Reviewed Websites
80th Birthday Celebration Website
The Sri Sathya Sai Books and Publications Trust has created a special website
celebrating the 80th Birthday of Sri Sathya Sai Baba, November 2005. This website
has an introductory flash movie, then moves to a main page with links to many subsidary
pages. There are video presentations, felicitations to Baba from dignitaries, and best
of all is the NEWS page, which is updated three hourly, with news and photos of events
occurring in darshan, in the mandir, and festivities generally around Prashanti Nilayam,
Hillview Stadium, and so forth. Here is a screeshot of the NEWS page:
This news site is updated with event narrative and photographs, the next best thing
to live streaming from the Sai Kulwant Hall. A link to bookmark during this great
festival.
The 80th Birthday Website
The Prashanti News Page
A Most Dedicated servant of the Lord
Deepak Bharwani has been collecting information on the Web about Bhagavan Baba for many years. His website may be relied on to carry the latest, sensible and verifiable information, messages, devotional content and reliable online posts about Bhagavan Baba. This excellent website is found here Sairam Website
Sathya Sai Center of Corona
This website is called "A Humble tribute to Shri Sathya Sai Baba". The first impression is good; it has a neat, clean, properly sized image of Swami that is quick to load. Under the Photo is a crisp summary of Swami's mission: --> "We do not need today a new religion or creed, nor a new system of education; nor need we create a new society. All we need are men and women who have pure and loving hearts . . . The transformation has to be effected in the minds of people."
The Heading is a little confusing although; the first line that appears on the site says "Sri Sathya Sai Karuna Center of Corona"... Karuna means compassion. Is this an official Sai Baba Center or some other type of Sai Baba Center? The mind asks questions. There is no explanation of the Sai Center name on the website.
The front page of this website is slow to scroll, I was looking at this in Netscape 7.1 and I found the scrolling sluggish. This is a Geocities Website; someone has paid for the removal of the all- irritating advertising; great... I still wonder why the sluggishness.
There is a longish discourse extract below the heading, from Sathya Sai Speaks 1974, and looks to come from one of the "Why I Incarnate" discourses. A little more scrolling further down the page finds the cause of the sluggish scrolling-- a string of web page links with animated graphic, little black fireboxes with flames.
Well, it *might* be an official Sai Center of the Sathya Sai Seva Organisation, for jumping around the site from link to link shows a listing of Sai Baba Centers in Southern California, SSE Classes for Children and the Young Adult Program.
There are links on the front page to photographs and discourses. One link goes to a page with clouds for a background, Sathya Sai sitting in bliss, then in very large print, the "I am God" mantram Swami gave to devotees during the birthday discourse of 1983. It is well done.
There is a prayers and Mantras link. This leads to a page which displays Gayathri Mantra, Morning Prayer, Night time prayer, the food prayer, and the 108 Names of Sathya Sai Baba. All prayers are translated and meanings are offered. The 108 Names of Sai Baba are also supplied in a printable format, a rarity for a Sai Baba website.
The Childrens Page has a linked "Chinna Katha" of the week, and a link to stories from Ramayana, with rather good illustrations. This reminded me of the adults who learn about the classics of India via reading the comic books.
One link says "How can I serve Krishna?" This page appears to be an afterthough. There appears a paragraph on karma yoga, another paragraph on 'What happens after death' and a final paragraph on 'What are the best questions'? Further down the list of links is a page which shows the shrine at the Corona Sai Center. Other links go to the Central Council of America, the Karuna Sai Center News and a link page to other Sai Websites. There is a link to a Dessuai Homepage with information about Hungary in English. This appears to be a Hungarian Sai Baba website. Perhaps this is a service project of this center. The sub pages are in Hungarian. View the Hungarian page TOP
Summary:
A simple, well laid out website that does not suffer from information overload. All pages begin with a crisp, large photo of Swami, and are well laid out - lots of space. Not overloaded with sanskrit. Care has been taken with selections of Swami's teachings. A simple, clear, devotional website. TOP
World of Sai
This is a website with a neat, tidy layout and an excellent site map right up the top in the menu. The Site map indicates that the main areas of this site are the Sai Era, Unity of Faith, a collection of discourses, interview and compilations by devotees and students, stories, miscellaneous spiritual items, links to other saints and teachers, and so forth. This is a researched site, compiled from many resources and covers a lot of ground.
