56 of 59 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Highly recommended, real-life adventure story with integrity, December 28, 1999
This review is from: Avatar of Night, Special Millennial Edition (Paperback)
It is not surprising that the first review of this book was overwhelmingly negative. Sai Baba, after all, has millions of disciples, and this book stands alone as the only comprehensive and credible, dissenting account of Baba's claims to be God.
The story is cinematic. The narrative is evocative and immersive, and is begging to make the transition to feature film. The book, written by a child of the sixties, tells a tale common to the era - a search for spiritual truth - but an uncommon tale in that the author went on a road less traveled, journeying to India and ending up as an intimate disciple of the country's most popular and charismatic guru, whose devotees include members of the Indian government.
But it is more serious than that. Baba is more than a guru. Baba claims to be God. The God. Your God and my God. That he can appear to back up this claim by performing dramatic miracles - materializing solid objects from thin air is one example - and having some undeniable level of revelatory knowledge into people's thoughts, makes him a very dangerous person if his claims are false.
To call this book 'one-sided' is completely missing the point. The book, if anything, tells two sides of the story in its answering the question about Baba's divinity.
The first half of the book is an account by an intimate disciple convinced of Baba's divinity. The second half recounts in great detail the gradual process of revelation of another side to Baba - a 'spiritual detective story', if you like - ultimately leading up to a powerful and dramatic conclusion.
When people set themselves up with any kind of power over us, whether politicians or spiritual leaders, it is important that their lives and their beliefs that influence and affect us are transparent and open for examination. In other words: if God gave us minds, presumably he would want us to use them.
The fact is that this book is the only chance that most worshipers of Baba around the world are going to get to hear an informed, alternative opinion of Baba's claims. And that the opinion is offered by one of the few people who can claim to have known him closely for two years requires them to pay attention.
I first read this book ten years ago, when it was available in the West as 'Lord of the Air'. It is one of the few books that I have read many, many times - no small praise from an English graduate and journalist.
The literary quality of the account, the intense and gripping story, the integrity of the investigation Brooke undertakes, and the personal suffering Brooke later underwent to get the text published in the West after the Indian government banned it, make this one of the few books that you absolutely have to read. Whether you have any interest in Baba, or just enjoy a good real-life adventure story, this book is highly recommended.
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24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A bit hyped, but a gripping story., June 26, 2000
This review is from: Avatar of Night, Special Millennial Edition (Paperback)
The last thing you can say about this book is that it is boring. Tal Brooke has a lively style, and an imagination to match. In fact, for the first few dozen pages, I was afraid I had purchased something like a tour guide to India by a Christian Archie Bunker suffering the after-effects of too many trips on LSD. The book begins with Brooke's arrival in India, and he doesn't have a kind word to say about anyone or anything that catches his hyperactive glance. But apparently these semi-psychodelic rages are his way of describing jet lag and culture shock. When he arrives at Sai Baba's compound, the book finds a more even keel as an imaginative and insightful narrative of his experiences with Sai Baba and those around him. He still may let his imagination get away from him at times, but it's a very good read from then on.
As for the debate about Sai Baba, it doesn't seem hard to me figure out. A devote below claims that "Readers who have never seen Baba" might be deceived by Brooke's slanders. Well, pictures and videos of Baba are abundant, in this book and elsewhere. Compare the photo of the straight-talking missionaries on page 261 who brought Brooke to Jesus, with one of Baba. Pictures can be worth a thousand words. Tell me honestly: would you buy a used car from this man?
The reviewer below who makes allowance for Brooke and "understands" his diatribes against Baba and his lapse back into "fundamentalism," seems to me to be taking a more peculiar position than the devotee who simply called him a liar. If the bare facts Tal Brooke relates in this book are true, no matter about his sometimes bizarre speculations, then Sai Baba is a pervert who deceives and abuses his followers.
How does the picture Tal Brooke paints of Sai Baba relate to mainstream Hinduism or Buddhism? In some ways, Baba is a fair representative of the esoteric occult tradition of these two religions. Certainly it does not follow that all Hindu or Buddhist teachers are abusive as he is. I think Christians need to be careful about finding the devil behind every bush -- much of this stuff may indeed be explained in terms of general principles of psychology and trickery. But of course, the definition of the devil is "the deceiver," so that only means he may be carrying out his deception on various levels. In my new book, Jesus and the Religions of Man, relying on my own research of Buddhist sects and other Asian religions, I argue that the relationship between magic and miracles is very much what the Bible says it is; more complex that Brooke describes, but certainly a dualistic contest between the holy and the unholy, rather than a monistic merging of all faiths. What Brooke says about Sai Baba fits into the overall pattern pretty well, so I don't find his suspicions misplaced. I only suggest that Christian readers read the book with caution, and make a clear separation between what Brooke observes and what he supposes. Of course for non-Christian readers, an open mind and a heart that is searching for truth will also be helpful.
d.marshall@sun.ac.jp
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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
THE SEAMY SIDE OF SAI, November 14, 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: Avatar of Night, Special Millennial Edition (Paperback)
Tal Brooke's revealing of his experiences with the famed Indian holy man, Sai Baba, is fascinating and revealing. Certain to infuriate Sai Baba devotees, the book is well written and addresses the man behind the "God" mask. It is certain to make the reader think about the pursuit of Eastern gurus, who, in many cases, are ultimately unmasked for the frail human businessmen that they really are. Brooke undoubtedly has taken quite a bashing for his outspoken book; however, with the ever burgeoning television and newspaper articles which confirm his original findings, he can finally be appreciated for the effort he made to get the truth out to an often hostile audiance.
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