THE SATHYA SAI BABA COMMUNITY IN BRADFORD David Bowen Its Origin and Development, Religious Beliefs and Practices MONOGRAPH SERIES COMMUNITY RELIGIONS PROJECT Department of Theology and Religious Studies University of Leeds 1988 This is the third in a series of monographs produced by the Community Religions Project in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Leeds. The Community Religions Project is a research group committed to working on contemporary issues related to religions in Britain, particularly those of relevance to ethnic minorities. In addition to the production of monographs, it publishes a series of research papers. A list of titles appears at the back of this volume. First published in 1988 by the Community Religions Project, University of Leeds. First published online in 2016 by the Community Religions Project, University of Leeds. Note: Where possible all content has been rendered faithfully to the 1988 paper edition. Online editor: Jo Henderson-Merrygold © Community Religions Project All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy of transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. This monograph is based on a Ph.D. thesis submitted to the University of Leeds in 1985. Contents INTRODUCTION 1 Aims 1 Fieldwork and Methodology 2 Relation to the Discipline of Religious Studies 7 Title and Contents 11 CHAPTER 1. THE FELLOWSHIP: ITS ORIGIN, CONTEXT, MEMBERSHIP AND AFFILIATIONS 15 1.1 The Migration of Hindus to the United Kingdom 15 1.2 The Settlement of Gujarati Hindus in Bradford 18 1.3 The Evolution of Gujarati Hindu Organisations in Bradford 27 1.4 The Sathya Sai Baba Satsang in Bradford: its Membership and Affiliations' 45 CHAPTER 2. ACTIVITIES OF THE FELLOWSHIP 58 2.1 Bhajan Mandal 59 2.2 Festivals 66 2.3 Special Events 75 2.4 Group Activities 81 CHAPTER 3. THE TEMPLE AND THE ICONS 90 3.1 The Mandir and the Iconological Task 90 3.2 Icon 1: Shiva and Baba 95 3.3 Icon 2: Baba as Vishnu 114 CHAPTER 4. ICONS OF THE TWO SAI BABAS 123 4.1 Icon 3: Sai Baba of Shirdi 126 4.2 Icons 4-11: Sathya Sai Baba 139 4.3 An Exercise in Iconology 153 CHAPTER 5. MAHASHIVARATRI 161 5.1 Characteristics of Mahashivaratri 161 5.2 The Origin of Mahashivaratri 171 5.3 Mahashivaratri in Bradford 179 5.4 Mahashivaratri at Prashanti Nilayam 187 5.5 Vibhuti: Sacred Ash 191 5.6 Vibhuti and the Bradford Satsang 197 5.7 Vibhuti and Mahashivaratri 202 CHAPTER 6. THE BIRTHDAY OF SATHYA SAI BABA 210 6.1 The Cultural Context and Baba's Birth 210 6.2 Baba's Birthday and the Satsang 212 6.3 The Birthday, Pilgrimage and Mission 219 6.4 Pilgrimage to Wellingborough 223 6.5 Amrit: Ambrosia 232 6.6 Bharatisation: The Extension of Sacred Space 237 CHAPTER 7. PARANORMAL POWERS AND THE FELLOWSHIP 245 7.1 Siddhis: Paranormal Powers 245 7.2 The Siddhis of Sathya Sai Baba 250 7.3 Babafs Siddhis and the Bradford Satsang 263 7.4 The Role of Siddhis in the foundation of the Satsang 267 CHAPTER 8. THE GROWTH OF THE FELLOWSHIP 277 8.1 Siddhis as the Basis for the Growth of the Satsang 278 8.2 The Role of the Young in the Satsang 283 8.3 The Impact of a Young Leader 291 8.4 Pilgrimage to Prashanti Nilayam 303 8.5 Impetus Sustained: 1981-85 311 CONCLUSION 324 APPENDIX 1: The Life of Sathya Sai Baba: some significant Dates and Events 341 APPENDIX 2: The Teaching of Sathya Sai Baba 345 APPENDIX 3: Statistics of attendance at Thursday Bhajan Mandals: September 1977 - October 1985 348 APPENDIX 4: Attendance of the Young at the Thursday Bhajan Mandal 353 APPENDIX 5: Four representative Bhajans sung at the Sai Mandir on 17 January 1980 355 APPENDIX 6: Two representative films shown at the Sai Centre 357 APPENDIX 7: Special Activities of the Young People of the Satsang 1982-85 359 APPENDIX 8: Simplified. Glossary for the non-specialist Reader 361 NOTES 365 BIBLIOGRAPHY 383 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This work could not have been written without the ready co-operation of Mr Gulabbhai and Mrs Savitaben Patel, whose faith and commitment have generated it. They could not have been more kind and welcoming, their home being generously open to me at all times. Gulabbhai, in particular, gave of his time without reserve, explaining his convictions in lengthy interviews. Each member of their family has also been helpful. Special mention should be made of their eldest son, Pranav, who not only accompanied me on some of my earliest visits to the homes of devotees, but also discussed in great detail many aspects of the faith of the community. Both he and his father have been models of patience, and have put up with what must have seemed like a persistent pursuit of barely relevant questions. I only hope that the strength