The Sai Era section is not a narrative of the life of Sai Baba. It has pages on Avatar (a hymn to Savitri by Sri Aurobindo) King of Kings, Darshan, Message, Hospital Project, Water Project, Bhajans and Seva. The Darshan page recounts Sai Baba's advice to Charles Penn, and a story of Sai Baba materialising his person in a healing studio in London. The Water Project page is comprehensive with photos and links to other sites on the water project. I am not sure what the bhajans and seva page contribute to the Sai Era, except that they are seem transcriptions of what other devotees have told.
The Unity of Faiths section has a rather nice image of Sai and Jesus on the front page. Sai Is Isa has excerpts from several Christmas day discourses, and from K. Gale Kumar's book, The Prophecies are Fulfilled; the way this page is laid out at the top does not make it clear where the citations are coming from, either Gale-Kumar or Sai Baba.
One gem on this page is a picture not seen for many years, the picture of Jesus walking with his disciples Luke and John, and Matthew. Other copies of this picture have had Matthew totally sliced off. The narrative of this image somewhat varies from what I had heard. One last comment on this page. Jesus was crucified. The scene on the top of the hill is the Crucifixion of Jesus. Non European writers insult Christians when they speak of the crucification of Jesus. This is not a word in the dictionary nor in use in Christian devotion. The page on Krishna Melchisedek is a fanciful theory not supported by relevant scholars from either the Christian or Hindu traditions. There is a subsection on Islam which includes a personal and insightful contribution on true jihad by one David Crockett Williams Jr.
The Texts section comprises the "Milestone Speech" (no reason is given for this) The Guru Within', the Blitz Interview, Letter to His brother, Interview to Journalists in 1999, The Sai Religion and three compilations, Good Vision, Questions and Answers, and Gems of the Lord. I found this section somewhat scattered with no coherent introduction or overall theme of the importance or significance of the texts. The Milestone Speech is a straight lift from Sanathana Sarathi, with poor layout making this seem a somewhat long page of text which seems to scroll down forever. Another long page is the full citation of the Rukyo Hira's release of Swamis School Days, printed in time for the first world Youth Conference in 1977. Also included is a small page on food.
The Stories section has some small, sharp stories, and a lot of the material appears to come from the old SaiNet. The miscellaneous section has a long screed on the Universe as a Hologram, the Hindu Milk miracle of September 1995, an article on Doomesday (an alternate spelling of doomsday) which is in German. The author writes that he did not have time to translate this to English, and appeals for a translation. I was able to get a translation on Google in about 10 seconds. Perhaps Google Translate was not around when the page was first put up.
The media page is blank and incomplete, as are the Forum and Guestbook pages. The links page appears interesting. It provides links to Sai devotional websites, audio sites, online books and Sai websites in other countries. A well prepared links page; sadly, many links are dead. The Saints page has images and links to websites about Mata Amritanandamayi, Mother Meera, Ramana Maharishi, Swami Sivananda, Sri Aurobindo, Sri Ramakrishna and Vivekananda.
This website is the fruit of a lot of work and preparation. It lacks an introduction and overall cohesiveness. Some of the section headings could have been a little more carefull thought out. For example, Unity of Faith hardly comprises a collection of articles on Islam and Christianity.
A little introduction and guidance to visitors would have benefited this website considerably.
Works which are lifted totally from other sources should have both source and permissions cited. Layout should be appropriate and not destroy the original neat paragraphing and layout of the material. There appears massive plagrism on many Sai websites.
