Editing Sathya Sai Baba (section)

===Classification of organization===

Sources often describe Sai Baba's following as a "movement".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kent|first=Alexandra|date=1999|title=Unity in Diversity: Portraying the Visions of the Sathya Sai Baba Movement of Malaysia|jstor=40800435|journal=Crossroads: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Southeast Asian Studies |volume=13–2 |issue=2 |pages=29–51}}</ref><ref name="clarke2006">{{Cite encyclopedia |surname=Kent |given=Alexandra |title=Sai Baba movement |pages=545–547 |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements |year=2006 |editor-surname=Clarke |editor-given=Peter B. |editor-link=Peter B. Clarke |place=London; New York |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0415267076}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Sahoo|first=Ajaya Kumar|title=Reconstructing Religious and Cultural Identity of Indians in the Diaspora: The Role of Sri Sathya Sai Baba Movement |jstor=23621024|journal=Sociological Bulletin|volume= 62| issue = 1 |date= January–April 2013 |pages= 23–39 |doi=10.1177/0038022920130102|s2cid=152184838}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.americamagazine.org/content/all-things/death-god-man-sai-baba-dies-85|title=Death of a God-man? Sai Baba Dies at 85|last=Clooney|first=Francis X.|date=2011|work=America Magazine}}</ref>
Sathya Sai Baba claimed to be the reincarnation of [[Sai Baba of Shirdi]], whose followers considered him to be an [[avatar]] of [[Shiva]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WA12nHRtmAwC&pg=PA307 |author=Chryssides, George D. |title=Historical dictionary of new religious movements |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |year=2012|isbn=978-0810861947 }}</ref> While [[Sai Baba of Shirdi]] was known to combine Islamic and Hindu teachings, Charles S. J. White, of [[The American University]] at Washington D.C., observed in 1972 that with Sathya Sai Baba, "there is no discernible Muslim influence."<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=White|first1=Charles S. J.|title=The Sai Baba Movement: Approaches to the Study of India Saints|journal=The Journal of Asian Studies|date=1972|volume=31|issue=4|pages=863–878|doi=10.2307/2052105|jstor=2052105|s2cid=163018087 }}</ref> Stephanie Tallings, in The Harvard international Review, noted Sai Baba's following is drawn from people of all religions, ethnicities, and social classes.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Tallings|first=Stephanies|date=Summer 2000|title=Avatar of Stability: Sai Baba's Teachings|url=https://www.jstor.org/publisher/hir|journal=Harvard International Review|volume= 22| issue =  2|pages=14–15}}</ref> In contrast, Sai Baba's following is also regarded by many scholars to be of a Hindu persuasion.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Babb|first1=L. A.|editor1-last=Hawley|editor1-first=J.S.|title=Saints and Virtues|date=1987|publisher=University of California Press|location=London|isbn=978-0520061637|pages=168–186|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RGv2wOUl0pMC|chapter=Sathya Sai Baba's Saintly Play}}</ref><ref>Alexandra Kent Divinity and diversity: a Hindu revitalization movement in Malaysia, NIAS, 2005</ref><ref>Handoo, Jawaharlal in ''Asian Folklore Studies'', Vol. 48, No. 2 (1989), pp. 326–332 reviewing Lawrence A. Babb's book ''Redemptive Encounters. Three Modern Styles in the Hindu Tradition'' [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1177938 page 1]</ref><ref>Nagel, Alexandra (note: Nagel is a critical former follower) "De Sai Paradox: Tegenstrijdigheden van en rondom Sathya Sai Baba"/"The Sai Paradox contradictions of and surrounding Sathya Sai Baba" from the magazine "Religieuze Bewegingen in Nederland, 'Sekten' "/"Religious movements in the Netherlands, 'Cults/Sects' ", 1994, nr. 29. published by the [[Free University of Amsterdam]] press, (1994) {{ISBN|9053833412}}<br/> Dutch original: "Ofschoon Sai Baba gezegd heeft mensen van allerlei religieuze gezindten te helpen terug te gaan naar oude waarden en normen, en ofschoon zijn logo de symbolen van de andere grote godsdiensten bevat, is de sfeer rondom Sai Baba duidelijk hindoeïstisch gekleurd. Alle moslim-elementen bijv. waarvan verondersteld zou kunnen worden dat hij die zou hebben meegenomen uit zijn leven als Sai Baba van Shirdi, heeft hij laten vallen. Het enig echt herkenbare wat hij van Shirdi Baba nog heeft, is het veelvuldig gebruik van as, – wat hij dan niet uit een dhuni haalt zoals Shirdi Baba deed, maar materialiseert (of tevoorschijn goochelt)"</ref>