of their devotion to Sathya Sai Baba may be matched by the rigour and the usefulness of this research. Dr Ursula King, of the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Leeds, gave her time unstintingly in discussing this work, phase by phase, as my supervisor. She threw light on problems - theoretical, academic and technical - in exchanges that were always both stimulating and supportive. Dr Amrik Kalsi, a colleague at Bradford and Ilkley Community College, readily shared his expertise in • Sanskrit and in modern South Asian languages with me. A mine of information on many otherwise obscure details, he spared himself no trouble and sustained my commitment to this research in every way that was open to him. Mr R.M. Faithorn, Mr Don Hassall and Mr D.H.B. Andrews, together with Mr Peter Chambers and the members of the Staff Development Sub-committee at Bradford and Ilkley Community College, were generously helpful when I needed the endorsement of my superiors. Don Hassall gave unstinting professional support through- out the process of preparation for a C.N.A.A, revalidation of college courses in 1983, which otherwise would have had to dominate my commitments at a critical stage. I am grateful to several other Bradford colleagues, and to fellow workers in the Community Religions Project at the University of Leeds, for specific help at particular times. Mr Ramindar Singh, Mr Seva Kalsi, Dr Kim Knott and Revd Stephen Barton, together with Dr Maureen Michaelson of the University of London, were kind enough to discuss with me matters relating to this research. My indebtedness to Dr Knott is now further increased, for she has under- taken the work of editing this series of monographs and therefore of preparing this thesis for publication. I wish to thank Mr R.P. Johar of the Hindu Cultural Society of Bradford, Mr M.B. Ladd of the Shree Prajapati Association, Mr K.J. Mistry of the Shri Jalaram Shakti Mandal, Mr J.M. Patel of the Patel Samaj, and Mr D.C. Chavda of the Kshatriya Sudharak Mandal, for their ready assistance in clarifying the history and the activities of the organisations to which they belong. Mrs Susan Scottow was a most patient, painstaking and skilful typist for the original thesis. Her ready smile, even at the prospect of fresh burdens, was most encouraging and relieved me of embarrassment on many occasions. I am grateful now to Mrs Jill Killington for re-typing the work in modified form for publication. For the photographs, I am indebted to Mr Dennis Keeling and Mr Richard Adams, members of the technical staff at Bradford and Ilkley Community College. Finally, in expressing my gratitude to all the members of the Sri Sathya Sai Community in Bradford for their openness, hospitality and kindness, I would like to say that I hope that nothing that I have written in the interests of ‘science' will hurt them. I do know that their faith is so deep that they are conscious of having nothing to fear - only mis-representation. Introduction AIMS This is a contribution to the Community Religions Project in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Leeds. Its aim is consonant with those of the project (Knott 1984: 4-6). However, being necessarily more specific, it crystal- lises the project's overall purpose in relation to one section of the Gujarati Hindu population in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The intention is to elucidate the origins of a distinctively Indian religious fellowship (a satsang) in the city, and to analyse the vicissitudes in its growth, while ~defining the beliefs and practices of its members and the functions they supply. The satsang is that of the devotees of Sathya Sai Baba b. 1926; see appendices 1 and 2 for details of Baba's life and teaching). Should the aim of this thesis be fulfilled, certain subordinate objectives will also be achieved. For example, because most published assessments of Sathya Sai Baba's work and teaching are either un- critically euphoric or dedicated to iconoclasm, there is a need to provide a base for an objective assess- ment of the convictions and practices of his devotees. The growing number of adherents of this spiritual path, as Baba would define it, not only in India but world-wide, enhances the importance of the task. Furthermore, there is a need to offer an objective detailed interpretation of the life of a growing religious community which is in danger of being misunderstood in the United Kingdom. This was exemplified in 1980, when two young men separately, the one of them an active participant in the satsang, 1 and the other a Hindu student from another northern town, brought me, unsolicited, two different press- cuttings.