Some discrimination about inclusion of material is needed (I doubt the relevance of Doomsday, it refers to some event in 1962) and some illumination of why the material on holographic universe, Vertical Paradigms would have benefited most readers. The out of date links indicate one imperative with websites; they must be maintained regularly, as sites hosted on free providers many years ago are most always not there four or five years later. TOP
Mauritius Sri Sathya Sai Paaduka Samithi
This is the Website of what may be understood as a Sai Baba Centre organised along the lines of devotion to the Sai Padukas, that is, devotion to the Feet of the Lord through devotion to the sacred, consecrated sandals or Padukas (alternate spelling Paadukas) of the Lord Sai Baba. A refreshing difference. Swami has told, where you have the Padukas and worship them, there Swami is with you.
The website comprises several sections; Activities tell of the recent plans and goals of 35 members on pilgrimage to India; Sai Sandesh, a collection of small articles about Sai Padukas; Sai Teachings, a series of talks given around the teachings of Sathya Sai Baba; a Photos page; and a prayer page. There is a small guest book and a feedback link. Squashed down by the Lycos frame is a section called Sai Avatar with 'reply'. This link only appears on the Main page. The main page has an animated OM, a waving Mauritius flag and amusing multicoloured Om Sai Ram which follows your mouse movements all over the main page.
The activities page is most interesting. It tells of a sacred pilgrimage to India (SRI SATHYA SAI PAADUKA TIRTHA YAATRA ) by 35 members of this Center commencing on October 21, 2003, and I wonder if they are back home, for the goals of the pilgrimage are fascinating. The pilgrimage aims to bring back home a sacred pair of Paadukas, to bring back to Mauritius the Akhanda Jyothi - the sacred flame first lit by Swami, to bring back 1008 small Paadukas, to bring ONE SINGLE DROP of sacred water from every lake, pond, river on our way, also collecting some grams of earth from that sacred land while the YAATRA is progressing. Moreover, the Yaatra will circumambulate Prashanti Nilayam visiting the three adjoining states around Andhra Pradesh and visit maximum Sai Seva Samithi's (centres) en route. I will certainly be returning to this site to read their accounting of the progress of the Yaatra. There is more to read in the goals of the Yaatra, and it is clear, through these goals, that this Samithi intends to contribute in a most active way for the spiritual well being of their country.
The Sai Sandesh page gives an accounting of the meaning behind the worship of Padukas, and their relation to Swami's form, the Lotus Feet, and the full grace accumulating in the divine Paadukas. The aims and goals of the Mauritius Paaduka Samithi is explained, and there is a very terse introduction to the origin and history of Paaduka worship in the time of Lord Rama, and a wonderful account of Krishna washing the feet of his childhood friend, the Brahmin Sudhama.
Sai Teachings page has some small excerpts from discourses. Other pieces on this page appear to be taken from talks given by devotees. I felt it would be better to cite the source of all the pieces on this page; One piece had the heading 'If God is so merciful why is there so much misery in this world ?' and I mistakenly thought this was a citation from a divine discourse. It turned about to be an insightful piece written by a parent. There is one comment on these pages, the paragraph text appears in different colours, purple, violet, orange, maroon, sky blue, green, blue, Red, etc, etc. I had a hard time focussing on orange text set against an olive background. I know some devotees who are colour blind, and they would certainly find some of these pages challenging.
The photo page is most pleasing - so many children in the Bal Vikas Outing photographs. There are also photos of yagnas, sacred fires and devotees making offerings to the fire. There is also a photo of devotees carrying the Paadukas in fashion similar to Rahotsavam, called Makara Toranam.
The Prayer page has the text of the Suprabhatam Prayer. At the very top of the page is a message to the reader to turn the computer sound on and wait for the Suprabhatam recording to load. In the age of electronic communication, surfing, fast connections and the hiatus of websites, it is good to take a break, pause, and drift into inner silence listening to Suprabhatam. It was blissful to take the time and listen.
Back to the front page to view the squashed link on the Sai Avatar. This turns out to be a brief overview of the triple incarnation of the Sai Avatar. Carefully note that picture of Shirdi Sai, it's a picture, not a painting; one of the few authentic images of Swami in his last body. This page, unfortunately, has a light olive background with a flower every inch; this somewhat interrupts focussing on some of the text when the text changes colour. The section on Prema Sai Baba cites all the known sources succinctly, without any embroidery or speculation.
