celebrated, at least since 1946 when we find the first reference in LIMF to an official birthday. It was also celebrated on 23 November in 1950, as Vijayakumari notes, with the Inauguration of Prasanthi Nilayam:

"Till that day, prominence had not been given to Swami's Birthday. But that day we prayed to Swami to permit us to celebrate it." (Vijayakumari, p. 161) (In the Discourses recorded in Sathya Sai Speaks, the first to be labelled as a Birthday Discourse is the one for 1960.)