Customer Reviews

Sai Baba the Holy Man and the Psychiatrist

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There has been much controversy about Sai Baba. There are both those who believe he is a powerful holy man, and those that believe he is a fake. This book is about a Psychiatrist who travels to India in order to prove Sai Baba to be a fake. The author describes his motivations, and his feelings when he meets Sai Baba and begins to have his own experiences. For many of the Sai Baba devotees that I know, this is the first book they read. This is an excellent book, perhaps because the author did not mean it to be anything except an account of his own experiences. His sincerity comes across.

There also was much controversy surrounding Jesus during his time. Those that follow their heart (rather than their mind) will find their own truth.

Samuel Sandweiss lets us experience what he experiences as he learns about an incredible being in Southern India. His doubts, reactions, and internal changes are incredibly touching. The book is one that I give to anyone searching for the Truth. Reading about Sai Baba has changed my life.

The author gives a good insight to the workings of the mind and shares his sense of deep friendship with Baba to us. I enjoyed this book immensely and found ideas I can use in daily life. A must for all who seek to understand psycology.

An interesting book about Dr Samuel H. Sandweiss an American psychiatrist who travels to India to meet Sai Baba, an Indian holy man or atavar (divine in human form).

Sai Baba has psychic powers of telepathy, clairvoyance and manifestation of objects

The book was an introduction to me of Hindu spirituality. It has a good glossary for those who are unfamiliar with the Sanskrit words as I was.

Here are some quotes

"It is our responsibility to serve and heal ourselves" p121

"Even though I began to appreciate that what I considered the outside world was really me, and that stuggling with it was only a reflection of a struggle with myself- that if I wanted to stop my inner struggle I would have to stop wrestling with the "outside" - I was still unable to stop....

"The difficulty and confusion in the therapy seemed to be that in order to break the cycle one had to become unaffected by real pain and the feelings and emotions that accompany it. Psychotherapy may be affective in overcoming an irrational or imagined fear, in which one fears a situation that "in reality" is not painful. But it is quite another thing to rear a situation which "really" is painful. To become unaffected by and detached from "real" emotions is generally considered to be an undesireable process by most schools of psychotherapy. They generally call such a manoevre a defense against,or denial of,reality. On the other hand, this kind of detached attitude toward what we call the "real" or physical world is an indispensable part of the spiritual approach. ... p62

The difference between Repression and Denial. "The first is separating oneself, out of fear, from contact with one's senses and emotions before learning to control and harness these energies-thereby remaining unaware of them. The second is surrendering them willingly as part of our yearning to continue to grow, after we have gained awareness, and a measure of self-mastery, of them." P64.

On karma:" I am beginning to appreciate the concept of karma. We reap what we sow,we are repaid in like for the good and bad we do. We are entirely responsible for pulling ourselves out of the mess we have made for ourselves, and it is foolish and futile to shift responsibility to someone else". P121

Well I've read the first half of this book now, and I've got to say that it isn't as good as the Amazon reviews made it out to be. Or it just isn't what I was looking for. I'm interested in Sai Baba and I wanted a basic beginner's book explaining what he's all about. Instead, this is a book about an American psychiatrist in the 70s who was drawn toward Sai Baba, but resisted him at the same time because Sai Baba's teachings go against the basic principles of psychiatry. So it's a long-winded, at times psycho-babble filled, story of how the psychiatrist's fears were slowly put to rest. If I were a hyped-up 1970s American psychiatrist, this book would be perfect. But I don't have the same reservations about Sai Baba and I don't care about the psychiatrist, which makes this book fairly uncompelling.

This is an essential book for those who are Sai Baba devotees. Anyone who wants to read about an avatar living in the present day world who is doing more for humanity than any person alive today.

This is the first of two books I have read on Sai Baba, and I believe by far the best. The other one
actually had compilations from this book. This is a very interesting read, and gave me some definate ideas to think
about.

In this book, it contains the "milestone" discourse by Baba in which he declared that he has come "for the protection of the virtuous ...". The relevance of this discourse to today's world is explained in my book How Sai Baba Attracts Without Direct Contact: Diary of a 21st Century Sai Devotee.

I was educated in a high school founded by some of Sathya SaiBaba's followers in India. I can say the school, people who founded itand the education I got there were all excellent. I feel fortunate tohave attended this school! But, me and my family never believed in SaiBaba as God or Avatar. We always thought of him as a fraud and scamartist.

His devotees were excellent people and served others withlove. They tried to follow many of his teachings in their lives and toworked to propogated good values etc. Especially, his message ofuniversal truth in all religions.

After almost fifteen years Istumbled upon this book and couple of other books on him. These werewritten by initially skeptic people who started believing in Sai Babaafter some personal experiences. I bought and read them eagerly as Iwas trying to see what I would feel now after all these years. Forthree days all I did was read these books. I was so curious andexcited, I almost wanted to believe everything I read.

Thisfeeling did not last long as I found some very interesting sources onWeb giving a different account or explanation of some of the miraclesand events described in the book.

If you are curious and want toknow about Baba please not only read this book but also the othersources to get a complete picture and then judge for your self...Goodluck with your journey!!

In this book, a Godseeking and gullible psychiatrist relates as truth his experiences of the miracles and presumed divinity of an Indian guru. Makes for interesting reading if treated as fiction. As fact, it is a bit hard to swallow in light of hundreds of accounts showing the Godman to be a charlaton. One is, even though disbelieving, amazed at the guru, Sai Baba's, ability to fool thousands for a lucrative existence in a poverty stricken area of India.