Lawrence A. Babb, of the Amherst College in Massachusetts, labelled Sai Baba movement as a cult in the 1980s, calling it "deeply and authentically Hindu..." and noted, "The most striking feature of this cult, however, is the extremely strong emphasis given to the miraculous."<ref name="babb83" /> However, a scholarly review says Babb misapplies the word "cult", responding, "the so-called 'cult' of Satya Sai Baba seems to possess all such characteristics which are, according to the author, central to a religious movement."<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Handoo|first=Jawaharlal|date=1989|title=Reviewed Work: Redemptive Encounters. Three Modern Styles in the Hindu Tradition by Lawrence A. Babb|url=http://asianethnology.org/downloads/ae/pdf/a759.pdf|journal=Asian Folklore Studies|volume= 48| issue =  2|page=327|doi=10.2307/1177938|jstor=1177938}}</ref> Deborah A. Swallow, of the University of Cambridge, referred to it as a cult and said that the "ritual and theology, then, unlike Sai Baba [of Shirdi]'s, is distinctly Hindu in form and content."<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Swallow|first1=D. A.|title=Ashes and Powers: Myth, Rite and Miracle in an Indian God-Man's Cult|journal=Modern Asian Studies|date=2008|volume=16|issue=1|pages=123–158|doi=10.1017/S0026749X0000072X|jstor=312277|s2cid=146729990}}</ref> However John D. Kelly, a professor of anthropology at the University of Chicago, wrote about Hindu missions in Fiji that the Sathya Sai Organization (which is part of the movement) rejected the label Hindu. According to Kelly, they see their founder as the "living synthesis of the world's religious traditions" and prefer to be classified as an [[Interfaith dialogue|interfaith]] movement. He observed that the Sai Baba mission is a Hindu mission that is as active as Christian or Muslim missions.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Kelly|first1=J.D.|editor1-last=van der Veer|editor1-first=P.|title=Nation and Migration: The Politics of Space in the South Asian Diaspora|date=1995|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|location=Philadelphia |isbn=978-0812215373|pages=43–72|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bvTHlLRZL8UC|chapter=Bhakti and Postcolonial Politics: Hindu Missions to Fiji}}</ref> In a 2001 scholarly book, Tulasi Srinivas notes, "The Sathya Sai global civil religious movement incorporates Hindu and Muslim practices, Buddhist, Christian, and Zoroastrian influences, and "New Age"-style rituals and beliefs.' And in the appendix of the book (p.&nbsp;349) lists 10 scholarly authors/researchers in both Europe and America who all refer to it as a New Religious Movement (NRM).<ref>{{Cite book|title=Winged Faith: Rethinking Globalization and Religious Pluralism through the Sathya Sai Movement|last=Srinivas|first=Tulasi|publisher=Columbia University Press|date= 2010|isbn=978-0231149334}}</ref>

While scholars often refer to it as either a "[[New religious movement|New Religious Movement]]" (NRM)<ref name="clarke2006" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pereira |first=Shane N. |title=A New Religious Movement in Singapore: Syncretism and Variation in the Sathya Sai Baba Movement |jstor=23677933|journal= Asian Journal of Social Science|volume= 36| issue = 2|pages= 250–270 |year=2008|doi=10.1163/156853108X298699}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ekacha|first=Sanitsuda|date=2001|title=Keeping the Faith: Thai Buddhism at the Crossroads|journal=Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions|volume= 9| issue = 2|pages=126–128|doi=10.1525/nr.2005.9.2.126}}</ref> or as a [[cult]],<ref name=das15/><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Swallow|first1=D.A.|chapter=Living Saints and Their Devotees|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f1gkAQAAIAAJ&q=sathya+sai+baba+cult|date=1976 |editor=Jonathan Webber |title=Research in Social Anthropology, 1975–1980: A Register of Theses Accepted for Higher Degrees at British Universities, 1975–1980 |pages=385–386 |publisher=Royal Anthropological Institute|isbn=978-0900632334}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Misunderstanding Cults: Searching for Objectivity in a Controversial Field |title-link=Misunderstanding Cults |publisher=[[University of Toronto Press]] |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-8020-8188-9 |editor-last=Zablocki |editor-first=Benjamin |editor-link=Benjamin Zablocki |pages=3–5 |language=en |chapter=Introduction: Finding a Middle Ground in a Polarized Scholarly Arena |editor-last2=Robbins |editor-first2=Thomas |editor-link2=Thomas Robbins (sociologist)}}</ref> it has been noted by Eugene Gallagher, a noted professor of religious studies, that in more modern times "'New Religious Movement', is the classification preferred by most academics, who see 'cult' as a pejorative term.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Gallagher|first=Eugene|date=November 2007 – February 2008|title="Cults" and "New Religious Movements"|jstor=10.1086/524210|journal=History of Religions|publisher= University of Chicago Press|volume= 47| issue = 2/3|pages=205–220|doi=10.1086/524210|s2cid=161448414}}</ref>

A secret report from the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] from the 1990s stated a "worldwide mass religious movement"<ref name="saioncia"/> was emerging around Sathya Sai Baba, who many devotees viewed as a full incarnation of God.<ref name="saioncia">{{Cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP96-00792R000400280002-2.pdf |title=Cultural Trends Study – India's Sai Baba Movement|website=CIA}}</ref> On a local scale, the report states that the extensive appeal of Sai Baba's doctrine "of a harmonious, multi-religious and multi-ethnic [[India]] has the potential to counterbalance the appeal of [[Hindu]] chauvinists and ethnic separatists"<ref name="saicia">{{Cite news |last=Laskar |first=Rezaul |date=23 January 2017 |title=CIA files: 'Alleged miracle worker' Sathya Sai Baba could start world religion |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/cia-thought-sai-baba-s-movement-would-become-a-worldwide-religion/story-HSkb4izaItHFlTkXS6cUBP.html |work=[[Hindustan Times]]}}</ref> Globally, the report concluded that the Sai Baba movement is likely to “become another worldwide religion”, via its current wealth and assets, social contributions and activity in the political domain, thus allowing expansion even after Sai Baba's death.<ref name="saicia"/><ref name="saioncia"/> Adding scope to the movement, the report addresses the claim that Sai Baba is the [[Kalki Avatar]] (the tenth Avatar of [[Vishnu]]) who is to "create a new world of peace and justice", which the CIA operative compares to the return of [[Jesus Christ]].<ref name="saicia"/><ref name="saioncia"/>