At the top of this Sai Avatar page are two links, curiously called Sai Reply. Investigation shows that these are called 'An Interview with Sai Baba' ; questions and answers compiled from many sources, with all sources cited correctly. Simple questions with clear, crisp answers. The questions that many many devotees ask. A well crafted set of web pages.
Reflection on this web site shows it has a unique focus (the sacred sandals or Paadukas of the Lord), and whilst extremely colourful in many places, is in fact quite restrained and powerful in its restraint. Perhaps a broader introduction to the Padukas, an explanation of some of the Hindi or Sanskrit terms would have helped: for example, the Yaatra, (a word that means pilgrimage), is this a Paada Yaatra, pilgrimage by walk, or some other form of Yaatra? i.e, they will be carrying both flame and Paadukas back to Mauritius at completion... A most fruitful inclusion might have considered the work of the Sri Sai Padhuga Trust, Madurai, and the labours of that magnificent devotee of the Lord, the late Subramanium Chettiar, and those labours being carried on by his son PSAS Srinivasan. There is very little material on the Internet about the Padhuga Trust and the works of these two devotees.
A good website with a refreshing difference in the focus of devotion, to the sacred sandals of the Lord, the Sai Paadukas. TOP
Om Sai Baba
This website is dedicated to "Our Divine Mother and Divine Father, BABA. Note the small text down the bottom of the page, "Get Flash Player". There is a "Click to Enter" note on the site, and no option to Skip the flash introduction. The flash introduction simulates the universe with an expanding ball of golden light, wherein appears Swami, in white robe. There is music accompanying this flash introduction.
When the flash page expires, the next page is an attractive Mandiram page with a java or flash mirror in the centre; Sathya Sai on Top, Shirdi Sai below in the pool. There are attractive blue-gold-pink Nataraja's dancing each side, with Ganesh and Shirdi Sai in each portal; I was a bit confused on Ganesh at first; I thought it was Vamana or Venkadvutha. There is a simple, clear rose background with aumsairam repeated. Music loads on this page also - 3 OMs.
Clicking the photos link brings the visitor to a blue page with a table full of images. There is a sound control on each page. The photos are small, attractive, and fast loading in a central viewer. Bhajan music loads on the first photo. There are citations under many photographs.
There is a main links page and a link exchange page which is attractively laid out with rather nicely done buttons with images, text, and links. I noted one link, to the Bailey Sisters website, incorrectly configured. Reminder of the links go to rather innovative websites, and for once, appear to be links chosen with care.
A small, neatly designed website with attractive design which achieves its modest goal. Perhaps there could be a skip-flash link on the main page. TOP
Ramala Centre
The pages on Sai Baba are part of the Ramala Center Website, run by David and Ann Jevons, formerly of the UK, and now residents of Canada.
Comprising a three page introduction to Sai Baba, the first page is quite direct and hits the reader with a strong message of the mission, and the acts of Sai Baba fostering devotees and saving them from calamity. Concise, crisp, yet action packed paragraphs.
There is an overview of the triple incarnation of Sai Baba and the spiritual impact of a divine incarnation.
Website visitors are commended to investigate the further beyond the simple miracles of Sai Baba. "Come, test, inquire, taste and experience me…. Do not be attracted simply by stories of what I create with a wave of my hand. Do not jump to conclusions with closed eyes; watch, study and weigh…."
The next page is a verbatim overview of talks given by David Jevons inviting listeners to investigate the phenomenon called Sai Baba. Jevons says that we are now at the beginning of a massive world wide interest in Sai Baba.
Jevons offers three ways to relate to Sai Baba - either as a great Spiritual Teacher, or as an Indian Avatar (which he explains) or as the Source, the very origin of all life. In speaking about Sai Baba as a great spiritual teacher, he quotes a useful metaphor: "For me, personally, one of Sai Baba's most significant teachings is that God is omnipresent, that is to say that God is within us, around us and above us at all times. He says that human beings can be likened to fish swimming in water, where the water can be considered as God."
Explaining Sai Baba as an Indian Avatar, Jevons compares and contrasts Sai Baba and Jesus, and their earthly careers and their missions. Jevons goes on to say "the avatar always comes when humanity is on the brink of destruction, when fear stalks the streets everywhere, when evil appears to flourish, when righteousness is mocked. In the eternal cycle of human evolution we are now experiencing the lowest point of the cycle, the time when Humanity is the most separated from the Godhead."
In explaining Sai Baba as Source, Jevons is very careful to make the distinction between name and form. "God is not the name and the form. God only takes name and form because Humanity would find it difficult to develop faith in the nameless and the formless"...
David Jevons speaks very frankly, from the heart, something he had to learn over many years. He tells that the only real assessment of Sai Baba can be 'How has Sai Baba transformed me?' Jevons writes, 'I am aware of the transformation that he has wrought in my being. This, surely, is the only way that one can make a valid assessment of Sai Baba, by asking "How has Sai Baba transformed me? Has he influenced my life for the better?"
The third page devoted to Sai Baba on this website comprises notes taken in an interview in Kodaikanal in 1983 with Bhagavan Baba. Jevons was so impressed when he heard the note-taker give a talk, that he obtained a copy. The focus is 'Sai Baba's teachings on Non Duality'. This is a rather off-putting heading for what is a readable, personable, well edited account of a sometimes humorous interview!
Three pages which will take some ploughing through. Long web pages are unusual in the wild wild west we call the Internet, yet these pages take the reader through the necessary points which *must* be examined in any investigation of Sai Baba. Jevons asks his listener to listen with conscience, not conscious. It is not all miracles and vibhuti, darshan and leela. Jevons is firm, an enquirer should ask, "What does Sai Baba offer Me?" TOP
O Sai Baba
Its just a little unclear from first glance, whom this website is dedicated unto. The Home page has an image of Shirdi Sai, and animated Om. There are citations from Shri Sai Sat Charita, the blessed story of Sai Baba of Shirdi.
Mandir links to a page with the heading Shri Sai Baba's Shrine in San Francisco. This is a page with photographs of a shrine room which has many manifestations of kumkum, vibhuti, butter, sugar, and the like.
The Sai Pictures Page links to a page with a wide array of pictures of Sathya Sai, Shirdi Sai, hospitals, Samadhi and peethams.
Shirdi Places has a listing of various places of interest to visit in Shirdi.
Upcoming events refers to birthday celebrations of Sri Sathya Sai Baba in San Francisco.There is a link 'Pray to Sai' which brings up a page called Prayer Room. There is the following paragraph on this page:
"If a man utters My name with love, I shall fulfill all his wishes, increase his devotion. And if he sings earnestly My life and My deeds, him I shall beset in front and back and on all sides…
So the quotation continues.
The Sai Experiences page is a small page with two excerpts which appear to be about Shirdi Sai Baba. There are no devotee experiences on this page.
We commenced saying that it was just a little unclear from first glance, whom this website is dedicated unto. Afterwards, upon reflection, it appears to be a small devotional site dedicated to Shirdi Sai Baba, with images from a home shrine room where manifold materialisations are occurring. TOP
Sai Baba - China
This website is in Chinese characters. There was a small English section on this website some time ago. Appears to be the Chinese Sai Baba Website.
There is a link to the Sai Baba Website for Taiwan, which gives the following apology: "There is considerable Sai Baba material in English on the web, but not much in Chinese. Most of our efforts on this site are directed toward the Chinese content. Please bear with us. This page has directions to the Sai Baba Center of Taipei.
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Sai Center, KATONG
This website opens with an attractive image of the Lotus Feet, has a small font introductory text, plays some music, and has a tiny link to
the main page of this site. This is poor design, and some of the images up top, or at least, the word Katong should have been a linked image.
