What do you think?
Rate this book
Avatar of Night
As a miracle worker in India's wilderness bedazzles millions, a top disciple discovers the dark forces behind his powers and mission. This is a true story of good and evil.
- GenresChristian
404 pages, Paperback
First published December 15, 1999
9 people are currently reading
18 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 8, 2012
Tal Brooke was the first major whistle-blower of the evil Sathya Sai Baba and the Sai Trust. He stayed in India from 1969 - 1971, avidly studied Sai Baba's version of Hinduism, and worshipped the charlatan until Brooke realized that Baba was abusing him, not liberating him. A Christian missionary couple served as God's instuments to help guide Brooke from darkness. After I read Avatar of Night, I realized that Tal Brooke served as God's instrument to help guide me from darkness. My mother, my aunt, and my uncle all passed away as Sathya Sai Baba devotees. Brooke now heads The Spiritual Counterfeit Project.
September 16, 2024
THE HEAD OF THE SPIRITUAL COUNTERFEITS PROJECT RECALLS HIS EARLY TIME AS A SAI BABA DEVOTEE
Sathya Sai Baba (1926-2011) was an Indian guru who claimed to be the reincarnation of Sai Baba of Shirdi (d. 1918), and was considered by his followers to be an avatar and miracle worker. He was reported by his followers to regularly perform miracles (most often "materialisations" of "holy ash," but also small objects such as rings; also healings, etc.), although he was considered by skeptics to have been a fraud, and to have been "caught in the act" more than once. His Sathya Sai Organisation performs a wide variety of charitable works.
Tal Brooke is an author and researcher, who is also the current president of the Spiritual Counterfeits Project. He has also written books such as 'The other side of death: Does death seal your destiny?,' 'When the World Will Be As One: The Coming New World Order,' 'One World, Virtual Gods,' 'Riders of the Cosmic Circuit,' 'The Dark Side of Superconsciousness,' etc. Brooke was a member of Baba's inner circle for two years, but then became a Christian.
He recounts, "Baba's sleeve went up, and he leaned out over the others... On the final wave of his arm in the familiar abracadabra motion, a baseball-sized object suddenly appeared in his hand. The same familiar ionized force hurtled through the room the instant it appeared. We saw a modern miracle done with casual finesse." (Pg. 109)
He adds, "While either singing, speaking, or just sitting, Baba would exude either one or several egg-sized spheroids from his mouth ... Certainly their size alone would make a normal man unconscious from pain, if pulled up from his stomach and out of his mouth." (Pg. 130) He states, "Baba's hand began to quiver. Something flickered into visibility in his palm... He was holding a large smooth stone about an inch and a half long. He passed it to a few of us to look at. Then Baba... blew on it... There was a large hole where he had blown." (Pg. 147)
He also asserts, "Baba's hand began whirling again in huge arcs... Baba's hand was holding something so large that it glinted through his spread-out fingers. Baba opened his hands to reveal eleven large oval metal plates with a photographic likeness of himself enameled on each of them. There was no earthly way Baba could have done these things, with seventeen of us looking on, his sleeve rolled up." (Pg. 150)
He also recalls, "Baba's nudging pelvis stopped. Suddenly a hand unzipped my fly, then... the hand burrowed inside. My mind was reeling... I stood my ground, and tried not to noticeably flinch... Baba's rapid breathing did not exactly register lethargy or unexcitement... My belief in Baba's deity begins to outweigh superficial appearances... 'I have to follow him in blind faith. That's the answer.' I tried to convince myself." (Pg. 137-139)
Later, he states, "As his robe swept by my hand... My hand grasped a sizable fold of Baba's robe... I yanked it back, causing him to skip back as though bumping into something... His black eyes boiled fury as he tried to contain the curses leveled at me... I looked right down his black orbs with a total conviction of knowledge regarding who he really was. I saw a despicable blotch, a mere cinder compared to the true Living God... I got a very real feeling that an ancient battle was going on around me of which I was only dimly aware. Maybe it was a controversy between the creature in red who had been posturing as God incarnate and an infinitely vaster might." (Pg. 356-357)
This book is one of the most interesting critiques of Sai Baba, and will be of interest not just to Christians, but to the skeptically-inclined.