The main page has a blank white column in the middle; I noticed the url was for an asp page, hinting that
the website was designed for use in Internet Explorer only. I was using the Firefox Explorer to view this page. After switcing browsers, the blank space was still in the
center of the page. ??? I was unsure of this design, and found it rather odd.
Investigation shows this is the website of the Sai Baba Center of Katong, designed by Sai Youth, and edited by a committee, presumably of Elders. The site, while expansive and very inclusive of all activities of the Katong Sai Center, appears to be updated only sporadically, and most of the material dates from 2003 upto mid-2004.
A poorly designed site, designed for Internet Explorer only. A pity, for the contents of the site are well laid out and there is extensive coverage of service activities. TOP
Puttaparthy Online
This website is a little difficult to read. Although there is lots of white space, and text on a column
in the middle of the screen, there is a background image of Swami's face and the Sai Kulwant Hall, behind ALL text, making it somewhat
difficult to read. Websites are about communication, and websites about Sathya Sai Baba are really about
passing on accurate information about Sathya Sai Baba in a clear, concise manner to a seeking public. The text on all the pages in this website are obscured by this background image, which repeats as a reader scrolls down the page. This is really unfortunate and detracts totally from the purpose of the website: to communicate.
There are some useful links across the top, thought for the day, temperature, weather, currency exchange, and taxi booking service. Some thought into design for purpose has gone into this site. The link to "About Puttaparthy" goes to a page with strong blue text, somewhat easier to read; everywhere Swami's name appears on this page, it appears in RED.
Other information on this site is apt and appropriate, although the travel information page does not report the recent initiative of daily flights to Puttaparthi from Bangalore. There is a link to reserve train tickets. There is an online shopping page, with images of idols, and a purchase link. Clicking through did not reveal WHOM the purchaser was buying from, nor the conditions of purchase. A well meaning site, with an enviable URL.
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A Psychic's Website
This is the website of Craig Hamilton-Parker, a well known British Clarivoyant and Psychic, who has had a proactive web presence for quite some time. Hamilton Parker has also been pro-active in defending Sai Baba against nefarious allegations and accusations. While Hamilton Parker promotes his business on this site, and there are links to an Online Psychic School, Astrology, Numerology, and Tarot, these are not the focus of this site. Sathya Sai Baba is the focus, the presenter a medium and psychic.
This warrants some comments. Devotees of Sathya Sai Baba come from many and varied background. In the English speaking world and the nations of the former British Commonwealth, it is not unusual to find devotees who have been spiritual seekers for quite some time and come from what is sometimes called an "alternative" or "new age" spiritual path. Indeed, this environment numbers devotees who have come from the Spiritualist Church. The thing to keep in mind here, is that devotees from such backgrounds have been genuine spiritual seekers who have put in quite a lot of effort and followed their inner truths (whatever form and shape that take) to land at the Lotus Feet of Bhagavan Baba. All the more blessing for these seekers, thus validating their sincere spiritual efforts.
There are pages on Sai Baba appearing in dreams, Sai Baba and Truth, and mediumship, and a rather interesting page on Sai Baba and UFO's with a keenly interesting story about a UFO appearing behind Sai Baba one day. There are sixx pages of links to other Sai Baba/Spiritual Websites, and pages with Sai Baba stories focussing on Materialisations and Vibhuti. This website does attempt to get readers to be critical of material circulating about Sathya Sai Baba. TOP
Gallery of Miracles
This website of a psychiatrist in private practice, in San Diego, USA. He did his supervision with another devotee psychiatrist, Dr Sam Sandweiss. This site examines photographs of a miraculous nature. The section on Sai Baba is a brief introduction to Sai Baba in general. The Importance of Miracles recounts transforamtion of character, and cites miracles surrounding education, medicine and the Sathya Sai Safe Drinking Water project. Teacher and Devotee recounts the transformation of both Dr Gerstein, and one of his patients. The Gallery of photographs contains a succint range of photographs of phenomena produced by Sai Baba, and one other photograph of Mother Mary appearing over a Mosque. Other sections await material and submissions. TOP
Sify News Portal - Birthday offering
Sify dot com is an Indian portal somewhat similar to Yahoo, but with a decided Indian flavour. Sify News is the news portal, and this section on Sathya Sai Baba appeared at the time of Bhagavan Baba's 79th birthday. Due this being a portal, this site may or may not survive to be viewed by you. However, we proceed.
The biography page is a succint, neat introduction to the early years of young Sathyanarayana Raju. The slideshow page has 41 slides which may be viewed individually or as a web slideshow in your browser. Ther are three buttons normal, slow and fast; and we reccomend the normal button. The fast button will move to the next screen as soon ans the advertisments finish loading. Ugh!
There is an explanation of the Sarva Dharma Symbol, brief overview of the activities of the Medical Institute, along with the 9 point code of conduct and the ten principles. There are pages available in both Tamil and Telugu. Being a Sai Baba Birthday initiative, there is a section to send wishes to Sai Baba on His Birthday. There are 679 messages there when we reviewed this site. All in all, a brief, innovative intiative for an Internet Portal. TOP
SAI MAHAYAGYA
SAI MAHAYAGYA for World Peace is a single page which outlines a project, accepted by Bhagavan Baba for an auspicious recitation of the Divine Name. This is being conducted and coordinated by an ashram in Rishikesh.
For this MAHAYAGYA SAI devotees all over the world are now reciting in groups or individually in their homes the Mantra OM NAMO BHAGAVATE SAI NATHAYE 800 million times in two years. The beneficial effects of the Mahagaya are listed. There is further information, and a Ganapathe Mahagaya mentioned on this page also. There is an email link to contact the convenor of this sadhana project. TOP
Sai Oman
This website is hosted on MSN Groups. It is a public groups portal, similar to Yahoo Groups. The less than desireable aspect of hosting sites on publich portals is that there is little or no control over the group itself (it remains the property and copyright of the portal hosting, and one has no control over the advertising selected. As you can see above, when we visited this site, the advertisement showed a couple smooching for an advertisement about Valentines Day. Hardly suitable material for Sathya Sai Baba.
A visitor is greeted with a blank page and a sidebar with links. Many of the links lead to further blank pages, as if the site was planned but never completed. The Centers of Oman is a blank page, there is a message board with the last message dated July 2004. There is a photo album, and the last album in the list has photographs of the Sai Centers in Oman. One hopes that this is not the official website for the Sai Organisation of Oman, for it is very poor in upkeep and taste. Oman devotees attend Prashanti Nilayam and Whitefield in large numbers, in their distinctive scarves. They are easily recognisable. They do a lot of service and deserve better than this. TOP
bhagwansai
This website appears somewhat confusing, as there seems to be two home pages.
Clicking the link above brings a visitor to a page with orange sides and central images; lots of links. When one digs deeper into the site and clicks the HOME link, a totally different page appears, which seems to have even more links.
The original home page has links referring to Annual Events, Where is Sathya Sai Baba, Miracles, Prayer and Bhajans, Main Teachings, Swami Messages, Incarnation, Sai Saga, Swami Speech on Shirdi Sai Baba, Prasanthi Nilayam, Brindavan, Early Life of Swami, The Legend of Puttaparthi, Reawakening Mankind, and there are many more links on prayers, light meditation and so forth.
The Annual Events page appears to be a little incomplete; it lists and gives descriptions of New Years Day, Sports and Cultural Meet, Maha Shivarathri, and Birthday. There seem to be a lot of other events overlooked.
Where is Sathya Sai Baba gives an overview of the annual programme of Swami's movements. However, it appears to be a dated list.
The Miracles page is long and somewhat overpowering. There are no margins on this page, and it goes on and on; visually this is distracting and displeasing. Most of the material appears to be slabs of miracles extracted from one or another of Kasturi's volumes, Sathyam, Sivam, Sundaram. The last miracle narrative comes from Howard Murphets Man of Miracles.
The Prayer and Bhajans page is another long page without margins, with bold text. It appears to be a collation of extracts from Sai Bhajana Mala, and another collection from Sathya Sai Speaks. Here is a good example of a web page poorly thought out. When one wishes to present one or another aspect of Swami's teachings, a prospective web page author should look to several issues:-
- Web pages are read 25% slower than ordinary text
- Web pages need lots of white space, headings, pull quote boxes and should give the reader an overview of what the page is about.
- Web pages should be planned and thought out clearly.
- Written material should be attractive and interesting. What is the author's goal? To simply present great big slabs of Sai Discourses or other books about Sai Baba?
- How does one make a web page attractive and interesting to a prospective reader? What is the message you want to give to them? After all, why give great big slabs of text which is probably on many other websites ?
- What is interesting to you, the author?
- What struck home in your heart?
- What increases peace, harmony and love for you?
- How would you convey that to your reader?
- These, and other issues, go into the planning and presentation of a website. Else, the site is simply noise, cluttering up the Internet.
Regretfully, the rest of this site appears to be more of the same; poorly laid out pages which both cite ad nauseum and plagiarise text from other sources. There is no citation of copyright, no acknowledging sources. This is most likely a website inspired by a lot of enthusiasm, dedication and devotion to Sri Sathya Sai Baba. However, it has neither overall planning, goal nor message to convey. A dated website which may have not been updated for some time. TOP
Kingdom of Sai
Back in the days when the Internet was young, the Kingdom of Sai Website was one of the pioneers. It was one of the *must see* websites, particularly if one was looking for a discourse. It listed the 9 point code of conduct, the five human values, and discourses by Swami. It has an extensive list of prayers, such as the vibhutim prayer, the Sai Gayathri, the 108 Names, the 1008 Names, Suprabhatam, Gayathri Mantra, and so on.
This was one of the first online portals providing extensive content on the teaching, mission and discourses of Sathya Sai Baba, and as such, it has provided a sterling service to devotees online.
It was updated on a daily basis, and carried audio files in addition to video files. When Bhagavan was giving Lingodbhava on Shivarathi Night, Kingdom of Sai could be relied on to have the video available for viewing.
The site has recently converted to a new online portal layout, and offers a bulletin board, and has an extensive language and translation menu. There is an audio page, Bhajan of the day, which is changed daily.
Due the rapid expansion of the Internet to providing services to hand held users, this site now has a section dedicated to mobile users, and provides both events at Prashanti Nilayam and discourses in format able to be read by Palmtops and Internet phones. This is a worthy innovation.
Recommended. TOP
Sai Baba Links
Online since 24 May 2003, SaiBabaLinks has rapidly grown to be one of the most extensive and up to date news and information portals online for Sathya Sai Devotees. News is updated as it occurs on this website. This website describes itself as 'Comprehensive directory of internet sites about Sri Sathya Sai Baba; Thousands of links of internet sites about Sai Baba's Life, Work and Teachings'. There is an associated Yahoo News Group, SaiBabaNews .
The sheer volume of content on this website bespeaks a dedicated, full time seva.
The ARTICLES section has an extraordinary breadth of articles, resourced from many websites. However, there is some need for discrimination and proper observance of copyright. In the articles section individual pages from some websites are listed as articles, and there is a website of articles in Yahoo Groups.
Vasantha Sai's claim to be the reincarnation of Radha and the interview with S.P. Ruhela is listed. There would appear to be failure of discrimination as this claim is insubstantial, and irrelevant to the Sai Mission. There are links to the talks given by Dr Michael Goldstein. Dr Goldstein has expressed that he no longer wishes any of his communications to appear online. These talks are sourced from a site that has complied with request of Dr Goldstein. These comments do not detract from the value of the full time dedicated selfless service that has gone into creaing and maintaining this portal.
A wide ranging and comprehensive resource. Reccomended. TOP
Religion
This website is a cornucopia of all things religion. From Ancient Religion, to Egypt Religion, Judaism History to Native American Religion, Religion in Brazil, Sumerian Religion, Yorubian Religion. All things religion, an online compendium of links, categories and descriptions.
Dirpedia.com - combining a
dictionary, an encyclopedia and a web directory