Sathya Sai Baba (1926-2011) was an Indian guru who claimed to be the reincarnation of Sai Baba of Shirdi (d. 1918), and was considered by his followers to be an avatar and miracle worker. He was reported by his followers to regularly perform miracles (most often "materialisations" of "holy ash," but also small objects such as rings; also healings, etc.), although he was considered by skeptics to have been a fraud, and to have been "caught in the act" more than once. His Sathya Sai Organisation performs a wide variety of charitable works.
Tal Brooke is an author and researcher, who is also the current president of the Spiritual Counterfeits Project. He has also written books such as 'The other side of death: Does death seal your destiny?,' 'When the World Will Be As One: The Coming New World Order,' 'One World, Virtual Gods,' 'Riders of the Cosmic Circuit,' 'The Dark Side of Superconsciousness,' etc. Brooke was a member of Baba's inner circle for two years, but then became a Christian.
He recounts, "Baba's sleeve went up, and he leaned out over the others... On the final wave of his arm in the familiar abracadabra motion, a baseball-sized object suddenly appeared in his hand. The same familiar ionized force hurtled through the room the instant it appeared. We saw a modern miracle done with casual finesse." (Pg. 109)
He adds, "While either singing, speaking, or just sitting, Baba would exude either one or several egg-sized spheroids from his mouth ... Certainly their size alone would make a normal man unconscious from pain, if pulled up from his stomach and out of his mouth." (Pg. 130) He states, "Baba's hand began to quiver. Something flickered into visibility in his palm... He was holding a large smooth stone about an inch and a half long. He passed it to a few of us to look at. Then Baba... blew on it... There was a large hole where he had blown." (Pg. 147)
He also asserts, "Baba's hand began whirling again in huge arcs... Baba's hand was holding something so large that it glinted through his spread-out fingers. Baba opened his hands to reveal eleven large oval metal plates with a photographic likeness of himself enameled on each of them. There was no earthly way Baba could have done these things, with seventeen of us looking on, his sleeve rolled up." (Pg. 150)
He also recalls, "Baba's nudging pelvis stopped. Suddenly a hand unzipped my fly, then... the hand burrowed inside. My mind was reeling... I stood my ground, and tried not to noticeably flinch... Baba's rapid breathing did not exactly register lethargy or unexcitement... My belief in Baba's deity begins to outweigh superficial appearances... 'I have to follow him in blind faith. That's the answer.' I tried to convince myself." (Pg. 137-139)
Later, he states, "As his robe swept by my hand... My hand grasped a sizable fold of Baba's robe... I yanked it back, causing him to skip back as though bumping into something... His black eyes boiled fury as he tried to contain the curses leveled at me... I looked right down his black orbs with a total conviction of knowledge regarding who he really was. I saw a despicable blotch, a mere cinder compared to the true Living God... I got a very real feeling that an ancient battle was going on around me of which I was only dimly aware. Maybe it was a controversy between the creature in red who had been posturing as God incarnate and an infinitely vaster might." (Pg. 356-357)
This book is one of the most interesting critiques of Sai Baba, and will be of interest not just to Christians, but to the skeptically-inclined.
February 8, 2023
I found this one cleaning out my parents' basement the other day. Both were New Thought ministers, and sometimes parishioners would press books on them. I think I remember my mother telling me years ago this was one of those. It's only just getting to the dark stuff, but I just watched a BBC documentary that cuts to the chase (Sai Baba exposed as a con-man motivated by sexual desire, and his manifestation of watches, and divine ash and money and golden objects mere sleight of hand). I'll keep going for a little while in case of surprises, but I might not stick it through to the end, because what more can happen? This author Brooke was maybe the first Baba follower turned whistleblower. He originated from the 60s acid scene, and his prose feels very slow to me, but it's full of descriptives, and I guess he's written other books. Perhaps most valuable for its depiction of all the pitfalls inherent to trusting someone as your God based only on their reputation and apparent theatrics, including numinous areas like what is truth and what is divinity. About two-thirds through it now, there are character studies from Moore's fellow American and European Sai Baba devotees that are an interesting subtext, all taking the concept of enlightenment very seriously and getting after it in different ways. I'm gonna say it's read now, and I'll update this review if anything changes dramatically.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews